House of Commons Hansard #66 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was children.

Topics

Freedom of SpeechStatements By Members

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Madam Speaker, without the liberty to speak freely, we cannot profess to be truly free. It is through the use of speech that most of us share our thoughts, our ideas and our beliefs. This propels us forward and facilitates innovation. It is incredible. It also provides us with the means to criticize, to challenge and to correct when we believe someone to be in error. This includes the government of the day, no matter the party at the helm. If we believe progressing as a society is important, then we must contend for free speech. After all, it is the very foundation of democracy.

That is why it is beyond alarming to me that the government is moving forward with legislation that would censor free speech: Bill C-11, Bill C-18 and the upcoming online harms bill. These bills are a concerted effort to take autonomy away from individuals and put more power and more control in the hands of government.

I urge the House, therefore, and all Canadians, to stand on guard and do all they can to contend for and protect free speech, for it is the very foundation upon which all other freedoms in this country are formed.

National Nursing WeekStatements By Members

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Madam Speaker, this coming week, Canadians will be celebrating and thanking our nurses for all the hard work, dedication and care they provide to our communities. From assisting with life-threatening crises to delivering beautiful babies and caring for the elderly, nurses perform many of the most strenuous and difficult tasks in medicine and health care.

As professionals who perform essential points of health care services, nurses serve as the first point of contact for many Canadians. Throughout this pandemic, we have seen countless nurses step up and take on a new role and additional responsibilities to ensure that Canadians have access to stable health care, hospitals and treatments. Our government pushed for anti-harassment legislation to protect our health care workers in Bill C-3 so they could go to work and did not have to worry about violence in the workplace.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to nurses for their invaluable work in our communities, so I thank all nurses.

Madam Speaker, happy Mother's Day, and of course I give a special shout-out to my mother Linda, my wife Lisa and my mothers-in-law Carol and Claudette.

Natural ResourcesOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON

Madam Speaker, gas is 194.9¢ per litre in Barrie today. Enbridge Line 5 provides more than 50% of the fuel to eastern Canada. An application was filed in the U.S. federal court to shut down this pipeline, and so far the Liberals have done nothing to oppose this U.S. court action. If Line 5 is shut down, there will surely be gas shortages and spikes in the price of gas that will cause an already unaffordable situation for families and businesses to get much worse.

Are the Liberals going to fight this or are they just going to roll over on Line 5 like they did with Keystone XL?

Natural ResourcesOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

North Vancouver B.C.

Liberal

Jonathan Wilkinson LiberalMinister of Natural Resources

Madam Speaker, the continued operation of Line 5 is non-negotiable. We will take appropriate steps to ensure the continued safe operation of this critical infrastructure, and we will continue to work closely with the owner of Line 5.

Canada and the United States continue to be engaged in a process under the 1977 transit pipelines agreement to ensure the continued operation of Line 5, and until this issue is resolved, I will continue to raise it with my U.S. counterparts, as I have been doing on an ongoing basis.

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON

Madam Speaker, the passport situation in this country is so bad that people are actually camping out overnight outside of Canadian government passport offices just to receive service. It is a complete failure on the part of the Liberals, not our public service, to plan for a surge of renewals that everyone knew was coming.

Canadians are angry and they are anxious, having to cancel long-anticipated trips to see loved ones or vacations because of the government's failure to deliver the most basic of services. There are no excuses.

When can Canadians expect a return to normal processing times?

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

York Centre Ontario

Liberal

Ya'ara Saks LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families

Madam Speaker, Canadians are travelling again, and there has been an unprecedented volume increase in the demand for passports for those who wish to travel. It has resulted in long lineups and wait times for in-person service. We do understand that this situation is difficult and stressful for many.

The minister has been travelling across the country visiting Service Canada locations to hear directly from frontline staff who have been working days, nights and weekends to alleviate the long lines and the wait times. We have hired 500 new employees, and the minister and the department will continue to turn every rock to find solutions to serve Canadians with the service they are entitled to.

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON

Madam Speaker, let us be honest. This whole mess and the inability to provide even the most basic government service like a passport renewal are entirely on the minister and the Liberals, not the public service. Everyone knew people would want to travel coming out of COVID. Everyone knew that the 10-year passports were expiring. Everyone knew, it seems, except the government, and here we are with long lineups around government buildings and phones not being answered.

Maybe it is time to get people back to their workplaces and rehire those who have been fired because of vaccine mandates to fix this. Would the minister not agree with me on that?

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

York Centre Ontario

Liberal

Ya'ara Saks LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families

Madam Speaker, we have been preparing for this for some time. As early as December, we hired 500 new employees to process passports. We opened three new processing centres around the country, and over the weekends we opened as many locations as possible to serve Canadians. In addition to that, over 300 Service Canada centres are processing passport applications for Canadians.

We continue to do more to alleviate this unprecedented level of demand for service.

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Madam Speaker, now that the pandemic is coming to an end, people are starting to travel again, which is good news. They need to renew their passports, but unfortunately, the wait times are atrocious.

People need an appointment to visit some Service Canada locations, but first they have to wait on the phone for hours just to get an appointment. That is completely unacceptable.

The problem is that the government has still not authorized Service Canada employees to fully return to work. What is the government waiting for?

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

York Centre Ontario

Liberal

Ya'ara Saks LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families

Madam Speaker, we continue to work to open as many client counters as possible and passport offices. As I mentioned before, we have hired 500 new employees, and we continue to work with workload management and processing technology to increase efficiency in our processing call centres and our offices. We have extended hours both on weekdays and weekends, and we continue to provide as much service as physically possible to Canadians for the service they are entitled to.

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Madam Speaker, the problems people are running into right now could have easily been foreseen. Telework works up to a certain point, but in the case of passport offices, employees need to be physically on site to provide proper service.

We have all come back to work in person here on Parliament Hill.

Why then are Service Canada employees not back at work on site?

Passport CanadaOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

York Centre Ontario

Liberal

Ya'ara Saks LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families

Madam Speaker, as mentioned before, we have expanded the passport intake services at over 300 Service Canada offices across the country. We hired and trained over 500 staff already last December. We opened three new processing centres across the country and simplified the services. Canadians, Service Canada and our public service have been working night and day, and we need to thank them for all the work they have done throughout the pandemic.

We continue to work with public servants to make sure that Canadians are getting the service they are entitled to.

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Bloc

Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC

Madam Speaker, a month after he announced that he would charter planes for people displaced by the war in Ukraine, the Minister of Transport has admitted that he has yet to send a single plane.

There is already an agreement with airlines, though. The planes are ready, but his government has hit the brakes, claiming that it is complicated because the refugees are moving around.

Women have already found a way to leave their country and flee the Russian army with their children. Does anyone seriously think that they will not be capable of figuring out how to make their flight?

When will the government arrange an airlift?

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Orléans Ontario

Liberal

Marie-France Lalonde LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration

Madam Speaker, more than 24,000 Ukrainians have come to Canada since the beginning of January.

As the Prime Minister announced, we will charter planes to bring more Ukrainians to Canada.

I also want to acknowledge Canadians and Quebeckers for being so generous and for coming together to welcome Ukrainians at this historic moment for Canada.

Again, I thank the member for her question.

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Bloc

Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC

Madam Speaker, I can assure the minister that the planes that are grounded here at our airports do not have a single damn Ukrainian family on them. That is guaranteed.

In the Laurentians alone, there are 60 families who offered to open their homes to refugees and there are already 260 volunteers ready to help. They have been ready for weeks. All that is missing are the refugees. Why?

Line Chaloux, director of the organization Le Coffret, said that they do not have money to purchase plane tickets. If there were chartered flights, they would be here.

Everyone is waiting on Ottawa. When will the government charter flights?

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Orléans Ontario

Liberal

Marie-France Lalonde LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration

Madam Speaker, as I said, more than 24,000 Ukrainians have arrived and hundreds more are arriving every day.

I would also like to mention that we have introduced an innovative program in partnership with Air Canada, The Shapiro Foundation and Miles4Migrants. It will allow us to welcome 10,000 Ukrainians and their families. These are free flights to Canada.

More than 2,000 Canadians have donated more than 140 million Aeroplan points to the Ukraine2Canada travel fund. On this side of the House, we are always going to do more, not less.

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Madam Speaker, for the past two years, immigration processing times have been ridiculous. Thousands of people are waiting. They have no idea what is going on, and the government is not treating them with respect.

These are human tragedies, uprooted lives and broken dreams. The Liberals can see that, yet they do nothing.

They tell people to contact their MP, but our offices can only handle five applications at a time. This is insane; we are getting dozens of desperate calls every day.

When will the Liberals commit the necessary resources to treat these people with a modicum of respect?

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Orléans Ontario

Liberal

Marie-France Lalonde LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

Last year, we welcomed over 405,000 new permanent residents, the largest number of newcomers in a single year in Canadian history.

I would like to let my esteemed colleague know that, in the first quarter of this year, we set even more records. We processed over 157,000 permanent residence applications and issued over 100,000 work permits and over 10,000 study permits a week.

We have made considerable investments, and we will continue to be there for people who choose Canada.

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Madam Speaker, Canada's immigration backlog now exceeds two million people, with significant backlogs in every stream. The minister said he was going to fix it, but the backlog is increasing, not decreasing. Afghans and Ukraine nationals in urgent need to get to safety are mired in red tape. Families are separated. Lives are put on hold. For the caregivers stream, processing time is not even available. Passport offices are jammed: My constituents are having to camp overnight to get their passports.

Will the minister stop using COVID as an excuse for the growing backlog, and do his job to fix this broken immigration system?

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Orléans Ontario

Liberal

Marie-France Lalonde LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration

Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her advocacy on this. Last year, we welcomed more than 405,000 new permanent residents: the greatest number of newcomers in a year in Canadian history. In the first quarter of this year, we hit even more records, processing over 157,000 permanent residence applications and issuing more than 100,000 work permits, and we are processing over 10,000 study permits per week as we are further boosting the processing capacity at IRCC with an investment of—

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Liberal Alexandra Mendes

The hon. member for Calgary Midnapore.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Madam Speaker, inflation is skyrocketing under the Liberal government and wages are not keeping up. Statistics Canada said hourly wages increased 3.3% from April 2021, which is well short of the 6.7% inflation rate. The central bank raised its benchmark rate half a point in April, and the governor hinted that he would likely do so again.

The Liberal government is destroying our economy and only making life more expensive for Canadians. When will the government take this inflation crisis seriously and provide real relief for Canadians?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Outremont Québec

Liberal

Rachel Bendayan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, the budget that we have just tabled includes many measures that would put money directly into the pockets of Canadians. I am thinking of the one-time payment for all Canadians having difficulty accessing affordable housing. Our continued funding for the Canada child benefit is indexed to inflation.

Based on what I have been hearing in the House from the Conservatives, and in their leadership debate last night, they have absolutely nothing concrete to propose to Canadians in order to help them face the cost-of-living increase that is due to the war in Ukraine.

The EconomyOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

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

Madam Speaker, the cost of government is ballooning the cost of living. Gas in my hometown this morning was a disturbing $1.92, and it is supposed to go up again this weekend. Every single day, I am hearing distressing examples of the impact that overdue bills and food prices are having on many people's day-to-day lives.

When will the government start listening to people and turn its talking points into action?

The EconomyOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Outremont Québec

Liberal

Rachel Bendayan LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, we have reduced taxes for the middle class on two occasions and the Conservatives voted against it. We have created a Canada child benefit that has helped lift over a million people out of poverty. In our budget, we have concrete measures in order to help Canadians buy their first homes and in order to help Canadians pay for child care. We have been there for Canadians, and the Conservatives have not.