Debates of March 25th, 2021

Opposition Motion—Instructions to the Standing Committee on Ethics and to the Standing Committee on National Defence

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Madam Speaker, well, it says a lot, and none of it is good.

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the hon. member for Carleton, for splitting his time with me today so that I can speak to the opposition day motion before us in the House. I also want to thank my colleague, the member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes and Conservative shadow minister for ethics, for moving this motion. I appreciate the opportunity to represent my community of Kelowna—Lake Country.

The motion states very aptly in its first sentence, it is “to support the authority of committees in their important inquiries of public interest”. It should be no surprise that I believe committees do some of the most important work in the House of Commons when it comes to studies and getting answers. I have spoken on the importance of committees several times in the House before. I expressed concerns when the Liberals shut down committees almost completely in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, leaving a lot of gaps in the scrutiny of legislation, emerging issues and important studies that needed more review. Many committees barely sat for most of the year.

One of the other issues is how committees can hear from witnesses, and I have seen first-hand how important committee work can be. During much of 2020, I was on the industry, science and technology committee, which met until the Liberals shut it down due to the prorogation of Parliament. It had important studies and heard testimony on emerging issues such as from the largest grocery stores, Internet giants on contact tracing and censorship, tourism stakeholders and more.

I have said in the House before that the committee I sit on now, the Standing Committee on International Trade, only met once between April and September of 2020, losing time to do important work such as hearing from exporters and importers on how COVID-19 and its related restrictions had affected them, doing studies on domestic wineries having to pay excise tax due to a WTO challenge, and doing a pre-study on the Canada-U.K. trade agreement, which the committee finally began halfway through November 2020. This was only thanks to the Conservatives moving a motion, as there were deadlines that we knew had to be met in order to give certainty to businesses.

My colleagues on the Standing Committee on National Defence and the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics are working to get answers on two very important issues that Canadians and my constituents are concerned about. Unfortunately, the Liberals have gone to great lengths to prevent MPs from getting answers and finding out the truth, including blocking key witnesses from appearing.

The ethics committee has been working to get answers on the WE Charity scandal and the $500-million contract offered to it to manage the proposed Canada student service grant. Let us not forget how the Prime Minister and the then finance minister, Bill Morneau, failed to recuse themselves from cabinet discussions on this issue despite their personal ties to the charity. As Conservatives and other opposition parties tried to get answers, Liberals prorogued Parliament and filibustered committees to try to delay and cover up this issue for as long as they could. This put the governance of our country at a standstill.

Speaking of committees, let us remember that five months ago, in October 2020, the official opposition sought to pass a motion to establish a committee to look into the government's actions and further investigate exactly what transpired with the sole-sourced WE Charity contract. During this time, the government threatened to call an election over this and the motion did not pass.

It is important to note that this was the first time in over 150 years of Canadian history that a prime minister turned a motion to create a committee into a confidence vote, where the government could fail. How incredibly desperate were the Liberals to not have their actions looked into? Canadians deserve an ethical government that is focused on their priorities. It was disappointing that this vote failed at the time, as it would have allowed parliamentary committees to get back to work for Canadians rather than be tied up by Liberal time-wasting filibusters.

Further to the importance of supporting the authority of committees in their important inquiries of public interest, as is outlined in this motion, at a recent defence committee meeting, testimony from the Prime Minister showed he was aware of the allegations around sexual misconduct by the former Chief of the Defence Staff. This was confirmed by the defence minister, and the Prime Minister knew for three years.

At a recent ethics committee meeting, Craig and Marc Kielburger claimed that a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's office, Ben Chin, had no role in setting up the $500-million Canada student service grant. However, documents released to the finance committee last summer proved that this was simply not the case.

This is a serious contradiction, and Canadians deserve answers about what actually happened. Craig Kielburger said that the Prime Minister's Office had no role in setting up the grant, which would have given the WE Charity a half-billion dollar program to administer, and that is taxpayer dollars. Then we heard that Mr. Chin had a written message about the PMO adviser's efforts to “shape our latest program”. The committee absolutely must hear from top Trudeau advisers. Canadians deserve the truth.

A constituent in Kelowna—Lake Country wrote me to say—

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

We have a point of order from the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, there have been a number of instances today when members have referred to the Prime Minister by his name. It would appear as though they are just reading text that was provided to them. However, as you would know, they cannot say the name of a sitting member of the House in here. I would encourage you to not just correct this member but, indeed, ask all members who are preparing to speak today to consider that.

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

The hon. member is quite correct. It has been quite repetitive today with the mentioning of members' names. Please be mindful of that norm that we have in the House.

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

Madam Speaker, a constituent in Kelowna—Lake Country wrote to me to say that “...the stonewalling and contempt for the intelligence of the electorate is staggering”.

We have seen their true character through the actions of the Liberals during this pandemic. Someone's true character often comes out during times of incredible stress. In times of crisis, we see heroes emerge who perform incredible acts of courage and physical strength, or beautiful gestures of care to help someone, or laser-focused leadership. What we saw from the Liberals during this time of crisis and stress was their true character: turning to the easiest of solutions and turning to Liberal friends. There was a lack of requests for proposals, giving sole-sourced contracts to known Liberal friends and not bothering with declarations of conflicts of interest. The Liberals and their friends will say, “Move on, there's nothing more to see here”, but every time a document is released or someone testifies, we gain new insights into the true character of how the Liberals govern.

In the end, we know that accountability comes from the top. That means there has to be accountability from the Prime Minister, his government and all who have been involved. It is also why this motion specifies that, should the Prime Minister instead appear before the committee mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) at any of the dates and times mentioned for at least three hours, the witnesses otherwise scheduled to appear, and any other witnesses scheduled to appear before the same committee at a later time, would be relieved of their obligation to appear pursuant to the order.

The other part of this important motion is regarding the national defence committee and getting answers there. I want to thank my colleagues on the national defence committee, including our shadow minister for defence and the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, for holding the defence minister to account and getting answers.

We learned, through defence committee testimony, that the Prime Minister was aware of the allegations around sexual misconduct by the former Chief of the Defence Staff. This was confirmed by the defence minister, and the Prime Minister knew for three years.

Tens of thousands of women have served, and continue to serve, Canada honourably and without compromise in our military, but the government has failed to ensure that women have a safe environment, free from abuse or harassment by superiors and colleagues, to do this important work. We must ensure that this is corrected. We need to hear from those involved, including the Minister of National Defence's former chief of staff, on what transpired in the minister's office and why actions were not taken earlier, promptly, to get answers when the allegations first became known to them.

This government often likes to portray itself as a feminist government, yet it spent years without taking action and thoroughly investigating the sexual misconduct allegations the defence committee is finally looking into now. This is unacceptable. What message does this send to any woman who currently serves, or may in the future serve, our country in the military?

In summary, committees need all the tools available to them to do their work and to get answers for Canadians. We need to hear from these senior members of the government to ensure that the record reflects what has occurred, whether with the WE Charity scandal or with the allegations against the former Chief of the Defence Staff. This motion would ensure that there would be accountability from the government, it would ensure that those who make decisions are accountable to parliamentarians and it would ensure that committees could continue to do their jobs: scrutinizing government decisions and finding answers we would normally not get out of question period or debate here in the House of Commons.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I share many of the member's concerns. I know that most Canadians probably want not only to get to the bottom of these very concerning issues, but also allow the ethics committee to finish its work on pandemic spending and the other important matters it has before it.

I understand that my colleagues on the ethics committee have proposed a compromise, which is that perhaps the senior staffers from the PMO could respond in writing to the questions that the opposition members have. I wonder if my colleague could comment on this proposed compromise as a way to break the deadlock and move on with the important work of the committee.

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

Madam Speaker, what we are seeing here is a coordinated effort to stalemate committees. As to the filibustering, we have seen these actions continue since last summer. We then saw the prorogation of Parliament, so these committees have not really been functioning properly for quite a long time. This is one of the reasons why we have this motion here: so we can get on. The member is absolutely right. Committees need to get on to the important work and look at other studies that are important to Canadians.

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, one of the things that the sexual misconduct scandal has done is trigger people. A woman in my riding spent 20 years in the military. She was raped. Her son was assaulted on the base because of her reporting. She lost her job. She lost her career, and she wants to know what the process is. Who does she report to? How do people deal with these kinds of things in the military and the police forces, when they are not taken seriously and when they see impunity in this system?

I would like to get the member's comments about how women are supposed to deal with impunity in our Canadian Armed Forces and in the RCMP. We have a legacy of this.

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

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for his comments and for sharing that really sad situation. My colleague from Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound wrote an opinion piece titled, “Canadian Armed Forces needs more Eleanor Taylors—not fewer”. It goes into her situation and looks at what some of the issues are. It is a really good opinion piece that I would encourage people to read. It lays out the desperate situation that a lot of women feel. It is definitely something that needs to be worked on.

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

Madam Speaker, in opposition, the Liberals always tried to bring political staffers to committee. Now they are making this argument that we should not call staffers. It is ministerial responsibility. However, we have done something completely different in this motion. We have given the Prime Minister the opportunity to be accountable. The Prime Minister has the opportunity, if he believes in this principle of ministerial accountability, to appear in place of his staffers at the committee and answer questions for them. We have done something that Liberals did not do in opposition, which is to give the government that alternative.

The government has spoken about filibusters, and Conservatives use the filibuster tool from time to time. We have done it to prevent the government from trying to unilaterally change the Standing Orders. I was part of a filibuster to prevent the government from trying to dramatically change the rules unilaterally and neuter the role of the opposition. It is a question of what we are filibustering for. When we have filibustered, we have been protecting the rules or prerogatives of Parliament. Liberals have been filibustering to prevent studies into their own corruption. If they are filibustering to prevent a study into their own corruption, I would say that is completely different from the necessary efforts that opposition parties have undertaken in the past, when the government has tried heavy-handedly to completely change the rules and neuter the important role that opposition has to play in the House. I wonder if my colleague has any comments on this.

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

The hon. member for Kelowna—Lake Country has 10 seconds.

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

Madam Speaker, the hon. member said it very well and obviously his experience shines through. Basically we are dealing with a government that is not focused on transparency and accountability. Liberals are filibustering the committees in order to—

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

I have to resume debate.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister will have three minutes for his speech and will be able to complete it after oral questions.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time. I expect I will only have time to hit on some introductory points.

I view this motion not necessarily to be the best use of the House's resources, and perhaps that is obvious, given the nature of the debate we have had so far. The principal reason is that it flies in the face of ministerial responsibility, which is a fundamental pillar of our Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Of course, I could regale the House with quotes of the former prime minister Stephen Harper, who confirmed this repeatedly at every opportunity, but the point has been made along those lines already.

My sense is not just that it is an issue of ministerial responsibility. There have been exhaustive studies looking into some of the matters. I will speak specifically to some of my own experiences before the finance committee, which the ethics committee is now seeking to re-examine. Literally hundreds of hours at various committees have been dedicated to the study of the same issues. There have been thousands of pages of documents. Not only have there been political staff already testifying on these matters, but the opposition has demanded that public servants, who are non-partisan in nature, show up. The Prime Minister himself showed up at the finance committee to testify in respect of certain matters.

My experience during those committee appearances was that certain committee members of the opposition parties, primarily the Conservative party, were completely inappropriate during those hearings. I heard drive-by smears, not only of the political staff who did attend but of their families as well. I had to ask for an apology and on one occasion, I actually received one for the level of disrespect that was lobbied toward the Prime Minister's chief of staff.

Though I only have about one minute remaining, perhaps by way of introduction, I do think the motivation behind this motion is not truth seeking in its function. It seems to be a distraction, because the opposition members do not seem to have any ideas that they wish to put forward to consider. In the era of a global pandemic, they could be making suggestions on how we could foster a strong, inclusive and sustainable economic recovery. They could be pitching solutions to climate change or vaccine deployment. They could be making suggestions on how the government could improve its public health response to COVID-19. Instead, they want to demand that individual political staff come before parliamentary committees to testify about a matter that has been before several committees for a number of months.

I will cut my comments off here and resume after question period.

Auditor General of Canada

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

Pursuant to subsection 8(2) of the Auditor General Act, it is my duty to lay upon the table reports of the Auditor General of Canada.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), these reports are deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

We will now move on to statements by members.

Greek Independence Day

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Madam Speaker, today, Greek Canadians celebrate their 200th anniversary of the Greek revolution. The Greek bicentennial is a time to remember and celebrate the outstanding contribution of Hellenic Canadians.

Today, I want to share a true Canadian story of the Dimakarakos family of Brampton. Steve Dimakarakos' father, Kyriakos, came to Canada in 1958 with his wife Georgia in search of a better life.

Kyriakos had a life-long career with CNR while being an active member of his church and community. His son Steve moved to Brampton in 1972. He and his three siblings went to university and made their contributions in small business, finance, the public sector and to community organizations. Eric, Ken and Stephanie continue this legacy and the next generation of the family Zara-Rose and Leo will see the CN Tower lit blue tonight.

Happy Greek independence day to Greek Canadians—

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

The hon. member for Elgin—Middlesex—London.

Birthday Congratulations

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Speaker, this past February, a local St. Thomas resident, Fred Kondal, turned 25 again. I know to so many members this might not seem noteworthy. It is quite amazing for someone to have celebrated the same birthday two years in a row. This is not some trick to hide his age. It is true. Fred was born on February 29, 1920, so last year he turned 25, despite having made 100 trips around the sun.

All joking aside, Fred has made contributions to some of the most beloved franchises in movie history in his career as a makeup artist, working alongside Harrison Ford while filming The Empire Strikes Back; Christopher Reeve in Superman; and Sir Roger Moore, who took up the mantle of James Bond 007 in the seventies.

Whether he is celebrating turning 101 or 25 and one-quarter, I would like to with Fred a belated happy birthday for this year and many more to come.

Health Care

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Dr. Gulzar Cheema and iCON for their work supporting multicultural and multilingual communities, patients and caregivers across British Columbia. Their work includes community education, knowledge sharing and technology of chronic disease prevention and self-management.

Dr. Cheema has been the leader of the South Asian portfolio of iCON since 2008. His work includes engaging communities and educating patients in the Indo-Canadian community on critical health issues, including the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Through public health forums and community workshops to help patients and families optimize best practices in chronic disease prevention and self-management, Dr. Cheema's leadership at iCON has helped the organization reach over 7,000 Punjabi-speaking patients.

I thank Dr. Cheema and iCON for their work and dedication to health care for multicultural communities in our region.

Sainte-Germaine-Boulé

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the risk of snapping my suspenders, I just want to say that the world capital of suspender snapping is in my riding, Abitibi-Témiscamingue. At least, so claims Sainte-Germaine-Boulé, in Abitibi West. They are going to defend that title against the rest of world in a week, on Thursday, April 1, at 10:30 a.m., in front of the giant statue of “Monon'c Jack”. They will be going toe to toe with major cities, but I can guarantee that Boulé will be the global, virtual reigning champion of suspender snapping.

People from my community came up with this creative, eccentric and fun idea to inject a bit of magic and joy during these tough times. Ours is a tight-knit community. In Quebec, when we say we are “snapping our suspenders”, we mean we are proud, we are boasting.

The Bloc Québécois is certainly proud, and I just had to share this initiative and boast about the people in my riding, especially Mr. Tremblay. I cordially invite you, Mr. Speaker, and my riding neighbour to come to Sainte-Germaine-Boulé to snap your suspenders.

Madawaska-Restigouche

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the immigration initiative of businesses in my riding. Like other areas in Canada, Madawaska-Restigouche has a significant shortage of skilled labour. To address this shortage, many of our employers have no other choice but to turn to immigration.

I want to salute the businesses that attract skilled newcomers. In turn, these newcomers will participate in the growth of our economy and the overall development of our communities. Last Saturday in Edmundston, I was honoured to meet and welcome 11 Togolese families who, after a mandatory quarantine at a hotel, were able to come out in public for the first time. The smiles on the faces of these families and their children were something to see, as was the pride of the people who were there to welcome them to Canada.

I tip my hat to the employer, Nadeau Ferme Avicole, and the people of Upper Madawaska, and I thank our new families for choosing us. We are honoured.

Community Leaders

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Peace River—Westlock is a large riding, with many towns, municipalities, Métis settlements, first nations and municipal districts. My job as MP overlaps with over 500 other elected representatives.

I rise today to honour these men and women. Their hard work over the past year has been exemplary. When these leaders let their names stand, they had no idea that they would have to deal with COVID. They have remained faithful, serving their citizens. They have listened, they have helped and they have stood up when needed.

For many, these positions are part-time, yet in the face of COVID, they stepped up, took on extra responsibilities and still tried to look after their own livelihoods. It is no small task to serve others while keeping one's own family above water.

I very much thank all the chiefs, chairpersons, mayors, reeves, school councillors and board officials and the MLAs. Their work is appreciated.

Greek Independence Day

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Mr. Speaker,

[Member spoke in Greek and provided the following translation:]

One hour of freedom is worth 40 years of slavery and prison.

[English]

This is a famous Greek phrase as we mark the bicentennial of Greek independence today.

March 25 marks the 200th anniversary of the beginning of Greece's struggle to regain independence after four centuries of oppression under the Ottoman Empire. This fight ultimately led to the return of democracy in Greece, 2,000 years after its birth.

This victory was won thanks to the sacrifices of all Greeks who loved their freedom, their language, their culture and their religion.

It is with immense pride that I rise in the House to pay tribute to the sacrifices of my ancestors and celebrate the vibrant culture and heritage of Greece. I invite all Canadians to join our community in celebrating this historic milestone.

[Member spoke in Greek]

Penny Appeal Canada

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today, I am delivering a statement written by Milton's Daughters of the Vote delegate Wardah Shaikh. She states:

“As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has put immense strain on families and businesses across the country. Too many people have been unable to work, and local businesses have been struggling to make ends meet as this crisis persists. Fortunately, there are many organizations committed to helping them get back on their feet while supporting community members who are in need of food. One such organization is Penny Appeal Canada, a Muslim aid and development agency delivering aid both domestically and internationally. During Ramadan, throughout April and May, Penny Appeal Canada will be partnering with local restaurants in Ontario and Alberta to purchase 6000 meals which volunteers will deliver to families in need. Penny Appeal’s goal is to support our communities through small changes that make a big difference in people’s lives.”

Milton is extremely proud of Wardah, and I am proud to say that Wardah will be volunteering with Penny Appeal Canada this Ramadan. I would invite everybody to join her and to join her team called “Team Orange”. Visit pennyappeal.ca to sign up today. I thank Wardah.