Debates of June 9th, 2021

Justice

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister needs to stop conflating issues. In the current context, it is quite simply irresponsible to blame Bill 21 for the absolutely horrific events that have recently taken place.

We have a responsibility to pull together, but the Prime Minister and politicians from other parties want to point fingers. That is not how we show solidarity. That is not how we will heal our wounds. That is not how we become closer. Will the Prime Minister retract his comments?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in the wake of the terrible attack in London, much like the one at the mosque in Sainte-Foy, it is important to listen to the Muslim community in Quebec, London and elsewhere, to understand its worries and concerns.

If we truly want to become closer, I urge the Bloc Québécois to listen to members of the Muslim community, who have expressed concerns about what they are experiencing right now in Quebec.

Housing

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government loves to announce it is spending billions of dollars on housing, but we are years into the national housing strategy and it has nothing to show for it, except for higher prices and a market that is more and more out of reach for Canadians.

Could the Prime Minister please explain why he is intent on destroying the hopes and dreams of Canadians and new immigrants who just want to own a home?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Conservatives never let facts get in the way of a good political attack.

It is a fact, as new numbers show, that the national housing strategy is helping over 200,000 families get the housing they need by building new homes, by repairing existing ones and by helping with costs. Since 2015, our government has supported the creation of nearly 100,000 new units and repaired over 300,000 more across housing programs.

However, we are not stopping there. Budget 2021, which the Conservatives voted against, includes funding for the construction, repair and support of 35,000 affordable housing units.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will take no lessons from a Prime Minister who is squeezing out a generation from home ownership under his watch.

The HUMA report “Indigenous Housing: The Direction Home” was tabled on May 26. Will the government persist in a paternalistic Ottawa-knows-best approach, or will the government commit to implementing and supporting a “for indigenous, by indigenous” approach to empower indigenous Canadians with the autonomy to address their own unique housing needs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we have been doing for a number of years, working directly with indigenous leadership and indigenous communities on meeting specific housing needs. That is something we recognize. We have long recognized the need for leadership from the federal government. Unfortunately, the Conservatives, when they were in government, refused any role for the federal government on housing.

We have stepped up, not just in working with indigenous communities on housing, but in working with provinces and municipalities to fix the challenges around housing.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the least the House could do is give indigenous Canadians a date when they can expect that FIBI process.

Under the government, housing has never been less affordable. Both the Prime Minister and the finance minister acknowledge we have a housing supply crisis.

Will the government take concrete action to secure Canada's future, support the Conservative motion and address the housing supply challenges facing Canada right now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is a good thing the Conservative Party is finally noticing that the federal government does have a role to play in housing. However, over the past number of years, we have not waited for the Conservatives. We have moved forward ourselves, building new affordable units through programs like the rapid housing initiative, expanding the first-time home buyer incentive, introducing Canada's first national tax on vacant property owned by non-resident non-Canadians, working to maintain the stability of the market, making the largest public transit investment in Canadian history and more.

We will continue to work on housing. We will continue to hope that the Conservatives will eventually support our initiatives.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Mr. Speaker, affordable housing is a major concern for the constituents of Vimy.

Whether we are talking about a young person who has moved to a new city for school or a couple looking to start a family, finding a safe and affordable place to live is critical to achieving one's dreams. This is an important goal that we all need to work toward.

Could the Prime Minister provide an update on what the government is doing to make affordable housing accessible to all Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Vimy for her hard work and for this important question.

We introduced the first-ever national housing strategy, a 10-year, $70-billion plan that will provide housing for hundreds of thousands of Canadians and eliminate chronic homelessness.

Budget 2021 builds on this investment with an additional $2.5 billion to ensure Canadians have the housing they need. We will continue to invest in affordable housing to make it a reality for everyone.

Public Safety

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians watching question period today will see one thing: It is not answer period when it is the Prime Minister.

The Winnipeg lab security breach could be the largest security breach in our history and we have questions. Why did we send virus samples to Wuhan? Why was access given to scientists with deep ties to the Chinese military? Why did the director of the Winnipeg lab resign shortly into the pandemic? There is a cover-up on all of these simple questions that Canadians deserve an answer to.

The documents are not being shared with the House of Commons, defying an order. Did the government share those documents with the media or any outside sources?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, questions of national security deserve a level of oversight and parliamentarians deserve to be able to scrutinize and ensure that every government is doing what it needs to do to keep Canadians safe.

That is why we created the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians to allow parliamentarians from every party to weigh in on issues of national security, with the appropriate security clearances. The health minister has made available to that committee unredacted documents, and we hope they will go through those documents and get answers to the questions they have.

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

Mr. Speaker, when two scientists were marched out and fired from our top secret virus lab in Winnipeg, the government first said it was a personnel issue. Then it said it was a national security issue. Today the Prime Minister read some remarks about foreign espionage in relation to our questions on the Winnipeg lab.

Will the Prime Minister elaborate on his answer today? Will he confirm that the security breach at our Winnipeg lab was related to espionage from China?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I sat in opposition for many years watching the Conservative government not answer any questions on national security under the guise of protecting Canadians and national security. That is why one of the commitments we made in the election of 2015 was to create an oversight body of parliamentarians that would have the clearances necessary to dig into national security questions so that parliamentarians could be reassured and assured that government was doing things right.

We did that. We created the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

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

Mr. Speaker, if he keeps covering up the security breach with respect to the Winnipeg lab in the midst of the worst pandemic this globe has ever known, the Prime Minister will be sitting in the opposition benches once again.

I do not want to hear about a committee that is secret, that reports to him, that he controls and that does not report to the House of Commons. Canadians deserve answers to why there was the most massive security breach in our history at the lab in Winnipeg. It was so severe that the director of the lab resigned, and the Prime Minister is covering up our questions.

He mentioned espionage today. Will he acknowledge espionage was involved in the Winnipeg lab incident?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows well that it is important to always have the national security of Canadians top of mind as a government. We also need mechanisms whereby parliamentarians can scrutinize and oversee the work that our national security agencies do. That is why we created the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians to oversee our national security agencies. It has access to all documents and all things to be able to follow-up and ensure that everything is being done right.

Health

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in my community, diabetes affects one in six Bramptonians, and across the country there are 11 million Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes. They are at risk of serious complications such as heart and kidney disease, blindness, amputation and many others. They have been hit hard by this pandemic.

As Canada recognizes the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, could the Prime Minister tell us what the government is doing to help people living with diabetes?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Brampton South for her unwavering advocacy on behalf of Canadians living with diabetes.

We recognize the impact that diabetes has had on the health of Canadians and their families. That is why, in budget 2021, we are investing $35 million to develop a national framework for diabetes to help Canadians get access to prevention and care. This will build on the important legislation put forward by the member in Bill C-237.

We will keep working to support diabetes prevention and care for all Canadians.

Public Safety

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this question is directed to the Prime Minister.

We are still reeling from the devastating and horrible loss in London. We know that hate-motivated crimes against Muslims in Canada have been perpetrated by people who have been radicalized by online hate: the attack in Quebec, the killing in Toronto and now this horrible and heinous attack in London, which was perpetrated by hate.

We know that online hate is very powerful in radicalizing people. The Liberal government has promised to bring in legislation. We need that legislation.

Where is the legislation to tackle online hate so that we can protect the Muslim community?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, over the course of this pandemic, we have seen an unfortunate rise in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Asian hatred and anti-Black racism. We have seen, unfortunately, during this pandemic, a spike in something that we have seen increase over the past number of years as well.

There is no question of the role the Internet plays in the radicalization to violence and in increasing hate. That is why, as a government, we signed on to the Christchurch Call to Action, why we have continued to move forward on protecting Canadians from online hate and why we will continue to do exactly that.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

We have a point of order.

The hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.

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

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I think you will find the unanimous consent of the House for the following motion: That the House recognize that the police brutality we are witnessing in Colombia constitutes a flagrant violation of the rights and freedoms of the Colombian people and firmly condemn the actions of the police forces and the Colombian government, which is preventing its people from protesting freely.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in my question to the Prime Minister, I referenced a document, “Taking Action Against Systemic Racism and Religious Discrimination Including Islamophobia”, a report from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. I have copies of the recommendations, in both official languages. If you seek it, I hope there would be consent for me to re-table these documents, given the events that have taken place over the last number of days.