Debates of April 9th, 2019

Justice

[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.

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

Mr. Speaker, they are twisting the truth. The problem is that the Prime Minister put our leader on notice for the statement he made on March 29.

Stop sidestepping. Some facts were raised in the notice and we want to respond. The Leader of the Opposition is prepared to go to court right now.

Go ahead, Mr. Prime Minister, we are waiting.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I remind the hon. member that he must address his comments to the Chair.

The hon. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. He had to retract some statements he made online in December about the Minister of Innovation.

We warned the Leader of the Opposition again because he was making false and misleading statements to Canadians. Once again, on March 31, the Leader of the Opposition deleted some tweets because he knows he did something he should not have.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister now says that there should be consequences for lying to Canadians. I guess he will find out in October.

In his letter threatening to sue the Conservative leader, he says that the former attorney general never told him that the political interference in an ongoing criminal proceeding was entirely inappropriate. However, the Prime Minister admitted to the House last week that in fact she told him that directly to his face.

He says that there should be consequences for lying to Canadians. When will the Prime Minister take us to court so he can experience just what those are?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I encourage members to be judicious in the words they choose in the House.

The hon. government House leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your reminder that members should be judicious in their wording. Outside of the chamber you are not always there to monitor the situation. However, that is exactly why Canadians can have confidence that when the leader of the official opposition is misleading Canadians, we will not stand idly by.

That is exactly why the leader of the official opposition was put on notice. After he was put on notice, he deleted tweets. He actually edited his wording to be more judicious, just as you, Mr. Speaker, have reminded all members to do. This is not the first time the Conservatives have done this. They did this in December after the Minister of Innovation had served them notice.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in the letter where the Prime Minister threatens to sue the Conservative leader, he says that it is a lie that the Clerk of the Privy Council pressured the former attorney general and made it clear that her job was on the line. Well, Canadians could hear clearly on an audio recording that the Clerk of the Privy Council said exactly that.

Truth is an absolute defence, and every word of the Conservative leader's statement on the Liberal's SNC-Lavalin scandal is true. If the Prime Minister believes otherwise, when will we see him in court?

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to once again remind Canadians that all information is public. Why is that information public? Because the Prime Minister waived solicitor-client privilege as well as cabinet confidence. All meetings of the justice committee that were on this issue were in public so Canadians could decide for themselves. They know very well who is misleading Canadians.

That member talks a big game, but in February, when it came to comments on this file, it was his leader, the leader of the official opposition, who actually retracted that statement.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there have been expulsions from caucus, shutting down debate in committees, a lawsuit, a leak of confidential information about a chief justice Supreme Court application and two months of Liberals doing everything they can to change the channel on the PMO scandal. However, leaking confidential information, that is a serious breach.

The Minister of Justice does not seem to understand the seriousness of this act. Is the Attorney General comfortable with a leak that was intended to smear the former attorney general? The integrity of our courts is at stake. Will the Attorney General launch an investigation into this serious breach?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, obviously leaks concern us. I can assure the House that leaks did not come from my ministry and I trust my colleagues when they tell me that leaks did not come from theirs.

This is a situation of obvious concern and we are doing our best to make sure it does not happen in the future.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, someone obtained confidential information on the Supreme Court vetting process to smear Chief Justice Joyal and the former attorney general. There are political fingerprints all over this hatchet job, but the new Attorney General of Canada refuses to investigate. Why? He says he trusts the Prime Minister's Office and he trusts it will never happen again.

God help the rule of law when we have an Attorney General who thinks his job is damage control. His job is to protect the integrity of the process. When will he launch an independent investigation into finding out who launched that leak and who ordered it?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said in the House, Canadians should have complete confidence in the integrity of our Supreme Court nomination process. It is merit based. It has led to the appointment of two exceptionally high-quality candidates thus far as well as a chief justice.

Obviously, these leaks are of great concern to me. As I assured the House yesterday, I am confident that these leaks did not come from my office and the Prime Minister has assured the House that the leaks did not come from his office.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been caught misleading Canadians. Having been caught, now the Prime Minister is trying to sue his critics.

In his letter, he disputes the fact “the Prime Minister had been informed by [the former attorney general] that his actions were ‘entirely inappropriate’ and amounted to ‘political interference’”. Every single Canadian understands that this is in fact exactly what happened.

When will the Prime Minister move forward with his threat to call a court case and get to business?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality]

Mr. Speaker, I believe my hon. colleague's question has been answered. I imagine as the critic for the status of women, she is interested in what is happening to women in Canada. I am proud to report that there are more women working in Canada now than ever before. More indigenous people—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. The hon. member for Lethbridge will come to order. Members need to be reminded, perhaps, that they will get other turns for questions and answers and to respond to arguments. However, I think they will want to be listened to when they are posing a question or answering a question.

The hon. minister has the floor.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, there are more women working in Canada now than ever before. More indigenous people have jobs. More persons with disabilities are working. More newcomers and young people are working now than ever before. Part of that, my hon. critic will want to know, is because we believe that gender equality is a driver for economic growth.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. I did ask the member for Lethbridge to come to order. I remind her not to interrupt when someone else has the floor.

The hon. member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know what is happening to women under the Liberals. The former attorney general repeatedly said the pressure she was facing was inappropriate, yet the Prime Minister claimed no one had ever raised concerns with him. However, just last week he was forced to admit that was false. Now he is threatening to take our leader to court for pointing out that he has been misleading Canadians.

When will the court case begin so the whole truth can come out?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague brings up the issue of women. I want to point out that I am extremely proud that at Transport Canada 47% of the very large number of nominations that have been done under Transport Canada in the last three and a half years are women.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister says that he is going to sue the Leader of the Opposition for saying, “[The former attorney general] repeatedly told the Prime Minister and his top officials that their actions were ‘entirely inappropriate’ and amounted to ‘political interference’.” For him to sue, it would have to mean those comments were wrong, but last week the Prime Minister admitted that it was true.

How can the Prime Minister sue someone for saying something the Prime Minister has already admitted is true?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the critic from Carleton knows that question has already been answered. What he is not asking about is the budget. Perhaps he does not care about what we are doing for seniors because he already has a million-dollar pension. Those seniors are going to be better off because of their ability to keep more money in their pockets and they are going to be better off in the future because of this budget.

For the member for Carleton, we know that the training benefit we are putting in place might help him when he looks for his next job. This is the sort of benefit that will help all Canadians.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. The hon. members for Chilliwack—Hope and Banff—Airdrie will come to order.

The hon. member for Banff—Airdrie just showed disrespect for the directions of the Chair. Does he wish to apologize right now? Otherwise, he can exit.

Order, please. The hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot can join him if he wants to.

The hon. member for Banff—Airdrie.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, although I find the actions of that side completely wrong and reprehensible, I will apologize for the fact that I did show disrespect for the Chair.