Debates of May 17th, 2019

Justice

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the Liberal cover-up is continuing.

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman served this country with honour and distinction for 30 years, yet the Liberals will not even give him 30 seconds at one committee meeting to tell his story. They are covering up and protecting the Prime Minister and his involvement in this matter.

The Globe and Mail revealed today that the Prime Minister is the one who demanded the investigation. Why would the Prime Minister think it is appropriate to politically direct an RCMP investigation?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member seems to be dumbfounded that as the head of the government, the Prime Minister would be concerned about leaks of cabinet confidence. I would hope that any prime minister would be concerned.

The member should understand that the RCMP is an independent organization and that the decision to launch the investigation was made by the RCMP alone. As the director of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada confirmed last week, the decisions to initiate the investigation, lay charges and stay the charges were made independently and without political interference.

The member might want to listen to what is being said out there.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister may want to actually think about what actually happened here and that it was the Prime Minister who demanded the investigation to find a scapegoat for his cabinet leaks.

On two occasions, the Prime Minister stated publicly that Vice-Admiral Norman would be charged, even before the charges were laid and the investigation was complete. We now know that the Liberals withheld evidence from the RCMP, the public prosecutor and Vice-Admiral Norman's defence team. Vice-Admiral Norman deserves better than this kind of treatment from the Liberals.

Why are the Liberals tarnishing the great reputation of Vice-Admiral Norman just to protect the Prime Minister?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member well knows, the RCMP is an independent body and chooses to investigate and gather evidence on its own, independently of government sources.

With respect to documents, our government fulfilled all requests to the court for third party records applications. In fact, we put together a process with the court to ensure that those documents could be identified and then screened, ultimately by the judge in question. We fulfilled all of our obligations and we were cited by the court for having done so.

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

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the Prime Minister desperately wanted to find a scapegoat for the cabinet involving the Davie case.

Twice, the Prime Minister stated publicly, before the end of the investigation, that Vice-Admiral Norman would be charged. The Liberals withheld evidence from the RCMP, the Attorney General and Mr. Norman's defence team.

To make matters worse, the Prime Minister said publicly that the RCMP acted independently.

Does the Prime Minister realize that his actions toward this great military man constitute a serious abuse of power befitting a police state?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as we have said a number of times, the member should know that all procedures conducted by the PPSC and the RCMP are totally independent of the government. If he is not aware of that, I encourage him to take a law course on the subject.

As the Public Prosecution Service of Canada confirmed last week, 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.

The opposition members know very well that all of their claims are completely absurd and made out of context.

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

Mr. Speaker, I will take no lessons from the parliamentary secretary.

In the SNC-Lavalin affair, they tried to lecture us on the law. It is one corruption scandal after the next with this government. We are not making any of this up. According to this morning's Globe and Mail—and I think it was on the front page, so I am sure they checked their facts—it was the Prime Minister who had a little temper tantrum, like a spoiled kid, and wanted to involve the RCMP. That is what the Prime Minister did regarding the Davie shipyard matter.

Since when can a Prime Minister direct the RCMP to investigate a matter because he is upset about something? That is not how it works.

Why did the Liberal members on the committee refuse—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, committees work independently of government.

He mentioned lessons. Let us talk about lessons. Let us not forget the procurement process to replace our fighter jets, when the previous government kept two sets of books, one set for the public and a different set for its own party.

The Conservatives like to talk about transparency. How can they even mention transparency? On this side, we believe in following the process. We also respect Canada's judicial process. We respect our judicial bodies, and we will continue to do so.

Public Services and Procurement

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the cost to taxpayers for the Phoenix disaster is as high as $2.6 billion, and it will not be scrapped until 2023. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of workers continue to have their lives disrupted. My constituents called the pay centre and were told that it cannot help them. The minister told MPs to bring cases to her office directly. We have done that, and got nowhere.

Budget 2019 will not fix this dumpster fire. More resources will be needed to fix this ongoing debacle.

In what world is this an acceptable way to treat workers?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility]

Mr. Speaker, of course we were left with the other debacle of the Phoenix pay system after 700 public servants were summarily dismissed and tens of millions of dollars were cut from the federal budget to pay our public servants.

This government is committed entirely to paying our public servants on time and accurately. That is why we put in place the technological, human and other resources necessary to do it. That has yielded a reduction of approximately one-third in the number of transactions that are in the backlog, and we will continue to work without fail until we get that down to zero.

The Environment

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I still have many constituents who need help.

Jack Layton's climate change accountability act was passed in this House not once but twice before it was killed by the unelected and unaccountable Senate, and former MP Megan Leslie was advocating a green new deal to avert a climate disaster 10 years ago.

When the NDP asked the Minister of Environment to do more on the climate emergency, her response was “I don't get it.” The member for Edmonton Strathcona has tabled an environmental bill of rights for all Canadians. We have 11 years to act.

Will the Prime Minister support the NDP's environmental bill of rights?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member and the NDP for their interest in putting forward a climate plan. However, it is interesting that over the past three years they seem not to have been paying attention to the measures that we are implementing.

The pan-Canadian framework on climate change includes over 50 measures that are going to help bring our emissions down. We have put a price on pollution that is going to put more money in the pockets of families. We have made the largest investment in the history of public transit, and by 2030, 90% of our electricity will be generated from clean resources.

With respect to the hon. member's question, we look forward to all kinds of new ideas. I would be happy to discuss with her the next steps when it comes to considering an environmental bill of rights.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Let us recap, Mr. Speaker. Shortly after the 2015 election, the Liberals went to Paris on a PR junket, but they changed their tune as soon as they got back to Canada.

They kept the Conservatives' inadequate targets, which they will not even meet. Sure, they put a price on carbon, but the biggest GHG emitters are exempt. They bought a pipeline for $4.5 billion. Plus, this year they will hand over $3 billion in various subsidies to the oil and gas industry.

Then they had the nerve to vote against our motion calling for real action and went ahead with their own motion, which amounts to little more than lip service.

When will they stop taking Canadians for fools?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, with respect, the hon. member, and in fact the entire NDP, have good intentions when it comes to climate change, but the question just put on the floor of the House of Commons demonstrates that they do not bring the thoughtfulness required to develop policy that is going to meaningfully reduce our emissions.

For example, he has just cited the fact that big emitters are somehow exempt from our plan. Let me be unequivocal on this point: Big emitters are going to pay a price on pollution, and that is why families will be better off and eight out of 10 will have more money in their pockets at the end of the day.

With respect to the motion that he has just referred to, they have called for the immediate end to all fossil fuel subsidies. Had they consulted with indigenous people, they would have realized it would—

Telecommunications

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, one-third of the municipalities in my riding, or 13 out of 39, have little or no cellphone coverage. While big cities salivate at the thought of getting 5G service, some regions are still fighting to get 3G.

The 2019 budget provides funding for high-speed Internet, which is perfect, but once again, there is zero money for cell coverage. This is not the first time this issue has been raised in the House, but the Liberals always sidestep the question.

I am talking about cell service, not high-speed Internet.

Why do the Liberals treat people in the regions like second-class citizens?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, Minister of Rural Economic Development]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Pontiac, who raised this important issue in his motion, Motion No. 208, which the House supported.

We know it is important for rural communities to have access to broadband and cellphone coverage. It is a safety issue and an economic issue.

With our fall economic statement, we made sure, through the accelerated capital cost allowance, that there are telcos investing in cellphone coverage.

We will continue to do everything we can to make sure that Canadians have that access.

Justice

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when the former attorney general spoke truth to power and refused to allow the law to be broken, she was fired. However, when Ben Chin abused his position of power to inappropriately put pressure on that same attorney general, he was given a promotion. When CBC reporter James Cudmore was revealed to be at the centre of the Norman scandal, he got a job with the Minister of Defence.

Why is it that the Liberal government punishes those who tell the truth and promotes those who try to cover it up?

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

Mr. Speaker, it seems as if the Conservatives have finally woken up and realized it is important that we talk about jobs, so let us talk about jobs.

This government has been investing in Canadians, in skills development. By investing in Canadians and in communities across this country, Canadians have created over a million jobs. We are talking about almost four years in government, and we have been able, by having better relationships with provinces and municipalities, investing in infrastructure, investing in Canadians, lowering taxes on middle-class Canadians, lowering taxes on small businesses—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Calgary Midnapore.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to prove that he does not care about right or wrong, as long as he gets his way.

When he tried to interfere in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, his then attorney general got in the way, so he fired her. Ben Chin was one of the Prime Minister's conspirators in his attempt to undermine justice. Ben Chin got a promotion.

The message is clear. Those who do the Prime Minister's dirty work get rewarded.

What self-respecting parliamentarian would tolerate and defend this corruption?

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

Mr. Speaker, I was proud to be elected to represent the good people in the riding of Waterloo to ensure that in government and in the House of Commons, we represent the voices of Canadians.

Under 10 years of Stephen Harper, Canadians became tired of only Conservatives being represented. We made a commitment to ensuring that all voices would be represented. By ensuring that we work with all Canadians from coast to coast to coast, today we have an economy that is working.

That economy, by Canadians, has created over a million jobs. Today we have almost 300,000 children lifted out of poverty because of the tax-free Canada child benefit. Over 800,000 Canadians are better off today, but—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with little to speak of in terms of achievements over the past four years, the Prime Minister is racking up scandals and appalling behaviour from members of his entourage.

By promoting Ben Chin, the staffer who tried to circumvent the rule of law in the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the Prime Minister is confirming that he endorses this kind of totally unacceptable behaviour.

How would the Prime Minister explain to Canadians why such behaviour was rewarded with a promotion rather than a dismissal?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said, Canadians will always be our priority. We are here to work for them. That is exactly why we made investments and that is exactly why we are working with the provinces and the communities.

Through the investments we made, Canadians have created more than one million jobs to date. That means there are more Canadians working today, which is better for the economy since they will continue to make investments and have better communities. The Conservatives have no plan, so they are not going to—