Debates of Sept. 18th, 2018

The Environment

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, as always, I appreciate the comments from my colleague who represents the people of Saanich—Gulf Islands. I would like to thank her for raising the question and look forward to working with her in my new capacity. I thank her for her congratulations, as well. We have much in common. We are both coastal MPs. We both have experience living in my part of the world, and we are both dedicated to protecting our natural environment.

The threat posed by climate change is real, and the member is correct to assert that we need to be debating not whether it is real but what we are going to do about it. I would like to share with her that when our government funds research at St. Francis Xavier University, which is in my community, I take the time to sit down with the professors whose research we are funding to learn more about the threat posed by climate change and how policy can adapt.

I have to point out that our commitment to protect the environment, in my opinion and the government's opinion, is not at odds with the principle that we can grow our economy as well. We can grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time. ln fact, positive developments that protect the environment can in fact help spur economic growth.

For example, the International Energy Agency tells us that implementing the Paris Agreement could boost the global economy by $19 trillion over the next 30 years. I am committed and this government is committed to meeting our Paris Agreement targets.

This tells us that now is the time to be investing in innovation, clean technology and green infrastructure. As we transition to a green economy, we will stimulate clean growth, spark Canadian innovation and entrepreneurship and create good-paying jobs. We can grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time.

Canada moved from seventh to fourth place in a global clean tech innovation index. I know that we can attribute this jump to many Canadians, businesses and individuals, and their willingness to adapt and innovate. Take, for example, General Fusion in the member's own province of British Columbia which is developing a process that could unleash the energy potential of fusion. As well, there is the Squamish-based company, Carbon Engineering, that is developing an innovative technology to capture carbon from the air and produce fuels.

ln my own province, we have companies like CarbonCure that is sequestering emissions to make strengthened concrete, and the Trinity Energy Group in Pictou County that is employing people to help make homes more efficient. These examples of innovation in the private sector are made possible by the creativity of people locally, but also with the conditions we are creating to promote clean investments.

Over the next 11 years, the government is investing over $21.9 billion in green infrastructure. We are investing over $20 billion to support urban public transit projects. We are investing over $2 billion over the next 11 years to support the priorities of rural and northern communities. We are investing over $9 billion to support projects that reduce emissions, deliver clean water, manage waste water, build cleaner, better-connected electricity systems, and help communities adapt to climate change.

These investments are in addition to the $1.5 billion we have committed to protect our oceans. During her remarks, the hon. member raised the importance of the gulf region, which is dear to my heart. This commitment is going to go a long way to protect our nature and wildlife that depends on it.

I am proud of these investments and the steps our government is taking to reduce pollution, such as putting a price on carbon, developing policies to reduce methane emissions, and taking steps to reduce pollution from hydrofluorocarbons.

These are serious measures, and I look forward to working with the hon. member opposite, as we have over the past few years, and whom I have great respect for. I sincerely thank for her the opportunity to address her questions.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, It pains me to say this, but the wish list described by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change does not constitute a climate plan sufficient to address what we now face. This is a time that reminds me of what Churchill faced in those five days of May back in 1940 when they told him, and everybody who knew anything about the situation told him, that it was hopeless and that he had better surrender.

This is not a time for fossil fuel appeasement. We cannot pretend we can build more pipelines or expand the oil sands and still meet the threat of the climate crisis. This is a moment when we need a Dunkirk solution. What is a Dunkirk solution? Churchill saw that the entire army was stranded on the beach. There were 300,000 men that they could not rescue from Hitler's force. They had no defences for their island if they should be invaded. Churchill did not give up. He said, “Wait a minute. How many civilian boats are over there in Dover? There are 80,000 civilian boats, you say? Let's marshal those people and get going.”

It is clear that we have to do much more—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, if the point the member is making in her follow-up comment is that we need to engage every Canadian from coast to coast to coast on a civilian basis to assist the efforts the government is making, then I agree wholeheartedly.

We can and will put forward measures in this Parliament to help reduce pollution, whether it is methane regulation, hydrofluorocarbons, or putting a price on pollution, and also making investments that are going to grow the economy and make the environment more healthy at the same time.

We share in our desire to promote a healthy environment, and as long as I hold this position or a seat in this House, I will not give up on chasing this honourable aim.

Foreign Affairs

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it should be uncontroversial, but Christians are among the most persecuted faith community. Christians face violence and persecution on the basis of their religion in over 60% of countries, by some estimates, and yet we encounter in the House on a regular basis the baffling refusal of the government and its fellow travellers in the political far left to even acknowledge the existence of persecution against Christians. The government is generally absent when it comes to international human rights. Its particular hostility toward the Christian community is evident in its lack of response to this vital issue.

I asked the following question to the Prime Minister at the end of the fall sitting.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the foreign affairs minister finally acknowledged genocide of Yazidis at the hands of Daesh in Syria and Iraq. However, the government has yet to acknowledge genocide against Christian communities in the same areas, Assyrian, Chaldean and other Christians who live in communities alongside Yazidis and have often been treated in exactly the same way.

Will the Prime Minister today also acknowledge the Christian victims of this genocide?

That was my question. In response to the question, the Prime Minister refused to acknowledge the genocide of Christians, but he actually also refused to even mention the experience of Christians. He did not even use the word “Christian” in his response. This was not an accident. I have on three previous occasions asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to recognize the targeting of Yazidis and Christians by Daesh as genocide. She responded in each of these three cases that yes, they are very concerned about the plight of Yazidis, with no mention of Christians and no mention of the experience of Christian victims of genocide.

The government very often gives verbal acknowledgement without action, but in this case, it repeatedly and by all indications intentionally refused to even give verbal acknowledgement to the persecution of Christians. Its disdain is evident. It has chosen either to completely write off Christians in the next election or to simply be blinded by ideology.

What is the ideology at stake? This far left strain of thought I think assigns value to people and their experience based on whether or not they are considered privileged. If we think they have historically been privileged, then we assign less value to their experience, and if we think they have been historically underprivileged then perhaps we care more. So often these so-called privilege points are assigned in total ignorance of the realities on the ground. The left considers Christians to be historically privileged and also mistakenly sees Christian presence in certain parts of the world as a colonial artifact, so they ignore the genuine suffering of the indigenous people of the Middle East and elsewhere who never enjoyed any privilege in any sense.

Advocates for the rights of Christian minorities around the world are not seeking the extension of domestic debates about the role of religion in public life. They are simply trying to respond to the reality of human suffering, human suffering that generally goes unacknowledged and certainly unaddressed by the government. Human suffering is ignored by the government if the victims happen to be Christian.

It goes without saying that Christians are not the only religious minority facing persecution or that merit our attention, but Christians are the ones most likely to be ignored, and that is unacceptable. Canadians deserve better than that from the government. They deserve a foreign policy characterized by an authentic commitment to humanism and pluralism. An authentic commitment to those values would include a willingness to confront human rights abuses that impact anyone regardless of their faith, and even if they are Christian. It is high time the government stopped ignoring the epidemic of anti-Christian violence around the world and actually made the universal advancement of human rights a priority.

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada-U.S. Relations)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start off by saying that we thoroughly and completely condemn the appalling and inhumane actions of Daesh in Syria and Iraq. Its members have committed terrible atrocities against religious and ethnic communities and vulnerable populations in the region. This includes appalling levels of violence committed against Christians and Yazidis, Turkmen, Sabean-Mandaeans, Druze, Kurds, Shia and Sunni Arabs.

Christians are among those who, because of their smaller numbers, have borne a very heavy, indeed, a terrible and tragic burden. While many armed opposition groups in Syria have pledged to protect Syria's vulnerable religious and ethnic minorities, sectarian rhetoric has inspired incitement to hatred and violence against various religious and ethnic communities. We must take every step possible to ensure accountability for these crimes.

That is why Canada has formally requested the UN Security Council to establish a mechanism to investigate the potential violations of international law by Daesh. This includes the crime of genocide.

We have also provided $7.5 million to the Commission for International Justice and Accountability to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and criminal law in both Syria and Iraq.

Canada is also playing an important military role in fighting Daesh through our role in the global coalition. Our government has also welcomed vulnerable refugees from the region to Canada, as has already been mentioned by my hon. colleague. This is something that I know many Canadians are very proud of, and as a former soldier who has dedicated a portion of his life to fighting terrorism, I applaud this initiative.

Under our government, Canada will remain a partner to the people of the region who have suffered so needlessly and so tragically. That is why we are looking to help the future of the populations that have been affected. What matters to many now is how they can go about rebuilding their lives and their communities. Canada can and will play an important role in ensuring that vulnerable communities across Syria and Iraq, including Christians, are allowed to live in peace and security.

To this end, we are committing $840 million in humanitarian assistance to United Nations agencies. The International Committee of the Red Cross will also benefit from this as will international non-governmental organizations to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in Syria, Iraq and the region.

In 2017, with funding from Canada and other donors, humanitarian partners reached 5.3 million people in Syria with food assistance; 1.8 million people in Iraq with emergency water and sanitation activities; and over 4.5 million beneficiaries in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan with sexual and reproductive health services.

By helping to address the underlying causes of the crisis in Syria and Iraq, and at the same time carrying the fight to Daesh through combat action and combat support, we will continue to contribute to the efforts to improve the security and rights of ordinary Iraqis and Syrians who are most affected.

We strongly believe that religious freedom is a vital and fundamental human right and one that should be strongly protected. That is why in July my colleague, the former parliamentary secretary, represented Canada at the first U.S.-sponsored ministerial to advance religious freedom. We joined 80 other countries in condemning the systemic ongoing egregious abuses of religious freedom perpetrated by terrorists and violent extremist groups, specifically Daesh.

Canada will continue to support all affected populations.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, with greatest respect, there are so many problems with what my colleague talked about. He spoke about accountability for crimes and yet to have meaningful accountability for crimes, we have to be willing to name the crime and we have to actually have a process that allows us to recognize the reality of that crime before the peak has long passed for the commission of that crime. At this point, so late in the process, we now hear the Liberals talking about wanting to start a study, yet what we need is clarity from the government about what has happened and the response.

Let me re-ask the question that I asked the Prime Minister, to which we still have not gotten an answer. The government has recognized not just the need for further study, but the obvious reality that a genocide was committed against Yazidi people. ISIS does not keep this a secret; it broadcasts this online. Given that this recognition has come from the government, will it also recognize the Christian victims of this genocide? Will it do that, yes or no?

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure I join every member in the House in condemning, without equivocation, the persecution and attacks by Daesh on the people of Syria and Iraq, including Christians, which of course includes the targeting of religious and ethnic minorities by Daesh and its agents. At the centre of our engagement in Syria and Iraq is the protection of human rights and providing assistance to those rebuilding their lives.

I have already listed the hundreds of millions of dollars that the people of Canada are contributing to aid those in pain and suffering in that region; as well, equally important and indeed more so, the hundreds of soldiers, airmen and airwomen we have committed to the fight.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:37 p.m.)