Debates of June 12th, 2019

International Trade

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, by securing a new NAFTA deal with the United States, we have been standing up for workers, including workers in southwestern Ontario, who are very pleased to see us move forward on this new NAFTA deal. We have protected jobs right across the country.

Of course, the New Democrats are a little all over the place, as usual. In the House of Commons, they criticize the deal, but at private events, they said that the new NAFTA was the best deal possible. They know that the new NAFTA protects millions of jobs that were threatened. Indeed, the MP for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie said that it was “the best deal possible”, and it protects workers all around this country.

Veterans Affairs

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Mr. Speaker, veterans homelessness is absolutely unacceptable in Canada. This is why, yesterday, I was proud to bring in my private member's motion on ending veterans homelessness to the House for debate.

My motion called on the government to prevent and end homelessness by 2025. It had the full support of veterans and stakeholders across the country. Unfortunately, members of the opposition failed to allow my motion to go to a vote in the House.

Could the Prime Minister update the House on what our government will be doing to end veterans homelessness in Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Bay of Quinte for his outstanding work for his constituents, and particularly for veterans as the chair of the veterans affairs committee.

I want to thank him for bringing forward this important motion, which we support, to end veterans homelessness by 2025. Unfortunately, last night, the Conservatives put partisanship ahead of helping veterans, which is disappointing but not surprising.

The Harper Conservatives ignored veterans and ignored people living in homelessness for far too long. Even if the Conservatives will not put partisanship aside, we will continue to work for people across this country.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. Most members from all parties are able to sit through question period hearing things they do not like and not blurt things out when it is not their turn. I would invite the small number who do not do that and repeatedly feel that they have have to interject, not to do so.

The hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, after four years in office, the Liberals cannot even see a problem with the Paris Agreement targets. How can they find solutions when they cannot even see the problem? Let me sum up the Liberals' environmental record. They just announced a spur-of-the-moment decision to ban plastics by 2021. They talk about an environmental emergency, but they cannot bring themselves to admit that the Paris targets will not be met. They spent over $4 billion on a pipeline.

When will the Prime Minister, the self-proclaimed champion of the environment, admit that Canada is not going to meet the Paris targets?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is what the Conservatives would like to think, but I can assure Canadians that we are going to meet our Paris targets.

We know that protecting the environment is the only way to protect and create economic growth at the same time. We have announced a plan for putting a price on pollution. We have announced a plan for protecting our oceans. We are moving forward with a concrete plan for creating growth and protecting the environment at the same time.

As for the Conservatives, we have been waiting 409 days for them to unveil the plan that they promised but will never deliver. They know they do not want to take action—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Thornhill.

Ethics

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a sitting Liberal MP's law firm has been seized by the Law Society of British Columbia. This sitting Liberal member has been removed from the B.C. bar. This sitting Liberal MP's law firm was used by a notorious Chinese drug boss to launder money in a multi-million dollar real estate deal.

When did the Prime Minister become aware of this latest Liberal scandal, and what is he going to do about it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member in question has addressed these allegations.

We continue to move forward concretely on countering money laundering in B.C. and right across the country. With investments to the CRA, budget 2019 puts forward task forces on real estate audits and makes sure that we are working in partnership with B.C. to crack down on money laundering to ensure that this illegal activity ceases once and for all.

Auditor General of Canada

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the public accounts committee sent a letter to the finance minister. The letter, signed by members of all parties, asked the Liberals to fund the Auditor General so that he can do his important work.

It is not lost on anyone that the Prime Minister is muzzling the Auditor General as an election approaches. So much for accountability and transparency. What is the Prime Minister trying to hide?

The Prime Minister cannot blame Stephen Harper for this one. Will he accept the demands of the committee, including Liberal members, and fund the Auditor General so that he can do his job?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to support the important ongoing work of the Auditor General.

The member opposite mentioned Stephen Harper, and how appropriate that he did. The Harper Conservatives cut nearly $6.5 million and 60 employees from the Auditor General's budget. We took action to restore that funding. It is interesting to see the Conservatives suddenly taking an interest in the officers of Parliament, especially when the MP for Carleton continues to accuse Elections Canada of partisanship and political interference, when we know it is the Conservatives who know how to break election laws.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about facts.

One fact is that never in the history of Canada has the Auditor General not been able to complete an investigation due to lack of funding. That has never happened. Another fact is that a parliamentary committee is calling on the government to properly fund the Auditor General. It is also a fact that the Auditor General is the watchdog who keeps an eye on government spending. Let us just say that the Auditor General has his work cut out for him these days, given the Liberal government's track record.

Will the Liberal government make sure that the Auditor General has all the tools he needs to do his job, since it is a taxpayer-funded position?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will always support the important, ongoing work of the Auditor General. It was actually the Stephen Harper Conservatives who slashed $6.5 million from the Auditor General's budget, which led to 60 positions being cut from his office.

One of the first things we did was restore that funding, because we understand that the Auditor General's work is extremely important and we will always support it.

Health

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Mr. Speaker, this past week Manitoba decided to privatize Lifeflight, our air ambulance service. This goes against the wishes of first nations, Métis and northern communities, and countless doctors and nurses. This move could force crews to take risks for profit rather than be solely concerned with the health of patients.

First nations have asked for the federal government to step in, given that they are very concerned. Let us be clear: Lives are at stake. Will the federal government step in to ensure the health and safety of northern Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for bringing up this important issue. Indeed, we see it time and time again: Conservative premiers, Conservative politicians see health care as a business. Indeed, that was the name of one of the fundraisers that the Conservative Party of Canada recently held: “The Business of Healthcare.”

We know that access to health care is a fundamental right for all Canadians, and we are going to continue to work with provinces and partners to ensure that access to health care is protected as a Canadian right for everyone.

Auditor General of Canada

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the 2015 Liberal platform promised this: “We will ensure that all of the officers [of Parliament] are properly funded and accountable only to Parliament.”

Now the public accounts committee has unanimously called for the Auditor General's $10.8-million underfunding to be reversed.

The government promised to respect Parliament, respect its officers and respect its standing committees. I ask the Prime Minister, where is this respect, and, more importantly, where is the money?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after the Conservative government cut $6.5 million from the Auditor General's budget, cutting 60 staff, we knew we had to restore that funding, and that is exactly what we did. We support the work of the Auditor General. Indeed, we support our officers of Parliament. We will continue to stand and support the important work they do. We defend our institutions in this country every single day, despite the attacks by the opposition on the integrity of our officers of Parliament, whether it be the Parliamentary Budget Officer or Elections Canada officials. We know we are going to continue to do that.

Forestry Industry

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the community of 100 Mile House received very difficult news about the closure of Norbord and the 160 jobs that will go with it. This is 10 days following Canfor in Vavenby, with 180 jobs, and the government is partly to blame. The Liberals had four years to resolve the softwood lumber issue, and they have had no progress. They could have attached it to the NAFTA negotiations, but they did not seem to care. Instead, we have an industry that is moving en masse to the United States.

Can the Prime Minister tell us his plan to support these communities?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have consistently stood up and will continue to stand up for our forestry sector, including working to ensure that the United States ends this softwood lumber conflict. We will continue to do this important work. The reality is that it is humorous to see the Conservatives suggesting that we do more on NAFTA, when their approach, as evidenced by Stephen Harper, whom the Leader of the Opposition regularly listens to, said we needed to capitulate right away on NAFTA to accept any deal, not necessarily a good deal. We disagree and—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, for five months the Prime Minister has shown complete indifference to the sort of canola and pork producers, denied that the crisis with China is first and foremost political and waited for it to resolve itself, and now he has finally said that he will think about speaking to the Chinese president at the G20 meeting.

For the sake of Canadians detained in China and for the sake of Canada's canola, pork and soya producers, will the Prime Minister commit today to show some backbone and once and for all settle this matter with the Chinese president, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the outset we have taken the arbitrary detention of Canadians very seriously. We are asking for the immediate release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. We condemn the death sentence handed down to Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, and we are asking for clemency.

We will always defend the rule of law, respect for international standards and the security of Canadians, and we will do so the right way. We already have many allies, including NATO, Australia, the European Union, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and others, who are supporting us in this dispute with China. We will continue our efforts to free those Canadians.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister is serious, he needs to do something. With less than a week until the G20 summit, the Prime Minister continues to abandon Canadians by failing to ask for a meeting with the Chinese president. Canadians suffer in Chinese prisons, the farmers are facing financial harm, while tens of thousands protest in the streets of Hong Kong and in cities across Canada over dystopian Chinese extradition law.

Will the Prime Minister finally decide to meet with the Chinese president? Why is he showing such weakness in the face of China?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning of this government, we have remained focused on standing up for and supporting Canadians in trouble overseas. This was a change from the Conservative approach, which was not particularly enthusiastic about sticking up for Canadians around the world. We have done exactly that. That is why we have had positive results throughout this mandate on very difficult situations, and we have done that by moving forward in ways designed not to draw positive headlines but to advance the issues. Sometimes it is done privately, sometimes it is done publicly, but it is always done the right way.