House of Commons Hansard #86 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was amendments.

Topics

PassportsOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

York Centre Ontario

Liberal

Ya'ara Saks LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his advocacy for his constituents.

We know that Canadians are travelling again. There has been a significant increase in the demand—

PassportsOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Unfortunately, there is a bad sound interfering.

Let us go to the government House leader instead.

PassportsOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Ajax Ontario

Liberal

Mark Holland LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, we know there is an unprecedented demand. In fact, for over two years, Canadians were not renewing their passports, and we now have all of those passports being renewed at the same time. Globally, we are seeing long periods of time for these to be processed. In Canada, obviously we are adding additional resources to meet these demands as quickly as possible to make sure people can get their passports in a timely way.

VeteransOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Bloc

Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, Ottawa continues to let our veterans down, as the Auditor General confirmed in a report released last week. Francophones wait two to three months longer to access services. That is 21% longer.

The Auditor General said, “I'm left with the conclusion that the government failed to meet a promise that it made to our veterans: that it would take care of them if they were injured in service”.

When will the government keep its word to francophones?

VeteransOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Cardigan P.E.I.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay LiberalMinister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's concern. We realize that more needs to be done for francophone veterans. That is why we have established a dedicated francophone unit to improve the situation. We invested $340 million to make sure we are able to improve the wait times.

In fact, we have improved all wait times, including for francophone veterans, but I realize there is more to do. I can assure the House and my hon. colleague that we are making sure that happens.

JusticeOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Conservative

Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-NDP philosophy towards crime is hurting Canadians. Bill C‑5 will do nothing to deter crime and will only encourage it.

Does the Prime Minister not realize that the Black and indigenous populations are overrepresented among victims of violent crime?

Crime has only gone up over the past seven years under this government. When will the minister wake up and abolish Bill C‑5?

JusticeOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

LaSalle—Émard—Verdun Québec

Liberal

David Lametti LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, Bill C‑5 is designed specifically to address the issue of Black and indigenous overrepresentation in our criminal justice system, by giving judges the flexibility to impose a sentence that is proportional to the crime.

We will support victims. We are supporting victims. Serious offences will always have serious consequences. We need to address this overrepresentation, and that is exactly what we are doing.

HealthOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Conservative

Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government desperately needs to wake up. Canadians are being penalized with heavy fines and quarantines for not filling out the ArriveCAN app properly.

Most of them are vaccinated. This is completely ridiculous. The 14-day quarantine for vaccinated Canadians who do not have the app is longer than the quarantine for those who contract COVID-19. Since this government claims to follow science, will the minister finally get rid of the ArriveCAN app?

HealthOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Oakville North—Burlington Ontario

Liberal

Pam Damoff LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety

Mr. Speaker, ArriveCAN continues to be an essential and intuitive tool to protect Canadians as we reopen borders and fire up the economy. Through the app, we have streamlined the reopening process and travel is up 707% from peak pandemic as a result. ArriveCAN takes only a few minutes for vaccinated travellers to complete, and over 99% of air and marine travellers and 94% of land travellers have been compliant and allowed for increased efficiency.

HealthOral Questions

Noon

Conservative

Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC

Mr. Speaker, that is nonsense. The passport saga continues. The government keeps using the same arguments, but the problems have not gone away.

My constituents cannot reach Service Canada by phone. Lineups wind around the block. Urgent passport applications can no longer be processed. Some Canadians have even been told to drive three and a half hours to another riding to try to renew their passport.

Is the government's plan to sit on its hands until June 23 and then disappear on vacation?

HealthOral Questions

Noon

Ajax Ontario

Liberal

Mark Holland LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, after two years, unfortunately, there were passports that were not being renewed, which means that two years' worth of passports had to be processed in mere months. Of course, we did not know exactly when those volumes were going to hit. That is why we have seen worldwide delays in passports, with jurisdictions in every part of the world struggling to keep up with demand.

Obviously, we have increased resources in staff and hours, and we are cutting through that volume. We are pleased to say that we are making good progress. We want to ensure that Canadians will get their passports as soon as possible.

Public Services and ProcurementOral Questions

Noon

Liberal

Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC

Mr. Speaker, the national shipbuilding strategy contributes millions of dollars a year to the Canadian economy. It creates and maintains thousands of jobs across the country. Earlier this week, Quebec's Davie shipyard took one more step toward becoming Canada's third official shipyard under the NSS.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement tell us how the Davie shipyard contributes to shipbuilding in Canada and what this contract means for Quebec's workers and economy?

Public Services and ProcurementOral Questions

June 10th, 2022 / noon

Mount Royal Québec

Liberal

Anthony Housefather LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Châteauguay—Lacolle.

Our government will begin negotiations with the Davie shipyard toward an umbrella agreement to become the third strategic shipbuilding partner under the NSS.

Once the negotiations are complete, the Davie shipyard will build one of two polar icebreakers and six program icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. This is terrific news for the economy of Quebec and the national capital.

National DefenceOral Questions

Noon

Conservative

Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON

Mr. Speaker, the NDP-Liberal defence budget is so nebulous they would not even let the committee vote on it. A former official said that there is a $15-billion difference between what is earmarked for defence and what is actually shown.

Is the funding just being shown as defence spending so that our NATO contributions do not look so bad, and have the funds, the missing billions, gone to the same place as “lapsed” defence spending, into some green slush fund?

National DefenceOral Questions

Noon

Cambridge Ontario

Liberal

Bryan May LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, we are assuring Canadian security in contributing to global security. That is why our government has not only been increasing spending by 70% between 2017 and 2026, following a decade of Conservative cuts—

National DefenceOral Questions

Noon

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Order. The interpretation does not seem to be working.

I am hoping the translation pops up. However, the parliamentary secretary's sound is still a little off, so I will go to the government House leader.

National DefenceOral Questions

Noon

Ajax Ontario

Liberal

Mark Holland LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, we saw, by the Conservatives, cuts to critical support for defence year after year. Instead, we have taken an approach of investing in our defence services, investing in our soldiers, and making sure, after we saw cuts for veterans and the shutting of veterans office, that we were there for veterans as well.

We will continue to invest in defence and ensure that Canada is making appropriate contributions in global security.

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

Noon

Conservative

Michael Kram Conservative Regina—Wascana, SK

Mr. Speaker, Saskatchewan is the breadbasket of the world and leads the country in the production of wheat, canola and many other crops. That takes fertilizer, lots of fertilizer. Recently, the government announced its plan to make Canadian farmers ration fertilizer by 30%, causing the price of groceries to skyrocket and leaving many Canadians going hungry.

Why is this government punishing Canadians who simply want to eat?

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

Noon

Compton—Stanstead Québec

Liberal

Marie-Claude Bibeau LiberalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Mr. Speaker, we are proud that Canada is a very important contributor to food security in the world.

The idea behind reducing the emissions caused by fertilizer does not mean reducing fertilizer. Actually, our producers are engaging significantly in the 4R practices, which are best practices. They are applying the fertilizer the right way to reduce emissions and reduce their costs at the same time.

Correctional Service of CanadaOral Questions

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON

Mr. Speaker, in April, in response to questions regarding a possible goat farm in Joyceville, the parliamentary secretary stated: “Correctional Service Canada does not intend to do any goat milk production.” In May, she told the House: “they were not moving forward with goats.”

However, on June 2, CSC stated that, while it clearly had no plans for dairy operations, it would “reassess at a later date.”

Why will the government not just admit that it is not going to take the goat farm option off the table?

Correctional Service of CanadaOral Questions

12:05 p.m.

Oakville North—Burlington Ontario

Liberal

Pam Damoff LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety

Mr. Speaker, I will reiterate that there are no goats planned for Correctional Services Canada at this time. There are no contracts for goat farming.

I would ask the hon. member why—

Correctional Service of CanadaOral Questions

12:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Correctional Service of CanadaOral Questions

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

Order. The hon. parliamentary secretary has 10 seconds or so.

Correctional Service of CanadaOral Questions

12:05 p.m.

Liberal

Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry, but I have been asked about this so many times that I am losing track of what I said.

Currently, Correctional Services is not planning on goat farming, but I would reiterate and ask the hon. member this: Has he actually visited the prison farms? Has he thought about the fact that when his party was in government, it closed the prison farms and removed fresh food and dairy from the prisons? Maybe we should start—

Correctional Service of CanadaOral Questions

12:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont

The hon. member for Sudbury.