Debates of Feb. 16th, 2023

Canadian Heritage

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the bill was introduced over a year ago. On the House side, 12 meetings were held, 80 witnesses were heard and 52 briefs were tabled. On the Senate side, 31 meetings were held, 138 witnesses were heard, and there were 675 hours of study.

Is it only now that my colleague is waking up, a whole year later? Even Sleeping Beauty did not sleep that long.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the leader of the Bloc Québécois and Liberal Party alliance thinks it is taking too long, perhaps he needs a reminder that it was his own government that called an unnecessary election, which delayed the bill.

Even back then, the Bloc Québécois was not interested.

I will ask my question again: Can the Bloc Québécois and Liberal Party minister stand in the House and give assurances that Quebec will be heard at the parliamentary committee, as it should be?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows the expression “to fall asleep at the switch”. Well, my colleague is taking it to a new level, to the point that there will be a photo of the Conservative caucus next to the definition in the dictionary.

The bill has been the subject of debate in the House and Senate for a year now. It is a good bill. The music, film and television industries have been asking for this bill.

I am happy that the Conservatives are taking an interest in it today, but it is a bit late. They have been asleep for a year.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the member, or rather the leader of the Liberal-Bloc Québécois party, wants to talk about a caucus, he should maybe look in his own backyard.

I am not sure everyone is going to be in the photo of his caucus. I am just throwing it out there. There might be more Bloc Québécois members than Liberals.

The reality is that the minister likes to bicker with the Bloc Québécois. The Bloc is not complaining because Quebec's interests must be defended.

Will the minister agree to meet with the Government of Quebec in committee so that it can express its views on this bill that it does not like?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP are certainly working in Quebec's interests.

It is like we are dealing with a groundhog that has just woken up from its winter slumber and is telling us how well it slept, now that it has finally woken up.

However, things were moving while the groundhog was hibernating. There were meetings in the House. There were meetings in the Senate. This is a good bill. We are going to move forward, even if the Conservatives do not want to.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the National Assembly of Quebec is calling for changes to Bill C‑11 and Bill C‑5.

This involves the ministers of Canadian heritage and justice. These two bills have the support of the Bloc-Liberal alliance and go against the direction the Government of Quebec wants to take.

Will our two ministers, who are Quebeckers, shamefully supported by the Bloc Québécois, refuse to provide Quebec the help it is looking for and thereby deny the existence of the Quebec nation?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that my colleague did not yell too loudly or he might have woken up his gang that has been asleep for the past year.

We have been debating this bill for a year. The Conservatives in the House are asleep. The Conservatives in the Senate are asleep.

In the meantime, we are working for the music, movie and television industry. We are working for Quebec and for all Canadians.

Justice

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec National Assembly is concerned about the possibility under Bill C‑5 of conditional sentences for some violent crimes, such as sexual assault. It is clear that Bill C‑5 opens the door to problems.

The Bloc Québécois reiterates the fair compromise it had proposed during consideration of Bill C‑5 that was rejected by the Conservative-Liberal federalist bloc: to restore minimum sentences for gun crimes and armed sexual assaults, while allowing judges to make exceptions. This remains the most balanced approach.

Does the minister understand Quebec's concerns and, if so, will he consider this compromise?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, serious crimes always deserve serious consequences.

With Bill C‑5, we abandoned policies that clogged our justice system and our prisons, and we decided to fight systemic racism. The Bloc Québécois voted in favour of Bill C‑5 because it knew that minimum sentences do not work.

Our government is supporting victims of sexual assault. We are working on this. We introduced legislation and programs to reinforce support for victims, and we will continue that work.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the media, four victim advocacy groups backed Quebec's concerns. We cannot ignore them. The minister has the right to make a mistake, and it would be honourable to admit it. I would remind him that, at the time, everyone seemed open to the Bloc Québécois compromise, including the experts who appeared before the committee.

Therefore, we will be introducing a bill that would restore minimum sentencing for firearms offences and prohibit conditional sentencing for sexual assault while allowing the courts to make exceptions, with justification, in exceptional cases. Can we count on the Minister of Justice to be open-minded? I am not addressing the quarrelsome minister who is always bickering, but the Minister of Justice.

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of Bill C‑5, is to address systemic racism and the overrepresentation of indigenous and Black people in the justice system. Yesterday, we announced the creation of a steering group to develop a justice strategy for Canada's Black people. I heard the testimony of people who have experienced systemic racism. We will continue to combat racism and Bill C‑5 is part of our efforts.

Public Services and Procurement

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, high-priced consultants at McKinsey & Company have never had it so good. They are setting immigration policy. They are setting immigration targets. Public servants are admitting this and it is reported in the CBC. Even Bill Morneau, in his book, admitted that McKinsey is setting immigration policy. Do members know who is not admitting to that? The Minister of Immigration himself. Who is telling the truth?

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

Mr. Speaker, I certainly hope that members actually listened to the Minister of Immigration's appearance at committee. I will repeat what he said. The minister was very clear that he has not met with McKinsey, nor been influenced.

However, if the Conservatives want to listen to someone, let us quote someone. I would invite them to listen to their former Conservative leader, John Reynolds. He said, “The attacks levied against [Dominic Barton] by the Conservative party I once led are baseless.” Let us make sure they start listening and acting.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, it is hard for Canadians not to be disappointed when every day there is a news story about a Liberal breaking the law. While Canadians are struggling to feed their families and keep the heat on at home, the Liberals are lining the pockets of their friends, like the trade minister did, like the housing minister did, like the intergovernmental affairs minister did and like the Prime Minister did. It was tens of thousands of dollars sent to their well-connected friends.

Will the Liberal Prime Minister take responsibility for the law-breaking in his Liberal government benches, or will he get out of the way so we can fix what they have broken?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the party opposite, the Conservatives, have on a number of occasions said to get out of the way so they can step in. I think they are missing our democratic process. They have to face an election. They have faced a number of elections where their policies were rejected. Maybe they should reflect on why their policies were rejected.

They undercut our efforts all over the world to deal with climate change, and they were seen as an agent to destroy action on climate change in the world. They have refused to take action to improve Canada's employment situation or child care, and now they are refusing to vote on dental care. They are good on rhetoric, not on action.

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

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about action. Some 1.5 million Canadians are using food banks in a single month. Mortgages are going up to more than $3,000 per month. Rent is doubling to more than $2,000 per month. Twenty per cent of Canadians are skipping meals every day because they cannot afford them. No government has ever spent so much to achieve so little, unless someone is a well-connected Liberal insider. Then it is tens of thousands of dollars from the Liberal lawbreakers.

Is today the day the Liberal Prime Minister will finally take responsibility for the law-breaking in his government?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let us dial the tape back. We had 10 years of economic stagnation under the Harper Conservatives, with not a year over 1% growth. Some 2.7 million people have been lifted out of poverty since we have been on this side. Two million more Canadians are working. What do the Conservatives have? They have nada, zip, zilch. They have no plan on climate change, no plan on affordability and no plan to grow the economy. We have a plan and we are delivering it. All they have are buzzwords and nonsense economics.

Post-Secondary Education

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, post-secondary education for official language minority communities across the country is very important to our government.

There is a huge need in francophone communities. This sector is being affected by the labour shortage. More francophone and bilingual teachers are needed.

I wonder if the Minister of Official Languages could explain to the House what she is doing to support French-language post-secondary institutions.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pontiac for her question and for her hard work.

I was very pleased to be at the University of Ottawa yesterday with the President of the Treasury Board to announce a federal contribution of $20.4 million to support French-language programs at the University of Ottawa.

This funding will be used to develop new courses entirely in French and to hire faculty in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as to create a new centre of excellence for French-language education.

This is another example of how this government is supporting official language minority communities and post-secondary institutions in those communities.

Seniors

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister's inflationary policies, seniors cannot afford food. Barry told me that 40 out of 120 attendees at the mission he works at were seniors. People who used to donate to food banks are having to go to one because they cannot afford groceries.

Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for seniors going without food, or will the Liberals get out of the way so the Conservatives can fix what they have broken and restore seniors' dignity?

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, we recognize the challenge that seniors are facing, and our government has been there for them from day one. While the party opposite has had nothing for seniors in any of its campaign platforms, our government is helping seniors who are struggling by doubling the GST tax credit and providing dental and rental support. We are increasing the OAS for seniors over 75. We will take no lessons from that party on this side of the House.

Aviation Industry

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, after eights years of the Liberal Prime Minister, everything in the Liberal government is broken. The passport office cannot issue passports, the immigration office cannot approve permanent residencies and now Transport Canada is experiencing delays of up to eight months to approve applications for commercial pilot licences. This is after the pilots have completed all the training requirements.

What did the Liberals break this time to cause these delays at Transport Canada?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, our top priority is ensuring that air crew meet all necessary medical requirements so they can do their jobs safely. There have been delays beyond our service standard, due to the unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19, that have impacted the global air sector.

Transport Canada has put in place changes to the processing and assessment of files to improve the efficiency of the review process. Transport Canada is in the process of hiring additional staff to speed up the processing of medical certificates.

We are on the job. The Conservatives want to forget about COVID—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Regina—Wascana has the floor.