Debates of Dec. 1st, 2020

The Environment

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Etobicoke Centre for his deep commitment to tackling climate change.

Today, an act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act came into force. These important amendments expand the number of federal organizations that must contribute to the good work done under this act, from 27 to 95. It will make the act more accountable to Parliament. It will include new principles around intergenerational equity, openness, results and delivery, and the involvement of indigenous peoples.

When it comes to climate change, Canadians expect the federal government to lead by example, as we saw yesterday in the fall economic statement. The improvements to the Federal Sustainable Development Act help us do just that.

International Trade

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the appearance of the international trade minister at committee on Monday left us with more questions than answers about the Canada-U.K. agreement. We still do not have the text. We still do not have the legislation. Now we have found out that there is no plan for mitigating tariffs if the government cannot get this agreement done by the December 31 deadline. The minister says she cares about certainty for our importers and exporters, so when will the minister release this plan?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, our priority is to provide predictability and stability for Canadian businesses that trade with the U.K. Now that we have concluded the negotiations, the next step is for the agreement to be ready for signing by Canada and the U.K.

For Canada, this means tabling in the House of Commons, for debate and parliamentary scrutiny, in accordance with established practices.

I look forward to working with colleagues from all sides of the House to support the timely parliamentary approval of this TCA, and our government is actively working on how to mitigate the impact of any implementation delay so that businesses can rely on the continuity that they need.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has used buzzwords like stability, predictability and certainty, but this means nothing if there is not a plan in place.

The minister told the committee that she does not want to make up policy on the fly. Well she would not have to do this if the government had taken this seriously from the very beginning and not left it until the final month in the final year. Can the minister tell us why she still has no policies for disruptive tariffs if a Canada-U.K. agreement is not finalized by the end of the year?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that our government is actively working on how to mitigate the impact of any implementation delays so that businesses can indeed rely on the continuity that they need. It is excellent that we have worked with the United Kingdom to come to this continuity agreement, so that there is that predictability and stability for Canadian businesses. I would like to work with all colleagues on all sides of the House to ensure that we take this agreement in a timely way through the parliamentary process.

Government Accountability

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, last night the President of the Treasury Board admitted he conducted zero due diligence on the $900-million WE deal. Now, the Treasury Board exists to ensure government spending is vetted and that all rules are followed, so either the President of the Treasury Board simply does not know his job or he deliberately turned a blind eye so that his colleagues could continue to line the pockets of Liberal insiders.

Minister, which is it?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I am very glad and proud to be able to answer this question. As the member knows, as I told him just last night, the Treasury Board Secretariat is there both to provide guidelines and to make sure authorities are at the disposal of appropriate ministers when it comes to implementing new policies and programs.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Before we continue, I just want to bring up one point. I noticed on both sides the questions are being asked of the Speaker. I am sure they do not want the answers from me.

Please ask the questions through the Speaker and answer through the Speaker.

Official Languages

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that, despite their claims, the Liberals care very little about the status of French in Quebec.

Yesterday at the Standing Committee on Government Operations, we obtained confirmation not only that the Treasury Board's rules were not respected in the contract with WE Charity, but also that no official languages impact analysis had been done. The Liberals claim to be the great defenders of French, but the fact is that they could not care less about it.

Why did the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth ignore Treasury Board rules when applying the scandalous WE Charity project in Quebec?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that we always comply with not only the spirit of the Official Languages Act but also the letter of the Official Languages Act.

My colleague the President of the Treasury Board does his job as president by ensuring that we comply with linguistic conditions, which we do in every case.

If my colleague has any other question on the topic, it would be my pleasure to ensure that he gets a response.

Aerospace Industry

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the economic update, Ottawa talks about helping the industries most affected by the pandemic. That is great.

Once again, aerospace is not mentioned at all, although planes have been grounded for eight months. It is really discouraging. Some 20,000 jobs are at risk in the short term, in the next two years, without an aerospace policy. We have an entire network of SMEs that is currently weakened and risks being taken over by foreign companies for peanuts. We are going to lose control of our economy.

What will it take for the minister to take action to protect Quebec's global expertise?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, our government is very much aware of the importance of aerospace and the air sector.

That is why in yesterday's economic update we promised $206 million over two years to support regional air transportation, $186 million to help small airports and $500 million to help large airports.

On top of that, we are now in discussions with the major airlines—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, just a minor detail, but I was not talking about air transportation. I was talking about the aerospace sector.

For months, we heard the government say that a solution was coming. However, there was not a word about the aerospace sector in the throne speech, nor in the economic update. This silence speaks volumes.

The Deputy Prime Minister says she is working on a plan. Obviously she is working alone, because her boss seems to have no interest in the matter. He could not care less about the aerospace sector.

Since her boss is abandoning Quebec's number one export sector, does that show just how few defenders of the aerospace sector there are in this government?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, all of Canada's exports, including Quebec's, are very important to our government.

For instance, I myself have worked closely with the aluminum sector to protect our exports. With regard to the aerospace sector, I think it is a crucial sector, and its transition to the green economy must and will be a big part of our economic growth plan.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, hospitals all across Canada have done a phenomenal job of taking care of people. They do this despite staff burnout, increased operating costs for PPE and cleaning, and many more. Headwaters Health Care in my riding does this and faces it every single day, but now hospitals are being asked to be pilot sites for rapid tests, with absolutely no money to operate the machines.

How has it taken 11 months for us to be piloting rapid tests in hospitals during a pandemic?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, every single step of the way we have been there for the provinces and territories to protect health care workers with massive amounts of personal protective equipment and to ensure they have the tools they need, including building up testing capacity, ensuring they have the ability to contact trace and ensuring they have the ability to capture all that data. Over 5.7 million tests have been deployed across the country: two million to Ontario, over a million to Quebec, 650,000 to Alberta and 627,000 to B.C. The list goes on.

We will be there for the provinces and territories and for the hospitals the member opposite is talking about.

The Environment

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, currently, during the pandemic, we are seeing an increased emphasis on using plastic items. Many grocery stores are asking customers to keep their reusable bags at home and are providing plastic bags instead. The increase in ordering from restaurants has seen an uptick in to-go packaging, including plastic cutlery. The use of masks and gloves at stores means we are having to use more disposable waste than ever before.

As businesses struggle to stay open and adapt, why has the minister chosen right now to push labelling plastic as a toxic substance?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that plastics are a challenge that need to be managed appropriately. The focus of the plastics announcements we made a couple of weeks ago is about keeping plastics in our economy, not in the environment, in our lakes, rivers and oceans. The vast bulk of what we announced was about enhancing recycling, ensuring that we are actually getting investments alongside regulations that will improve the amount of plastic materials that are recycled. This is completely consistent with what the Government of Alberta announced with respect to turning the province into a centre for recycling opportunities going forward.

Canadians are far ahead of political parties on this. They want us to address the plastics issue.

COVID-19 Emergency Response

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Fraser Mills, a brewery in Port Moody, just opened in March. Unfortunately, with lockdowns, they can only serve at 30% capacity in their taproom. With reduced revenue, no rent relief, looming loans, fixed costs and PPE expenses, the owners are depleting their personal savings to stay open because the government has failed to provide help for newly opened businesses that cannot confirm revenue loss.

What will the minister do to help new businesses like Fraser Mills to give them peace of mind this Christmas?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, this gives me a great opportunity to point out to the lion's share of businesses in Canada that the rent support program is open now and businesses will start getting their money this week. That is going to support thousands and thousands of jobs across the country, and businesses like the one we just heard of, subject to additional lockdown measures, can get up to 90% of their rent covered.

We do know that there are always special circumstances and some businesses fall through the cracks. That is where the RDAs come in. They are able to support businesses, and I would urge the business the member mentioned to talk to its local RDA. We are—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Brome—Missisquoi.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Lyne Bessette, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, dairy, egg and poultry farmers breathe life and strength into rural regions across the country, including my riding of Brome—Missisquoi.

The Fromagerie des Cantons in Farnham, an artisanal cheesemaker that has won numerous awards for its cheese made from Jersey cow's milk, stands to benefit.

After signing trade agreements with the trans-Pacific nations and Europe, our government committed to providing full and fair compensation to our supply-managed farmers.

Could the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food give the House more details about this compensation?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, last Saturday, we announced that the remainder of the $1.75 billion promised to dairy farmers in compensation for the first two agreements would be paid out not over seven years but over three years. That represents $468 million per year or $38,000 per year over three years for an average farm with 80 cows.

Egg and poultry farmers will receive $691 million over 10 years in the form of investment and marketing programs.

Health

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Mr. Speaker, as part of a long-standing agreement between Manitoba and Minnesota, some remote Manitobans in the southeast corner of the province receive their health care in Minnesota. When the Canada-U.S. border was closed to non-essential travel, health care was considered essential. Then suddenly the CBSA required residents to isolate for 14 days after attending necessary medical appointments. I have reached out to the health minister and public safety minister to address this issue, but five weeks later there are no results.

How long do these ministers expect these residents to go without health care?