Debates of June 13th, 2022

Public Safety

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians will trust a government that will do what is necessary to protect their health and safety. Members can contrast what we did, which was to invoke the Emergencies Act only after it was clear that existing authorities were ineffective at restoring public safety, with the role of the Conservatives, who encouraged and egged the protesters on, who were taking selfies with them, who were doing whatever it took to make it a political problem for the Prime Minister. That was wrong. They should know better.

Canadians will never forget the role that Conservatives played during the illegal blockades, but they will remember what we did, which was to protect them.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised Canadians they would expect openness and transparency, but it appears this is not the case with our public safety minister. Words matter. Clarity matters. Repeating extensively inside and outside of the House that law enforcement asked for the act is categorically opposed to the narrative that they asked for the measures contained in the act.

How can Canadians trust the minister when he has repeatedly misled them?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague sets a very high threshold for openness and transparency. When is he going to shine a light on the statements that were made by his interim leader during the illegal occupation, who wanted to make it a political problem, while frontline officers were trying to restore public safety? That party—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

With all the shouting, I was not able to hear half that answer. I am going to have to ask the minister to start over again.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, my hon. colleague across the aisle sets a very high threshold for openness and transparency, and I wonder when he is going to shine a light on the conduct of his own caucus colleagues, including the interim Conservative Party of Canada's leader, who was egging on the illegal occupation long after it had become dangerous. Not only did those statements put at jeopardy the lives and health and safety of Ottawa residents, but they also put in danger the lives and safety of our frontline police officers. It was wrong. They should apologize.

Passports

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the passport fiasco continues. The only solution for those who have to travel within 48 hours is to wait in line at a passport office for a full day.

Even then they have to choose their day because despite all the unprecedented delays, the passport offices continue to be open only from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A crisis does not get resolved during business hours.

Will the government finally open its offices on weekends for worried travellers?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I understand that this is a frustrating situation for Canadians in Quebec and across the country. We are responding to it.

We know that after two years of restrictions, Canadians want to travel. We have hired more than 600 people and we are in the process of hiring 600 more.

Service Canada employees are working days, evenings and weekends. We will try to do our best because Canadians want to receive their documents on time.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a whole world of difference between the official message and the actual situation at passport offices.

We know that contrary to what is on the website, only people travelling within 48 hours are being served. We know that wait times on the site are unrealistic. We also know that, despite what is indicated, many people have had to pay extra fees.

Can the minister finally clearly explain who can go to a passport office and when, what people should do, and if extra fees are being charged?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned several times in the House, there is an unprecedented number of passport applications.

People can go to a passport office 45 days before travelling. I am checking with Service Canada to see how it is responding to this directive on the ground.

We will reassure Canadians and ensure that the right information is posted on the website. We will continue to ensure that Canadians can access passport services.

Small Business

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we are in a labour crisis, and small businesses are the most affected. A follow-up submission to the industry committee from the Department of Employment and Social Development states that they were “not aware of any Canadian studies that estimate the overall economic costs of labour shortages”, and estimates from the Statistics Canada job vacancy and wage survey show 826,000 job vacancies in February, which is double the prepandemic trend.

Why is this government doing nothing to analyze how federal vaccine mandate firings are affecting the labour shortage in Canada?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for the question. I would just point out to her that what we are doing and what we have done throughout the pandemic, and afterward as we exit this pandemic, is supporting Canadian small businesses.

We have recovered over 115% of the jobs lost prior to the pandemic, which is point number one. Point number two is that budget 2022, which I am sure the member opposite has perused carefully, actually shows significant supports for small businesses, such as the phase-out of the small business tax rate, $15 billion invested in the Canada growth fund to scale up and $97 million to secure Canadian IP.

We will continue to work hard for Canadian small businesses because we know that they are the backbone of our economy.

Health

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will not listen to Canadians, he will not listen to the opposition and he will not even listen to the doctors in his own caucus. It took American hockey player Ryan Whitney, of Spittin' Chiclets fame, to light up Twitter to make the government react in classic Liberal big-announcement, little-action fashion. They listened to him once, so maybe they will do it again. Will the Prime Minister listen to Whit and end the mandates?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Sport]

Mr. Speaker, our government's priority has been and will always be the safety and protection of Canadians' health.

Our government announced that mandatory randomized testing will be temporarily suspended at all airports from June 11 to June 30. Unvaccinated travellers will still be tested on site. Starting July 1, all testing, including unvaccinated travellers, will be performed off-site. We will continue to stand up for our constituents and their health and safety.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are in fine form. They made a big announcement on Friday. Did they end mandates allowing people to return to work? No. Did they end mandates allowing all Canadians to travel by rail and air? No. Their solution was to pause random COVID testing for a couple of weeks. It was a joke.

Will the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health give us a date on when he will end the mandates, or will he tell me to eff off, like he did to one of his constituents?

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Sport]

Mr. Speaker, last week I responded in an unacceptable way to a message on social media, and I deeply regret it. I want to apologize to the person I offended and anybody else I let down. I realize that the past two years have been really difficult for a lot of people, but my conduct was unacceptable. We have an obligation to disagree without being disagreeable, and in that regard I failed.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. Before going on to the next question, I am not going to ask the hon. member to withdraw it, but I want to remind all members that they cannot do indirectly what they cannot do directly, and referring to something like what was said is not acceptable.

The hon. member for Etobicoke Centre.

Official Languages

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this government made the modernization of the Official Languages Act one of its top priorities.

We need to protect and promote French all across the country, yet the opposition parties are preventing our bill to modernize the act from going forward.

Could the Minister of Official Languages explain to Canadians what Bill C‑13 means for official language minority communities across Canada?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from Etobicoke Centre for his important question and for all of the work he does on official languages.

I was in Toronto last week for consultations on the action plan for official languages. Members of official language minority communities told us that reforms are urgently needed and spoke about how Bill C‑13 is the cornerstone of an action plan that strengthens the institutions that these communities rely on.

Our government is committed to protecting and promoting French across the country. I hope that the opposition will stop obstructing and will work with us to get the bill passed as soon as possible.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, normally the Department of Foreign Affairs has a list of countries whose national days Canadian officials are not to attend. The list is compiled by departmental officials, but the final decision rests with the minister.

Last week, Friday, a Canadian official attended the Russian embassy's celebration. On Friday night, the minister's office concurred with the department, but yesterday the minister reversed course and blamed officials.

Instead of blaming officials, will the minister accept that the list is her responsibility and will the minister accept ministerial accountability?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as mentioned earlier today, I am as angry and frustrated as Canadians and members of this House regarding the fact that a Canadian official was at the Russian embassy. This should not have happened, and of course it will not happen again.

That being said, I am the minister, so the buck stops here.

I must say we can collectively be proud of what we have done in supporting Ukraine since the invasion. Just last week, we announced 28 new sanctions, and more will come.

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

Mr. Speaker, last week the minister announced yet another delay in the government's Indo-Pacific strategy, announcing the committee to craft this strategy and bypassing the department. Clearly, the government does not think officials are capable of doing this work.

Since the department has been cut out of crafting this strategy, which is now in the hands of the government's hand-picked committee, will the minister at the very least tell us when this strategy will be complete and made public?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I value my colleague's input regarding the Indo-Pacific strategy. As a country, we obviously need to assert ourselves much more as a Pacific nation and we need to make sure we react to a more assertive China. Based on that, we will draw on the expertise of many people from all walks of life and different parts of the country, including people with different political backgrounds, to make sure we have a strong strategy coming ahead.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

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

Mr. Speaker, the government claims to care about refugees, but again it is just lip service. Comlux Aviation has offered a commercial airline to provide humanitarian flights to Ukraine for free. There is just one problem: It keeps running into red tape from the Liberal government. Ukrainians are desperate both for aid and for safe haven here in Canada.

Will the minister commit right now to provide intervention to allow this airline to provide aid for Ukrainians in their hour of need?