Debates of May 12th, 2021

Canadian Heritage

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

Mr. Speaker, the problem is the Prime Minister has not read the bill. That is not what the bill says, and that is certainly not what the heritage minister has been saying in all the interviews he has been giving. All across Canada, there are thousands of artists just like the ones in my riding. They do not belong to any organization. They are full-fledged Canadians and Quebeckers.

By making these amendments to Bill C-10, the heritage minister has given himself the power to regulate influencers, artists, politicians and any user who shares content on social media. Can the Prime Minister tell us if he is really in agreement with what the heritage minister is doing right now with his Bill C-10?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is completely false. Freedom of expression is explicitly protected by this law and by our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is not negotiable for our government or for anyone else. We will continue to respect it.

The Conservatives are deliberately misinforming Canadians, they are filibustering the study of this important bill, and they are siding with web giants over Canadian creators. It is truly disappointing.

Health

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, nearly one-third of travellers are being deemed exempt from the hotel quarantine requirement. Obviously, exceptions should be made for certain people, such as essential workers, but one-third of travellers seems like a lot of exceptions.

The problem is that Health Canada is unable to explain which travellers are exempt and why. Given that the number of exempt travellers is compromising the effectiveness of the whole hotel quarantine program, what is the Prime Minister going to do to address this lack of transparency?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it has been more than a year now since we closed our borders to almost all travellers arriving in Canada. We restricted travel significantly, and that has worked. Travel is down to less than 5% of what it was a year ago because our measures are working.

We will continue to ensure that tests are being conducted prior to boarding, upon arrival and on day eight, that mandatory quarantines are being imposed and that checks are being done. We will always follow up to keep Canadians safe.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the tests that quarantined travellers are required to take are poorly managed as well.

The Prime Minister contracted a private company called Switch Health to manage travellers' screening tests. It is the only company authorized by the Prime Minister to do these tests, but it is not capable of providing services in French or serving remote regions.

As a result, people are stuck in quarantine for up to a month waiting to hear back from the company. Switch Health is not working for Quebec. When will the Prime Minister replace it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we acknowledged that a service provider was experiencing some challenges. We are working with this company and are also looking for alternatives.

Everyone should be served well, and in both official languages. This is essential for us, and we will continue working on this matter.

Canadian Heritage

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, online content that a Canadian creates in Canada is Canadian content, period. For the Liberal government to dictate which posts are visible and which ones are hidden based on some absurd rating of “Canadianness” is ridiculous. If a TikTok dance is an eight out of 10 in Canadianness, bump it up. If a Facebook post is a four out of 10, bump it down. A tweet that promotes Liberal values is 10 out of 10, front page.

If the Prime Minister genuinely wants to promote Canadian culture, why will he not let Canadians determine what that is?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 aims to level the playing field between creators and web giants. It requires big foreign streamers to provide information on the revenues in Canada, 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 Canadian users.

Web giants have gone unregulated for far too long. Our government has chosen to act.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, experts are saying otherwise.

Canadian culture should be determined by the Canadian people, not the government. To censor online content based on a narrow definition of “Canadianness” is an attack on the artists whom the Prime Minister claims he supports. However, members should not take my word for it. Sherley Joseph is an advocate for Black content creators. She says the definition of “Canadian content” discriminates against Black creators, and Bill C-10 will actually prevent them from being able to leverage their voice. Interesting. It does not sound like an attack on web giants.

Will the Prime Minister finally give up on this unwanted Internet czar campaign and back off?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, protecting Canadian content and supporting Canadian artists is a long-standing way that we do things in Canada, and have done things extraordinarily successfully. The requirement of broadcasters, whether it is television stations or radio stations, to promote Canadian artists is one of the things that have made the Canadian music scene, the Canadian teleproduction scene extremely successful in a world of increased encroachment by Hollywood.

This is something that we need to extend to the web as things go increasingly digital, and these measures, which apply to web giants and not Canadians, are the right way.

Health

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, 88,000 travellers managed to skip out on the government's border measures. That is like a city the size of Peterborough. The government does not know if they quarantined at home or if they all received ministerial exemptions. Every variant of concern spreading in this community, the dangerous ones, all of them, originated from outside of Canada.

How much longer will this pandemic be in Canada because of the government's continued failure to manage our border?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have all heard the exact same concerns from the Conservative Premier of Ontario, whom the Leader of the Opposition is continuing to support and enhance in his messages.

The reality is that I offered the Premier of Ontario last week to tell me which passengers, which travellers he wanted to limit into Ontario. Is it international students? Is it temporary foreign workers? Is it essential workers? Is it compassionate categories? These are all categories we established with the Government of Ontario. It just needs to get back to us to tell us which categories it wants to shut down. We are still waiting.

Airline Industry

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, throughout the past year, we have heard that the airline industry has been hit hard.

Workers, regional routes and the viability of airports across the country have been affected by this pandemic.

Can the Prime Minister update the House on what our government is doing to support airports, like the one in Halifax, so that they are ready when the airline industry recovers?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Halifax West for his important question and for his work.

We know that workers in the aviation sector have done critical work during this pandemic. We are proud to announce two new funding programs. Nearly $490 million will be invested in the airport critical infrastructure program, and nearly $65 million will go to the airport relief fund. These programs will help airports complete infrastructure projects, preserve jobs and maintain operations.

Canadian Heritage

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, millions of hours of Canadian content is uploaded onto the Internet by Canadians every single month.

Now the Prime Minister wants to pass a bill that would allow his Canadiana czar to determine what is Canadian enough. That czar would be able to manipulate algorithms to decide what people see when they open up their various online platforms. This czar is going to have so much power.

Can the Prime Minister tell us who, in fact, this czar will be?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, Conservatives demonstrate that they have no understanding and no appreciation of the Canadian cultural industry.

The thousands upon thousands of jobs created by Canadian productions, the work done by Canadian YouTubers, and the work done by Canadian musical artists and producers, these are the things that we are supporting in determining and enforcing web giants to recognize and support Canadian content.

Once again, Conservatives do not line themselves up with content creators or Canadians. They pick fights and look for conspiracy theories.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I guess the Prime Minister will have to censor this debate out of the record, if he says it is misinformation.

It comes down to who decides. Who decides what Canadian content will be promoted? Even the Toronto Star ran this headline today: “Canadian content creators feel left in the dark as Ottawa hits pause on proposed new internet law”. They are worried that the regulation the government is bringing in will disadvantage entrepreneurial artists who are uploading their content online.

Will the Prime Minister tell them who this information czar will be?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 aims to level the playing field between creators and web giants. It requires big foreign streamers to provide information on their revenues in Canada, 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 Canadian users. Web giants have gone unregulated for far too long, and our government has chosen to act.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister got off message and got back onto his script. I congratulate him for that.

Now he wants all Canadians to get on his script by giving an information czar over at the CRTC the power to decide what Canadians see and what they do not see. The problem here is who decides. We believe Canadians, as consumers and producers of content, should be allowed to decide for themselves. The Prime Minister believes that a government czar should decide for them. Even his minister let the cat out of the bag on that on television over the weekend.

Will the Prime Minister give us the name of this information czar?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for decades, Canadian content has been protected and promoted by rules that the CRTC enforces around radio stations playing more Canadian music so as to support the Canadian music industry, and around television stations needing to put forward Canadian content to create opportunities for Canadian actors, screenwriters, directors and crew to develop Canadian content.

With the move towards a digital world, we need to make sure that streamers, such as Netflix and YouTube, are subject to the same requirements to support Canadian content creation. That is exactly what we are moving forward with.

Infrastructure

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, public transit is at the heart of a clean, inclusive recovery that starts our economy and creates good jobs. From construction workers to transit drivers, workers on assembly lines and the small business owners supporting these projects, tens of thousands of jobs are created when we invest in public transit. Investing in public transit supports Canadians through the pandemic, positions Canada for a strong recovery, and transforms our society for a cleaner and better future.

Could the Prime Minister please update us on our government's historic commitment to public transit in the GTA?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is an important question. People want to live and work near good public transit. It takes cars off the road, helps drive Canada to net-zero emissions by 2050, and allows commuters to spend more time with their loved ones.

Yesterday we announced a historic investment for four shovel-ready public transit projects in the GTA, with the federal government contributing up to $10.4 billion. Our government knows that expanding public transit is essential to the future of the GTA. We are stepping up to the plate.

Foreign Affairs

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, violence in East Jerusalem is deeply disturbing. Demolitions, forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes and blocking access to important gathering spots are all violations of human rights and international laws.

Instead of taking action to stop or deal with the long-standing illegal occupation, the Prime Minister is effectively supporting the status quo and going as far as to sell weapons to Israel. Arming one side of the conflict is undermining the peace process and supporting illegal occupation.

Will the Prime Minister commit to stopping the sale of arms to Israel while it is violating international human rights?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are following the situation with grave concern. We call on all parties to end the violence, de-escalate tensions, protect civilians and uphold international law.

Rocket attacks against Israel are completely unacceptable, and Canada supports Israel's right to ensure its own security. Violence at Al-Aqsa is also unacceptable. Places of worship are for people to gather peacefully and should never be sites of violence. We are also gravely concerned by continued expansion of settlements and evictions.

Canada supports the two-state solution, and we urge all parties to renew their commitment to peace and security.

Oral Questions

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during question period, in response to the fourth question asked by the member for Richmond—Arthabaska, the Prime Minister said, “The Conservatives are deliberately misinforming Canadians”.

Obviously, I do not agree with that remark. I am sure the Prime Minister recognizes that he cannot say such things in the House, and I invite him to do the right thing, which is to stand up and withdraw that remark.