Debates of May 7th, 2021

Canadian Heritage

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

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 has become a real mess because of one thing: the Liberal attack on freedom of expression.

They deleted the one section that protected social media users. They have been engaging in demagoguery for two weeks now by implying that Conservatives are against culture. Now, they are trying to fix their mistakes by proposing bad amendments.

When will the Minister of Justice find the courage to rein in the Minister of Canadian Heritage, who is directly attacking Canadians' freedom of expression?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, it is pathetic to see my hon. colleague deliberately misleading the House and Canadians, because he knows full well that subsection 2(3) of the Broadcasting Act reads as follows:

This Act shall be construed and applied in a manner that is consistent with the freedom of expression and journalistic, creative and programming independence enjoyed by broadcasting undertakings.

Why is the opposition member deliberately misleading the public and the House?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I remind the hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage that the expression “deliberately misleading” is deemed unparliamentary. I would therefore ask him to withdraw that comment.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, if I understand correctly, I should ask the following question: Is the hon. opposition member misleading the House and Canadians?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I will say it in English so that I make myself more clear. I appreciate the patience of the hon. members.

The minister, in his statement, indicated that a member was “deliberately misleading”. That is essentially equal to “lying”. Our precedents in the House are clear on that, so I would ask the hon. minister to withdraw his statement and we will carry on.

The hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I would correct my statement then, Mr. Speaker, by asking whether the member opposite is trying to induce the House and Canadians into error.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I will ask the hon. minister again. He really must withdraw or rephrase his comment with respect to any reference to a member of the House “deliberately misleading”. This is the infraction and I would ask him to withdraw that specific aspect of his remarks before we carry on.

The hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will withdraw that comment.

Public Services and Procurement

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois hopes that Davie will build the polar icebreaker that the federal government announced yesterday. We have been waiting for it for years.

Of course, before we celebrate with a parade, we want details. All we have right now is a government press release, but no contract, no formal letter of intent, no start date.

The government is asking us to celebrate no questions asked, which makes it look like an election promise. When will we see a real contract for the construction of the icebreaker signed by Davie?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am not asking the Bloc Québécois to celebrate, but at least to acknowledge that this is good news for Quebec. It is good news for Davie, it is good news for all Davie suppliers, it is good news for Quebec City, Lévis and all the regions.

The Bloc Québécois does not like it when things are going well. I have said more than once that in Davie's case, the Conservatives did not want to help, the Bloc cannot help and we kept our promise.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I said that we were pleased, and I just said that we are pleased. However, as long as Davie does not have a signed contract for the icebreaker, then this is all just good intentions.

This is not the first time that Davie has been the subject of the federal government's good intentions right before an election. For example, just before the 2019 election, the Prime Minister and his minister responsible for the Quebec City region made a big show of announcing that they wanted Davie to become a partner in the shipbuilding strategy. They announced real opportunities for Davie, just as they are doing now. Two years later, Davie is still not a partner.

Good intentions are not enough. When will we see something tangible? When will we have a signed contract?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we have always been there for the Davie shipyard. We have always believed in the Davie shipyard. We gave Davie over $2 billion in contracts.

We invited Davie to qualify to become the third shipyard, and it is in the process of doing that. Things are going well. It should quickly achieve the status of third shipyard.

I do not understand why the Bloc Québécois is unable to recognize good news when it sees it. Perhaps they are refusing to see it because it is in fact good news.

Once again, the Conservatives did nothing for Davie and the Bloc Québécois cannot do anything for Davie, but we are doing the right thing for Davie.

Canadian Heritage

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Bill C-10 has outraged millions of Canadians. The minister responded by calling those Canadians “extremists.” Now we see him stooping to calling Conservatives “liars.”

Last night the Liberals confessed to this mistake with a new amendment to fix a flawed piece of legislation, but already experts have said the amendment does not work.

Why is the minister refusing to ask the justice minister if his bill is even constitutional?

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I will go back to the hon. member for Parry Sound—Muskoka. In the same vein, that use of language in the House is considered unparliamentary. I am going to go back to him and ask him to rephrase his question, and then we will carry on from there.

The hon. member for Parry Sound—Muskoka.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my apologies.

The Liberal Bill C-10 has outraged millions of Canadians. The minister responded by calling those Canadians who are outraged “extremists.” Last night, the Liberals confessed to their mistake with an amendment to fix this flawed piece of legislation, yet experts are already saying the amendment does not work.

Why is the minister betraying Canadians and refusing to simply ask the justice minister if his bill, which he has changed, is even constitutional?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a note that I received on social media from Mark, an art enthusiast from Newfoundland. He said:

Regarding the battle with the web giants, I just want to thank you for carrying on with the most pressing concerns of our times. It cannot be overstated the need for action, and history will treat kindly those who step forward to support this.

This is how the artistic community feels about Bill C-10 throughout Canada.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals’ November version of Bill C-10 contained an exemption for user-generated content. That exemption has been removed, opening the door for the CRTC to regulate content uploaded to social media by any Canadian.

Last week, the Minister of Canadian Heritage said the exemption was “not necessary”, but experts warn the amended bill now violates the charter. Constituents in my riding are demanding to know why the Liberal government wants to take away their freedom of expression.

Can the minister explain why he removed the safeguard clause?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. member opposite to actually read Bill C-10, where in section 2(3) it says, “This Act shall be construed and applied in a manner that is consistent with the freedom of expression and journalistic, creative and programming independence enjoyed by broadcasting undertakings.”

I expect the committee will be able to move forward on Bill C-10 without any further interference by the Conservative Party of Canada.

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 should be about helping Canadian artists and broadcasters succeed among web giants and foreign competitors. Liberals keep accusing Conservatives of not caring about Canadian content, but they keep jeopardizing the prosperity of artists to leverage their own political agenda and censor individual Canadians. As an artist myself, I am appalled. If the Liberals truly cared so much about artists, they would just fix the bill, and Canadians would not be so afraid of Bill C-10.

When will the minister stop flip-flopping and make it crystal clear to Canadians that democracy still has a place in Canada's government?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to read the list of supporting organizations throughout the country that have come out in support of Bill C-10: the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Professional Music Publishers' Association, the Canadian Media Producers Association, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of Canada, La Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture, SOCAN, la Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, the Canadian Federation of Musicians and APTN.

There is also the Union des artistes, the Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec, the Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Order. The hon. member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel.

Statistics Canada

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this week, Canadians, including my constituents in Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, were delighted to open their mailboxes and find invitations to participate in the 2021 census. The government uses the census to shape the services it provides to Canadians, develop policies and build the public infrastructure that has a direct impact on Canadians' daily lives.

Could the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry tell the House how the census helps the government design and improve public policy?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question.

Unlike Stephen Harper's Conservatives, our government understands that the important decisions that affect our families, neighbourhoods and businesses need to be based on world-class data and on major socio-economic trends.

The census is a unique opportunity to help our communities and our economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. I urge all Canadians to fill in their census forms as quickly as possible.

Canadian Heritage

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage claims Bill C-10 is only about regulating web giants and protecting the interests of Canadian artists and musicians. If that is not fake news, then the response Canadians are demanding from him is simple. He should apologize and restore the full clause protecting their right to freedom of expression in the public square of social media. Constituents in my riding see him, the Prime Minister and the Liberal government as extremists on this issue.

Is he ready to prove them otherwise?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for the question, as it will give me an opportunity to continue listing the organizations that have come out in support of Bill C-10 in the past few weeks. I will continue.

On that list are the Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec, the Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques, the Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec, the Guilde des musiciens et des musiciennes du Québec, the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois, the Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma, the Travailleuses et travailleurs regroupés des arts, de la culture et de l'événementiel, ADISQ, the Association des réalisateurs—