Debates of Oct. 21st, 2020

COVID-19 Emergency Response

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has had enough of the corruption. It is as simple as that.

The Liberals do not want to call an election for the sake of SMEs. On the contrary, they are ready to sacrifice SMEs to trigger an election. They do not want to call an election for health transfers during a pandemic. No. They do not want to call an election for the sake of financial support for seniors either. They do not want to call an election for the sake of the economy, the environment or supply management. They want to call an election to cover up a Liberal scandal in which they are taking taxpayers' money and giving it to Liberal friends.

Will they finally understand that the priority is the pandemic and not their friends?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, during this pandemic, we need a Parliament that works together, even though we may not always agree. We need a robust democracy, but we also need to be able to deliver services for Canadians and Quebeckers as we have been doing since the beginning of this pandemic.

The Bloc Québécois members have been talking about wanting an election for several weeks now. It is up to them to explain that. What is more, it is up to them to vote, like all the opposition parties, on whether to continue working collaboratively in this Parliament or not.

We will see what they will do in half an hour.

Aerospace Industry

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's aerospace industry lost hundreds more jobs last week, including 250 jobs at Pratt & Whitney on Montreal's south shore, to give just one example. The aerospace sector provides high-quality, well-paid, knowledge-based jobs.

How many more jobs does the sector need to lose before this government reacts?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are fully seized with the serious problems that COVID-19 has created for the airline and aerospace industries. As mentioned in the Speech from the Throne, we are working to implement solutions that provide the aerospace sector with the support it needs.

To date, $1.1 billion in support for airline industry workers has been provided through the wage subsidy. We continue to help workers in the aerospace industry. We will continue to be there to support workers across the country. That is why we need to keep working and not play partisan games, which is what the Conservatives are always doing.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is, the government does not have a plan for the aerospace sector. A recent PBO report revealed that Canada would not achieve its goals with the supercluster strategy and that the aerospace sector has been abandoned.

Canada's vast territory creates an opportunity for the sector to innovate, giving us a coveted edge over our international competitors.

When will the Liberal government come up with a plan for the aerospace sector?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, since taking office five years ago, we have worked with the aerospace industry in Quebec and across the country to secure good jobs and a promising future for this industry, which is important to Canada and the rest of the world. We will keep working with Canadian innovators and aerospace companies. We will keep making the necessary investments.

We understand that COVID-19 is hitting the industry hard, but we will continue to step up by providing direct assistance to workers. We are also working with the sector to find longer-term solutions.

Public Services and Procurement

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, FTI Professional Grade Inc. was created seven days before winning a $200-million contract. That company is a partner of Frank Baylis. Frank Baylis manufactures Baylis ventilators. Frank Baylis was an MP just six months before the contract was awarded.

What is the truth?

Why the cover-up?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from day one, we have been working with Canada's industries to deliver the services and equipment we need during this unprecedented pandemic. On the recommendation of public health, Public Services Canada signed an agreement with FTI Professional Grade. We have no agreements with any of FTI's suppliers.

We know that we need ventilators to keep people safe. That was our priority. The health and safety of Canadians will always be our priority.

Health

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, for months the Prime Minister asked Canadians to follow public health advice. For months he asked Canadians to consult Dr. Tam and health authorities for their well-being, for the health of all Canadians. Just two weeks ago, the Prime Minister cancelled Thanksgiving and said we had better be prepared to cancel Christmas, and today he will not answer our question on whether he asked Dr. Tam about having an election in a pandemic.

Will the Prime Minister admit he's willing to put his electoral fortunes ahead of the well-being of Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the well-being of Canadians is what this government has been focused on since day one. We have delivered on supports for families and for seniors. We have delivered on supports for students and workers. We have delivered for small businesses, and in Small Business Week we heard across the country how much of a difference what we have done has made.

Furthermore, we continue to work with public health officials, and I can assure members that Elections Canada has worked very closely with health officials to determine what the best paths forward are. I have full confidence in Elections Canada to be able to do those things.

Our focus is on continuing to deliver for Canadians. It is up to the opposition to decide if they want to make Parliament work.

Pharmacare

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it has become very obvious to Canadians that the Prime Minister is trying to force an unnecessary election, but our country is facing an unprecedented pandemic. Canadians are deeply concerned about their health and also about paying their bills and feeding their families. The Prime Minister says he wants to help Canadians, but he is clearly more interested in playing politics.

My question is this: When the Prime Minister committed to pharmacare in the throne speech just two weeks ago, was he serious or was that just another hollow Liberal campaign promise?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning of this pandemic, we have stepped up to help Canadians, to help families, to help workers, to help small businesses and to ensure that the provinces have adequate PPE and testing facilities. We have flowed billions of dollars to the provinces to make sure we are reopening schools safely. We are supporting our most vulnerable. Every step of the way, we have worked constructively with members of all parties to deliver in this pandemic.

Today, unfortunately, opposition parties need to make a choice about whether or not they want to work collaboratively and constructively, which does not mean agreeing on everything, but does mean moving forward and focusing on Canadians. That is the choice they get to make.

Child Care

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, COVID cases are increasing and people are worried about their jobs, their kids and the health of their loved ones. Instead of building a universal child care and early learning system that would help families, the Prime Minister would rather throw us into an election. If the Liberals really cared about families and parents who must make the difficult decision between going back to work and taking care of their kids, they would work with the opposition to find a solution.

The government bragged about its commitment to child care in the throne speech. Was this really a commitment to help families or just another empty pre-election promise?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we were proud to stand before Canadians with that throne speech and talk about child care, talk about pharmacare and talk about the investments we were going to be making to recognize the gaps that COVID-19 has demonstrated in our social safety nets, in the fabric of Canadians' lives, and work closely with all others to fill them. We flowed historic investments to support families, to support working moms and to support Canadians from one coast to the other to the other to deliver for them, and we are going to continue to do that.

The opposition parties need to choose whether they want to work constructively in this House or not. We will see.

COVID-19 Emergency Response

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada-U.S. border between Thunder Bay and Manitoba is part of my riding. We know that border restrictions to non-essential travel have been effective in limiting the introduction and transmission of COVID-19 into Canada from other countries.

Can the Prime Minister please update the House on measures our government is taking with regard to our border?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River for his hard work as a health care professional as well as an MP.

Since January, we have taken multiple measures at our border to protect the health and safety of Canadians by limiting the introduction and spread of COVID-19 in Canada. We made the extraordinary decision back in March to introduce reciprocal border restrictions for non-essential travel with the U.S., and just this week we announced its extension for another month.

We will continue to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe, and will always base our decisions on the best public health information available.

Health

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition and the hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill asked the Prime Minister a very simple question: Did he or did he not consult Dr. Tam about holding an election during this second wave of the pandemic?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have immense trust in Elections Canada and its ability to make our democracy work. From the beginning of this crisis, we have shown that despite the pandemic, or perhaps because of it, it is essential to make our parliamentary and democratic institutions work, and that is what have done. We have worked with our partners here in the House, we have worked with the provinces, we have worked with Canadians to meet their expectations during these tough times, and that is what we will continue to do.

The opposition needs to decide if it wants to continue to collaborate here in the House.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have a Prime Minister who wants to trigger an election and blame the opposition for it. This Prime Minister wants to cover up his scandals involving WE Charity, judicial appointments and money given to his Liberal cronies.

The question posed by the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Calgary Nose Hill is extremely simple: Did the Prime Minister ask Dr. Tam if we could call an election during the second wave of the pandemic, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in our country and in our robust democracy, there are systems governing elections. Elections Canada is doing the work to ensure that when there is an election, whether that is in three weeks or three years, all will be ready despite the pandemic. We have confidence in our institutions, and Canadians can have confidence in their institutions.

What the opposition parties must do is decide if they wish to continue collaborating and working constructively in the House, yes or no.

Indigenous Affairs

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure of leadership turned the tensions over the Nova Scotia lobster fisheries into a crisis. He ignored it until violence erupted. People were hurt and buildings were burned. However, that is his MO, is it not? It is do nothing, send out a couple of tweets, do nothing some more and then blame everyone else. What is worse is that as vandalism and violence escalated, he decided to join the debate here in Ottawa a couple of days ago a thousand kilometres away.

Why does the Prime Minister not finally pick up the phone, talk to the people on the ground and actually do his job?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, obviously we strongly condemn the acts of violence, racism and threats we have seen in Nova Scotia. I have to be clear: For productive conversations to continue, we need to fully implement this right, so the violence must end.

We will continue to work with both first nations and industry leadership to find a path forward, ensuring a safe, productive and sustainable fishery for all harvesters. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations will be appointing a special representative very soon to continue fostering further dialogue between commercial harvesters and first nations. We will continue our discussions with the Mi'kmaq, nation to nation.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this crisis has raged on for over a month. Fishers on all sides condemn the Liberal government's lack of action. Even a former top DFO official in the region said the government “mishandled this situation terribly”.

Now the Prime Minister wants to force an election, just for his own self-interest, just to keep covering up his own scandals. For once, maybe he should actually lead. The Prime Minister could protect indigenous and non-indigenous people, keep their communities safe, and ensure conservation and a prosperous fishery for all in Nova Scotia.

The Prime Minister allowed it to become a crisis. What is he actually going to do to fix it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for 21 years, since the Marshall decision, federal governments of all different stripes have made progress on resolving this issue and recognizing the inherent rights of Mi'kmaq first nations fishers. We will continue to do so.

A number of years ago, our minister of fisheries from Beauséjour moved forward on strong agreements with the Mi'kmaq. We are continuing to move forward constructively and productively, not to solve this with just a band-aid but to solve this issue once and for all, in partnership with the Mi'kmaq and all people of Nova Scotia.

Ethics

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, all we want is a committee to look into the WE Charity scandal on behalf of Quebeckers. We would be freeing up the four committees that were looking into the scandal and create one new one. We are actually making the government's job easier in the midst of a pandemic, as long as it answers our questions, but the Liberals are doing everything they can to stop us from talking about the scandal. They shut down Parliament this summer in an attempt to dodge the issue. The forced the finance minister to resign, and now they want to topple their own government just to avoid answering our questions.

What are they hiding from Quebeckers?