Debates of Feb. 6th, 2024

Royal Military College

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to rise to acknowledge 30 naval and officer cadets from the world-renowned Royal Military College of Canada, who have come to Ottawa today. The delegation is led by one of my best friends, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and a professor at the RMC, Dr. Donald McFarling. Throughout the day, these fine cadets have met with government and official members. They have met with the Minister of National Defence; they have met with astronauts, and I believe they have also met with you, sir.

They came to the capital today to gain a deeper appreciation of the role of their representatives and the government they have sworn to protect. These cadets have made a commitment to serve their country and live by the Royal Military College motto: truth, duty and valour. They rise early, study hard and train even harder, because, in a few short years, many will be sent to foreign shores to represent Canada and enact the decisions that we make in this very House.

We will owe them all a debt of gratitude. Today, I ask my colleagues to acknowledge these great—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

I remind the member for Sault Ste. Marie, who is an experienced member, that there is no recognition from the floor of the House of Commons, as it comes through the Chair. The member must make sure to follow the procedures that have been clearly established in this place.

Public Safety

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the previous Conservative common-sense government managed to cut the number of auto thefts in half while reducing the cost of bureaucracy. However, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost, not worth the crime, and not worth the cost of the crime after eight years, because he has caused the bureaucracy to explode, but border services are inspecting only 1% of containers.

Will he follow my common-sense plan to reduce the bureaucracy and the consultants and add officers and container scanners?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is a fact that organized crime is involved in auto theft in Canada. That is why we gave $121 million to the Province of Ontario, for example, to fight organized crime and car theft, but the Conservative Party voted against granting that money. We are in the process of fighting money laundering. The Conservatives are going to vote against that. Canadians are wondering why the Conservative leader is defending organized crime instead of dealing with auto theft.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has made Canada the capital of organized crime and money laundering, and yes, it is true, he is spending a lot more money to add more bureaucracy and hire management consultants for managers who cannot manage things themselves.

My common-sense plan will fire consultants and put that money toward border agents and scanners to scan all outgoing containers to stop auto theft.

Will he follow my common-sense plan?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that when we came to power in 2015, we had to rehire the thousands of border agents who had been laid off when the Harper government, with this Leader of the Opposition as minister, eliminated their jobs. He is constantly proposing cuts, whereas we are investing in the fight against money laundering and organized crime. The Conservative Party also votes against these measures.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what we cut was auto theft. We cut auto theft by 50% under the previous common-sense Conservative government.

He is right. We did it at a lower cost to taxpayers. He is also right that he reversed our reduction in auto theft because it has exploded by 32% since he took office, just as the bureaucracy has exploded. He has not put it into frontline officers. In fact, at the port of Montreal, there are only five of them to inspect half a million containers, of which only 1% get inspected.

Why will he not cut the high-priced consultants and bureaucrats and get boots on the—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, what the Leader of the Opposition is saying would be more credible if he had not voted against sending $121 million to the Province of Ontario to fight against organized crime and car theft, and if he had not announced that he is voting against our fight against money laundering. He still has time to change his perspective and get behind our initiatives to fight organized crime, fight auto theft and stand up for Canadians.

He cut thousands of jobs, under his previous government, from border services. We have invested in them, and we will continue to do so.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I will say it softly and slowly so the Prime Minister can understand. We cut auto theft by 50% while reducing the cost of the bureaucracy. Yes, we are voting against his putting hundreds of millions of dollars more into high-priced consultants and back-office bureaucrats who do not stop crime.

My common-sense plan would scan every container going out of the four biggest ports and put 75 border agents on the ground to do the inspections. Why can we not have more boots on the ground and fewer bureaucrats in offices?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, he talks about boots on the ground, but the government he was part of, that he is taking credit for now, actually cut thousands of jobs, of boots on the ground, at the Canada Border Services Agency. We have continued to step up to support Canadians.

They like to mention Bill C-5. It is a bill that kept mandatory minimum penalties for car thefts on the books. They mention Bill C-75, which is a bill that raised maximum penalties on car theft. We are going to continue to invest in fighting money laundering and organized crime, and we hope that the Conservatives change their mind and vote with us to crack down on organized crime.

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he has hiked the cost, and he has hiked the crime. He is not worth the cost, and he is not worth the crime. After eight years, the Prime Minister is also not worth the hypocrisy.

The Prime Minister has been claiming for months that he had no involvement in or knowledge of the invitation sent to a former Nazi soldier to the visit of the Ukrainian President. Now we know that he personally invited that same individual. He said the opposite. He said that the former Speaker had to resign over doing the exact same thing.

Will the Prime Minister hold himself to the very same standard and admit that he is not fit for office?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the attack that the Leader of the Opposition is choosing to make against the Ukrainian Canadian Congress demonstrates the extent to which this Conservative Party no longer stands with Ukraine.

They will have an opportunity in just a few minutes to stand and vote in favour of a free trade deal that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, himself, is asking this House to pass. The Leader of the Opposition is choosing to not stand with Ukraine, not stand with Ukrainians and not stand with Ukrainian Canadians.

Why are the Conservatives abandoning Ukraine?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order.

The hon. member for Beloeil—Chambly.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Bloc Québécois reintroduced a bill to eliminate the religious exemption that allows hate and violence to be incited in the guise of religion.

We saw people hide behind the religious exemption recently to justify their support for a terrorist organization.

This time, will the Prime Minister vote in favour of eliminating the religious exemption with respect to hate speech and inciting violence?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my hon. colleague that any form of hatred or glorification of violence is completely unacceptable.

The Minister of Public Safety is in constant communication with the RCMP, and local police will not hesitate to act if necessary.

Canada is a country governed by the rule of law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As Canadians, we must stand together against hate, regardless of when or where it is expressed.

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

Mr. Speaker, in order for police to take action, the law must allow them to do so.

Last time, the Prime Minister chose denial and swept the issue under the rug. Discussion ended then and there. He spoke of freedom of expression, freedom in general, as he did just now. This religious exemption is found in a bill that criminalizes hate speech yet allows people to take the cowardly way out and hide behind that exemption.

Will he condone hate speech, or will he eliminate hate speech spread under the guise of the religious exemption?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, in Canada, any form of hatred or glorification of violence is unacceptable.

Our police forces are working very hard to eliminate hate speech and the glorification of violence. We recognize how important it is, in our legal system, to defend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the rights of all Canadians, but glorification of violence and hate speech are always unacceptable.

Grocery Industry

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government and the Prime Minister promised to tax the excess profits of corporate grocery stores if they failed to stabilize grocery prices. They failed to stabilize prices, and the Liberals again broke their promise.

The Liberals announced, instead, another study on food prices. Canadians do not need another study to know that they are being gouged by corporate greed. We have learned that the Liberal housing minister received thousands of dollars in donations from none other than the Sobeys family. Is that why the Liberals are protecting their wealthy friends?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, more competition means lower prices, more choice and more innovative products and services for Canadians.

Our government has just passed new legislation that empowers the Competition Bureau to hold grocers accountable and prioritize consumers' interests. The fall economic statement also cracks down on predatory pricing. I urge all parties to vote in favour of that.

Canadians are watching and counting on each and every single one of us in the House of Commons to keep supporting them.

[Jagmeet Singh, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today, the Liberals boasted about announcing more studies on the price of groceries. People do not need more studies, they need the prices to come down. The minister promised to tax excess profits and he broke his promise. The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities received thousands of dollars in donations from the Sobey family.

Is the minister breaking his promises to please the CEO of IGA?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, more competition means lower prices, more choice and more innovative goods and services for Canadians.

Our government just adopted legislation that allows the Competition Bureau to require grocery chains to be accountable to it and promote consumer interests. The fall economic statement also addresses predatory pricing. I strongly encourage all parties to vote in favour of it. Canadians are watching us. They are counting on the support of each and every member here in the House of Commons.

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after months of feigned outrage and apologies on behalf of everyone else, a new report from The Globe and Mail shows that the Prime Minister's Office invited a Nazi to his diplomatic reception in Toronto. The Prime Minister blamed the Speaker, saying that he acted alone. The Prime Minister is saying he had no idea about any of it. He called for the Speaker to take responsibility. He watched him resign, and yesterday he tried to blame the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

After all of the embarrassment all over the world, why is the Prime Minister above the rules he applies to everyone else?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about is a name that came from a community organization. Obviously, the Prime Minister had no knowledge of this, but we know what is happening over here. We are voting today at third reading on the Canada-Ukraine free trade arrangements. Mr. Zelenskyy stood here and asked us to pass this. The Conservatives' opposition to this bill is a moral failing of historic proportions in response to an effort to support our friends in Ukraine and repel the Russian invaders.