Debates of April 30th, 2021

Lobster Fishing Season

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, my statement today was to wish all lobster fishermen safety and success as they sail out from the shores of Prince Edward Island on this scheduled opening day for the spring lobster fishery. The traps have been on the wharves for days, the boats well-tuned and now loaded to the brim with buoys, traps and gear as fishermen and their crews expected to head out before dawn on what is known as “setting day”.

However, in the two lobster fishing zones adjacent to the island, mother nature had a different idea, and in the interest of safety, DFO delayed the season until Monday.

By Monday, may the seas be calm with but a gentle breeze, and as fishermen set their traps on that day, may the catches be abundant and the prices strong as they arrive back to safe harbour. Islanders and those beyond are awaiting their first delicious feed of lobster from the clean, cool waters around our island shores.

Again, we wish our fishermen a safe and prosperous fishing season.

National Defence

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's announcement from the Minister of National Defence regarding the problem of sexual assault in the military was nothing more than a smokescreen intended to distract Canadians.

It has been six years since the tabling of the Deschamps report, which identified problems in the military.

The fact is, this government has done nothing for six years. This self-proclaimed feminist Prime Minister failed to protect women.

Will he admit that?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Arbour's review will allow us to move forward, taking into account current barriers and realities.

Ms. Deschamps said, and I quote, “I welcome the appointment of Madame Arbour. From what I read, her mandate appears to be broader than the one I was given. As such, this would not be a mere repetition of what I did.”

We have to get this right.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the press coverage this morning is unanimous. Yesterday's announcement is frustrating, cruel and disappointing right across the board. Do the Liberals really think people are that stupid?

Not only did the Prime Minister do nothing for six years about sexual misconduct in the military, he protected his boys club. The Minister of Defence was aware of this, and so was the Prime Minister's chief of staff.

How does he explain his government's complicity in the code of silence regarding sexual misconduct in the military?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, let us review what we know.

Prime Minister Harper appointed General Vance in July 2015 even though he was under active investigation by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service.

The Leader of the Opposition stated that he forwarded the allegations about sexual misconduct involving General Vance in July 2015, stating that they had been reviewed. Just a few days after his appointment, the investigation was suddenly abandoned. The officer responsible claimed he had been pressured. We wonder by whom.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we do not expect much from the Liberal government, but we did expect it to deal with the important issue of sexual assault in the army.

With yesterday's announcement, the Prime Minister was not trying to protect women in the army, he was try to protect his chief of staff. This situation is shameful and disgraceful.

Will he let Katie Telford testify at the defence committee?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we are focused on listening to and learning from the survivors.

The member knows that committees are independent and that the national defence committee heard more than six hours of testimony from the minister.

While the Conservatives are busy playing politics, we are working tirelessly to make the Canadian Armed Forces safer for our women and men in uniform.

The Economy

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government’s recent budget failed to deliver the hope for which Canadians had been waiting. Instead of delivering an economic growth plan, the Prime Minister delivered an inflation plan: bigger deficits and bigger debt, but no plan to manage the financial consequences of this pandemic.

The best the Prime Minister could come up with was an enormous spending plan, which is now beginning to stoke the fires of inflation. Does he not realize that this economic crisis is now his failure?

[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]

Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning, the Conservatives have been arguing that it was too expensive to support Canadians.

My neighbour, who told me she could buy groceries because she had to access CERB when she lost her job, does not think that these were too expensive. Business owners in my community, who were able to keep the doors open and workers on payroll because of the supports we advanced, did not think this was too expensive.

The Conservatives should acknowledge that in the time of need that we are experiencing, the Government of Canada should be there to support households and businesses, so they can contribute to the economic recovery when COVID-19 is finally a thing of the past.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have abandoned Canadians. They are now complaining about rising prices and the cost of living.

Groceries, gasoline, housing, and now long-term interest rates are going up. It is only going to get worse.

In his recent budget, the Prime Minister could have invested wisely. Instead, he spent his stimulus money on election goodies, adding to the inflationary pressures driving up prices. Canadians are literally paying the price for his management of our country’s finances.

Does the Prime Minister not realize that this economic crisis is now his failure?

[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]

Mr. Speaker, it is incredulous that the Conservatives would describe election goodies as things like supporting women so they can take part in the economy when COVID-19 is over. It is ridiculous that they think investments that will grow the green economy and put people to work is something beyond what the government should be focused on. It is incredible to me that they think supporting young people after the impact COVID-19 has had on their job prospects is the wrong approach.

Why do the Conservatives insist that supporting Canadians has been too expensive every step of the way?

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Ottawa now has a backlog of 50,000 immigration files for skilled workers in Quebec. Yesterday I asked the minister what he was doing to fix the problem and he told me that 56 more people had been welcomed compared to the same period last year.

It will take a lot more than 56 people during the same period to take care of the 50,000 backlogged files. What, specifically, is the minister going to do to fix this problem? It will not fix itself.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I want to make a clarification about what my colleague said. We are not talking about 56 people, but 56% more people compared to the same period last year.

That is why we have welcomed more than 7,000 new skilled permanent residents to Quebec. Our government will continue to respect its immigration quota, thereby ensuring that Quebec gets all the skilled workers it needs.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government's lengthy immigration processing times are not new. Ottawa currently has a backlog of 50,000 applications from skilled workers in Quebec. In 2018, the backlog was 37,000 files. In 2011, it was 33,000.

That prompted the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to publish a report entitled “Cutting the queue: reducing Canada's immigration backlogs and wait times”. In 2007, it took Ottawa 63 months to process applications for skilled workers. The more things change, the more they stay the same. How will the minister make up for decades of neglect?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the work our government has done on the immigration file. Working with the Government of Quebec, we have made a lot of progress. Every week, I work with my counterpart to move immigration files forward. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are doing it together as we make sure the immigration system continues to serve Canadians and Quebeckers.

Official Languages

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals love to make themselves out to be champions of the French language, but in real life, federal organizations do not even submit the progress reports required under the Official Languages Act. The minister promised to reform that act, but she still has not done so.

The Liberals have been in office for six years and they still have not done anything, nothing at all. The rights of francophones are being violated in the public service, and Laurentian University is cutting it programs in French. When will the Liberals make it a priority to protect the French fact across the country?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising this issue, and I am very proud to be able to answer him. Like him, I am a Quebecker who is proud of French and proud of the role the government plays in supporting francophones across the country.

I am also very proud of the work that my colleague, the Minister of Official Languages, does, not just on this issue, as she has been doing over the past several days, but also on a broader scale to reform our actions, measures and programs to support francophones across the country, as we did with the Université de l'Ontario français, for example.

Veterans Affairs

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have intentionally broken their promise to veterans to eliminate the marriage after 60 clause. Created in the early 1900s, this clause blocks the partners of veterans and RCMP, if they marry after 60, of ever having access to their pension after death. Some veterans are refusing part of their pensions right now to support their partners in the future, which means they are living in deep poverty. It is a very simple fix and a feminist government would do it.

Will the minister commit to filing eliminating this clause today or will Canada continue to punish veterans for finding love after 60?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Military and Veterans Health Research to gather information about these survivors. Over the coming months, we will use the results of this research to inform how best to support these survivors. The well-being of our veterans and their families is always our number one priority.

The Economy

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during the great global recession, the Harper government refused to fund spending through money printing at the Bank of Canada. The result was that we ended up with growth that was better than the U.S., better than the G7 and better than the average of the advanced economies. Fast forward to the present and the government is funding its spending through money printing at the Bank of Canada, leading to the worst economic growth of any government since the Great Depression and now, predictably, inflation.

As Canadians struggle to find work, they are seeing food, fuel and housing prices skyrocket. Why is the government imposing an inflation tax right in the middle of a pandemic crisis?

[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]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was at the same finance committee meeting I attended earlier this week with the governor of the Bank of Canada, who dispelled the very myth the member continues to perpetuate. I do not know what it is about the Conservatives. During an unprecedented public health and economic emergency, they refuse to acknowledge that the Government of Canada should step up and be there for Canadians in their time of need.

My message to anyone listening today is this: If they have been impacted financially or from a public health point of view, this government will be there for them, no matter what it takes, and for as long as it takes.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yes, the government has been right there next to people with its hands in their pockets as they walk down the grocery aisle. The government's inflation tax is raising the price of meat by 5% to 7% this year, the price of bakery by 4% to 6%, and the price of vegetables by 5% to 7%. Real estate is up 40%. That is great news for those who own a mansion, but it is terrible news for a working-class renter struggling toward the dream of home ownership.

Why is the government hitting Canadians with an inflation tax right in the middle of a pandemic?

[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]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member accuses our government of having our hands in the pockets of Canadians. We have put, through CERB, direct income supports into the pockets of nine million middle-class Canadians. We have, from the very beginning, been supporting Canadians with programs, and not just CERB. If we go back several years, there was the Canada child benefit, which stopped child care cheques from being sent to millionaires, so we could leave nine out of 10 families better off.

Every time we put forward measures that help ordinary Canadians, the Conservatives can be counted on to vote against them. They continue to oppose our measures to support Canadians through this pandemic when we know they need support more than ever.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, wow. Is this guy ever out of touch. He better take a drive 25 minutes from here to a community called Riverside South, where a working-class family recently reported it was outbid nine times when trying to buy a house, the last time by $400,000 over asking price. Working-class people cannot find a place to live, and he says the government will send them a $2,000 cheque, for a $400,000 bid over asking price on a home.

People cannot find places to live. They cannot afford food. Why is the government hitting the most vulnerable with an inflation tax right in the middle of a crisis?

[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]

Mr. Speaker, it is extraordinary for the hon. member, of all people, to accuse me of being out of touch. It was our government that advanced supports such as CERB during people's time of need, which allowed them to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. It was our government that, during their time of need, advanced programs such as the wage subsidy, which kept more than five million workers on the payroll, so they could retain a connection to their employers and access to their benefits. It was our government that advanced the emergency business account, which has helped nearly a million businesses keep their doors open during their time of need.

Our message to—