Debates of May 11th, 2021

Diversity and Inclusion

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, like the leader of the NDP, I am extremely concerned about these reports and information that came out this morning. It is definitely extremely disturbing. That is why we are going to follow up on this issue, because people across Canada must be free to protest and show that they disagree with the policies of the government and our society. We will always be there to defend freedom of expression and the freedom to protest. At the same time, we recognize that within the military there are challenges related to racism and systemic discrimination. We will follow up on that as well.

Canadian Heritage

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

Mr. Speaker, the heritage minister himself confirmed that government regulations could apply to social media accounts with a large following. He even said that the CRTC, not the government, would be in charge of the regulation. I cannot believe that the content of Canadians who have a lot of followers and who have found success online will be subject to regulation. The Conservatives are proud of Canadian culture and talent.

Why are the Liberals trying to regulate those things?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, it has been clear from the beginning that what we want to do is focus on two things. First, we want social media platforms to contribute financially to our cultural industry in Quebec and Canada. Second, we want to make our Canadian artists discoverable on platforms such as YouTube.

I was relieved to see that the Conservative Party is finally listening to the cultural sector and that they have put an end to their pointless two-week filibuster.

We will continue to be there for our artists and creators. We look forward to the committee resuming its work in the very near future. The cultural sector is behind us and supports this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, first the minister said that the government's and CRTC's regulations in Bill C-10 would apply to people who have a lot of followers, earn money and could be considered influencers or broadcasters. The following day he said the opposite. I do not know whether the minister understands his own bill, but one thing is for sure. The bill is vague, confusing and unacceptable.

Why is the Liberal government trying to subject Canadians to a law that will violate freedom of expression?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 is designed to level the playing field between Canadian creators and the web giants. It will force powerful foreign broadcasters to provide information on their revenue, contribute financially to Canadian stories and music, and enable different audiences to discover our culture. The bill explicitly stipulates that these obligations apply only to web giants and not to Canadian users. The web giants have been exempt from regulations for far too long. Our government has chosen to take action instead of simply reacting.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, aspiring creatives have found a way to successfully market themselves on social media platforms. In doing so, they pose a threat to big arts and culture groups that have traditionally relied on government favours in order to stay afloat.

Finding it hard to compete with savvy YouTubers, those arts and culture groups knocked on the government’s door and asked the Prime Minister to tip the scales. Enter Bill C-10.

How does picking winners and losers protect Canadian culture?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately we have another sad example of a Conservative Party member dragging, through the mud, our great Canadian creators, who are wildly renowned around the world. Recently, a number of them won a number of awards at a number of different festivals.

It is a sad moment. Unfortunately, it is another example of the Conservative Party listening to the most extremist elements of its own party while dragging our Canadian artists through the mud and—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Lethbridge.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is talking about those groups that receive handouts from the government in order to stay afloat. He is not talking about those individuals who work hard in order to capture an audience organically on YouTube.

Canadian content creators have worked hard to capture massive audiences without any help from government, yet we see the Liberals attempting to tip the scales in favour of those big lobby groups. They are doing so by penalizing individual Canadians for finding success on social media without government support.

Bill C-10 is a disastrous attack on freedom and those with a creative or entrepreneurial edge. When will the heritage minister listen to Canadian content creators and back off?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 aims to level the playing field between creators and web giants, and I continue to be baffled by the fact that the Conservative Party of Canada has decided to side with some of the wealthiest and most powerful companies in the world, against our Canadian artists in this country and our musicians.

We would require big, powerful foreign streamers to provide information on their revenues in Canada, to financially contribute to Canadian stories and music, and make it easier for individuals to discover our culture. The bill explicitly says that obligations apply to web giants only, not to Canadian users.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage outdid himself yesterday by tweeting that public opinion is being manipulated by a deliberate misinformation campaign orchestrated by commercial interests that would prefer to avoid the same regulatory oversight applied to broadcast media.

Does he honestly think that the concerns of Canadians, analysts, experts, professors and all those who have spoken out against his bill are part of a huge conspiracy theory? Seriously?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read an excerpt for a letter that was published in La Presse this morning. It was written by Alain Saulnier, a communications professor at the University of Montreal and former executive at Radio-Canada.

“Quebec's entire cultural community is aware that francophone content is being increasingly marginalized by foreign companies on their platforms. What kind of dangerous game is the Conservative Party playing?”

The opposition member claims to be a great defender of the French language, when he and his party would deprive Quebec creators, artists and musicians of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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

Mr. Speaker, this minister is a pro at deflecting questions.

I find it a serious matter and quite insulting that this minister, after his repeated failures, would put the blame on honest Canadians who are shocked by the Liberals' attack on our freedom of expression. This only happened because he is unable to introduce a good bill. Judging by his recent public statements, he is doing nothing to dispel the doubts surrounding the bill.

Why is the minister insisting on playing politics, as he just did when he attacked those who are defending freedom of expression?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for providing me with this opportunity to read a long list of organizations that have already lent their support to Bill C-10 in the past few weeks.

I am thinking of the Société civile des auteurs multimédia, the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques, Copibec, the Alliance nationale de l'industrie musicale, the Association des distributeurs exclusifs de livres en langue française, the Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture, SOCAN, the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, the Union des artistes, the Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec, the Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Rivière-du-Nord.

National Defence

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, whenever we ask the government about the allegations of sexual misconduct against General Vance we are told that the government took immediate action.

However, the government did not dismiss General Vance. There was no investigation, no disciplinary action and no implementation of the recommendations in the 2015 Deschamps report. Nothing. The general was allowed to stay in his position for three years with a nice salary increase, while the government shelved the Deschamps report.

When the government says that it acted swiftly what is it talking about exactly?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, when Mr. Walbourne brought the information forward, I reached out immediately to the Privy Council Office. Privy Council Office officials then reached out to Mr. Walbourne the very next day. That is immediate action.

However, we know that we have a lot more work to do. Our government takes allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously. No one should feel unsafe to work. Some of the work we have been doing includes passing Bill C-77, a declaration of victims rights, to put victims at the core of the military justice system. It also reviews unfounded cases. We have more work to do, and we will get it done.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is really embarrassing that he is still the minister answering the questions on this.

After three years of inaction, he no longer has any credibility to act, unfortunately. After refusing to look at the allegations against General Vance, he no longer has credibility to advocate for victims. That is why the Bloc Québécois demanded that he be relieved of his duties. He no longer has any credibility.

Does the leader in the House realize that he is undermining the credibility of his own government every time he asks this parliamentarian to speak to sexual misconduct in the military?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, no politician should ever be involved in the investigation. We take swift action and swift action was taken. The information was brought forward, and it was immediately passed on to the Privy Council Office, which followed up with Mr. Walbourne the very next day.

As I stated, we have a lot more work to do, and we will get it done.

COVID-19 Emergency Response

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, while small businesses in my riding are struggling with yet another lockdown, the Liberals have been showering their rich Bay Street friends with millions of taxpayer dollars. We recently learned that a hedge fund company worth $180 billion in assets received nearly $3 million from the taxpayer through the wage subsidy.

Meanwhile a woman entrepreneur in my riding who opened up a gym right before the pandemic hit has been unable to qualify for any federal programs. The Liberals refuse to fix it.

Will the Prime Minister explain to women entrepreneurs why Bay Street hedge funds deserve more support than they do?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member's question gives me an opportunity to talk about how important it is that our business support programs, including the wage subsidy, continue to be in place and will be in place until September 25. The wage subsidy alone has supported more than 5.3 million jobs, that is 5.3 million Canadians and Canadian families.

When it comes to small business and women entrepreneurs, I am very pleased to inform the member opposite that this budget provides unprecedented support for small business and unprecedented support for women entrepreneurs.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the member did not answer my question, particularly not for the female entrepreneur in my riding. She did not address the fact that Liberals provided $2.9 million to Fiera Capital, a hedge fund whose executives and shareholders made over $100 million in bonus and dividends last year.

I feel this is a tremendous disrespect to Canadian taxpayers because we are seeing regular hard-working middle-class Canadians struggling through yet another wave of lockdowns, and they will be the ones who will pay for all this Liberal borrowed debt through tax hikes.

Why is the minister sticking hard-working Canadians with the bill and allowing rich money managers to make millions on taxpayers?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of suppositions in that question that are not accurate, but let me talk about the most important thing, which is that our business and income support programs have provided and continue to provide a critical lifeline to Canadians and to Canadian businesses. The wage subsidy alone has supported 5.3 million jobs across the country. We are going to be there to support Canadians as we fight this third wave.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have an important question.

As small businesses fight to survive, especially in Quebec's red zones, the minister is turning a blind eye to problems with the Canada emergency wage subsidy.

JM Fund Management was so successful in 2020 that it was ranked as the third-best-performing hedge fund in Canada, and it received thousands of dollars from the federal government. Meanwhile, countless small businesses got nothing and are angry about ultra-rich funds cashing in on the pandemic.

Why does the Prime Minister think his Bay Street buddies deserve more support than Canada's small businesses?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question, which gives me an opportunity to reassure all Canadians and all Canadian businesses that the federal government will be there for them. All of our programs to support businesses and Canadians have served a critical purpose, especially now as the third wave of the pandemic is hitting us hard. The wage subsidy enabled 5.3 million Canadians to keep their jobs.