Debates of Oct. 3rd, 2024

Questions on the Order Paper

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed from October 2 consideration of the motion, and of the amendment.

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, last night I was talking about the reason we are here today, which is the government's refusal to hand over documents ordered by Parliament, by all three parties on this side of the House, regarding the green funding scandal. Of course, people are asking which green funding scandal, because only the Liberal government can be so corrupt that it actually has subsets of its scandals. We have three ongoing right now.

There is the Environment Canada grants and contributions audit scandal, where they list off a lack of governance issues, ineligible grants given, including to such companies as Rio Tinto. It is a fine Canadian company, but it has been noted for a lot of environmental concerns. It is also worth $220 billion U.S., yet this government is giving it millions. There are other companies. LaFarge cement received billions. Another one, Holcim Group, which is worth $30 billion, has received millions from the government.

Of course, there is also the other scandal around the green accelerator fund that the Auditor General pointed out. One of the issues is that companies received funding without showing what they were going to do to reduce greenhouse gases. Also, the Auditor General noted ineligible companies; no due diligence was done before $8 billion was given out.

These are some of the companies that the AG noted did not have proper paperwork, and possibly would not even be eligible for the funding, but still received some of that $8 billion from the Liberal government: Algoma Steel, which is worth $2 billion, received $200 million; ArcelorMittal, a foreign company worth $329 billion, got $400 million; FCA Canada (Stellantis), on top of the billions it receives for batteries, is worth $55 billion and got half a billion more under the net-zero accelerator. It goes on and on. Pratt & Whitney, which is worth a quarter of a trillion dollars, received $61 million. Eight companies worth over a trillion dollars received funding from the government they were probably ineligible for.

I want to point out a line from the net-zero accelerator report by the Auditor General. Keep in mind, again, the Auditor General pointed out this money was given out without proper due diligence. This money, billions from Canadian taxpayers, was given out without companies, or even the government, figuring out if they were going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The line is from page 8, for those wanting to follow along at home: “A project of more than $50 million also requires Treasury Board approval, concurrence letters from ministers of other concerned departments, and Cabinet approval, [but it] can be fast-tracked with a letter to the Prime Minister.”

Eight companies are noted that received funding up to $8 billion that were probably not eligible. The Auditor General herself stated due diligence was not done. Companies that were not eligible received money. Companies applied and received money despite showing no plan to reduce GHG emissions, but a project could be fast-tracked by the Prime Minister if it was above $50 million. Algoma Steel was above $50 million. Stellantis was above $50 million. NextStar Energy, also Stellantis, was above $50 million. General Motors, which is worth $70 billion, was also above $50 million.

I have to ask, what was cabinet's role? What was the Prime Minister's role? Was the Prime Minister involved in fast-tracking? I have to ask that, and I would probably answer “yes” because it is clear from the government's own rules that these companies were not eligible, yet somehow they got fast-tracked to receive the money through the Treasury Board, through cabinet and through the Prime Minister. Two million Canadians are lining up at food banks, including veterans having to rely on the Veterans Association's food bank in Edmonton, yet $8 billion was fast-tracked by the Treasury Board, cabinet and probably the Prime Minister himself. Taxpayers' money went to large, profitable corporations worth a trillion dollars that probably were not even eligible.

Of course, we also have the green slush fund. The Auditor General has pointed out that the Liberals turned Sustainable Development Technology Canada into a slush fund for Liberal insiders, with $53 million given to 10 ineligible projects, which seems like small peanuts compared to the accelerator scandal. A quarter of a billion dollars was given out in 186 cases to projects where board members held a conflict of interest. Some $58 million was given to projects without ensuring that contribution agreements were met. This is a recurring issue with the government, and it is the same issue with the contribution agreements at Environment Canada.

We have the House, the Conservatives, the Bloc and the NDP all demanding that documents related to the green slush fund be turned over to the RCMP. For those trying to keep track at home on their scorecards, it is the third one related to sustainable development funding. Parliament has supreme privilege in this case. The government and bureaucrats do not get to decide what can be released when Parliament demands it.

The government is covering this up and refusing to hand over the documents despite the will of the majority of the House. The government must learn that Parliament is supreme, not the Prime Minister's Office, not the Prime Minister and not Liberal members of Parliament. It is time for the Liberals to stop the cover-up and hand over the documents.

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

Madam Speaker, let us think of the Conservative Party's corruption, and this is just a short list: anti-terrorism scandal, Phoenix scandal, G8 spending scandal, the ETS scandal, the F-35 scandal, the Senate scandal and the election scandals, plural. Members might find this hard to believe, but not once did the Conservatives ever go around collecting all the data and then shift it right from their offices to the RCMP. Instead, they took the approach of burying it as far as they could underground.

Conservative Party members believe they are better investigators than the RCMP. They are saying to gather the information and shift it over to the RCMP. Who cares about the Constitution and charter rights?

Where was the enthusiasm, when the Conservatives were in government, to get to the bottom of the huge number of scandals, of which I just cited a few?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, here we have the most corrupt government probably in the history of Canada, and what is its response to billions of dollars given to its friends? It is Harper's fault. Why did Harper not do more about it? This is a disgraceful response from the member, who has been here long enough to know better.

I am going to quote Michel Bédard, who is the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons. He said:

There is no limit to the right of the House of Commons and of its committee to order the production of documents, providing that the documents are available in paper or electronic format and are in Canada. This power is subject only to the exceptions and limits explicitly stipulated by Parliament....

It is very clear that Parliament has asked for these documents. It is Parliament that decides, not the member for Winnipeg North, nor the PMO. Parliament wants to get to the bottom of this scandal. The government needs to comply with the order of Parliament.

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

Madam President, I thank my hon. colleague. I have the pleasure of sitting with him on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. He knows that the government's lack of transparency and lack of responsibility when it comes to Crown corporations are important to me. I think this is a subject that interests him as well.

When the government puts money into Crown corporations, they can do practically whatever they want. In the case of the Sustainable Development Technology Canada foundation, that is more or less the problem. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada shirked all its responsibilities and obligations for accountability in this matter. That is truly unfortunate, because this is taxpayer money. Nearly one billion dollars was invested in this, and much of it is known to have been misused and mismanaged.

What does my colleague think of this?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from the public accounts committee has done a fine job of fighting for transparency from the government.

It is clear from all the witnesses we have heard, including the whistle-blower, that the Minister of Industry was aware, the government was aware and Liberal MPs were aware, yet at every point we could have brought the information forward, the Liberal government suppressed it. The government has to come clean.

It makes us wonder. The Liberals are allowing days of their agenda to be sidelined to protect the government from releasing this information. What are they trying to hide that they are willing to sacrifice days and days of their legislation being debated in the House to cover it up? Are they protecting the Minister of Industry? Are they protecting the Liberal government? Why are the Liberals not doing their job to protect Canadians and taxpayers instead?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to talk about the decision of former industry minister Navdeep Bains to appoint a chair of the SDTC who was clearly in conflict, having received funds from that same program. Did anyone warn former minister Bains at the time that there could be a conflict of interest? If those warnings were given, what did he do with that information?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Chilliwack—Hope could have just reached over and asked this question, but I am glad we put it on the record.

This is not a new program; SDTC has been around for decades. Not surprisingly, knowing the current government, it got a clean bill of health from the Auditor General until about the time the Liberals took over. Navdeep Bains fired the board that provided excellent governance and that gave SDTC a clean bill of health, and he appointed Liberal cronies. There was push-back and warnings from the existing board members that this would be an issue. Instead, Mr. Bains turned his back on the advice, turned his back on governance and turned his back on taxpayers and opened up the trough for Liberal insiders. That is what we are trying to get to the bottom of with this green slush fund scandal.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague's historical reminder that this program was indeed around for decades and had a fine track record. It was created under former prime minister Jean Chrétien and was extremely well managed in the former administration of Stephen Harper. I say that recognizing that my predecessor as the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, Gary Lunn, was the minister of natural resources and quite frequently trotted out the impressive statistics showing that there was a significant multiplier factor. Money given through SDTC was more than government money because it prompted other private sector investments in cutting-edge technology. It is a tragedy that the program skidded into what is clearly a wreaking scandal.

My hon. colleague suggested some responses, but what do we do to fix it? It was a good program.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for recognizing my friend, former minister Gary Lunn. I used to work with him when I was in Victoria. He is a wonderful gentleman.

There is a clear answer to fixing this corruption. It is to fire the Liberal government and install a Conservative government, which would fix SDTC and have it performing as it was before.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, the member is right when he says that Parliament has the supreme authority to make the requests it has. The issue is the Charter of Rights. The Liberal Party, or the Government of Canada, does not believe we should be walking over individuals' rights. We should not, on a whim, be using the notwithstanding clause. Members of the Conservative Party seem to feel they do not have to worry about the Charter of Rights.

Why are the Conservatives today putting a fog over judicial independence because of their behaviour? By the way, they are making the Auditor General and the RCMP institution uncomfortable with what they are doing.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, the hypocrisy of this gentleman is stunning.

A gentleman that the members' government persecuted, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, was one of the most respected members of our military. In January 2017, he was suspended from his position without explanation. He was suspended because he was against a purchasing decision that was to benefit the Irving family, who are great friends of the Liberal Party. He was suspended on January 27.

In April 2017, the Prime Minister told reporters that Mark Norman would likely end up before the courts. Less than a year later, the Prime Minister said again, in a town hall, that the Mark Norman issue would inevitably lead to court processes.

Why was the member not standing up for a brave Canadian servant like Mark Norman? It was because he was busy spouting hypocrisies in this House. He should be ashamed of his comments today.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Madam Speaker, there seems to be a pattern of behaviour with the government. It is corruption and cover-up. We saw that with the Winnipeg lab and we have seen it in numerous instances.

Can the member elaborate on the pattern of behaviour that he has seen?

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Madam Speaker, where there is smoke there is fire, and there is more smoke with the corruption of the government than we saw over Jasper this summer.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Madam Speaker, as always, it is a pleasure to stand in the House on behalf of my constituents to call for common sense, in this case from the government. We as common-sense Conservatives have been calling on the government, Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the Auditor General to hand over to the RCMP all documents relating to the Prime Minister's green slush fund. This matter was decided in the House of Commons by a vote.

One of the privileges of parliamentarians is to call for the production of papers, to demand papers from the government. As we know, right now we are in a privilege debate because the Speaker has determined that there is a prima facie case, that on the face of it, it appears as though the government has violated the privileges of members of Parliament. That is why we are now days into a discussion about the Prime Minister's refusal to comply with a direct order of the House. The government's refusal to comply with an order of the House violates each and every one of our privileges, as is evidenced by the fact that, as the Speaker said, no other business may take place until this matter is disposed of.

When the collective or individual rights of members are violated, it is so serious that the House must stop all other business. All other business goes to the bottom of the pile until we have addressed this issue. This is as serious as it gets for Parliament. There are no government bills and no private members' bills being debated because this is the most important issue to deal with, and it is all because the government has refused to comply with a lawful order of the House of Commons.

After question period, I will be happy to continue to talk about the pattern of corruption and the ignoring of the will of Parliament that the Liberal government, enabled by its friends in the NDP, has undertaken. This is a serious matter. Our collective rights as a House of Commons have been threatened. The Speaker has said there is a prima facie case for this to be discussed and considered and that it must take precedence over every other matter before the House.

I look forward to resuming this discussion about the government's breach of the privileges of members of this place.

Ken Tobias

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Madam Speaker, a well-known singer-songwriter from New Brunswick has sadly passed away after losing his battle with brain cancer. Ken Tobias was born in Saint John and brought joy and beauty to the world for more than 60 years with his music. He wrote multiple chart-topping hits like Stay Awhile, which sold more than two million copies worldwide, and was written for the Bells, and Dream No. 2, which he recorded himself. He duetted with Anne Murray and was honoured with numerous awards during his career, including five SOCAN classic awards for 100,000 airplays of a given song.

Music is what can unite us all and Ken was a shining example of that. We will be forever grateful for his contribution to Canadian music. His legacy and his music will live on.

My condolences to his family, friends and fans. He will be sorely missed.

60th Anniversary of Loretteville Knights of Columbus

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 60th anniversary of Conseil Montcalm 5529, better known as the Loretteville Knights of Columbus. This charitable group plays a major role in our community and helps the most vulnerable among us. We can always count on the Knights of Columbus when people are in need and could use a helping hand. For nearly 40 years, the Knights of Columbus have held their famous flea market, which attracts thousands of people to the Loretteville arena. Every year, they have raised close to $60,000 and distributed it to those who really needed it. Over the past 60 years, thousands of volunteers have provided a true and much needed sense of solidarity and community.

I want to pay tribute to a dearly departed former grand knight, Alphonse Lacasse, who, along with his family, welcomed my family when they moved to Château‑d'Eau in 1962.

Happy 60th anniversary to the Loretteville Knights of Columbus. Here is to the next 60 years.

Autism Awareness Month

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, October is Autism Awareness Month in Canada, a time that reminds us of the lived realities of Canadians living with autism and families supporting them.

Recently, our government tabled the framework for autism that outlines the principles and best practices to guide national autism policy, programs and activities in Canada. The Public Health Agency has also launched Canada's autism strategy, which is a multi-year action plan to implement that framework. We are also launching a process to create a national autism network that will bring together the skills and resources of autism organizations and stakeholders, including people living with experience, to support implementation of activities guided by that framework and strategy.

While the work we are doing is crucial, we know that families need more help from those who deliver health care in the country. It is time for the provinces to step up and do their part to support families, so they can give their loves ones the best possible care.

Daniel Pinard

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec lost a free man. Daniel Pinard passed away, and Quebec is greatly indebted to him.

He changed the relationship that Quebeckers have with food through his now legendary cooking show, Ciel! mon Pinard. With his deft touch, a tomato, some salt and a slice of bread became a gourmet meal. He did not worry about following an exact recipe, and he encouraged his thousands of viewers not to worry but to let their imaginations and tastebuds run wild.

We watched as Daniel Pinard laughed, raved, raged and rhapsodized over his food. He was a man who knew how to live. His two recipe books, Pinardises, told a story and encouraged readers to develop a zest for life. Daniel Pinard was a hedonist with gourmet tastes, but he also had a keen social conscience and was concerned about social injustice and inequality.

Daniel Pinard was a sociologist, a democrat and a humanist, who taught people how to make eating an enjoyable experience.

On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to extend my condolences to the enormous list of people who loved him.

François Giguère

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

Mr. Speaker, a few days ago, we were saddened to learn of the passing of François Giguère, a paragon of community involvement and tenant rights advocacy. Mr. Giguère spent years campaigning for everyone to have a roof over their head. More than that, he put words into action with initiatives such as SOLIDES, an organization that buys aging apartment buildings, renovates them and makes them available for rent at prices tenants can afford.

Mr. Giguère and I crossed paths several times, including during election campaigns. He made sure that all the candidates were well aware of their demands. He helped Châteauguay set the bar for social and affordable housing initiatives. This is a great loss for our community.

I extend my deepest condolences to his family, loved ones, colleagues and friends.

Public Safety

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the Liberal government's reckless approach to public safety has unleashed chaos, crime, drugs and disorder in our communities.

Under the Liberal government's justice laws, violent offenders are released back on the streets. This catch-and-release system strains our police services and puts the men and women in uniform who dedicate their lives to serve and protect our communities at risk.

Just last week, Constable Jim Peters, a Barrie police officer, was stabbed while on duty by a repeat violent offender who was on probation at the time of the stabbing. Thankfully, Jim is recovering.

Over the past two years, this accused individual has been arrested and released 17 times and has had over 100 interactions with the Barrie Police Service. This rampant crime and chaos must end. My Conservative colleagues and I will continue to advocate for strict bail rules that ensure repeat offenders remain behind bars.

Canada's Conservatives want to thank all police and peace officers across our country for their hard work and dedication in keeping our communities safe.

Sikh Motorcycle Club

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour the Sikh Motorcycle Club of British Columbia and one of its remarkable leaders, Mr. Avtar Singh Dhillon.

Mr. Dhillon immigrated to Canada in 1970 and, as a baptized Sikh, he could not obtain a motorcycle licence because of his turban. Backed by the support of the local Sikh community, Mr. Dhillon filed a complaint and, in 1999, the Human Rights Commission ordered the B.C. government to amend the helmet laws to accommodate riders with turbans.

Due to Mr. Dhillon's tireless advocacy, members of the Sikh community can be seen riding proudly with their faith intact. I thank Mr. Avtar Singh Dhillon and all the members of the Sikh Motorcycle Club for their continued dedication, activism and service to the community.

King Charles III Coronation Medal

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last month, I was thrilled to present the King Charles III Coronation Medal to 20 deserving individuals who have made significant contributions to their communities and to Canada.

Commemorating the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and his lifetime of committed service, these medals recognize outstanding Canadians of all ages, abilities and from all walks of life for their dedicated service to bettering their communities and the lives of others.

With so much negativity in the world today, it is important that we take time to celebrate the accomplishments of others and the positive impacts they make to their communities, our country and, in many cases, the world. These individuals truly exemplify the values of service and selflessness, professionalism and commitment.

I congratulate all the deserving recipients of this honour. Our country is better because of them.