Debates of May 2nd, 2023

Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-331, An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table my private member's bill, Bill C-331, an act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act on duty of candour. It is the result of widespread public consultations across Canada, including with racialized Canadians, who are more likely to have negative interactions with security officials.

The bill seeks to amend the CSIS Act in the following ways: by including information about the number of breaches of the duty of candour in the annual classified report by the CSIS director to the Minister of Public Safety and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, along with a brief description of each and any remedial action; by requiring that the same information be tabled annually in the House by the minister in an unclassified form; and by amending the oath of office sworn by CSIS officials to include a duty of candour oath to the courts.

Our security agencies cannot be effective without the confidence of Canadians, and they have a lot of work to do to earn their trust. Trust needs transparency, and this bill is an important step to bringing transparency to our security agencies.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Hong Kong

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today.

The first petition comes from a group of Canadians who want the Canadian government to recognize the politicization of the judiciary of Hong Kong and its impacts on the legitimacy and validity of criminal convictions. These Canadians want the Canadian government to affirm its commitment to render all national security law charges and convictions irrelevant and invalid in relation to paragraph 36(1)(c) of the IRPA. As we know, there are many Hong Kongers who have made Canada their place of refuge, fleeing Communist oppression in mainland China, as my family did many years ago from a different Communist country, that of Poland.

Hazaras

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am also presenting a petition on behalf of my constituents, as I have done many times in the House, on the continuing, ongoing genocide by the Taliban regime of ethnic Hazaras, a minority Shia community in Afghanistan.

Again, the petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to recognize the ongoing genocide and the persecution of Hazaras, as well as to include Shia Hazaras in the 40,000 refugees to be resettled in Canada by the end of this year.

Ethiopia

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, with everything happening now happening in Sudan, my third and last petition is drawing the attention of the House to the ongoing violent conflict in the Tigray region in Ethiopia and the egregious human rights violations, particularly with the humanitarian crisis. They are calling for the following five things: to immediately call for an end to violence and for restraint from all sides; to immediately call for humanitarian access to the region for independent monitoring; to immediately call for international investigations into credible reports of war crimes and gross violations of human rights; to engage directly and consistently with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments on this conflict; and to promote short-, medium- and long-term elections monitoring in Ethiopia.

Pesticides

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of 18,385 Canadians to present a petition calling on the government to ban the sale and use of glyphosate and to protect human health and the environment. The petitioners note that the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen to humans.

Glyphosate is Canada's most widely sold pesticide. Canadians are consuming glyphosate residues in their food and water every day. The use of glyphosate also harms aquatic and terrestrial species and causes a loss of biodiversity.

The petitioners are calling for action and for the government to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce overall pesticide use in Canada.

Justice

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by Canadians. The petitioners are concerned about the government's failure to stand up for the rights of victims. This is in the face of the Supreme Court of Canada's unjust decision to strike down a law passed by the previous Harper Conservative government that gave judges the discretion to apply consecutive parole ineligibility periods for mass murderers. As a result of this decision, some of Canada's worst killers have seen their sentences significantly reduced.

The petitioners are calling on the government to use all tools available, including invoking the notwithstanding clause, to override this decision.

Pesticides

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise in this place today to raise the concerns of many Canadians and petitioners related to the pesticide glyphosate. This herbicide is commonly used in Canada under the trade name Roundup. The herbicide glyphosate has been judged by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, within the World Health Organization, as a probable human carcinogen.

The petitioners note that the increased use of glyphosate has been tracked along with the increased use of genetically modified plants to be so-called Roundup-ready. The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to act on these facts and protect health.

Air Transportation

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, a very popular petition in Winnipeg relates to the growing Indo-Canadian community and, with that growth, a large demand for more international flights. In particular, this petition calls for flights that fly out of the Winnipeg international airport into Europe and such countries as India, specifically Amritsar.

It is with pleasure that I present this petition, recognizing the exceptional growth and the need for more international flights. The petitioners call upon international airlines and government MPs to do what they can to get those flights.

Falun Gong

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to present a petition regarding the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The petitioners wish to bring to the attention of the House the fact that the Chinese government has waged a nationwide persecution campaign against Falun Gong practitioners. This has resulted in arrests, with many being imprisoned for up to 20 years. They add that this includes torture and abuse. As they also indicate, investigators have concluded that tens of thousands of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have been put to death and that their organs have been seized involuntarily for sale at high prices.

The petitioners call on this Parliament to pass a resolution to establish measures to stop the Chinese Communist regime's crime of systemically murdering Falun Gong practitioners for their organs, amend Canadian legislation to combat forced organ harvesting and publicly call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Carbon Pricing

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the petition I am presenting today relates to the carbon tax. The petitioners are concerned about how the government's carbon tax is continuing to drive up the cost of home heating and the cost of living for Canadians. They note that heating one's home in the winter in Canada is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Nevertheless, as the petitioners point out, the government is planning to triple the carbon tax.

Therefore, the petitioners call on the House of Commons to cancel the tripling of the carbon tax on home heating, to ensure no new taxes are imposed on Canadians and to ensure that Canadians are being put first, including their families, their paycheques, their homes and their futures.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Foreign Interference

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I wish to inform the House that I have received a notice of a request for an emergency debate. I invite the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle to rise and make a brief intervention.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to request an emergency debate on the issue of foreign interference by the Communist regime in Beijing. The Globe and Mail published a report yesterday morning indicating that families of members of Parliament have been subjected to an intimidation campaign orchestrated by PRC officials working out of Beijing's consulate in Toronto. In at least one case, this intimidation was in direct retaliation for a member's vote on a motion that the House adopted recognizing the PRC's treatment of Uyghurs as a genocide.

The reports are informed by top secret information from Canadian intelligence services. Beijing's intimidation tactics are not limited to members of Parliament but are being deployed against many Canadians of Chinese descent in diaspora communities across the country. These allegations are widely reported and well established through House of Commons committee testimony and reports by Canada's security establishment. They report it as a matter of fact that Beijing has sought and continues to seek to influence and intimidate Canadian citizens.

The facts that this retaliation was in direct response to a vote in the House, that we just learned about this yesterday and that the Prime Minister did not answer multiple questions in the House yesterday, I believe, add weight to my request for an emergency debate. I note that there is a take-note debate this evening, Mr. Speaker, so I would encourage you to consider granting it either after that take-note debate expires or tomorrow evening at the end of Government Orders.

Speaker's Ruling

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I thank the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle for his intervention. However, I am not satisfied that the request meets the requirements of the Standing Orders at this time.

Order, please. Does the Leader of the Opposition have something to say to the Chair?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Actually, he does have something to say. You asked me if I had something to say; I do have something to say. I think it is outrageous. We stand in this Parliament to represent our constituents, and we need the ability—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

If he continues, he will be ejected from the House.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

You asked me—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am cutting you off; please sit.

Opposition Motion—Home Ownership and Renting Affordability

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

moved:

That, given that, after eight years of this Liberal Prime Minister's inflationary policies,

(i) inflation has reached a 40-year high and is forcing Canadians to cut back on the basic necessities of eating, and heating their homes,

(ii) monthly mortgage costs have more than doubled since 2015 and now cost Canadians an average of $3,000 per month,

(iii) Statistics Canada reports that "mortgage interest cost rose at a faster rate in March (+26.4%) […] this was the largest yearly increase on record as Canadians continued to renew and initiate mortgages at higher interest rates",

(iv) government fees, taxes and delays now add on average $200,000 to the cost of every new home in Canada,

(vi) nine out of 10 young people who do not own a home believe they never will,

(vi) nine out of 10 young people who do not own a home believe they never will,

(vii) recent reports state that a couple is paying $2,450 to rent a single room in a Toronto townhouse, that they have two other roommates, and they consider this an "excellent deal",

the House call on the government to make renting affordable and home ownership a reality for more Canadians by enacting policies that will remove big city gatekeepers, NIMBY local politicians who block construction of new housing, and unnecessary red tape by:

(a) tying federal infrastructure dollars for municipalities to the number of new homes built, and imposing clawbacks on municipalities who delay new home construction;

(b) tying federal funding for major transit projects to cities that pre-emptively "up-zone" lands around transit infrastructure for high-density housing so that young and middle­class people don't need to use cars; and

(c) making available 15% of under-utilized federal properties across Canada for new housing while guaranteeing an appropriate ratio of affordable units in the developments.

Mr. Speaker, let me say at the outset that I find your ruling baffling. We have a member of Parliament who was threatened—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The parliamentary secretary to the government House leader is rising on a point of order.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, there is a tradition of the House, whether here in Canada or in the United Kingdom, which is that we respect the Speaker. I was patient as the leader of the official opposition stood in his place as you read the motion. When you made your ruling, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party yelled across—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!