House of Commons Hansard #422 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was deal.
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.
Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate—
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Order. The hon. member for Chilliwack—Hope has spoken often today, but he has not had the floor. I would ask him to wait until he has the floor. I will leave that for other times.
The hon. member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay.
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.
Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as “dumb”, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.
Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Andrew Scheer ConservativeLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.
Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Monique Pauzé Bloc Repentigny, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.
We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.
Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.
By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Brian Pallister, a former member of the House of Commons, a former provincial minister, and the current Premier of the province of Manitoba.
Monique Pauzé Bloc Repentigny, QC
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion—
Monique Pauzé Bloc Repentigny, QC
Let me finish.
Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Phil McColeman Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such.
There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and—
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Order, please. The hon. member for Carleton is an experienced member and knows that it is against the Standing Orders to call attention to the presence or absence of a member.
Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Order, please, I want to thank the hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills for raising this matter. I think many members do not understand that we should have one member standing at a time. In fact, he is quite correct that when the chair occupant rises, other members sit down. I thank him for his intervention.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House.
The hon. member for Wellington—Halton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully.
As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking.
I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
I thank the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands and other members who supported this effort. I guess I can count on there continuing to be support for decorum. Of course I would remind her to direct her comments to the Chair, as she would understand. Again, I thank her for her efforts in this regard.
I do remind members that it is certainly rude to interrupt. It is not becoming of this place. In the history of this planet, the time during which there has been democracy is pretty short. While we have a very robust democracy, we should never take it for granted. The image of this place is important in that regard and we must do everything we can to uphold it, all of us.
I ask members to keep that in mind, and I am speaking to both sides.