Debates of June 5th, 2019

Natural Resources

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Kawarthas lost 300 jobs when the Liberals killed the west to east pipeline. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in Alberta and across the country because of Liberal indecision and a lack of planning on TMX.

Conservatives have a plan. We will work up front with the provinces and indigenous communities on an energy corridor, a plan that will lower assessment costs, improve certainty for investors and create jobs.

When will the Prime Minister quit attacking the energy sector and allow job-creating projects to move forward?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member and members of the Conservative Party of Canada were really concerned about the energy sector and pipeline projects, they would not have voted to kill and end the process we have put in place to move forward on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

We are consulting in a meaningful way with indigenous communities, and we are scheduled to make a decision on this project by June 18.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals already killed two pipelines outright, and zero new ones are in service. Getting the Trans Mountain expansion built will lower sky-high gas prices in B.C. and get western and Atlantic Canadians back to work. It will create thousands of jobs outside of Alberta and benefit all of Canada. It will support the 100,000 jobs in Ontario and Quebec that depend on oil and gas.

The Liberals already approved it once in 2016, and their mistakes have held it up. The majority of Canadians and indigenous communities want the Trans Mountain expansion. This time, what exactly is the plan for construction to start on June 19, and when will it be in service?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, this is a good opportunity to remind the members of the official opposition that their broken system led to failure on northern gateway. Their broken system led to the exclusion of the impact on marine shipping and its impact on the marine environment from the NEB review.

We are fixing the system that has led to failures. We are engaging with indigenous communities in a meaningful way, in a two-way dialogue, to ensure that we are listening to their concerns. We are offering accommodations on the issues they have identified. We are moving forward on this project.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have to ask the hon. member for Chilliwack—Hope and the hon. member for Lakeland not to interrupt when someone else has the floor. I would ask all members to listen when someone else has the floor.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. It is very hard to hear.

The Environment

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, under the pretext of giving us an update, the Liberal government proudly stated that the Canada Infrastructure Bank would be involved in the high-frequency train project.

That means that if the Liberal Party ever moves forward one day, it will guarantee lucrative profits for its friends instead of providing affordable services to the public. Through its public climate bank, the NDP will ensure the best value for money.

Can the Liberals try to imagine a day where they fight the climate emergency without lining the pockets of their friends?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, once again my colleague is raising the issue of the high-frequency train. He does that every week.

I am pleased to announce that we will continue to work on this very serious project that could have an impact on many Canadians.

My colleague should know that our government is doing its due diligence on this project. When we have something to announce, we will announce it.

Indigenous Affairs

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, provisions in Bill S-3 would eliminate the discrimination against first nations women and their descendants once and for all. All that is needed is for this self-proclaimed feminist Prime Minister to bring those provisions into force with an order in council. It has been 18 months since this bill passed, and there is still no action.

Will the Prime Minister get on with it and immediately enact recommendation 1.3 of the calls for justice so that the 270,000 first nations women and their descendants can finally be free of this sex-based discrimination?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, gender equality is a fundamental human right, and Bill S-3 eliminates sex-based discrimination from the Indian Act.

Ministerial special representative Claudette Dumont-Smith and departmental officials have held over 200 engagement sessions with communities and have received over 100 consultation reports from our partners on Indian Act registration reform, including recommendations for an implementation plan to remove the 1951 cut-off. She is currently finalizing her report. We look forward to her final recommendations, and I will be reporting to Parliament within the next couple—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

Public Safety

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness did not listen carefully to my question. I hope he does today.

We know that the Canada Border Services Agency intercepted 238 individuals, that 27 of them were inadmissible and that three were members of Mexican cartels. That is what we know.

The problem is that there are 400 other individuals, Mexicans or foreigners travelling on Mexican passports, with ties to organized crime, who have come to Canada and are now operating in our communities.

My question is simple. Is the minister taking steps to arrest and deport them?

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

Mr. Speaker, the figures the hon. gentleman refers to are anonymous. They are unverified. There is no obvious source for those allegations.

The fact of the matter is that the CBSA has reported the hard data both to me and to the parliamentary committee, and the hon. gentleman knows very well what those figures are. If there is anyone in Canada who is inadmissible to this country on the basis of criminality or any other cause, the CBSA and the RCMP take the appropriate steps to investigate and remove them.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his answer. We know that people were intercepted. The issue now is whether 400 Mexican cartel members are actually operating here in Canada.

I have another question for the minister. Can he confirm that Mexican cartels are currently selling drugs in Canada and that they are very active, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman has continued for days to repeat the same unfounded, unverified, anonymous allegation. If he has any proof, if he has any evidence that in any way supports the allegation he has made, he should stop the rhetoric and submit it to the RCMP.

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, like everything else with the current Prime Minister, he says one thing and does another. The so-called transparent and accountable-by-default Liberals are at it again. This time it is not redacted documents or withholding documents for Liberal cover-ups and scandals they are engaged in. This time they are trying to prevent the Auditor General from doing his work to hold these Liberals to account, because for the first time in Canadian history, he will be unable to complete audits as a result of the Prime Minister's refusal to fund his important work. Why?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government]

Mr. Speaker, first permit me to reconfirm our deep appreciation and respect for the work of the Auditor General and his staff.

I have to ask if the Conservatives are gluttons for punishment. Let us look at the accounts. They cut the budget of the Auditor General. The Liberals voted against that. We added $41 million to the budget of the Auditor General. The Conservatives voted against that. What is so difficult to understand? We support the Auditor General.

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

I asked why, but there was no answer, so I will tell you why, Mr. Speaker. It is because the Liberals know that they are failing at just about everything they are doing, except looking after their well-connected, well-heeled friends while attacking anyone, including the Auditor General, who would expose the rot within the Liberal Party. At no time in Canadian history have any auditors general ever said that they could not do the job and would have to cancel audits for a lack of funding, until now.

Is it not true that the Prime Minister is afraid of the truth of his failures being exposed, and that is the reason he has moved in to silence the Auditor Genera?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government]

Mr. Speaker, of all the reports written by the Auditor General in this mandate, over 70% were directly related to the failures of Conservative policy, and we will be through that batch soon.

I want to thank the member for giving us multiple opportunities to remind this House of the muzzling of scientists, the cutting of the long-form census and the obstruction during the previous government. Where was this member when his party voted to cut the budget of the AG?

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, I have asked our self-proclaimed feminist Prime Minister many times to reform his sexist EI program. This program is failing far too many workers, and especially women workers. Fifty percent of men are eligible for benefits, but just 35.2% of women, many of them mothers, are eligible. Workers are tired of the Liberals' inaction and want a government that is on their side.

When will the Liberals take action and reform this sexist EI program?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy for the opportunity to answer this question.

Since 2015, we have asserted many times that the EI regime is essential to middle-class families, which is why we have improved it in many ways. We made maternity, parental, caregiver and compassionate care benefits more flexible and more generous. We also created the Canada child benefit, which predominantly helps women, mothers, across Canada by helping nine out of 10 families and lifting 300,000 children out of poverty every month.

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

Mr. Speaker, despite the Liberals so-called feminist cred, they have done nothing for women who need to access EI.

Only one-third of unemployed women can access employment insurance. When they finish their maternity leave, they have to work hundreds of hours to become eligible again. A growing number of women are stuck in precarious employment and cannot access EI.

Women in Canada are paying the price of an EI system that discriminates against them.

Why have the Liberals failed to deliver for working women and what will they do to fix this injustice?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have more time to talk about our investments through the EI system that are supportive of gender equality.

We are in 2019. Gender equality is a key feature of our economic growth. We have introduced a new parental sharing benefit that gives five extra weeks to parents that share their EI benefits, therefore encouraging greater equal participation of mothers and fathers.

We are in 2019. We look forward to working more for women and mothers across Canada.

The Environment

[Mike Bossio, Liberal, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today is World Environment Day, a day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.

While Conservative politicians still have no plan to tackle climate change, our government knows that protecting our environment and fighting climate change is the challenge of our generation. That is why we are taking real action.

Could the Minister of Environment please update the House on the actions our government is taking to fight climate change and protect our environment?