Debates of Sept. 27th, 2023

Foreign Affairs

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, it would have taken a mere phone call for the Prime Minister's diplomatic, intelligence or police services to get the names of all of those who were approved to enter this building. It would have taken a day of vetting for them to perform Google and other intelligence background searches on those individuals.

Let us take it to another president. We had President Biden here. Is he really claiming that no one in either the presidential administration south of the border or in the Canadian government's security establishment looked at the background of the hundreds of people who were in the building when the President was addressing this House?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure you that every single day in this House the security and safety of everyone in this House is top of mind for all the professionals in the PPS and in our security agencies and services. The security of visiting dignitaries and presidents, like President Biden or President Zelenskyy, is always taken extremely seriously, and will continue to be.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is responsible for state visits. Foreign heads of states come here. They expect they will be protected not only against security threats but against massive global-scale embarrassments and shames like the one he allowed to unfold before Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister commit to personally calling President Zelenskyy and apologizing for his personal failure to vet those who were present and recognized on the floor of the House of Commons, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I will note that to this day, the leader of the official opposition has not apologized for having had three MPs, including one who is still part of his leadership team, sit down to dine with a far right German politician a number of months ago. No recognition, no apologies and no consequences for those three MPs who engaged with a far right German politician.

If the Leader of the Opposition wants the government to help him vet those his MPs meet with, we would be more than happy to give him some better advice.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister did not call Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said he went through diplomatic channels. He did not call a meeting with Canada's Jewish community. Three days have gone by. What has the Prime Minister been doing for the past three days?

The Prime Minister usually churns out one apology after another, but this time, it took five days. He could have been coordinating an effort to fight Russian propaganda but no, he was doing nothing.

Is he going to make another statement tomorrow to tell us what he did or did not do today, without doing it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I think we all recognize that what happened in the House on Friday was completely unacceptable.

We also understand that the situation, and the respect we all owe the Speaker of the House, required us to give the outgoing Speaker some space to come to terms with events, and I think it played a very important part in his decision to ultimately not only apologize, but resign.

The respect we owe this institution and this place demanded that we give him some space.

[Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc, Beloeil—Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we all agree that this is unacceptable, but it did not take us all five days to realize that an apology was needed.

I am formally asking the Prime Minister to call Volodymyr Zelenskyy and apologize to him on Canada's behalf. I am asking him start coordinating an effort to counter Russian propaganda, and I am asking him to immediately organize a healing meeting or start the healing process with the Jewish community in Quebec and Canada.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I agree. We have already begun doing those three things.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister claims that his government has nothing to do with security for a state visit in this chamber but this is the agreement that his office signed with the RCMP. It states that the RCMP will lead integrated security operations throughout the parliamentary precinct and on the grounds of Parliament Hill.

His police agency, which reports to his public safety minister, is responsible for the security and, therefore by necessity, the vetting of anyone who comes within just 10 or 20 feet of a foreign head of state who is an obvious target of assassination.

Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for this massive security and diplomatic meltdown that happened under his watch?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as colleagues know, the Parliamentary Protective Service is engaged in and has ensured the safety and the physical safety of everyone in this room.

I would like it, perhaps, when the Leader of the Opposition gets up again, if he could say the name, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and actually speak about Ukraine. We would very much like to hear that for once from the Leader of the Opposition.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, if he had been listening and not hiding, he would have heard me mention President Zelenskyy many times, in particular the damage that he has caused President Zelenskyy.

The question was about the RCMP vetting. Nobody is suggesting that the 98-year-old Nazi was a security threat but had he been vetted, even with a Google search, it would have been known that he was a Nazi and this massive, unprecedented, global embarrassment might have been avoided. It is the responsibility of the police service of the Prime Minister's government.

Why did the Prime Minister not ensure that his police service was doing its job?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Speaker of this House of Commons invited an individual without apparently doing that Google search, but it is not up to the government of the day to oversee or to have a veto power over those who the Speaker or, indeed, members of official parties choose to invite into this House. If the member wants to change hundreds of years of parliamentary privilege and Westminster democracy then, absolutely, let us have a debate about that.

However, on this side of the House, we respect the independence of the Speaker's office.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we do not have to change hundreds of years of tradition. This rule is already in place. The House of Commons has already given the authority to the RCMP to lead integrated security operations throughout the parliamentary precinct and on the grounds of Parliament Hill. That means that logically, if a foreign head of state were here giving a speech while that head of state is at war, we would ensure that the RCMP would vet the people who come within 10 or 20 feet of that individual.

My question, one more time, is why the government's police service, under the Prime Minister's leadership, did not do its job.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hard-working women and men of the Parliamentary Protective Service ensured the safety of everyone in this room by thoroughly clearing, through metal detectors and security, everyone who came into this room. When it comes to the respect for the independence and the authority of the Speaker, this government will continue to respect the independence of the Speaker's office and therefore the responsibility of the Speaker in this matter.

Housing

[Yvan Baker, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, many people in my riding are saying that it is difficult to access affordable housing. One of the reasons is the lack of rental housing in my community.

Can the Prime Minister tell Canadians what the government is doing to encourage the construction of rental housing in order to address the concerns of my constituents and Canadians in general about housing affordability?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Etobicoke Centre for his question and hard work.

This week, we announced that it will be easier for developers to access low-cost financing to build apartment buildings for families, students and seniors. This measure will help build up to 30,000 new rental units per year.

Together, we can get more housing built so everyone has an affordable home.

Government Accountability

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has finally come out of hiding from his cottage, but he still follows his old practice of failing to take responsibility. It reminds us that, when he was caught dressing up in racist costumes so many times he cannot remember them all, he said everyone else needed to learn from his personal racist misconduct. When he broke the law to help a Liberal-linked company to avoid prosecution for stealing from the poorest people in Africa, he blamed his Attorney General and fired her. When he doubled housing costs, he said housing is not his job.

When will he start taking ownership for his failures and apologize for them all?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while the Leader of the Opposition concentrates on personal attacks on me, I will stay focused on Canadians, on building more affordable housing, on delivering things like the grocery benefit, on delivering child care at $10 a day right across the country over the objections of Conservatives and on delivering a dental benefit for families that cannot afford to send their kids to the dentist, something Conservatives voted against.

We will continue to stay focused on fighting for Canadians while the Leader of the Opposition fights with everyone around him.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the country is in a shambles. Interest rates are rising faster than at any time in monetary history, but the Prime Minister does not think of monetary policy. Housing costs have doubled, but housing is not his job. We have the lowest growth since the Great Depression, but he does not know what growth is. Three million people live in poverty, a quarter million are homeless, seven million cannot feed themselves, violent shootings have doubled, there have been 36,000 overdose deaths since he took office and our country's reputation is in a shambles.

Will the guy who caused this nightmare finally take responsibility for it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are feeling the impact of rising prices across the country, including on things like groceries and housing. That is why we are taking immediate action to increase the pressure on CEOs to ensure groceries are affordable, we are supporting small businesses by extending the term loan repayment deadline and we are increasing the construction of apartments by removing the GST.

We are seeing the impacts already. This week a Toronto-based company shared that it will now build 5,000 more new rental units across the country, which were otherwise on hold.

We will continue to focus on delivering for Canadians, while he focuses on fights.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he keeps repeating the same election promises he broke eight years ago. The cost of housing has doubled after eight years. The inflation rate is the highest it has been in 40 years and interest rates are going up faster than at any other time in our country's economic history, but he is not thinking about economic policy. The number of shootings has doubled. Seven million Canadians cannot afford to buy food and 36,000 people have died from an overdose.

Will the person who caused this nightmare finally take responsibility for what he has broken?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are feeling the impact of the rising cost of living across the country, especially when it comes to groceries and housing. That is why we are taking immediate action to put more pressure on the CEOs of the major grocery chains to make groceries more affordable. We will also support small businesses by extending the loan repayment deadlines and we will help get more apartments built by eliminating the GST on new construction.

We are already seeing the benefits. This week, a Toronto-based company announced that it will build 5,000 new rental units across the country, a project that it had put on hold.

We will always be there to help Canadians.

The Economy

[Anna Gainey, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today for the first time on behalf of my constituents. As I begin as their MP, I promise to be a strong voice for my community. Right now, the number one priority for many families in my riding is making ends meet and paying the bills.

Can the Prime Minister outline how programs like the Canada child benefit are helping my constituents ease the pressure of inflation and deal with the rising cost of living?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the new member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount for her commitment to making life more affordable for all Canadians.

One of the first things we did when coming into office was to scrap Stephen Harper's flawed plan to send child care cheques to millionaires, by implementing a non-taxable Canada child benefit that provides more generous support to the Canadian families that need it the most. Since then, millions of parents have received support, including thousands of families in the member's riding that just got their monthly payment last week. This is a concrete way we are directly making life more affordable for Canadian families with hundreds of dollars a month.

Small Business

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

Mr. Speaker, 250,000 small businesses in Canada may be forced to close their doors by the end of this year because the Liberals are not listening. These are businesses that provide good jobs and are vital to local economies. It is shocking that after years of small businesses being hit with one thing or another, the Liberals' plan is to offer a half-baked extension that will cost businesses up to $20,000.

Will the Prime Minister commit right now to extending the CEBA payment deadline by a year, with the promised loan forgiveness?