Debates of Oct. 18th, 2022

Natural Resources

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, here is a fact for us: 15 LNG projects were proposed when the Prime Minister took office. Zero are completed. Even the one that we approved in our final days in office, he has still failed to bring to completion.

Now, after the Prime Minister stood in the way of LNG Quebec and east coast LNG projects, Europe is totally dependent on Putin to keep the heat on this coming winter, funding that war. What has the government contributed? It has sent Putin back his turbines to help him pump his gas.

Why are the Liberals funding Putin's war instead of paycheques for Canadians?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, let me just say that a fact is a fact. The projects that he is talking about were assessed under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, in which Stephen Harper took out all of the environmental protections. One of the big reasons why these projects did not proceed is because they completely gutted the environmental assessment process.

We have put in place better rules to ensure that good projects are going to get built in this country, and we are certainly moving in that direction.

Taxation

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the winter months are coming across the country and Canadians are hesitating to turn on the heat. Why? Because they are already paying more for gas. They are already paying more for groceries, Now, thanks to the Prime Minister, they are paying more for home heating, in fact, in some cases, 300% more.

Will the Prime Minister cancel his plans to triple the taxes on gas, groceries and home heating?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that those members would talk about energy poverty, because when they were in power, the first thing they did was cut energy efficiency projects for the lowest-income Canadians. Hundreds of people were laid off. That is the first thing they did when they came into power in 2006.

Then what did the Conservatives do? They eliminated subsidies to help Canadians buy electric vehicles. Then what did they do? They limited support for renewable energy projects. If there is energy poverty in the country, it is because the Conservative Party was in power for 10 years.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Some of the comments have not been very parliamentary. I want to remind hon. members about that.

The hon. member for Edmonton Riverbend has the floor.

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, under the Prime Minister, people cannot afford to heat, eat and live. Does he not realize almost half of Canadians are $200 away from insolvency? A recent report now indicates that families spend more on income taxes, at 43%, than they do on basic commodities, at 35.7%. That means that the young couple that emailed me from my riding, James and Debbie, cannot afford to put their little girl into skating.

Will the Prime Minister cancel his plans to “just in” increase their taxes?

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

Mr. Speaker, we understand Canadians are struggling with the cost of living. That is why we have a plan to double the GST tax credit. I am really glad all members of the House, including the members opposite, are supporting that plan and Canadian families will be getting nearly $500 in inflation relief soon.

Now it is time to get together and support the rental payments and support dental care for kids under 12. By the way, I wish the members opposite would support, for Edmonton families, our great day care plan, which is lowering the day care cost for that family by 50% this year.

Climate Change

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want bold climate action and workers want to know they will have well-paying jobs for the future, but the Liberals have failed to deliver. Instead, they are giving billions of dollars to rich oil and gas companies, while workers and communities struggle.

Unions, environmental organizations and workers have been calling for a clear path forward, an industrial strategy and investments in good, clean jobs. The global economy is already moving toward a clean energy future, and Canada is failing to keep up.

My question is simple. Why is the Liberal government leaving Canadian workers behind?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, certainly, I agree with the hon. member that we do need to have a proactive economic strategy that ensures Canada seizes the opportunities that will be created through a low-carbon transition. That is why we brought forward a critical minerals strategy, a hydrogen strategy. That is why we are working on regional energy and resource tables with most of the provinces and territories, and eventually all of them.

Certainly, those are the conversations the hon. member and I have been having, as we have actually talked about a number of these issues. I certainly look forward to continuing that work going forward.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Alberta workers have delivered a very clear message to Ottawa today that the energy transition is happening and they need the Prime Minister to show up. We see that Biden is transforming the American economy with well-paying union jobs, yet the Prime Minister has missed every climate target he has set. Clean energy represents a $61-billion opportunity in Alberta.

We know the Alberta Conservatives would throw workers under the bus just out of ideological spite, but my question is for the Prime Minister. Is he willing to work with the Alberta Federation of Labour on establishing its plan for a clean energy transformation?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with labour across the country. In fact, we are going to be the first country in the world to be producing green steel, green aluminum, and we are working on green batteries.

We do not need to look back very much. Just look at the announcement we made with Rio Tinto recently. While it is going to be reducing its emissions, the site itself will be the largest site in the world to be producing titanium to be on the global market. Just recently, we broke ground on the Dofasco plant in Hamilton.

We are going to be producing green steel that is going to be part of the car of the future. The country is on the way to win at every step of the way.

National Defence

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as the world grows darker, we are stronger together. Last week, the Minister of National Defence participated in a meeting of NATO defence ministers and visited Poland to address key challenges to our collective security, including increasing our support for our Ukrainian partners.

Could the minister tell the House how Canada continues to step up and support NATO, as well as the brave Ukrainian military fighting back against Putin’s brutal and reprehensible attacks?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, last week, in Poland, I signed a memorandum of understanding, strengthening the defence relationship with Poland, and committed 40 Canadian Armed Forces engineers to help train Ukrainians. Then at NATO, I announced another tranche of military aid for Ukraine, including cameras for drones, satellite services, 155 millimetre ammunition and additional aid.

We will stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in the short and long term.

Public Services and Procurement

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Liberal members of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics worked very hard to convince us that Mr. Guay, who received $28 million for his land in Lacolle, had never met with any MPs from their party to talk about those contracts.

However, we know that Mr. Guay attended at least four cocktail party fundraisers for the Liberal member for Châteauguay—Lacolle.

Will the Prime Minister admit that, contrary to the testimony in committee, the member met with Pierre Guay on several occasions?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister said, the rental agreement was negotiated based on fair market value to arrive at a competitive price.

In their testimony yesterday, the public servants and Mr. Guay made it clear that Mr. Guay was approached by public servants to negotiate a lease and that no public office holder was involved in the negotiations for this lease.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what is clear is that Mr. Guay was paid $28 million for contracts awarded without tenders.

In committee, the Liberals did everything they could to suggest there was never any contact with elected members. However, Mr. Guay is known to have attended at least four cocktail party fundraisers with the Liberal member for Châteauguay—Lacolle.

Is there a conflict of interest, yes or no? Could land have been leased from someone who is not a Liberal donor?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, again, the contract award has been clearly revealed by our department. The government has been delivering open and fair procurement processes, while obtaining the best value for Canadians in all that our government is contracting in terms of the needs during the Roxham Road situation.

Diversity and Inclusion

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for over a month, the Prime Minister's Office knew the public rantings of a known anti-Semite and then continued to fund him until he was caught. This is not incompetence, it is purposeful and condones the very real and growing anti-Semitism.

The Prime Minister, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion knew. They knew for a month and they did nothing. It is hard to imagine a month of silence of hate-fuelled bigotry against any other group in our country.

Who else knew and why is no one on the other side being held accountable for promoting hate with Canadian tax dollars?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important question. Anti-Semitism, hate and racism have no place in our society. I have said this before and I will say again that the anti-Semitic, violent, racist statements made by this individual and the organization are reprehensible and vile. The funding to this organization has been cut.

Our government will never tolerate this hate, and we are implementing new measures to make this never happens again.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it took two days to cut funding to Hockey Canada and it took one week to cut funding to the WE scandal.

The Liberals condemn it now because they got caught, because the media asked them, because they could not hide it any more. It took a month to do and say nothing about a racist anti-racism consultant they knew spewed public hatred. They continued to fund him for a month.

Who is getting fired for this?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion]

Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely no doubt that the comments made by this individual and this organization are absolutely appalling. We condemn the anti-Semitism, racism and hatred that he has spread over a number of years.

I want to thank my colleague, the member of Parliament for Mount Royal, for bringing this individual to our attention. When this issue was raised, we immediately asked the department to confirm the project funding details and inform us about the procedural next steps. After the review, we followed the process in place, cut the funding to this organization and demanded the money back.

Public Safety

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

Mr. Speaker, nearly nine months ago, convoys of transport trucks were heading to Ottawa, announcing their plans to lay siege to the city.

We learned yesterday that hotel operators knew they were coming. They warned the City of Ottawa that, in the middle of the pandemic, 15,000 people were trying to book every hotel room in the city for three months. Ultimately, only the federal government did not see the siege coming.

When the government says that it was in constant communication with the City of Ottawa before the trucks arrived, what were they talking about, if not this? Were they exchanging recipes?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, we invoked the Emergencies Act because it was an unprecedented situation. Witnesses testifying at the commission have demonstrated that people's lives were disrupted, including families and young people who needed cancer treatments and care for other very serious illnesses.

In an effort to manage the situation, we first sent RCMP officers to help the City of Ottawa, and now we are going to work with the judge to learn from the experience.

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

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that they did not manage the crisis. The total lack of leadership on the part of this government is telling. That is what the mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, showed the commission today.

He personally spoke with the Prime Minister on January 31, day three of the crisis, to ask for police reinforcements. He then spoke with the Minister of Public Safety on February 3. It took three more weeks for Ottawa to take action, three weeks. If the situation was so urgent that the Emergencies Act needed to be invoked, then why did it take three weeks to deploy police officers? It is urgent, but there is no rush?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect for my colleague, the timeline is very clear.

From day one of the illegal blockade, we managed the situation by providing the resources, the RCMP officers and all the tools that the police needed. Now we are going to co-operate with the commission to learn from the experience. It is a very serious situation.

We invoked the Emergencies Act because it was necessary, and it worked very well on the ground.