Debates of Dec. 8th, 2022

Firearms

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by acknowledging the good work the hon. member does on the public safety committee and the perspective he brings forward.

We will not be banning any guns that are commonly used for hunting. We spent two hours at committee today, getting very technical answers on what is included in the bill and the types of guns that are being considered under this legislation. I look forward to working with the hon. member, and in fact all members of the House, to make sure we get this legislation right.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that answer is not good enough for the people of northwestern B.C. or people across rural Canada. We are not going to clean up the mess the Liberals have made of this bill, and people feel hoodwinked by these last-minute amendments.

This was meant to be a bill about limiting handguns and protecting victims of domestic violence, but now the Liberals are going after the tools that my neighbours use for hunting, predator control and backcountry safety. When is the Prime Minister going to realize the mistake he has made, fix this mess and back up the bus?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the important role that committees have is exactly what they are doing right now. We have been very clear from the beginning that the bill's intention is to remove assault-style weapons from our streets and handguns that are involved in terrible tragedies. There is the opportunity—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I will let the government House leader start from the top, please.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in many different moments in time, when we are dealing with contentious legislation, we have an opportunity to work on our differences and find solutions. I would suggest in this instance, when we are talking about the type of weapons that are involved in terrible tragedies, tragedies like the one unfortunately we commemorated and memorialized just a couple of days ago with Polytechnique, our square focus must be on keeping our streets safe and being able to look into the eyes of victims, and making sure we are removing those guns that are offending. What we have said, in no uncertain terms, is that those guns used for hunting are ones we want to make sure are not included.

Child Care

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Mr. Speaker, we know how important child care is to families from coast to coast to coast. Families in my province of New Brunswick are already seeing the benefits of the significant investments Canada and the province are making. I was glad to see the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development introduce legislation earlier today to enshrine the principles of a Canada-wide early learning and child care system into federal law.

Could she please update the House on this important initiative?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, today is a historic day. This morning I introduced Bill C-35, an act respecting early learning and child care in Canada. Our child care plan is working. Fees are being reduced across the country, new spaces are being built and women are getting back to work. This legislation matters.

Let me remind the House that the leader of the Conservatives boasted in 2015 that his government had proudly cancelled Liberal child care agreements, and in the last election, every Conservative candidate ran on a promise to cancel affordable child care for Canadians. We are not going to let that happen. On this side, we are going to support children, families, women and our economy.

Public Services and Procurement

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals recklessly awarded a contract to the subsidiary of a Beijing-controlled company to provide counterespionage technology, a company that literally faces 21 espionage charges and has been blacklisted from the U.S. as a national security threat.

The Liberals literally handed the keys of our national security over to Beijing. How could they be so incompetent?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister made very clear today, and the Minister of Public Safety and I yesterday, we also share these concerns around this contract that the RCMP had with Sinclair Technologies. The member will have heard that contract has been suspended.

As the central purchasing agent for the Government of Canada, Public Services and Procurement will look very closely at this. I have instructed my officials to examine this issue. We are going to look at our procedures and our processes with the greatest intensity to ensure our security of our infrastructure.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Public Safety repeatedly claimed that vigorous security processes were in place, except that is not true. Government officials are on record saying that security issues were not considered when this contract was awarded, a contract that affects our national security directly.

When will the Liberals finally accept responsibility for this complete failure on their part to protect our national security?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more important than safeguarding our democracy. The RCMP has confirmed that the contract with Sinclair Technologies has been suspended and that it is conducting further reviews to ensure the integrity of our infrastructure is in place.

Given the current geopolitical dynamics, we are taking all actions to combat foreign interference.

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

Mr. Speaker, that is something. The Liberal government gave access to the RCMP's secured communications system to a company held by Beijing while the RCMP confirmed that it was investigating Beijing's interference into our election. There was no security check nor any questions about the company that the RCMP is going to entrust its secret codes to for its internal communications. Our American neighbours have known about this for a long time and that company was on their blacklist.

Instead of taking responsibility, as usual the Prime Minister is blaming others. Why is the Prime Minister always so slow and so spineless every time he needs to stand up to Beijing?

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

Mr. Speaker, our priority was and remains protecting the integrity of Canada's contracting system.

As soon as threats are identified, we take action.

I gave our officials instructions to review the process in place for contracts and to target areas that can be improved.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have a serious problem in Canada.

Judging by the Liberals' answers, the media is the Prime Minister's primary source of information on Beijing's interference.

Whether it is a network of candidates funded by China or a company held by the Chinese communist regime getting a contract to protect the RCMP's communications, every time the Prime Minister denies having been informed by his intelligence experts.

Either the Prime Minister has his eyes closed or he does not want to know; or he knows, but is voluntarily hiding the information.

Which answer are we going to get today?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

I think we all agree, as parliamentarians and as Canadians, that this contract should never have been signed. We all agree that national security is everyone's responsibility.

We on this side of the House have always taken steps to deal with foreign interference. My hon. colleague will recall that just a few months ago we blocked three transactions, precisely to protect critical minerals in this country.

When it comes to national security, we will always be there to defend the interests of Canadians.

Post-Secondary Education

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly passed a unanimous motion on academic freedom:

THAT [the National Assembly] reiterate that promoting greater representation of under-represented target groups must always happen in a context of equal qualifications;

THAT it denounce the interference of the federal government, which funds research chair programs according to certain criteria that do not reflect the specificity of Quebec.

Instead of imposing its ideological agenda, why will Ottawa not let Quebec manage research chairs?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that important question.

As he knows, Canada's research councils are independent from government. Canadians and Quebeckers tuning in today should know that our government has invested more in science than any other government, nearly $16 billion since coming to power.

I think that is the right thing to do because we all agree that the best decisions are the ones based on facts and science.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is not about money, it is about criteria.

The research chair funding criteria no longer have anything to do with research. The nature of the research itself no longer counts. What counts is the nature of the researcher, assessed against the following criteria: skin colour, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation and disability. The last person anyone wants as a researcher is an average white man.

We agree that all kinds of people should be better represented. Among equally qualified applicants, under-represented minorities should get priority.

How is excluding a group of people consistent with a policy of inclusion?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

We all agree on inclusion and diversity. That is certainly the directive that the research councils have been given. As my hon. colleague well knows, the criteria are determined by the research councils.

What we are doing as the government is investing in science and in research chairs.

I am sure that, as members of the House, we all want to foster diversity and inclusion through science and society in general.

COVID-19 Emergency Response

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General has again exposed the incompetence of the government, saying $32 billion were wasted paying COVID cash to prisoners, the deceased, people living overseas and non-eligible corporations. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has found more waste—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am hearing a lot of rumbling and people talking to each other.

I will ask the hon. member for Edmonton West to start over.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General has again exposed the incompetence of the government, saying $32 billion were wasted paying COVID cash to low-income prisoners, low-income deceased, people living overseas and non-eligible corporations. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has found $4 billion more wasted, with people being sent money who will actually earn more income than the program will allow them to qualify.

Will the Liberal government end its wasteful inflationary spending so Canadians can afford to put food on their tables and heat their houses?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, the entire House approved an approach to the COVID benefits that was quick, that got money into the hands of Canadians quickly, that was based on attestation and that ensured there would be post-payment verification. We are going through that process now in a responsible and compassionate way. As the work is ongoing, I can assure the House that we will ensure we follow up with everything.