Debates of April 28th, 2021

Labour

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are a government that has always taken action to support Canadians and Quebeckers.

We transferred billions of dollars to Quebec and the provinces to help them with their health care systems during the pandemic, and when the pandemic is over, then yes, we will sit down and talk about doing even more together.

We have been there for seniors by making transfers and providing assistance during the pandemic, and we are increasing old age security by 10% for older seniors.

We are there to support people, and we will be there to get the Port of Montreal and Quebec's economy back up and running.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us remember last year's rail crisis and the question I asked back then. Do we have a leadership problem in Canada?

A solution was found and implemented. Quebec does not want special legislation, Quebec wants people to get back to work. That would happen more quickly with our solution.

By delaying, the Prime Minister is working against Quebec's economy, Quebec's will and Quebec's workers.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would not want to contradict the leader of the Bloc Québécois when he says he speaks for Quebec, but I most definitely heard Premier Legault say that he wanted us to move forward to get people at the Port of Montreal back to work and to get Quebec's economy moving. That is exactly what he wants us to do and that is what we are doing.

We are making sure that there is a neutral mediation and arbitration process in place so that progress can be made while respecting everyone and ensuring that Quebec's economy is secure and prosperous.

National Defence

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what one permits is what one promotes. The Prime Minister is the most powerful man in the country. Rather than standing for women in the face of serious allegations of misconduct against General Vance, the Prime Minister has reinforced an entrenched and toxic military culture. His inaction has emboldened the military “old boys” and denied women the opportunity to be believed.

If the PM had known about the allegations against General Vance, would he have removed him?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is incredibly important that we create a system that we do not have at this point. Even with all the improvements that have been made, we need to ensure that anyone who has been affected by misconduct, sexual assault or harassment is able to come forward in all comfort and engage in a proper process that will lead to consequences. We simply do not have that right now. We have worked very hard to ensure that there are processes in place, but we know there is more to do, and we will be announcing more extremely shortly.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister stated that his office, like him, takes sexual harassment extraordinarily seriously, but Katie Telford did not take the misconduct allegations against General Vance seriously. If she had, she would have informed the Prime Minister. Only he can replace a chief of the defence staff, not unelected members of his office. His staff made him complicit in the misconduct, denying him the opportunity to act.

If the PM's staff had not kept him in the dark about the allegations against General Vance, would he have removed him?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, from the beginning of our time in office back in 2015, we have always taken seriously the responsibility to change cultures, both in the armed forces and in government, and across this country, when it comes to supporting survivors of sexual harassment and assault in terms of creating better processes for it. That is why Katie Telford herself has sat down with many members, women senior military leaders, to talk about the changes needed and has included me in many of those conversations. We will continue to work hard every single day to transform the “old boys” culture in the military and better support survivors.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there are only two possible truths in the case of allegations of sexual misconduct against General Vance. Either the Prime Minister knew, did nothing and allowed abuse of power at the highest levels to continue unchecked, or his staff did not inform him and his rhetoric about taking allegations of sexual harassment seriously is simply untrue. The process is that all roads lead to the Prime Minister.

If the Prime Minister had known about the allegations, would he have removed General Vance?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the member opposite is not being forward with the truth. We heard allegations, we heard clearly from testimony at committee when the deputy secretary of cabinet testified that she did not have information even about the nature of the complaint. The former ombudsman could not provide any details. He took the investigation as far as he could with—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am just going to stop the Right Hon. Prime Minister. I am having a hard time hearing him, as there is some bantering going back and forth. I will let him start over.

I want to remind hon. members that we all want to hear the questions and the answers.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at committee, there were hearings from multiple witnesses for three months, including non-partisan public servants, who made clearly known that the details of the allegation were unknown. The deputy secretary of cabinet testified that she did not have information even about the nature of the complaint or specifics that would have enabled further action. The former ombudsman testified at committee that he could not provide any details. He took the investigation as far as he could with the complainant's authority.

It is important to support complainants in their desire for privacy, but it is also important that we create better systems in which they will feel properly supported.

Health

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, many of my Brampton North constituents are concerned about the third wave of the pandemic. Across Ontario, hospitals are filling up, new cases continue to exceed 3,000 per day, and additional help is needed. I know that this federal government has often said that what is needed is a team Canada approach to addressing this pandemic.

Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what actions the Government of Canada has recently taken to provide support to the people of Ontario during this pandemic?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to begin by thanking the member for Brampton North for her leadership during this difficult time.

I want to reassure all Canadians that we will always be there to provide assistance to provinces and territories. Just this week, we approved a request to deploy immediate support to Ontario through deployment of the Canadian Armed Forces and redeployment of the Canadian Red Cross. Over the course of this pandemic, we have now approved 70 requests for assistance, including 22 from Ontario. We will continue to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to help Canadians get through this COVID-19 pandemic.

National Defence

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, an email from March 2, 2018, clearly indicated that there were allegations of sexual harassment, but the Prime Minister claims that he was not aware.

Even though senior officials knew, his Minister of National Defence knew and his chief of staff Katie Telford knew, the Prime Minister claims that he did not know.

Had he known, would he have fired General Vance?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the deputy secretary to the cabinet spoke about that email in her testimony at the Standing Committee on National Defence, where she said that she did not have information about the nature of the complaint or specifics that would have enabled further action.

We followed a process in this case. We must always follow up and provide support to people who file complaints like this one. We obviously now need to improve the support systems.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am familiar with the processes, from my time in the Canadian Armed Forces.

If I were still in the military, I think I would resign. Soldiers want to trust the Prime Minister and the government. This is simply not the case right now.

The Prime Minister is talking about processes, papers and emails, but did he know that a sexual harassment complaint had been filed against General Vance? If not, would he have fired him?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have said this many times. I was not aware of the nature of the allegations against the general.

My office and the Minister of National Defence put this complaint through a rigorous process, the same one used by the Conservative government in 2015, to make sure that the complaint received adequate follow-up.

Unfortunately, the system was not sufficiently robust to reassure the person who made this complaint, but we will improve the system.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, someone said that there was no awareness that it was a #MeToo complaint and that nobody knew the nature of the complaint, of this allegation.

Who said that? Obviously, it was the Prime Minister.

However, documents obtained by Global News show that his office had asked bureaucrats to open a probe and that those bureaucrats had been informed the allegation was about sexual harassment. We have evidence of that.

If the Prime Minister maintains that he did not know, then I want to know the answer to this question: If he had known, would he have fired General Vance?

This is the eighth time we have asked this question.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every time, I give the answer that it is important to have a rigorous process on which to base such decisions.

In this situation, the process did not work, unfortunately. It was the same process that was followed by the Conservative government, which chose Jonathan Vance to be the chief of the defence staff.

Unfortunately, we are in a situation where we need to recognize and greatly improve these systems, and that is exactly what we are going to do.

Government Programs

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Mr. Speaker, COVID-19 has had an enormous impact on all Canadians, especially students and youth.

Our country's economic recovery depends on our young people's ability to pursue their studies and get the experience they need to start their careers.

I am delighted that close to 450 jobs will be created this summer for young people in Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne thanks to an investment of more than $2 million through the Canada summer jobs program.

Would the Prime Minister please tell the House what is being done to support young Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the member for Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne for being so committed to our youth.

Since the start of the pandemic, we have given young Canadians over $7.4 billion in support. Budget 2021 injects an additional $5.7 billion for student debt relief and new training and work opportunities.

Today, we announced that a record-setting 150,000 jobs will be available through Canada summer jobs. That means more opportunities for young Canadians than ever before.

Post-Secondary Education

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Laurentian University is essential to northern Ontario, and particularly to its indigenous and francophone communities.

Laurentian University is in a full-blown crisis right now; meanwhile, the Liberals sit back and do nothing. Northern communities deserve better.

Will the Prime Minister do something to save Laurentian University?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the NDP leader is demonstrating that he does not understand the difference between provincial and federal jurisdictions.

We are obviously following the situation at Laurentian University very closely. We are in direct contact with the province on this issue. Our thoughts are with all of those who have lost their jobs and all of the employees and students who are facing this difficult situation.

We will continue to support post-secondary education institutions, because the future of our two official languages depends on it. We are ready to work with our provincial and territorial colleagues to achieve this, as education falls under their jurisdiction.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should introduce legislation and work with provincial and territorial governments and indigenous peoples to ensure that a guaranteed livable basic income (1) accounting for regional differences in living costs; (2) for all Canadians over the age of 18, including single persons, students, families, seniors, persons with disabilities, temporary foreign workers, permanent residents and refugee claimants; (3) paid on a regular basis; (4) not requiring participation in the labour market, education or training in order to be eligible; (5) in addition to current and future government public services and income supports meant to meet special exceptional and other distinct means and goals rather than basic needs, including accessible, affordable social housing and expanded health services be established on an ongoing and permanent basis in a concerted effort to eradicate poverty and ensure the respect, dignity and security of all persons in respect of Canada's domestic and international legal obligations.