Debates of May 27th, 2019

Extension of Sitting Hours

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague, the hon. opposition House leader, regarding the parliamentary calendar and, more specifically, the government's handling of it.

As she would know, as every member of Parliament who has been in this place even for a few days would recognize, when we look at the parliamentary calendar that is issued yearly, we see that the last two weeks of each session have asterisks beside the dates. That does not mean we might be able to get out of here early. What it means is that the government, if it chooses to, could extend the sitting hours so that we could have further debate and pass legislation.

Back in 2015, we never used extended sitting hours, because our government of the day was able to pass legislation in a timely manner, getting it through before we rose for the summer. This is the first time I can remember that we will have extended sitting hours for four weeks, not just the two weeks that are the norm, but four weeks. In my view, that is because the government is failing in its handling of the parliamentary calendar. More specifically, the government's incompetence has not allowed it to bring forward legislation in a timely fashion, and now it has to rush and play catch-up. Was it the SNC-Lavalin scandal that threw the government off its game? I do not know, but this is certainly the fault of the government.

Could my hon. colleague, my friend, the hon. opposition House leader, expand further upon that?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the government has delivered a lot of broken promises and empty symbolism to Canadians. What we are seeing today with this motion is a culmination of that.

It is certainly anticipating massive problems from the Senate in response to much of its legislation, because its so-called promise of listening to Canadians is empty and broken. It has mismanaged the House. The member articulated very well how the calendar is set up and the fact that under our previous Conservative government, we managed things effectively. When in government, sometimes time allocation does have to be used, and we did.

However, we want to highlight the hypocrisy of the Liberal government and its members standing up and sanctimoniously preaching at us the Conservatives and everybody before us who used time allocation, despite the Prime Minister saying he would use neither it nor omnibus bills. He has. He has used draconian measures, and is doing so even now. Even at that, the Prime Minister is having so many problems getting legislation through.

It is kind of like his foreign policy, and this is the problem. How did Margaret Thatcher put it? She said that “Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.” The Prime Minister, even in enacting legislation, could have said that despite his government being a majority one, it would sometimes use time allocation, and here is the agenda and what we are going to do, and the opposition can use its tools. Sure, we would have been going back and forth, but it is the hypocrisy I'm referring to. It is the Prime Minister standing up and saying that he is better than everyone else, that he is sunny ways, that he is tolerant and that he believes in Parliament and he is going to respect backbenchers. It was all fraudulent. None of it was true.

This motion today is clear. It is as clear as the nose on all of our faces. The government is not doing what it said it would do. It is about broken promises, empty rhetoric and empty symbolism.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is quite far from reality.

To try to give the impression that the Harper government did not use similar measures to what we are using today is just wrong. It did. The Harper government used these measures to pass legislation.

The Liberal government is focused on Canadians. The Conservative Party is not prepared to work late on the last 20 days of the government. It does not want work late for Canadians.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader just made my point.

The Prime Minister came in, trying to shame us and say that we were a terrible government because we used the tools available. The Liberals are doing exactly what they said they were not going to do, and they are doing it even more, using time allocation and draconian measures. At least the former Conservative government allowed private members to have a say and to have free votes.

Not only are the Liberals using time allocation, and here I guess the Liberals talked to the previous government about how to do it, they are also shutting down debate for members of Parliament and are controlling committees, which we did not do. The former Conservative government did not fire our attorney general because he would not interfere in a criminal case. Who fired its attorney general because she did not interfere in a criminal case? It was the Liberal government.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating the member for Vancouver Granville and the member for Markham—Stouffville, who have announced they will be running as independents in the federal election to be held this fall. They stood up to the Prime Minister and for judicial independence and they paid a terrible political price, being banished from the Liberal Party. Both of them are putting the future and the final decision in the hands of the voters of Vancouver Granville and Markham—Stouffville, which is as it should be.

I would like to mention the last time we sat for four weeks in night sessions. The New Democrats are no strangers to hard work. We believe our job is to be here and fight as hard as we can on behalf of our constituents and all Canadians.

Statistics were kept of the last time we sat for four weeks until midnight. Canadians know there is a rotation. The Liberals get a chance to speak, then the Conservatives, then the New Democrats. Then independents and non-recognized parties occasionally will have their opportunity as well.

The last time we sat late for four weeks, I am proud to say that not a single speaking spot was missed by the New Democrats. Every time it came to the NDP, and that was frequently, the New Democrats rose in the House and spoke on behalf of their constituents and of Canadians.

Sadly, that is not the case with the Liberals and the Conservatives. The last time we sat for four weeks of midnight sittings, the Liberals and the Conservatives failed to show up over 200 times. A Liberal speaker would be called and not a single member of the Liberal caucus rose to speak on behalf of his or her constituents or on behalf of anybody.

I find it a bit rich when the government House leader talks about the Liberals wanting to work harder. The opposition House leader said the same thing, all be it more eloquently. The reality is that this happened 200 times over 20 days. Over that period, or 10 times a day, the Conservatives and the Liberals failed to stand and speak on behalf of their constituents.

The New Democrats have a record of wanting to work hard and we believe all members of the House of Commons should work equally hard on behalf of their constituents. Therefore, our problem is not the midnight sittings. To the contrary, we have proven over the years that the New Democrats are here to work and work hard, and we will continue to do that.

The problem with the motion is that it strips away all the tools that opposition members can use to hold the government to account, and this is no small matter. When we look at the mandate letter the Prime Minister provided to the government House leader in 2016, it speaks very clearly to what the government told Canadians it wanted to bring as far as a new spirit in the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister wrote in the mandate letter:

I made a personal commitment to bring new leadership and a new tone to Ottawa. We made a commitment to Canadians to pursue our goals with a renewed sense of collaboration.

He said further in his mandate letter, which directs the government House leader on how to work with members of the opposition in the House of Commons:

As Minister, you will be held accountable for our commitment to bring a different style of leadership to government. This will include: close collaboration with your colleagues; meaningful engagement with Opposition Members of Parliament...

He went on to say:

Parliamentarians must have the information and the freedom to do their most important jobs: represent their constituents and hold the government to account. It is your job to help empower all Members of Parliament to fulfill these essential responsibilities. .

The Prime Minister went on to say that the government House leader should be changing the House of Commons Standing Orders to end the improper use of omnibus bills. We have seen some of the most egregious examples of omnibus legislation in our history as a country and our history as a Parliament under the Liberal government, the most recent being the incredibly inappropriate use of trying to gut immigration legislation through the use of an omnibus budget bill.

My colleague, the member for Vancouver East, has spoken eloquently, as have dozens of organizations across the country, about the cutting off the ability of refugees to apply for refugee status in Canada, something that has been applauded by white supremacists and has been derided, quite legitimately, by organizations that are very concerned by the government's incredible shift to the right on this. This should never have been put into omnibus legislation, given that the Prime Minister committed to ending the improper use of omnibus bills. It is just another commitment that has been left by the wayside.

The Prime Minister asked and directed the government House leader, in her mandate letter, to “Work with Opposition House Leaders to examine ways to make the House of Commons more family-friendly for Members of Parliament.” Nothing in the mandate letter that was given to the government House leader is reflected at all in the motion the government has brought forward, which strips the opposition of rights and imposes on the government no obligation whatsoever with respect to how it runs through the next few weeks of Parliament.

We know from history, as I cited earlier with my sad example, that on over 200 occasions, the Liberals and the Conservatives failed to show up to work in the evening up until midnight. Shift workers, nurses, firefighters and police officers show up to work. People who work in plants, as I did on the shop floor, work 12-hour shifts, from midnight to noon. We showed up to work. Canadians show up to work, yet it is sadly the case that more than 200 times, in only 20 sitting days, the Liberals and the Conservatives failed to show up to speak on behalf of their constituents.

In the motion, which strips the opposition of all its rights, there is no obligation at all on the government side to do anything in particular. There is no obligation for the government to accept the many amendments that NDP members and other opposition members provide to improve legislation.

As we saw in the Harper years, on almost a dozen occasions, legislation that was passed after being railroaded through the House of Commons was rejected by the courts. Parliament exists to ensure we get legislation right the first time, not to have to rely on the court system to override egregiously bad legislation that has been pushed through the House of Commons.

However, this is what the Liberal government has done. In complete repudiation of its commitment to be a different government and in complete repudiation of the mandate letter I just cited, the Liberals have rammed through bad legislation that is now moving to the courts as well. Under the Harper government, legislation was rejected a dozen times.

It is a bad practice, yet there is nothing in the motion that obliges the government to listen to witnesses in committee. There is nothing in the motion that obliges the government to entertain the amendments that help to make legislation better. There is nothing that actually improves parliamentary procedure in this place.

That is the fundamental problem and that is why tomorrow, when I have a chance to speak a little more to the motion, I will speak about what the government should have done and how it should have been approaching this, doing so in that spirit of collaboration, which now seems so remote and removed.

Four years later, all of the promises of sunny ways that we heard from the Liberals belong on the trash heap of history. We have had a very mean-spirited government that has tried to railroad the rights of Parliament repeatedly. Ultimately, I think the Liberals will pay a price for this on October 21.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby will have 10 minutes remaining in his time for remarks when the House next gets back to debate on the question that was before the House.

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would like to congratulate the Memorial Cup champions, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. They showed their mettle by coming from behind to claim the top prize yesterday in Halifax.

We would also like to congratulate the Mooseheads, who did not go down without a fight.

Let me point out that the final pitted two Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams against each other, which was a great way to celebrate the league's 50th anniversary.

We would like to congratulate the players, the head coach, Mario Pouliot, and the whole organization. A special shout out to Joël Teasdale: tournament MVP will look pretty good on the young Canadiens prospect's resumé.

The Huskies' glorious Memorial Cup victory is not unexpected considering the team's record-breaking 59-win season in the QMJHL.

Rouyn and Abitibi are basking in their team's triumph, and all of Quebec is proud of its champions.

Bravo, and thank you.

Tamil Canadians

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Saturday, May 18, 2019, was an important day in the Tamil Canadian community. It was the 10th anniversary of the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka. We remember the trauma and loss over the 26 years of war, an armed conflict the United Nations declared a genocide.

As we recognize the end of this conflict, the Government of Canada believes that the best way forward is through engagement with the Sri Lankan government, with accountability, openness and transparency as the building blocks of peace and stability.

In my riding of Mississauga East—Cooksville, we have a strong and vibrant Tamil community that I have come to know over the last 20 years. I want to thank the Senior Tamils Society of Peel, the Mississauga Tamil Association, the Canadian Tamil Congress and SOPCA, the Screen of Peel Community Association, for all their hard work and community-building, which adds to the cultural diversity of Mississauga.

I am looking forward to continuing to work with them now and in well into the future.

Tourism

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

Mr. Speaker, whether it is dining out at Timmy Tom's Pizzeria in Winnipeg, which won this year's World Pizza Championship, planning a round of golf at the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada's Cultural Tourism Award winner Quaaout Lodge and Talking Rock Golf resort, in Chase, B.C., visiting Condé Nast Traveler award winner Quebec City to stroll the old world beauty of Quartier Petit Champlain, browsing Toronto's Lonely Planet hotspot, Kensington Market, or enjoying the Eat the Castle culinary excursion tour at the Fairmont Banff Springs in my own riding of Banff—Airdrie, Canada offers a unique and special tourist experience in each region of the country from one coast to another.

May 26 to June 2 is tourism week, a time for us all to celebrate the contributions and experiences of Canada's tourism industry.

I urge all Canadians to celebrate by visiting Canada's magnificent sites and taking advantage of all the experiences our wonderful country has to offer.

Business Congratulations

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Humber River—Black Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to recognize a franchise that is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Vin Bon is a modem boutique micro-winery that brings the very best of wine culture to communities across this country. Combining elements of the traditional winemaking experience with the emerging craft wine concept, Vin Bon creates a diverse selection of wines and offers customers an opportunity to engage intimately with a historically exclusive lifestyle. As it seeks to bring the winery experience to the people, Vin Bon presents an innovative, versatile concept that treats guests to quality wines, a relaxing atmosphere and a cultural experience like no other.

I would like to say congratulations to the Locilento family for all their hard work over the last 40 years. They have been a true friend to my family, and I look forward to having a glass of their fine wine together in the future. Congratulations on 40 years in business. I wish them nothing but success in the future.

Labour

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr Speaker, 100 years ago this week, the federal government ordered postal workers participating in the Winnipeg General Strike to return to work and sign anti-union pledges or be fired. Provincial and municipal employees, including the police, were given the same ultimatum. In a show of unity, thousands of strikers gathered at Victoria Park to reject these unfair demands and press forward.

This past Saturday, just months after the current government legislated postal workers back to work, thousands of Winnipeggers and labour leaders from across the country marched through Winnipeg to commemorate the 1919 strike. Two attempts in this Parliament to recognize the historical significance of the strike have failed to achieve unanimous consent. This disappointing fact is a testament to the ongoing political significance of the strike.

We live in a time of rising inequality, with political forces that have openly declared war on the right of workers to organize and demand fairness at work. May the legacy of the strike continue to inspire working Canadians as an example of the power we have when we put aside the things that divide us and focus on our common interests in the workplace and at the ballot box.

Mary Steinhauser

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I stand today to recognize Mary Steinhauser, a fallen Canadian prison classification officer. She was a nurse, social worker and trailblazer in her approach to inmate rehabilitation. In 1975, Mary bravely offered herself as the principal hostage during a prison riot at a federal maximum security penitentiary in New Westminster, British Columbia. She and 14 other officers were held for 41 hours. During a bungled rescue attempt, Mary was fatally shot by a prison guard.

In the words of the Right Hon. Pierre Trudeau, “Mary will be remembered with respect and gratitude for her outstanding courage and fortitude...and for her service in a most difficult and demanding vocation”.

I would like to take this opportunity to honour her memory and thank our corrections personnel, who continue a tradition of selfless service for all Canadians.

Privacy

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as chair of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, it is my honour to welcome parliamentarians from Argentina, Chile, Equador, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Morocco, Singapore and the United Kingdom to Ottawa. They join us here for the second meeting of the International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy. Together we represent over 440 million citizens, all of us looking for ways to protect the privacy of our citizens in this digital age.

Over the next three days, we will hear from experts about the issues surrounding big data and privacy as well as about how we can work to find solutions to protect the rights of our citizens. Representatives from all major tech companies will also be giving testimony. To that end, I once again urge Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to respect the will of lawmakers and comply with our subpoena and show up.

To my international colleagues, welcome to Canada.

Non-profit Entrepreneurship Centre

[Richard Hébert, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this month, the former Juvénat Saint-Jean in Dolbeau-Mistassini began welcoming new students enrolled at the Centre spécialisé en entrepreneuriat multi-ressources.

A class of about 15 forestry entrepreneurs just started their training. This building has been renovated to house modern classrooms, boardrooms and administrative offices. To maximize the number of students who can participate, the course includes on-site room and board. Although the entrepreneurship centre is tailored to the needs of Lac-Saint-Jean, anyone from Quebec can enrol. Since this month is Forest Month, I want to offer my congratulations and best wishes to Pierre-Olivier Lussier, the director of the centre, and to all the new student entrepreneurs.

Firefighters

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in our community, our local firefighters are real-life heroes, but too often these brave men and women are taken for granted, despite the fact that they suit up every day and put their lives on the line.

For almost a generation, our firefighters have called on members of Parliament to make sure that we have their backs and the backs of their families, and that is why we established the memorial grant program for first responders. It is a program that provides a tax-free, $300,000 payment to support families of first responders who fall in the line of duty. This is the least we can do, especially since fighting fires and responding to emergencies is only the start of the contributions our firefighters make.

The Burnaby and North Vancouver firefighters charitable societies also selflessly volunteer their time to raise money for local charities and causes. Even after they retire, they find ways to contribute. Just ask our new mayor, ex-firefighter Mike Hurley. I was proud to be the first politician to volunteer for their charitable dunk tank in Burnaby, so come out this Hats Off Day, and support our local firefighters.

Government Policies

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

Mr. Speaker, over the last few months, Canadians have been losing trust in their Prime Minister as a result of the SNC-Lavalin and Vice-Admiral Mark Norman affairs. In return, he has been stacking the deck in favour of the Liberal Party.

The Liberals have changed spending rules in advance of the election, so he is tying the hands of his political opponents, while the Prime Minister jets across the country dispensing money. The Liberals have changed election debates, taking planning for the debates out of the hands of the media and the political parties and giving it to his hand-picked debates commission.

The Liberals acknowledge that there is foreign influence ahead of the election and have done nothing about it. Most egregiously, they have given one of their top supporters control over a $600-million media fund on the eve of the election. Jerry Dias and Unifor are well known for their partisanship and well known for their support of the Liberals. They call themselves the worst nightmare of the Prime Minister's opponents. It is shameful.

Canadians see sunny ways turning into shady ways, but stacking the deck will not fool Canadians in the fall.

Brain Tumours

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today eight Canadians will learn they have brain cancer. That is 3,000 people per year. I am wearing a grey ribbon to raise awareness about brain tumours among Canadians.

The diagnosis of a brain tumour, whether benign or malignant, slow-growing or aggressive, is devastating for patients and their families.

I was the natural caregiver for my mom, who battled a brain tumour with courage and dignity for 15 years. I understand the effects of neurological damage from brain tumours on patients' physical and cognitive abilities and the toll it takes on their quality of life and that of their families.

I want to thank the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada for its work in educating people about this disease and for providing invaluable support to patients and their families. Thanks to the foundation's efforts, brain tumour researchers are making breakthroughs in Canada and around the world.

Let us fight this disease together.

Camp Molly

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

Mr. Speaker, young women are leading our country forward in so many ways. Last week I hosted my third annual Young Women in Leadership program, which offers young women in Halton an opportunity to job shadow in a local business, agency, organization or government office. This year over 60 young women shadowed with over 50 mentors in various workplaces. Our program motto is that if you can see it, you can be it.

One of those mentors was the Oakville fire service. Recently Oakville hosted the inaugural weekend at Camp Molly, which offered 24 young women from the Halton region the opportunity to explore the fire service as a career path. Camp Molly was created by Oakville's deputy fire chief, Monique Belair, to break the stigma that firefighting is a man's job.

Congratulations to all the young women in our community who are breaking barriers.

Conservative Party of Canada

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in less than 150 days, Canadians will have the chance to say goodbye to the Liberal government, but for now the Prime Minister is desperately trying to stack the deck, to say the least.

To start, we have the infamous expert panel and the $600-million media bailout. The Liberals asked Unifor to be on that panel. Unifor is a sworn enemy of the Conservative Party and the self-proclaimed worst nightmare of the Leader of the Opposition. They call that objectivity, but it is nothing of the sort.

The Liberal government is reducing allowable expenses for political parties before the election, but ministers will be able to criss-cross the country making all kinds of electoral promises.

As far as the leaders' debate is concerned, the Liberals created a committee without any consultation to fix a non-existent problem, yet they have failed to adopt very strict rules to prevent foreign interference in Canada's electoral process.

Canadians are no fools. On October 21, they will have the opportunity to elect a responsible party and a responsible leader. They will have the opportunity to elect a Conservative government.

Franco-Ontarian Games

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 106 Franco-Ontarian secondary schools took part in the largest annual event for Franco-Ontarian youth in the province, the Franco-Ontarian Games, which have been held every year for the past 26 years. This year's games were hosted for the first time by the community of Hanmer, in Valley East, which is in my riding of Nickel Belt.

This three-day event showcases the talents of francophone students in eight areas of the arts and physical activity. This gathering under the white and green flag perfectly demonstrated these students' pride and spirit of co-operation and gave them the opportunity to show off their talents in various sports, cultural activities and the performing arts.

The Franco-Ontarian Games gave participants and volunteers the opportunity to immerse themselves in French heritage, language and culture, while reminding these leaders of tomorrow of their origins and what it means to be French Canadian.

Salmon Habitat

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday I had a very special experience in my riding. I have always championed our amazing Cowichan River and its importance to our community, but the water levels in the river are at dangerously low levels, having reached just 30% of where they should have been in the month of March. Joe Saysell took me down the river on his drift boat, and along the way, we stopped at several locations to rescue coho and chinook salmon fry that were stranded in pools in the rapidly receding main river.

The single biggest thing we can do for fish in the Cowichan River is raise the weir so that we maintain adequate flows for their survivability. Protecting critical habitat is crucial for the long-term health of salmon species.

The federal government must step up and make this a priority for our coast, especially in the face of future climate change projections for our region.

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, in a signal that the Liberals' have absolutely no respect for the intelligence of Canadians, there was the Environment Minister in a bar in St. John's caught on video in all her honesty saying, “I...gave them some real advice. I said that if you actually say it louder, we've learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it.”

Given her admission, let us look at what the minister has repeated loudly, over and over, in the House of Commons to try to get Canadians to totally believe her: the carbon tax will be revenue neutral; Canadians will get more than they pay in the carbon tax; and we need a price on pollution. Canadians are much smarter than the Liberals and the environment minister give them credit for.

On October 21, Canadians will use the loudest and most powerful voice they have been given in our democracy and they will repeat it over and over, not in the House of Commons but in ballot boxes across this great nation, by marking an X for the Conservative Party of Canada and totally rid Canada of the failed Liberal experiment.

Toronto Raptors

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Saturday night was one of those times in our country's sports history when the emotions of millions of passionate Canadian fans were united and in sync, riding a roller coaster of emotions. Canadians across Canada were united in cheering on the Toronto Raptors.

Down 15 points in the third quarter, the Raptors made an amazing comeback as “We The North” defeated the Milwaukee Bucks. Passionate and loud cheers echoed not only in the arena, but even louder outside in Jurassic Park.

Wherever Canadians were watching, we were all cheering on our basketball heros: Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell and Marc Gasol.

As the Raptors head to their first ever NBA final, Canadians are united behind them. We will see the warriors in the finals. Let's go Raptors.

Paul Manly, member for the electoral district of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, introduced by Ms. Elizabeth May.

News Media Industry

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor on his panel to determine eligibility for a half a billion dollar media bailout package has destroyed the credibility of this process.

Unifor is a highly partisan group with very aggressive and partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help Liberals win the next election, and yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to the panel.

Will the Prime Minister just openly admit that he is stacking the deck in his favour?