Debates of April 24th, 2023

Labour

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, we have been in mediation for three weeks now, and our team is working tirelessly to negotiate new collective agreements that are fair, competitive and reasonable.

This round of negotiations has been very difficult. As I said earlier, the union came to the table with 570 demands. I am proud to say that there are only a handful left on the table. Our bargaining team is working very hard, and we will come to an agreement very soon. We will continue to make an effort to come to an agreement.

National Defence

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 700 soldiers at Petawawa went without heat and hot water because the Prime Minister could not reach a deal with public servants. According to leaked documents, the Prime Minister secretly told our allies that he does not feel our military is important. Now Canadians know the truth. Under the Liberals, our women and men in uniform will never be considered a priority.

The Prime Minister's residence would never go without heat and water. Why were heat and hot water not deemed to be essential services for our Canadian Armed Forces?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, an agreement has been reached that allows the heating plant to resume operations and provide heat and hot water to those living at the garrison.

On our commitment to the Canadian Armed Forces, our defence spending is increasing, unlike that of the Conservatives, who let defence spending dip below 1% when they were in power. We invested $40 billion in NORAD modernization. Our defence spending is increasing by 70% under our current defence policy. In our last budget, we are increasing defence spending by $8 billion.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, that is called creative accounting.

The Prime Minister's incompetence has caused the worst public service strike in decades, and it is disproportionately hurting national defence. Our troops are not being fed, do not have heat or hot water, and are not being reimbursed for out-of-pocket meal expenses in places such as Poland.

It is said that an army marches on beans and bullets, and the incompetent Liberal government cannot even get that right. The Prime Minister does not consider the basic needs of our forces essential. He is literally leaving our troops in the cold and hungry. Why is that?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, it is somewhat surprising, when the Conservatives let defence spending dip below 1%, for my hon. colleague to suggest that we are not paying attention to what we are rightfully focused on, which is increasing resources for the Canadian Armed Forces, increasing defence spending, ensuring our forces have the equipment they need to fight forest fires and floods here at home, leading the enhanced forward presence battle group in Latvia, making sure we are a leading donor to Ukraine in its time of need, contributing in the Middle East, and the list goes on. We will always be here for the armed forces.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is displaying a special kind of incompetence, and once again, Canadians are the ones who will pay the price. He increased the cost of the public service by 50% in eight years without being able to prevent 150,000 employees from going on strike, the worst strike in 40 years. We also found out that 700 soldiers are living on a base without heat or hot water because of the public servants walking off the job.

Does the Prime Minister not think that our soldiers deserve better, after everything they do for our country?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I think that many Canadians would like to know where Conservative MPs from Quebec stand on their leader's proposal to make cuts at CBC/Radio-Canada. Last week, on one of the most popular radio shows in Quebec, not one Quebec MP from the Conservative Party came to defend their leader's position. Where do the Quebec Conservative MPs stand on the issue of budget cuts at CBC/Radio-Canada?

Health

[Brenda Shanahan, Liberal, Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC]

This is National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, which seeks to raise awareness of the critical need for more donors across the country. Every year, hundreds of Canadians die while waiting for an organ transplant. Statistics from the Canadian Institute of Health Information show that the deceased donor rates increased by 42% between 2009 and 2018.

Can the Minister of Health tell the House what our government is doing to improve organ donation and transplantation in Canada?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Châteauguay—Lacolle for her hard work and her important question. We all recognize the value of organ and tissue donation in protecting the health and lives of those in need of a transplant, sometimes urgently. With the co-operation of the provinces and territories, as well as multiple organizations in the field, our government initiated the organ donation and transplantation collaborative. Today and every day of the year, we encourage people to make the choice to become an organ donor to save and protect the lives of those we love.

Telecommunications

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians pay the highest cellphone rates in the world. In fact, Rogers customers pay the highest cellphone rates in Canada. The minister has stated that the Rogers-Shaw deal will alleviate those prices, but instead, in typical Liberal fashion, we are seeing it is only benefiting Liberal friends and donors while Canadians pay.

Days after the announcement of the Rogers-Shaw merger, the former industry minister, who had been responsible for reducing cellphone bills by 25%, was appointed to Rogers' board of directors.

Why is it that Liberal friends and insiders always benefit while Canadians have to pay?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague is somehow missing the point. It is Canadians who are winning.

I so wish, for those watching at home, that the Conservatives would listen to people. Canadians have asked us to do one thing, to bring prices down in telcos. The way to do that in Canada is through more competition with a fourth national player. We have imposed the longest series of conditions in Canada's history to make sure that the telcos will deliver for Canadians as Canadians expect in their everyday lives.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if members believe that, I have a Rogers cellphone plan to sell them.

In 2015, the Prime Minister promised to reduce cellphone bills by 25%. In fact, last year, it was announced to the House that the Liberals had reduced cellphone bills by 25%, when the reality is that Canadians have never seen cellphone bills as high as when the Liberals have been in power.

The former industry minister told Canadians that he was going to negotiate with Rogers. Canadians did not know that he was just negotiating for a corner office at Rogers.

Why are the Liberal insiders and friends always benefiting on the backs of hard-working Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians who are watching at home know the Conservatives. They know that they are good at bringing up all these conspiracy theories. We have heard an hour of them today.

However, one thing they know is that they can trust the government to have their back. That is exactly what we have done. They told us that they wanted more competition and prices to come down for Canadians. The way to do that is to have a fourth national player—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am sorry, but I am struggling to hear the answer.

I will ask the minister to start over so that I can hear the full response.

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives. They do not even ask me about Volkswagen; however, the Conservatives are the ones who let the auto sector down in 2011. They let the good people of St. Thomas and southwestern Ontario down. They let 8,000 workers down in 2011 in St. Thomas.

One thing Canadians saw last Friday is that we invest in people, we invest in our workers and we invest in Canada. That is what confident nations are doing.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the DFO's elver science is done on the East River-Chester, the only river. Elver harvesters have been begging the DFO to monitor and enforce the law on that river, yet poaching is happening every night. I personally observed that for the last three nights.

During the open legal season and since the closure, no one from the DFO has been on that river. If members can believe it, DFO enforcement proactively called the licence-holder this morning to say that it would not be monitoring the river for either law enforcement breaches or science. Why is this the case?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear about what actually happened here.

The DFO more than doubled the number of enforcement officers. We worked closely with the RCMP. We made numerous arrests, seized gear and unauthorized catches and closed down the fishery to protect public safety and conservation. This enforcement continues for the closed elver fishery.

We are working to reduce the amount of illegal fishery, and we will continue to do just that.

Labour

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago today, on April 24, 2013, the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,134 people and injuring even more. That incident brought to light the inhuman conditions in which many workers around the world still work today. It reminds us that we have a responsibility as world leaders to fight for the rights of workers everywhere, regardless of borders and distance.

Can the Minister of Labour update us on the work that our government is doing to protect workers around the world on this sombre anniversary?

[Seamus O'Regan, Liberal, Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, the Rana Plaza incident of 10 years ago is a painful reminder of the absolute necessity for workers around the world to have fair pay and safe working conditions.

Canada is working with the International Labour Organization and unions to champion the rights of workers. We have built labour conditions into our trade agreements. Workers make trade possible, and they should reap the benefits of it.

I went to Washington last year to launch M-POWER, a global initiative with the U.S. and other like-minded countries, to support unions and workers' rights and to eradicate forced labour in our supply chains.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have given more than $200 million to Deloitte for contracts within a single department in the last year alone. Now, we have learned that former Liberal and Conservative cabinet ministers are currently working for Deloitte.

Public service workers have been left out in the rain asking for fair pay. Meanwhile, the Liberals have no problem giving massive multi-million dollar contracts to their friends. People are fed up with the hypocrisy. Will the minister end this reckless government outsourcing and instead get a fair deal for public service workers?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, as was clearly established at the government operations committee earlier this year, there was absolutely no political interference in the contracts awarded, particularly to McKinsey. We are open and transparent as a government in the way that we award contracts, and we will continue to be.

Foreign Affairs

[Kevin Vuong, Independent, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the situation in Sudan is rapidly deteriorating. Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured. Over 1,600 Canadians have registered with Global Affairs Canada; sadly, many more have not.

The fighting is intense. Food and water supplies are limited. Canada has evacuated its embassy and suspended consular services. We know that Canada is trying to work out an evacuation plan with like-minded countries.

Advising people to shelter in place with no embassy, food or water is not a viable solution. Can the minister inform the House of how the plan is coming along?

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raises an important question. It took a long time today to get out of the weeds and into a very life-threatening situation. The situation in Sudan is changing by the minute. The minister is in constant conversation with her counterparts around the world.

I want to take a moment to thank our diplomats, who have been courageous and working extremely hard. They have now been removed from the embassy. The embassy is closed. However, they continue to work to support Canada's efforts at both engaging in peace and helping Canadians. If anyone has a Sudanese Canadian friend, please make sure they register with ROCA so that we can help them immediately.

The House resumed from April 20 consideration of the motion that Bill C-27, An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, be read the second time and referred to a committee.