Debates of Feb. 6th, 2024

Public Safety

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, what are we going to do at Thursday's discussion?

For one thing, we are going to discuss exactly what we can do to combat auto theft with the chief of the Montreal police service and other partners.

I was also at the port of Montreal two weeks ago with my colleague, the Minister of Transport. The good news is that we saw a lot more than five border services officers working on this troubling situation.

We will continue to increase the number of Canada Border Services Agency staff, which the Conservatives drastically reduced.

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday our leader proposed other measures to fix this government's mistakes, like fixing the Criminal Code by bringing back tougher sentences. Three auto thefts would get a minimum of three years in prison. It is pretty simple.

Also, by finding savings elsewhere—yes, we can save money; our leader has found savings—we can purchase 24 scanners that would be installed at the ports to check containers.

Will the government listen to the Leader of the Opposition's proposals and bring them to the summit on Thursday so that we can finally solve the problem of auto theft in Canada?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see my colleague's interest in our summit on Thursday. His leader had downplayed the meeting, describing it as a bunch of bigwigs nattering at a meeting in Ottawa.

Personally, I would never say such a thing about the chiefs of municipal and provincial police forces and provincial ministers who want to partner with the federal government in the fight against auto theft.

On Thursday, we will be discussing concrete ideas to help reduce this major scourge facing Canadians. We will continue to increase investments.

Persons with Disabilities

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, yet Canadians living with a disability have been deplaned on a catering cart or forced to get on their hands and knees to crawl off a plane. Some of these dehumanizing experiences happened under the watch of Air Canada's CEO, and the Liberal government is doing nothing about it. It continues to give CEOs a free ride, even handing them billions of taxpayers' dollars.

Will the Liberals stop protecting rich CEOs and start protecting people with disabilities?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, airlines can do better and have to do better. That is why I convened the team from Air Canada, the CEO and others, to come here and meet me and my colleague a couple of weeks ago. That is fundamental. What we have seen in the papers and through media is totally unacceptable, and not only with Air Canada but other companies also. Once again, they have to do better and they will do better.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Palestinian Canadian families are desperate to bring their loved ones to safety in Canada. The rollout of the special immigration measure for Gaza is riddled with problems. People have been rejected without any explanation. Some are rejected then later approved with exactly the same application. Now officials are saying the 1,000 cap has almost been reached, yet many have not received the code from IRCC to move on to the next stage.

What action is the minister taking to clean up this mess, and will he remove the arbitrary cap without further delay to save lives?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, that is precisely what this measure is about. It is about saving lives in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe. We have said time and time again that we will be flexible about the 1,000-person cap. Right now, the challenge is actually getting an initial list of people out who are pre-approved to cross Rafah gates. I am extremely disappointed with local authorities that we have not been able to get this through, but that will not prevent us from trying.

It is very difficult to extend these programs when we cannot even get people out. I am frustrated by it. We are in the House and I would use stronger words outside it, but we need to get those people out and into safety.

Indigenous Affairs

[John Aldag, Liberal, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we started debate on the first nations clean water act, an important piece of legislation that I look forward to studying at committee in due course. However, it seems like every time we want to move forward on reconciliation, the Conservatives want to keep us in our colonial past. The very first time a Conservative MP rose on this bill, the member accused first nations of burning down their own water systems.

For the Minister of Indigenous Services, how would this legislation make long-term drinking water advisories in first nations communities a thing of the past?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Cloverdale—Langley City for caring so much about access to clean water for first nations, something about which we should all care.

It was very disappointing yesterday, on the first day of the second reading of the bill, that the Conservative member blamed first nations for their lack of drinking water. I guess it is easier to do that than to look in the mirror. In 2015, when we took office, there were 105 long-term boil-water advisories. Now, 96% of first nations communities have access to clean water. We will not rest until we get it done, and this bill would help.

Public Safety

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, auto theft is up over 200% in the GTA. Canadians are waking up to their cars being stolen from their driveway, and they are watching them being shipped out to Africa and Dubai. Even the former Liberal justice minister had his own government cars stolen. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost, the crime or the chaos.

Will the Prime Minister reverse his soft-on-crime, catch-and-release bail policies that have caused this auto theft crisis?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, it is very strange that the party opposite only started talking about auto theft after we announced the fact that we were having a national summit to study auto theft, to bring together all affected parties, and after we realized that it was actually under Prime Minister Harper that boots on the ground were cut. We added 1,000 more to CBSA to staff the border. We are bringing together auto insurers, local law enforcement and industry, and we will reach—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I want to encourage all members to only take the microphone when they are recognized by the Speaker. I know some members will even be asking questions later on and I am certain they will want to have that same respect returned to them.

The hon. member for Oxford.

[Arpan Khanna, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, let me remind the Prime Minister that he is responsible for the ports, the RCMP, the CBSA and our Criminal Code.

Canadians are paying $1 billion more in insurance premiums because of skyrocketing auto theft claims. The Prime Minister has caused this auto theft crisis with bills like Bill C-75 and Bill C-5, which allow criminals to be on the streets the same day.

Will the government reverse its policies and replace them with our common-sense plan of jail and not bail for repeat violent offenders?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I want to stress that slogans and videos are not going to fix this very complex problem. Our approach to addressing complex problems is to develop a complex solution.

In Bill C-75, the very piece of legislation that the Leader of the Opposition is asking us to repeal, our government raised the maximum penalty on summary conviction for motor vehicle theft from 18 months to two years. Why does the Leader of the Opposition want to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member for Edmonton—Mill Woods.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, car thefts have skyrocketed across the country. They are up 300% in Toronto and up over 100% in other Canadian cities. Car theft now costs the insurance industry over $1 billion a year. That means that every Canadian is spending more every month for their insurance premiums.

The Prime Minister has caused this auto theft crisis. His catch-and-release policies have allowed organized crime to thrive in our country. It is time to stop the crime.

When will the Prime Minister reverse his catch-and-release policies?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, the good news is that on Thursday representatives of the insurance industry will participate with auto manufacturers, people responsible for rail transportation, the ports, federal border services agents, the RCMP and provincial ministers responsible. Their police chiefs will be here. We think that if we are going to do the work that Canadians expect us to do on this important issue our government is committed to doing, we need to do it in partnership with all the people to whom my colleague referred. The good news is that is exactly what we are doing.

[Tim Uppal, Conservative, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Mr. Speaker, while the Liberals continue to hold meetings, criminals are going to continue to steal cars. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal soft-on-crime policies, our police forces are powerless to stop car thieves. Liberal Bill C-5 allows house arrest for these criminals and Bill C-75 allows repeat offenders to be released on bail just hours after they were arrested.

The Prime Minister has caused this crisis and he is not worth the cost. When will he reverse the soft-on-crime policies that have caused this auto theft crisis?

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

Mr. Speaker, he is entitled to his own opinions, but he is not entitled to his own facts. Bill C-5, which he just mentioned, maintained a mandatory minimum penalty for auto theft. That is what the Conservatives apparently want to repeal. Bill C-75, which he just mentioned, actually enhanced the maximum penalty for auto theft, moving it from 18 months to two years less a day. That apparently is what they want to repeal.

This problem cannot be fixed by suggesting redundant changes that already exist in the Criminal Code. We fix this problem by being the adults in the room, convening people and coming up with a complex solution to a complex problem.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers have spent $470 million welcoming asylum seekers who are the federal government's responsibility. The federal government may feel that is a lot of money to have to pay back, but that is because we took in far more than our fair share of people. Now it is the Liberals' turn to do their bit. So far, all they have offered is an inadequate amount for accommodation, one that seems more about improving the mayor of Toronto's mood and far less about relieving pressure on public services in Quebec.

Yesterday, the Minister of Finance was scheduled to speak to her Quebec counterpart. Did she tell him that she was finally reimbursing Quebeckers?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I think it would be useful to point out that, since 2015, Quebec has received $4.4 billion under the Canada-Quebec accord. That is not an insignificant amount of money. It is earmarked for welcoming immigrants and is put towards the services Quebec uses to welcome immigrants and help them integrate under the Canada-Quebec accord. The amount was $300 million in 2015 and it is now $700 million, regardless of immigration levels. The Bloc is being intellectually dishonest when it claims that we are not paying up. They are constantly picking fights.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, they claim we are picking fights whenever they do not feel like debating. We have the member for Honoré-Mercier to thank for that.

The federal government also needs to make it so that every province welcomes asylum seekers. Every time we raise the issue, the Minister of Immigration accuses Quebec of wanting to treat immigrants like cattle. That kind of rhetoric does not help anyone, especially when a year ago, the government made efforts to settle asylum seekers in various provinces. It sent people to Ontario. If the Liberals were not treating people like cattle when they did it, then things are no different today.

When will the minister make it so that asylum seekers are spread out among the provinces?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we see with this type of question that the Bloc Québécois is still trying to pick a fight. Obviously, as a responsible government we are at the negotiating table with the Government of Quebec. Do members know who is not? It is the Bloc Québécois. The Government of Quebec could invite Bloc members, but they are not welcome. Let them be the armchair quarterbacks that they are and let them listen to the two responsible governments that are in the process of fixing the problem.

Carbon Pricing

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the environment minister revealed the truth about the carbon tax. I asked how many emissions were directly reduced from the carbon tax in an Order Paper question. The minister's response was “the government does not measure the annual amount of emissions that are directly reduced by federal carbon pricing.” Those are his words, not mine.

Why is the minister forcing Canadians to pay his carbon tax if he does not measure the emissions he pretends to reduce?