House of Commons Hansard #412 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was animals.

Topics

JusticeOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

LaSalle—Émard—Verdun Québec

Liberal

David Lametti LiberalMinister 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—

JusticeOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman.

JusticeOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

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?

JusticeOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Regina—Wascana Saskatchewan

Liberal

Ralph Goodale LiberalMinister 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 IndustryOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

NDP

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?

Automotive IndustryOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Mississauga—Malton Ontario

Liberal

Navdeep Bains LiberalMinister 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 TradeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

NDP

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?

International TradeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Compton—Stanstead Québec

Liberal

Marie-Claude Bibeau LiberalMinister 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.

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Conservative

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?

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Cardigan P.E.I.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay LiberalMinister 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.

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Conservative

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?

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I encourage members to be judicious with their language.

JusticeOral Questions

3 p.m.

Vancouver South B.C.

Liberal

Harjit S. Sajjan LiberalMinister 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.

EthicsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

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—

EthicsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

EthicsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

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

EthicsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

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.

EthicsOral Questions

3 p.m.

LaSalle—Émard—Verdun Québec

Liberal

David Lametti LiberalMinister 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—

EthicsOral Questions

3 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

The hon. member for Kitchener South—Hespeler.

TourismOral Questions

May 8th, 2019 / 3 p.m.

Liberal

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?

TourismOral Questions

3 p.m.

Ahuntsic-Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Mélanie Joly LiberalMinister 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—

TourismOral Questions

3 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

TourismOral Questions

3 p.m.

Liberal

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.

TourismOral Questions

3 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, I apologize.