Debates of May 9th, 2018

Democratic Reform

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a great surprise that the Conservatives do not understand the least bit about what we are doing with electoral financing reform. Their idea of improving the Canada Elections Act in the last government was to make it harder for people to vote, while making it easier for wealthy people to participate in the financing of political parties.

We took the opposite approach. We know that limiting the influence of money in our political system is for the benefit of Canadians and to the benefit of our entire political system.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, our changes led to more Canadians voting in the last election than in many elections before for years and years.

It is clear that the Liberal Party cannot attract support from Canadians themselves. They have had abysmal numbers fundraising, encouraging Canadians to make free decisions to donate to them. The Prime Minister is imposing restrictions on what other political parties can do with the money that Canadians freely donated to those parties.

I have a simple question. Will the Prime Minister implement the same ban on ministerial travel and government advertising in the pre-writ—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would ask the hon. member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame and the hon. member for Cape Breton—Canso not to be speaking when someone else has the floor, and I would ask other members to do the same.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

There was a record number of Canadians voting in the last election not because of changes the Conservatives made to the Canada Elections Act, but in spite of changes they made to the Canada Elections Act, and more specifically, because of the people involved in changing the elections, Canadians went out to vote against Stephen Harper, not anything that Stephen Harper actually did to encourage them to vote.

Let us be very clear about why Canadians voted in record numbers in the last election. It was about getting the Conservatives out of office.

Government Appointments

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after breaking its promise of electoral reform, the Liberal government is now putting democratic institutions in jeopardy. The Chief Electoral Officer is an officer of Parliament who is appointed for 10 years, and when he or she leaves, we know months in advance. In this case, the government has known for more than 17 months.

We are now 18 months away from an election, and the Liberals have proposed two candidates in less than three weeks, and we have just seven days to review them.

Does the Prime Minister still consider this to be an open, transparent, and merit-based process?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after a rigorous, open, and merit-based process, Mr. Stéphane Perrault has emerged as the most qualified candidate for the position of Chief Electoral Officer. With over 20 years serving in government, he has extensive knowledge and understanding of the Canada Elections Act and the Canadian parliamentary system.

We have every confidence that under his leadership, Elections Canada will be more than ready for the 2019 federal election. We have submitted an excellent candidate to the House.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for more than a year and a half, the Liberals knew that we had to hire a new Chief Electoral Officer and they did nothing. For more than a year and a half, the Liberals sat on a bill to undo the worst of Stephen Harper's unfair elections act and they did nothing.

Now, with less than a year and a half to go before the next election, the Liberals are panicking. Rather than work with us, they sent us a letter a few weeks ago with just one name on it for a new Chief Electoral Officer. Then just last week, they sent us another letter with another name on it, but a different guy. Canadians want to know: what happened to the first guy?

When it comes to our democratic rights, why do Liberals have such a hard time getting the job done?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after a rigorous, open, and merit-based process, Mr. Stéphane Perrault has emerged as the most qualified candidate for the position of Chief Electoral Officer. With over 20 years serving in government, he has extensive knowledge and understanding of the Canada Elections Act and the Canadian parliamentary system. We have every confidence that under his continued leadership, Elections Canada will be more than ready for the 2019 federal election.

We have submitted an excellent candidate to the House, and we hope that all members will confirm his appointment.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would ask the hon. member for Souris—Moose Mountain not to be yelling when someone else has the floor, and preferably not at all.

Natural Resources

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it would have been better if he had just said, “Your call is important to us; please stay on the line.”

When it comes to the Kinder Morgan pipeline, the threats to our environment are well known. The threats to first nations rights and title are also well known. Now we have a new threat to the Canadian taxpayer.

Not only did the Liberals break their promise to put the pipeline under a proper environmental review, and break their promise to respect first nations rights and title, the Prime Minister is now negotiating in secret a public bailout to help an American oil giant ship Canadian raw bitumen to China.

Why will the Liberals not simply come clean and tell us how many billions this is going to cost us and how much damage they are willing to do to our environment and to first nations rights?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, there are layers of erroneous information in the question that the hon. member just asked.

First of all, we strengthened the environmental assessment process for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, and did more consultation with indigenous peoples. We have actually got to the point where there are over 40 different first nations organizations that have signed cost-benefit agreements and are very supportive of this pipeline expansion project, something which the NDP never talks about.

Furthermore, we have committed that we are going to get this pipeline built because it is in the interests of Canadians, and we are engaged in financial discussions to do so.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals used the same process as the Harper Conservatives and he calls it “strengthened”. I cannot believe it.

Kinder Morgan's arbitrary deadline of May 31 is just around the corner. The government is clearly in panic mode. It has been reported that Kinder Morgan is demanding $10 billion in compensation or investment from the federal government due to problems with the approval of the pipeline. This is the same Liberal government that promised in 2015 to end subsidies to the oil and gas industry.

My question is simple. Is the government going to give Kinder Morgan $10 billion?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, what the NDP does not seem to understand is that we have strengthened the process. We have added steps to the environmental assessment and first nations and indigenous consultation process to ensure that we are not following the broken process that was in place under Stephen Harper. We needed to create a more robust system, and that is exactly what we did.

As for the financial discussions, we know that this is a project of common interest, of public interest, and we are going to move forward with it in a responsible way.

Democratic Reform

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, every time the Prime Minister faces opposition either in this House or with the public, he takes away the tools that opposition parties have to hold him to account. Now he is proposing to limit what political parties can do with the money that Canadians have freely given to political parties.

I have a very simple question. Will he impose the same restrictions on ministerial travel and government advertising in the lead-up to the next election campaign?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, we know that it is the Conservative Party of Canada when it was in government that tried to tilt the rules to prevent people from voting and to make more money available for political parties because it helped the Conservatives. They extended the writ period to try and outspend everyone. However, Canadians did not buy any of what they were selling. That is why the Conservatives are now on that side of the House.

We have put forward proposals to reform the Canada Elections Act. We look forward to that proposal getting to committee, and hearing any and all of the suggestions the members opposite will make to improve and strengthen the act.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have to remind the hon. member for Elgin—Middlesex—London that she should not be speaking throughout the time that someone else is speaking.

The hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think everyone in the House agrees that Canada is an open and welcoming country. That is not the problem. People are crossing our border illegally. Our border guards are exhausted and the cost of managing the situation continues to rise. Unfortunately, the Liberals are incapable of showing leadership on this file.

My question for the Prime Minister is simple. Will he step up and make sure that our Canadian border is secure?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, everyone who crosses the border irregularly is arrested. That is what happens everywhere in the country, and that is what people expect to see.

After that, we look into those people's files because, under international conventions, we have an obligation to allow people who claim refugee status to show that they need asylum, that they need to be recognized as refugees. We conduct a very rigorous assessment of their claim. If we determine that they are not real refugees, then they are sent back to their country of origin. We have a system in place and it is carefully followed, regardless of how people enter our country.

Seniors

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, officials are expecting 200 illegal migrants to cross into Canada daily this summer, placing immense stress on our immigration system. Meanwhile, the Liberals are doing mainly nothing to support our seniors. Canadians are wondering why the Liberals are continuing to favour illegal border jumpers while ignoring the needs of seniors.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the stresses in our immigration system are largely holdovers from a Conservative government that did not invest in the kind of supports for our immigration system, that cut resources to the Canada Border Services Agency, and that continued to underinvest in the important processes that keep Canadians safe.

In regard to seniors, unlike the Stephen Harper Conservatives, we actually are decreasing the age of retirement from 67 to 65. We have increased the guaranteed income supplement by 10% for seniors, and we have made new investments in the new horizons for seniors program, which is going a long way to support them.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as the nice weather arrives, thousands of illegal border crossers are expected to arrive with it, spurred on by the Prime Minister's reckless tweet. While the Liberals are rolling out the red carpet for these queue jumpers, people who came to Canada legally are forced to wait even longer to be reunited with their families.

Can the Prime Minister tell newcomers in my riding how this is fair?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again we see the same divisive approach from the Conservatives, pitting newest arrivals against recent arrivals, pitting one community of new Canadians against another community of new Canadians. That approach was what they founded their 2015 election campaign on. It did not work with Canadians then, and the kind of fear and division they are now trying to peddle is not working with Canadians now.

We are ensuring the application in its entirety of our immigration rules, laws, and processes. We are ensuring that we continue to be an open country that applies the rules.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would ask the member for Barrie—Innisfil not to be calling out and yelling when someone else has the floor.

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts provided by the government. We know that over 25,000 illegal migrants crossed the border in 2017. The government says that 90% of refugee applications are rejected, but only 243 people have been removed from Canada.

Can the Prime Minister tell us how many illegal migrants will cross the Canada-U.S. border over the next few months? Will it be 10,000, 50,000, or 100,000?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to reassure the member, everyone in the House, and all Canadians. No matter how many people arrive at our borders, we will continue to apply the principles of immigration with integrity. Under our rigorous system and with all the laws Canada has in place, we will continue to protect the integrity not only of our territory, but also of our immigration system. This is what Canadians expect and that is why we, as citizens, still have confidence in our immigration and refugee acceptance system.