Debates of March 9th, 2021

Indigenous Affairs

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of the Yukon Land Claims and Self-Government Agreements Implementation Report 2012-2017, as well as copies of the report of the Implementation Coordinating Committee, Inuvialuit Final Agreement 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, today, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2020 annual report on the RCMP's use of the law enforcement justification provisions.

This report addresses the RCMP's use of specific provisions of the law enforcement justification regime, as set out in sections 25.1 to 25.4 of the Criminal Code. The report also documents the nature of the investigations in which these provisions were used.

Domestic Violence

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today from concerned Canadians about domestic violence. As we all know, it is a growing issue in our country.

The petitioners want the government to make changes to the Privacy Act to allow the RCMP to fully have all the tools it would need to combat the growing problem of domestic violence. They also want to the government to implement Clare's law.

Prison Farms

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House virtually this morning to present a petition. It dates from the previous Parliament, but a quick review of news clippings shows it is very relevant today.

This petition relates to the important issue of reopening access for prisoners to the opportunity to learn and rehabilitate through a connection to growing things. It has been shown over the years to be very successful. However, at the Joyceville Institution, the plan at the moment is not focused on prisoner rehabilitation. The petitioners fear it is on commercial production through the use of goats and dairy operations involving a Chinese corporation.

The petitioners urge the Government of Canada not to open dairy operations at prison farms, but to focus on activities that they describe as promoting ecological sensitivity and climate change solutions. They ask for a reversal of the current decision of the Correctional Service of Canada.

Conversion Therapy

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today.

The first is in regard to Bill C-6. The petitioners indicate that the definition of conversion therapy is far too broad and it wrongly applies a label to a range of practices, including counselling from parents, teachers and counsellors encouraging children to reduce sexual behaviour. It allows counselling medical and surgical efforts to change a child's gender, but prohibits for a child seeking to detransition to his or her birth gender. This is a growing issue.

The petitioners call on the House of Commons to take the following actions to address the situation: ban coercive, degrading practices that are designed to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity; ensure that no law discriminates against Canadians by limiting the services they can receive based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; allow parents to speak with their own children about sexuality and gender and to set house rules about sex and relationships as parents; allow free and open conversations about sexuality and sexual behaviour; and finally, avoid criminalizing professionals and religious counselling voluntarily requested and consented to by Canadians.

Sex Selection

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is in regard to sex-selective abortion. It is legal in Canada because we have no restrictions on abortion. Sex-selective abortion is antithetical to our commitment to equality between men and women.

A 2019 Dart & Maru/Blue poll conducted for the National Post shows that 84% of Canadians believe it to be illegal to have an abortion if the family does not want the child to be a certain sex. International organizations like the World Health Organization, United Nations Women and the United Nations Children's Fund have identified that unequal sex ratios at birth are a growing problem internationally, and Canada's health care professionals recognize that sex selection is a problem in Canada.

The petitioners call on the government to pass a Criminal Code prohibition on sex-selective abortion.

Medical Marijuana

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today I am tabling two petitions highlighting the rampant abuse of Canada's medical cannabis production provisions, including sale to the black and grey markets, destruction of property and negative impacts on residential areas, which municipalities do not have the authority to address. My constituents call for reforms to the regime overseeing the production of cannabis for personal medical use and to give provinces and municipalities the resources and authority required to properly regulate and enforce these activities.

My constituents do not accept that industrial medical marijuana operations should take place in residential neighbourhoods in Canada. The laws need to change. This has to stop.

Questions on the Order Paper

[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]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Opposition Motion—Measures to Support Canadian Workers

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

moved:

That the House call on the government to include in the next federal budget measures to help workers and their families struggling the most in the current economic downturn by:

(a) introducing sector-specific measures to support workers in the highly impacted hospitality, tourism and charitable sectors;

(b) providing repayable loans to airlines in exchange for consumer refunds, job guarantees, restrictions on executive compensation and restoration of regional routes; and

(c) improving support programs, including lending supports, for small and medium businesses to be accessible within 30 days of the passage of this motion to prevent a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs.

Mr. Speaker, I want to let the House know that I am splitting my time with my colleague, the member for Barrie—Innisfil.

By way of context, the motion we are debating calls for the Liberal government to table a federal budget that includes specific support for the hardest hit sectors of our economy, namely tourism, hospitality, airlines, the charitable sector and, more broadly speaking, small businesses across our country. We all know that the pandemic has devastated our economy, but there is great convergence as to what needs to be done. We all agree that vaccination needs to take place. Then we need to reopen our economy, get people back to work and help get struggling Canadian businesses back on their feet again. We then need a plan to manage the long-term financial challenge that Canadians will face.

The Prime Minister promised that no one would be left behind in the process—

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

The hon. member for Drummond on a point of order.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Speaker, there is a problem with the interpretation. There seem to be technical difficulties with the French channel right now.

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

Can we try again, Mr. Fast?

The member for Abbotsford may now proceed.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Madam Speaker, the pandemic has devastated our economy. There is great convergence as to what needs to be done: We need to vaccinate Canadians, we need to reopen the economy, we need to get people back to work, we need to help struggling businesses get on their feet again and we need to plan to manage the long-term financial challenge that faces Canadians.

The Prime Minister said he was going to leave no one behind, but today's motion highlights the fact that many Canadians have been left behind. Why is that? It is very easy. For two years we have had no budget, no plan to reopen the economy, no plan to get Canadians back to work, no plan to support struggling businesses or help them get back on their feet, and no plan to manage the massive financial challenge facing future generations of Canadians. There is just a promise to spend, without explaining how, when, why or where the money will be spent. There is only how much. That is not enough. It is not a plan. What we need is a budget.

Canadians do not want to be dependent on the government. They want their jobs back. They want their businesses. They want their communities and their lives back. Is the Prime Minister listening? We are not asking him to reimagine what the economy might be or conduct a grand social or economic experiment. Canadians simply want to get back to normal. That means doing everything possible to support struggling businesses and reopen our economy. Despite the Prime Minister's promise, there is no plan to support the hardest-hit sectors of our economy.

Let me focus first on hospitality and tourism. Yesterday I met with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. Their members reminded me that hospitality and tourism are among the most severely impacted sectors of our economy. Let us be clear what we are talking about. It is not just cruise ships. We are talking about hotels, motels, restaurants, bus lines, tourist-related retail, travel agents, the recreational fishing industry, outfitters and ski resorts. It goes on and on.

Prior to COVID-19, tourism was one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and it was our country's fifth-largest sector, but the pandemic has pitched that industry into a crisis. In fact, it is so bad that our tourism industry now employs half a million fewer Canadians than it did at this time last year. Tourism was the first hit industry. It was the hardest hit and it will be the last to recover.

The Prime Minister's response was empty promises, and no support has materialized. Instead, there are programs like HASCAP, the business credit availability program and the regional relief and recovery fund. These were so poorly designed that companies were either unable to access the programs or avoided them altogether because they did not meet their needs. As a result, many deserving business owners were unable to access these programs and are now struggling with insolvency. It is time to deliver the support they need to get that sector back on its feet.

Then there are the airlines. The motion calls on the government to support the hard-hit airline sector. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in that sector. We are advocating for fully repayable loans, but not without conditions. We want the airlines to deliver consumer refunds to travellers who could not travel because of COVID, and to deliver job guarantees for their workers and restrictions on executive compensation until we are past the COVID crisis. We want them to restore the regional routes that have been closed down over the last few months, and we want them to refrain from clawing back travel agent commissions.

The Liberal government could also implement robust rapid testing at the airports, which took much too long to implement. We would love to see the gradual phase-out of the current 14-day-quarantine period through better rapid testing. The Liberal government has been promising support for Canada's airline industry for over a year and still there is nothing. To date, Canada is the only G7 country that has not supported its airlines.

Let us talk about charities. The Prime Minister also promised to support our charitable sector. We are talking about the Salvation Army, food banks, soup kitchens, free legal and dental clinics, homelessness programs, drug recovery programs and community organizations that enrich our lives, such as music, theatre, art and spiritual support. My hometown of Abbotsford is the most generous census metropolitan area in the whole country.

I understand how important this sector is to our economy and to filling the gaps where people would normally fall through the cracks. The charitable sector has been all but abandoned, unless one's name is Kielburger and leads the WE Charity, because Liberal insiders and friends of the Prime Minister have a direct line to the Prime Minister's Office. Almost $1 billion was paid to the WE Charity to set up a paid youth volunteer program. Let that settle in: a paid volunteer program. If one is in the WE Charity and one's name is Kielburger, that person gets access to almost $1 billion of taxpayers' money. If not, one is left behind. Charities are left out in the cold. Conservatives are calling upon the government to immediately table a budget that includes badly needed, sector-specific support for the devastated charitable sector.

I will provide a few thoughts on support for small business. Many of our small businesses are still falling through the cracks. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates that by the time the COVID pandemic is done, we will have lost 240,000 small businesses, and it could be worse than that. Thirty-seven per cent of Canadian small businesses are losing money every day they are open. A quarter of them will run out of cash within the next three months, 56% have been negatively impacted by the second wave, and almost half are worried about the survival of their businesses. Where is the Liberal government? It has been missing in action.

Lending programs such as CEBA only help the smallest businesses. The large employer emergency financing facility is so expensive and poorly designed that companies are reluctant to use it. Other programs, such as HASCAP, are deeply flawed and new businesses that were started in 2020 do not even qualify for support. These are individuals who invested their life savings to start a new business and the government simply walked away from them and said they did not matter.

In summary, hospitality, tourism, airlines, charities and other small businesses have been left behind. This pandemic has exposed the Prime Minister's failure to lead and failure to deliver what he had promised: that no one would fall through the cracks. The evidence is clear that hundreds of thousands of Canadians' small businesses have, indeed, been left behind. We have spent the most per capita, yet have the highest unemployment rate in the G7. It is all traced back to the fact that there is no plan.

Conservatives have called upon the government, time and again, to table a budget and a plan for our future, to table a plan to reopen our economy, and none has been forthcoming. We are calling on the Prime Minister again to table a budget and include the support for hospitality, tourism, airlines, the charitable sector and small businesses that he has promised and to improve the design of the current programs.

Where is the plan? It is up to the Prime Minister to deliver it.

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

Madam Speaker, this opposition motion is a great departure from the motions we saw the member's predecessor bring before the House, because he is actually bringing forward something of substance. He is setting up the day for a very good discussion of a very important topic and very important sectors of our economy that need support. I applaud the member for that. He has done the right thing by bringing forward an extremely meaningful motion such as this.

I know the member has been critical in the past of the amount of debt and what this country is taking on in order to provide support right now. I agree with support for the sectors that he has talked about, but how does he justify the fact that by offering these supports, whether through non-payment of interest or support for specific sectors, we will take on more debt? He will likely be back complaining about the debt later on.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Madam Speaker, in itself, debt is not a bad thing. In fact, we as Conservatives have supported the government in borrowing money and supporting Canadians in their time of need, and we reaffirm that today. We restate that today. In fact, we are calling for greater support for the most affected sectors.

However, whenever someone goes to the bank and wants to borrow some money to, let us say, buy a house, the bank will ask how it will be repaid, whether the person has the capacity to do this, whether it can be done responsibly and what the money will be used for.

That is something we have not seen come out of the Liberal government. The Prime Minister has been unwilling to be accountable to Parliament. In fact, he prorogued Parliament, shut down Parliament, to escape scrutiny. Accountability and oversight are absolutely critical in a functioning parliamentary democracy.

Yes, there is—

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

We have to give time for more questions.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for bringing this motion forward today. For him and for every other MP in this country, our phones are ringing off the hook with the government's expansion of the CEBA loan because of the delays in getting the extra $20,000 out to small business owners.

One thing the member just talked about was the banks. The banks have been getting a free ride throughout this whole crisis. They are profiting from it, as are the largest credit card companies. We are wondering why the Conservatives are not joining the NDP in calling on the federal government to cap credit card merchant fees when Canada is allowing credit card companies to charge some of the largest fees in the world.

In fact, Europe has capped fees, which are a third of what merchants are paying here in Canada, and we know many merchants are—

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

Let us give the hon. member for Abbotsford an opportunity to answer.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Madam Speaker, I very much appreciate the work the member from British Columbia does in the House.

I would say this: If the NDP had its way, it would control every single aspect of our lives. The NDP believes government is the solution to all of the world's problems and that all we need is a government program, a government cap or government interference to solve a problem.

I am of a different mind. I believe Canadians can make these decisions on their own. They are capable of doing that. We have to trust Canadians to make decisions that are in their own best interests. I do not believe in a pervasive government. In fact, if I had my way, I would want less government in our lives and have government only—

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

For one last question, we have the hon. member for Thérèse-De Blainville.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Madam Speaker, this motion raises a lot of questions and makes a lot of recommendations.

If I understand correctly, the member is proposing loans with certain conditions for the aerospace industry.

Does the member know that Canada is the only country that has not invested in aerospace? Other countries, such as Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the United States have invested in aerospace. In fact, Germany has invested $14 billion. Canada has not provided any direct support to this very important industry.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am not sure whether the member is referring to the airline sector or the aerospace sector writ large, because we can spend all day talking about the aerospace sector and the potential it represents for driving prosperity and economic growth in Canada.

With respect to the airline sector itself, meaning functioning airlines and not manufacturing itself, we believe the best way forward is to be responsible with taxpayers' monies in providing repayable loans to the airlines while making sure those loans are contingent upon the airlines fulfilling conditions such as making sure customers receive the refunds they are entitled to receive.

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

Madam Speaker, I am extremely pleased to be participating in this very important debate today on a motion that requests the government to include help in the next budget to support workers and their families who are struggling during this pandemic, resulting in the economic downturn that has occurred.

I am doing this from Terminal 4, which is an area in central Ontario, in Barrie and Innisfil, that is known as “T4” because of the fact that hundreds of airline sector employees and their families live here because it is in close proximity to the Toronto Pearson airport. In fact, throughout the GTA, from Kitchener to Bowmanville and from Markham to Huntsville, tens of thousands of families depend on Canada's airline sector continuing to thrive and survive. Travel advisers like Charlene Caldwell in my riding of Barrie—Innisfil, food workers in Brampton, limo drivers in Mississauga, and restaurant and hotel workers are all watching, literally with their economic well-being on the line, waiting for help to come.

The situation is described by the Air Canada Pilots Association as “dire”. Many of those employees and their families are not just constituents but also friends, pilots, flight attendants and many others who have been directly and indirectly negatively impacted by the pandemic as a result of the government's decisions and policies, which many see as inconsistent, incoherent, misunderstood, and not based on any data, evidence or science, but simply on politics.

The effect of the decisions has been so profoundly negative that many are losing hope that the airline sector may ever recover to the way it was before the pandemic. When we add to this not just the incoherence of the public policy decisions that have been made and the fact that the families affected have seen so many other countries in the G7 step up to offer their airlines help early on when the trouble started, words and platitudes, which is all we have heard from the Prime Minister and now two ministers of transport, are not providing any sense of hope for many of these families.

When I talk of these families and of the impact this is having and the anxiety they are feeling, I know what I am speaking of. I come from a long line of airline employees. My mom worked for Air Canada. My sisters worked for Air Canada, and one still does. My wife Liane did as well. My uncle was a mechanic at the Dorval airport. Like all airline families who have a long history of working for an airline, they have seen many good times in the sector, but they have seen nothing as desperate as what they are dealing with now. Help cannot come soon enough, and that is precisely what this motion is all about.

As the member of Parliament for Barrie—Innisfil and a representative of Terminal 4, I have been hearing from pilots, flight attendants and those who are directly and indirectly associated with the airline industry, including many travel advisers. I know the Air Canada Pilots Association has been asking its members to send letters to members of Parliament, and I am sure all parliamentarians have been receiving them.

In part, what the letter says is that by connecting people, goods and services, our airlines form a critical part of Canada's economic infrastructure. Every day we see how important it is to unite communities, support jobs across the country and transport goods within Canada and internationally. As incomprehensible as it may seem, this critical sector may not recover from the pandemic, much less survive it, without urgent help from the federal government. They go on to say that Canada's airline industry could emerge from the pandemic in a weakened state, unable to compete against foreign carriers that have benefited from direct government aid that for some carriers has been in the billions of dollars.

There may be countries that can function without a robust airline sector, but Canada is not one of them. Canada stands alone in its lack of meaningful direct financial aid for its airlines.

There are other concerns from the pilots that have been brought to light, including the fact that many of them, almost 600, have been furloughed. What does that say about their training? What does that say about their capability to recover from this and get the airline sector back on track? They describe the situation as being “dire”, and I would agree with them. The airline sector in and of itself, the travel and tourism and the billions of dollars that they represent to our communities right across this country, are really too big to fail.

The next area I want to focus on is travel advisers.

There are over 12,000 travel advisers in this country. On the day after International Women's Day, it should not be lost on all of us that 85% of them are women. I have met with many of them over the course of the last year, and one of the things they are looking for is commission protection from the government when it comes to refunds. Not only are they being hit on that side of it, but many of them who have not been able to earn any income since this pandemic started a year ago are also being hit by credit card companies asking for refunds.

Let us think about this. Let us put ourselves in their position. People who have not been able to earn income for the better part of a year are now being asked to pay back that income. Many of them will not be able to survive, so I can clearly empathize with travel advisers and the impact this situation is going to have on them.

A lot of this is an unintended consequence of the passenger bill of rights, and I spoke earlier about misunderstanding it. The passenger bill of rights passed by the government in 2019 allows for refunds not to be provided in non-controllable circumstances. It is probably one of the most widely misunderstood facts among consumers, and it falls directly on the government, because many of the decisions that have been made during this pandemic that have caused the airlines to effectively shut down have been made by the government. Almost every other sector in this country has received support from the government, with the exception of the airline sector. I am not talking about the emergency wage subsidy; I am talking direct sectoral relief, similar to what other G7 countries have done, including the United States, where billions of dollars have been spent. Delta is recalling all of its pilots and United Airlines just made an expansion announcement; meanwhile, in Canada, we are at 5% of our passenger loads and some pilots have not flown since March 18.

The other thing this motion calls for is relief for the charitable sector. I can personally speak on that. I have heard from charitable sectors within my community that are hurting as a result of this pandemic. Businesses continue to fall through the cracks. Many of them, as my colleague from Abbotsford said, are sole proprietorships, not incorporated businesses, and many of them started in 2020, yet the government programs that exist are still far too prescriptive and far too restrictive for many of them to receive the type of benefits they are applying for. Many have been turned down, and I have been hearing from a lot of them lately.

We need a plan, not just for bailouts but also for recovery. This virus is not going away, and we need to ensure we manage it with every tool we have in our tool box. That includes vaccines, rapid testing, isolating the most vulnerable and making sure we are contact tracing. Not everything should be defaulted to a lockdown or further restrictions; we need to make sure that when a plan is developed, it includes a plan for recovery, and that recovery should include the power of Canadian business. It should include the people they employ and the products they produce so that we can create a competitive environment, both domestically and internationally, for the things Canada produces in every sector, including forestry, natural resources, airlines and construction—all of those things—with less government intervention and legislation. We need to ensure we create this competitive environment so that investor confidence will come back into this country. It is going to be critical for us to do that, because the debt and deficits will be paid for generations to come. We need to improve the revenue side of the ledger.

After this is all over, the Prime Minister will be fine, but many of these families I am speaking about will be left to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and try to recover economically.

As I conclude, those families include travel agents like Charlene Caldwell, Judith Coates, Brenda Slater, Nancy Wilson, Laura Gaudet, Margie Connor, Nancy Eleusiniotis and Loretta Sellers. They also include pilots like Michael Frena; the QuoVadis family, both dad and son Brandon, who followed in his father's footsteps; the Kennedy family; the Russell family; Martin Tremblay; the Rasical family and the Ceppos family. All of them have been directly affected by what is happening in the airline sector and the travel and tourism sector.

Today the Conservatives are asking the government to put action to their words—