Debates of Feb. 17th, 2023

Government Priorities

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the work of the member opposite.

I simply do not understand why it is that when we try to improve the situation of Canadians, Conservatives vote against it. On two different occasions, we reduced taxes for middle-class Canadians and the Conservatives voted against it. On two different occasions, we reduced taxes on small business owners and the Conservatives voted against that as well. We have been investing in Canadians, and the $10-a-day child care agreement is the latest example.

Why will the Conservatives not be there for Canadians when they need it most?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite clearly did not take lessons when her colleague, the Liberal member for Louis-Hébert, called on the Liberal government to stop dividing Canadians, stop pitting one part of the population against another, stop with the division and stop with the distractions. Our Conservative leader’s positive message is this: enough divide-and-conquer; unite Canadians.

Again, why does the Prime Minister continue to divide Canadians and distract them from his failures?

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

Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives. If there is one Canadian who has stoked fear in our society, it is the leader of the Conservatives. Canadians watching at home on Friday know that.

This is the time to unite Canadians. This is the time to talk about Canada, to talk up Canada. We are winning around the world. We have record investments in this country. Every parliamentarian here should talk up Canada. It is not time to stoke fear. It is time to unite Canadians, to seize the moment and be ambitious.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, one year ago, a Liberal MP said, “It’s time to stop dividing Canadians”. What has happened in the last year? Canadians are more divided than ever. Inflation is at a 40-year high, 50% of Canadians are cutting on groceries, rent is up and mortgage costs are up, except we cannot question these issues or we would be called unpatriotic by the government.

Canadians are struggling, and the Prime Minister wants to keep dividing. How come the government will not even take the advice of its own Liberal MP?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is right. Canadians are struggling and Canadians do not seem to understand why the Conservative Party does not want to help them.

We have put forward measures in order to support Canadians through this difficult time, whether it is the doubling of the GST tax credit, our rental supports or our dental supports for children, which have helped over 200,000 children go to the dentist. The Conservatives voted against that measure.

I think members of the Conservative Party need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide how it is that they can actually help improve the situation in this country rather than voting down measures that support Canadians.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we did support the government with the GST supplement, which is actually running out now. What we did not support was distributing dental and rental benefits by a process that is being called into question by the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Auditor General, who says it increases the risk of fraud.

If we listen to everybody else, the government says all these issues are someone else's problems. They happen outside of Canada. That means the government does not believe it has the responsibility or the ability to fix the problems that it causes.

Will the government finally take responsibility for the issues that it has caused?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I feel that we need to remind the Conservatives that it was this government that decided, in 2016, to take a true strategy on poverty in this country. This government implemented the CCB, which lifted 3.5 million families out of struggles. Six million children were helped by that program. The Conservatives voted against it.

This is a government that has implemented subsidized, affordable, high-quality child care across this country from coast to coast to coast, yet the Conservatives grudgingly support that. They do not know what they support, but they do not support Canadians.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of Liberal failures, more Canadians feel that our country is broken in so many ways. The Prime Minister does not want to hear it and tries to deny it, but it is true. He blames the rest of the world and shames other people for the problems that his Liberal government created.

Instead of dividing Canadians against each other to distract from Liberal failures, will he finally take some responsibility and let Conservatives fix what he broke?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is honestly quite disturbing to hear a member of Parliament talk about Canada being broken. At a time when we see division in the world, let us unite together to build up Canada. Let us talk about our economy. Let us talk about what we are doing for Canadians. Let us be together, not to stoke fear but to stoke hope in Canadians. That is what we are doing on this side of the aisle. We know Canadians know we have their backs. We will continue to work for them at every step of the way.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the 1.5 million Canadians using the food bank now who never have before might have something different to say from what he had to say.

The government can ignore the opposition all it wants, but one of its own Liberal members called out the government last year, saying, “both the tone and the policies of my government changed drastically on the eve and during the last election campaign. From a positive and unifying approach, a decision was made to wedge, to divide and to stigmatize.”

One more time, when will they take responsibility for what they broke?

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

Mr. Speaker, again, Canadians are watching. All we hear this morning is about “broken”. Let us talk about building together. That is what we are doing on this side, and I think every member of Parliament wants to do that.

Let us look at what we have done together. We have been there for seniors. We have been there for children. We have been there to help Canadians when they need it most. At the same time, we rebuilt our industrial policy. We landed significant deals when it comes to the aerospace industry. We have the largest hydrogen plant in North America, in Edmonton.

Things are working well. We need to work together to help Canadians.

Official Languages

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us go back a little in the famous “West Island Story” narrative.

The member for Saint-Laurent spread misinformation when she said that anglophones would no longer receive health care in their language because of the Charter of the French Language. That is completely false, but all the Liberal members from Quebec defended her.

Could one of them finally rise today and tell the House that what the member said is false, and that anglophones will be able to continue receiving care in their language—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. We are the first government to recognize the decline of French in Quebec and across Canada. It is important that Bill C-13 have teeth to support official language minority communities across the country.

I encourage all members of the House to ensure that Bill C‑13 is passed as quickly as possible. It is important to official language minority communities across Canada.

I hope that the Bloc Québécois will join us. At present, it seems that the Bloc will vote against Bill C‑13, and that is not acceptable.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-13 is undermining the French language in Quebec as we speak. A dozen Liberal MPs from Quebec are considering voting against their own bill.

There are still a few characters to discover in our favourite show, “West Island Story”, but we have already met a few, including the member for Saint-Laurent, the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel and the member for Mount Royal.

These members are opposed to simply recognizing the Charter of the French Language in Bill C-13. These same members were among those who abstained from recognizing that Quebeckers form a nation in 2021.

Does that seem like a coincidence?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the French language is declining in Quebec and across Canada. That is why is it important that Bill C-13 be passed.

Once again, I do not understand the Bloc Québécois's position. The Bloc wants to kill Bill C-13 and is doing everything it can to withhold support for official language minority communities in this country.

As a proud Franco-Ontarian, I am still hoping to have the support of the Bloc Québécois to ensure that Bill C-13 is passed. This is important for the survival of the French language and the vitality of these communities. We must work together to achieve this goal.

Foreign Affairs

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Beijing's communist agents engaged in a sophisticated strategy of manipulation and disinformation to wage a ground war on our democracy and on our elections. That is not me saying it; that is on the front page of The Globe and Mail. It reports that a Conservative MP was targeted for daring to champion establishing a foreign agent registry to plug a national security hole.

The government is broken. It has not done anything. Did the Prime Minister turn a blind eye to foreign interference because he stood to gain from it politically?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely not. Our government has been clear from the beginning that foreign interference is a serious threat to this country. That is precisely why we have taken action. The Conservatives seem to wake up to this fact only when they think it is politically advantageous.

Meanwhile, on this side of the House, we have put in place measures like the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, a SITE committee, and the critical election preparedness committee. We will work to improve our democratic institutions and secure them while Conservatives play politics.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the people playing politics are Beijing and its communist agents in Canada, while the government does nothing about it. It knows and it does not tell Canadians that there have been serious accounts of foreign interference. The Globe and Mail reports a CSIS source of direct interference, including illegal donations, communist agents directing volunteers and a Beijing embassy official taking credit for the defeat of two Conservative MPs.

The Prime Minister has said in Parliament that the task force determined “that the integrity of our elections was not compromised” in 2019 or 2021. CSIS says the opposite. Who is telling the truth, the Prime Minister or CSIS?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, let me remind this place and the Conservatives that it was actually our government that closed financing loopholes that their unfair elections act actually left wide open for foreign interference.

In addition to that, let us remind Canadians what CSIS and our national security community have said. They have said that there was no activity that compromised the integrity of our elections.

Are the Conservatives going to work with us to continue to strengthen our institutions, or are they going to continue to do China's bidding and undermine the trust in our democratic institutions?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told reporters last November that Canadians could rest assured that the integrity of our elections was not compromised. He was referring to the 2019 and 2021 elections.

Today, The Globe and Mail reports some disturbing facts, and this is not coming from the mouths of Conservatives. Communist regime operatives actively worked to promote the election of a minority Liberal government in 2021. A disinformation campaign against Conservative candidates, illegal donations, it is all laid out in the CSIS report.

Was the Prime Minister intentionally turning a blind eye because the secret reports he was receiving benefited him?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, once again, if the Conservatives were paying attention, back when we took office, we were putting in place measures to strengthen our democracy. Conservatives seem to be awake to issues of foreign interference only when it seems politically advantageous.

However, this is precisely why we have been saying, time and time again, that the threat of foreign interference is persistent and ongoing. That is why we need to continually be addressing this. I urge the Conservatives to actually work together on solutions instead of working with China to undermine the trust in our democracy.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, addressing something is not resolving it.

The tactics outlined in the CSIS report include making undeclared cash donations to political campaigns and having business owners hire students and assign them to volunteer full-time in election campaigns. Donors sympathetic to the regime were encouraged to provide campaign contributions to candidates favoured by China.

During the last election, the Prime Minister knew that the Chinese Communist regime was actively involved in disinformation, particularly in two ridings. The Prime Minister told the House that the integrity of our elections was not compromised in 2019 and 2021. The CSIS report shows otherwise.

Who is telling the truth?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to refresh the memory of the member opposite. On December 18, 2020, I wrote that member, and every member in this House, a letter advising them about the threat of foreign interference, and particularly the threat that China represented to our political integrity. That information was shared with every member of this House, bringing it to their attention. As well, we articulated the steps that the government was taking to protect our democratic institutions.

The Liberal government has been alive and alert to that threat, and has taken action to protect our institutions.

Telecommunications

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have some of the most expensive cell phones compared to other G7 countries, and the cost-of-living crisis is only making it more difficult for Canadians. The minister is letting Canadians suffer with higher bills as he drags out the decision on the Rogers-Shaw merger. Rogers gobbling up Shaw means less competition, less choice, higher bills and worse service for families.

Why is the minister taking so long to defend Canadians and to stop the merger? He has all the evidence and the support of the NDP to stop this greedflation. Why will he not act?