House of Commons Hansard #406 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was seniors.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Pursuant to subsection 79.2(2) of the Parliament of Canada Act, it is my duty to present to the House a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer entitled “Costing Budget 2019 Measures”.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Pursuant to section 10.5 of the Lobbying Act, it is my duty to present to the House a report on an investigation from the Commissioner of Lobbying.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Sanding Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to eight petitions.
While I am on my feet, I move:
That the House do now proceed to orders of the day.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
In my opinion the yeas have it.
And five or more members having risen:
Call in the members.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, there have been consultations among the parties and I believe if you seek it, you would find unanimous consent to allow the member for Saskatoon West to table her private member's bill.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Is there unanimous consent of the House to return to introduction of private members' bills to allow the hon. member for Saskatoon West to table her private member's bill?
Sheri Benson NDP Saskatoon West, SK
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-443, An Act to protect, maintain, revitalize and strengthen Indigenous languages.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the co-operation of all parties in this House.
Today, I rise to table an act that would put into law the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action No. 14 to protect, maintain, revitalize and strengthen indigenous languages. The drafting of this bill was inspired by Elger Pikagen, a grade 12 student at Bethlehem Catholic High School, who was this year's winner of Saskatoon West's Create Your Canada contest.
Elger's proposed legislation, among other things, would ensure that the indigenous language commissioner is an indigenous person, make the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples legally binding and, finally, state that the discriminatory government policy of the sixties scoop also led to the erosion of indigenous languages in Canada. I thank all participants for their excellent submissions and congratulate Elger for his winning entry.
Our future is our youth. It is a bright future and it is in good hands, so I proudly table this bill on Elger's behalf.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Bill C-97—Time AllocationBudget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1Government Orders
Waterloo Ontario
Liberal
Bardish Chagger LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
moved:
That, in relation to Bill C-97, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 19, 2019 and other measures, not more than one further sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration at second reading stage of the Bill; and
That, 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day allotted to the consideration at second reading stage of the said Bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the said stage of the Bill shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment.
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
Pursuant to Standing Order 67.1, there will now be a 30-minute question period.
I invite hon. members who wish to ask questions to rise in their places so the Chair has some idea of the number of members who wish to participate in this question period.
Bill C-97—Time AllocationBudget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1Government Orders
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, here we go again. Sunny ways have turned into cloudy days. The government, led by a Prime Minister who promised no omnibus bills and to never shut down debate, is now shutting down debate on a omnibus bill.
Of course, this bill is technically called the budget, but it reaches into areas that have nothing to do with budget policy—reaching, for example, into the laws pertaining to refugees.
Let us remember that in last year's budget bill, the finance minister snuck in an amendment to the Criminal Code to allow large corporate criminals to avoid trial by signing deferred prosecution agreements whereby they could pay a small fine, say they were sorry and promise never to do it again, without facing the wrath of prosecution that would confront any other Canadian charged with a crime. The finance minister said nothing about deferred prosecution agreements in the budget speech leading up to that bill. He skipped over that small detail. I guess we would have to read the fine print.
That has become the nature of the government, a government that is overwhelmed with hypocrisy. The Prime Minister claimed that he would never engage in omnibus bills and that he would always allow open debate, and now he is doing precisely the opposite.
This bill, though, implements a disastrous budget, a cover-up budget wherein $41 billion of brand new cash spending is designed to paper over the SNC-Lavalin scandal and make Canadians forget about the Prime Minister's interference in a criminal prosecution by spraying billions of dollars of Canadians' own money at them right before an election.
This finance minister, who is responsible for this massive engorgement of public funds, should answer for his actions. He broke his word and the Prime Minister's word that they would balance the budget this year—or, more accurately, that the budget would balance itself. He has increased the cost of government by 25% in three short years, and on top of that, middle-class Canadians are paying, on average, $800 more per household.
With all of these broken promises, can the finance minister tell us why Canadians should believe anything he or his Prime Minister have to say?
The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota
Before going to the finance minister, I want to remind hon. members that there a lot of people who want to ask questions. The length of the question also dictates the length of the answer, so I do not want them to be too long. Try to be as concise as possible, both on the question and the answer.
The hon. finance minister.
Bill C-97—Time AllocationBudget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1Government Orders
Toronto Centre Ontario
Liberal
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I understand then that I have roughly 15 minutes to speak at this time, so I would be able to talk about how well middle-class Canadians are doing.
Budget 2019 was really a continuation of our approach to ensure not only that our economy is doing well, but that middle-class Canadians can see a brighter future. What we have done from day one is consider how Canadians can face up to the challenges that the current economy is presenting and that the future economy will present.
We started with things like a reduction in middle-class taxes and the increase in the Canada child benefit, measures that made an important difference for families and have led to a typical middle-class family in 2019 having $2,000 more in their pockets than in 2015. It is important when we look at the situation that we consider all elements, and the Canada child benefit was critically important not only for families but also in helping our economy to do better.
We have done a number of other measures over the last few years, but budget 2019 was particularly important for what we want to do to make sure that people are resilient in the face of economic challenges in the future.
I would point the House to the Canada training benefit, which we know will make a really important difference for Canadians as they look to making sure they have the skills necessary for the economy of today and tomorrow. It would allow people to take four weeks off every four years and have a training credit so they can find the kind of training they need. It would enable them to have the kind of support along the way that will allow them to continue to support their families. This will be critically important for people today and for young people as they keep their skills up over the years to come.
Budget 2019 will be a continuation in our effort to ensure that middle-class Canadians are successful in the face of the challenging economic world that we live in.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Speaker, this is a very sad day for Parliament. Four years ago the Liberals promised that they would end the abuse of Parliament that was occurring through excessive closure motions. They promised not to bring in omnibus legislation and they promised to welcome refugees into this country. Today, with the 66th closure motion that the government has put forward and that the Liberals are ramming through the House to avoid scrutiny of an omnibus budget bill, we are seeing that all of the promises and commitments they made in 2015 are simply being cast aside.
A few weeks ago, during the break, representatives of some of the major human rights organizations in Canada—Amnesty International, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association—wrote to ask the Prime Minister not to implement the provisions in this omnibus legislation that slam the door shut to refugees coming into Canada. Is that not the real reason Liberals are imposing closure yet again today?
Canadians are finding out about the refugee provisions. They are seeing white supremacists standing up with the government and saying “Wonderful. This is a great day.” However, for Canadians, this is a sad day. Is this not the kind of behaviour that the Liberals promised to change in 2015? They should be ashamed of themselves.
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to address the multitude of points presented by the hon. member.
We made a commitment when we came into office that each and every measure that was in our budget bill would be reflected in the budget itself. That is a commitment we continue to uphold.
We have put forward a budget. Of course, the budget implementation act reflects those things that we put in our budget. I believe it is important that we move the bill to committee so that the budget can be examined there. I am looking forward to being with the finance committee tomorrow for an hour and a half to discuss the budget and answer the committee's questions.
I will note that our approach to the important issue of immigration continues to be that of recognizing Canada as a welcoming country, a country where we know that immigration has been and will continue to be a positive influence for our country.
Importantly, as a government, we have been looking at how we can measurably increase immigration each and every year we are in office. That is something we are quite proud of. We do that not only by looking at economic and family reunification issues with respect to people coming to Canada, but also by allowing refugees to come to our country. In this budget we have put in place measures to ensure we have the capacity to meet the administrative requirements needed for people who are seeking asylum in our country and deal with these claims in an expedited, compassionate and humane way. We are looking forward to the passage of this budget implementation act so that we can continue to have a country that is a beacon of hope with respect to immigration for the world at large.
Bill C-97—Time AllocationBudget Implementation Act, 2019, No. 1Government Orders
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents are very concerned about the canola crisis we are in the middle of and the impact it has on farmers. Meanwhile, in the context of the government's budget proposals, it is giving more money to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is a vehicle of Chinese foreign policy. It is controlled from Beijing. It is being used to build infrastructure in Asia to advance China's interests through the belt and road initiative, such as building pipelines in Azerbaijan.
People in my constituency are wondering why their tax dollars are being used to fund the advancement of China's regional ambitions while Canadian farmers are suffering because of a totally inappropriate and baseless trade action by China. We oppose participation in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in general, but at the very least, would the minister agree that the government should stop writing these big cheques to advance the Chinese government's foreign policy until we at least see movement on the canola issue?
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for the question around the incredibly challenging situation that our canola farmers are facing right now today with what we see as inappropriate trade actions from China. We recognize this challenge is presenting very critical issues, especially as people look for markets for their canola.
This is an issue that we see in multiple ways as being something we can deal with. We are looking carefully at how we can help to expand markets for canola, which is critically important. We are also looking at how we can support the canola farmers in this time of crisis.
In my new role as the minister for intergovernmental affairs, I can tell members that we will be talking to the premiers who are dealing with this issue in the provinces to make sure we collaborate on ways we can support those farmers. As we do that, we will also be thinking about how we can continue to be an active force for an open, rules-based trading system in our world, which we see as critically important for the long run.
One of the ways we do that is by supporting international development banks around the world. Those IDBs can have an important role in enabling Canada to have a position in the world. It is for that reason that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is, as a regional development bank, important in helping many less-developed countries in that part of the world to be successful. Of course, as they become successful, they will have a greater demand for the kinds of products that Canada can produce. It is an important part of an overall impact that we are making in the world.
The situation is multi-faceted. These problems are not simple; they require thinking about both the current situation and the future situation, so we will definitely be thinking about how we can support the canola farmers and also continue to hold a strong place in the world in support of international development banks.