Debates of May 10th, 2019

Natural Resources

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals' anti-energy policies and legislation have destroyed Canada and Alberta's reputation as a stable, fair, predictable destination for energy investment.

The Prime Minister has failed to take substantial action or exert federal jurisdiction to ensure TMX could be built by the private sector. He cancelled the northern gateway pipeline and he killed the energy east pipeline with red tape and regulations. He implemented a carbon tax, which does nothing but make life more difficult for Canadian families and small businesses.

Canadians cannot afford to continue paying for the Liberal government's failings. More than 100,000 people in the energy sector have already lost their jobs. However, hope is on the horizon with a newly elected United Conservative Party in Alberta. An increasing number of provinces, representing 59% of Canadians, oppose the Prime Minister's carbon tax.

Canadians are not stupid. They know this tax is just another money grab for the Liberal government. It is clear that the Prime Minister is not as advertised.

Williams Syndrome Awareness Month

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Madam Speaker, May is Williams Syndrome Awareness Month. Williams syndrome is a genetic condition that remains virtually unknown. Medical, developmental and learning challenges typically occur alongside unique abilities, such as advanced verbal and communication skills, highly social personalities and a passion for music.

Those abilities describe my friend, Karina Scali. Karina lives with Williams syndrome and has been selected again this year to participate in the Lifting Lives Music Camp in Nashville, designed for young people with Williams syndrome. The Academy of Country Music was so impressed by the song her group wrote a few years ago that it invited the group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.

Karina received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in our community.

I ask members to join me in raising awareness of Williams syndrome so all individuals with Williams syndrome will have the support they need to live healthy, self-directed, productive and fulfilling lives like Karina does.

Quebec Diabetes Association

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Madam Speaker, I have the privilege this year of serving as honourary chair of the 19th annual golf tournament organized by Diabète Estrie, a non-profit organization in my region made up of people with diabetes, their loved ones, and health care professionals who are trying to make things easier for people with this disease and improve their quality of life.

With the money raised, Diabète Estrie will be able to send kids aged eight to 15 with type 1 diabetes to specialized camps. The money also helps the organization pursue its mission to inform, promote awareness, provide training, support research, ensure service provision and defend the rights of diabetics to help them live with this disease in their day-to-day lives.

I encourage everyone to come out to this event on June 7, as part of Quebec's diabetes prevention week.

In closing, I want to thank all the members of the organizing committee as well as the many volunteers who dedicate themselves to this cause every year.

Government Policies

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Madam Speaker, in 2015, the Prime Minister promised small annual deficits, with a self-balancing budget by 2019. Instead, we got the biggest peacetime debt accumulation outside of a recession.

He promised openness and transparency and we got cash for access fundraising and illegal vacations. He promised to help small-business owners, then called them tax cheaters and threatened their savings. He said, “Canada is back” and then humiliated himself in India. He promised better relations with the public service and then launched Phoenix. He promised better relations with veterans and then said they were asking too much. He promised a service-focused CRA and then picked on single parents and the disabled, while giving tax breaks to wealthy people with offshore accounts. He promised no more omnibus bills and then snuck deferred prosecutions into a 500-page budget bill and fired his attorney general for refusing to play ball and get SNC-Lavalin off the hook.

The Prime Minister is definitely not as advertised.

Speech and Hearing Month

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Madam Speaker, May is Speech and Hearing Month. It is important to recognize Canada's outstanding speech-language pathologists, audiologists and communication health assistants, who I was honoured to work with as regional director of the Canadian Hearing Society.

Speech-Language & Audiology Canada will be highlighting the importance of early detection and intervention of speech, language, swallowing, hearing and balance disorders. This builds on the early hearing detection report card released last month, which noted that Canada's overall grade still remained “insufficient”.

The ability to speak, to listen and to be heard is vital. Children's access to hearing care should not be determined by their personal circumstances. Professionals seek to ensure optimal communication health whether they are working with a hard-of-hearing child or adult or a family dealing with dementia.

I ask my colleagues to join me in observing Speech and Hearing Month in Canada.

Justice

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Madam Speaker, Scott Brison wanted to stop the $700-million Davie shipbuilding contract. Scott Brison, Judy Foote and the MP for Beauséjour were lobbied by corporate friends to kill the deal. The only reason they did not was the fact that their actions at cabinet leaked out.

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was not the source of the cabinet leak, but his was the only name put forward to blame. Why?

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

Madam Speaker, we have full confidence in our government institutions, and they all functioned very well in this case. The RCMP investigated and laid charges. The investigation, the decision to lay charges and the prosecution were handled by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, as was the decision to stay charges.

All those decisions were made independently of the Department of Justice, of my office and of the Government of Canada. Our institutions are functioning well, and the rule of law is alive and well in Canada.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Madam Speaker, we are confident that the director of public prosecutions did her job and made the right call to admit that there was no case against Mark Norman, but Mark Norman's name was first given to the RCMP by the Prime Minister. Mark Norman was not at the cabinet meeting. Mark Norman was not the source of the cabinet leak. In fact, he was just one of 73 names of people who knew about Scott Brison's attempt to kill the Davie deal.

Why did the Prime Minister single out Vice-Admiral Mark Norman to blame for the leak from his cabinet meeting?

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

Madam Speaker, as the hon. member well knows, investigations are the realm of the RCMP in Canada, and it did that.

As the hon. member well knows, the decision to lay charges, to evaluate that evidence and lay charges, rests with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, and that was done here, as was the decision to stay charges.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister gave Mark Norman's name to the RCMP. The Prime Minister's Office resisted giving documents to Mark Norman's lawyers. The Prime Minister's team counselled witnesses. The Prime Minister's lawyers asked the prosecutors if they could engineer issues at trial. The Prime Minister's Office even used code words to avoid revealing Mark Norman's name in documents.

Direction, deception and delay: that is the Prime Minister's record of political interference in the Vice-Admiral Norman affair. When will he apologize to Mark Norman?

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, on the basis of this week's decision, the charge against Vice-Admiral Norman has been stayed.

As confirmed by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada this week, every decision was made completely independently. No other factors were considered in this decision, nor was there any contact or influence from outside the PPSC, including political influence in either the initial decision to prosecute Mr. Norman or in the decision to stay the charge.

Any accusation to the contrary is absurd.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Madam Speaker, it is simple. As soon as the Liberals took office they did everything in their power to prevent the Davie shipyard from getting the Asterix contract, a vital contract for the Royal Canadian Navy.

What did they do when they got caught red-handed? Instead of launching an investigation to shed light on this scheme, the Prime Minister attacked the person who blew the whistle on their scheme, Vice-Admiral Norman.

When will the Prime Minister apologize and give Vice-Admiral Norman a promotion instead of demotion?

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, no other factors were considered in this decision, nor was there any contact or influence from outside the PPSC, including political influence, on the initial decision to prosecute Mr. Norman.

Based on this week's decision, the charges against Vice-Admiral Norman have been stayed. Every decision was made completely independently.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

That is ludicrous, Madam Speaker. The Liberal closet is full of skeletons—those of ministers, advisors, assistants, and even the clerk.

The Liberals should tell the truth and stop going after a man who told the truth and stood up for the Royal Canadian Navy and for Quebec.

What are Quebec MPs doing for jobs in Quebec?

The shipyard workers want work. They want the contract for the Obelix.

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Madam Speaker, no other factors were considered in this decision. Based on this week's decision, the deputy minister has reviewed the policy in place regarding the request to have his legal fees paid as they relate to this case.

We agreed with their advice.

The Environment

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Madam Speaker, let us look at Liberal government rhetoric versus Liberal government action on climate change. The Liberals said they put a price on carbon, but it will not apply to 80% of major emissions. They said they were going to force corporate Canada to take the climate crisis seriously, but here is $12 million for fridges, Loblaws. They said they would help phase out oil and gas, but today we hear that they are paying $54 billion in new subsidies to the billionaire fossil fuel industry.

Instead of hooking up their billionaire pals, when will the government take climate change seriously and bring in a green new deal?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Madam Speaker, I am always happy to talk about our climate change plan. Yes, it includes a price on pollution. Polluters need to pay, but we are giving the money back. That means that a family of four in Ontario will get $307. We are phasing out coal. We are making historic investments in renewables, but we are also ensuring a just transition for workers, because we need to make sure that workers and communities can thrive as we move to a cleaner future. We are focused on making historic investments in public transportation, which is something the NDP would not have done, because it planned to balance the budget and not make those historic investments. We are also making historic investments in clean solutions and energy efficiency. We have a climate plan—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Madam Speaker, people living in Hollow Water First Nation and in Seymourville are worried about a proposed frac sand mind in their territory. They are very concerned that this project could expose them to dangerous levels of carcinogens. It is clear that the provincial government is pushing for the project to go forward without good faith and honest discussion. The environmental assessment has been bungled, leaving residents worried about their health and the land.

People on the ground are calling on the federal government to step in. Will the government step up to protect people and the land?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Madam Speaker, we believe in the importance of proper environmental assessments. That is why we are rebuilding trust in environmental assessments through Bill C-69, which, unfortunately, is opposed by the Conservative Party. It will ensure that we do environmental assessments in consultation with indigenous peoples at the start. It means that we will be listening to the public and that we will be making decisions based on science and evidence, and we will ensure that good projects go ahead in a timely fashion.

Natural Resources

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Madam Speaker, you will never guess what the member for Compton—Stanstead and Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is trying to get her constituents to believe.

In her last mailer to all the residents of her riding, the minister claimed that spending $4.5 billion on a pipeline was an inevitable step in the energy transition. What a mind-boggling statement. That is like saying that taking the chain off a bike would make it go faster. The minister must not rate her constituents' intelligence very highly.

Could the minister rise today to explain her reasoning and tell us why spending $4.5 billion on a pipeline for an energy transition was inevitable?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Madam Speaker, with TMX, we are following the course of action recommended by the Federal Court of Appeal. At the same time, we are holding constructive, meaningful consultations with indigenous communities along the pipeline route. Our teams are working on the ground. Justice Iacobucci organized round tables on possible formats for the consultations, and the Minister of Natural Resources continues to meet with communities living along the route.

The Conservative members voted to slash funding for the TMX consultations. We are working hard every day to move forward in the right way.

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Madam Speaker, people wishing to show leadership on the environmental front do not buy oil pipelines.

As if that were not bad enough, a recent IMF analysis pegged our fossil fuel subsidies at $54 billion. That is 2.4% of Canada's GDP. The government calls itself a climate change leader, but honestly, that makes no sense at all.

Will the government undertake a transition toward renewable energy once and for all and turn its back on its friends in the dirty energy industry?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Madam Speaker, let me be clear. We have already eliminated eight of the nine financial subsidies for fossil fuels.

We are phasing out coal, but we are ensuring a just transition. We are working on this issue not only in Canada but around the world. We are leading the Powering Past Coal Alliance because we need to power past coal. We are making historic investments in renewable energy, in public transit, in clean energy and in energy efficiency because we want to save people money and because it is no longer free to pollute in Canada.

Justice

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Madam Speaker, everyone who knows Vice-Admiral Norman knows him to be a respected, dependable and distinguished member of the Royal Canadian Navy. Why is it that the Liberals could not have given him the benefit of the doubt by keeping his job open for him? Why did they not pay his legal fees until three days ago, when they were shamed into doing it?