Debates of Sept. 18th, 2018

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, I was in Saint-Mathieu-de-Rioux visiting a family farm owned by Charles, who has been a dairy farmer for 31 years. He works around the clock, without a break, and he figures he earns about $5.50 per hour.

Charles told me that his family's financial situation is shaky because of what the Conservatives and Liberals gave away when they negotiated CETA and the TPP.

In 2015, the Prime Minister promised he would not touch supply management. Will he keep that promise once and for all and stop leaving everyone hanging?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to defend supply management. It works for dairy farmers and Canadian consumers. We have signed international agreements while protecting our system. We will continue to defend a system that works for Canadians and farmers.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on October 4, 2015, the Prime Minister said on television that the TPP should never be negotiated in secret, and now he is signing on to a deal that he negotiated in secret. The Prime Minister also told Canadians that he would never compromise on supply management, and now his government is doing exactly that and trading it away. Farmers are scared they are going to lose their family farms.

When will the Prime Minister start keeping his pre-election promises and stop using these farmers' livelihoods as a bargaining chip?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, many times in the House and out of it, we will continue to defend supply management. With the CPTPP moving forward through the House this week, I am happy to highlight the fact that, indeed, the deal, as it was signed by the Conservative government, was not good enough for Canadians. That is why we continued to negotiate. We made significant positioning in Da Nang and with our partners so that we would get to an improved deal that included things like a cultural exemption that the Conservatives, for example, were willing to give away in TPP. We know how to stand up for Canadians, and we always will.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure the Prime Minister understands what they have signed on to.

The trans-Pacific partnership will be a blow to Windsor-Essex. People in my region are begging the Liberals to hold off on pushing through this job-killing trade deal. I met with small business owners over the summer who warn they were being slammed by steel tariffs and may be forced to shut down.

Yesterday I called on the Liberals to delay the CPTPP so Canadians could brace for a possible failed NAFTA and more U.S. tariffs. Instead, they are steamrolling the deal through Parliament without proper debate.

Why are the Liberals hell-bent on killing Canadian manufacturing jobs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again we find ourselves in a very familiar situation in the House. The NDP do not want any deals for Canadians. The New Democrats do not want to sign any trade deals; the Conservatives are willing to sign anything they can.

We know that only signing good deals for Canadians is in our best interests. As with the CPTPP, when it comes to NAFTA, we will sign a good deal or we will not sign.

Marijuana

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

Mr. Speaker, less than a month from now, the Prime Minister is going to legalize marijuana across Canada, much to the delight of his friends in the industry.

Meanwhile, police forces across the country are saying that they will not be adequately trained or equipped and will simply not be ready. The Prime Minister did not listen to the municipalities, experts, doctors and, above all, police services.

How can he justify yet another failure at the expense of Canadian families?

[Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the House that I have met regularly with the law enforcement leadership of the country. Unlike the previous government, we actually listened to what they asked of us.

They asked, for example, for the opportunity to give a ticket to a young person rather than criminalizing the person for simple possession of marijuana. We listened; the Conservatives did not. They asked for the technology and the training needed to keep our roadways safe, dealing with impaired driving. We gave them what they asked for.

I have met with law enforcement agencies across the country. They are working diligently. They will be ready to keep our communities safe.

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

Mr. Speaker, on top of this government's failed attempts to negotiate NAFTA, Canada is heading straight for another major conflict with our American allies on the issue of legalizing marijuana.

Jean-Pierre Rancourt, a lawyer who practices in the United States, has said that Canadians could be refused entry into the U.S.

Can the Prime Minister guarantee that Canadians who choose to use marijuana once it is legal will be able to enter the United States, or is that just one more failure he will have on his conscience?

[Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I would simply remind the House that since 2013, we have had a well-regulated medical marijuana industry, which employs tens of thousands of Canadians and which Canadians have invested hundreds of millions of dollars and yet is has had no impact on their ability to cross the border.

We have entered into discussions with our counterparts in the United States to ensure that Canadians are treated fairly and according to the rule of law when they cross into the United States.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister informed us that as soon as he was appointed, he asked to meet with his American counterpart to begin discussions on the safe third country agreement. However, the Americans have confirmed that some discussions have already taken place. It seems the Prime Minister has not informed his minister of that yet. They have not had time to talk.

Meanwhile, illegal migrants are flouting our laws, the provinces are left footing with the bill, and Canadians are being called racists if they dare to criticize the Prime Minister. The summer of Liberal failure continues. We have a plan. The Liberals do not.

When will they deal with the problem with the safe third country agreement?

[Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. As I indicated yesterday, Canada has a long and proud tradition of providing protection to those who are in most need of protection by providing refuge to the world's most vulnerable people.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires the ongoing review of all designated safe third countries to ensure the conditions that led to their designation continue to be met. As per my mandate, I have already sent a letter to Secretary Nielsen, asking to enter into discussions related to irregular border migration of our shared border, including ways in which we can enhance and improve the existing safe third country agreement.

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

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the summer of Liberal failure continues.

The minister has just taken up his new position, but we have learned that discussions to change the safe third country agreement are already under way. We are once again being told that we are wrong about the people coming to Canada illegally, but the Liberals are trying to negotiate the same thing that we have been proposing from the outset.

Now, we have ministers who are going to Washington to mock the current government, and we have a Prime Minister who is negotiating an economic agreement using cultural arguments.

When will the government deal with the problem with the safe third country agreement?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Harper Conservatives, we make evidence-based decisions.

The data from July 2018 show that half as many border crossers were intercepted this year as last year. The Harper Conservatives continue to politicize the issue by instilling fear so that eventually they can recommend militarizing the border. They need to stop spreading misinformation. We are going to keep our international commitments and keep Canadians safe at the same time.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we did not have an illegal border crossing crisis under Prime Minister Harper. Any other Canadians telling their boss that they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a problem that got worse would get fired. Therefore, when the current Prime Minister stands here and tells Canadians that he has spent hundreds of millions of their tax dollars on illegal border crossers, but their numbers continue to grow, it is clear by this failure that he needs to go.

How many illegal border crossers are currently being housed in hotels at taxpayer expense?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I will educate the hon. member on the Conservatives' disastrous record on immigration.

Parents and grandparents had a backlog of 167,000. We have reduced that to 25,000. Spouses had to wait 26 months to reunite. We have reduced that from 75,000 to 15,000. Live-in caregivers, who provide an invaluable service to Canadians, had to wait five to seven years under that party. We have reduced their backlog from 62,000 to 11,000.

The Conservatives had a disastrous record and Canadians know that.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. Frequently in the House members will hear things they disagree with or that they are dissatisfied with. They should expect that I am sure by now. Members should be able to contain themselves and not react until it is their turn, which they will get eventually.

The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Let us talk about education, Mr. Speaker. It has been under the current government that Canadians have lost social license for immigration because of that minister's failure to close the loophole on the safe third country agreement. It has been the current Prime Minister and the current minister who are putting ahead people who have reached upstate New York instead of reuniting Yazidi genocide victims. It has been the current government that over and over again has prioritized people who are not legitimate refugees over the world's most vulnerable.

When will the government close the loophole in the safe third country agreement?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about Yazidi refugees. The Conservatives brought a grand total of three Yazidis to Canada. We have brought 1,400 Yazidi survivors of violence to Canada, and we are encouraging private sponsors to bring even more.

Let us talk about private sponsored refugees who need the generosity of Canadians. When it came time to lead and fulfill the generosity of Canadians, the Conservatives only had 4,500—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Why didn't your boss hire someone else to do your job?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. I did not hear anyone yelling when the member for Calgary Nose Hill was asking her question. I would ask her not to do so either. I think all members know better than that.

I would ask the hon. Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to finish his answer.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in order to meet the generosity of Canadians, we have increased the private sponsored refugee program spaces to 18,000.

That is our record. The Conservative could not do it. We are getting it done.

Natural Resources

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to describe how the people of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie reacted to the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Richard Côté wrote to me and said that the purchase of Trans Mountain is looking more and more like the greatest waste of public money in Canada's history. Mathieu Filion asks us to just imagine if the government had invested this money in projects to support the environment and the energy sources of the future. We could have become world leaders. That is exactly what should have been done.

When will the Liberals take climate change and the jobs of the future seriously?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we know that it is very important to have access to the international market. That is important.

That is why we considered the Trans Mountain pipeline and its expansion. We will now look at the facts following the Federal Court ruling to ensure that we have a significant engagement with indigenous people and to consider the environmental situation.

That will be part of our plan. It is a significant approach. We will continue with our approach.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, their process was flawed and the Federal Court put them in their place. That is what happened.

It is not just the people on the Island of Montreal who are worried. In Salaberry—Suroît, which has Enbridge's line 9B pipeline running through it, people have serious concerns. The necessary upgrades are not being made, safety valves are substandard, and the National Energy Board is protecting the oil company and even refuses to respond to requests for information from the RCM. Imagine if energy east resurfaced.

Are the Liberals working for Canadians or for the oil companies? The answer is clear when we see the Minister of Environment hosting barbecues in an Enbridge apron.