Debates of May 8th, 2019

Justice

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I disagree with every single premise in that question. A great institution, the RCMP, led the investigation and produced evidence, which it gave over to the prosecution service. The prosecution service, which operates independently from government, evaluated that evidence and decided to move ahead with laying charges in this case, and then went through the proceedings.

During the proceedings, the Department of Justice co-operated with the court for the production of third party document requests. That is—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should actually listen to the press release by Marie Henein today in Vice-Admiral Norman's defence. She actually said that they waited for six months after they made the request for documents that still have not shown up.

Now the Prime Minister callously stomped all over the admiral, who served this country with distinction. The Prime Minister maliciously accused Mark Norman of a crime he never committed, then blocked him from getting any legal assistance. The Prime Minister dragged his feet disclosing evidence for the case and sent completely blacked-out documents.

What is in those documents? What is the Prime Minister covering up?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman should know that all of the procedures here, conducted by the office of the public prosecutor and by the RCMP, are totally independent of the Government of Canada. The whole structure is designed to keep it independent so that the decisions that are made are made on the basis of proper legal considerations, and all of those considerations are weighed carefully in court before a judge.

The matter was entirely without political influence, and that is what the prosecutor said today.

Automotive Industry

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to congratulate Unifor and GM Canada for finding a solution to save hundreds of jobs in Oshawa.

While this is a good start, I am concerned with another auto announcement. In my riding, Ford Canada will eliminate the third shift of the Essex Engine plant, come October 1. Workers are bearing the brunt of Liberal inaction. For years, the NDP has been calling for a national auto strategy. How many job losses will it take before the Liberals start a working group and get us a national auto strategy?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, we are very encouraged to see the positive news in Oshawa, with regard to the GM workers. More importantly, the member opposite raised the question of jobs. Since we formed government in 2015, 11,500 new jobs have been created in the automotive sector. In comparison, in the Conservatives' first two years, 20,000 jobs were lost, before we even hit the recession. That is because we have been able to attract six billion dollars' worth of investments in the automotive sector.

That is our track record, and we look forward to campaigning on that.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, chicken farmers are here in Ottawa.

I met with them yesterday, and I can say that they are very worried. The lack of import controls, one of the key pillars of supply management, is compromising the entire system.

The Liberals sacrificed our farmers in the recent free trade negotiations. An NDP government would never have allowed these breaches in our supply management system.

Will the Liberal government promise to control our imports, support the survival of our family farms and protect our supply management system?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I actually met with the chicken farmers' association at midday today. I got to have a great discussion with this group, one of many, to give them some assurances.

Our government made a commitment to all industries regarding supply management. We made a firm commitment in budget 2019, and I am working very hard so I can fulfill those commitments over the coming months.

These associations can count on our government.

Justice

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen the Prime Minister fight veterans in court before. He says that they are asking for more than he can give, but when it comes to fighting people who are standing up against him, then money is no object.

How many taxpayers' dollars has the Prime Minister wasted trying to destroy Vice-Admiral Mark Norman?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, it is kind of rich to have our hon. colleague mention veterans affairs after what her Conservative government did to veterans affairs. It cut 1,000 jobs, cutting agents who work on pension benefits.

We, as a government, allocated $10 billion of new money and allocated a pension for life. We have taken care of veterans in this country and will continue to do so.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Royal Canadian Navy is our senior service, and today its most senior officer, Mark Norman, was completely vindicated.

The Crown said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. There was never a reasonable prospect of convicting Mark Norman. He never should have been removed from command. He never should have faced a criminal charge. He never should have been the fall guy for Liberal corruption.

Can the government start making it right? Can the defence minister commit today to reinstating Mark Norman as the vice-chief of the defence staff?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I encourage members to be judicious with their language.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as we stated before, no other factors were considered in this decision, including no political influence.

As mentioned today to the media, General Vance, Vice-Admiral Norman's immediate superior, will be having discussions. Once those discussions have been had, I will have the appropriate military advice to make appropriate decisions.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, today the Liberals are talking about independence. Let us review.

Scott Brison independently manipulated a $700 million contract. The Prime Minister's office independently hired James Cudmore, who revealed the leak. The Prime Minister independently—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, order. The hon. member for Durham has the floor. Order.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are a little touchy today.

Scott Brison independently tried to stop a naval contract. The reporter who revealed that, James Cudmore, was independently hired by the PMO. The PMO independently had Michael Wernick look into the leaks and found that 73 people knew. The Prime Minister independently said Mark Norman would be charged.

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as I have stated a number of times in this House today, there are a number of outstanding institutions that did their jobs properly to protect the rule of law in Canada.

The RCMP conducted an investigation, which produced evidence. The prosecution service took that evidence, assessed it, decided to lay charges, decided to proceed with the prosecution and then decided to stay it, all within its independent powers as our prosecution service.

Our government co-operated in producing thousands of documents under third party record application—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Kitchener South—Hespeler.

Tourism

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Mr. Speaker, tourism is a key economic driver in Waterloo Region.

For 10 years, the Conservatives failed to understand that. Harper made cuts to Destination Canada's budget, and now Doug Ford is cutting the province's tourism budget. It is very clear that the tourism sector is not a priority for these Conservatives.

Can the Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie reassure the hard-working people of the tourism sector what our government is doing to support them better?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Kitchener South—Hespeler for his important question and hard work.

Last year, Ontario welcomed almost 10 million international visitors, contributing $7 billion to the economy. The Conservatives made it clear that 700,000 hard-working Ontarians in the tourism sector are not a priority for them.

Our Liberal government understands the growth in the sector, and that is why we invested $60 million in our budget. How can the Conservatives say, on the one hand, that Ontario is open for business, and meanwhile they are cutting—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I am hearing unparliamentary language from the hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot. He should know that this is not permitted in the House. I invite him now to apologize for his remark.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize.