Debates of June 14th, 2023

Public Safety

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, those families are suffering again because of the inaction of the government.

The minister makes an art form of spreading misinformation. He said CSIS did not inform him that Beijing was targeting an MP, that Chinese-run police stations were closed and that Bill C-21 did not target hunting rifles. That was false, false and false. Now he says he did not know that Paul Bernardo was transferred to medium security. He has known since March.

Canadians deserve a public safety minister who tells the truth. This one, who threatens our safety with his deceptions, should resign.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I will not, because I continue to be focused on public safety for all Canadians.

I issued ministerial directions to the service to ensure that the elected government would be briefed on the foreign interference of parliamentarians. I am going to be issuing directions to the CSC to be sure that this office is briefed directly when it comes to inmate transfer decisions. That is what responsibility looks like.

On the opposite side, what are we getting? We are getting dilatory tactics, delays, filibustering and no support for the budget. That undermines public safety.

On this side of the House, we will be focused on our paramount objective, which is protecting the safety and security of Canadians.

Grocery Industry

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we hauled the CEO of Loblaws in front of the committee and told him that he has to stop gouging Canadians. The reality is that greedflation is a massive contributor to the cost of living going up, but neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have the courage to even mention it.

Yesterday, it was confirmed at committee with the grocery affordability report that there needs to be more transparency, and yes, the federal government can do a lot more to bring down the price of groceries.

When will the Prime Minister stop protecting billionaires and start standing up for Canadians?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we stick up for Canadians every day on this side of the House. That is why our budget has measures in place to make sure that Canadians can get through this inflationary cycle.

Let us take a look at what we have done on the tax front. We have permanently raised the corporate income tax by 1.5% on the largest banks and insurance companies. We have put in the Canada recovery dividend for banks and insurance companies that made more than $1 billion in profit. We have also put in a luxury tax on vehicles and planes.

We are making sure that tax fairness is integral to how we approach things in Canada. We will continue to do that work.

Electoral Reform

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, every election the Liberals campaign on electoral reform, yet the only thing the Liberals have done is leave a trail of broken promises. Canadians are feeling increasingly disengaged with not seeing their votes represented. People do not want political games; they expect action. The NDP believes that all Canadians deserve a voice in our democracy.

My question is simple. Will the Liberals make right on their promises and implement a citizens' assembly on electoral reform?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what we are focused on is working collaboratively with the NDP. The member's colleague and I have had a number of meetings to talk about how we can implement the agreements in the supply and confidence agreement to make voting more accessible, exactly as our colleague identified. This is to ensure the greatest number of Canadians can participate in the democratic process, to deal with issues like mail-in ballots, to allow people to vote at different polling stations and to ensure that our electoral system is safe but also accessible to the greatest number of people in the easiest way. Those are our priorities.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to point out to the hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies that I realize he has a very strong voice and we can all hear it. I just want him to realize that himself.

The hon. member for Don Valley East.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that Canada is a top destination for many travellers from around the world. Though we experience cold winters, Canadians are known for their warm welcome.

In my riding of Don Valley East, we have a very vibrant Caribbean population whose loved ones from abroad are hoping to visit Canada and spend more time with their loved ones. In fact, as we speak, my Aunty Maria is visiting from Trinidad.

There have been some updates to the visa process here in Canada. I would like to ask the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to share some of these updates with us in the House today.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his advocacy for liberalized travel policy when it comes to Canada.

I am pleased to share with this House that last week we announced a major change to immigration policy that is going to allow more people to come to Canada visa-free if they have held a Canadian visa within the past 10 years or hold a current American visa. This applies to nationals of 13 different countries, including Trinidad and Tobago. This is going to allow them to access our country for a seven-dollar application fee, and approval will come within mere minutes.

The member's aunt will be able to continue to visit, and I look forward to more families being reunited and a successful tourism season this summer.

Public Safety

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for three months, the office of the Minister of Public Safety knew that Canada's most heinous criminal was being moved from maximum to medium security. Paul Bernardo is a serial killer, a serial rapist and, without a doubt, the most heinous monster of our time, yet the minister did not tell the victims' families and pretended to be shocked by the news.

Today, the Conservatives demand that the minister stand in this House, apologize, do the right thing, just say sorry and resign. If you care about these victims' families, do it.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind hon. members to place their questions through the Chair and not directly to each other, as well as the answers, for that matter.

The hon. government House leader.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I would just observe that I do not think we should be casting aspersions about whether anybody in this House does not feel absolute horror and repulsion at these crimes. It is not a constructive or useful approach to accuse anyone of not caring about these families or these victims. The member obviously knows that just as she cares deeply about what happened in those crimes, so does every member of this House.

There is an opportunity to talk about how we can ensure the decision made by Correctional Services Canada does not happen again, and that is action. That is an opportunity that we have to take together.

[Michelle Ferreri, Conservative, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Safety cannot even stand in the House and answer the question I just gave him. He cannot even look into the camera and say to the victims' families that he is sorry. Instead, he wants to divert. He wants to blame everyone else. He is the minister. The buck with public safety stops with him, no one else.

It is enough. Will he resign? If he will not resign, he should tell us right now which staff member is going down for not telling him.

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the member and all members in this chamber that I grieve with the families of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. I said so when I first communicated my shock and outrage at the decision of the CSC. I said so this morning when I spoke to the representative for the families. I think all members can and should empathize with those families and with the families of all victims.

We will continue to do everything necessary to put their rights at the very centre of the decisions that are taken around the transferring of inmates. That is precisely what I have done today by signalling new instructions to the CSC.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I remember sitting here five years ago when the public safety minister said he would make changes to the prison transfer program when another child killer, Terri-Lynne McClintic, was transferred to a minimum-security healing lodge.

Right now, I am struck by the fact that the Prime Minister has only ever fired one person. Therefore, I have to wonder if the minister thinks the reason the Prime Minister has not fired him, while he did fire Jody Wilson-Raybould for doing the right thing, is because of Jody's gender.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, again, I have offered many times to have a constructive conversation around specifics and about how we can deal with the decision made by Correctional Services Canada. Instead, we are getting into what I would categorize as very partisan territory on an issue that is extremely sensitive. We are dealing with victims here whom we all care about.

I look across to the member and know that she cares as much about this as any other member does in the House, so let us have a constructive conversation. I would suggest that victims—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The hon. member for Calgary Nose Hill.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, respectfully, I would argue the government has had five years to have a constructive conversation on this. The victim's family was revictimized when Terri-Lynne McClintic was transferred to a minimum-security prison.

My colleagues have already gone down the line of the litany of failures of the minister. It is not just the Bernardo issue today. If he will not admit a gendered aspect to the firing in his cabinet, which I think is true, will he at least have the courage to name which one of his staff he is going to make fall on the sword for this issue?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, all of us, unfortunately, have had our lives touched by crime. That is something that some have to live with, and in the case of these victims, it has been in the most horrific and awful way.

The only thing that is gendered about it is that women, unfortunately, are more often the victims than not. Having responsible, mature conversations about that and about how we deal with the Correctional Service of Canada, which is independent and cannot be directed by us, and how we create policies that make sure we have the right outcomes is the conversation that we need to have.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service confirmed that he warned the Minister of Emergency Preparedness in a memo that a member of Parliament was being threatened by China. However, it was reportedly lost in limbo because the minister was never informed.

Yesterday, we also learned that the same bad luck befell his colleague at Public Safety. His office had known for three months that Paul Bernardo would be transferred from prison, but he was never informed either.

Why is it that, when it comes to safety, everyone knows about the hot issues except the ministers responsible?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, the former public safety minister clarified that he was not informed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. That is why I gave new instructions to ensure that elected representatives on the government side will now be briefed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service when there are incidents involving foreign interference.

That is why I am in the process of issuing new instructions to the Correctional Service of Canada to protect victims' rights.

Democratic Institutions

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that takes us right back to Chinese interference.

The Prime Minister does not have much luck either with memos getting lost in limbo. He, too, was never warned of the threats against the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, even though the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had produced the memo and it briefs the Prime Minister every week. The information got lost along the way, as it did for his two ministers of public safety.

Are all their offices dysfunctional or is it the ministers who make sure they know only what it suits them to know?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, on the issue of sharing information when a member of Parliament is being threatened as part of foreign interference, we acknowledged the problem and rectified it.

The Minister of Public Safety has given instructions that, from now on, this kind of information and intelligence must be shared not only with the minister responsible but also with the parliamentarian concerned. We have made a positive change.

Public Safety

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that the families of the victims of Paul Bernardo were only informed of his prison transfer after it had taken place. They have every right to be shocked and outraged, but the Minister of Public Safety has absolutely zero excuses, especially when he and his staff knew of this transfer for three months.

Paul Bernardo should be in a maximum security prison. When will the minister do the right thing? Canadians deserve better. Victims' families deserve better. Will the minister resign?

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with one aspect of the question from the member opposite, and it is that I do agree that victims' families should be notified ahead of these transfer decisions.

That is precisely what we are in the course of doing. We are issuing new instructions to the Correctional Service of Canada so that we can prevent a situation like that from occurring again. We will continue to put victims' rights forward and front and centre when it comes to these decisions.

I agree to work with my colleague opposite, who represents the Niagara region, and the colleagues on this side of this House, some of whom have been personally and profoundly impacted, along with victims' families, so that we can prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again.