Debates of Oct. 9th, 2024

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is pretty simple who we are targeting. We are targeting the corruption the Liberals enabled, the corruption they are hiding and the corruption they refuse to produce the documents for.

These are documents the Speaker ordered the production of, so Canadians should ask themselves why the Liberals are not producing them. They are not producing them because they are so damaging. The documents are so bad, they will destroy the government. Therefore, the Liberals have used up seven days of House of Commons time to hide their corruption.

They need to stop the corruption and produce the documents.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, again, the Conservatives are saying things that are false. The only party that has been putting up speakers for the past week is the Conservative Party, so it is the one filibustering its own motion.

Let us talk about why the Conservatives might be filibustering that motion. Rob Walsh, the former law clerk, said, “[In my humble opinion] it is an abuse of its powers for the House to use its power to demand”—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Colleagues, it is so important for us to allow one speaker to speak at a time as we are in a large place with many members. It becomes difficult for those who require the use of their earpieces to hear the interpretation.

I am going to ask the hon. Leader of the Government to repeat her answer because there have been hand signals from members who were not able to hear her.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I notice the volume goes up when Conservatives do not want to hear the truth, so let us go back to that.

The only members of Parliament who have been debating this motion are Conservative members of Parliament. They are filibustering their own motion, and I can say why. It might have something to do with Rob Walsh, the former law clerk, who stated, “it is an abuse of its powers for the House to use its power to demand and get documents from the Government in order to transfer them to a third party...that wouldn't otherwise receive them or to compel the Government to give documents to the third party”.

The Conservatives want to get around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and they are going after Canadians. Who is next?

Public Safety

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, La Presse reminded readers this morning that 15-year-old Meriem Boundaoui was killed by a stray bullet, that 16-year-old Thomas Trudel also died from a gunshot wound, that a 14-year-old teenager perished while attempting to commit arson in Beauce and that a French tourist and her seven-year-old daughter died in an arson attack while visiting Montreal.

Yesterday, the Minister of Justice blamed the Government of Quebec for all that, but all the problems being created right now can be traced back to the Liberal government. When will an election be called so we can fix this fiasco?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows very well that we are working with the provinces to address the situations he described. We are having ongoing discussions with the police forces and the provincial ministers responsible for public safety. We will continue to give law enforcement the resources they need. The Conservatives cannot say they did the same, because they cut funding to agencies like the CBSA and the RCMP.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during an interview this morning, the Montreal police chief clearly said that to solve Montreal's problems, he would need the laws and regulations to make it possible.

For the past nine years, all the government has done is pass bills like Bill C‑5, Bill C‑75, and Bill C‑83.

These laws have left criminals free to roam the streets of Montreal and all the other communities in Canada. They have no fear of the justice system or the police. Will the government listen to the Montreal police chief? Will it change the laws back to what they were when the Conservatives held power?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we, on this side of the House, have invested in our borders and our police forces. We have also imposed tougher penalties for crimes like auto theft.

I mentioned this yesterday, but I will repeat it today: If anyone believes that bail is a problem, they should ask governments like Mr. Legault's about it. They should ask how many Crown prosecutors they have, how many police officers they have and how much space they have in their detention centres. Those are the answers we need to fix the problem.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister says we should not suggest to her that the Liberals are turning their backs on farmers.

Well, I am telling her straight out that they have turned their backs on farmers, specifically 6,000 agricultural producers in Quebec, representing over 100,000 jobs.

Why are the Liberals all talk and no action? The clock is ticking. Time is running out.

Speaking of independence, do they realize that, in the meantime, they are giving us some damn good reasons to seek it?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Liberals are 100% behind the supply management system and 100% behind our dairy, poultry and egg farmers.

Farmers really have two options, two real options for the future. They can choose a Liberal government that believes in the system and wants to protect it, or they can choose a second option that does not unanimously support supply management.

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

Mr. Speaker, they have two other options: the maximum number of Bloc Québécois MPs or sovereignty. At this rate, as the government lurches from one failure to the next and continues to prove that it is unable to get anything done, soon it will be too late. Before long, even the NDP will not want to be seen with the Liberals.

Who is the boss in Canada: the Prime Minister or two unelected senators?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, my colleague talks about being unable to get things done. If there is anyone who is unable to get anything done for farmers and producers in Quebec, it is the leader of the Bloc Québécois, because he chose to be unable and to talk about sovereignty and independence instead of dealing with the urgent problems we are facing today.

The whole reason supply management exists is because there was a Liberal government at the time and there is a Liberal government now. If it had been a Conservative government and a Bloc government, supply management would be long gone.

Small Business

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. The Auditor General reported 186 conflicts of interest and over $400 million in misspent funds that went to Liberal insiders. The Minister of Environment's former employer, Cycle Capital, received $250 million from the green slush fund, all while over half of Canadian small businesses were losing money year over year.

Why is it okay for Liberals to enrich their friends while small businesses are struggling to stay afloat?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, what is not okay is for the Conservatives to repeat the same thing time and time again when they know it is false. The reality, and let us talk about facts, is that the entity they are talking about was created in 2001. It was managed by the Conservatives for nine years. The CEO of that organization is gone, the board is gone and the foundation no longer exists. That is the reality. What the Conservatives are about is going after ordinary Canadians, those who work at this organization. We are going to stand for democracy, we are going to stand for rights and we are going to stand for the work that needs to be done by the House.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada lost 9,037 businesses from May to June 2024, and 6,331 declared insolvency year over year. The closures we are witnessing right now have not been this large since the pandemic, when the entire country was shut down. While Canadian entrepreneurs and workers are struggling, business is still booming for Liberal insiders.

Why is the Prime Minister hiding behind the green slush fund documents, and when will he release them to Parliament?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to support small and medium-sized businesses. We are empowering entrepreneurs. We are increasing the lifetime capital gains exemption. We are investing in Canadian start-ups. We are boosting government procurement for small and medium-sized businesses and supporting indigenous entrepreneurs as well.

This also gives me the opportunity to announce that we have negotiated agreements with both Mastercard and Visa to lower interchange fees by up to 27%, which takes place as of October 19 of this year. We will continue to support small businesses.

Innovation, Science and Industry

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of these NDP-Liberals, taxes are up, costs are up, crime is up and time is up. You yourself ruled that the government violated an order of the House to turn over evidence to the police for a criminal investigation into the latest Liberal scandal. The government's refusal to accept your ruling has paralyzed Parliament, pushing aside our work to address the doubling of housing costs, food inflation, crime and chaos.

Will the minister end the cover-up and give the proof to the RCMP so we can get Parliament working again for all Canadians?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, what the members opposite are saying is not true. Your ruling was very clear: because of the unprecedented nature of that motion, it should go to the procedure and House affairs committee for study. The RCMP and the Auditor General raised their extreme discomfort with the Conservative motion. Canadians should be concerned because the Conservatives are going after whoever they hold a political grudge against, and this could be them next.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, $400 million of taxpayers' money has ended up in the pockets of Liberal cronies.

At a time when Canadians are facing doubled rents, food insecurity and crime, Liberal corruption has taken over the parliamentary agenda. Here we are once again, paralyzed by the corruption and fiscal irresponsibility of this Liberal government.

Can the Liberals release the documents we requested so that the House can finally get back to work?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is talking about responsibility. Here is what the RCMP commissioner has to say about responsibility:

I would like to emphasize...that the RCMP is operationally independent and strictly adheres to the principle of police independence. In a free and democratic society, this ensures that the government [and the House] cannot direct or influence the actions of law enforcement....

Does that make it any clearer? Do Conservative members need a briefing with the RCMP commissioner to understand what he has been saying for weeks now?

Indigenous Affairs

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this week, the honourable chiefs from the Prince Albert Grand Council are in Ottawa fighting for their people. In their communities, overcrowding and poor-quality housing are leading to mental, physical and social crisis. Tuberculosis, a disease that ran rampant during the residential school time, is on the rise again in indigenous communities. Children are dying.

Why has the government continued the decades-old Liberal and Conservative tradition of refusing to provide the needed funding to end this cycle?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, every step of the way over the past nine years, the government has worked with first nations leaders, indigenous leaders across the country to restore rights, to restore self-determination and to restore funding that was under heavy attack from the Conservative Party of Canada. We have so much more to do together, including working on mental health, which the government continues to support first nations-led solutions for. We are going to continue this hard work with partners exactly like the ones who are here today.

Labour

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' misguided, one-size-fits-none return-to-office mandate is hurting workers and Canadians trying to access vital public services. This rushed mandate was done without due consultation, unfairly impacting dedicated workers.

Is this the Liberals' method of natural attrition or an underhanded attack on skilled public servants? We know Conservatives sure do not have workers' backs, but will the Liberals repeal this unfair mandate?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is exactly right. Conservatives do not have workers' backs, unlike this side of the House. Our top priority is to deliver quality programs and services to Canadians. We are committed to ensuring that our public servants are supported through this change to the directive on hybrid work. It is our expectation that departments work with their union management committees during the implementation phases that are before us. The clerk and the department heads will continue to monitor and work with the unions and the public service.