Debates of May 15th, 2019

The Environment

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, climate change is real, and we know that first nations are disproportionately impacted, but the subsidy that the NDP wants to eliminate would leave at least 24 first nations in Ontario alone in the dark, literally.

These are communities that rely on the federal electricity subsidy program to maintain critical infrastructure, like water facilities and schools. The NDP quite literally wants to turn off the lights, heat and power to the communities' schools and water facilities, leaving some 16,000 people in the dark.

While the NDP continues to put forward these policies, we will ensure thoughtful and effective climate change policies.

Official Languages

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, as we see Conservatives across the country cutting access to French education, our government strongly believes that all Canadians should have access to an education in the official language of their choice.

Last Monday, I was extremely pleased to see the minister make an important announcement at Simon Fraser University.

I would ask the minister to explain to the House the steps our government is taking to ensure that we address the shortage of the French teachers in Canada.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, being a bilingual country is who we are and what we believe in. The reality is that while the Conservatives are cutting services to French immersion and also francophones, we are investing. There is a French teacher shortage in this country. We just reinvested $62 million to make sure that our kids have the capacity and the chance to become bilingual.

Will the Leader of the Opposition stop taking his orders from Doug Ford and denounce these cuts the provincial Conservative government is making in Ontario?

Natural Resources

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Tides Canada has made it its primary objective to stop the construction of any pipelines in Canada, especially those that would get Canadian energy to new markets. Sarah Goodman served as the vice-president of Tides Canada, and the Prime Minister has just appointed her to be his director of policy.

Our energy sector has taken hit after hit from the current Liberal government and this is another slap in the face to Canadian energy workers. Why did the Prime Minister choose someone who has actively worked to destroy our energy sector to be his director of policy?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, we are building pipelines. Enbridge Line 3, which we gave approval to, is almost complete on the Canadian side. We are advocating for the Keystone XL pipeline with the United States. We are moving forward on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in the right way. If the members of the Conservative Party were really serious about that process, they would not have voted it down to kill and shut down the process that would allow us to reach a decision on that project by June 18.

Justice

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal, we saw how two former Liberal ministers were treated when they tried to ensure respect for the rule of law.

A Liberal minister's chief of staff did his best to intervene in the process. He was promoted even though he, too, tried to direct the former attorney general in the SNC-Lavalin case and even threatened his staff.

Can the Prime Minister explain why all someone has to do to get a promotion in the Liberal government is to obstruct justice?

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

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we have always respected our institutions. We know that our institutions are independent of the government. We will continue to work on behalf of Canadians.

We know that the Conservatives continued to debate policies and programs that make life better for Canadians and that have put us in an economic position that is more affordable for Canadians today. That was not the case when the Conservatives were in power for 10 years under Stephen Harper. That is exactly why they do not have a plan for the economy or for the environment.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the former attorney general named Ben Chin as one of the most aggressive actors in the Prime Minister's attempt to interfere in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. She testified that he directly threatened her staff.

Let us think about this. The Prime Minister fired the attorney general and kicked her out of caucus for defending our rule of law, but he has promoted Ben Chin to the Prime Minister's Office after he worked to undermine our rule of law. Can the Prime Minister tell us how much of a bonus Ben Chin gets for doing the Prime Minister's dirty work?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have been clear that we were elected on a platform that committed to delivering for Canadians. That is exactly why today we have an economy that is working for Canadians, and that is exactly why we have invested in Canadians and skills development and Canadians have created over a million jobs.

Canadians should be proud of the work we are doing, but we know there is a lot more work to do. The tax-free Canada child benefit that we introduced three years ago, today has seen almost 300,000 children lifted out of poverty. Over 800,000 Canadians are benefiting.

The Conservatives continue to vote against these measures, and they continue to mislead Canadians because they have no plan of their own.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the Liberal plan, the careers and reputations of two accomplished and competent ministers were profoundly maligned by the Prime Minister. Both the member for Vancouver Granville and the member for Markham—Stouffville were punished for standing up for our rule of law and against the actions of the Prime Minister and his operatives.

We found out today that one of those operatives, Ben Chin, who attempted to interfere in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, has been rewarded. In what world is it right to reward those who attempt to undermine our rule of law and punish those who stand up for it?

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

Mr. Speaker, in the world that I live in, we actually respect our rule of law and we know that it is intact in Canada. We respect the independence of our officers of Parliament as well as our court system, something that the Conservatives have continued to undermine under their new leader, and something that they did under 10 years of Stephen Harper. All we know is that they have a new leader, but nothing has changed; they remain the party of Stephen Harper.

We on this side will continue to focus on Canadians. That is exactly why we lowered taxes for middle-class Canadians by increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1%. Conservatives voted against it. We brought in the tax-free Canada child benefit, which is lifting 300,000 children out of poverty. What did the Conservatives do? They voted—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Jonquière.

Public Services and Procurement

[Karine Trudel, NDP, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while thousands of public service workers are waiting to get paid, the Liberals are tossing money out the window. They are wasting even more money on a system that is not working, specifically $137 million since January.

On top of that, IBM employees are being called on to stabilize Phoenix. While IBM gets paid, our workers continue to have problems. This scandal has gone on long enough. Phoenix must be fixed.

Why do the Liberals keep giving money to a big corporation rather than helping the workers directly?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility]

Mr. Speaker, we understand that the persistent problems with the Phoenix pay system are unacceptable. We are working every single day to fix the problems with this system.

We reduced the backlog by about 40% a year ago. We are working with the unions and the President of the Treasury Board to bring in a new system to replace Phoenix. Our message to public service workers is clear: we stand behind them.

Health

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Athéna Gervais's death, caused by FCKDUP, a sweetened alcoholic beverage, should have raised a red flag—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I would ask the hon. member to choose her words carefully. I know that it is the name of a beverage, but I encourage members to find ways around using non-parliamentary language.

The hon. member may continue.

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Athéna Gervais's death, caused by a sweetened alcoholic beverage, should have raised a red flag. Experts and Éduc'alcool are calling on the government to make these products less attractive to young people, but the government is refusing to meet with them.

While new regulations around these beverages were being studied, the company that produces the beverage consumed by Athéna actively lobbied the Liberals, contacting them over 100 times.

Why have the Liberals yet again sided with powerful lobbies instead of helping our young people?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we of course mourn the death of any young person who came in contact with the drinks. I do take exception, though, to the hon. member saying that we are somehow influenced by the industry, because we are not.

The Canada food guide is a very good example of where we looked at the best evidence and came up with a policy, came up with a food guide that would make Canadians the healthiest in the world. We take the health and safety of Canadians very seriously.

The Environment

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we can see why the Liberals and the NDP are flip-flopping in response to the Green Party's gains in the byelection. They are electioneering. The Liberals are getting a wake-up call on the environment after three and a half years.

My question is very simple. Will the Paris Agreement targets be met?

Can the Liberals tell Canadians the truth for once and admit that they will not meet these targets?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am so happy to hear the member opposite talk about the environment. I did not think he had ever heard the word.

Climate action is indeed necessary. We have a plan. Do the opposition members want to join us in combatting climate change and growing our economy?

We have created 1 million jobs and we have a climate plan. We can do both at the same time. I invite the opposition to join us.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I would ask the hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, who asked the question, to listen to the answer, whether he likes it or not.

The hon. member for Abbotsford.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after taking a beating from the Greens in last week's by-election in B.C., the NDP and the Liberals are now desperately trying to one-up each other on climate change; more fearmongering by the NDP, more empty rhetoric and false information from the Liberals who are desperately trying to distract from their own climate failures.

The reality is that Canada has fallen way behind in meeting its Paris targets. The Liberals' own emissions report actually shows that.

When will the minister finally admit that her government will not meet its emission targets?

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

Mr. Speaker, three and a half years ago, I was with the member opposite. We brought members of all parties to COP 21, including the member opposite. We stood with the world to negotiate an ambitious Paris agreement. I was extremely proud that we had members of all parties there.

Then what did we do? We came home and did the hard work. For one year, we negotiated with provinces and territories, indigenous peoples, with all Canadians to develop a climate plan. However, in the face of that, the Conservatives continue to deny that climate change is a serious problem, that we are in a climate emergency, that we need to take action.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is in denial. She knows very well that her government has fallen way behind in meeting its Paris targets.

Today we have learned from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that it is costing the Liberals $175 million a year to operate their carbon tax scheme. That is $175 million to administer this cash grab. The reality is that the Liberals do not have a climate plan; they have a tax plan.

When will the minister admit that her climate plan is not as advertised?