Debates of June 11th, 2019

The Environment

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change has told yet another whopper.

Let usplay who is telling the truth. On the one hand, the Liberals have announced that Canada will meet its Paris targets and, on the other, institutions such as the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the Climate Action network and even the United Nations are confirming that Canada will not reach these targets.

Who are we going to believe? The answer is obvious. Let us not forget that the Liberals have invested more than $4 billion in a pipeline.

How can this government utter this falsehood and make Canadians believe the Liberals' talk about the environment?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is shocking to hear a Quebec member speak out against environmental action and climate change action.

We are working with the Quebec government, which has imposed a price on pollution. What is happening in Quebec? The economy is growing, there are good jobs and the clean technology industry is expanding. Quebec is doing the right thing for our children and grandchildren, which is to tackle climate change.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's environment plan is spiralling out of control. We know from his own officials that the Liberals will not meet their Paris targets. This comes as no surprise, because they do not have a climate plan; they have a tax plan. However, yesterday, we also found out that the Prime Minister's plan is a “drink box water bottles, sort of thing”. Those are his words.

When will the Prime Minister admit that he will not meet his Paris targets?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have been clear. We need to take action on climate change. We need to grow our economy. What is also clear is that the party opposite is taking its marching orders from oil lobbyists. Conservatives do not believe that we need to take action on climate change. They want to kill Bill C-69, which would ensure that we are making decisions on environmental assessments on major projects based on science, based on indigenous consultation and ensuring that good projects go ahead in a timely way.

When will they get it that the environment and the economy go together in the 21st century?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Calgary Signal Hill should not be yelling when someone else has the floor. No member should do that. We should have respect for the right of members to speak. That can only exist if others are silent at the time.

The hon. member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River.

Seniors

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Helen is a senior living in Meadow Lake. Every month, she goes a little more into debt, because she is on a limited income and has expensive medical bills. Now the CRA is going after Helen for back taxes she cannot afford to pay, yet the Liberals are giving up millions of dollars to big companies through tax loopholes created by the Conservatives.

Why is the government making life harder for seniors like Helen instead of fighting for their right to live with dignity?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to improving the lives of seniors, and we have been working very hard to do this. We have enacted a number of measures. We have restored the age of eligibility for OAS and GIS from 67 to 65, which has prevented 100,000 seniors from going into poverty. We have increased the GIS for the most vulnerable single seniors, which lifted 57,000 seniors out of poverty and had a positive impact on 900,000 seniors across this country. In budget 2019, we are also increasing the GIS exemption from $3,500 to $5,000 and for the first time including self-employed seniors.

We are going to continue to work hard for seniors.

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yet my seniors' committee has told me how many of them struggle to pay for their medications and their rent. We should be working on making life more affordable for them. Instead, the Liberals are giving millions of dollars to big businesses because of loopholes. Lise, a 71-year-old senior in my riding, told me that all too often she feels that the Liberals, and the Conservatives before them, have forgotten about her.

Why have the Liberals chosen to help the wealthy instead of seniors?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, with respect to the two measures, rolling back the OAS and the GIS and increasing the GIS, we have lifted or prevented over 150,000 seniors from going into poverty, but it does not stop there. We have also created the first-ever national housing strategy, with a $55-billion investment to create safe, secure, affordable housing for seniors. We have invested $6 billion into home care and palliative care. We have enhanced the CPP so that seniors of the future will get an increase of 50% on their CPP. There is also automatic enrolment for GIS and an investment of $100 million into the new horizons for seniors program.

Finance

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the law firm of the Liberal MP for Steveston—Richmond East facilitated a bare trust deal for an alleged member of the Chinese cartel Big Circle Boys.

The deal was completed while Kwok Chung Tam was still serving a conditional sentence for a drug trafficking conviction.

We also learned that the British Columbia Law Society took control of the MP's law firm and that he is no longer a member of the society. Things are looking very bad for him.

Has that hon. member ever pressured cabinet members over money laundering?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak of our government's efforts to deal with the threat posed by money laundering to the security of the country and the impact it has on Canadians.

Through budget 2019, we are investing over $162 million in restoring the capacity of RCMP, FINTRAC, CBSA and CRA to deal with this.

That was an ironic question received from the Conservatives, who cut the budget for those units. Under their watch in 2013, all 12 integrated proceeds of crime units across Canada were eliminated because they were underfunded and understaffed.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that an alleged Chinese cartel drug boss used a Liberal MP's law firm to launder money through a B.C. condo purchase. The bare trust deal in 2011 allowed a key member of the “big circle boys” to conceal his investment of almost $9 million in a B.C. property. That property flipped four years later for almost $15 million.

Has the MP for Steveston—Richmond East ever lobbied members of cabinet on bare trust deals, mortgage rules, money laundering laws or FINTRAC reporting?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction]

Mr. Speaker, I am so interested to see the new-found interest in the issue of money laundering by a government that eliminated nearly half a billion dollars from the law enforcement agencies that were tasked with keeping our financial instruments secure and maintaining the integrity of our finances. The Conservatives almost gutted the RCMP's capacity to do that.

As was recently discovered in British Columbia, as a direct result of these cuts, there were no dedicated resources for money laundering. We are reversing that. We are working closely with the Province of British Columbia. We are going to make a difference.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, bare trust deals are blamed for creating a veil of secrecy for international criminals trying to hide and launder proceeds of crime.

A B.C. inquiry is expected to focus on a loophole that exempts Canadian lawyers from reporting suspicious transactions to Canada's anti-money laundering watchdog. Now we learn that the Liberal member's firm was seized by the B.C. Law Society in April, and he has been removed from the B.C. bar.

Are we really expected to believe that the member for Steveston—Richmond East has not lobbied cabinet and that the Prime Minister is not aware of this developing scandal?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction]

Mr. Speaker, I recall well that in 2012, the RCMP conducted an investigation into a lawyer who was involved in money laundering, a well-known Conservative supporter. I remember that at his trial after his conviction one well-known future Conservative cabinet minister gave character evidence on his behalf.

Our government has highlighted in a recent Department of Finance report a discussion paper toward working with the legal community in order to further explore how the legal community can address the issue of legal professionals being used to facilitate money laundering and terrorism—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Edmonton Manning will come to order. I have heard from him quite a bit today, but he has not had the floor.

The hon. member for Vimy.

Status of Women

[Eva Nassif, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in May, at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, I had the opportunity to speak with the Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality about the Women Deliver conference.

In my riding, Vimy, across Canada and around the world, women are concerned about gender equality.

Could the minister inform the House about the meaningful action that was taken during this historic meeting?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality]

Mr. Speaker, last week, women of the world united with Canada to support a path where women will be leaders, equal in their communities, a path for equal pay and a $12-trillion boost to the global economy. What I heard, loud and clear, was the rejection of those attempting to roll back our hard-won gains, including a woman's right to choose. Women have the right to decide their reproductive health. It is astounding that in Canada, in 2019, we continue to doubt the support of Conservative politicians for a woman's right to choose.

Natural Resources

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect the Liberals to approve the Trans Mountain expansion because they already approved it once before, back in 2016. In fact, construction was supposed to be done in the next six months, but three and a half years later, not a single inch has been built. Then the Liberals said that spending billions of tax dollars would get the expansion built “immediately”. That was more than a year ago. What exactly is the plan to ensure that construction of the Trans Mountain expansion starts in Burnaby on June 19?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the review process that was put in place by the previous Harper government led to a number of large infrastructure projects in the courts, where courts have determined that—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

Order. It was very quiet when the question was being asked, and it should be equally quiet when the answer is being given, whether members like what they hear or not.

The hon. Minister of Natural Resources.

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is very unfortunate that the Conservatives want us to follow the rules that led to a large number of projects being overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal. We are following the path forward that is given to us to ensure that we are engaging with—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Calgary Signal Hill, if he wishes to sing, can sing outside. Any more singing today, and he will be outside in a hurry.

The hon. member for Berthier—Maskinongé.

Public Services and Procurement

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

Mr. Speaker, the disaster that is the Phoenix pay system is affecting many workers in my riding, including those who work for Parks Canada. For example, Jean-Guy Lampron, a resident of Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc who works for Parks Canada, has not received a paycheque since March.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government continues to give millions of dollars to IBM, anxious to resolve this matter.

If the minister were not being paid, I am sure that he would have fixed the problem very quickly. Will the Liberal government commit to fixing this problem once and for all and pay—