Debates of Dec. 1st, 2020

Agriculture and Agri-Food

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

Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in the House this evening. I am honoured to do so in person, not virtually.

I rise to acknowledge the excellent work the official opposition has done over the past few months. Thanks to that work, dairy producers received excellent news on the weekend. The compensation they have been waiting 13 months for finally has a clear deadline. Dairy farmers know that they will receive money this year, next year and the year after that. I am very happy.

I have to say that this happened in an odd sort of way. Let's go back to August 2019, when the then minister of agriculture and agri-food announced that she would compensate dairy, egg and poultry producers to the tune of $1.75 billion for losses incurred in the wake of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the free trade agreement with the European Union. The announcement was made in the month of August. Then, in October, there was an election. Not long afterward, producers received a cheque. That was the first phase of this announcement.

A pattern is emerging. We waited 13 months and during that time all opposition parties asked the government to provide the figures, details and deadlines for the payment of the touted financial compensation for dairy, egg and poultry producers. During this 13-month period, we constantly repeated our questions. It is fine to cut a check during an election period, but we still did not have an answer and producers were worried.

All of a sudden, on Saturday morning, we were surprised to learn on Twitter that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food was going to make an announcement later in the day. We realized that this announcement, which took place after 13 months of effort by the official opposition and other opposition parties, was about compensation payments. The big surprise is that the compensation will be paid over three years instead of seven years. That is good news and dairy producers are very happy.

Why was that announcement made on a Saturday morning at the very last minute? We saw it yesterday in the economic statement. Documents were already printed, and the government simply forgot to tell producers the good news that the compensation was included in the economic statement presented yesterday by the Minister of Finance. That mistake had to be rectified at all costs. That is why, stumbling along and improvising once again, the government announced on a Saturday morning that dairy producers would be compensated.

The problem was that the government was not ready to announce an agreement for egg and poultry producers. A dollar amount was announced, but how the money will be allocated and distributed will be determined at some later date. Another waiting period has begun.

How will the money be allocated and to whom? How will it work? What is the investment program? What is the advertising program? No one knows. Earlier today, after making the announcement, the Prime Minister said that there will be a confidence vote that could trigger an election. How convenient.

The Liberal government promises money, makes announcements and says that the cheques will be in the mail soon, but there might be an election in the meantime. Unfortunately, the Liberal government only cares about dairy producers when there is talk of an election. That is the problem. Absolutely nothing has been announced for dairy processors. There was not a word about them in Saturday's announcement.

My question for my colleague is as follows: When will the details pertaining to dairy processors and egg and poultry producers be available?

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

Madam Speaker, the government strongly supports supply management and is delivering on its commitment to compensate our supply-managed sectors for the impact of recent trade agreements.

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food recently announced a substantial package that delivers on the Government of Canada's commitment to provide full and fair compensation for market access concessions made under the Canadian-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. A total of $2 billion in federal support will be made available to every dairy producer for the impacts of CETA and CPTPP, including $1.75 billion to be paid in the form of direct payments. Of this amount, $345 million was made available to eligible dairy producers in the 2019-20 fiscal year. All eligible dairy producers who applied have received their payment.

The government has also set a schedule to deliver the remaining $1.4 billion through direct payments to farmers over a timeline of only three years. Dairy farmers will receive, on the basis of their milk quota, cash payments of $468 million in 2020-21, $469 million in 2021-22 and $468 million in 2022-23. These payments will continue to be delivered through the Canadian Dairy Commission. These amounts build on the $250 million CETA on-farm investment program, which has already approved 3,327 applications. Dairy producers now have greater certainty as to the level and timing of support as they adapt to the new market environment.

The government is also delivering on its commitment to provide full and fair compensation to poultry and egg producers for the impacts of the CPTPP. Up to $691 million for 10-year programs will be made available for supply-managed chicken, egg, broiler hatching egg and turkey farmers. These programs directly respond to what was requested by the poultry and egg working group following the ratification of CPTPP and will provide producers with targeted support to make on-farm investments, improve productivity and carry out market development activities. Program details will be designed in consultation with sector representatives and launched as soon as possible. This compensation package will help dairy, poultry and egg farmers make strategic investments on their farms and improve their operations to be even more competitive.

Our government remains committed to engaging the sectors on full and fair compensation for CUSMA. We also remain committed to supporting our processors of supply-managed products for their market impacts.

The government pledged to compensate supply-managed farmers and that is exactly what we are doing.

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

Madam Speaker, it is almost as though we were listening to the press conference the Minister of Agriculture gave last Saturday all over again. It was an improvised press conference, remember, because the details were in Tuesday's policy statement. The documents were probably still being printed.

At the very end of his speech, my colleague talked about compensation for the free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico.

How long will that take? We are starting today. Does today count as day one or does Saturday? How many times will we be told that dairy, egg and poultry producers will be fully and fairly compensated very soon?

This government is improvising when it comes to compensation for dairy farmers, processors, and egg and poultry producers.

Unfortunately, Canada's entire agricultural industry is suffering as a result.

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

Madam Speaker, the industry has asked for clarity and certainty from the government as it relates to compensation, and we have provided just that. In August 2019, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food announced that $1.75 billion would be provided to compensate Canadian dairy farmers over eight years. Between December 2019 and January 2020, more than 10,000 dairy farmers received a cash payment of $345 million. The government has now set a schedule to deliver the remaining $1.4 billion through direct payments to farmers over a timeline of only three years, giving dairy producers greater certainty as they adapt to a new market environment.

The government has also announced $691 million for a 10-year program for the 4,800 Canadian chicken, egg, broiler hatching egg and turkey farmers. Collectively, this support will help dairy, poultry and egg producers adapt to new market conditions by replacing foregone income, increasing producer confidence in the future of supply-managed systems and providing producers with the opportunity to make strategic investments in their operations.

Through these investments, dairy, poultry and egg farmers will be able to improve their operations and be even more competitive, which will help—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I am sorry. The time is up.

The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona.

Official Languages

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, I stand today to ask for a response to a question that I asked earlier in the sitting.

The mandate of the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages outlines the government's commitment to Canada's official languages in minority settings and calls for investment in infrastructure to support minority communities, including schools. I rise today to address this mandate as it relates to the protection of French in Alberta.

If we include the Université de l'Ontario français, which has yet to welcome its first cohort of students, there are only seven language colleges or universities in Canada outside of Quebec, and one of those is in my riding of Edmonton Strathcona. It is Campus Saint-Jean.

Campus Saint-Jean is the only French-language university west of Winnipeg. It serves 800 francophone and bilingual students from Alberta and across Canada, with a wide range of undergraduate, after-degree and graduate programs. Campus Saint-John is critical to the vitality of the French language in Alberta and in the west of Canada. Its education program trains future teachers for Alberta's and other provinces' primary and secondary French and French immersion classrooms. Without Campus Saint-Jean, Alberta would not have the qualified teachers it needs to serve its francophone students or those who, like my daughter Keltie, are enrolled in the bilingual programs in Alberta.

Today, we are at risk of losing Campus Saint-Jean. In violation of the contract signed in 1976 between the faculty of Saint-Jean, the University of Alberta and the Government of Alberta, which promised adequate funding to operate, maintain, expand and enhance the school, Jason Kenney's cuts to post-secondary education are threatening the very existence of Campus Saint-Jean. Unlike in Ontario, where the Ford government refused to fund the Université de l'Ontario français, Alberta's government is failing to live up to its obligations. This has profound implications for the future of French language instruction and vitality in Alberta and, as such, must be addressed by the federal government.

Article 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that Alberta's francophone parents have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in French. The recent Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique affirmed this right and more. It found that minority language communities must receive equivalent support to the majority language, not proportional support, as British Columbia has argued.

The implications for Alberta are very clear. Unless Campus Saint-Jean is supported, Alberta's school boards will not be able to meet the equivalency standard. In the case of Ontario, the federal government stepped up with a commitment of more than $60 million over eight years to support its French-language post-secondary institution and to ensure that francophones in Ontario would have their minority rights protected.

Will the current government do the same for francophones in Alberta?

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Official Languages)]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona, for her support for Campus Saint-Jean. I know she has been a vocal advocate for this institution, which shows the vitality and success of the Franco-Albertan community.

As we outlined in the Speech from the Throne, our government is firmly committed to supporting Canada's official language minority communities, while also protecting and promoting the French language. We understand that our two official languages are an essential part of Canada's identity. Supporting Campus Saint-Jean is a fundamental part of both of these aims.

As the only francophone university west of Manitoba, Campus Saint-Jean is a source of pride for the Franco-Albertan community, offering young francophones an excellent post-secondary education.

Campus Saint-Jean is open to all Albertans and all Canadians who wish to strengthen their bilingualism and their ties with French. That is why our government recently invested $3.7 million to support Campus Saint-Jean through our bilateral agreement with the Province of Alberta.

We understand that the federal government has a role to play in ensuring that this vital institution can continue to operate.

We cannot do it alone. Under the agreement between our two governments, these funds cannot be released without the Government of Alberta providing its share of the funding. Unfortunately, the Conservative government of Jason Kenney has made Campus Saint-Jean one of the victims of cuts to education.

Our government has asked the Alberta government to reconsider. The Minister of Official Languages wrote to Premier Kenney asking that his government live up to its end of the agreement, but today it remains silent.

Just yesterday, the federal Conservatives remained silent despite calls from the government and the member for Edmonton Strathcona. No federal Conservative condemned the cuts at Campus Saint-Jean. That is extremely disappointing, and it shows how little the Conservatives care about Alberta's francophone community and about protecting official bilingualism across the country.

Our government is keen to collaborate with the other parties to support Campus Saint-Jean and to ensure that the 286,000 Franco-Albertans, the thousands of francophiles in Alberta and all Canadians out west can access post-secondary education in French.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, I want to just make a point. The Campus Saint-Jean is more than just a vital French language, post-secondary institution in Alberta and Western Canada. It is also the cultural and socio-economic hub of the francophone community in Edmonton.

The government has clearly stated its commitment to new investments to help train, recruit and attract teachers in immersion and second official language programs across Canada. It has also promised to invest in infrastructure that supports minority official language communities. Campus Saint-Jean is critical to both.

When will the minister provide an announcement on funding for Campus Saint-Jean?

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Madam Speaker, French language post-secondary institutions like Campus Saint-Jean allow young francophones to study and progress in their language and in their community. These institutions are crucial for francophones from coast to coast to coast since they help promote the French language by training all Canadians who wish to study French as a second language.

I will give my colleague a direct answer.

Our government understands the importance of Campus Saint-Jean. We have already invested $3.7 million to support it. We made a commitment in that regard. We only hope that the province of Alberta and Premier Jason Kenney, along with our Conservatives colleagues in the House of Commons in Ottawa, will recognize the importance of ensuring the vitality of Campus Saint-Jean and show their support for a bilingual Canada.

Natural Resources

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate tonight. We have heard the term for centuries of “hewers of wood and drawers of water”. Sometimes it has been used in a negative way, but in Canada we are phenomenal at it. That is our resource industry. We are experts at it. We are respected around the world for the technologies we have developed in this industry.

I know my Liberal colleague will tell me how much Liberals have supported the resource sector, but I have visited with alternative energy sectors in my riding. We have had wind turbines for decades in my riding. We are into the second and third generation of them. The biggest solar farm in Canada is being built in my riding. If we visit those we will find that it takes 200 great Canadian coal to make one blade for a windmill. If we look at the components for solar, the metal, the plastic, it does not work without the resource industry in oil and gas to make those.

The resource sector is a great one to provide energy, but the other industries are complementary to it. For decades we will be using the resource industry in our country. When we have a trillion dollars of debt, unemployment and an economy that has slowed down because of COVID-19, it is the resource sector that can drive this economy back to where we need to be.

The energy sector is also the largest employer of indigenous people in this country, businesses and workers. The simple fact is that we will continue to need the fossil fuel industry in the future, for decades to come.

Speaking of hewers of wood and drawers of water, we have another phenomenal industry called the agricultural industry. Agriculture is an essential industry with essential workers. As the Minister of Agriculture told me at committee, to the federal government and the provinces, it is an essential industry. When it comes to vaccinations, let us hope the government understands that these are essential workers in this industry, which provides us food security and is able to produce food that is distributed to the world to feed people, and that these workers in the agricultural industry are considered essential for vaccination, if they so choose.

Another part of the agricultural industry is broadband. Part of the challenge is that the Liberals have not quite understood a couple of things about broadband. Yes, they want to move it up. They want to do it sooner, but they keep talking about the last community, whether it was in the east, north or central Canada. That is not the community for agriculture. It is the farm gate. The farm gate may be only a few kilometres out of town, but our agricultural industry is the most advanced in the world. The technology it is using is incredible, and 50 down and 10 up is a minimum for our agricultural industry. The Liberal government does not understand that it needs to get this for the agricultural industry.

All of those things in the resource sector are important to make our economy work.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, coming from the Prairies, I am very familiar with many of the issues facing our Prairies, our commodities, our farms and our wonderful natural resources.

The member opposite talked about wind power and some difficult issues he might be having with that. Being from Manitoba, I would think of hydro power and the benefits of that.

We have not forgotten other natural resources. The TMX project is probably a good example. Today, well over 5,000 Canadians are working on the TMX project, a project which recognizes how important the industry continues to be.

The difference is that we recognize the importance of having balance with respect to development, that we need to take into consideration our environment. Canadians expect us to do this and this Liberal government will do that. We recognize the importance of consultations, in particular with indigenous community members and the important role they play. Other stakeholders who have a vested interest also need to be heard.

We recognize the need for the establishment of a process. Through that process and those extra considerations, we could provide a path into the future so companies would be able to invest with that much more certainty. That is really important when we talk about natural resource development into the future.

The best example I can provide offhand is the TMX, because of the number of jobs and the sense of commitment. It is being done right.

On a side note, it is interesting to contrast, The Conservatives are trying to give a false impression about how effective the government has been in the province of Alberta. The Government of Canada has been there, working with Alberta, Albertans and different stakeholders, even during this difficult time of the pandemic. We are literally seeing thousands of oil industry jobs being supported through wage loss subsidies for those who have been unable to go back. Tens of thousands of individuals have been supported through the CERB program.

Whether it is Alberta, Manitoba or Saskatchewan, we recognize the critical role the Prairies play going forward. One only needs to look at the wide spectrum of commodities and the demand for them around the world, because of the quality of our product and our natural resources.

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the member's comments. As someone who has lived in all three of our prairie provinces, I genuinely and truly see their value. The government also recognizes their value. The actions the government has taken to date support those critical industries. It is indeed in the best interests of all Canada when we do so.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Madam Speaker, I think the member misunderstood me. We are decades into wind turbines. We have been around for a long time on that. We led the world on that a long time ago. We have no problem with that. It is just complementary.

There is a couple of rights that we need to pay attention today. First is the freedom of speech. The Western Standard in my riding has gotten into difficulty with the CBC. The government broadcaster is threatening legal action against that publication. This is wrong. We need freedom of speech, especially in these times.

It is not right of the CBC to take legal action against the Western Standard. We need freedom of speech. Also, the freedom to exercise religion safely and peacefully in a fundamental way is a right of every Canadian.

Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are important. We need to protect those rights, especially during COVID-19.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, I am sure that my friend from across the way can appreciate the notion that we have a government, and in fact a political party as an institution, that genuinely believes in freedom of speech. After all, it was Pierre Elliott Trudeau who brought in Canada's Charter of Rights.

I appreciate the comments the member made, but I encourage him to look at the larger picture and how not only this government, but other governments have been there to ensure that freedom of speech and many of its issues are respected in Canada.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The motion that the House do now adjourn is 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.)