Debates of May 19th, 2022

Opposition Motion—Rules and Service Levels for Travel

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

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

I will say this: Our government must always provide the relevant information to Canadians to maintain a high level of confidence in the measures that we put in place. That is why, as Canadians have been vaccinated and as we exit the pandemic, restrictions have been loosened very prudently. We must always protect the public health and safety of Canadians. That is our number priority and our number one job.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of our Conservative opposition motion calling on the Liberals to immediately lift remaining travel restrictions, which leaders in the tourism and hospitality sector and the airline industry say are harming business, damaging Canada's international reputation and resulting in chaos at our airports.

Let me say that, while the government certainly needs to lift these travel-related restrictions, it frankly needs to lift all remaining federal mandates and restrictions, which are draconian, discriminatory and unscientific. They are mandates and restrictions that have hurt everyday, taxpaying, law-abiding Canadians and are hurting our economy.

Under the Liberals' watch, thousands of federally regulated employees were fired, not because they did not perform their job ably, but rather because they made a personal health choice. The Liberals can point to provinces that imposed similar mandates. Those provinces have lifted the mandates and rehired workers who were let go, but the federal Liberals have not.

There are 3.7 million Canadians who are landlocked, unable to leave the country and unable to travel freely within Canada, because they cannot get on a plane or a train, again, for having made a personal health choice. As it stands, Canada is the only country in the world, save perhaps for North Korea, where it is required to show one's vaccine status to get on a plane or train and travel internally. It is the only such country in the world.

To make matters worse, the Prime Minister has repeatedly demonized and stigmatized fellow Canadians for making a personal health choice. He has routinely used hateful rhetoric, saying that they take up space and that they should not be tolerated, among other hateful words. I will tell members what should not be tolerated. It is that kind of hateful rhetoric from the Prime Minister, which is completely unbecoming of a Prime Minister.

The Liberals say they are following the science and following the data.

I am going to be splitting my time with the member for Edmonton West.

When we on this side of the House quite reasonably ask the Prime Minister and the government to show us the science, they do not provide any science or data. What they provide is political rhetoric aimed at pitting Canadians against each other.

It can be said that their policies are inconsistent with those of all 10 provinces and inconsistent with just about every country in the world. Just about every country in the world has lifted mandates and restrictions. The few that have not have set timelines to lift such restrictions, but not the federal Liberals. It begs the question: If the government is truly guided by science, why is its science so different from the science in every other jurisdiction in the world, not to mention all 10 provinces?

The mandates and restrictions the government has imposed and is so invested in, for whatever reason, have not affected just unvaccinated Canadians; they have done great harm to the economy and to vaccinated Canadians. One example of that is what this motion specifically relates to, and that is the travel restrictions that have led to chaos at Canada's airports, impacting vaccinated Canadians who are seeking to travel.

In recent weeks, we have seen many reports of passengers being stuck on the tarmac, on the airplane, unable to disembark because there is no room within the airport to properly process them. At Toronto Pearson, the Toronto Region Board of Trade reported that last week over 50% of passengers faced substantial delays. Just last Sunday, 120 planes were stuck on the tarmac at Pearson due to a backlog of the Liberal government's making. Pearson is hardly alone. These backlogs and delays are happening at border crossings and at airports right across the country.

The Minister of Transport, in the face of this, had the audacity to blame travellers. He said that it is their fault. I say, respectfully, that the Minister of Transport ought to look in the mirror. The problem rests on his shoulders. It rests on the shoulders of this Liberal government and on what at best can be described as completely outdated COVID travel measures. Members should not take my word for it; they can take the word of key stakeholders, which I will cite momentarily.

I should note that these mandates have contributed to staffing shortages at airports. We have seen, here in Ottawa, staff levels at just a little over half of what is required to properly and efficiently run the Ottawa International Airport, the airport of our capital. We have seen estimates that there are about 30% fewer security personnel than there were prior to COVID, due to the government's lack of planning and due to the mandates that led to the firing of employees.

Then these restrictions were added. The random testing and health questions that are put to travellers are estimated to quadruple processing times according to the Canadian Airports Council, and the minister says we should blame travelling Canadians. When we have staffing shortages and measures that are quadrupling processing times, it is pretty clear where the problem lies.

What about stakeholders? Monette Pasher, president of the Canadian Airports Council, has called on the Liberals to begin to lift these health restrictions, calling them cumbersome and contributing to the backlog.

Chris Bloore, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, has said that these measures, these health restrictions, are damaging Canada's international reputation and resulting in a loss of revenue for businesses that rely on tourists and international business travellers. That association has called on the government to lift these restrictions.

Glenn Priestley, president and executive director of Northern Air Transport Association, has said that these mandates are slowing things down. We need to get them under control.

It is time for the Liberals to catch up with the rest of the world and end these mandates now.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)]

Madam Speaker, what the member is saying is just untrue. The reality is that he wants to make it seem as though Canada is the only country that has travel restrictions. The update today is that, of all the countries in the world, 21% are considered fully open, 64% are considered open with restrictions and 14% are considered closed.

Why would this member get up in the House and suggest that every other country in the world is fully open when it is just not true?

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

Madam Speaker, what we have is a mess of the government's own making. It is a government that has refused to provide a timeline. It has kept in place these travel restrictions, which are clearly having a negative impact, evidenced by the enormous concern raised by industry leaders.

Given that that member sits on the government's side and represents a riding near the Canada-U.S. border, I would put it to him that perhaps he should focus on addressing these very real issues, issues that are hurting our economy, damaging our reputation and making the lives of everyday Canadians miserable.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Madam Speaker, today we are talking about lifting restrictions.

The Bloc Québécois has proposed we look at lifting the restrictions gradually, but our Conservative colleagues refuse. They want to lift all restrictions at the same time.

If another wave were to come this fall, would my colleague agree to use the same method proposed in the motion and reinstate all of the measures immediately, all at the same time?

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

Madam Speaker, I say very respectfully to the hon. member that I do not know how much slower the Bloc wants the government to move because it has only been two years. The rest of the world is learning to live with COVID, but the government refuses to live with COVID.

Further, when we are talking about measures that are having an impact upon mobility rights, causing this level of disruption and impacting Canadians in this way, the very least one would expect the government to do is tender the evidence to justify these measures, but it has provided no such evidence. That, without more, is unacceptable.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, there are things I truly appreciated in my colleague's speech and things I do not agree with. One thing he touched on were the wait times at the airports. When we see the wait times at airports or passport services, we know the government has not adequately staffed the resources to respond to the increase in the amount of travel.

We have constantly heard complaints like these from Conservatives over the years. It is always a surprise to me when Conservatives say there are not enough public servants. They cut services, then they complain about it. The repercussions are delays in service. We saw that happen with Veterans Affairs under the Stephen Harper government. It cut a third of Veterans Affairs, and that made a backlog that exists even to this day.

Does my good friend and colleague not agree in the importance of investing in public services to support Canadians and make sure that they get the services they deserve and need?

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

Madam Speaker, I have to say that the issue this motion relates to is to address a lack of planning on the part of the government from the standpoint of it providing sufficient resources at the airport and, most especially, to address restrictions that are increasing processing times by up to four times what they otherwise would be. That is the root of the problem. That is precisely what we are asking the government to fix.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from St. Albert—Edmonton for splitting his time with me, and, more importantly, the member for Thornhill for bringing this very important issue to the House.

Essentially, the debate is about calling on the government “to immediately revert to pre-pandemic rules and service levels”, but I say that we should call for the government to get its act together. Seriously, it is time for the government to get its act together and stop making excuses about its failures.

We repeatedly hear many excuses from the government, such as it cannot open offices and it cannot allow public servants to return in person because there is a sixth wave coming in the fall. It is spring now, yet the government is saying it has to wait because there is a sixth wave coming in the fall. We hear the government say it cannot do this because there are still people in the hospital with COVID. The government makes the excuse that there are still people to be vaccinated.

Canada has, to its credit, one of the highest vaccination rates in the OECD. It is time for the government to recognize what the provinces have recognized and what many of our allies have recognized, which is that it is time to move forward—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member, but the hon. member for Manicouagan is rising on a point of order.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to know if there is a quorum.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

We will look into this.

And the count having been taken:

There is a quorum. The hon. member for Edmonton West.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, as I was saying, it is time for the government to recognize that we are going to have to learn to live with COVID.

Before getting to the heart of today's debate, and I may not get all my time because we are seeing some interference with that, I want to talk about an issue that happened in my riding of Edmonton West. My office is about a two-minute walk to one of the local Service Canada offices. Two months ago, and I brought this up in the House then, there was an issue when I went into the office to visit BDC. It shares the office with Service Canada. As I left, I noticed there was a lineup wrapping around the building.

Two months ago, in Edmonton, as we can imagine, it is wintertime still, and the lineup wrapped around the building. I chatted with some of the people waiting in line. There was a gentleman who was 85 years old. There was a handicapped lady, an elderly handicapped lady, forced to wait outside. I asked her how long she had been waiting out there. She said, ”Well, several hours. They will not let us in.”

I went into the building and, of course, security was blocking me, but eventually they let me in. I asked, “What is going on here?”

They were told, under government orders, that they were only allowed four people in at a time. They had four security guards to ensure that only four Canadians at a time could access Service Canada, to access the services that Canadians are entitled to and pay for. I looked inside. One wicket was open to serve one person and three people sitting in the chairs in a very large office.

At the same time, provincial mandates had been lifted. At that time, across every province, except for Quebec, which was still halfway through, they had been lifted. We had hockey games with 17,000 people allowed in. We, at the same time, saw parties and receptions in Ottawa, with members of Parliament from the government and ministers attending crowded receptions, masks off, but in Canada, in Edmonton, we make an 85-year-old citizen wait for hours in line.

I brought it up to the House and the response, oddly enough, was from the Minister of Health, who responded to this by thanking the members of Service Canada for their hard work during the pandemic, which is great, but it does not address the fact.

This was two months ago. About a week after that, one of my staff sent me a photo. It was of a blizzard in Edmonton, which not uncommon in March. It was a blizzard, and people, again, were waiting in line at Service Canada.

We have mask mandates in federal buildings. We can go into an airport masked. We can enter this building masked, but Canadians are not allowed into Service Canada, even masked or even vaccinated, because the government says it is unsafe for more than four Canadians to be inside. In a blizzard, there were close to 30 or 40 people lined up. They were waiting so long that one of the people actually ordered from DoorDash to be fed.

Can members imagine that happening in this country? We will not allow people in because it is not safe indoors. It is safe enough for a hockey game. It is safe enough, funnily enough, for the Prime Minister to meet with Her Majesty The Queen without a mask, but not safe for Canadians, even masked or vaccinated, to be indoors. This is why I say that the bill should be the “get the government's act together” bill.

I realize my time is very short, but I want to read a couple letters and comments from constituents about their experiences. One reads, “I arrived outside Service Canada's office. I have been waiting since 5 a.m.”

People are waiting since 5 a.m., and it is like this a big surprise to the government that, after introducing the 10-year-passport 10 years ago, they would be expiring about this time. We had 10 years' notice. We knew this was happening. We knew restrictions were being lifted months and months ago, and that people would be travelling again, yet it seems to have been a surprise to the government.

Can we imagine having to get up at about 4 in the morning and wait, in the dark, at 5 a.m., just to get served by the government?

Another letter reads, “I had a walk-in appointment in March 8 and was told it should have been done before April 12. If nothing, call.” He called back later, but there was no reply or it hung up on him as the system was busy.

Yet another letter reads, “I applied on March 1. On March 23rd, $160 was charged on my credit card. I went to Service Canada to see if they could help expedite the process because at this point I had already been waiting for two months. When I arrived, I was sent home and was told they were only serving people who are leaving within 48 hours and told me to contact Service Canada.”

After he left the Service Canada building, he called them multiple times. He was finally able to get a hold of them and was told to call back a week later to request an emergency transfer to Edmonton. This is just for a simple passport.

We knew this issue was going to happen. We have Canadians waiting months for a simple passport.

Another person applied for a renewed passport, so not a brand new one. The person was just renewing an existing passport on April 25. The person said, “I had gone in person, waited in a long line for hours in the cold,” again, in Edmonton, “and locked outdoors because it was unsafe to be inside. At that time, they were only letting one person at a time into the building. There were four security guards to watch one person. Eventually, they came out and said, 'All of you go home. You won't be served today.' Those of us in line were literally freezing and we took turns warming up in our cars. A snowstorm had blown in and we were all kept out in the cold for hours. It was unnecessary to make us do that when there was a warm building right in front of us. When I went back in a week, I got there with another person at 5 a.m., so I could ensure that I would be seen that day. I was the third person in line.”

This is the state of the service from the current government. At 5 in the morning, they were the third person in line.

I beg the government to act on this issue, to please get its act together and get it done for Canadians.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

It being 5:15 p.m., it is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith every question necessary to dispose of the business of supply.

The question is on the motion. May I dispense?

[An hon. member]

No, I want to hear this.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

[Chair read text of motion to House]

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Madam Speaker, as a member of the official opposition, I request a recorded division.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Pursuant to order made on Thursday, November 25, 2021, the recorded division stands deferred until Monday, May 30, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.

Bill C-13—Notice of time allocation motion

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. An agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Orders 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to the second reading stage of Bill C-13, an act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the use of French in federally regulated private businesses act and to make related amendments to other acts.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the Crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage.

Sitting Suspended

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

The House will suspend until 5:30 p.m. to the call of the Chair.

(The sitting of the House was suspended at 5:18 p.m.)

(The House resumed at 5:24 p.m.)

Sitting Resumed

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to see the clock at 5:30 p.m. so that we can start Private Members' Business.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

Is it agreed?