Debates of Dec. 2nd, 2024

Small Business

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. We will always be there for Canadian families and businesses, in good times and in bad. We have cut taxes for the middle class twice. What has the Conservative leader done? He forced his members to vote against those tax cuts not just once, but twice.

Today, with the GST cut, we are providing meaningful support to families and businesses, but it seems as though the only tax cuts the Conservative leader is prepared to support are those that help his rich friends, like oil company CEOs. It is always the same story with this Conservative leader. His personal interests come before those of Canadians—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member for Calgary Forest Lawn.

Public Services and Procurement

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General exposed $3.5 billion in ineligible CEBA loans thanks to the incompetent Liberal-NDP government. They were too incompetent to run this program themselves, so the Liberals gave a sole-source contract to Accenture, a multinational corporation that gave most of the work to Brazilians, not Canadians. Canadians got taken to the cleaners for more than $300 million.

Why are third party contractors running the government and covering up ministers' incompetence?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, it is nice to know there exists a report that the opposition can read without a security clearance.

The member opposite and his party claim every single time that they care about small businesses, when in fact every single time we put efforts and support forward for small businesses, they always vote against and decline everything that we do. The fact is that the CEBA loans were there and helped nearly 900,000 small businesses keep their lights on, keep their doors open and keep their employees working. We will continue to be there to support small business.

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

Mr. Speaker, today the Auditor General released a bombshell report on the Canada emergency business account. It highlights serious inefficiencies, a lack of government oversight and $3.5 billion in losses to ineligible recipients. How did we get here? The report outlined that the third party program administrator, Accenture, set its own pricing, wrote its own contracts, ran procurement and received 19 uncompetitive contracts for $313 million.

Why can the Liberals not administer a government program without breaking a conflict of interest law?

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Minister of Small Business]

Mr. Speaker, I already talked about the fact that there exists a report that the Conservatives can read that they do not need security clearance for, so here is the real bombshell: When it comes to security clearance, there are more allegations that have come forward with regard to foreign interference in the Conservative Party's leadership race, yet the Conservative leader chooses to ignore these security breaches in his own party. If the Conservative leader actually cared, he would have nothing to hide. Can the leader of the Conservative Party get the clearance, take the briefing and protect this country?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, they do not want to hear talk about the Auditor General, who was quite harsh about Liberal corruption this morning. She disclosed that $3.5 billion from the Canada Emergency Business Account was paid to businesses that were not eligible for it. Worse yet, as in the ArriveCAN scandal, a private company, Accenture, was the party that defined the criteria and the cost for a contract it was awarded. This is becoming a Liberal pattern.

Why do the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs keep illegally enriching a private company to the detriment of Canadian SMEs?

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat what my colleague said. In fact, her response was very good. I will provide it in French in case my colleague did not hear the interpretation.

We are pleased that the Conservatives can read a report that does not require them to have security clearance. This document, which is very public and everyone can read, mentions one thing that cannot be denied. Were it not for this government, thousands of businesses across the country would not have survived. That is exactly what we are doing. We are ensuring that businesses are able to pay their employees and their expenses, and that they are resilient in the face of the biggest pandemic we have ever had.

Women and Gender Equality

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. This campaign unites people across the country and the world to call out and speak up against acts of gender-based violence. Unlike the Conservative Party, our government has never wavered in supporting survivors of gender-based violence or investing in prevention.

Could the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth update the House on our government's commitment to addressing this crisis?

[Marci Ien, Liberal, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth]

Mr. Speaker, our theme, “Come Together, Act Now”, emphasizes that everyone plays a part, especially men and boys, in changing attitudes and behaviours that contribute to gender-based violence.

This dangerous behaviour is pervasive. Even the leader of the Conservative Party embedded misogynistic hashtags in his YouTube videos. Canadian women remember. Our government will never back down on supporting survivors. We created the first national action plan to end gender-based violence, backed by more than half a billion dollars. We will not relent until every woman is safe.

Indigenous Affairs

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples continue to be killed by the RCMP. In less than a month, nine indigenous people were killed without consequence. The RCMP and provincial authorities must respond toward reconciliation. Indigenous peoples deserve justice. Victims and their families deserve justice.

When will this government finally work with indigenous peoples and law enforcement toward indigenous justice?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, we thank our colleague for that important question. We obviously share her concern and concern of all Canadians when we see these tragic outcomes.

I have talked to the RCMP commissioner, the leadership of the RCMP, about this. I have had a chance to talk to indigenous leaders and territorial premiers about this. We share our colleague's concern about moving toward a circumstance where we can have more indigenous police forces and include indigenous communities in the important law enforcement that Canadians expect in their communities, and we want to do that in partnership with them. We will continue to do that important work and think of the families of these victims at all times.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Kevin Vuong, Independent, Spadina—Fort York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's border and immigration are key issues for the incoming Trump administration. It is no surprise that the immigration minister was left out of the Prime Minister's Mar-a-Lago visit, given that it is his failures that have now placed our economy at risk.

With IRGC agents hiding behind the refugee program to avoid deportation, can the public safety minister, who did make the trip and whose department finally got around to designating the IRGC as the terrorist group it is, share what he is doing to kick out every single terrorist from Canada?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, again, we see a member of the House constantly making things up.

We are very concerned about any foreign agent working in Canada, whether it is as part of any purported terror. The enforcement agencies in our country work diligently to clamp down on these people, to arrest them, to bring them to justice or to kick them out of the country. We will continue to do so.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of our former colleague, the Hon. Jean‑Claude D'Amours, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister responsible for Immigration and Minister responsible for Military Affairs for the Province of New Brunswick.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Alleged Intimidation during Proceedings of the House

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to add my perspective on the question of privilege raised on Friday by my colleague the member for London—Fanshawe. The opposition deputy House leader explicitly named me and put completely false information on the record regarding my conduct in the lobby as an attempt to deflect from the deliberate, premeditated plan to disrupt the voting proceedings in the House. I am rising to correct the record and put on the record what actually happened.

Prior to the vote, on my way to the washroom, I overheard the Conservative lobby staff instruct Conservative MPs to disrupt proceedings in the chamber once the NDP rose to vote. He then egged them on and said, “The NDP deserves it.” I shook my head, made a comment under my breath and left the lobby. Not only was there no intimidation, but there was no heated exchange of words between me and that staffer. In other words, the Conservative staff was suggesting the NDP deserves to have its House privilege violated, in clear contravention of section 16 of the Standing Orders.

When the vote took place, sure enough, the Conservatives carried out their premeditated plan to deliberately violate the privilege of NDP members. During the vote, I was not able to hear if my vote was registered and I did not know if in fact it had been or not. I stood for some time watching and waiting. After the vote, a number of MPs and staff had gathered, and I repeated that the staffer in question had instructed Conservative MPs to disrupt the House, which he affirmed. I also raised this with the Conservative whip and asked if it amounted to bullying, to which he responded that he knew nothing about it. The question is, if he knew nothing about it, then who instructed the Conservative lobby whip staff to disrupt the House? Was it the leader of the official opposition? If not, did the staff act on their own?

I understand what happens in the lobby is not subject to debate in the House, but the member for Mégantic—L'Érable brought it up, and I need to defend myself and put the truth on the record. The member's fabrication does not end there. In his comment, he said an NDP staffer had to “physically take hold of” me. This is absolutely untrue. When I returned from the washroom and walked through the lobby, I was not manhandled by anyone. On the contrary, I proactively reported what I had overheard to the NDP lobby staff, who were already aware at the time that the Conservatives intended to violate Standing Order 16 by disrupting the House when the NDP got up to vote. This was reported to the clerk so the Speaker would be informed and aware.

It is deeply disturbing for the Conservatives to resort to fabricating such a story to malign me and the hard-working staff of the NDP. Mr. Speaker, not only are the member's comments completely untrue, but I think as you deliberate, you should be aware of the premeditation and intentional nature of the disruption of Standing Order 16 by the Conservative MPs on Thursday. The truth needs to be told and I hope this information will assist you in that deliberation.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I thank the hon. member for Vancouver East.

Decorum in the House

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order, but it is not related to the previous topic.

As we know, part of the Speaker's job is to maintain order in the House. I know it is not always easy, especially these days, and I know our friends in the NDP sit far away from the Speaker. However, they do sit very close to us, and they often protest very loudly. We are having a hard time hearing the interpretation. They are disturbing us. I would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to pay attention to what is happening in that corner of the House, because it is making things difficult for us.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I thank the hon. member for La Prairie for his intervention.

The hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle is rising on a point of order.

Alleged Intimidation during Proceedings of the House

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reserve the right to come back to this question with a more comprehensive response.

However, I could not help but stand up and respond to a few of the erroneous points the NDP member just raised. I want to thank my Bloc Québécois colleague for pointing out that the New Democrats are often selective in their sanctimony about decorum in this place. They are often extremely noisy, heckling members when they have the floor, including during votes. They have suddenly found their “holier than thou” gene on this type of thing when they are often guilty of it themselves.

With regard to the specific allegations, I can tell the NDP member there are witnesses who saw everything our colleagues have pointed out. As well, we have videotape of the erratic and unhinged behaviour the NDP members exhibited when they marched up to the Speaker's chair. If she wants to talk about decorum, this was marching up to the Speaker's chair, hurling insults at the Speaker, after the House had already been adjourned, to the point where NDP members had to be taken back because they were violating the space of members of our side, most of whom were seated, calm and collected.

I do not know what happened to cause such erratic and unhinged behaviour on the part of the NDP. I will not speculate on that. However, I will be coming back with a more substantive response, including the eyewitness testimony of members who were in the lobby, who heard that member hurl abuse and profane and vulgar language at a staffer. An elected MP yelling insults at and using profane language against a staffer would also rise to the level of unparliamentary behaviour. As the member pointed out, it happened in the lobby, not in the chamber.

I would just point out that it is your job, Mr. Speaker, to enforce decorum during votes and during speeches, which you did that night. The Speaker made a judgment call on aspects of decorum that evening. Other than that, I believe that is where the matter should rest.

It was only after the NDP started making false and defamatory accusations, which I dare say they would never repeat outside the chamber, that we were forced to show Canadians the actual truth about what happened that evening, which consisted of NDP members of Parliament completely losing their cool, coming over in an aggressive and hostile manner, hurling abuse and yelling at members who were seated, calm and collected. That is the true story about what happened that night, and we will absolutely correct the record.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same question of privilege. I take no pleasure in standing here. I am just building on what our House leader would have to say in the report he will be coming back with, with further comments.

I was one of those witnesses that evening in the lobby. I want to bring a little clarification to what the member opposite said. Unfortunately, she used her position of power to bully a staffer and used inappropriate language when dealing with that one staffer. I immediately let the whip's office and our House leader's office know. It should not stand. We do not treat the people who serve us here in the House in that type of manner.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I hope to come back to the House as soon as possible after we've heard the interventions that some members have indicated they are going to be coming back to the House with.

Health

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 22nd report of the Standing Committee on Health in relation to Bill C‑368, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (natural health products).

The committee has decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 19th report of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, in relation to Bill C-61, an act respecting water, source water, drinking water, waste water and related infrastructure on first nation lands. The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.