Debates of Oct. 1st, 2020

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Speaker, I said at the time of prorogation that I would have liked our committee work to continue, but I also did not think that the outrage at the time was entirely warranted, given we were really talking about losing weeks of committee time and a mere day or two of House time.

However, I also want to respond to the member's suggestion that there was nothing new in the throne speech. Obviously, there are many emergency supports in this throne speech, through EI extensions, to help Canadians in need with income supports and the extension of the wage subsidy for businesses, but we also saw renewed and new commitments to child care, rapid testing, national standards in nursing homes, and ending chronic homelessness. The scale of ambition has also been seriously ramped up when it comes to climate action and reconciliation. I would also be remiss not to note that in the throne speech our federal government seriously answered the concern of the high unemployment rate with a plan to create one million jobs.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like my hon. colleague to talk a bit more about arts and culture.

I come from a region of Quebec where it is a bit more difficult to ensure that culture thrives, not just during the pandemic but in ordinary times as well. It is difficult for cultural workers to keep their heads above water. They have had ongoing financial difficulties.

I was talking with one cultural worker who told me that the assistance offered under the Canadian Heritage program was completely ridiculous. He did not even receive 25% of the amount he normally receives. One of the solutions he proposed was for the government to provide support equal to ticket sales.

I know that the throne speech talked about helping cultural industries. I would like to know what my colleague thinks about that.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Speaker, I will say very simply that similarly to other industries, such as tourism and hospitality, many elements of the arts and culture industry are going to have a very challenging time coming back in the short to medium term. Obviously we are not going to see large scale in-person events, for example, so the throne speech did commit to sector-specific support for industries that are more deeply affected by the pandemic. This is a conversation that needs to continue and flow from that answer in the throne speech.

[Jenica Atwin, Green, Fredericton, NB]

Madam Speaker, I appreciated the speech by my hon. colleague, but I could not help but notice the lack of enthusiasm in his voice when he is talking about these promises.

How could I be excited about the speech? Is there something I am missing? Is there something for us to believe this time versus following the 2019 speech? I would like to hear the member's thoughts on that.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Speaker, do not let my working from home and the technology suggest that there is any lack of enthusiasm for what we saw in the throne speech. I had enthusiasm for the 2019 throne speech as well, and as I say, we see a mixture of commitments. Of course we want to carry through with gun control and pharmacare and other commitments from 2019. Of course we want renewed commitments and faster action on all sorts of things, including on climate.

I will end by speaking on climate specifically, which I know we share a concern for. Since 2015 we have seen the projected 2030 emissions go from 815 megatonnes down to 592 megatonnes, a 25% reduction, because of the climate action policies we put in place. So long as they hold, and so long as we do not have a Conservative government heading into the future, we will absolutely build on those efforts. I am absolutely committed to doing so. I know the federal government is committed to doing so.

I am not only enthusiastic about those commitments, but also in delivering on those commitments. The work ahead in a fiscal update, the budget and more will be far more critical than the throne speech. Delivery is what matters.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to throne speech presented to Canadians last Wednesday.

I would also like to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Barrie—Innisfil.

First of all, I want to give a nod to the member for Kings—Hants, and I hope is still online, who talked about the highest tides in the Bay of Fundy. Let him not forget that he shares the Bay of Fundy with me, as the member for West Nova, the member for Cumberland—Colchester, the member for Fundy Royal and also the ones down around Saint John. When he says that he has the highest tides in the world, of course he has to share that with us.

It has been a week since the throne speech was presented to all Canadians. Under the current circumstances, I had wished that I would be welcoming it with relief, but unfortunately, this speech is a collection of previous speeches. It is a leftover potluck of previous Liberal promises that they never delivered on, which leaves me very skeptical regarding Canada's post-Covid recovery.

It is absolutely shameful and unacceptable to have prorogued Parliament for six weeks, only to come back with a speech so ill-suited to the health crisis affecting our country from coast to coast to coast. We are all affected by the challenges that we all know about, as well as those specific challenges that are different from one province and one region to another.

We know Canadians have been in dire need of support. Folks need to be supported for many months to come, and we, in the opposition, have been recognizing this necessity. However, to ensure the government's future spending is done correctly, it is incumbent upon parliamentarians to ask the government some tough and important questions before it injects substantial sums of money into programs.

A responsible and respectful minority government consults opposition parties sooner than 48 hours before a throne speech is printed, especially in the current period, and at a time when national debt has reached an unenviable and worrisome level.

With a minority government, the country's economic recovery during a crisis must be done in collaboration with opposition parties for the good of the Canadian population. The Prime Minister should have, for once, worked with the other parties to reinforce the team Canada approach, not only when it suits him, such as when he is trying to defend his throne speech.

We know that the throne speech shows a lack of backbone and a lack of will. It contains no economic recovery measures.

As well, we need the additional health transfers to the provinces and territories to be without condition, rather than with conditions that are a direct intrusion upon provincial jurisdiction. This is certainly not the time to accentuate the deep disagreements the Prime Minister has with his provincial counterparts. Instead, it is the time to help Canadians, small businesses, industries, the elderly and the most vulnerable of our country.

I held the minister of health portfolio in Nova Scotia 12 years ago and know very well that the health of my province was not that of Quebec or Alberta. This is even more the case today, as the cases in the Atlantic bubble are still close to zero, unlike here in Ontario and Quebec. It is essential that the Prime Minister let the provinces manage their needs themselves.

How is it that Canada, which the Prime Minister has been saying for years is doing better than any other country in the G7, still does not have faster access to COVID testing for individuals, has an unemployment rate that is higher than all others, and has a deficit reaching a catastrophic and unprecedented level?

Where is the Prime Minister's real leadership? When it comes to testing, the government made the announcement yesterday that it will be two to six weeks, or even longer, before Canadians have access to the new testing.

Back home in West Nova, the heart of our local economy is generated by tourism and the fishing industry. These two local economies were hit hard in the early weeks of the pandemic crisis. They are still being greatly impacted and will certainly remain deeply affected over the next couple of years.

I quickly addressed to the ministers my concerns and the challenges West Nova businesses were experiencing early in the pandemic. Then, when the government emergency measures finally arrived, it was too late for many of those businesses, as they did not meet the eligibility criteria.

My interventions, I felt, were on time, but the government's slow emergency response for the tourism industry and other small businesses came too late. The tourism season in Atlantic Canada and the survival rate of these businesses has been catastrophic, just like elsewhere in the country.

In the throne speech, it was mentioned that additional support for small businesses will eventually be available, but unfortunately, it is too late for many of these businesses. They were expecting, and I was expecting, real change in the throne speech.

I still believe that, had the Prime Minister not prorogued Parliament for so long and had he acted like a real government leader who makes the survival of his country a priority, we could have worked together, as respectful parliamentarians, on financial measures and emergency programs that could have been adapted to the country's different realities.

I spent the summer travelling in my riding, talking to business owners, especially those in tourism-related businesses. I did my part in supporting them and making the hidden gems of West Nova known to a wider audience. We have a beautiful riding, from the Acadian shores of Clare and Argyle to the mountains and farms of the Annapolis Valley. It was very apparent that they feel completely forgotten by the government, because, for one reason or another, they could not qualify for any of the business programs.

Several elements in the throne speech are, as was mentioned earlier, recycled broken promises, such as high-speed internet access in rural areas like West Nova, the modernization of the Official Languages Act and reconciliation with our first nations.

The promises related to reconciliation with first nations have been talked about by the government since 2015, and they are now seen as a bit of a joke. I find it distressing that the Liberals continue to use the promise of reconciliation with indigenous peoples so lightly. It is a real and serious issue, but the Prime Minister opportunistically uses it only when he is in trouble and needs to shine up his image. It is sad to see the failures of his promises to the first nations, such as the response to the report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and last spring's blockade crisis with the Wet'suwet'en.

The best example of this failure is the lobster fishery crisis that has been going for almost a month in my riding. That crisis has been foreseeable for months, almost a year now. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, with her hands-off approach to the crisis, preferred to ignore all the warning signs, believing that the dispute between commercial fishermen and the Mi'kmaq was going to settle itself, just like the Prime Minister thought that a budget would balance itself. However, neither will happen as long as the Liberal government is in office. All of the catastrophic situations that the government causes and ignores will only get worse, and this is causing suffering that can be avoided for many Canadians.

For weeks now, tensions between these two groups have been at their peak. Public safety is at stake, both on the sea and on the wharves. Protests are still being planned, with no clear and equitable deal for either party. Weeks ago, the Minister and I engaged in a dialogue in which we agreed that we needed to work together to solve the issue in a reasonable time, and by considering both parties' interests.

This situation is a perfect example of how I, as a Conservative, wanted to work with the government, and we could have worked together, but I am still waiting for the regular follow-up and fair closure that the Minister was to provide to me. It is completely unacceptable that the Minister says that she is having discussions with the two groups of fishermen, while the commercial fishermen are still trying to make themselves heard. The Minister has been telling us for weeks that progress is being made, but it is clearly not happening in St. Mary's Bay. She should be ashamed of her lack of leadership and her failure to deal with this urgent situation diligently, as a minister should be doing. It is a time-sensitive situation, and she must act immediately.

How can we have lasting reconciliation with our indigenous peoples when the government's mismanagement has set these two peaceful groups against each other, jeopardizing the possibility of reconciliation for another generation? For this, these Liberals should be truly embarrassed.

I look forward to working as the shadow minister for intergovernmental affairs and ACOA. I promise the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs that I will not abuse his phone number. How much trouble can two Acadians actually get into?

This leads me continue my work in keeping the government to account in this chamber, in committee and, of course, back home.

Nova Scotia and Canada deserve better.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, my riding is located right in the very heart of Hamilton Centre.

It is interesting that my Conservative friends down the way are talking about reconciliation. I would agree that this has been, by and large, a series of disappointments and failures on behalf of the government. Processes are in place to settle land claims. These are fundamentally a part of the indigenous genocide that is ongoing. In fact, not far from my home, in the Six Nations, the Haudenosaunee territories, there are still government expansions onto disputed land claims and territories.

Within the legal framework of UNDRIP, which the Liberal government talks about, and as a meaningful path forward, what would my Conservative friend suggest we do to ensure indigenous sovereignty in land claims is respected in treaty to treaty, nation-to-nation relationships?

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Madam Speaker, I cannot get into land claims. Nova Scotia has the peace and friendship treaties of 1752. I think there were two others after that. What we are running into right now is a court decision in Marshall on how fisheries should be managed, along with access to that fishery, for indigenous groups.

The department, under the direction of the minister, has been negligent in having that dialogue, ensuring people understand the situation and truly coming up with a definition of “moderate livelihood”. That is at the core of this dispute and discussion.

It is up to the minister, the government, Prime Minister and anyone who has an interest in this to sit down with the parties involved to ensure they come up with a solution so this crisis comes to an end. It has to come to an end at some point.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech.

There is a similar situation in my riding. An indigenous community in Listuguj organized the fall fishery. Negotiations were going very well with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. A few months ago, it was said that things were coming along nicely and that the community would probably get a commercial fishing licence. At the last minute, right before the fishing season began, the government changed its mind and did not issue them a licence.

I would like my colleague to tell us how the federal government plans to start this reconciliation he so often refers to if it continues to act like this with indigenous communities.

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague.

We often run into this issue when interpreting bills and court rulings. How are we to find solutions for those affected by these rulings? In this case, they have been trying to find a solution for 21 years. I think the department is not showing leadership. It is proposing different solutions for different people in different regions. I think it needs to find a definitive solution, and only the minister can really ask her department to find that solution.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am very appreciative of the fact that the member highlighted reconciliation and indigenous issues. Progress has been imperfect at times. There has been some success, such as over 60% of all long-term boiled water advisories lifted, but there has not been enough progress. It is easy and right to argue that.

Could the member name one specific thing he has argued for to improve the lives of indigenous people?

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Madam Speaker, I have two indigenous bands in West Nova, the Acadia band and the Bear River band, two very pivotal bands in the lives of Canadians. They were basically the first natives to welcome Europeans to our great country. They were the impetus of many of these decisions we see before us.

I have been working tirelessly, trying to come up with solutions to ensure all parties are happy in this, unlike the Liberals who are pitting indigenous groups against the non-indigenous groups, creating strife in a people who have been together for 300 years. Shame on them.

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

Madam Speaker, it is a real honour to rise on behalf of the people of Barrie—Innisfil to speak in reply to the throne speech.

Before I begin, I would very much like to thank all first responders, not just in Barrie—Innisfil but right across those country, those who have been on the front line, health care workers. As a former firefighter in 2003, I recall the SARS crisis and the anxiety that was felt by myself and others who I worked with in the paramedic and police services in dealing with that crisis. That anxiety was heightened by the fact that we did not know if we would get the virus and take it home.

I really appreciate the first responders and front-line health care workers. They deserve our greatest respect.

I also want to thank the administration staff in the House. I know Gaétan is keeping all our desks clean so we do not take the virus back to our ridings.

Six weeks ago, the government prorogued Parliament. At the time, we were at the height of a scandal that was becoming more emboldened as new information became available. The Prime Minister said that the reason why he would prorogue Parliament was to come up with a bold and ambitious new course for the country. I would suggest that the ambition was on the part of the Prime Minister to save his political skin at that time.

Members will recall that the government was becoming more embroiled in the scandal. More information was becoming available. There were more indictments of individuals who were involved. Therefore, the Prime Minister and the government simply decided to prorogue Parliament so they could make it go away. It is not going away.

Let us look at the Prime Minister's bold and ambitious plan. If any of us looked back to the 2015 election platform of the Liberal Party, “Real Change”, we would see that much of what was promised back then was recycled or rehashed in this throne speech. Many of us will recall that at the beginning of the current government, in 2015, Liberals were big on “deliverology”, but we have seen very little in that regard, except for this rehashing and recycling of promises.

At the beginning of this crisis, all of us were working together in a team Canada approach. I said this the other night when I spoke to Bill C-4. Many MPs were on the front lines. We became the front line voice of the government, because in many cases Service Canada offices were closing. People were calling our offices because they were anxious. The level of anxiety was heightened as a result of the fear, the unknown and the uncertainty of what was going to happen next.

All of us worked together. Many programs that were announced initially became woefully inadequate, and were found to be that. The Canada emergency wage subsidy, for example, started off at 10%. If it was not for the opposition, all opposition parties, and I am sure the government heard about it as well from business, then that wage subsidy would not have been brought up to the level it was.

There were problems with the CERB. People were falling through the gaps. Maternity benefits is an example of where people were falling through the gaps on CERB. It was the same with the CEBA, the Canada emergency business account. A lot of businesses did not qualify for that benefit.

We all parliamentarians worked together to ensure that these programs were in place. Of course, they were meant to be temporary.

Now as we enter into a new wave of COVID-19, clearly we as parliamentarians and the government need to be there to help Canadians. However, we need to be there in recovery as well, not so much as an issue of dependence on the government but to create a recovery plan. What I fail to see in the throne speech is that recovery plan.

What does recovery look like?

We have to ensure the government gets out of the way of recovery and allow the power of the free market, allow the power of Canadian businesses, the people they employ and the products they produce to do that. It comes in every sector of our economy.

The other thing we did not see in the throne speech was any sense of investor confidence in those sectors of our economy that have been decimated as a result of government policy, legislation and regulation.

Clearly the natural resources sector has been impacted has been impacted as a result of the government. We hear many stories of Alberta being on its knees as a result of the legislation, Bill C-69 and Bill C-48, regulation and taxation policies that have been imposed on the sector. We want to ensure we move from dependance to recovery, and there was very little in the throne speech that spoke to this.

With respect to recovery, the other area we really need to focus on is the issue of rapid testing. I find it curious that just yesterday the government approved a rapid test for which an application had been filed with Health Canada just 24 hours before. It is amazing how rapidly the government and Health Canada will move when there is a tremendous amount of anxiety on the part of Canadians who are standing in line for COVID-19 testing. The fact is that rapid testing has been around in other countries. Twelve countries around the world have approved rapid testing, many of them our allies. We have trade pacts and trade agreements with them. Many rapid tests have been put in front of Health Canada, so why the delay? Why the delay that further causes problems for Canadian families that have to wait in line for testing and then for the results?

Rapid testing is going to become critical for us in out recovery. I was glad to see the rapid test approved, but the government needs to do more to ensure that it is there.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has said that the longer the spending plan goes on it will become unsustainable: $343 billion in deficits, approaching $1.2 trillion in debt. That is on the expenditure side of the ledger. We will need to ensure that we create revenue to pay for these types of programs. We have to allow the power, as I said earlier, of the Canadian economy to do that through less legislation, less regulation, fewer policies, less taxation and create investor confidence that will provide us with the revenue we need to pay for those programs.

October 1 is a troubling day for many businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises. Rents are due today, yet the commercial emergency rent assistance program that business owners have relied on, though not many of them because it is a deeply flawed program, will cause those business owners problems.

The last thing I want to talk about are veterans. In its boldness and ambitiousness, the one thing that was neglected in the throne speech were veterans. Not one word of veteran was in the throne speech. Earlier this week, we heard from the Parliamentary Budget Officer about case loads approaching 50,000 that had to be adjudicated and they had yet to be processed. That means 50,000 veterans and their families are living with additional anxiety. I would hope the government would announce a plan to help fix that.

Two years ago the NDP suggested a plan to help alleviate some of those backlogs, and we supported it. The government needs to ensure that is fixed. As shadow minister for Veterans Affairs, I will do everything I can to hold the government to account to have those backlogs fixed.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have heard a number of Conservative members today speak about rapid testing and how disappointed they were with how long it took to get rapid testing on line. However, I can tell members that I much prefer to take advice from Health Canada than from a politician when it comes to my medical advice and telling me when a test is ready. I know that this member and other members have talked about other countries and rapid testing, but we have our own independent health agency to advise us on best practices within our own autonomous borders. I would add that my wife spent five hours in line waiting for a test just two days ago here in Kingston, and she as well would much rather know that her test, if it is a rapid test, is one that is approved by Health Canada.

My question to the member is quite blunt, and I had asked it to another Conservative member who really just did not answer it. If he were the Minister of Health, would he have approved a rapid test without the advice of Health Canada?

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

Madam Speaker, clearly, the issue of rapid testing is top of mind for all Canadians. If I were the minister, at the height of this pandemic back in March or April when 12 other countries, including some of our allies, had approved the issue of rapid testing, I would have made sure that Health Canada moved quickly so that the member's wife would not have to stand in line for five hours for a test.

If our allies have approved these tests, and the EU with more stringent testing regimes than anywhere in the world has approved similar rapid testing to what is in front of Health Canada right now, why is it taking Health Canada so long to approve them when Canadians desperately want and need rapid testing and so too does our economy?

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about natural resources and the economy.

There are two ways to look at this. We can focus on the short term and exclude a number of sectors that will automatically have weaknesses. We can also take a more long-term view that will bear fruit over a longer period of time but will take patience. I am not the one saying that. Donald Drummond, the former chief economist at TD Bank and a professor at Queen's University, says we need to look at the long term. Some countries already have fiscal and economic measures that support a green transition.

What does my colleague think of Mr. Drummond's view?

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

Madam Speaker, it is an inherent responsibility on the part of government to look long term when dealing with the economy, economic forecasts, etc. However, the way the throne speech is designed, one would almost think that we are going to flip the switch on a green economy at the cost of everything else that has gone on.

I believe that we need to take a parallel path. There is still going to be the demand for natural resources. There is still going to be the demand for oil. There is still going to be the demand for liquefied natural gas. Who better to supply that demand globally than clean, environmentally sustainable Canadian natural resources? If we do not support our natural resource sector while that demand still exists in addition to pursuing the green-tech path, then we are going to rely on despot nations who do not have the same human rights or environmental and labour standards as we do for the energy we depend on.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Madam Speaker, the member spoke about veterans. I remember the 2015 campaign was distinctive in that a lot of veterans organizations became far more politicized than they had been before in reaction to the Conservatives' cuts to veterans services. The government that promised to fix that really has not, and there have been many reports showing that.

I am just wondering how we move from words to action when it comes to supporting Canada's veterans, because it has been a couple of governments now that have not gotten it right and done justice for Canada's veterans.

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

Madam Speaker, the way we move forward, frankly, is to stop lying to veterans.

Veterans have dealt with a generation of lies from successive governments, and I will blame us, as a Conservative government, for that as well. Stop the lies, and tell them the truth. What we can do, we tell them we will do, and what we cannot, we tell them why. That is how we deal with veterans in this country: no more crap.

Clinic 554

[Jenica Atwin, Green, Fredericton, NB]

Madam Speaker, on a day where all parties rose in the House and denounced the hateful practice of conversion therapy, I rise once again to speak about Clinic 554.

There has been a lot of talk about the work of this clinic on ensuring New Brunswickers have access to abortion services. What has flown under the radar is that Clinic 554 is also a centre of excellence for trans health care in a province where there is still a lot of stigma. Many of the same people who have been vulnerable to the human rights abuses of conversion therapy have experienced the life-saving compassion and validation that Dr. Edgar, Valerya and the whole team at Clinic 554 provide.

Clinic 554 saves lives and it is closing because the province will not rescind regulation 84-20 of the New Brunswick Medical Services Payment Act, in direct contravention of the Canada Health Act, nor will it recognize that trans health care is a subspecialty in medicine that deserves compensation commensurate with the service.

To save this clinic, to protect human rights and to save lives, we need federal intervention in New Brunswick.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Madam Speaker, yesterday Clinic 554, the only provider of out-of-hospital abortion care and specialized trans health care services in New Brunswick, was forced to permanently close its doors due to the provincial government's refusal to repeal regulation 84-20. This regulation withholds medicare coverage from abortions performed in community-based clinics, and it has repeatedly been found by Health Canada to constitute a clear violation of the Canada Health Act.

The closure of Clinic 554 as a result of this policy also constitutes a clear and unjustifiable infringement on the charter rights of women and LGBTQ2IA+ people in the province. This is completely unacceptable. The Higgs government must immediately repeal regulation 84-20, and the federal government must continue to take the unprecedented actions necessary to protect and promote the right to choose and the rights of LGBTQ2IA+ people in the province.

Online Pornography

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the government has indicated it wants to take on big tech and I would urge it to start in Canada's own backyard by requiring platforms to be free from sexual exploitation.

PornHub and its parent company MindGeek, based in Montreal, operate with complete impunity as they profit from sexual exploitation and bring in nearly half a billion dollars annually. For years, videos featuring child abuse, torture, rape and sex trafficking of women and children have been published and monetized by MindGeek.

These videos of sexual exploitation uploaded to MindGeek's platforms can be viewed and uploaded millions of times, in each instance revictimizing the individuals. Many of these videos remain up for months, even years, even after they are brought to light, and this blatant exploitation has led to companies like PayPal ending its relationship with MindGeek. This is an outrage. It is time to end MindGeek's impunity.

I am calling on the government to end the exploitation of women and girls online.

Estia Residence

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on September 18, I visited the Estia Residence, a new seniors' facility in my riding, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, in Laval. My colleague, the member for Vimy, and I toured the new residence, which is ready to safely welcome our seniors.

I am proud to say that our government has made a clear commitment to seniors during this crisis and that we will not abandon them. The new horizons for seniors program is one example of that commitment. It provides grants to help prevent elder abuse and support the social participation of seniors.

Take care of yourselves. Efcharistó.

Catalonia

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec is not the only place where October brings back dark memories of a federation that claimed to be a friend sending in its army to march through the streets in the heavy boots of repression.

Three years ago today, on October 1, in a bid to suppress the referendum on self-determination organized by the legitimate government of Catalonia, Spain disgraced itself by resorting to violence.

By backing Spain, Canada is hedging its bets for dealing with Quebec's independence movement, which refuses to give up because, of the two nations, Quebec is the one that has no reason to be ashamed.

To President Puigdemont, living in exile, and President Torra, who was deposed by Spain, I extend my friendship and my pledge to ensure that each nation gets to exercise its right to self-determination and express its own culture in its own language, reflecting its own values.

Long live free Catalonia.

Skilled Trades Workers

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as we build back better from the pandemic, the government is investing in Canadians, investing in our social safety net and investing in the critical infrastructure we all depend on. We need to ensure that we have a 21st century labour force to build our infrastructure and create good paying jobs, like the ones set out in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge by the apprentice training at the facilities of LiUNA Local 183 and Local 27 of the carpenters and allied trades workers.

Part of the COVID-19 response of our local unions has been to strengthen safety practices and make sure their members continue to get the job done safely.

During his career, my father was a labourer, a carpenter and a sheet metal worker and roofer. His generation sacrificed so much to help build our great country. Now we must continue to invest in and train the next generation of men and women in the trades. That will not only provide good jobs for Canadians, but also build the communities in this country we are all blessed to call home.