Debates of April 9th, 2019

Justice

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will give some free advice to the Prime Minister. Yes, there has been a notice sent over, and the Leader of the Opposition has indicated that he stands by every single word in that press release. That is a problem for the Prime Minister. Therefore, I guess the ball is actually in his court.

He can stand up here, wave his arms around and talk about putting us on notice, but why does he not actually show us? Let us get it on.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, putting the Conservative leader on notice is something we did because the truth was important.

Here is the truth. After being asked directly to condemn white supremacists yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. I had no trouble hearing the question. I should be able to hear the answer equally well.

The right hon. Prime Minister has the floor.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after being asked directly to condemn white supremacists yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition not only refused to do so, but refused to even say the words.

I will give him another opportunity to do so today through his deputy leader. Will he denounce white supremacy, the alt-right movement and finally apologize for sharing a platform with it?

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

Mr. Speaker, on March 29, our leader issued an official statement in a press release in which he said that the Prime Minister engaged in political interference, personally gave orders, denied the truth, and had therefore lost the moral authority to govern. Our leader stands by everything he said and even reiterated it yesterday.

If the Prime Minister has the slightest sense of leadership, will he proceed with his lawsuit so we can all find out the truth of this matter?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, here is what I have to say about the truth: We put the Leader of the Opposition on notice because he was making false statements and misleading Canadians.

The opposition leader and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. In December, he had to retract statements he made online about the Minister of Innovation. He has done this repeatedly and now pretends that it is somehow virtuous for him to mislead Canadians. Misleading Canadians, as the opposition leader has done, is never virtuous.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is rather ironic that the Liberal Prime Minister is trying to lecture parliamentarians here in the House when he himself violated the Conflict of Interest Act four times. The Prime Minister is claiming that what our leader said is false. He reiterated that yesterday evening.

If he wants to demonstrate even a little bit of leadership, will he follow through on his threat so that he can testify under oath in court, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we put the Conservative leader on notice because the truth is important. The truth is that, after being asked whether he would condemn white supremacist movements yesterday, the Conservative leader not only refused to do so, he refused to even say the words. We will give the Conservatives another opportunity to condemn white supremacist movements.

Will they denounce them and apologize for sharing a platform with those who hold such beliefs?

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan was yelling throughout the answer. He knows it is against the rules to interrupt.

The hon. member for Burnaby South.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, a new report points out that the Prime Minister's actions against former senior ministers is unprecedented in Canadian history. It has not been seen in a century.

Senior former Liberal staffer Penny Collenette points out how this is highly unusual. The women ministers who spoke up about the truth about interference in criminal prosecution were kicked out for speaking up. The Liberals claim that there is nothing to see here. Clearly there is, and Canadians disagree with the government.

Why will the government not call a public inquiry?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as everyone well knows, we spent many weeks working to try to find a positive resolution on this issue. This is something that we understand had very strong opinions on multiple sides and we wanted to work forward and demonstrate that we truly believed that differences of opinion and diversity was a source of strength and resilience for an organization and for our country. That is what we worked very hard on. Unfortunately, we could not get to that place. The will of caucus was clear that those individuals could no longer be in caucus. At the same time, we are going to continue focusing on what matters to Canadians.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of the truth, the Prime Minister said today that we cannot lie to Canadians. Obviously not, but the Prime Minister's own story has changed since the beginning. He himself admitted that his story was not accurate.

If the Prime Minister thinks that Canadians want to know the truth, why is he refusing to launch a public inquiry?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have always been very clear about this issue from the beginning. We are going to do two things at once. We will always stand up for jobs for Canadian workers across the country and we will respect our institutions and the rule of law. That is exactly what we did.

We have a great deal of respect for the work that our parliamentary committees do and we also respect the Ethics Commissioner, who is looking into the matter. We will always participate in investigations because we know that we, on the government side of the House, are defending our institutions.

Telecommunications

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, high-speed Internet and cellular services are a necessity, but access is anything but affordable and reliable. A single mother told me that she pays $102 a month for unreliable service. People deserve a government that has the courage to stand up to telecommunications companies.

When will the Prime Minister find the courage to stand up for people and cut these costs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to point out that we appointed a minister for rural communities who is responsible for ensuring that the entire country has access to affordable, high-speed Internet services. Along with the private sector, we will continue to make investments across the country to provide all Canadians with this vital access to services that have the quality and speed to meet the demands of the future.

Finance

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after the biggest drug money-laundering case in Canadian history, the federal government is still not doing its part. Expert Peter German's report points out that no federal resources are being used. Literally, in the federal money-laundering unit, no one is working on money laundering. No wonder there are so few federal prosecutions.

Drug money laundering is fuelling organized crime and putting communities at risk. Why have the Liberals failed to act?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen the consequence of what happens when members opposite do not want to talk about the budget and do not even want to read the budget. They do not notice what is in the budget, including unprecedented measures to move forward on countering money laundering and the impacts of organized crime in the housing sector, particularly in British Columbia.

We continue to work with our provincial counterparts and, indeed, with partners right across the country and around the world to crack down on money laundering, tax evasion and avoidance and to make sure our system works for everyone.

Justice

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is threatening a lawsuit to shut down the opposition from holding him accountable for his attempts to interfere in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. He says that it is libellous to say that the former attorney general told him and his top officials that their actions were “political interference” and “entirely inappropriate”. However, the taped phone call, texts and notes show that it is all true.

Canadians look forward to the Prime Minister being forced to testify in open court under oath. When will the Prime Minister follow through on his threat?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. To ensure that Canadians could hear the truth, the Prime Minister waived solicitor-client privilege as well as cabinet confidence. These meetings took place at the justice committee. They took place in public. That is exactly why the member is able to refer to them. It is important that Canadians be able to decide for themselves.

Yes, we have put the leader of the official opposition on notice. That is because he is misleading Canadians. This is not the first time we have done so. We have done so previously because he was misleading Canadians when it came to the Minister of Innovation. Once he was put on notice, he deleted and retracted those comments. Once again, on March 31, he did the same thing afterwards—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Lakeland.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, let us be clear. The Prime Minister has said that it is libellous for the opposition leader to say that the former attorney general was pressured by him and then fired for resisting. However, on the taped call, the clerk said that the Prime Minister was “determined”, “in a firm frame of mind”, that they were on a “collision” course and that he was going to get it done “one way or another”.

When will the Prime Minister follow through on his threat to sue or will he just finally admit that everything the opposition leader said is totally true?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the official opposition was put on notice on March 31. That very same day, he deleted tweets and then edited them because he knew he should be more judicious in his words. His actions are clear. The Conservatives talk a tough game.

The same thing happened with the Minister of Innovation. The Conservatives made those statements in the House. When they were asked to take those statements out of the House, they would not. Do you know what happened after they were served notice in December, Mr. Speaker? The leader of the official opposition retracted those comments. He deleted those tweets.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has sent a letter to our leader in which he threatens to sue him.

In the letter, he states that the Leader of the Opposition accused him of having “personally subverted the judicial process to interfere with a criminal prosecution”.

He seems to understand the situation, and the leader stands by what he said. When will we be going to court?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, yes, we did put the Leader of the Opposition on notice because he was making false and misleading statements to Canadians. On March 31, they received a notice and on the same day the Leader of the Opposition deleted his tweets. He knows that he made defamatory remarks. He knows that he must not do this. He was put on notice so that he makes more judicious decisions that are more befitting of his position.