Brian Masse

[Request for Emergency Debate, November 26th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise to address this very serious issue with regard to Donald J. Trump, the incoming president of the United States. He has issued a threat to Canada's economic security, as well as our border security. In particular, a 25% tariff on trade is being proposed to be put on Canada. This would affect an industry that I am familiar with in my area, the auto industry, and every industry across Canada. It would also affect our capabilities as a nation to provide subsistence and good jobs for our citizens.

I believe the Prime Minister has already indicated that he will have a meeting with the premiers, and we support that initiative. There needs to be consensus and a strong position provided. However, members in the House of Commons need to participate in this debate. In addition, going forward, there is potential for a trade war that could erupt with our number one trading partner. This is really important and very serious. Canadians are already struggling to get by right now. They have enough difficulties with shelter and food, and job insecurity should not also be brought to bear.

In summary, New Democrats are calling for this emergency debate because of the serious nature of this. In past practice, Donald Trump has moved against Canada's interests with regard to trade barriers and other issues we had to deal with. What is notable in his expression of interest about this subject matter with Canada is that he has also challenged our border service officers, which is—

[Committees of the House, November 26th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, one really important thing in this debate is the role of the CBC and some of the programs it has with respect to investigative reporting. One concern I have is that with the loss of the CBC, it would take away the investigative journalism that has exposed consumer products and cover-ups, which have helped Canadians not only with public safety issues but also consumer issues related to the pocketbook.

What type of effect will this have? We already have a diminished investigative reporting capacity from other media outlets, and I fear that this would also take away one of the last refuges for investigative reporting that helps so many Canadians.

[Privilege, November 25th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, one of the things I was concerned about in the past was when Stephen Harper cut the CBSA by over 1,000 staff, including the teams that actually used to do joint operations with the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol and so forth. The reason I raise it as relevant is that we are short at least two training tranches and upwards of 2,000 to 3,000 CBSA officers on the border right now.

Perhaps the member could provide some information about how this has affected our border capabilities, especially when we lost the embedded teams on that particular file.

[Privilege, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, in that spirit, I have a couple of things. We have seen in this House documents and information not provided that should have been provided. One of the problems that we have in Canada is Crown copyright. Crown copyright prevents parliamentarians and other Canadians from seeing information that was supplied to the government of the day, as well as research that was done that affects many businesses, organizations and not-for-profits, and the chamber here with respect to what we get on a regular basis.

Given that the member was prepared to come here and look at this in a different way, I hope, than others, would the Conservatives support amending Canada's crown copyright to be more similar to that of other Commonwealth nations and the United States? We have not updated this properly since 1911, so that would also provide regular information that would be important for parliamentarians and the public.

[Privilege, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, it is not nine years and going back 12 years, because he sits with—

[Privilege, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I want to identify a couple of things that are very important with regard to security and safety. The Harper administration, in 2012, put in a three-year plan, not a one-year plan, to take $143 million out of the CBSA budget, to get rid of frontline workers and others who protected our borders.

This member was also part of the current group that, over a year ago, went line by line through the budget against funding CBSA and its workers. Back in 2012, the union and many other experts identified that guns coming illegally into Canada would come in a more diverse area and at a significant threshold. They said there would be more pornography coming into Canada and that there would be more people entering illegally.

Will the member apologize and own up to the responsibility that Stephen Harper started attacking workers who defend our border every single day? Also, why was the $143 million not restored after they found out it was true that all those things went up because of Harper's cuts?

[Grocery Industry, November 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we may have another price-fixing scandal in Canada. This time it is not bread, but potatoes.

Allegedly, two of Canada's big food companies have been colluding together to jack up the price of frozen potato products. The cost of these products have shot up by 40% over the last two years. CEOs jack up the prices and gouge Canadians.

The Liberals are letting families down, while Conservatives cater to these CEOs who fund their election campaigns.

Will the Liberals investigate this potential price-fixing french-fry-gate by greedy CEOs?

[Committees of the House, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, we are talking about another issue, but I find it ironic. I was in this chamber when the Liberals, under their current leader, supported Stephen Harper over 110 times on confidence motions without getting a single thing from the Conservatives at that time. There was nothing on the environment, nothing on the economy, nothing on human rights and nothing at all for anybody on anything. Therefore, we will take no lectures from the Liberals in terms of their dilemma on how they deal with things. I saw the physical evidence as the Harper government tore down labour rights, tore down environmental issues and invested in things that were not good for Canadians. During that time, we had austerity issues get reversed, and the Conservatives actually ran up one of the largest deficits in Canadian history. All of that was done with the support of the Liberal Party unilaterally, with not a single condition over 110 votes. That is important to note because that is the real history of Canada.

[Committees of the House, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from the Bloc, who has also been part of the industry committee for many years, for raising this issue and other economic issues and how they relate to human rights.

He is absolutely correct; it is embarrassing not only on a level for our country but also for the House of Commons and the Senate. They pass phony laws that do not really actually affect what we say and do. When it comes to dealing with children, shame on us and shame on the other House for doing that; we actually use that as a shield to protect from real, good change. This has to end right now. We also have to make sure that we live up to our trade agreements with the United States and Mexico by pushing human rights and environmental rights in the agreement that we have. That is going to be more investment, not only in terms of fairness across the board for all of us, but also then being able to compete more internationally and to be stronger than ever before.

[Committees of the House, November 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it was the Harper administration that really exposed us to and brought in this foreign worker program in 2014. We saw some things that were being done by the operators in this program, which are the companies. They have often been some of the larger companies, but there have also been family-owned ones that were very wealthy. I have seen this in the agriculture sector around my neck of the woods, for sure. The response by the Conservatives and Liberals on this issue was to subsidize the corporations and these rich families with more money, living condition supports and other types of taxpayer supports to help offset the cruelty that was taking place on their almost plantation-like systems of bringing foreign workers in there.

The excuse was that they could not find any Canadians for these types of things. At the same time, we had lots of Canadians in my riding who were willing to go out there, but they had no form of transportation. The wages are low, the training is bad, and the investment is poor. The response has always been to provide more subsidies to the corporations and to the rich families. That has to end. Canadians want to work, but there has to be proper transportation and safety; they have to be paid a fair market wage. Those are the reasons we see issues of fairness depressed with regard to wages and working conditions. It has to end.