Debates of Feb. 3rd, 2021

Foreign Affairs

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister is going to wait until the Government of China allows independent investigators in to investigate its crimes, these investigations are never going to happen.

The government has a responsibility to listen to this testimony. We have heard that testimony. I submit to the Prime Minister that if he has not, he should please read the BBC report on this. These women are speaking out about the systemic sexual violence they have experienced in contemporary concentration camps.

If we do not call that genocide, then what name would the Prime Minister apply to these crimes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have been speaking directly to China's leadership for many years now on our concern of the treatment of women and ethnic minorities in western China and throughout China. We will continue to stand up for human rights everywhere around the world. We will continue to call for better transparency and an understanding of what has happened.

We acknowledge that the U.S. has made the determination that these acts constitute a genocide. We will continue our work with them and with other allies to move forward and protect these people.

Justice

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, brave Serena Fleites told MPs she was 13 when explicit videos got on on Pornhub. She pleaded to take them down, but one had 400,000 views before it was pulled. With 3.5 billion site views monthly, Serena could not escape. Desperate, she even tried suicide.

More than 96 million child exploitation pieces are online. The private sector finally acted on MindGeek and got results, but why have the Liberals still done nothing to protect privacy and the ownership of individuals over their own images?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we take extremely seriously this situation. That is why we continue to work with members of government and partners to bring in clear rules for Internet service providers and businesses.

We need to make sure that nobody is violating our laws, either in the virtual space or in reality. That is why we are looking forward to bringing forward stronger measures in the coming months.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics committee heard gut-wrenching testimony this week from survivors of online sexual exploitation that the company MindGeek made money off of. So far, all we have from the government is a promise that it will crack down eventually. Once again, there are no details and there is no real plan. The whole House wants to see this end.

When is the Prime Minister going to give Canadians a clear plan to protect our most vulnerable online?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, cracking down on illegal online content is something we are taking very, very seriously. Whether it is hate speech, terrorism, child exploitation or any other illegal acts, we will ensure that Canada has the tools to go after companies and individuals for perpetuating these items, these images or this content online.

We are working with partners around the world on the elimination of hate speech and violent extremist content, as well as exploitation of minors and children.

Health

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, 90% of Quebeckers want the government to ban travel until there is a significant drop in COVID-19 cases. In spite of everything, the Prime Minister is claiming that he has banned travel when we know that is not true.

It is not true because people can still travel down south by buying a ticket from an American airline instead of a Canadian one. Ninety percent of Quebeckers are fed up with having their loved ones' health compromised by this government's half measures.

When will the Prime Minister ban all non-essential flights?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this pandemic, we have implemented some of the strongest measures in the world to prevent the overseas transmission of this virus. We implemented a mandatory quarantine as of March. We have prevented non-essential travel abroad.

We also imposed a requirement that people be screened before returning to Canada. We have now banned travel down south and we have added screening measures upon arrival in Canada with a mandatory hotel stay. We have taken action to prevent the 2% of cases resulting from those who have travelled abroad. Together, we need to focus our efforts on the 98% of cases resulting from community transmission.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the Prime Minister is telling people not to travel. Everyone has heard him say it. I know that the Prime Minister says that he has put restrictions in place. Everyone has heard that too.

The problem is that the restrictions are not stopping people from travelling. The other problem is that people continue to leave on vacation. Again today, I confirmed that I can leave from Montreal and spend break week in Cancun. The Prime Minister would be shocked at the price.

When will his government ban all non-essential flights?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague might be disappointed to hear that we are currently working with international companies such as Aeroméxico to have them suspend flights from Canada to southern destinations. We take our responsibility very seriously to protect Canadians from importing this virus, especially its new variants.

So no, my hon. colleague cannot travel south for break week. The hon. member, like all Canadians, should stay here in Canada.

Airline Industry

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said that he knows Canadians are looking forward to travelling again, but at this rate there will not even be an airline sector.

Yesterday, the Minister of Transport stated that airlines voluntarily gave up their routes to sun destinations when they have been suffering for months without any assistance from the government. Airline workers and unions have been good partners. They repatriated Canadians, and they continue to deliver medicine, food and supplies all across the country.

Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he continues to make the airline sector pay for his government's incompetence rather than helping it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, $1.5 billion, that is how much we have sent to the airline sector since the beginning of this pandemic to support workers who are affected by this pandemic. We know the airline industry has been hit hard. We have been working closely with it for months.

We will continue to ensure we are doing everything necessary to keep Canadians safe and to ensure that we have a competitive, prosperous and successful airline industry in Canada once this pandemic is through. The work with the airline industry continues. It is ongoing. We need to ensure that we get through this all together.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to the Prime Minister, and here are the facts. Our Prime Minister or one of his ministers said they would help the airline industry on March 10, April 14, May 4, September 23, October 18, October 23 and November 8. Ultimately, however, nothing happened. Our Prime Minister is still just reacting and is incapable of making good decisions quickly.

When will he fix his mistakes, protect our people and support the airline industry?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member does not know what he is talking about. We injected $1.5 billion to help the airline industry and support workers who were hit hard by the pandemic.

We are stepping up to help the airline sector, and we will continue to do so because I know our airline and aerospace industries will be extremely important in the years to come. We will be there to make sure we have a competitive, successful airline industry once the pandemic is over.

Health

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, know what would help the tourism sector, small businesses and family owned enterprises in crisis? A national rollout of rapid testing and vaccination, two things that the Prime Minister's leadership is making Canada six months behind other countries. It is leadership that is required, not his talking points that we have heard today.

His general today could not say how many Moderna doses were coming on February 22. The provinces need numbers for their plans. Could the Prime Minister tell us how many Moderna doses will be delivered on February 22?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have been very clear on our continuing confidence in receiving all six million Pfizer and Moderna doses by the end of March and by our ability to vaccinate everyone by the end of September.

At the same time, let me pick up on something the Leader of the Opposition said. He talks about rapid testing and when will we roll out rapid testing. As of last October, we rolled out millions of rapid tests to provinces across the country. There are a number of provinces that put those rapid tests to good use, indeed, testing in businesses and in long-term care homes. However, there are still millions of those rapid tests not being used by the provinces and territories. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition could encourage some of his Conservative friends—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Laval—Les Îles.

[Fayçal El-Khoury, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken action to protect and support Canadians from the very beginning of this crisis. We have secured the most COVID-19 vaccines per capita and the most diverse portfolio of any country in the world. Vaccines have arrived in Canada, and additional deliveries have been confirmed for February and March.

Could the Prime Minister update the House on our efforts to ensure vaccine deliveries?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Laval—Les Îles for his question and for his hard work.

More than 1.1 million vaccine doses have already been delivered to the provinces and territories. The most vulnerable in our society, front-line workers and residents of long-term care centres are currently being vaccinated. We are on track to take delivery of all the vaccines we contracted to receive from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of March. Millions of Canadians will have received their doses by then, and millions more will be vaccinated in the spring.

Government Appointments

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Dominic Barton was in charge of McKinsey consulting firm, which has been accused of unethical business dealings in China and stoking the opioid crisis.

McKinsey is now settling dozens of lawsuits over advice it gave opioid makers on ways to boost sales of OxyContin, yet the Prime Minister saw fit to appoint Mr. Barton as ambassador to China despite the unprecedented opioid crisis in our country.

Before naming him to key positions in the Liberal government, did the Prime Minister know of Mr. Barton's role at McKinsey and the firm’s involvement in the opioid crisis?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am just going to interrupt for a moment. I believe the right hon. Prime Minister's mute went off again. We will get him to get that working and then we will let him start from the top.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

My apology, Mr. Speaker. As I have said in the past, Ambassador Barton has demonstrated leadership in advancing Canada's interests, from working hard to bring home Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor to continued engagement on creating opportunities and growth for Canadians.

In regard to the opioid epidemic, we are working with the provinces and territories, and front-line workers are moving forward on approval of safe consumption sites. We know that even as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, our work on addressing other health issues like the opioid epidemic continues as well.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, how can the Prime Minister possibly defend Mr. Barton?

Over the last four years, more than 16,000 Canadians have died from opioid overdoses. During that time, Dominic Barton was a global partner at McKinsey, a company that pleaded guilty to criminal charges, including bribing doctors and paying rebates for drug overdoses just to boost the sales of OxyContin.

Again, before the Prime Minister appointed him ambassador to China, was he informed of Mr. Barton’s knowledge of McKinsey’s role in advising Purdue Pharma?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the past five years, we have taken extraordinary steps to fight this opioid epidemic across the country.

We have worked with provinces and territories. We have worked with municipalities. We have supported front-line workers. We have even done what the Conservatives continue to resist doing, and that is establish safe consumption sites across the country to help people through this opioid epidemic.

We are going to continue to put science first and ensure that we are treating addiction as a public health issue and not a criminal issue, unlike what the Conservatives continue to push.