Debates of Dec. 2nd, 2022

Persons with Disabilities

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment]

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Richmond Hill for his tireless work on behalf of all persons with disabilities and all constituents.

In October we launched the first-ever disability inclusion action plan, a road map for our country to remove barriers by focusing on financial security, employment, accessible and inclusive communities and a modern approach to disability. With Bill C-22, we have the framework legislation in place to create the groundbreaking Canada disability benefit.

Tomorrow, today and every day, let us celebrate the accomplishments of persons with disabilities as we work together to build a more inclusive and more accessible Canada.

Democratic Institutions

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister has repeatedly cited national security as a pretext to avoid answering basic questions about Beijing's election interference. This is exactly the opposite of the advice he received from CSIS, which said that the government's policy in combatting foreign interference should be grounded in transparency and sunlight and that foreign interference should be exposed to the public.

Why does the Prime Minister refuse to follow the advice of CSIS?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Madam Speaker, the importance of our national security and protecting our democracies should be something every single Canadian takes seriously.

While the Conservatives continue to play politics with our national security, serious governments like ours take national security seriously. All of the information that Conservatives want would be available. All we are asking is that it be treated in a way that protects our national security and ensures that our adversaries do not get access to the very information they would try to use to undermine our democracy.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Prime Minister very conveniently and very specifically claims he was not briefed about candidates receiving money from China, except that is not what is at issue. What is at issue is a vast campaign of election interference by Beijing involving 11 candidates.

Was the Prime Minister briefed about that, yes or no?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Madam Speaker, as I said, the protection of our democracy is paramount, but with that, protecting our democracy also means respecting it.

Yesterday, the member opposite, when I rose in this place, continually screamed for me to sit down, yet he did not have that same emotional outburst when the Minister of Public Safety was answering that question. I have some advice for the members opposite. If they support the protection of democracy—

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I don't need any advice from you, Jennifer. Just answer the question.

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

—they might want to start by respecting the women who have been democratically elected in this place.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The response from the member for St. Albert—Edmonton while the parliamentary secretary was speaking is also not acceptable. She was answering the question and she does not need to be told that she needs to sit down.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I will correct the last point, but what was happening is unacceptable.

The hon. member for Barrie—Innisfil.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Wow.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Lethbridge is out of order.

The hon. member for Barrie—Innisfil.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Madam Speaker, like a game of dodge ball, the Prime Minister has become very deft at the five Ds of question period: dodge, deny, deflect, deceive and drivel. The problem is that when it comes to China's interference in our Canadian elections, it is not a game, because it is serious business. It has been widely reported that the Prime Minister received specific credible information on election interference in Canada, and he has done nothing about it.

Let us try again. Has the Prime Minister received any briefings or memos, verbal or written, specific to foreign interference in Canadian elections by the Chinese Communist government, yes or no?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Madam Speaker, I assure my colleague that we take all allegations of foreign interference very seriously. That is why we struck independent non-partisan professional panels to look at these allegations, which subsequently confirmed the results of the elections in 2019 and 2021 were both free and fair. More importantly, we are going to continue to do everything to protect our democratic institutions, including our elections, so that Canadians can have their voices represented in this chamber, including my hon. colleague, the parliamentary secretary for intergovernmental affairs, who does stellar work for her riding and on this issue.

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

Madam Speaker, the best way to protect democracy is to follow the guidelines of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS. I have in my hands several briefings for the Prime Minister from CSIS that say, “Canada could make good use of an open and transparent policy that would draw attention to the fact that [foreign interference] must be made public”.

The question is simple: Why is the Prime Minister afraid of following his national security agency's guidelines and telling Canadians the truth? There is nothing partisan about this. It comes from CSIS.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Madam Speaker, I am very proud of the work that the government has accomplished under the leadership of the Prime Minister. We have augmented the values of transparency with the creation of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. These are policy choices the Conservatives never made that reflect our dedication to finding ways to protect our democratic institutions in a transparent fashion.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

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

Madam Speaker, a new record has been set at Roxham Road, where 3,901 people crossed into Canada in October. All of those people could be entering Canada with dignity at the border crossings if Canada would suspend the safe third country agreement, but the federal government's inaction forces them to cross at Roxham Road, where they are welcomed by the RCMP. In fact, in committee, RCMP Superintendent Martin Roach said that there are 120 officers to patrol the Quebec border but that 90% of them are stuck managing the situation at Roxham Road.

Does the minister not think that it would be much more useful for those officers to be fighting gun trafficking rather than managing the situation at Roxham Road?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Madam Speaker, let me be very clear. Closing Roxham Road or suspending the safe third country agreement will not solve the main problem. As the member opposite knows, Canada shares the longest demilitarized border in the world. Roxham Road enables public servants to collect ID from asylum seekers and prevent dangerous crossings. What we need to do is modernize the agreement. That is what we are doing.

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

Madam Speaker, the Liberals have been saying that for four years now, but 90% of the RCMP is stuck at Roxham Road. In theory, this should be bad news for the human smugglers who abuse refugee claimants, but no, the RCMP has not been able to lay a single charge, not one. Why not? Because the smugglers are committing their crimes in the United States, and the Americans are not co‑operating. The minister keeps saying that he has been negotiating with the Americans for four years, yet for four years there has been nothing on the table. Not only has the agreement not been suspended, there is not even any police co‑operation.

When is the minister going to show some backbone, stand up and be taken seriously by the Americans?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Madam Speaker, the member opposite needs to understand that the migrant crisis is a challenge not only in Canada, but also around the world. That is why we have to work with the international community to find long-term solutions. That is why we have to uphold our international obligations with respect to refugees. We on this side of the House will continue to work with all our partners instead of trying to pick fights.

The Economy

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Speaker, Edmonton Manning residents are asking why everything seems to be broken in Canada. They say government mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled record inflation. It gave $54 million for the useless ArriveCan app, $237 million to a former Liberal MP for ventilators that sit in a warehouse collecting dust and a billion dollars in wage subsidy cheques to corporations that pay out corporate dividends.

When will the Liberal government end its useless spending, which is increasing inflation and which costs every Canadian $3,500 a year?

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the President of the Treasury Board]

Madam Speaker, one thing that is very useful to families in Alberta is our child care agreement with the province. This agreement will save Alberta families over $5,610 right away. When the program grows, they will save an average of $8,600 per child.

That is real money and real support to help Albertans put food on the table.

Carbon Pricing

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Madam Speaker, people certainly will need help putting food on the table, because food bank use continues to climb. However, the Liberals do not seem to care too much about that.

The food banks in Beauce can barely keep up with the growing demand. Of the 12,500 requests for food assistance processed every month through their network of organizations, one-third are for children.

The government is completely out of touch. Its plan for the environment does nothing but increase taxes.

When will the NDP-Liberal coalition get its hands out of Canadians' pockets and cancel the tax hikes?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Madam Speaker, my colleague began his question by talking about the growing number of Canadians going to food banks, but oddly enough, he ended with the carbon tax and our price on pollution.

Yes, we are here to help Canadians make ends meet. Less than 10 days ago, we invested an additional $400 million to help Canada's non-profit organizations.

The policies we have put in place have helped lift 450,000 children out of poverty.

The Economy

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Madam Speaker, when the Liberal government was first elected, the Prime Minister declared, “Canada is back.” Unfortunately, it did not say what it was bringing back, namely deficit spending, inflation, economic slowdown and government boondoggles, such as the $54-million arrive scam app, a $237-million patronage contract for ventilators and the half-billion dollar WE scandal.

When will the government stop its inflationary spending and start putting the economy back on the road to recovery?