Debates of May 10th, 2023

Democratic Institutions

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I have to give credit where it is due. The Leader of the Opposition almost got it right in the beginning of his last question.

It is CSIS itself that makes determinations on the credibility, the threat level and the seriousness of the various pieces of information that come in. It makes determinations, quite appropriately, about what to do with that information, how high to elevate it and how urgently it needs to be brought forward.

One can draw certain conclusions about the decision CSIS made based on certain elements of information as to the critical nature or the seriousness of the actual information—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the question was about the donation from Beijing to the Trudeau Foundation.

We know that the Prime Minister's own brother processed the donation. We know that CSIS intelligence, from an intercepted phone call of Beijing's diplomats, revealed that the purpose of the donation was to politically influence the current Prime Minister. In the new development, the chair of the Trudeau Foundation said that he cannot tell where the donation ended up. He said they gave it back, but they do not know whom they gave it back to.

Will the Prime Minister support new powers for the Auditor General to fully audit the Trudeau Foundation so that we can get to the bottom of this scandal?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite fully knows, and as all MPs have heard me say probably a dozen times in this House, it has been close to 10 years since I have had any direct or indirect engagement with the Trudeau Foundation. He needs to continue to direct his questions to it.

Indigenous Affairs

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in Saskatchewan, first nations are left out of major decisions regarding natural resources because their right to the land is not recognized. The government has obligations to consult with the provinces, territories, and first nations and indigenous peoples.

Will the Prime Minister commit today to respect free, prior and informed consent in Saskatchewan specifically, and across Canada, and ensure that the economic benefits flow to the indigenous peoples when the resources are on their land?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as a federal government, we are moving forward on legislating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes free, prior and informed consent. This is an important and historic step for the government that we are taking hand in hand with indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, only some provinces are moving forward in that way.

We will continue to engage on these issues, but we also recognize the responsibility and the control that the provinces have over their natural resources. We encourage everyone, however, to walk the path of reconciliation together.

Housing

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the price for an unfurnished one-bedroom rental home in metro Vancouver has climbed to $3,000 a month. Families, students and seniors in Vancouver cannot afford to live there. The housing crisis has only gotten worse under the Liberal government. The government has allowed greedy corporate landlords to buy up homes, hike rents and make it impossible for Canadians to secure affordable housing.

When are the Liberals going to crack down on corporate landlords and make housing truly affordable?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken significant steps on supporting low-income renters, including a $500 housing benefit top-up, which the Conservatives voted against and tried to delay. We are investing to rapidly increase the supply of affordable rental units. We are introducing measures to end rent evictions.

That is on top of the significant measures we are working with municipalities on to create 100,000 new homes over the coming years as we accelerate the processes of zoning and permitting. We are doing that hand in hand with municipalities by respecting them, instead of by fighting with them as the Conservatives proposed. We know that collaboration is the way to get things done.

Women and Gender Equality

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Humber River—Black Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the House debated Bill C-311, which was introduced by one of the most anti-choice members of this House in a transparent effort by the Conservative Party to reopen the abortion debate in Canada.

The Conservatives do not just want women in Canada to not have the right to choose; they also oppose our support of women's reproductive rights abroad. When it comes to reproductive rights in this country and around the world, what is the Prime Minister's position?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Humber River—Black Creek for her tireless work on so many files.

Our government is unapologetically feminist and pro-choice. Since 2020, we have provided almost half a billion dollars to support women's sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. That includes funding for abortion health care, which previous Conservative governments recklessly refused to support.

We know that the fight for women's and girls' rights around the world is far from—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am going to have to interrupt the right hon. Prime Minister. It is starting to get a little noisy again. I missed part of that. I am going to ask him to start over, please.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our government is unapologetically feminist and pro-choice.

Since 2020, we have provided almost half a billion dollars to support women's sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. That includes funding for abortion health care, which the previous Conservative government refused to support.

We know the fight for women's and girls' rights around the world is far from over. That is why, yesterday, we announced Canada's candidacy to the UN Human Rights Council. While the Conservative Party attacks a woman's right to choose in this House, we are defending it at home and abroad.

Health

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what the Prime Minister is doing is massively increasing the drug overdose crisis in this country.

He has been providing taxpayer dollars for high-powered drugs that have flooded our streets and lowered the cost of hydromorphone on the streets by as much as 95% in Vancouver. This has led to the deaths of 30,000 Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister back away from his reckless plan to join with the NDP in B.C. and decriminalize crack, heroin and other deadly drugs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the toxic drug and overdose crisis continues to take a tragic toll on families, loved ones and communities.

We are using every tool at our disposal to work with our partners to end this national public health crisis. Since 2017, we have committed more than $1 billion to address the overdose crisis, and we are taking concrete steps to divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system.

The evidence is clear that harm reduction measures save lives. Some 46,000 overdoses have been reversed since 2017. We will continue to trust the science.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what the science shows, and I will quote Giuseppe Ganci, head of the Last Door Recovery Society, is this: “One-hundred per cent of all of the people I’ve met who are on safer supply sell their safer supply. I’ve never met anybody who’s taken all of it”.

Why do they sell it? It is because, while it is powerful enough to get a high to begin with, it loses its strength with use. It gets sold to kids, and the profits are then used for fentanyl. Then those kids buy the fentanyl when the hydromorphone is not—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am sorry, but I am going to have to interrupt. It is getting noisy again.

From the top please.

I want everybody to listen to whoever is speaking and then, when the answer comes, please, everyone listen to the answer as well.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition please.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, furthermore, to quote a recent article on the matter, “According to some of the experts I spoke to, this has caused the street price of hydromorphone (the primary opioid dispensed at safer supply sites) to drop by an estimated 70-95 per cent in cities with safer supply programs.”

In other words, the only thing that has been exempt from the Prime Minister's inflation is the powerful drugs that are killing people, because he is subsidizing them and flooding them into our streets, including through dispensaries.

Will the Prime Minister finally put an end to the deadly policies he has put in place that are killing our people?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the ongoing opioid epidemic is taking far too many lives across the country, whether it is families, whether it is workers or whether it is communities from coast to coast to coast. We need to stay grounded in the science and evidence in how we are going to respond to it.

Now, the Conservatives' ideologically driven solutions are good for bumper stickers, but they are not effective in supporting people in moving forward on a health-based approach to opioids and making sure we are supporting people and getting them through this.

We will continue with harm reduction—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, to be blunt, his policies are killing people.

The number of overdose deaths that have happened in this country, in British Columbia in particular, where the policies of this government and the NDP are most advanced, are up by 300%. Those deaths were 75% lower before these policies came into place. Worse, beyond just subsidizing deadly drugs, now he wants to decriminalize crack, heroin and cocaine in partnership with the NDP government in B.C.

This policy is insane. It is killing people. Will the Prime Minister reverse it before it is too late for more Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the ideological fearmongering coming from the Conservatives is all too typical and too unfortunate.

We have seen this kind of rhetoric before—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am sorry, but I am going to have to stop everything again. We will wait a few seconds.

The hon. Prime Minister, since you had just started, please start from the top.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the ideological fearmongering from the Conservatives is alarming. It is the kind of rhetoric that we have seen all too often from the American far right and now here in Canada.

We need to stay grounded in what the frontline responders are telling us, in what the frontline doctors and health experts have been doing to save lives across the country.

We will continue to work on a harm reduction approach. We will continue to work with frontline partners. We will not be swayed by the ideological approach of the Conservatives on supporting people as we fight this epidemic.