Debates of May 31st, 2019

Canada Revenue Agency

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, he does not understand that the lack of transparency is coming from his own government. The Minister of National Revenue is in charge of the CRA. It is ridiculous.

We learned that wealthy Canadians were still signing secret agreements with the CRA. The parliamentary secretary should shed light on that.

Over the past four years, the Liberals had the opportunity to repair our two-tiered tax system, but now we see that the government simply does not have the political courage to act.

How is it that wealthy taxpayers are still able to get away with not being charged after all the talk from the Minister of National Revenue?

No one gets scared any more when the minister says that the net is tightening. The net is wide open and the hon. member is doing nothing about it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want my colleague opposite to know that the net is tightening. We have done a lot of work.

We know that settlements can be used appropriately in certain situations, but we are concerned about the resulting lack of transparency, as the minister said to the House. That is why the minister gave the CRA clear instructions to rework the process to ensure greater transparency about why the settlements are reached. I would note that the agency's out-of-court settlement process takes place entirely at arm's length.

International Trade

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has failed on trade.

I recently spoke with a senior in Milverton who is concerned about increases to the cost of her medication under the renegotiated NAFTA. I speak with farmers who are frustrated about losing market share with nothing in return. I speak with manufacturers that are concerned that the Liberals have left them vulnerable to further arbitrary tariffs.

Why did the Prime Minister give in to Donald Trump's demands?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the only people who wanted us to give in to Donald Trump's demands were the Conservatives. The advice from Stephen Harper for Canada to capitulate is well known and well documented. So are the urgent calls from the Conservatives, both in the House and in the province of Ontario, for Canada to drop its retaliation.

That retaliation on steel and aluminum tariffs was Canada's strongest trade action since the Second World War. That was central to our success in getting these tariffs lifted.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Senate Liberal leader admitted that the Prime Minister did not even try to negotiate an end to the softwood lumber dispute in the failed renegotiations of NAFTA. He had other priorities.

Mill closures are being seen in my riding and throughout our province. In 2016, the Prime Minister stood and said he would have a deal within 100 days. He also told Canadians that he was seized with finding an end to the softwood dispute, yet now we know he had other priorities.

Why did the Prime Minister not take this once-in-a-generation opportunity and to put an end to the softwood lumber dispute once and for all?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we are very seized with the softwood lumber issue. I have raised it repeatedly with Ambassador Lighthizer, and the Prime Minister raised it with the Vice President yesterday.

Having said that, one of the reasons we were so adamant about not accepting a terrible quota deal for steel and aluminum was because we did not want to follow the wretched Conservative example of accepting quotas for our softwood lumber industry. We learned from the mistakes of the Conservatives. I wish they could learn from their mistakes too.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government introduced the new NAFTA implementation bill. The Liberal government sacrificed dairy producers without knowing what the impact on our dairy industry would be. Now they have another stressful situation to deal with. The Liberals want to sign a new agreement even though they have not yet compensated producers for the two previous agreements.

Why did the government fail producers in my region?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, on the issue of softwood lumber, I would emphasize the importance of industry leaders. The member talked about softwood lumber. I want to emphasize how important leadership on the part of softwood lumber industry leaders is. There was a lot of consultation with steel industry leaders, and the softwood lumber industry leaders recommended not making the same mistakes the Conservatives made. We listened to them.

Natural Resources

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is opposed to Canadian energy.

The Prime Minister said that he wanted to shut the oil sands down. The Liberals' no more pipelines bill, Bill C-69, will be devastating to any future development. They promised to build the Trans Mountain expansion immediately, but there are still no shovels in the ground. Now they are threatening a war on plastics.

Well, half the jobs in my riding of Sarnia—Lambton depend on Canadian energy, pipelines and plastics. Why are the Liberals attacking the hard-working people of Sarnia—Lambton?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, what is clear is that Conservatives have no respect for courts and no concern for our constitutional duty to consult with indigenous communities. The Conservative have continued to put politics ahead of the process.

Canadians are depending on us to get this process right, to meet our duty to consult and to respond to what we have heard from indigenous groups. With advice from federal representative, Justice Iacobucci, we communicated to indigenous communities that a decision on TMX could be made by June 18. Our goal is to make sur the process is right to help all Canadians across Canada.

Human Rights

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this spring, I met with traumatized Tibetan youth recently escaped from Tibet where they had faced suppression of their Tibetan language, increased mass surveillance, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and torture. While China has committed to the UN to better protect religious freedom and to respect rights, there is no evidence of change. Tibetans continue to protest and self-immolate. The U.S. ambassador visited Tibet, raised concerns about religious freedom and called on China to recommence the dialogue on a middle way agreement.

Will the government follow suit and encourage China to pursue the dialogue with the envoys of the Dalai Lama?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Edmonton Strathcona for her hard work on this issue and the question asked earlier this week by the NDP on this important issue.

We are deeply concerned about the human rights situation in China, including restrictions on the freedom of Tibetans. In fact, my parliamentary secretary raised these concerns with Chinese legislators while in China last week. We call on the Government of China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and to engage in a substantive and meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

Public Safety

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for four years now, the Minister of Public Safety has been ignoring decisions handed down by various courts ruling that excessive use of solitary confinement is unconstitutional.

Yesterday, the family of Ashley Smith spoke out against the government's broken promises and the fact that it is invoking their daughter's name to justify its failure to act. Bill C-83 will do nothing to fix this appalling situation.

Will the government abandon the bill, comply with the court rulings and, above all, apologize to the family of Ashley Smith?

[Karen McCrimmon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his concern and his hard work at committee.

Ashley Smith's death was a tragedy and we continue to extend our condolences to her family. We are working hard to prevent what happened to Ashley Smith from happening to anyone else. The new system we are putting in place will provide programs, mental health care and daily social interaction with inmates who need to be separated from the general population for safety reasons. We have backed that up with a $448-million investment, and unlike the current system, there will be new oversight mechanisms and regular reviews will be enshrined in law.

Persons with Disabilities

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, National AccessAbility Week is a week when we celebrate Canadians with disabilities and raise awareness of the need for greater accessibility and inclusion. For millions of Canadians, barriers to access and inclusion still exist. We know that society benefits when all Canadians are included and have access to their workplaces and communities.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility tell the House how our government is addressing and reducing barriers to inclusion for all Canadians?

[Kate Young, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Science and Sport and to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility (Accessibility)]

Mr. Speaker, our government believes that all Canadians deserve to have the same opportunities and chances at success. Bill C-81, the accessible Canada act, was passed with unanimous consent this week. Once it receives royal assent, it will allows us to transition from a system where Canadians with disabilities have to fight for every basic access, to a new system that systematically identifies and prevents barriers from the start. This legislation reflects the work and commitment of those in the disability community who, for years, have been tireless advocates of an accessible Canada. This success is theirs.

Taxation

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

How is this for March madness, Mr. Speaker? In one month, the Liberal government ran a $15-billion deficit. Now this year, the year the budget was going to balance itself, there is another $20-billion deficit. There will be no balanced budget until the year 2040, and that assumes no additional spending. The reality is this. The only way to pay for all of this out-of-control spending is crippling tax increases on Canadians.

Why will the Liberal Party not be honest before the election about the real cost in tax hikes that would come after the election?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance (Youth Economic Opportunity)]

Mr. Speaker, I am so glad the member opposite was able to take off his tinfoil hat to come into the House today, because he does not actually understand the real results in our economy.

Let us talk about our real results. A typical Canadian family is $2,000 better off, and as a result of our policies Canadians have created over a million new jobs. Let us not talk about the Conservatives' plan for the economy. They have already flip-flopped. When it comes to the Leader of the Opposition, it is cut first and think later.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

They do not even have to think, Mr. Speaker. They know exactly what they do every time: run up massive deficits before an election and then massive tax increases after the election. The Liberals hope that Canadians will not know about that until after the next election, when Liberals will no longer need their votes but still need their money.

However, the mathematical reality is this. The only way to fund their out-of-control spending is through large and growing tax increases on the middle class. Why are the Liberals not honest enough to admit that now?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance (Youth Economic Opportunity)]

Mr. Speaker, I will take no lessons on admitting the truth to Canadians when the Conservatives constantly flip-flop on their policies and mislead Canadians in the House and in the public domain.

The reality is the fact that we lowered taxes on the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. As a result, we have lifted 300,000 children and 825,000 Canadians overall out of poverty.

What did the Conservatives want to do? They want to give boutique tax credits to their wealthy friends that will not grow the economy.

Gasoline Prices

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Well, we heard it now, Mr. Speaker. Soccer moms or hockey dads are too rich for the Liberals, and the Liberals want to make them poorer.

We have heard it again. Someone who takes the bus and uses the transit tax credit is too rich, and the Liberal plan is to make that person poorer.

So far, the Liberals have succeeded. They have raised taxes by $800 on the average Canadian family and they will do much more if they are re-elected.

Here is a specific question. How much more will the Liberals add to the price of gas once their carbon tax is fully and finally implemented?

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

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about what we have done for Canadians.

Families are $2,000 better off. We have raised 300,000 children out of poverty. We have created one million jobs with Canadians. There has been a 60% increase in foreign direct investment this year. At the same time, we are taking ambitious climate action.

Unfortunately, the Conservative Party does not understand that we need to take action on climate change and that we can do it in a way that makes life affordable and creates good jobs. They have a policy that is right out of the 1950s when it comes to the economy and no plan for the environment.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know what the Liberal policy looks like. They have said they admire the carbon tax in British Columbia; they only want it to be higher. When the Prime Minister was asked about the $1.60 a litre gas price in that province, he said “this is exactly what we want.” It is exactly what Canadians will get if the Liberals are re-elected, an increase in the carbon tax, as promised, by 250%.

I have a simple question. If the Liberals are not afraid of the truth, why do they not admit it? How much will gas prices go up once the carbon tax is fully and finally implemented?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have been absolutely transparent about what we are doing in acting on climate change.

I am wondering whether the member opposite cashed his climate action incentive rebate, because 93% of Canadians who were entitled to it did so. We have put a price on pollution. Eighty per cent of families are getting more money.

Let us talk about the Conservative plan for the environment: more pipelines, more tankers and no rules to protect the environment. The Conservatives do not have a plan for the environment. They do not have a plan for the economy.

The Environment

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, throughout many generations Canada has earned a reputation as a good actor in the world, yet this recent garbage scandal with the Philippines and Malaysia has exposed the fact that Canadian companies have been dumping our worst waste into the backyards of the poorest countries of the world. That is not being a good neighbour. Let us say that we will stop, like the E.U. has committed to doing.

Will the government now commit to working with us to end the practice of dumping Canadian waste into the backyards of the world's poorest countries?