Debates of May 31st, 2019

News Media Industry

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism]

Mr. Speaker, that is a fascinating conspiracy theory. It is impressive to hear.

Ultimately, the Conservatives are attacking one of the foundations of our democracy. They are attacking the media. A free and independent press is one of the pillars of democracy and that is what they are attacking.

We are implementing a program that respects the independence and freedom of the press, unlike the Conservatives and their attacks. They are saying that journalists can be bought. That is what he is saying. He is saying that journalists can be bought and his colleague called them fossils.

We take exception to that.

The Environment

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is a good place to live, with its natural beauty, diversified economy and vibrant communities.

Climate change threatens everything we hold dear. There are forest fires out west and floods in Ottawa and Quebec. The Liberals are missing in action when it comes to addressing climate change.

The NDP will take action. Our plan clearly charts the way forward to ensure that people and the environment both win.

My question is very simple. Why did the Liberals let the major polluters off the hook, and why did they not seize the opportunity to protect our environment?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to see the NDP now announce that it wants to do what we are already doing to fight climate change, but in a way that will decimate jobs and hurt employees.

We have already seen their flip-flop on LNG Canada, the largest investment in Canada's history that created 10,000 jobs and has the support of British Columbia, a province that is working very hard to fight climate change.

On the other side, the Conservative Party wants unlimited pipelines and tankers, too. It does not want regulations—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé.

International Trade

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

The Liberals are not even on track to meet the Paris Agreement targets.

The Liberals are bulldozing ahead with the adoption of NAFTA, showing blatant disregard for Parliament. Instead of striving to secure better conditions for workers, improve environmental protections or protect our agricultural sectors, the Liberal government is bowing down before Donald Trump. Canadians want the Liberals to negotiate trade agreements with measures that are genuinely progressive.

Why are the Liberals throwing away a unique opportunity to make trade fairer once and for all?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP needs to understand that reopening this agreement would be like opening Pandora's box.

We have an agreement that preserves over $2 billion worth of trade daily. At best, the NDP is naive. At worst, it is playing political games by suggesting that Canadians would benefit from reopening this agreement.

If the NDP wants to follow Donald Trump's example and withdraw from NAFTA, it should have the guts to say so.

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

Mr. Speaker, nobody is advocating that the deal be reopened. Anyone with eyes can see it never closed. Congress is trying to change the deal. The president is declaring a trade war on one of the countries involved, Mexico. This is a live deal.

Why does the government want to tie its hands and put its head in the sand, instead of waiting for an opportunity to improve the deal for Canadian workers and for the environment? That is the real question. I suspect it is because the government is listening to the same drug companies that want to fight pharmacare in this country and that are going to make money off this deal.

Why is the government more concerned with defending the interests of corporate tycoons than the interests of Canadian workers?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, there are so many misunderstandings in that question. It is hard to know where to start.

The Mexican president said today, speaking for Mexico, that Mexico intends to move ahead with its ratification process.

As I just said, the NDP is naive at best, and playing political games at worst, to suggest that Canadians would benefit from reopening this deal. If the NDP wants to take a page out of Donald Trump's playbook and withdraw from NAFTA, it should have the courage to tell Canadians that.

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

Mr. Speaker, the only one who is naive is somebody who thinks that this deal is closed, because there is clearly a lot of action on the deal. I just wish that the Liberals were in as big a rush to do something about climate change as they are to ratify this deal.

They still have Stephen Harper's targets. Their carbon tax gives the steepest discounts to the biggest polluters. They are wasting billions of dollars buying old pipelines to pay out international investors, instead of investing in what they ought to be investing in, like a program to help Canadians retrofit their homes, saving money on their monthly bills and reducing their carbon footprint.

Why is it that the Liberal government once again is more interested in defending corporate profits than standing up for Canadians?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we always stand up for Canadians. I was very proud to see in the NAFTA that for the first time ever, there was an environment chapter in the body of the agreement.

We have been taking serious action on climate change. The NDP came out with its plan, which adopts some of our ideas but in a way that would destroy jobs and hurt workers and families. The New Democrats have already flip-flopped on an LNG project that creates 10,000 jobs in B.C., saying they do not want it to go ahead, in the face of the B.C. NDP government, which is committed to this project and committed to climate action.

We need to take climate action, we need to grow our economy and we need to ensure a sustainable future. That is exactly what we are doing.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if NAFTA 2.0 is a good deal for Canada, what does the Prime Minister consider a bad deal?

Canadians know this is a worse deal and that it also compromises our sovereignty. Canada now has to ask permission from the U.S. to negotiate a new trade deal and we have to report to the U.S. when we change our monetary policy.

The Prime Minister has paid too high a price. With this bill, he will have free rein to give more away. Will he admit that he has failed Canadians?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, how soon they forget. Let me remind my Conservative colleagues how urgently they and Stephen Harper urged Canada to capitulate. In October 2017, Stephen Harper wrote in a memo, “It does not matter whether current American proposals are worse than what we have now.”

When it comes to our retaliatory tariffs, which achieved a full lift, the Conservatives urged us, Doug Ford lectured us, on how we needed to drop them. Canadians should be—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government could not hang on to what we had before, and we are not out of the woods yet.

The full lifting of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs is pure fiction. The Prime Minister's new NAFTA deal allows the U.S. to re-implement punishing tariffs any time Trump feels an unfair market surge.

The Prime Minister is desperate for us to believe he got a good deal, but can he tell us one thing that is better in this new NAFTA?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is pretty rich to hear the Conservatives talk about steel and aluminum tariffs.

The Conservatives were on the record and were absolutely wrong in the approach they advocated. Doug Ford's government publicly called for Canada to drop its retaliation. Had we done that, just imagine how devastating the result would have been.

Members on that side of the House agreed with that wrong-headed and, frankly, weak approach.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite ironic to see the Prime Minister celebrating NAFTA 0.5, which showed Canadians just how willing he is to give in to all of Donald Trump's demands.

It would be like negotiating for a new car and then being happy when it is delivered without tires. No Canadian prime minister would have ever accepted such interference in international trade from the Americans.

The Prime Minister missed a golden opportunity to negotiate a good agreement for Canadians, and he was consistently third at the table. Why?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I remind my Conservative colleagues that they, along with Mr. Harper, urged Canada to capitulate. In an October 25, 2017 memo, Mr. Harper wrote that it did not matter that current American proposals are worse than what we have now.

The Conservatives openly and publicly called on us to eliminate our countermeasures.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister gave Donald Trump the keys to our economy. That is what she did.

Donald Trump will now be the one who decides the future of our steel and aluminum industries. Our dairy industry was sacrificed on the altar of Liberal incompetence. Donald Trump will have the right to set our domestic tariffs. Donald Trump set a limit on our exports. What is worse, American milk will continue to receive large subsidies to compete against Canadian milk.

Why are the Prime Minister and the minister claiming victory on behalf of Donald Trump instead of admitting that they accepted a bargain-basement agreement?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have said several times that we should drop our demands, sign a new agreement and capitulate. That is what happened and those are the facts.

Canadians can be happy that we did not follow the Conservatives' example. I think this is a bit embarrassing for the Conservatives.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the U.S. Vice President was magnanimous when he said the Liberals drove a hard bargain. It reminded me of a winner at Wimbledon praising the loser after beating the person in straight sets. There were no wins for Canada, only losses sector by sector. It was a take it or leave it from the U.S. from the beginning.

How do we know? Because section 55 of the bill confirms that. The Liberal government has already agreed to change the bill after we vote and debate it here. If Donald Trump asked the Liberals to do something, they said, “How high, sir”. Why did the minister cave?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am very glad the member for Durham asked that question because it allows me to clarify a misunderstanding on his part of that part of the bill.

That is a part of the bill that updates the name of NAFTA in the Food and Drugs Act. It does not give any special powers to cabinet and it does not allow for the agreement to be changed.

The member for Durham is entirely mistaken. He clearly has not read the agreement.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have read the Liberal 0.5 to NAFTA, and I will give a review for the minister.

Canada lost on agriculture, lost on resources, lost on softwood, lost on auto, lost on biologic drugs, lost on data transfer, lost on de minimis, lost on visas, lost on buy American. The Liberals even lost on the progressive agenda. How could the Liberal government say zero out of 10 is a win?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I have already pointed out how the member made a simple mistake in his previous question. Let me give some objective, impartial evidence on how good the new deal is.

The International Trade Commission, which is a U.S. body not likely to put its thumb on the scale in Canada's favour, reported that as a result of the new deal, U.S. exports to Canada would increase by $19.1 billion and Canadian exports would increase to the U.S. by $19.1 billion. That is a win-win.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are shocked to discover that the Canada Revenue Agency just signed a secret agreement with wealthy Canadians to avoid prosecution for tax evasion.

Clients of KPMG were caught using offshore schemes to avoid detection by Canadian tax authorities, costing the public purse tens of millions of dollars.

Why are the Liberals letting rich Canadians, who are cheating our tax system, off the hook with secret deals? Who do they think they are, SNC-Lavalin?

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, our government is firmly committed to fighting tax fraud and tax evasion. To ensure the integrity of our tax system, the agency's out-of-court settlement process takes place entirely at arm's length.

We know that settlements can be used appropriately in certain situations, but we are concerned about the resulting lack of transparency.

The Minister of National Revenue has the matter in hand.