Debates of July 21st, 2020

Indigenous Affairs

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, today there are many long-term drinking water advisories still in place in Northern Saskatchewan and many indigenous communities across the country. Men, women, children and elders are living without safe water during the pandemic.

Could the Prime Minister tell the House how many long-term drinking water advisories could have been lifted if the $43.5 million he had committed to WE had been used for improving drinking water infrastructure rather than it being earmarked for the Liberal-friendly organization that has paid his family?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians should have access to safe, clean and reliable drinking water. As of March 31, 2020, more than $1.6 billion of targeted funding has been invested to support 619 water and waste-water projects, including 331 that are now completed. These projects will serve more than 62,000 people in 581 first nations communities. Much work remains to be done, but the results are encouraging with 88 long-term drinking water advisories lifted to date.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General has raised serious questions about the integrity of Canada's immigration system and the maintenance of public safety. She has itemized a backlog of 50,000 individuals ordered removed from Canada. They are illegal residents, unworthy asylum claimants and criminals, and almost 35,000 of them have just disappeared. Neither immigration nor border service officers have any idea where they are.

I know removals in the time of COVID-19 are very difficult, but should these two departments not get their act together and at least locate the 35,000 who are missing?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the work of this government with regard to our asylum system. We have made consistent investments to ensure that our borders have integrity, and we are protecting the health and safety of Canadians during this pandemic. We will continue to make those investments. These are investments which were cut under the last Conservative government when my hon. colleague was there to make those decisions. On this side we will continue to protect the health and safety of Canadians by investing in our asylum system.

Foreign Affairs

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the media has reported on the dictator-admiring PM, and it now reports that the government has hired the Chinese state-owned company Nuctech to equip our embassies abroad with security equipment. In addition to raising grave security issues, this decision ignores the complicity of Nuctech in the Chinese state's genocide of Uighur Muslims. Nuctech, along with companies such as Dahua and Hikvision, have provided technological support for the Chinese state's mass atrocities.

Why do we continue to seek commercial co-operation between the government and companies which are complicit in genocide?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as Canadians have had the chance the hear today, it would be good if the members on the other side would stop misleading Canadians. I was clear to Canadians yesterday that no purchase has been made under that agreement.

I have asked officials to give me all the facts and details. I have asked that we review our purchasing practices, and I have asked that we continue to improve the security and safety of our embassies around the world. No purchase has been made under that contract.

Official Languages

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as a former teacher in two of Montreal's English school boards, I will always be there to support our official language minority communities. Since 2017, the official languages committee of which I am a proud member has worked with Statistics Canada and the government to ensure that quality information on minority language rights holders is collected to help inform evidence-based decision making.

I was pleased to see that our study and our recommendations from the last parliamentary session helped clarify the process.

Could the minister please update the House on new questions in the 2021 census regarding linguistic minorities?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Saint-Laurent for her question and her hard work at the Standing Committee on Official Languages and the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.

Unlike the Harper Conservatives, who gutted the census, we worked with Statistics Canada to determine the best ways to collect better-quality information on language rights holders, veterans, indigenous people and many other groups. These new questions and other important changes will ensure that the information collected reflects Canada's changing society, addresses information gaps and supports evidence-based decision-making.

Canadian Heritage

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we obtained the CERB extension. That allowed millions of people to spend the summer with an income, but in a few weeks that program will end. In the arts and culture sector, this could be catastrophic. If the technicians, artists and artisans end up being forced to change their career, the entire cultural industry could collapse. This is about more than just jobs. It is about our collective identity.

What is the Liberals' plan to help people in the performing arts and the living arts? We must act quickly before it is too late.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his question and his advocacy on this issue.

I would like to remind him that, since the start of the pandemic, our government has invested almost $3 billion in the arts, culture and heritage sector across the country. We were asked to extend the Canada emergency response benefit, and we did. We were asked to ensure that someone who receives royalties could still receive the CERB, and we did.

We have been there from the beginning for our artists and artisans, and we will continue to be there for them.

The Environment

[Jenica Atwin, Green, Fredericton, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the pandemic is forcing us to rethink the world we live in, from food security to our workspaces to the impacts of systemic racism. As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 health crisis, we must not forget that the climate crisis is also a health crisis, an economic crisis and a social crisis. They are intricately connected, and a response requires that we build resilient communities that will be ready to adapt.

Could the Minister of Environment and Climate Change explain how exactly the undeniable impact of the climate crisis will be taken into account in the upcoming budget and within the long-term post-pandemic recovery plan?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her abiding interest in protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

On this side of the House, we are all united with other members and Canadian citizens to fight climate change. It will be taken into account as we move forward. We realize that this is one of the fundamental existential issues of our time, and in dealing with Canada, as we build better moving forward, we will in fact continue to fight climate change.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

On behalf of workers suffering from a serious illness, I would sincerely appreciate it if i could have unanimous consent for the following motion: That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practices of the House, Bill C-242, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (illness, injury or quarantine), be deemed to have been read a second time and referred to a committee of the whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage, and deemed read a third time and passed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to table the motion?

[Some hon. members]

No.

Victims of Sexual Misconduct and Assault

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent to adopt the following motion:

That the House recognize that:

(a) victims of sexual misconduct and assault rightly fear that they will not be believed, that their actions will be trivialized, that their own responsibility will be questioned, that they will be judged negatively, that they will be intimidated, persecuted or let down;

(b) victims are courageous whether or not they report, immediately or later and with the means they are comfortable using;

(c) it is unacceptable that Quebec is in its third wave of mass denunciation of these reprehensible behaviours and yet still today one in three Canadian women will be a victim of sexual assault in her lifetime; and

(d) the system is failing to protect and support the survivors properly; and call on the government to set up a committee of experts, similar to the one set up by the Government of Quebec with the participation of the elected members of the three other parties represented in the National Assembly, to review and develop measures to benefit victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, and to restore their confidence in the judicial and extrajudicial system.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

(Motion agreed to)

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-20, An Act respecting further COVID-19 measures, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

An Act Respecting Further COVID-19 Measures

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

It being 3:06 p.m., pursuant to order made on Monday, July 20, it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of the second reading stage of the bill now before the House.

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

(Motion agreed to, bill read the second time, deemed considered in committee of the whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at report stage, deemed read a third time and passed)