Debates of Nov. 24th, 2023

Automotive Industry

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

Mr. Speaker, I am so happy that my colleague, for whom I have enormous respect, keeps asking me questions. It allows me on a Friday morning to inform Canadians, because Canadians are watching and are wondering what is going on with the other side. They have seen the Conservatives go way down this week after voting against a free trade agreement with Ukraine. Now the Conservatives would like Canadians to believe that, when a company invests $3.4 billion of its own money, it is a subsidy.

Canadians must be watching at home and saying, “What is going on with the Conservatives?” However, on this side, Canadians know that we will keep fighting for them.

Public Services and Procurement

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, aerospace workers are urging the Liberals to put out a call for tenders to replace the CP-140 Aurora aircraft.

The machinists' union published an open letter this morning. It denounces Ottawa's plan to offer a $9‑billion sole-source contract to Boeing, completely sidelining Quebec's expertise. The letter says: “Canada is missing an opportunity to generate significant local economic benefits and is jeopardizing...a strategic, wealth-creating industry”.

Will Ottawa finally issue a call for tenders so Quebec can bid?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member. We need to replace the CP-140 Aurora patrol aircraft. However, we need to replace them with something that will serve the operational capability of the armed forces. No decision has been made yet.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals cannot give $9 billion to an American giant without even giving Quebec expertise a chance. They cannot give $9 billion to Boeing, knowing that it tried to crush Quebec's aerospace industry in 2016 with illegal punitive duties. The Liberals even had to make up a “Boeing clause” to be included in other calls for tenders so our money would not go to companies that try to harm us.

How can they now talk about offering Boeing a sole-source contract while preventing Quebeckers from bidding?

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear today. No decision has been made.

What we need to focus on is the needs of the armed forces. Once again, I will repeat before the House, no decision has been made. Our collaboration continues. We have to meet the needs of our Canadian Armed Forces to help us keep our country safe.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this week, the NDP-Liberal government blocked a Conservative motion to have a whistle-blower testify at the ethics committee about the billion-dollar green slush fund scandal.

After eight years under the Prime Minister, there has been scandal after scandal. It is easy to see that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. Facing an Auditor General's investigation and an Ethics Commissioner's investigation, the CEO and the Liberals' hand-picked board chair resigned in disgrace.

Now the government is blocking a whistle-blower from testifying. What is it trying to hide?

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact, from the moment we heard an allegation, I had the minister order an investigation to make sure we could get to the bottom of this. Not only that, but I also suspended the fund to make sure there would be good governance before we restore the funding of the organization.

The CEO of the organization has resigned. I have accepted the resignation of the chair of the board. We have appointed an independent law firm so whistle-blowers can go to it and tell their story to make sure we get to the bottom this, restore governance and restore funding to Canadian companies.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the way it happened. It was the Conservatives who called for the investigation at committee. It was the Conservatives who got the Auditor General and the Ethics Commissioner to start an investigation.

Now, we want a whistle-blower to come to committee and talk about who got rich, and they are being silenced by the NDP-Liberal government.

What is the government hiding?

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

Mr. Speaker, give me a break. I know it is Friday morning and the members are going on. It is the time of joy and the weekend is coming, but for God's sake, are they really pretending that the Conservatives would have done anything? Canadians are watching. One thing they know is that once I received an allegation, I demanded the investigation. The Conservatives, who were asleep at the switch, pretend they would have done something, but Canadians know better.

We will get to the bottom of this. We will restore governance, and we will make sure we can fund Canadian companies.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General and the Ethics Commissioner are investigating the Liberals' hand-picked CEO and the chair of the billion-dollar green slush fund.

This is a new scandal, a big scandal, and the NDP-Liberal cover-up coalition is trying to hide the truth from Canadians again by blocking the testimony of a whistle-blower at the ethics committee.

What is the NDP-Liberal cover-up coalition trying to hide?

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

Mr. Speaker, it seems that the Conservatives forget facts when it suits their story. Maybe some on their bench would remember that it was a Conservative government that had already appointed the chair of the organization in a previous role.

What matters is what we said to Canadians. We said we were going to get to the bottom of this, investigate the allegation and restore governance, and then we will be able to fund Canadian companies.

The Conservatives should stop making up stories and stick to the facts.

Families, Children and Social Development

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we know that, during the pandemic, Canadians received support from community and non-profit organizations. Now, those organizations are having trouble generating revenue and dealing with rising costs and growing demand for services. They are even having trouble retaining staff and volunteers.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development tell us what she is doing to improve this situation and help these organizations?

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my dynamic colleague from Pontiac.

Nearly 5,500 organizations across the country have received funding through the community services recovery fund. In the member for Pontiac's riding, that means that organizations like the Coopérative de solidarité and the Centre communautaire de Wakefield La Pêche can continue to run safe and sustainable community spaces for arts, culture and recreation that welcome and inspire people of all ages.

That also means that organizations like Société Alzheimer Outaouais can continue to work to support families in Pontiac who are affected by a neurocognitive disorder. These local groups are making a real difference.

Foreign Affairs

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Hamas brutally raped, murdered and kidnapped Israeli women and desecrated their bodies, and has used Palestinian women as human shields, yet many international women's rights groups, like UN Women, are silent. Shame on them. These groups' refusals to denounce Hamas's violence against women is normalizing anti-Semitic violence around the world. It has to stop.

Will the government join me today in harshly denouncing UN Women's silence and publicly demand, on the eve of tomorrow's day, that it end it?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs)]

Mr. Speaker, we condemn Hamas, a terrorist organization. We condemn its actions against women and other civilians.

Today, we actually got good news from the region. The first hostages have been released under the agreement that was signed, and aid will imminently be flowing into the region.

We continue to call for the protection of Palestinian and Israeli civilians. We call for Canadian and foreign national hostages to be released, for foreign nationals to leave and for all the hostages to be released.

Public Safety

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' least-restrictive-conditions prison reforms have led to a skyrocketing number of dangerous offenders being transferred out of maximum security. Last year, it was a shocking 505 transfers, and one of them was notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo. The review into Bernardo's transfer cited the Liberals' least-restrictive policy multiple times.

The Liberals are responsible for this failure. Why are they doubling down instead of committing to fixing this terrible law?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important, when talking about issues as serious as a notorious killer like Mr. Bernardo, that we stick to the facts and not mislead Canadians. We saw earlier this week what happens when we talk about a sensitive, concerning matter and use language that does not respect the facts of the situation.

My hon. friend knows very well that decisions around the classification of inmate security are properly in the hands of Correctional Service officials. Those officials are accountable for the decisions, and those decisions are guided by what keeps Canadians safe.

Correctional Service of Canada

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, also on the subject of corrections, on a recent visit to Joyceville Institution, I was informed that personnel at Correctional Service Canada had been trying to introduce red seal apprenticeship programs so inmates can re-enter the workforce with real job training.

After eight years of a Liberal government and of the Liberals' running Correctional Service, how many federal inmates are enrolled in red seal programs? Which programs are they enrolled in, and how many are enrolled per program? How many have graduated, and from which trades? Finally, is there a plan to assist inmates to finish their respective programs upon release?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I will be very happy to get those exact details and provide them to the member.

I can tell him that, as the member of Parliament for Beauséjour, when I visited the medium-security prison Dorchester Penitentiary, I met inmates and CORCAN staff who work on exactly those programs. I share his view that if we can give inmates the skills and ensure that, for example, they complete their high school education or a trade, it will make them much more likely to successfully reintegrate into society when they finish their sentence. That keeps Canadians safe as well.

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, climate change costs the Canadian economy and Canadians' pocketbooks every day. If there is no plan for the environment, there is no plan for the economy.

Despite Conservatives' denying climate change, the government understands the need to act now with an economic plan that supports the middle class and creates good jobs, all while protecting the planet.

Could the parliamentary secretary to the minister of industry please share with Canadians more about the government's work in building a clean economy?

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his advocacy.

Canadian workers need an economic plan that will deliver good jobs that last for generations as the global economy shifts toward net zero. We have already seen over 90 clean-growth projects choose Canada in the last three years alone, valued at over $40 billion. More and more companies are choosing Canada thanks to our plan and our workers. The fall economic statement lays out clear timelines for the delivery and implementation of a clean economy investment tax credit regime, all with labour requirements to ensure good jobs for Canadians.

Taxation

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, the UN voted to create a historic global tax convention, but instead of voting with most of the world for tax fairness, Canada voted no. The government chose to stand with billionaire corporations committed to hiding their money. If the Liberals really wanted to take on corporate greed and tax evasion during a period of record profits, they should have supported this resolution. Canadians struggling with sky-high grocery prices and rent deserve an explanation.

Why are Liberals opposing the world's efforts for tax fairness and choosing to stand with billionaires instead of with hard-working Canadians?

[Peter Fragiskatos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, the member asked about tax fairness. Since 2015, the government has invested no less than a billion dollars to ensure that the CRA has the resources it needs, resources that the opposite side, the Conservatives, cut when they were in office. Tax fairness is a principle we take very seriously.

I would just point to the outcome of the Panama papers, for example, where, as a result of investments we have made, we have seen investigations on tax avoidance and tax evasion go up. Convictions are up as well. We will continue this good work.

Indigenous Affairs

[Kevin Vuong, Independent, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, access to clean drinking water is a human right.

Could the Minister of Indigenous Services inform the House as to when the government will provide appropriate funding and technical resources to train and certify first nations people to become water infrastructure operators in their home communities? Can the minister also indicate whether indigenous operators will be paid at a level that eliminates the wage gap with operators in non-indigenous communities? It is 2023. First nations should be empowered with the skills and the jobs to provide clean water. The government clearly has not been able to do it.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, it is a concern that I deeply share as well. Everyone deserves access to clean and safe drinking water. We are fully committed to lifting all of our remaining long-term drinking water advisories in first nations communities. In partnership with communities, we have already lifted 143 long-term advisories since 2015. There is now clean water in more than 96% of first nations communities, and we are committed to finishing the work of the remaining 4%. For each of these remaining advisories, there is a project team and a fully funded plan in place.

We will not stop until we get the job done and make clean water a reality for every community.