Debates of Feb. 10th, 2022

COVID-19 Protests

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

Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely prepared to talk with the other parties. We are holding discussions on the current situation every day, and we will try to work with each party.

Allow me to make it clear to the Conservative Party that these protests are unlawful and it is time for them to stop. We must work together to put an end to the protests going on outside.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, “we must work together”. The last time I checked, the government House leader is not the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility.

The Liberals seem to be having fun. Have they started to think about how they will respond on Monday after a third weekend of siege and blockades affecting airport traffic and emergency communications? Have they thought about this or are they still having too much fun?

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

Mr. Speaker, every day for the past two weeks, the Conservative Party has supported the illegal protests happening outside. The Conservative Party has been taking pictures with protesters and bringing them coffee and other things. This is unacceptable.

We are here every day trying to reduce tensions and find a solution. We need to set aside partisan games. It is time for the protesters to leave Ottawa so that life can get back to normal.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the blockade at the Ambassador Bridge, the siege of Parliament Hill, threats at the Ottawa airport and border blockades in Alberta and Manitoba are not isolated incidents. It is not up to any particular city or province to deal with this. They are targeting Canada.

That is why the Prime Minister of Canada needs to take the lead. We are witnessing an organized occupation by experts in police and military tactics targeting the federal government. When will the government find a way to deal with the crisis happening right before its very eyes?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

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

From the start, we have been supporting the City of Ottawa and the communities of Coutts and Windsor by offering them additional resources. A number of officers were deployed in Ottawa, Windsor and Alberta to put an end to the convoys. It is time for the members of those convoys to leave and go home in order to end this crisis.

Foreign Affairs

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Russia supplies almost half of Europe's gas. President Putin has threatened to cut off those gas supplies if Europe comes to Ukraine's defence. People will freeze. Industry will shutter. Europe's economy will grind to a halt.

President Biden has been rallying natural gas producing countries around the world to secure additional supplies in the event that happens. Can the government explain to the House why Canada, the world's fifth-largest natural gas producer, cannot export liquefied natural gas from our east coast to assist our European allies?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, conversations with our European allies and America are happening. Of course, we are coordinating our response and we know that, in the event of any further invasion of Ukraine by Russia, we will make sure Russia is met with severe sanctions. We will always find a way to help our allies. My colleague the Minister of Natural Resources and I, and many other cabinet ministers, are involved in this question.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Putin is inching closer and closer to invading Ukraine with every passing day, but the Liberal government is ignoring their pleas for help to fend off the attack. Ukraine does not need our binoculars. It needs our RADARSAT images. What good was it to send scopes for rifles without actually sending them the rifles to put the scopes on?

Why is the foreign affairs minister abandoning our friends and allies in Ukraine and saying they are on their own?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is not because my colleague talks about Ukraine that necessarily the Ukrainian government agrees with what he is saying. I think the member should look at what President Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, and the foreign minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, mentioned. They said “thank you” to Canada for the deterrence measures, including a $120-million loan, and also for extending and expanding Operation Unifier.

On our side, on the diplomatic side, we are actively engaged, and we will make sure that all deterrence measures are in place to make sure that there is no further invasion.

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Mr. Speaker, in a disturbing development last week, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met and jointly called on NATO to rule out expansion in eastern Europe, denounced the new security formation in the Asia-Pacific region and criticized the AUKUS trilateral security pact, all three fundamental to the rules-based international order.

Given Russia's aggressive posture on Ukraine and Xi's on Taiwan, can the minister advise on what date specific sanctions will be used to combat this new and very troubling alliance?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for this important question, because we both agree that it is extremely important that strong economic sanctions be imposed should there be a further invasion of Ukraine. I want to make sure that the member understands that we are ready to impose these sanctions. Meanwhile, we are working in lockstep with our allies to make sure that we have the maximum impact with, obviously, the United States, the U.K. and also our EU partners.

Seniors

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, many seniors have been struggling as part of the working poor for their whole lives.

Bill C-12 proves that the Liberals made a colossal mistake with the GIS clawback, and still these seniors are being told that they have to wait until May for help to come. We are hearing heartbreaking stories about seniors with only $70 left a month to cover food and medication, and this while the cost of living skyrockets.

Will the Minister of Seniors please explain to seniors who are receiving and living on $2.30 a day why they do not deserve an advanced payment?

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague very well knows, we have been there to support seniors, particularly those vulnerable seniors, during this pandemic. As announced in the economic and fiscal update, we will be delivering a one-time payment to fully compensate those affected in 2020.

This week, we introduced Bill C-12 to exclude any pandemic benefits for the purposes of calculating GIS going forward. I hope that we can all get behind this bill and quickly pass it to prevent any future reduction in GIS for the low-income, vulnerable seniors who took these benefits. I think we can all get behind this.

Public Safety

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, over the past two years, Canadians have relied on the news more than ever for updates, health guidance and accurate information, but now members of the media are being targeted by convoys, experiencing harassment and even death threats while they work hard to keep Canadians informed. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has been practically silent. Yesterday, CTV Edmonton said that it will no longer display logos on its vehicles in order to protect its staff.

What is the government doing to protect members of the media who are so vital to Canadians and to our democracy?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to echo the concerns that were expressed by my colleague. I hope all members will join us in condemning any kind of intimidation, violence or hate expressed towards the media, who play a fundamental role in reporting on current events.

Right now, it is important more than ever to ensure that the Canadian public is informed about the ways in which we are going to get out of this pandemic, which means peacefully, respectfully and by getting vaccinated. I just hope that the Conservatives would finally join us in asking the members of the convoy to go home.

International Development

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this week is International Development Week. Reducing extreme poverty, advancing gender equality and increasing access to education and health care for the most vulnerable are some of the many global initiatives that Canada has moved forward.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of Canadians in many ways, globally the pandemic has a pressing impact on people elsewhere and hinders the progress of Canadian initiatives abroad. Can the Minister of International Development update the House on what Canada is doing to help other countries in their vaccination campaigns?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, on this International Development Week, we must recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the most vulnerable and low-income countries. This is why our government committed 200 million vaccine doses, and approximately 100 million doses have already been made available.

Our contributions have supported vaccination campaigns in Rwanda, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Nigeria and many other countries. We will continue to ensure that vaccines and treatments reach the most vulnerable.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are on a campaign against farmers. Recently, they have said they may mandate a reduction in nitrogen fertilizer use by 30%, a decision that would inflate food prices, decrease production, break farmers' bottom lines and put tremendous pressure on supply chains.

This proposed mandate is an arbitrary number from a government that is out of touch not only with farmers, but with reality. Will the Liberal government, today, reverse course and scrap this illogical, unscientific and out-of-touch mandate?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, the member cannot say that we are not in touch with farmers. I spend my days, weeks and weekends talking to farmers. I can assure the House that farmers are on board. Farmers care for the environment. Farmers care for the land. Farmers care for the water. They are on board with sustainable agriculture because they know this is the right thing to do for them, for the environment and for consumers.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of fertilizer use, last year I asked for the evidence and about the impact on production. It turned out the government's own departments have not even done the research. They just speculated on the potential for optimizing fertilizer use.

Fertilizer Canada has the brutal facts. There would be $10.4 billion in losses in canola, corn and spring wheat alone, and farmers are hit with an ever-rising carbon tax.

From this farmer to that minister, why is the minister stopping crop growth and hurting Canadians who put food on all of our tables?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure members that this government is working with farmers for farmers. Farmers know how important it is for them to have sustainable agriculture. They are good stewards of the land. They know they are the first ones to be hit by climate change. They are on board to adopt more sustainable practices. They are on board to get access to better energy-efficient technologies, and we are there to support them.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the labour shortage in the agricultural sector is causing serious harm to farmers and processors.

In my riding, Olymel is short more than 200 employees in its business. More than one million pigs will not be slaughtered in Ontario and Quebec this year. No workers will be available until July.

When will the minister do something tangible to combat the labour shortage and the processing capacity problems?

We need a date.

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are very aware of the importance and impact of the labour shortage we are facing now, especially in the food processing sector.

I assure members that I am working very closely with my colleagues, the Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Employment, to improve our programs for receiving temporary foreign workers.

My continued co-operation with the sector will ensure we will get this done as soon as possible and in the best way possible.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the government is still clawing back COVID benefits from fishermen. The Minister of Fisheries told me that it was not her fault and to talk to the Minister of National Revenue.

The Minister of National Revenue's office said that it was not their problem and to talk to the Minister of Employment. The Minister of Employment's office said that it was not them and to talk to Service Canada. Service Canada said that it was just ROEs there.

The motto in the Liberal cabinet is, “Don't ask me, I just work here.” Will someone in the government, anyone, show some leadership and reverse the decision to claw back COVID benefits from fishermen?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind the member that the fish harvester benefit and grant program was designed and rolled out very quickly because we needed to get support out the door when it was urgently needed. We created a program that could meet these needs head-on.

The terms of the program were clear from the beginning. It was designed for harvesters, especially self-employed commercial fish harvesters, because they were not entitled to CERB.

We promised to be there for the hard-working men and women of our fisheries, and that is precisely what we did.