Debates of Feb. 14th, 2022

Indigenous Affairs

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, just this past Thursday, I was honoured to stand with Rebecca Kudloo, who is the president of Pauktuutit, and award her the award for women, peace and security for her role in peacemaking inside this country. It is not something that we do and stand up and say we need to do internationally, but something that we need to do internally.

If it were not for Rebecca Kudloo and the organization of Pauktuutit, perhaps the advocacy around shelters in the far north and for Inuit Nunangat, including here in Ottawa, would not have been done or perhaps not done as quickly. We have a lot of investments that need to be made. They have to be invested in communities. They have to be invested in Inuit Nunangat and I think—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Speaker, commercial fishers on B.C.'s coast are at their wits' end. They managed to get through two years of COVID impacts and now, just when things look like they might be getting better, the government is causing more undue hardship by slashing the Pacific herring harvest rate. This decision was made with no scientific explanation, no consultation, no compensation and no concern for the livelihoods of fishers, including indigenous operators.

If the minister does not base her decision on science, what does she base it on?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, on the Pacific coast we are facing an absolute crisis in our wild Pacific salmon. Salmon feed on herring, and the herring stocks are very fragile to begin with. I took a more precautionary approach to the herring fishery this year, so that we could protect wild salmon and rebuild the herring stock to its former abundance.

Innovation

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as our economy continues to recover from COVID-19, Canadians from coast to coast to coast, including in my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge, understand that competition will be a driving force behind innovation, efficiency and adaptability. Now, more than ever, effective and modern competition laws and enforcement are necessary to promote affordability for middle-class Canadians, foster growth and entrepreneurship and maintain resilient supply chains.

Could the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry kindly update the House as to how the government is modernizing our competition regimes?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for all of his hard work on behalf of his constituents.

Our government is committed first to promoting a healthy, competitive environment in the Canadian economy. That is why I was proud to announce last week that we would undertake a thorough review of our competition laws, including tackling wage-fixing arrangements, modernizing our enforcement regime, which colleagues should be happy with, and fixing loopholes that harm small businesses, consumers and workers. We should all be happy about that.

Disaster Assistance

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a little more of a serious question. Members of all parties have outlined in the House that British Columbia will need additional funds to recover from the recent disasters and to plan for future disasters. B.C. is appreciative of the collaboration with the federal government thus far.

Will the upcoming federal budget include specific line-item funds for dike and flood infrastructure, flood preparation and planning, and forest fire mitigation?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for his ongoing collaboration and hard work on behalf of his constituents.

I want to take the opportunity to assure the member that we are working very closely with the B.C. government, and we have made commitments to be there for the people of British Columbia not only as they recover from the terrible floods of last fall, but as they build a more resilient community. We will be there to support them, and we are working hard with them to do so.

Natural Resources

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Mr. Speaker, since 2015, 5,500 jobs have been lost in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore oil and gas industry. The Bay du Nord project has been highly anticipated in my province for quite some time. This project represents a $12-billion investment in our offshore and $25 billion in revenues over the life of the project.

After 1,285 days of endless red tape, can the environment minister tell us when the Bay du Nord project will be approved?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, certainly the oil and gas sector in Newfoundland and Labrador, just as in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, is an important part of our economy. As we move forward, we are focused on ensuring that we are developing our regional economies in a manner that will promote prosperity and economic opportunity for all folks who live in those regions of the country.

As the hon. member knows, the Bay du Nord project is subject to an environmental assessment, which will continue. We will eventually come to a decision, but we are certainly focused on ensuring that we are working collaboratively with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Right on, Mr. Speaker. That is about what I was expecting.

The government may be split over supporting this project, but the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are very united, with a weekend poll showing 85% support. After years of arduous environmental assessment, the Environmental Assessment Agency has given a green light to Bay du Nord.

Will the minister respect the authority of the Environmental Assessment Agency and approve the Bay Du Nord project, yes or no?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member would be aware, we are working actively with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador on moving forward with respect to economic opportunities that would benefit Newfoundland and Labradorian families, just as we are doing in provinces and territories across the country. We will continue to work collaboratively with Premier Furey, with the oil and gas industry, with the offshore wind industry and other opportunities for Newfoundland and Labrador to increase and ensure prosperity for its citizens going forward.

Seniors

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight months of pressure, the government is finally admitting that cutting the guaranteed income supplement for the poorest working seniors was heartless.

Now that the government has admitted that it made a mistake and that this mistake plunged seniors into poverty, there needs to be a quick solution.

The deputy minister told us that IT problems are making it impossible for the government to compensate the victims faster. Seniors cannot wait until May because of a computer glitch.

What is the minister going to do to pay back these senior victims faster?

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, we know how difficult this pandemic has been on seniors. On this side of the House, we have been there to support them.

As announced in the fiscal update, we will be delivering a one-time payment to fully compensate those affected in 2020. Last week, we also introduced Bill C-12 to exclude any pandemic benefits for the purposes of calculating the GIS going forward. I am calling on all parties to quickly pass this bill to prevent any future reduction in the GIS for low-income, vulnerable seniors.

This is something we can all get behind, and I hope the hon. member will move forward on it.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a fault confessed is not half redressed when it keeps people from being able to put food on the table. These seniors have been making sacrifices for eight months. What makes my colleagues think that seniors would be reassured to hear that they still have months of hardship to go through because of an IT problem?

As we saw during the pandemic, the government is capable of getting its chequebook out quickly, so it should start writing cheques. When will seniors be able to shop for groceries with dignity? What is the minister going to do to speed up the one-time payment to the most vulnerable seniors?

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, our government's priority has been to support the most vulnerable, especially the most vulnerable seniors. That is why we worked so hard to strengthen income security for them, including increases to the GIS, which have helped over 900,000 low-income seniors. That is precisely why we introduced Bill C-12 to exclude any pandemic benefits for the purposes of calculating their GIS. We are also making a major investment through the one-time payment to get that money out as quickly as possible.

We are always going to be there for seniors.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, nine months before Kabul fell, 23 Liberal MPs sent a letter to the Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Foreign Affairs warning them of the dangers Afghan interpreters and those who serve Canada would face when the Taliban took over. They pleaded to help them immigrate to Canada with their families as soon as possible.

Why did this fall on deaf ears? Why did the government ignore their own MPs and abandon thousands of Afghan interpreters and our allies, leaving them in harm's way?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to reflect on the fact that during the fall of Kabul, there was an absolute emergency. We did what we could to rescue thousands of vulnerable Afghans who are now living in Canada.

I am pleased to share that there are more than 7,500 Afghan refugees living in Canada today. The situation in—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am going to have to interrupt the hon. Minister of Immigration.

We will let the hon. minister continue.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the situation in Afghanistan is terrible, but it is why we have made a world-leading commitment to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees. I am pleased to share with the House that there are now more than 7,500 in Canada today, and we will not waver until we succeed in our mission to welcome 40,000 into our country.

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, they were busy knocking on doors. There is no pride in only achieving 20% of that target. The minister should be ashamed of himself for abandoning them and then standing up for an election instead of helping those Afghans. The minister should be thanking the veterans, NGOs and those of our NATO allies that actually stepped up when his government failed to.

UNHCR testified that it had a plan to evacuate Afghan refugees back in January 2021. The government knew about it and ignored it.

Why was an election plan more important than an evacuation plan?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the veterans organizations, the NGOs and our NATO allies that were helpful in rescuing Afghan refugees, some of whom are now in Canada. However, the politicization of this event by the member opposite is a disgrace. He said I should be ashamed of our record on Afghanistan, but I remind him that he campaigned, during the election he spoke about, to bring precisely zero Afghan refugees here. Moreover, if we look at their platform, we will see that they campaigned on a commitment to end the government-assisted refugee stream altogether, which has resettled thousands of Afghan refugees who now call Canada home.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that on December 30, 2020, 23 Liberal—not Conservative—MPs wrote a letter to the ministers of foreign affairs and immigration asking that former Afghan mission staff be given safe passage to Canada.

The Prime Minister said in September 2021 that the situation had developed too quickly and that he had not had time to respond and to draw up a plan.

Even though 23 Liberal MPs were making this request in December 2020, the Prime Minister said in September 2021 that he had not had time to do anything. Why is the Prime Minister not listening to his own MPs?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the support of members of Parliament on both sides of the aisle in the House for their contributions to the effort in Afghanistan. I hope we continue to receive that support and advice from the conversations they are having in their communities.

One of the things that came from my conversations over the course of that campaign was the opportunity to engage with the government to say that we should be doing more and we should be increasing our ambitions. The situation in Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul is precisely why we have decided to step up and make one of the most substantial commitments out of any country in the world to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees. I am proud we made that commitment and I am pleased to be the minister responsible for making good on it.