Debates of March 8th, 2023

Democratic Institutions

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, if he thinks the minister should take responsibility, then why does he not take responsibility?

The Prime Minister has been aware of foreign interference in our electoral system since—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am sorry to interrupt, but there appears to be a problem. We want to check to make sure there is interpretation.

It seems that there is no interpretation taking place on Zoom, so we will figure out what the technical issue is and then go from there. In case anyone is wondering, one of the major computers has had to be rebooted. I ask for your patience.

Is the interpretation working?

Everything is fixed and the computer is plugged back in.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that a briefing prepared by the Prime Minister's own department for the Prime Minister indicates that there was a large transfer of money, funds, for the 2019 federal election.

Is the Prime Minister aware, yes or no, of any money from the dictatorship in Beijing being sent to candidates, leadership candidates, the party or local party associations?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the national security advisor and I stated last fall, we have no information on federal candidates receiving money from China. That continues to be the case today.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to Global News, the Prime Minister's Office was informed in 2019 and 2022 about Chinese authorities interfering in our elections. Nothing was ever revealed; the information was hidden. Either the Prime Minister ignored it, which is dangerously negligent, or he was not informed directly, which means someone on his team was dangerously irresponsible.

Now the Prime Minister's solution is to appoint a secret committee. This is just more secrecy.

Why is the Prime Minister refusing to create an independent public commission of inquiry?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we know Canadians need to have confidence in our institutions and in the integrity of our elections and our democracy.

That is why we are going to choose an independent expert to look at the entire landscape around foreign interference in Canada and make sure the measures we have implemented since 2015 are doing the job we want them to do. The expert will also decide whether we need a public inquiry or whether we need other mechanisms to ensure everything is being done and to give Canadians confidence.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, another one of the Prime Minister's solutions is to appoint a special rapporteur, who will be happy to do his bidding, kind of like our leader's golden retriever.

We do not need a special report. What we need is a commissioner that all parties in the House agree on to head up an independent public commission on foreign interference in elections.

Why is the Prime Minister stubbornly refusing to set up an independent public commission?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, those of us on this side of the House have confidence in the experts.

I think we have all heard some experts say we need an independent public commission, while others say a public commission would not be able to do all the fact-checking it would take to give Canadians confidence in our institutions.

That is why we chose to ask an independent, impartial expert to determine the best way to ensure that Canadians can have confidence in what was done.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I just asked the Prime Minister if any parties, leadership campaigns or electoral district associations, that is to say parties and their local arms, received money directed by Beijing. He used the very tiny technical term, “candidate”, which only applies to a limited scenario 30 days before an election. He refuses to answer about whether his party or any other received money directed by the communist dictatorship in Beijing. We can assume that the answer, therefore, is yes.

How much did his party, and other parts of his party, get from the communist dictatorship?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on matters of national security, it is extremely important that we continue to give Canadians confidence that our experts and our officials are doing their jobs. However, it is also important to protect the women and men who serve in our security agencies and who do extremely dangerous work to keep Canadians safe. That is why we have created a committee where all parliamentarians from different parties can get top-secret clearance and look into these matters deeply, without compromising the safety of the people who serve this country.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not interested in protecting the safety of the people serving this country. He is interested in protecting the Liberal Party of Canada. The question was regarding how much his party got in illegal donations funnelled from Beijing. I have asked the question twice now. He refuses to answer it. He distracts and he now claims that he cannot tell, because it would harm national security. Give me a break. It would harm his political career, once he tells how much the Liberal Party or its various arms received in money from Beijing. How much?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate and despicable that any member in the House would question the loyalty to Canada of any other member in the House. I understand the very real concerns that Canadians feel about foreign interference, and that is why we have created mechanisms to keep Canadians safe. To suggest that anyone in the House is not devoted to serving Canadians and to keeping safe those who serve Canada in dangerous positions is quite disgusting.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, no drama lesson will distract from the question that I asked. The question was very clear: How much did the Liberal Party get in donations directed from Beijing? I have asked it multiple times. I find it incredible that the Prime Minister cannot stand up and answer with a zero. If he knows for sure it did not happen, and he has not been briefed to the contrary, he would say so right now. However, he is dodging the question. He is trying to engage in a dramatic distraction. Therefore, I will give him one more chance to answer the question: How much money did his party get from the dictatorship in Beijing?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I see the Leader of the Opposition trying to backtrack from his heinous and disgusting accusations of disloyalty to Canada of anyone in the House, and I am pleased to see him back off from what was an absolutely despicable partisan approach. However, it does go to the point that Canadians need to have confidence that the answers they are seeking on foreign interference and on the integrity of our democratic institutions are being dealt with by experts. There are two ways of doing that. One way is by making sure that partisans and politicians of all parties get classified briefings on that, which the NSICOP does, and the other is to make sure independent—

Women and Gender Equality

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as we acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of women and girls in our communities today, there is clearly still work to be done to achieve full gender equality. We have seen a recent increase in anti-feminist and violent rhetoric. This rhetoric is dangerous and has a tangible, harmful impact on our communities.

Can the Prime Minister enlighten us as to where he stands on the issues that continue to hold back our women and girls who have so much to contribute to our communities?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure my colleague from London West that we on this side of the House will never accept the anti-feminist, violent and downright dangerous rhetoric that minimizes the contributions of women and girls in our society. Supporting women's rights takes more than just words here in the House. It must be backed up with concrete actions like combatting violence online and in our communities, encouraging the full participation of every woman in society and condemning the use of sexist and misogynistic tags on YouTube posts.

Foreign Affairs

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this is a serious issue. It affects the lives of everyday people. Canadians of Chinese descent have been targeted for abuse in their own country, including right under the nose of the Prime Minister. There have been police stations set up by a foreign government in our country. He has done absolutely nothing about it. We need to know why he has done nothing about it.

Can the Prime Minister tell us how many diplomats from the Chinese embassy and consulate has he expelled since learning about these police stations? How many?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the selective partisan memory of the Leader of the Opposition is quite openly on display right now. It was just a few months ago when they were criticizing me for standing up directly to President Xi Jinping as I talked about the impacts of foreign interference in our country. I will continue to ensure that we are holding to account anyone who engages in illegal actions in Canada, including in foreign interference. We have never hesitated to take action where and when necessary, and we will continue to.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will not answer how many diplomats he has kicked out, because the answer is zero. Even as they open police stations in our country, he will not answer that question. He will not answer whether members of his existing cabinet and caucus have been implicated in foreign interference. He will not answer whether his staff has been briefed about that interference. He will not answer even whether his party received illegal money directly from the foreign dictatorship in Beijing. He will not answer any of these questions, which is exactly why we need an independent inquiry that can compel his testimony. Will he call it now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the excessive partisanship we are seeing on this issue that is extremely serious and extremely important to Canadians is exactly why we have chosen to appoint an independent expert to make the determination on how we can best reassure Canadians and ensure that our government and our institutions are doing everything to protect our democracy. That is exactly what we are doing.

We have seen experts say that a public inquiry is necessary. We have seen other experts say that it would not get to the truth. That is why an independent expert will make that determination.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is blocking a public inquiry that would compel him to give answers. His members are blocking an investigation here at Parliament. He will not answer questions on the floor of the House of Commons. He even has a bill that would allow him to censor the Internet. It is almost as if he admires the basic Chinese communist dictatorship.

Will he tell us whether he still admires the basic Chinese communist dictatorship, as he so profusely said he did several years ago, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are clearly seeing, once again, that the Leader of the Opposition is simply not serious in his approach to reassuring Canadians about institutions, about our democracy, about the integrity of our elections. That is why we are proposing significant and serious steps and mechanisms to make sure that, independently and with expert advice, the right answers are being sought and the right answers are being shared with Canadians. Those are not our answers. Those are not their answers. Those are answers determined by independent panels of experts tasked with protecting our democracy.

Child Care

[Jean Yip, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know that unaffordable child care has long been a barrier to enabling women's full participation in our workforce. Women should not have to choose between starting a family or starting a career. On this International Women's Day, can the Prime Minister inform the House of the progress made with the provinces and territories in making child care more affordable for the constituents of Scarborough—Agincourt and for all Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Scarborough—Agincourt for her question and for her incredibly hard work.

Women should not have to choose between starting a family or starting a career. In the Canada-wide agreements, provinces and territories committed to creating a combined total of over 275,000 child care spaces by March 31, 2026. To date, the creation of over 50,000 new spaces has been announced.

When accessible and affordable child care stops being a barrier, everyone in our society benefits. That is why we continue to move forward toward $10-a-day child care for everyone across this country.

Official Languages

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

Mr. Speaker, the modernization of the Official Languages Act should be a historic moment. This is our chance to support French in this country and linguistic minority communities.

Despite the fact that it is their own bill, the Liberals are in chaos. They are taking contradictory positions, and several MPs are threatening to vote against Bill C-13.

Where is the Liberal vision? French is in decline in Quebec and in Canada. We must take action.

Rather than playing political games on the backs of these communities, can the Prime Minister assure us that his caucus will vote in favour of Bill C-13?