Debates of Jan. 28th, 2020

Opposition Motion—Audit of the Government's Investing in Canada Plan

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, what the Bloc members want is to take x number of dollars, give it to the provinces and not care about how they spend that money. Canadians in all regions, including Quebec, recognize that at times there is a national interest. For example, we as a government want to see infrastructure built to complement green initiatives. Part of those infrastructure dollars is being encouraged to ensure we are more sensitive to the environment and is universally applied across the entire nation. I see that as a good thing. We are responding to the citizens of Canada in all regions. Not all provinces are as progressive as others and it is important that the national government demonstrate leadership. Therefore, when I see the tie-ins the Bloc members would oppose, I see opportunities for Canada as a nation to move forward in an area, such as building our infrastructure in a multi-faceted way that includes consideration of our environment, something I know many people in Quebec and across Canada are very much in favour of.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

It being 6:15 p.m., pursuant to order made earlier today, all questions necessary to dispose of the opposition motion are deemed requested and deferred to Wednesday, January 29, immediately after the disposal of Ways and Means Motion No. 2.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I suspect if you were to canvass the House, you would find unanimous consent to call it 6:30 p.m.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, as you are probably aware, last fall we had the lowest return of the Fraser River sockeye in recorded history. This is the largest salmon-bearing stream in the world. We had low returns in Clayoquot, in the Skeena, in the Kennedy. Last year in the Kennedy, we did not have a single returning spawning fish. This is a salmon-bearing area that produced 200,000 fish just decades ago.

It is clear that there is a salmon emergency taking place in British Columbia. A crisis is taking place in British Columbia.

We have been raising issues related to the catastrophic decline of salmon in our region and the impact it is having. We have been calling on the government for investments in restoration, in habitat protection, in climate adaptation investments, and we see the government dragging its feet.

In 2019, our commercial fleet was only able to harvest 3.5 million pounds of salmon compared to almost 37 million pounds in 2016. The year 2019 was the lowest year since 1951, when we harvested 200 million pounds.

As I have said, we are seeing a catastrophic decline in the number of salmon. The government has dragged its feet when it comes to dealing with open-cage salmon farms. We have had a terrible year. We had the highest infestation of sea lice. We have seen disease escalate and the transfer of PRV and infected fish into open-net fish farms. We have had a massive die-off of 200,000 fish, and the industry just blew it off as natural causes, and then we just had an escape of 20,000 Atlantic salmon, a foreign species, into Pacific waters over the holiday season.

I want to read a quote from B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen in the Cohen Commission report. He said:

...the potential harm posed to Fraser River sockeye salmon from salmon farms is serious and irreversible. Disease transfer occurs between wild and farmed fish, and I am satisfied that salmon farms along the sockeye migration route have the potential to introduce exotic diseases and to exacerbate endemic diseases that could have a negative impact on Fraser River sockeye.

We know this is happening. The government made a commitment to move to closed containment by 2025, and now we are hearing it is backtracking. It is saying it will only have a plan by 2025. I hope the parliamentary secretary will be able to answer those concerns.

The United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union and Unifor are calling for immediate action by the government. They are asking for extended payments equalling maximum EI benefits to fishers, shore workers and tendermen who do not qualify for EI, and to extend the coverage period from August 2019 to June 2020.

We have written a letter to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion and have had no reply. She is a B.C. minister. We are hoping she will act soon, that she will refund the salmon licence fees paid for the 2019 season, make moorage in small craft harbours free for salmon vessels, make forgivable loans of up to $10,000 available to vessel owners for repairs and maintenance, and implement the report that the fisheries and oceans committee unanimously supported on sharing risks and benefits.

We are calling on the government to come up with an emergency aid package, a record amount of investment in restoration, enhancement and adaptation funds. We need the government to do this immediately. People are losing their boats. They are losing their homes. Cupboards are empty. The ecosystem will crash if we do not save our wild salmon.

Will the Liberal government be the government on watch as our wild salmon goes the way of the Atlantic cod?

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries]

Madam Speaker, I would like the member to know that I share his concerns regarding the health of our Pacific salmon stocks.

Protecting Pacific wild salmon is a priority for our government, and that is why we are taking urgent action to ensure that they are sustainable for generations to come and to support the communities that depend on them.

In B.C. in particular, salmon are iconic. They feed people, they contribute to our economy, they feed our southern resident killer whales and they have immense cultural significance to indigenous people. This is why our government has worked so hard to implement the wild salmon policy, return protections that add modern safeguards to the Fisheries Act and create a $142-million salmon fund in partnership with the Province of British Columbia. Obviously there is still a lot of work to do.

Sadly, today many runs are in steep decline as a direct result of a number of factors, including habitat destruction, harvest and the effects of climate change. In 2018, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada reported that eight of 16 salmon populations are considered endangered, four are threatened, one is of special concern and the health of two remain unknown.

Just a few weeks ago I visited Big Bar with the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to see first-hand the impact of the rock slide on the Fraser River. This was the minister's first visit to British Columbia as the minister, and the fact that she spent her first days in the province meeting with indigenous communities and stakeholders about wild Pacific salmon shows how large of a priority this is to our government.

The sheer magnitude of the rock slide and the effect on the migration of salmon cannot be understated. The hard work and collaboration on the ground between B.C. first nations, technical experts, the province, industry and other stakeholders has been an inspiring effort and will continue as we move forward.

Recently we announced a contract to begin work on rock remediation to allow for fish passage, come spawning season, and we are hopeful for a long-term solution. This phase of work will go on into the spring and should be completed before the first salmon runs arrive. The work will include breaking up and removing rocks from the site of the landslide, some of which are the size of homes.

British Columbians need to understand the scale of this problem. We are literally working to move mountains. The slide extended from an area that was 35 stories high and as wide as 18 stories across. It has been said that there is enough debris to fill up 10,000 dump trucks or fill the Pacific Coliseum.

We are hopeful that our efforts will be enough to create safe, natural passage for the 2020 runs, but we are preparing for the chance that we need to do more. That is exactly why we have established two technical working groups to help guide our contingency planning. Failure is not an option when it comes to protecting wild salmon, and we will make sure that every possible contingency is examined.

In the case that the slide area continues to present a height or water-velocity barrier in the 2020 season, we will be prepared. Indeed, it has been a particularly challenging year for workers and the families whose livelihood depends on this industry, and we sympathize with them. That is why the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans recently spoke to the Minister of Employment and Workforce Development, and we are working with all our departmental colleagues to explore options available.

The seriousness of this issue cannot be understated. Our government is giving it the level of national importance and attention that it deserves.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, sympathy is not enough. It is like a natural disaster. It is like the forest fires in northern Alberta or the floods in eastern Canada, when the federal government came to the plate with an emergency package. It needs to do that in British Columbia. It will be under its watch that Pacific salmon will go the way of the Atlantic cod. It is gut-check time. Does the government have the intestinal fortitude, the courage to do the right thing and deliver an aid package?

We are counting on this parliamentary secretary, who is from British Columbia, to be the spokesperson, to stand up to his cabinet and ask them to do the right thing. People are losing their homes. This is our food security. Everything is interconnected on the west coast. Our whole ecosystem relies on our wild salmon. People are losing their homes, and while we appreciate the efforts by the government after the Big Bar slide, even before that, salmon had their lowest return in the Fraser.

The government needs to take action, and we are counting on this member right now.

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

Madam Speaker, as I stated in my previous speech, wild Pacific salmon are a priority for our government. That is why we have restored protections in the Fisheries Act, invested in coastal restoration through our $1.5-billion oceans protection plan and increased our level of ocean protection from less than 1% in 2015 to more than 13%. We will go further and take it to 25%.

We are investing in projects under the $142 million B.C. salmon restoration and innovation fund that will help conserve and protect pacific salmon. This includes, for example, the innovative habitat restoration demonstration, which is being led by the British Columbia Conservation Foundation, and another project that will allow first nations to partner on activities to assess, prioritize and restore critical salmon habitat in a wide variety of river systems throughout the province of British Columbia.

Our government is taking action to ensure that we continue to protect and restore our salmon stocks on the west coast, and we are going to do even more going forward.

Privacy

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, during tonight's adjournment debate, I will be speaking about the privacy rights of my constituents. I know for all members of the House privacy rights are important, and of course they are guaranteed by the Charter. They are paramount to our identity as Canadians.

Unfortunately, the government has missed the boat on protecting privacy rights in southern New Brunswick. Some members may recall my question last year about Canada Post mail delivery to a beautiful part of my riding called Campobello Island. U.S. Customs and Border Protection continues to open and review Canada Post mail going to Campobello. That is because Campobello is Canadian territory but is only accessible year-round by driving through the state of Maine for an hour.

The government responded to my question by stating, “We will be looking at this matter and will have further things to say on it in the future”. I was expecting that, in this minority Parliament where the government is trying to work across the aisle, when a serious issue is brought to its attention, an issue that impacts the privacy rights of Canadians, it would act. Sadly, I was wrong.

My office has received a letter from Canada Post, which I will table after the adjournment proceedings. Quite frankly, the response from this government-owned crown agency, Canada Post, is tone deaf. Canada Post says that the United States has a right to open the mail and that Canada Post understands “this has caused you concern”.

Second, it says that the delivery route through Maine is “the only available option beyond seasonal ferry service”. From what I understand, Canada Post has not requested use of that seasonal ferry service. It has not contacted the ferry operator whose craft is in the water and available for private or public charter.

Third, the letter says that Canada Post is working on resolving the matter with United States government officials and hopes to see “fewer delays in the coming weeks”. Nearly two months have come and gone.

Here is the problem. The letter closes by saying, “to provide timely service, we ask that you refrain from ordering or sending items that cannot be sent by mail or that could be seized by a customs agent as they may delay passage of all mail through the border”. Therefore, Canada Post is asking for Canadians living on Campobello to use the mail less or not use it at all.

I have contacted Canada Post. I have brought this issue to the minister's attention and Canada Post has contacted my office. However, once again, its explanation does not solve the problem. According to Canada Post, this whole problem is because cannabis is mailable within Canada. It is just a fluke of geography that necessitates the crossing of borders to reach Campobello that causes some challenges here.

However, a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. Also, geography cuts both ways. That is because there is a place called Point Roberts in British Columbia that is U.S. territory and is only accessible by passing through Canadian territory. The U.S. mail that is going to Point Roberts is not being opened by CBSA officials. Perhaps it is time that we did so.

I have some questions for my colleagues in the government this evening. Why has the issue of U.S. border official agents searching Canada Post mail still not been resolved? What will the Liberals do today, not in the future, to protect the privacy rights of Canadian residents living on Campobello?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague from New Brunswick Southwest and I have been acquainted over the years. I think he would indulge me for a brief moment as I extend my condolences to the family of Joan Lee, the spouse of Sheldon Lee, a great servant of Charlotte County and mentor of mine. He is a truly a legendary figure in Charlotte County politics. At the same time, I want to extend my personal greetings to the people of Charlotte County and the Fundy Isles with whom I have become acquainted with over the years.

I take great interest in the issue the member raises. This is a vexing conundrum. The people of Campobello Island know the uniqueness of their geography and their proximity to the United States, the fact that one has to cross the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge to re-enter Canada and get access to their beautiful corner of Canada. That is something well known to them and has caused them to come up with inventive solutions to all manner of things. This situation is no lesser for it.

The Government of Canada and Canada Post will have to come up with an inventive solution. This has seemingly been brought on by the legalization of cannabis, which has caused the border and customs authorities in the United States to want to go through Canadians' mail. That is distasteful to Canadians and we want to avoid it.

Canada Post representatives have worked and will continue to work on innovative solutions with their U.S. counterparts, as I know government officials will with their U.S. counterparts. As the member alluded to, we seek a sustainable transportation solution that could allow us to send mail directly to the island.

We invite the Higgs government to continue to propose solutions, including transportation solutions, that it may be interested in supporting that we could rely upon for the mail. I leave that all to the discussions that are occurring very actively among officials. This is something we will continue to have a great interest in. We want to continue to work on this issue and solve it for the people of Campobello Island.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the response from the hon. member. It is clear that he is familiar with this corner of my riding, New Brunswick Southwest, Charlotte County.

I would point out that it is not up to the citizens living in Campobello to solve this problem. The hon. member suggested they have come up with innovative solutions in the past. That is because the people in Campobello have had no choice to do so. They feel, rightly, the government has let them down. I appreciate the member's opening of the door to providing help on, perhaps, a year-round ferry in Campobello from the Higgs government, should it come to the federal government seeking infrastructure dollars to build and operate such a ferry service.

However, as the member knows, ferry services are not built overnight and we need a solution to this matter right away. I will point out again, for the record, that these Canada Post mail trucks are bonded. They should not be inspected by U.S. customs agencies and doing so is an infringement on our rights as Canadians.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Madam Speaker, I think the member took a few liberties with my answer. Suffice to say we are very interested in finding innovative solutions. We are not, of course, asking the people of Campobello Island to solve this on their own. That is patently false.

We are interested in solutions, as the McKenna government did, for example, in building the Grand Manan ferry, or as our other provincial governments did that went and found sustainable transportation solutions of their own.

The Higgs government is invited to come up with some sustainable transportation solutions for the people of Campobello Island. We would be very interested in hearing about those. I would invite the Higgs government and the Government of New Brunswick to let us know what they might have in mind there. Of course, we will be actively working on all fronts to make sure the people of Campobello Island, who are indeed Canadians, and Canadians are Canadians are Canadians, get the full attention of this government as we work through this problem.

Agriculture

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to ask supplemental questions tonight with respect to a question I asked the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food on December 13. It is well known that right now farmers, not only in my riding of Dufferin—Caledon, but all across the country, are suffering from a lack of access to foreign markets. This is particularly difficult for our soybean and canola farmers.

I asked a very specific question on what steps are going to be taken. I received an answer that I did not quite feel to be satisfactory to the farmers in my riding or across the country, something about “we stand with, we are going to have some meetings, we are going to talk, this, that and the other thing”.

What is really happening is that we have lost access for foreign markets as a result of unresolved trade disputes that the government seems incapable of taking any action on.

The U.S. has had similar problems and it brought forward a $28-billion market stabilization fund for U.S. farmers. Good for them. The problem we are having with that now is that allows them to do a whole bunch of things. Number one, they can sell their product to other markets that are not closed, at a price that is much cheaper than Canadian farmers can. What they can also do is sell their product into Canada at a price much cheaper than our farmers can sell here in Canada.

This is the big problem and I met with the Dufferin Federation of Agriculture. Hard-working farmers whose livelihoods are being severely affected by this met with me. Most farmers do not just farm soy or canola, they have a whole bunch of other things they do. On top of this issue, they are now struggling with the fact that they had a wet harvest in Ontario. They now have to pay to dry their corn and wheat. On top of that, they are getting slammed with a carbon tax. Some farmers are getting bills for $1,400 worth of carbon tax just to try and dry their product so they can get it to market, with no relief in sight from the government.

To make matters worse, many farmers in my riding across Ontario and across Canada are also cattle farmers. In Ontario, they have a complete lack of processing capacity due to the closure of the processing facility in Toronto. A farmer told me that in November she looked for a new place to have her beef processed and was told it could be processed in April. What happens to that family? They now have to pay to feed those cattle for the next four and a half months, the cattle will be overweight, and they will get less at market and pay penalties.

This is a catastrophic crisis in farming communities all across this country and in particular in Dufferin—Caledon. What they do not need are platitudes. I am not feeling very confident that we are going to get any concrete answers. They do not want platitudes like “we stand with or we are going to have a meeting”. They also do not want the government to say it will give them some loans. Farmers do not want loans, they want solutions to the problems. They want access to foreign markets fixed. They want processing capacity restored.

For the farmers in my riding and the farmers across the country, I would like an actual solution and not platitudes.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, this is the first time I have risen in the House this session and I would like to thank all the people in the Bay of Quinte for relying on me to represent them here in Ottawa.

Our government fully recognizes that the uncertainty of China's trade environment has impacted our canola and soybean industries. We remain committed to working in close collaboration with the provincial governments, industry and Canadian farmers to restore full market access for Canadian canola seed and predictable trade solutions for soybeans to China. The government knows that China is an important market for the Canadian soybean sector. At this time, there are no official technical market access restrictions for Canadian soybeans to China. However, we recognize that the agriculture sector remains vulnerable to non-tariff trade barriers impacting exports to China.

Canada has a dedicated agriculture team at the Canadian embassy in Beijing, working on market access issues and market development efforts. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is working closely with the embassy to address trade issues and advance Canadian agricultural interests in China. The Government of Canada continues to increase efforts to advance Canada's trade interest in China, including the appointment of Dominic Barton as Canada's ambassador to China. He is working on the ground and is committed to the long-term viability of the sector.

As for canola, regaining full market access for Canadian canola seed to China remains a top priority for our government. Canada continues to engage with China on multiple fronts to resolve this important issue, including through technical discussions and senior official dialogue with Chinese authorities. We have also engaged China through formal consultation through the World Trade Organization. At the same time, the Government of Canada is delivering financial supports to producers through the enhancements made under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's advance payments program and the extension of the repayment periods on cash advances for eligible producers. The increase in the interest-free limit for 2019 canola advances has allowed close to 6,120 producers to receive more than $1.43 billion in interest-free advances, providing them with the added flexibility to manage their farm operations and explore new market opportunities.

The hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is also working with her colleagues across Canada to review our business risk management programs, starting with the AgriStability program, to ensure they are helping producers manage the weather and market risks they face. We also remain focused on working with industry to undertake market diversification efforts to give Canadian exporters access to more markets, while reducing the risk associated with market closures. We recognize the importance of diversifying our trade to ensure Canadian farmers have access to new markets as we keep growing our exports in order to reach the ambitious target to grow our agriculture and food exports to $75 billion by 2025.

We remain committed to supporting the agriculture sector by maximizing emerging market opportunities and advancing Canada's agricultural interests in all export markets, including China.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have two supplemental questions.

The parliamentary secretary used phrases like “this is a top priority” and “we are engaging at the highest levels”. Does he have any time frame whatsoever for these disputes to be resolved? That is number one.

With respect to accessing new markets, what are the new markets that the government is looking for, what is it doing to let farmers know that they are going to have access to these new markets and when does it anticipate any new markets opening up?

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

Madam Speaker, we know that producers are currently facing serious weather and market challenges. In support of industry's market diversification efforts, the AgriMarketing program is a five-year, $121-million program under the Canadian agriculture partnership that provides funding to support industry's efforts to increase and diversify exports to international markets through industry-led promotional activities.

The Canola Council of Canada has received over $3.5 million for activities such as promotion, missions and research to help the canola sector diversify and increase trade to numerous markets, including China, the United States, Mexico, Japan and the European Union. We are putting forth full efforts and leveraging every available channel on the ground, both in China and here in Canada, to restore full market access for our canola seed. Our investments under AgriMarketing are also helping Soy Canada conduct trade missions to key markets like Japan to help the industry maximize opportunities under the CPTPP.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:43 p.m.)