Debates of May 28th, 2019

Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia

[Rémi Massé, Liberal, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I entered politics in 2015 to help rebuild my region's trust in Ottawa after the decade of darkness under a Conservative government.

We have completely changed course since our election and now my region is booming. It has tremendous economic momentum thanks to our government's investments in such things as upgrading the Carleton-sur-Mer wharf, building lookouts in Matapédia and Saint-André, modernizing SEREX in Amqui, building a new arena in Mont-Joli, allocating $27 million to the Institut Maurice-Lamontagne, decontaminating sites and extending the Mont-Joli airport runway, as well as repairing and rebuilding the port of Matane and creating more than 220 federal jobs back home.

Since 2015, my riding has seen investments totalling $160 million, thanks to the Prime Minister's leadership, an extraordinary team and a comprehensive program. People back home were right to put their trust in us. Let's imagine another four wonderful years.

News Media Industry

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to his panel to determine eligibility for a half-billion-dollar media package has destroyed the government's credibility.

Unifor is a highly partisan group and it has very aggressive and partisan goals. It has made clear that its objective is to elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, and yet the Prime Minister has chosen to appoint it to this very important panel.

Why does the Prime Minister not openly admit he is stacking the deck for himself?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong, independent media is a cornerstone of Canadian democracy. We are therefore acting to ensure that media continue to hold elected officials to account. We are ensuring that both employees and employers are represented on the independent panel.

When it comes to the media, the Conservatives' only plan is to eliminate CBC and Radio Canada, which would mean no local coverage in smaller communities and the end of an institution valued by Canadians for generations.

Unlike what the Leader of the Opposition put in his leadership platform, we will not let that happen.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious issue. The government has indicated that it is setting up a panel that will have on it an entity that is clearly biased in the government's favour. The entity will be in charge of determining criteria for a half-billion-dollar media bailout package.

The Prime Minister can tell us the former positions of the opposition, but the reality is that his position right now is this. He is undermining the independence of journalists, who are very concerned.

Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know that any strong democracy relies on an independent, strong media that is there to do its job of holding politicians to account. We need to make sure that both employers and employees are part of the panel that will oversee the independent media fund. This is something we understand.

The Conservatives, however, continue to attack organized labour, including attacking the largest private sector union in the country, because their hate for labour does not know limits. Well, we are—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Milton.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for the Prime Minister to stand there and tell someone who grew up in Cape Breton and is a product of a coal-mining family that she hates labour is absolutely disgusting. I am not afraid to have dirt under my finger nails.

I am going to quote one journalist who seeks to have independence, “Now the government that benefited from Unifor’s partisan largesse has asked it for help deciding who’s a proper journalist and what’s a proper news outlet.”

You could have done better, Prime Minister. Why did you not?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Milton is an experienced member, but I remind her to direct her comments to the Chair.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Carleton will come to order, now.

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder where the member opposite's high dungeon was when her government was bringing in anti-union legislation, Bill C-525 and Bill C-377, which were the very first things we eliminated when Canadians voted the Conservatives out and voted Liberals back in.

We will always respect organized labour in the country. We will work with it and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians it represents.

We are going to continue to stand up for an independent media. That means supporting employers and employees.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals want to ruin the credibility of journalists with the election just five months away.

The Prime Minister decided to include Unifor, a union that has openly admitted to being a Liberal Party supporter and has said it would be the Conservatives' and our leader's worst nightmare.

Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and take Unifor off the panel tasked to decide how to distribute $600 million amongst the media across Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, strong, independent media are vital to Canadian democracy. We are taking action to ensure that the media can continue to hold governments to account. We are ensuring that employees and employers are represented on this independent panel.

The only plan the Conservative opposition leader has for the media is to get rid of CBC and Radio-Canada. That was in his campaign platform during the leadership race. It would mean no more local coverage in small communities, and it would spell the end of a cherished and respected Canadian institution.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the media.

This is what some in the media have had to say. Mario Dumont, Caroline St-Hilaire and Daniel Lessard have said they are uncomfortable with the Liberal Prime Minister's decision. Don Martin from CTV said that this is a most serious threat to journalistic independence.

I will repeat my question for the Prime Minister: when will he remove Unifor from the panel he set up to distribute millions of dollars to the media across Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are well aware that Conservatives have a history of bashing unions.

In fact, under the previous government they introduced an anti-union bill that we had to repeal in order to work with the unions. We respect the responsibility of unions to represent workers, the employees. That is why we wanted employers and employees from the media to be represented on the panel to make it truly independent. We will always protect our independent media.

Government Priorities

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, investing in strong public services is a Canadian value, but the OECD reports that Canada now ranks 25th out of 37 countries on social spending. At the same time, the Liberals gave $29 billion a year to rich companies with no strings attached.

The Conservatives and the Liberals have starved our public services, while using our money to help the richest companies. When will the Liberals stop helping their wealthy corporate buddies over the public services on which families count?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite wants to talk about services that families count on, he might want to ask his colleagues in the NDP why they voted against the Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and has lifted 300,000 kids out of poverty over these past years.

On top of that, our investments in community, in workers and in families have lifted over 825,000 Canadians out of poverty. We know that investing in support for the middle class and those working hard to join it is how to create growth for the entire economy.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are having a hard time making ends meet and they are disappointed in the Liberal government.

They cannot go back to the same old Conservative approach. Governments that eliminate the services families rely on are responsible for these difficulties. No more spending to help wealthy corporations. We must make better choices if we want better results.

When will the Liberals stop giving more to large corporations instead of Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite does not seem to realize that the first thing we did was to increase taxes on the wealthy and lower taxes on the middle class. We then introduced the Canada child benefit, which helped lift 300,000 children out of poverty.

The NDP voted against these two measures, but we stood strong. Canadians created one million new jobs, and we also managed to lift 825,000 Canadians out of poverty. We are creating growth and helping people.

International Trade

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we need to help our families and protect our workers.

The Liberals want to pander to President Trump and rush ahead with the new NAFTA, but there is no reason to do that.

The government can and must apply pressure to fix the agreement. The U.S. Democrats are working to secure a better NAFTA that protects our jobs and lowers drug prices. By refusing to support the Democrats, the Liberals are not advancing progressive trade.

If the priority is to protect jobs, why the rush?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we negotiated a good deal for Canadians, for workers and for families from coast to coast to coast. We are not the only ones saying so.

Just ask Jerry Dias of Unifor, who called the agreement much better than the agreement signed 25 years ago.

Hassan Yussuff, from the Canadian Labour Congress, said that the renewed NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers from discrimination.

Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, is very proud of the job we did negotiating NAFTA.

The unions support—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Burnaby South

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is no Canadian worker who wants to rush through this deal if there is a chance to work with Americans to better protect their jobs. Not only does this deal risk jobs, it could also drive up the costs of medication for families. Clearly, it could be better.

Democrats in Congress are fighting for improvements on jobs and protecting the environment. Will the Liberals stop rushing to help Donald Trump and instead work with progressives to fix this flawed deal?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we worked hard to negotiate the best possible deal for Canadians, and that is exactly what we got. They do not have to take our word for it. Union leaders from Unifor and the Canadian Labour Congress and even Lino LoMedico, team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, said, “We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.”

The reality is that if the New Democrats do not want to listen to union leaders, let them listen to their own MP for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, who said that this is the best deal possible and it protects workers all around this country.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I know it is near the end of the term, but I ask members to remember that it is rude to interrupt, and we should allow people to speak when they have the floor and not when they do not have the floor.

The hon. opposition House leader.