Debates of March 21st, 2023

The Francophonie

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the month of March symbolizes our francophone pride and our linguistic duality. Yesterday, on March 20, francophones in my community of Orleans, across Canada and throughout the world celebrated the International Day of La Francophonie.

My colleague, the Minister of Official Languages came to my community, to the Collège catholique Mer bleue, under the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-est, and we met with students to talk with them about the importance of speaking, studying and living in French.

March 8 was also International Women's Day. I had the privilege of hosting over 115 women in my community at my ninth annual breakfast where I presented the 2023 Orléans Leading Women and Girls Recognition Award to 49 women and girls for their leadership and community involvement.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for continuing to promote our beautiful French language, in all its diversity.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with those honouring March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It was on this day, in 1960, that the Sharpeville massacre claimed the lives of 69 Black people murdered by the police during a peaceful demonstration against the pass system in apartheid South Africa.

In Hamilton, we have a long legacy of community-wide human rights activism. I am especially proud to congratulate my sister and MPP elect Sarah Jama, who as an ardent anti-racism organizer and who won a decisive victory in the by-election in Hamilton Centre.

Today, I would also like to recognize the tireless efforts led by my brother Darren Green and the USW Hamilton Steelworkers Council, alongside the HCCI, HARRC, ACCA, CCAR, the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, the Hamilton Black History Council and dozens of other local organizations over the past decade. They continue to come together on this day to honour the victims of racial discrimination and continue our pledge to fight to see it eliminated.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Once again, I want to remind everyone that S. O. 31s are taking place and we all want to hear the messages that are coming across.

The hon. member for Drummond.

Claude Fournier

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, filmmaker Claude Fournier passed away last week at the age of 91.

An icon of our culture and a pioneer of our film and television industry is gone. He was a member of the generation of filmmakers who created direct cinema, a distinctly Quebec contribution to the history of the seventh art.

He directed the classic Quebec film Two Women in Gold, the first of a series of erotic comedies with such suggestive titles as Hot Dogs and The Apple, the Stem and the Seeds. They were all big box office hits.

He worked in other genres as well, producing the wonderful film The Mills of Power and several television series, including Juliette Pomerleau and Félix Leclerc, which showcase his impressive versatility. He even flirted with English-language film by producing Alien Thunder, which starred Donald Sutherland.

Mr. Fournier leaves behind his wife and collaborator on many projects, Marie‑Josée Raymond, and his twin brother and well-known television personality, Guy Fournier. We extend our sincere condolences to them and to all his family and friends.

I thank Claude Fournier for everything.

Carbon Tax

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Mr. Speaker, no matter what our diet is, we all want tasty, fresh and sustainable food at prices that we can afford and that ensure a fair living to those who produce it.

As parliamentarians, the least we should be doing is to make growing our food more affordable. However, not all parties seem to be that way. In fact, the Liberals are slapping the punitive carbon tax on farmers to make it harder to farm and to make our food more expensive. When the Liberals are done, a 5,000-acre farm will pay $150,000 per year in carbon taxes alone. Those costs will be passed on to regular Canadians. However, we do not have to worry. The NDP leader will blame it all on the grocery stores.

At a time of food insecurity and food inflation at a 40-year high, the family farm is increasingly unsustainable, but the high-tax Liberal-NDP coalition will keep increasing taxes because that is what those parties do. Only Conservatives would cancel the tax and help farmers to keep growing.

Greek Independence Day

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on March 25, Greeks across Canada and around the world will celebrate Greek Independence Day. It is the day that marks the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, the start of the revolution which would allow the people of Greece to regain their freedom after 400 years of Ottoman occupation.

On this day in 1821, the words “eleftheria i thanatos”, meaning “freedom or death”, became the slogan of the nation and brave men and women fought courageously for a better future for their country, for a liberated Greece.

There were heroic revolutionaries like Theodoros Kolokotronis, Laskarina Bouboulina and Rigas Feraios, who wrote: “It is finer to live one hour as a free man than 40 years as a slave and prisoner”.

It is thanks to the heroes of 1821 that Greeks are still around today to thrive in communities around the world. We remember them, we march in their honour, and tonight the Canada–Greece Parliamentary Friendship Group will host a reception on Parliament Hill to celebrate the occasion.

[Member spoke in Greek]

Democratic Institutions

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has backed down and flip-flopped after weeks of pressure from the Conservative Party to allow just one of his aides to testify about how Beijing helped the Liberal Party in multiple elections.

He is delaying the truth. He has appointed a friend, neighbour from the cottage and member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation to produce a report that will take months.

Will he finally end the cover-up and launch a public inquiry today?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious issue. It should not be a partisan issue, and it never should be.

That is why we have appointed David Johnston as an independent expert to identify any gaps in the system. The special rapporteur will make public recommendations, which could include a formal inquiry or some other type of independent review. We will abide by those recommendations.

Two national security bodies will undertake separate reviews of foreign interference in our elections, because we take this issue very seriously.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it took weeks of pressure for the Prime Minister to back down and flip-flop, but allow only one of his top advisers, one of the key people involved in the campaigns that Beijing helped the Liberal Party win in multiple elections. However, what we really need is the full truth.

He has named his neighbour, family friend, ski buddy and member of the Beijing-financed Trudeau Foundation to look into the matter, which is nothing more than a delay.

Will the Prime Minister allow Canadians to get to the truth and prevent this from happening again before the next election, with a full public inquiry now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know this is an extremely serious issue and should not be a partisan issue.

That is why we named David Johnston as the independent expert to identify any gaps in our system. He will make public recommendations, which could include a formal inquiry or some other independent review process. We will abide by those recommendations.

Also, we have two national security bodies that will undertake independent reviews of foreign interference in our elections, and we are also taking further immediate action to bolster our institutions, better coordinate government efforts to combat interference, counter disinformation and move forward on a foreign influence registry.

Carbon Pricing

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, data out today shows that food prices are exploding. Anyone who has been to a grocery store already knew it, but what is the Prime Minister's solution?

He wants to raise taxes on the farmers who produce our food and the truckers who ship it, which means more expensive groceries at the grocery store. It is part of his plan to triple the tax on heat, gas and groceries.

The Prime Minister loves to jet around at other people's expense, burning fossil fuels. Will he show some decency and some compassion for the people he has harmed and cancel the April 1 tax hike?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, when I sat down with farmers a few weeks ago to hear their concerns and to talk with them about how we are moving forward, they expressed to me their real concerns, and, quite frankly, their leadership in the fight against climate change and their leadership on protecting the environment.

That is why I underlined to them and to all Canadians that the Leader of the Opposition is simply wrong in his approach on not fighting climate change.

The price on pollution puts more money back in the pockets of Canadians while keeping our air clean. Indeed, a family of four in the opposition leader's riding received over $185 from our government in January, thanks to the climate action incentive—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, $185 will not even cover a week's groceries for the average family after food prices have exploded under the Prime Minister.

If he thinks our farmers are doing such a great job fighting climate change, as I do, then why does he have to tax them again with a big tax hike on April 1? It is worse; it is not just food he is taxing. He wants to increase home heating costs and gas prices, a full 14¢ a-litre tax, a tax that he wants to triple.

Will the Prime Minister cancel his planned April 1 tax hike so that Canadians can afford to eat and to heat and house themselves?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, again, as of April the climate action incentive will increase in the member opposite's riding. A Canadian family of four will receive $244 in his riding.

We have made that because, even as we move forward on putting a price on pollution, we are putting more money back in the pockets of Canadian families. Canadian families know that we do have to fight climate change while making sure things are more affordable.

That is why we stepped up on issues like dental care and rental care, two issues the Conservatives voted against.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, now he calls single mothers polluters because they buy groceries. He calls farmers polluters because they use fuel. He calls seniors polluters because they heat their homes. This is from a guy who, we just found out, for one of his four government-funded mansions, spent $8,000 a month on utilities to heat the pool and the sauna. He flew 17 times in one month, including one 10-minute flight because he did not want to drive an hour from Waterloo to Toronto.

Why does the Prime Minister not stop his high carbon, high tax hypocrisy and cancel this tax?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian are facing challenging times right now because of incredibly challenging global contexts, whether it is the war in Ukraine or whether it is the end of the pandemic and disruptions of the supply chain. There are lots of issues and inflation facing Canadians right now, but instead of offering solutions, the Leader of the Opposition plays up partisan, personal attacks.

On this side of the House, we are focused on delivering for Canadians, delivering a GST rebate that helped 11 million Canadians last fall, delivering rental benefits and dental care that Conservatives voted against. We will continue to be there for Canadians while he plays talking games.

Democratic Institutions

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, all the opposition parties are calling for an independent public inquiry and they want to see a commissioner appointed. We are talking about the majority of members of Parliament, which is no small thing. Many experts are recommending such a commission, including Mr. Rosenberg himself.

There is broad consensus in civil society in favour of such a commission, and the intelligence agencies are expressing serious concerns. I, for one, do not understand and want to ask the Prime Minister a very direct question. Why not call an independent public inquiry led by a commissioner appointed by the House?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect us to take this issue seriously, and that is exactly what we have done. We appointed an independent expert, David Johnston, our former governor general. We have given him a mandate to identify any gaps in the system. The rapporteur will make public recommendations, which could include a formal inquiry or some other type of independent review, as he deems necessary to reassure Canadians. We will follow his recommendations.

In addition, two national security agencies will be undertaking separate reviews with respect to foreign interference, and we will continue to take this seriously.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I know a little something about independence, and the special rapporteur who was appointed is about as independent as I am federalist.

The President of the United States is going to be in the House on Friday. The fact that the government does not want to launch a public inquiry sends a rather odd message in terms of national security for the entire continent, does it not? I am not accusing the Prime Minister of anything, but why not take this opportunity to put an end to the unfortunate impression that he has something to hide?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians need to have confidence in our electoral system and in our democracy. That is why we appointed David Johnston, a former governor general, as an independent expert. We are pleased to announce that his mandate was made public this morning. David Johnston is not partisan. He is a patriotic Canadian who has always put Canada first and who served admirably as a governor general after being appointed by a Conservative politician.

Canadians are rejecting the unfounded attacks on a man who spent his career serving Canadians. As for my colleague's federalism, I will let him explain how he got there.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, New Democrats care deeply about democracy and are deeply concerned about political interference in our system. That is why we forced the government to end the obstruction in committee and to allow the chief of staff of the Prime Minister to testify, rendering the Conservative motion useless, which is not surprising because the Conservatives just want to play games. In fact, they are right now, the Conservative Party members, blocking our motion to have a vote in the House on a public inquiry.

My question to the Conservative leader is this. Why is he playing games? What does he have to hide? Why will he not stand up?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order, please.

I just want to remind the hon. members what question period is about. It is about the opposition holding government to account, not discussing among themselves.

The right. hon. Prime Minister has the floor.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to stand up to reinforce what my hon. parliamentary colleague pointed out, that the Conservative leader and indeed Conservative parliamentarians seem to be more focused on playing partisan games and personal attacks than they are on actually seeing Canadians reassured about the state of our democracy and the tools we have to counter foreign interference.

That is exactly why we chose to move forward with an unimpeachable expert, former governor general David Johnston, who is going to look deeply and seriously, with a wide and deep mandate released this morning, to reassure Canadians that all is being done to protect our democracy.