Debates of Aug. 12th, 2020

COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Matters

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as the organization has said, it will give all the money back to the government. As I said in my testimony in committee yesterday, the public service has been working with the organization to ensure that this happens.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Barrie—Innisfil.

When the request to provide security scanners for Canada's embassies came up, KPrime Technologies responded. However, instead of working with this Calgary-based company to provide sensitive security equipment, the Liberals went with a company that is mired in a major international bribery scandal in Taiwan, and that has links to the Chinese government. Here is the kicker: it was done at a higher cost than what my constituent's company would have charged. Why?

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

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague well knows, the moment I learned about that, we immediately asked the department to launch a review to make sure that security is part of our contracting practices. I want to assure all Canadians and my friends in Calgary that no purchase whatsoever has been made by Global Affairs Canada from that provider. This was only a frame agreement.

I have asked the minister responsible at PSPC to look again at the procurement process for that, and we have launched a review.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is asking us to believe his party, which had no compunction going to the walls for SNC-Lavalin, a company that bribed Moammar Gadhafi's son with prostitutes. He is asking us to believe they knew nothing about a Calgary-based company's legitimate bid to provide sensitive security equipment for embassies, and instead went with a company that, by all intents and purposes, ignores the rules around international bribery scandals.

This is not just about forgetting something. This is ridiculous. When is that review going to be done? It should have been done ahead of time. I want to see it right away, and will it be made public?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to answer that question. As a former minister of the Crown, the member would know well that the moment I was made aware of that frame agreement, I asked for the review. The review is under way.

I want to reassure people in Calgary, Edmonton and everywhere across Canada that no purchase has been made whatsoever. There is nothing more important than the security and safety of our people in our embassies around the world, and security will come first every time we make a purchase that could be sensitive for the security of our embassies around the world.

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe Warren Kinsella said it best in his latest blog post that “There's a name for what we've now got. There's a name for a government like...[the Prime Minister's]—a government run by those who seek status and personal gain at the expense of the rest of us.” It is called a kleptocracy.

I looked up that word in the dictionary, and it comes originally from the Greek word for “theft”, “I steal” and “power, rule”. It means a government whose corrupt leaders, or kleptocrats, use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of a wider population.

In a kleptocracy, corrupt politicians enrich themselves secretly, outside the rule of law, through kickbacks, bribes and special favours, or they simply direct state funds to themselves, directly or indirectly, and their associates.

We have had $343 billion in deficits and $1.2 trillion in debt, which gives a government a lot of room to misappropriate wealth, or in the case of debt of our nation, to direct those state funds to themselves or their associates.

There is a reason these scandals are profoundly scandalous, especially during a pandemic. It is because the allegations are that the Prime Minister, his family, his connected insiders and his friends sought to enrich themselves during a pandemic that is impoverishing millions of Canadians and killing thousands. While those governed are losing their homes, businesses, jobs and futures, the Prime Minister's family and friends are doing just fine. That is how a kleptocracy works.

There is the WE scandal, with the Prime Minister's family enriching themselves, and the CMHC scandal with Rob Silver, the husband of the Prime Minister's chief of staff. We have now found out that Frank Baylis, a former Liberal MP, has received an undisclosed value contract for $100,000 in non-health approved ventilators. The sponsorship scandal will look like a speck of sand in a desert when this is all over. When this is all over, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will be just fine.

I have a question to ask on behalf of every Canadian before more stories surface, because they will. How many more Liberal-connected friends, families and insiders have had their palms greased and have personally financially gained from this pandemic at the expense of Canadians who have suffered so much during this crisis? Will the Liberals be honest for once or do we have to wait for the Auditor General to tell us?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take us back to where we were in mid-March and talk about the things that we have focused on for Canadians over the course of the last number of months.

In mid-March, we obviously found ourselves in an unprecedented situation, where Canadians were asked to stay home to protect themselves, their families and other Canadians. Obviously, that was the right decision from a health standpoint, but it had real implications from an economic standpoint too.

As a government, we took the reins at that time and said that we needed to think about how we could ensure that we supported Canadians through this extraordinarily challenging time. The first thing we set out was the reality that we had so many Canadians who would not be receiving a paycheque. That is how we came up with the Canada emergency response benefit. We know that over the course of the last months, this benefit has helped literally millions of Canadians to be able to have enough money for groceries and rent in order to keep their families surviving during a time of immense challenge. That was first and foremost our initiative.

We moved forward with a wage subsidy because we recognized that we needed businesses to have a connection with their employees. They needed to have an incentive to keep their employees, even though in many cases they would not actually have the kind of work that they might normally have because they had been asked to stay home. The wage subsidy has helped millions of Canadians to keep their attachment to their jobs, to keep their ability to make money for themselves and their families through this challenging time.

We did not stop there. We knew that we needed to deal with all of those people who were going through enormous stress. We recognized, for example, that seniors were facing higher costs than they had historically experienced because they might have needed to use delivery services. They might have needed to get their medications or food delivered in a way that they didn't previously have to deal with, so we found a way to support seniors during this time.

We recognized that students would not necessarily have been able to get the jobs they needed during the course of the summertime, so we put in place a benefit that would help students because we knew that we wanted to get them back to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan.

I would like to quickly acknowledge the work of the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle as the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition. This place has been better for his service as leader.

I have a question for the Liberals, who have used this pandemic to provide taxpayers dollars to their friends. I guess we should not be surprised: This is exactly what they did during the national unity crisis of the 1990s. They saw an opportunity and Canadians got the sponsorship scandal. The Liberals tried to feed money to their political allies at the WE organization. Thankfully the opposition stopped them, but now we are learning that the former Liberal MP Frank Baylis got his cut of the pandemic pie as well.

Will the Liberals tell us what the exact dollar figure was for the contract they gave to their friend? How much did Frank Baylis make in this deal?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth]

Mr. Speaker, I have to assure the House and all Canadians that there are measures in place to ensure that all information is made readily available.

First of all, I want to echo the comments of the member in regard to the leader of the official opposition and thank him for his service. I had not realized it was his last time in the House. I do know that he works hard and I appreciate it, though I do not agree with most of his policies or ideology.

When we talk about friends, let us talk about Canadians. Some 8.16 million Canadians have received the Canada emergency response benefit, and 3.7 million families have benefited from the one-time top-up of the Canada child benefit, a tax-free benefit that we brought into place to help families with children who need it the most by asking the wealthiest 1% of families not to take that benefit.

Prior to our government being in office, the Harper Conservatives gave $100 for every child across the board, regardless of income, and then taxed it. They would give it with one hand and then in April they would claw it back. That is not our—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, how much—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. minister.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, this is publicly disclosed information. The number is $237 million for—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Regina—Lewvan.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my dad had a few phrases he always loved to use, like “A leopard cannot change its spots” or “The early bird gets the worm”.

Now that I am a father, it is my turn to add to these lifelong phrases. My addition is going to be “A Liberal is going to liberal.”

My son and daughter may ask me what this means, so here is a really short answer: A Liberal will always believe that there are enough taxpayer dollars to make his or her friends and family richer.

My question is for the Prime Minister. When will his family and his Laurentian elite friends have enough taxpayers' dollars?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to start my answer with the way the member started his question, in regard to “A leopard cannot change its spots”. I ran for office because the Conservatives pitted one group of Canadians against another. They helped their friends. They actually helped out the wealthiest, and they project and say that is not the case.

What did we do when we came into office? We lowered taxes on middle-class Canadians by bringing in a new tax bracket and increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of Canadians.

What did the Conservatives do? Their spots cannot change, and that is why they voted against it.

When we brought in the tax-free Canada child benefit, the Conservatives voted against it, because they do not believe in giving a handout to the people—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Regina—Lewvan.

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, that answer is ridiculous. Our country has never been more broken, because of the Liberal party's divisive policies toward all Canadians.

When kids ask, “Dad, what is a Liberal?”, I will give them a quick answer. It is someone who seems incapable of passing up a crisis to help advance the prosperity of their friends and family. The national unity crisis gave us the sponsorship scandal, the global pandemic gave us more money for their rich friends and families and, because I like to have evidence, I will tell my kids to look at the last few weeks. They will see a contract given to Liberal-friendly WE for $900 million, a contract to a former Quebec MP for ventilators that have not been certified in any jurisdiction to date and, for the three-peat, a Liberal insider was given an $84-million contract, by coincidence, a company whose VP is the husband of the Prime Prime Minister's chief of staff.

A Liberal is going to liberal.

I ask the interim Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, what is it about Liberals that makes them so corrupt?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to correct that member. I am actually the first Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, and the first minister of that portfolio because it is one that our government takes seriously. In Canada, we know that our diversity is our strength, but it is important that people actually be included, and over the past few weeks we have seen that this country has to do better and to do more.

To the member's seven-year-old daughter, I want to say that today we have gender parity at the cabinet table. Just like men can succeed, so can women. When we talk about youth, there is a $9-billion suite of programs we brought in for students, including the Canada emergency student benefit.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, they yell because they do not want to talk about the facts. They do not want to talk about the supports that we have put in place for Canadians. We know that Canadians are hurting and struggling. We will stay focused on Canadians while the Conservatives stay focused on Conservatives.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

If I can interrupt, I will call order.

There is something that came to mind as I was sitting here, and I started doubting myself and asking myself questions. When there is a committee of the whole, according to the third edition of the House of Commons Practice and Procedure, at page 932 in chapter 19, “in these exchanges, Members should nevertheless always refer to one another by the names of their ridings as is done in the House.”

I just want to remind everyone what the rules are, and I am sure this is a learning experience for all of us.

Now, we will proceed with the hon. member for Lakeland.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is sort of amazing to hear that member talk about gender parity when the women over there, the most competent ones, all seem to get demoted, booted or have to do the king's dirty work. I do not know, but I guess it is all talk.

I will split my time with the member for Foothills today.

The Liberals are, no doubt, devastating families in Lakeland. There is no federal help for this year's agricultural emergency in my riding, with families facing a third year of damaged crops and a minister who hikes costs on them and dismisses farmers as being emotional. It has been 140 days since the finance minister promised help in hours for oil and gas, but not one application has been made or granted for large employers, not one mid-sized loan has been granted by the BDC, because the conditions are prohibitive, and the methane fund has yet to be launched.

Drillers and oil services are left out, fixed loans will not bridge the year and tens of thousands of Albertans are losing everything in real time, but in two weeks the Liberals were able to approve almost a billion dollars for the Prime Minister's friends at WE, who paid the Prime Minister's family members and campaigned for the Liberals. Moreover, a former Liberal MP recently scored a lucrative contract for ventilators before they were approved by Health Canada.

This is all bad, but what is worse is this: the Liberals' failures and corruption harm Canadian unity. Pierre Trudeau's strategist once said “Screw the west, we'll take the rest”. It is clear that the second wave just might be worse.

Why are the Liberals intent on sabotaging Alberta?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, we have been there for the oil and gas sector of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador from the get-go.

Last month, EDC opened applications for companies with revenues between $100 million and $500 million that were financially viable before the pandemic. Loan amounts now will fall between $12.5 million and $60 million.

Our government has been supporting smaller companies in that field for months with the BCAP program. Those companies make up 85% of the jobs in the oil and gas sector, and we have their backs.