Debates of Feb. 25th, 2021

Ethics

[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, I always appreciate the exchanges my friend and I have, usually during the late shows.

I do believe in transparency and accountability. There has been a great sense of that, especially during the change in government back in 2015, I would argue, when I was sitting on the opposition benches doing what he is doing: calling for more transparency and accountability.

It is interesting that when the member refers to WE, he tries to paint it as a wonderful, cozy relationship with the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada. This is the same WE organization that had contracts with the Province of Manitoba and Brian Pallister, who is a Progressive Conservative. I also believe the Province of Saskatchewan had contracts with the very same WE organization. I am sure my colleague across the way will have his research department filter that and find out if I am right. If am not right, I am sure he will come back to me on it. Even in my own home province, I believe it was more than just a one-time contract. It was becoming an annual type of contract. I do not know how many years it has been going on.

The Conservatives want to give the impression that there is a buddy-buddy system between WE and the Liberal Party. The WE organization had other partners looked for support and supported other levels of government. I do not think it thought in terms of political affiliation, to the very best of my knowledge.

In terms of what I have witnessed, earlier today I was hoping that I would get the opportunity to share my thoughts at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. As I am sure the member is aware, there is a huge motion at PROC by the Conservatives saying that they want this, that and the other thing. I remember those arguments. Late last fall and even during the summertime, the opposition worked with the other opposition parties to paint a huge picture of evil. The Conservatives gave a lot of thought to how they could do this. At the end of the day, as much as they are being somewhat mischievous, as the member said and as I wrote down, helping Canadians is paramount, and that has been what this government has been focused on.

While my friend and his Conservative colleagues across the way continue to look under all the stones, this government's paramount focus has been on helping Canadians, recognizing just how important it is. He made reference to small businesses and to being there to support people, and the facts will clearly demonstrate that this government has done just that. I have argued in the past, since 2015, that the Conservative Party has had one focus, which is to give as much negative attention as humanly possible to the Prime Minister. I have referred to it as character assassination.

As much as they are focused on that, we continue to remain focused on Canadians. The last 12 months are probably the very best example I can cite, using some of the things my friend used: small businesses, the wage subsidy program, the emergency rent program, the emergency business account, the credit availability program, helping people through the CERB program, providing seniors the one-time payments and providing the one-time payment to people with disabilities. These are all initiatives that the government has focused its attention on.

We have spent billions and billions of dollars. The Conservatives joined us in unanimously supporting most of the legislation that was passed to spend that kind of money.

I suggest that when spending that kind of money, at times there could be—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

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

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

Madam Speaker, just as we supported the efforts to make sure that Canadians had what they needed during the pandemic, we are looking for the government to support the independent officers of Parliament, such as the Ethics Commissioner and the Commissioner of Lobbying.

We have seen this before. When the RCMP came knocking about corruption, the Prime Minister barred the door and turned out the lights. We know he has refused to co-operate with investigations by officers of Parliament before and has blocked investigations by law enforcement at every turn. When the lobbying commissioner told the ethics committee that she had sent three lobbying inquiries to the RCMP, we can be sure that the Prime Minister's phone was ringing off the hook. Time and time again the Prime Minister has shown that he has no regard for ethics and will always put his friends before everyday Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister finally come out of the basement, throw open the curtains and shine some sunlight on this? Will the Prime Minister commit to fully co-operating with investigations by officers of Parliament and the RCMP? Will he—

[Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, we have listened and responded to the reports from the Office of the Ethics Commissioner. I have more faith in the office of the Ethics Commissioner than I do in the collective opposition parties. Quite frankly, the collective opposition parties have a political agenda that is very different than the Ethics Commissioner, who is more concentrated and more focused on getting the facts and then providing a report.

When we have found that we are not in full compliance, the Prime Minister has acknowledged it, in some cases has had to apologize, and we move on. We need to recognize that even the office of the Ethics Commissioner is new for parliamentarians. Imagine some of the other prime ministers from the past, had we had an Ethics Commissioner, and some of the problems that might have been created?

We are a democracy that—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Regina—Lewvan.

International Trade

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

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to join in these proceedings tonight, to have a conversation about a question I asked in Oral Questions before Christmas. I brought up the situation in my home province and city of Regina where 600 people at Evraz Steel had received layoff notices two weeks before Christmas.

The Deputy Prime Minister answered my question. I said that in the Prime Minister's stop in Regina—Lewvan at Evraz Steel during the 2019 campaign, he told the workers “I have your back”. Lately, the men and women working at Evraz Steel are feeling left behind. Six hundred people were laid off. They spent their Christmas trying to figure out how they were going to pay the bills when they came due in 2021.

The Deputy Prime Minister's answer reflected no compassion, no concern for the people of Regina, the people I represent. She talked about trade deals. She patted herself on the back, saying how the government had a good trade deal with the United States. She blamed the Trump administration and then turned around and blamed our leader for those tariffs. There is always the opportunity to blame someone else.

I know whoever is going to answer these questions today is going to say that we did not build any pipelines under former Prime Minister Harper. I am going to cut that off at the pass right now and talk about pipelines we did build during the Harper years. We built Anchor Loop, Keystone, Alberta Clipper, Line 9B reversal, Southern Lights and we approved energy east and northern gateway. Evraz Steel supplied most of the pipe for those projects. It added $1.25 billion barrels of oil into our system a day. Projects were done under former Prime Minister Harper.

We still want to work toward getting our products to tidewater, so we can get the world prices instead of a discounted price. More work still needs to be done. When I ask questions about what the government will do to support our energy workers, our oil and gas workers, I have talked to the union and the men and women. They build pipes, but they consider themselves an oil and gas company. Without oil and gas production, pipelines are not needed. Therefore, I raise their concerns with those questions.

I need the government members to take this more seriously, not just pat themselves on the back on a job that they think they have done well. They could work to do even better.

What have the Liberals done in the last four months to ensure that jobs stay in Regina? Evraz is an important employer in Regina. One Evraz job creates four spinoff jobs in our local economy. It puts people to work in the restaurant sector, the hospitality sector. Companies that work with and have contracts with Evraz are hurting. There needs to be an effort by the government. I hope the Liberals listen and show some compassion for the people who want to work and earn a paycheque.

I hope I can get some answers tonight on initiatives that are being taken. I am not talking about CERB, or CEBA or programs because of COVID-19. I am talking about a real plan to secure the future jobs at Evraz and to ensure those jobs are there for generations to come.

I have three young kids. I want to ensure there are opportunities for the next generation. This is the first generation that feels it will not have the opportunities into future that we have had. As public officials, we have to work to ensure those opportunities are there.

[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, being from the Prairies, I spent a few years in Regina and still have family who call Regina home. I am very much sensitive to what happens in Regina. In fact, my brother was the leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party for a few years. We had many different types of discussions about how important Saskatchewan and different sectors of the economy are, and we are very much concerned in the government.

The member talks about putting aside COVID. Yes, the pandemic has had a very significant impact on the industry, but about one-third of those employed in the natural resource sectors were able to access the wage subsidy program. Literally hundreds if not thousands of jobs were saved because of some of the programs, but he wants me to shy away from the pandemic. I can respect that.

The member made reference to pipelines and anticipated what I might say, so let me change things around. In the projects he is referencing, pipelines were not actually built to take our resources to the coast. That did not happen under Stephen Harper in his 10 years. That is happening under this administration. It got to a point where we even purchased a pipeline to ensure it was going to happen. There were lots of complications in regard to it, but we have to take into consideration environmental issues, indigenous issues and the different stakeholders.

We need a process in place that enables us to move the industry forward. I believe we have done this in a very responsible fashion. We are not just looking to export to the United States, for example. Everything Harper put down was for getting more oil there. I think 99% was going to the States prior to when Harper became the prime minister, and when he left it was the same percentage.

We need to look at ways to support the industry while respecting the importance of the environment and zero emissions. As I was commenting earlier today, the leadership coming from our energy sector regarding zero emissions is significant. I would argue that we are the best in the world in the ways we are improving upon our energy sector. We are second to no other country.

At the same time, the Canadian steel and aluminum industries are vital to our economy and provide employment in our communities across the country. In 2019, Canadian steel employed over 25,000 workers and contributed $3.8 billion to Canada's economy. In that same year, the Canadian aluminum industry employed approximately 10,000 workers and contributed $3.1 billion to our economy.

We understand these are not just numbers. They represent families and communities that depend on these industries. Our government has, and always will, stand with Canadian workers and protect their interests.

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

Madam Speaker, the member did not say one thing the government was going to do to put people back to work at Evraz steel. He talked about the Harper years, which I knew he would talk about. I already said that we need to build pipelines to the coast. Only the member and the Liberal government would think they bought a pipeline so they could get it built. The private sector was going to build it. They just had to get out of the way, and they would not do that.

I was really interested in hearing a plan on what the government was going to do to get people back to work and I heard nothing. In the minute he has after this, the member is probably going to talk about Mr. Harper again.

The Deputy Prime Minister quoted an article from The Globe and Mail today when I asked a question, so I will mention an article from Lorne Gunter. In it he said that since 2015, we have lost $200 billion in investments in our energy sector because of the government's policies.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, the member was somewhat critical, saying that we bought a pipeline as if it were a bad thing. If I remember, his premier in Alberta bought shares in a pipeline called Keystone. I wonder if he would apply that very same principle to—

[An hon. member]

Point of order.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

There are no points of order during the late show.

The hon. parliamentary secretary may proceed.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, our government has taken diligent action to complete things such as trade deals like CETA, securing and expanding market access for Canadian resource products, including steel and aluminum. In fact, in first 12 months that CETA was in force, aluminum exports to the Europe Union increased exponentially, up to 250%. These are significant things. To try to give a false impression that the Government of Canada is not being proactive to support the energy industry is just not true.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Just a reminder that the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan is from Saskatchewan, not Alberta.

The motion to adjourn the House is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:38 p.m.)