House of Commons Hansard #420 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was liberals.

Topics

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:35 p.m.

Bloc

Luc Thériault Bloc Montcalm, QC

Madam Speaker, we indeed need to act to ensure that elections are held according to the rules without any cheating or outside interference via social media. We must ensure that the content that people see and share is based on facts and reality. We must ensure that there is no impersonation. The measures that the minister just outlined are not enough.

First, the government is relying upon the good faith of web giants. The minister's entire declaration was in the conditional tense. To ensure the integrity of online content, platforms would have do this or they would have to do that. The government stubbornly refuses to force web giants to follow the laws and regulations in place here. Can we really trust them? The answer is no. The founder of Facebook was very clear when he testified before the U.S. Congress. He believes that there should not be any regulations. He also indicated that it was up to the government to impose regulations if it so desired, and that he would do everything in his power to generate profits for his shareholders. That is the kind of person that Ottawa is protecting by failing to put in place a strict regulatory framework. The government is refusing to impose regulations on web giants to protect the integrity of our electoral system, just as it is refusing to subject them to the same tax laws as every other business. Ottawa keeps giving web giants more and more free passes.

Second, the government sees the mote in its neighbour's eye but not the beam in its own. The main reason we must be wary of interference and impersonation in federal elections is that the existing regulatory framework is full of holes. Fake news? There was plenty of fake news in the last election, including polls with incomplete data. I remember one party here making headlines with a commissioned survey in the riding of Papineau that indicated the Prime Minister might be trailing in his own riding. That was not the only riding, nor was it the only example. In fact, back in 2006, one firm had to apologize for misinterpreting polling data.

People are worried about foreign interference in our election. Everyone points to Russia and the last U.S. presidential election, but other nations interfering in federal elections is not the only thing we need to worry about. There is another factor that may interfere and make the democratic process unfair. That factor is most certainly present here in Ottawa; that factor is money.

As long as the old parties keep hosting exclusive cocktail fundraisers at $1,500 a head to sell preferred access to ministers and the Prime Minister, as long as they refuse to restore the old system of public funding for political parties based on votes received, as recommended by former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley, and as long as they continue to reject this democratic solution, we must guard against the influence of lobbyists on our electoral system.

There is another problem that the government refuses to address, namely the fact that anyone can vote in a federal election without having to prove their identity. Voters are not even required to produce photo identification. That is ridiculous. A person can vote without ID, even without a photo, as long as someone else is willing to confirm their identity, by taking an oath, of course. Think about that for a second. Anyone can vote in a federal election with their face covered up and without ID. This raises questions about the possibility of identity theft.

For all of these reasons, the Bloc Québécois is not impressed with the minister's statement today. We urge Canadians to be vigilant, because the federal government plainly has no intention of taking action to fix the flaws in the system.

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

Does the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands have unanimous consent to participate in this debate?

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Green Party of Canada, I wish to reply to the minister's statement on the subject of the use of—

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

I just want to remind the member that her microphone is right in front of her and her paper is creating some distraction, so it is hard to hear, especially for those who will be interpreting her speech.

The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:40 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Madam Speaker, I have just recently relocated so this is the first view I have had from this corner in eight years. I have always been in another corner and my desk may have a different microphone. We have accommodated the new Green Party member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith and I have been moved to a space where I have a much better view of the Speaker and do not need my earpiece to hear discussions even with heckling all around me, as in question period.

I want to respond to the minister's comment. The minister's speech on the subject of digital platforms and how we protect ourselves during elections is a critical issue. I want to put on the record that as leader of the Green Party, I do not suspect for one minute that the current government is trying to rig the election. I was quite shocked by the comments of my friend from Calgary Midnapore. I want to put on the record that the idea that the leaders debates are being in any way rigged must be called out right here, right now.

In the 2015 election campaign, as leader of the Green Party and member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands, I was invited to participate in those debates by the media consortium. The Conservative leader, the prime minister at the time, Stephen Harper, said that he would not participate in the debates run by the media consortium. Joined by then the NDP, he managed to get the debates, which reached over 11 million Canadians in 2011 and had been the way in which leaders debates had been run since 1968, cancelled, depriving Canadians of the opportunity to hear leaders of the various parties state their positions and appear on the same stage in the same format.

To now have a member representative of the Conservative Party attacking an attempt to create a non-partisan panel of experts, headed by our former governor general David Johnston, saying that this is an attempt to interfere and rig an election, I am sorry. I have been in too many election campaigns as leader of the Green Party. Every time, the person and the party trying to keep the Green Party off the stage was Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada. I will not stand by and pretend that it is not important for democracy that we have leaders debates and that they be televised.

I would really like to know whether the current leader of the official opposition is prepared to give his word that he will show up. The connivance and the backroom trickery around leaders debates has to come to an end. I have said this before that it would have been better if the Minister of Democratic Institutions had brought forward as a part of Bill C-76 a panel to run leaders debates.

However, I really find it offensive. I reject the notion about a panel where the debate commissioner is known to us. It is our former governor general David Johnston. That process is, by my appreciation at this moment having watched it unfold, a fair process despite missteps in not having it grounded in full consultation with all parties. It is a fair process and I want to step up and make it very clear that what the member for Calgary Midnapore said is not how I observed the process. It is an attempt at fairness after many elections that have been unfair, given connivance and backroom operations to shut down debates.

In this case, I do not see what the minister is offering as further evidence of Liberal connivance to rig the election. However, I do entirely agree with the hon. member for Elmwood—Transcona that this is not enough.

This does appear to be a request of Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter to do better. It is a request of those platforms to live up to our standards. I know those operations are trying to clean up their act. I have heard apologies in various media from the U.S. Congress where they have appeared. I have heard Mr. Zuckerberg say that he is sorry that Facebook information was misused. We are in a very serious crisis for democracy if the best we can do is hope for better from multinational digital operations that will see the Canadian election as small potatoes.

Digital platforms missed the boat. They did not pull down fake platforms, fake identities and fake users, as they should have. I recently saw that although they admitted that a video of Nancy Pelosi that has been placed on Facebook was altered to make her appear disreputable, they were not prepared to pull it down.

I do not want to go into the 2019 election trusting in the good intentions of Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter. We are going to need to actually regulate. We are going to need to make sure that they pay fair taxes. There are many things we are going to need to do.

I appreciate the spirit in which the minister has brought forward this new declaration on digital platforms, sharing of information and keeping Canadians informed and up to date. However, much more is going to be required. I do not think we will get very far with kind entreaties. We are going to need to say that election campaign ads and the placement of profiles online will start requiring cleaning up the space, from abuse, misogyny and racism and giving oxygen to white supremacists.

We have to stop allowing any of the digital platforms to provide publication rights on their platforms to people who are not transparent about their names and addresses, and they must be verifiable. We must ensure that we apply the same kind of publication identity to digital platforms that our print media have from time immemorial. We do not allow someone to write to The Globe and Mail and publish something using someone else's name and identity. The newspaper requires people to give their names, addresses and daytime phone numbers. The same thing should be required for Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and any of the accounts out there that have the potential to steal an election.

By the way, as a small addendum, for anyone who does not understand the power of these entities to steal an election, I recommend the film Brexit. It was made as a dramatic film, not as a documentary. It is very close to being produced in real time. If members are is not aware of how dangerously these instruments can be used in a democracy to mislead and lie to people, they specifically target people who are prepared to believe a certain argument. They find out who they are. They run fake contests to collect people's information. That is why our dear friends in the Parliament of Westminster are in an ongoing hell on earth. It is because of the very actors we are talking about today.

2019 Federal ElectionRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

I wish to inform the House that because of the ministerial statement, government orders will be extended by 36 minutes.

Interparliamentary DelegationsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Borys Wrzesnewskyj Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, five reports.

The first is entitled “Report of the Canadian Parliamentary Delegation regarding its participation in the pre-NATO Summit Conference”, held in Brussels, Belgium, July 11-12, 2018.

The second is entitled “Report of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the 16th Summer Defence Conference”, held September 10-11, 2018, in Paris, France.

The third is entitled “Report of the Canadian Parliamentary Delegation regarding its participation at the Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum”, held in Washington, D.C., United States of America, December 10-12, 2018.

The fourth is entitled “Report of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the Joint Meeting of the Defence and Security, Economics and Security, and Political Committees”, held February 18-20, 2019, in Brussels, Belgium.

The fifth is entitled “Report of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the Standing Committee Meeting”, held in Zagreb, Croatia, March 29-31, 2019.

National DefenceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Stephen Fuhr Liberal Kelowna—Lake Country, BC

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on National Defence, entitled “Canada's Role in International Peace Operations and Conflict Resolution”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

National DefenceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, I have a dissenting report attached to the official report from the Standing Committee on National Defence. The Conservative members on the committee feel that there are a number of omissions in the report. There was some testimony that was absent and understated, and the report did not reflect all the testimony we heard.

We believe that the Liberal members on the committee neglected to demonstrate how the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali serves our national interest, were unable to substantiate their rhetoric on what actually is peacekeeping, failed to address the risk environment inherent in modern peacekeeping missions and failed to acknowledge the importance of consulting Parliament before committing our troops to war zones. More important, the report also failed to address the issue of crimes committed by troops from contributing nations during UN missions, which actually undermines the overall statement on modern-day peacekeeping.

We have made several recommendations. We have included testimony from General Fraser, General Lewis MacKenzie, Bruce Jones and Ian Johnstone, who we felt provided a lot more depth and robust discussion on both the positives and negatives in UN peacekeeping missions.

Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 94th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs in relation to its study of the main estimates 2019-20.

Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, during the dissenting reports on the national defence committee report, the member for Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke stood to present his dissenting report as well, and you, Madam Speaker, failed to recognize him.

Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

If the hon. member wishes to speak, he would need unanimous consent from the House to do so. Does the hon. member have unanimous consent to speak to the previous report from the member for Kelowna—Lake Country to present his dissenting opinion?

Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

National DefenceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Madam Speaker, I thank the members for giving me the opportunity to stand to talk about why we did not support the government's report on peace operations.

There were two major reasons. One is that the government has stuck to its idea that we are going to leave Mali early, before our replacements are there for the very important peacekeeping mission we are doing there. This is a symbol of how we believe that the report fails to address that the government is not living up to the commitments it made on international peacekeeping at the conference in Vancouver.

The second reason is that the overall report fails to emphasize the importance of UN peacekeeping missions and making UN peacekeeping missions the priority for Canadians, because UN missions focus on the peace process, are civilian led and have the best record of success in restoring peace and stability.

Status of WomenCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women on the main estimates, 2019-20.

Access to InformationPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC

Madam Speaker, I have two petitions to raise today.

The first is petition e-1090, which is from about 900 Victorians calling on the government to immediately begin turning over all historical documents to public archives and to reform the Access to Information Act and Library and Archives Canada to ensure that historical material does not remain hidden outside of our public archives.

Animal WelfarePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC

Madam Speaker, the second petition raises an issue of importance to people not just in my constituency but from across Canada. It calls on the House of Commons to support Bill S-214 and ban the sale and/or manufacture of animal-tested cosmetics and their ingredients in Canada. The petitioners submit that the European Union, one of the largest cosmetics markets in the world, banned animal testing in 2013, and they ask that Canadians have the same opportunity.

Animal WelfarePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK

Madam Speaker, I wish to present a petition from many residents of Saskatchewan, who call upon the House of Commons to support Bill S-214 and ban the sale and/or manufacture of animal-tested cosmetics and their ingredients in Canada moving forward.

We have about 300 signatories, mostly from Saskatoon but all from Saskatchewan, and I present this petition on their behalf.

HealthPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be tabling 10 petitions in the House today.

The first petition draws the attention of the House to the following: whereas the World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”; whereas our national concept of health care should include disease prevention and health promotion, not merely the management of disease once it occurs; whereas investments by Canadians in their own health through spending on self-care options, including natural health products, over-the-counter medicines and wellness services, provide significant benefits and reduce costs to the system; and whereas the government of Canada should make an effort to make health care more accessible to Canadians, particularly the most vulnerable populations, the petitioners urge Parliament to instruct the Standing Committee on Health to undertake a comprehensive study of the impact of uninsured self-care products and wellness services and of the barriers that exist for those wishing to access them.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Madam Speaker, the second petition is in support of Bill S-240 on organ harvesting, which is currently in the Senate.

The third petition is also in support of Bill S-240.

The fourth petition is in support of Bill S-240.

The fifth petition is in support of Bill S-240.

The sixth petition is in support of Bill S-240.

The seventh petition is in support of Bill S-240.

Canada Summer JobsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Madam Speaker, the eighth petition deals with the Canada summer jobs program and draws the attention of the House to violations of the right to freedom of conscience that occurred through the Canada summer jobs program. It calls on the Prime Minister and Parliament to ensure that the rights of all organizations seeking Canada summer jobs funding are respected and that people's rights under section 2 of the charter are respected in that context.

Human Organ TraffickingPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB

Madam Speaker, the ninth petition is in support of Bill S-240 on organ harvesting, which is currently in the Senate.

The tenth petition is also in support of Bill S-240.

Human RightsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of several dozen constituents in the cities of Burnaby and New Westminster.

These citizens call on the Government of Canada to do all within its power to ensure that employers do not discriminate against members of Canada's disabled community, especially those with epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar affective disorder, Down syndrome, schizophrenia, Elsberg syndrome, cystic fibrosis or speech, language or hearing impairments. Constituents call on the Government of Canada to ensure that employers do not discriminate against members of the disabled community.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

4 p.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Madam Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 2379, 2383, 2390 to 2393, 2403 to 2405 and 2408.