House of Commons Hansard #164 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was cybersecurity.

Topics

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:20 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, I have a lot of trouble putting any confidence in the Liberal government. It took seven years for it to ban Huawei. It is a government that sat on its hands and did nothing about cybersecurity for the past several years. I know this is a government I cannot trust. When I look at Bill C-11, the Liberals are now trying to censor Canadians online. They are trying to control what people see online, which violates charter rights, especially when it comes down to freedom of expression, freedom of association and the ability to actually have discourse online about our political situation in Canada and around the world. When the Liberals try to put veils over certain parts of our information system, I have to be very concerned.

I look at Bill C-21 and how the Liberals have gone after responsible firearms owners like hunters, sport shooters and farmers. To me, that builds no trust in the government to get the job done.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Bloc

Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. It was eminently sensible, and he made some good points. I am glad the Conservatives are going to vote in favour of the bill so that it can go to committee, and I hope we will all approach that work in good faith, as we should.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to serve as a substitute at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. I had a chance to question a witness, and one of the things we talked about was quantum computing, a new and rapidly evolving technology that Canada is absolutely not ready for. My sense is that it will take a massive investment up front to prepare the country for future cyber-attacks by systems that could crack passwords at lightning speed.

Does my colleague see this as a priority issue? Does he think that the committee should discuss making a massive investment in R and D and creating a technical team to get ready for these new technologies?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, we all have to be concerned about the rapid deployment of new technologies and how they can be used nefariously to attack Canadians. This comes back to Bill C-26 as well. Again, the government would be putting all the onus on corporate Canada to protect us, but at the same time, I wonder who will do the R&D, who will step up to ensure our technology and our ability to defend ourselves is deployed across the spectrum, whether it is government agencies, government departments, our provincial and territorial partners or corporate Canada. How are we going to ensure the safety of Canadians when it comes down to their personal information and ID, especially if we are seeing new malware out there that will harvest and hack passwords in a matter of seconds?

We have to be investing in R&D. The government has a responsibility and role to get it done, but we do not see that in Bill C-26.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

NDP

Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU

Uqaqtittiji, I agree that there needs to be better privacy protections to ensure our rights are not violated. I wonder if the member could share with us whether he agrees there needs to be greater parliamentary oversight built into the bill.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, I agree. Right now, this will be studied only at the industry committee, but it involves a huge component of national security and national defence. I hope that as legislation comes forward, we will see other studies come into play that look at the impacts of it as it applies not just to industry but to our national security. One would hope that the public safety committee would also undertake a study. There might be a requirement to split this bill, and perhaps OGGO, the government operations committee, needs to look at this as well.

There are multiple departments within the Government of Canada, like Shared Services Canada, but how do we make sure that they are fully up to scale with all of the technologies that are currently available and that they are developing the new technologies needed to defend Canadians here at home? We know that the Government of Canada already collects a pile of personal information from Canadians and that they have been targeted by nefarious foreign actors, transnational criminal organizations and cybercriminals right here in Canada.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:25 p.m.

Conservative

Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB

Madam Speaker, this is a very interesting debate and something we should be discussing thoroughly here in the House.

As my colleague has spent a lot of years as a defence critic and in the defence milieu, he is knowledgeable, so I want to ask him a bit about the People's Liberation Army's units 61486 and 61398. We know from public reports that these units have thousands and thousands of people working for them. The entire Canadian Armed Forces is somewhere around 60,000 to 70,000 people, so we would be outnumbered by their cyber-divisions alone.

Given the fact that AI is now in the public domain, does the bill go far enough in addressing the legitimate concerns that foreign actors create in everyday life here in Canada? What could be improved upon in the legislation?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

March 6th, 2023 / 1:25 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, my colleague is dead right that the People’s Liberation Army in Beijing has established a number of different cybersecurity units and that their whole goal is to cyber-attack. Canada is not an ally of China, so we have been attacked by the regime in Beijing. It will continue to attack us here and attack NORAD, as we just witnessed with the high-altitude balloons going around doing surveillance on military installations across North America.

We have to be ready, and the cybersecurity command we have here in Canada has been slow to get off the ground under the leadership of the Liberals. We need more resources. We need to use our reserves to find the right type of personnel out there, who are currently working in the private sector. Maybe we can also put them to work part time to defend Canada's interests so that both the corporate world and our national defence will be under better control and better command, with ultimately better protection for all Canadians.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:30 p.m.

Bloc

Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC

Madam Speaker, I had some interesting discussions with many people last week in the wake of the TikTok ban. Obviously, one of the reasons that the platform was banned was because the Chinese state could take advantage of the personal information that goes along with using that platform. Someone was telling me that Facebook and Instagram are already doing it, yet no one seems to be concerned.

Of course, the concern with TikTok is that it is the Chinese state that could use the information. However, Facebook's business model is to take our information and give it to private companies that then use it to sell products. I have a bit problem with that.

I think we have all had the experience of talking openly about a product with someone and seeing an ad for that product two minutes later on our phone. Obviously, there are all kinds of ways to avoid that, but I think a lot of people have no idea how to go about it. We could create legislation to try to tighten up the use of these platforms.

Does my colleague agree?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:30 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Madam Speaker, my colleague from the Bloc was spot on when he started talking about Canadians being very trusting. All consumers are very trusting when using social media like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. When I was at the ethics committee, we looked at Clearview AI, which scraped images off of Facebook and Instagram to build up its databases to profile criminals. On top of that, we found out that it was racialized.

As Canadians and as consumers, we have to be very diligent with where we are sharing our information. I agree that we have to ask questions around social media platforms like Facebook, not just TikTok.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise in the House today to share my thoughts and those of my constituents on Bill C-26. I am very pleased to have this opportunity.

Bill C-26 is a risky and tricky piece of legislation. On the one hand, we have serious and growing issues of cybersecurity, and on the other hand, we have the importance of personal privacy. We also have questions related to government accountability and oversight. I am sorry to say that the government has not done a stellar job on either one of those fronts to date. I am hopeful that members of this House can work together collaboratively to craft a piece of legislation around what has been proposed in Bill C-26 that balances both of those vital yet often competing priorities.

I grew up in the 1960s under the spectre of the Cold War. When I was a kid, the threat of foreign attack came from the air above us, from nuclear missiles from Russia or China. While our adversaries remain the same and current events have sadly brought the spectre of nuclear disaster to the forefront again, the method of attack to which we are most susceptible today is far more sophisticated and far more insidious.

Rather than bombs from the air above us, the weapons of our enemies are in the air all around us: Men and women are sitting at computers in dark rooms, in government agencies or at the local library sending out digital viruses. These cancers attack the Internet, telecommunication waves and the platforms we have become reliant on to what I would consider to be an unhealthy degree.

That is where I will pause for a moment, because I think the best thing we can do, the first step to securing our national security and the well-being of Canadians, is what nobody wants to do, which is to take a little step backwards to take a look at this. We need to divest ourselves of our all-consuming reliance on digital platforms, devices and infrastructure, and ensure that our most vital infrastructure always has a physical fail-safe to fall back on.

Let me give an example. Let us talk about digital currency for a second. Digital currency exists. Most Canadians have a credit card, a debit card and online banking. I do and I use them; it is convenient. However, that is not to say for a minute that I think progress demands that we do away with hard currency. It is exactly the opposite. Canadians have become more reliant on digital currency, forms of digital ID, smart phones, smart cars, smart homes, smart cities, smart bombs, smart banking and smart hospitals, and the really smart thing to do is ensure that we always maintain physical infrastructure and ensure we are in control and not crippled by the worst that could happen.

Nothing is impenetrable. No matter how good or amazing the technology that we create is, no device, no platform and no code has been created that cannot be hacked. Anything people make, people can break, and if they cannot, they will develop a machine that can break it.

I was reminded of a story last week of a military computer virus called Stuxnet. Stuxnet single-handedly destroyed one-fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges. Actually, that is not totally correct. The worm that Stuxnet was caused these sophisticated machines to self-destruct. It got into their systems, learned how they operated and then caused the powerful turbines to spin in reverse, shredding the machines. We have artificial intelligence so advanced that it can make decisions, and the people who created the technology do not even know how the decisions came about. It cannot even tell them. It is a little scary.

Digitized records are important. We have all come to rely on them, but I believe keeping a hard copy is also important. Ensuring that we maintain a hard physical currency is very important too, as is recognizing the value of currency produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. We need to ensure that our power grid still has a physical switch and that our hospitals and banking systems cannot be crippled by a bright kid with a laptop or a foreign actor with a more malicious intent.

The government has been very slow to address cyber-threats. Under its watch, the CRA was hacked. It said 5,000 accounts were affected, yet that number turned out to be 50,000. It did not address the issue. There were lots of excuses from the minister, but what really happened? One year later it happened again, and another 10,000 Canadians had their personal data accessed by hackers. Last year, the National Research Council was hacked.

I am sure that after this past week, the government is tired of talking about foreign interference in our elections, so I will not belabour that point, except to say that we did have foreign interference in our elections. The Prime Minister knew about it and he did nothing. Worse than that, he still refuses to tell Canadians the truth about what he knew and when he knew it. Like everything else, he refuses to take responsibility. I wonder sometimes just how much longer those on the government benches will allow him to do so. I would bet that right now the Reform Act is looking pretty attractive to them.

Last year, Rogers' network went down suddenly. Canadians could not access their banking. Businesses could not function. Emergency services were affected. Rogers and the government said it was a glitch, a hack. We will probably never know for sure, but the effect was the same: chaos. That is what our enemies want, and we do have enemies, both foreign and domestic, people who want to see anarchy and to cause chaos, fear and division. It sounds eerily familiar.

What legislative response have we seen from the government to date? I am seriously asking, because when I think back over the past seven years that the Liberals have been in power, I am not aware of any substantive action, either proactive or reactive, that they have taken to address our cybersecurity and the glaring vulnerabilities that exist with respect to it. To that end, I am glad that we are now finally having this important discussion. We need to beef up our security systems, beef up our cybersecurity system and keep Canadians safe.

As the government always says, Canadians have a right to be safe and to feel safe. The obvious irony is that it only says it when it is clear that Canadians are neither safe nor feeling safe. Canadians should be able to feel safe, should be safe and should have confidence in the cybersecurity system they rely on.

My time is almost gone, and that is a shame because there are so many things we need to talk about with respect to this bill, although I am confident that my colleagues will be able to further articulate some of the concerns. However, I do want to say one word about privacy.

Many Canadians are concerned about the ever-increasing size, scope and reach of government in this country. The Prime Minister has increased the size of government by some 30%, and this bill gives such sweeping powers to the government that it has prompted numerous civil liberties groups, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and the Privacy and Access Council of Canada, in addition to several other groups and academics, to express their very serious concerns about this legislation. They call it “deeply problematic” because it “risks undermining [the] privacy rights [of Canadians], and the principles of accountable governance and judicial due process”. That is a lot to unpack in just one sentence.

Had this legislation come forward three years ago, I would have probably said that it was a no-brainer and that we should get it done as national security trumps personal privacy. However, after the violations of civil liberties, even basic liberties, that we have witnessed over the past three years from the government, I would not be so eager to say that we should just get it done. There is also the government overreach, the control and the abject absence of even a semblance of accountability.

As vital as our national security is, the government, the ministers and the Prime Minister simply cannot be trusted with more power, and that is what this bill does. It gives the government of the day more power through the Governor in Council and through its agencies to establish regulations and to further limit and restrict the freedoms and privacy of individual Canadians.

It is my hope that as members in this House, we can strike the right balance after hearing from all sides and craft a piece of legislation that accomplishes everything we want and need in it. However, as it stands, Bill C-26 gives way too much power to a government that has proven time and time again that it is unable and unworthy to wield it.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:40 p.m.

Kingston and the Islands Ontario

Liberal

Mark Gerretsen LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)

Madam Speaker, I am glad the member brought up the issue of foreign interference and the rhetoric the Conservatives have been spreading the last little while. I want to read a quote from Fred DeLorey, who was the Conservative Party's 2021 campaign manager. He said, “I can confirm, without a shadow of a doubt, that the outcome of the election, which resulted in the Liberals forming government, was not influenced by any external meddling.”

Can the member comment on that quote, given the context and the comments he made during his speech?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:40 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Madam Speaker, this is an important question. Some time ago, I did a term on the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, and what I learned there was that we have phenomenal security agencies in this country. One of those is the CSE, the Communications Security Establishment, which monitors cybersecurity. It does phenomenal work.

I was coming back from a meeting one day, driving down the highway. It happened to be a Friday, and I noticed vehicles pulling campers and boats, with roof racks and bicycles attached to their bumpers. I thought, is it not wonderful that we live in a country where we have absolutely no idea about the existential cyber-threats that are out there? Why is that? It is because our security agencies are doing a phenomenal job at keeping us safe and providing this kind of environment.

The obligation of the government, when it gets advice from our security agencies, is to act on it.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:45 p.m.

Bloc

Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC

Madam Speaker, unfortunately, we have seen that, when it comes to everything that affects all citizens, the government is ignoring security issues and the threats that foreign interference can pose. We are seeing partisanship everywhere. We are talking here about cybersecurity. We want our electoral system to be airtight. We also do not want democracy to be affected.

Is this the right time for this bill? Is it designed well enough that we can do the same as our Five Eyes colleagues who took the bull by the horns far in advance?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:45 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Madam Speaker, this is a very relevant question. Is it the right time for a bill like this? I would like to give a very brief answer: Yes, it is absolutely the right time for this. Is it the right bill yet? No, it is a good starting point. That is how we can look at this bill. I am happy to vote in favour of this bill, to get it to committee. I am hopeful, from the comments I have heard from members of the Bloc and the NDP, that they are eager to give this bill a robust study and make the necessary amendments that will address the cybersecurity requirements in our country to keep critical infrastructure and our citizens safe, but also to respect the privacy of Canadians. Those are equally important elements. I am looking forward to the study on this bill.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:45 p.m.

NDP

Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU

Uqaqtittiji, I would like to thank the member for his very informative intervention, where he very clearly stated his concerns with the broad powers the government seems to want to grant itself.

Can the member talk about what concerns regular Canadians might have, regular Canadians who have not done anything wrong, and how they may be impacted by the extreme ministerial powers that might emerge from this bill if it is not changed?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:45 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Madam Speaker, I am just going to read an excerpt from the bill, because it really encapsulates the answer to the member's question. It states the bill would authorize the Governor in Council, which is cabinet, “to designate any service or system as a vital service or vital system”. It would also authorize the Governor in Council “to establish classes of operators in respect of a vital service or vital system”. It also “provides for the exchange of information between relevant parties”.

We cannot currently do that. Our security and law enforcement agencies cannot transfer information without a judicial warrant. Why would we allow the government and cabinet to do that?

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:45 p.m.

Conservative

Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB

Madam Speaker, it is an honour, as it always is, to rise in the House of Commons of the Canadian people and speak to Bill C-26, an act respecting cybersecurity, which seeks to amend the Telecommunications Act and make subsequent amendments to others acts.

I want to say from the outset that cybersecurity is a critically important issue. For those of us who have been watching the news, we have even seen bookstores like Indigo impacted by ransomware, and we know that no Canadian, business or government agency is immune to cybersecurity threats. As Conservatives, we obviously support taking robust action on cybersecurity and we look forward to the bill going to committee, where we can hear from stakeholders who have expressed uncertainty about what the impact of the bill is going to be. Certainly, I hope we can work across lines to make a better piece of legislation and address the very real challenges we are facing in this cybersecurity age, in this cyber age that we are facing.

I am going to go into a bit of background on the bill, because my constituents might not have heard of this legislation. For their benefit, I am going to give a bit of summary of what I understand the changes to be.

The threat of malware in our telecommunications sector and critical infrastructure does pose a serious threat to Canada. It is important that we respond to these threats proactively, in light of the inevitable future attacks that will happen in our cyberspace. As I said, Conservatives will support legislation to defend our telecommunications sector and our other critical infrastructure from threats, the likes of which, as I stated earlier, have been levied against Canadian individuals, corporations and government agencies repeatedly.

In order to evaluate this legislation, I would like to take some time to consider how the proposed bill might impact our economy, our national security and our commitment to protecting the civil rights of Canadians. Although legislation relating to cybersecurity threats is now long overdue, we should remain vigilant to protect the rights of Canadians and our domestic corporate actors, who could be seriously impacted by the unintended consequences of this legislation. Notably, I am somewhat concerned by the sweeping discretionary powers that are granted to the minister and the Governor in Council in this legislation. I would also like to talk about some of the objectives of the bill and then describe how this current proposed legislation could fail in achieving its intended purpose.

The bill is presented in two parts. The first would amend the Telecommunications Act to promote the security of the Canadian telecommunications sector, and the second part of the act would enact the critical cyber systems protection act. The amendments to the Telecommunications Act are intended to protect against ongoing threats of malware, which poses a threat to the Canadian telecommunications system, and the critical cyber systems protection act aims to strengthen the cybersecurity systems that are so vital to our national security and public safety, and it would allow the government to respond to these cyber-threats.

The aim of this legislation would implicate operators in a broad variety of fields, including the finance, telecommunications, energy and transportation sectors, just to name a few, all critical parts of our infrastructure. With these aims in mind, it is important to consider how expansive the government powers being talked about here are, new powers to the government, how these new powers will affect all these sectors that affect our day-to-day lives, and whether these new measures are proportionate and necessary to be implemented.

To begin, the powers afforded to the minister present economic and financial risk for critical systems operators and telecommunication system providers. The first consideration is the minister's ability to direct telecommunication service providers to comply with an order to prohibit a provider from using or providing certain products or services to a specific individual or entity. Those are pretty broad powers. The bill would implicate the operations of private telecommunications organizations, and therefore the legislation requires safeguards to protect the economic viability of these companies. The bill would also allow the minister to compel telecommunications companies to obey government directives or face the consequences of significant monetary penalties.

In giving the minister such expansive powers, the government may have failed to consider the potential economic impact of these unchecked provisions on service provisions. Telecommunications revenues contribute over $50 billion to Canada's GDP, yet the government has not provided clear and adequate safeguards in this legislation to limit the extent to which or the frequency with which it might use these service provisions and how they might be restricted under the instance of even a minor cyber-threat.

Large, medium and small regional market players would be impacted by this legislation if appropriate safeguards are not adopted in the amendment stage. Large telecommunications service providers make up about 90% of the market share, and any directive to suspend a service by these large market players could impact a significant amount of the Canadian population. Although we hope that such orders will seldom be issued, the vagueness of the language in the bill does not guarantee this.

Meanwhile, we see small and medium-sized players who disproportionately service under-serviced areas in Canada; I am thinking of rural and remote communities. These small and medium-sized players often have trouble dealing with the regulatory complexity and the financial investments needed to meet regulatory thresholds, and we could see these small and medium-sized players just fold up or get bought out at a fraction of what their value would have been. We would really see this as a consequence for rural and remote communities, which are struggling, even today, to get access to basic services like high-speed Internet.

For these reasons, the overbroad provisions in the bill do not lend themselves to a standard of proportionality.

A stakeholder group, Citizen Lab, released a research report on Bill C-26 from the Munk School, authored by Dr. Christopher Parsons. The report outlines, in its recommendations, that the legislation should be amended to allow telecommunications service providers to obtain forbearance and/or compensation for orders that would have “a deleterious effect on a telecommunications provider’s economic viability”.

The Business Council of Canada is likewise concerned about the CCSPA requiring that all critical systems operators undertake the same precautionary actions to protect themselves from cyber-threats. The Business Council of Canada notes that the legislation would require a singular standard of all service providers “irrespective of their cyber security maturity”. We know that there are highly funded firms with a lot of resources that have highly superior cybersecurity systems, and then we have our more infant, junior tech companies that are trying to grow so that they can attract capital. These regulatory requirements of holding them to the same standard could have a negative effect on growing the tech ecosystem here in Canada.

Moreover, the Business Council of Canada notes that the legal threshold for issuing the directives is too low. The low threshold to issue these orders to an operator would allow the possibility of lost revenue for operators because of an absence of due diligence on the part of the government, a government that has had its own cybersecurity problems. I have serious reservations that a government that is unable to run its own IT systems will have a better capability of telling private companies how to run their IT systems.

The council further notes that the monetary penalties are unduly high and are not proportionate, given the benefits of compliance in the event of a perceived or actual cyber-threat. These companies in Canada want to live by the rules. They want to work with the Canadian government. Their reputations are at stake, yet the government is treating them like they are bad actors by putting these fines in place, when maybe we should be looking at working and engaging more with our telecom sector to have a more friendly relationship on this issue.

Another group, Norton Rose Fulbright, noted that there is still considerable uncertainty as to how detailed the cybersecurity plans must be and how it would alter industries' existing policies and agreements. Clearly, there is a lot of uncertainty about this, but it is too important to let it go aside, so I am looking forward to this coming to committee, where we can have some of these stakeholder witnesses come and talk about things so that we can clear up the uncertainty and we can have targeted cybersecurity measures that actually result in benefits to Canadians.

Other technical experts, academics and civil liberties groups have serious concerns about the size, scope and lack of oversight around the powers that the government would gain under this bill. Civil liberties groups are particularly concerned about the government's ability to direct telecommunications providers to do anything needed by secret order. While the legislation lists what might be included by the minister or Governor in Council, the ambiguity of the wording leaves open the possibility of compelling a telecommunications company to do more than is officially stated. This is particularly noteworthy because of the significant monetary penalties that can be levied against these companies, to the tune of up to $10 million a day.

Liberals, in many cases, have perhaps neglected to consider the privacy of Canadians through this legislation.

Bill C-26 would allow the government to bar any person or company from receiving specific services, which raises concerns about the discretion the government has in making these decisions. Again, it is very unclear. This is too important. We should bring the bill to committee and vote on it, but there are lot of things we need to get right in the legislation. We look forward to looking at that.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Mr. Speaker, my colleague had a very insightful speech and talked a bit about how there are some concerns related to the oversight that would be associated with the wide and sweeping powers the government may be granting itself in the bill. I am wondering if he could expand a bit more on why it is important that, through the processes of debate in this place and through committee work, we ensure that we have the appropriate balances in place to ensure we get that oversight side of things right.

Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

Dane Lloyd Conservative Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB

Mr. Speaker, Parliament exists to defend the rights and liberties of the Canadian people. Oftentimes, I find this legislation is highly technical. The technical legislation is often where we see the biggest changes that would impact people's lives. When the government proposes to give sweeping powers to the minister to have control over sectors that impact every facet of Canadian lives, we need to do our due diligence as parliamentarians. We need to bring forward the stakeholders, the witnesses and the civil liberties advocates to ensure that the rights and liberties of Canadians are protected.

Zahid MalikStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Liberal

Shafqat Ali Liberal Brampton Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour the late Zahid Malik, a beloved Pakistani Canadian community leader, who passed away on February 16 at the age of 52 fighting cancer. Zahid Malik was a successful small business owner who operated Active Marketplace, a flea market in Ajax, Ontario.

Zahid Malik was a generous and kind-hearted man who never backed down from a challenge, especially if it meant giving back and improving community. On weekends, he would provide free meals at his flea market and, most recently, he raised $40,000 to support the victims of last fall’s massive floods in Pakistan. His passing is a huge loss for his family, friends, the community and all those who experienced his kindness first-hand.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his loved ones. He will truly be missed.

Moose Jaw Walk for WarmthStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Conservative

Fraser Tolmie Conservative Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK

Mr. Speaker, in small towns in Saskatchewan, people are always eager to support a good cause. They look after their neighbours. It is what makes representing a riding like Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan such a pleasure.

One of those causes is Moose Jaw's first-ever Walk for Warmth, which is happening later this week. Over 180 people have already signed up for this tremendous fundraiser. These funds will be going toward the city's first women's emergency shelter and will also help to continue the operation of a warming shelter.

Winter in Saskatchewan can be harsh and cruel, with temperatures dropping to below -40°C at times. I am proud of all those people who are stepping up to help Moose Jaw's most vulnerable. I thank everyone involved for their hard work and their support for this great cause. I wish them all the best for a successful walk.

Gulf War AnniversaryStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Liberal

Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON

Mr. Speaker, 32 years ago this week was the end of the first Gulf War, in which over 4,000 Canadian Armed Forces members served. It was also the first conflict in which Canadian women played an active combat role.

I joined with the Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada to lay a wreath on the National War Memorial last week to recognize their service. The war began in 1990 when Iraq invaded neighbouring Kuwait. I was a university student at the time, and it was the first time that we saw war in real time on our TV screens. Regardless of how Canadians felt about the war at the time, once we sent our military personnel there, we all supported the women and men who left their families for the unknown, not knowing when or if they would ever return.

For these veterans and their families, their willingness to serve and their bravery will not be forgotten. I ask all members to join me in thanking these brave veterans.

Gender-Based ViolenceStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Bloc

Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC

Mr. Speaker, Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age is a shocking but necessary documentary. A more virulent strain of misogyny than ever before has been flooding our screens for far too long.

Harassment, defamation, lynching, sextortion, the dissemination of intimate photographs, and rape and death threats all go mostly unpunished. The most pernicious effect is that more and more women are practising self-censorship, remaining silent and giving up their right to speak on digital platforms.

Cyberviolence is a democratic issue. We need to take action. We need to get to the heart of this problem that still affects, in particular, far too many women and girls. Over 30,000 people signed a petition calling on the federal government to legislate to counter cyberviolence.

I want to thank and recognize the co-directors of this documentary, Léa Clermont‑Dion and Guylaine Maroist, for waging this necessary battle.

As International Women's Day approaches, we need to stand in solidarity with victims and address the issue of cyberviolence, which disproportionately affects women and marginalized groups in our society.

Bert BlevisStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

Mr. Speaker, with the launch of the Alouette I satellite in 1962, the men and women at Communications Research Centre Canada in Ottawa made Canada a leader in the field of space research and communications.

Dr. Bert Blevis was among them. He was also a key figure in the Hermes program, which connected Canada’s northern communities and paved the way for satellite-to-home service, earning Canada an Emmy in 1987, which he accepted alongside the then communications minister Flora MacDonald.

He also signed the historic COSPAS-SARSAT memorandum of understanding on the use of satellites for locating planes, boats and persons in distress.

He was also a member of the Canadarm review board and served on the transition team to establish the Canadian Space Agency.

Dr. Blevis passed away on January 31. We thank him and his colleagues for being the shoulders on which Canada became, and still stands as, a space leader.

Natural ResourcesStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Conservative

Rob Morrison Conservative Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Mr. Speaker, critical minerals present a generational opportunity for Canada in many areas, with exploration, extraction, processing and downstream product manufacturing among them. The future is not void of extraction of critical minerals. In fact, without critical minerals there are no batteries, no electric cars, no wind turbines and no solar panels. Wind turbines need platinum and rare earth magnets. Electric vehicles require batteries made from lithium, cobalt and nickel. All critical minerals are identified by the government in its critical minerals strategy.

What is absent from the list is metallurgical coal, a required ingredient to produce steel needed to build electric cars, solar panels and wind turbines. The hard-working mining families of the Elk Valley in Kootenay—Columbia have been providing this critical mineral to the world since the late 1800s. Currently, metallurgical coal sustains 30,000 jobs and provides $1.5 billion in revenue annually to the three levels of government. We are counting on the NDP-Liberal government to acknowledge all of the minerals required to build a sustainable future, including metallurgical coal.