Celina Caesar-Chavannes

[Cannabis Act, November 9th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's concern for education. We are taking a public safety approach with Bill C-45, with $240 million to support law enforcement to detect and deter drug-impaired driving, $161 invested in training front-line officers, another $81 million for provinces and territories, and $46 million for a public awareness campaign. Does he not agree that this is a comprehensive approach to providing education and training?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, I can tell the House that we have recently introduced our feminist international assistance policy. We are certainly taking a leadership role in how we work and demonstrate Canada's strength around the world.

I have had an opportunity to travel to many different places, where we speak very strongly about human rights, where we speak very strongly against female genital mutilation and about the fact we do not want girls forced into marriage. We want our children in schools. We want to ensure that we are making investments that will help countries not only to develop in a way that will allow them to combat climate change but also to grow and become economically viable so that one day they will be able to trade with Canada.

We are focused on ensuring that women and girls stay at the centre of our policies. We cannot eliminate poverty and we cannot reach our sustainable development goals if we leave 50% of our population behind.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we decided that we were going to put a price on carbon pollution, to put a price on the things that we do not want. We decided to invest in green infrastructure. We wanted to ensure that we have communities, roadways, and bridges. We wanted to ensure that we have infrastructure that we can use now, and infrastructure that is sustainable into the future. Those are the investments we have been making in communities to allow us to meet the climate target.

Our government has made investments, as I mentioned, of over $700,000 in clean water and waste-water treatment in Whitby. It might not seem like a big deal, but we are ensuring that our communities are safe, that our water is safe. We are making investments that are sustainable and forward-looking.

These are the types of investments we have made through this particular piece of legislation.

We must keep in mind that it is not just about one component. It is about investing in skills and innovation. It is about investing in an innovation agenda that allows us continuously, with a dynamic approach, to look at climate change and at ways in which we can reduce our impacts on and footprints in the world.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to speak to Bill C-63. I am going to take a moment to go back to the campaign, before I get into my comments on this piece of legislation.

During the campaign, we put forward a really ambitious platform, one that focused on the middle class and those working hard to join it, one that focused on investments in people and in communities much like my community and home town of Whitby. We did this very strategically and very deliberately to ensure that Canadians knew they would be electing a government that would have their best interests at heart, that would look out for them, that would ensure we had a strong middle class, which is a sign of a thriving economy, but also to look at the most vulnerable in our communities and ensure we were looking out for them in the plans that we brought forward.

I have been listening to the debate on Bill C-63, and there were a couple of points that I will address in my comments, which require some clarification. Three points were brought up quite a bit yesterday: criticism of our feminist budget; the fact that this is an omnibus bill; and concern about our investment in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. I am going to tackle each of those items in my comments.

First, what is most disheartening was the criticism around the fact that this is a feminist budget, that we have approached it in a very feminist way. The fact that the 2017 budget was the first time we had a gender statement in a piece of legislation, especially as important as budget legislation, is critically important. It is a sign of a government that understands that policies we put forward have a disproportionately negative impact on women, and as the vulnerability of women increases, so does the impact that they could possibly have.

I really want to emphasize that women of colour, racialized women, indigenous women, women with disabilities, women with different sexual orientation, women who belong to religious groups, and women who are too old or too young face significant barriers in this country. To have a budget that looks at the intersectionality of vulnerable groups and applies a lens to decide and evaluate how those policies can impact women of various groups negatively, and how we can adjust the policies to ensure that they are benefiting from the policies we put forward, is a really important component of this piece of legislation. I am particularly proud of it because it has this intersectionality lens that has been put forward. It really speaks to the fact that not everyone is part of the middle class and it is incumbent upon us, when we look at a gender-based analysis, when we look at the intersectionality of other components that provide barriers for women, that we do so cognizant of the fact that we have individuals who are not part of our middle class, who are seriously working hard to join it, who are struggling on a day-to-day basis, and we have made sure we are looking at those individuals.

I now want to move to the conversation around this being an omnibus bill. I could reassure members that it is not. Everything in the bill relates to the budget. It is about growing communities. It is about growing our country. It is about investing in Canadians, investing in young people, investing in our future. It is about investing in innovation and skills. We know that making investments in these things today will ensure longevity, a promising future for our children and for our grandchildren.

I am going to rewind a little. As we came out of our election and looked to implementing our budget, we did a couple of things. We cut taxes for middle-class families and raised them on the top 1%. Many of the families in Whitby are middle-class families. Many of those families have children.

When we introduced the Canada child benefit, it was for families to be able to use that money, not to wait to get a tax rebate later on. They were able to get that money right away, so they could use it for books, sports programs, good nutritional food, or daily activities. The Canada child benefit has helped nine out of 10 families, providing more money to those families to pay for they things they prioritize, and has raised hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty.

When we look at the impact of the Canada child benefit in Whitby, 12,000-plus payments have been made, benefiting over 21,000 children in my riding alone. Let us look at that across the country, when we are talking about making investments in our future. We have done so with the most ambitious social policy in the Canada child benefit.

In Whitby and in the Durham region, we have invested in public transit. We have invested in clean water and waste-water infrastructure. We have invested in our colleges, Durham College and UOIT, and in our seniors.

This plan is working. Two years in, we have the best fiscal growth in the G7, and since being elected have created 500,000 new jobs, most of them full-time jobs. When we talk about our young people really struggling to get out of college or university and to do things with their life they want to do, these kinds of numbers, including decreased unemployment, really give a boost to Canadians and give them confidence.

I will take my last couple of minutes to wrap up and talk about Canada's leadership globally, and the investments in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. We are engaging in multilateral infrastructure efforts. We are renewing our commitment to engagement around the world.

When we look at our sustainable development goals, sustainable development goal no. 17 is around partnerships. We understand as a country that we cannot achieve the sustainable development goals of 2030 agenda to leave no one behind if we do not take the time to make those investments and to develop those very strong partnership. We have taken leadership to do so. We will continue to do that, because those 17 goals and 169 targets are very much interconnected. We understand that, and through that investment, we will help to ensure that the most vulnerable in our world also thrive.

This piece of legislation is really about ensuring that we have a sustainable future for our children and our grandchildren. We are making smart, strategic, green investments in our communities at home. We are ensuring that we are growing the economy. Our plan is working. We are putting more money in the pockets of Canadians and ensuring that we are taking leadership on the world stage.

[Tobacco Act, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech. Eight provinces have passed legislation on vaping products.

I have a question for my colleague. Could she elaborate on the importance of federal leadership on vaping products and the importance of this bill for providing uniform protection to Canadians?

[Jim Flaherty Award for Leadership, Inclusion and Accessibility, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, a couple of weekends ago, the Abilities Centre in my riding of Whitby awarded the first-ever Jim Flaherty award for leadership, inclusion and accessibility. The award was established to recognize an individual who has made a major contribution to the promotion, development, and advancement of accessibility and inclusion. I am proud to announce that the first recipient of this award was our very own Minister of Public Services and Procurement. As the former minister of sport and persons with disabilities, she led in the development of a Canada disability act to effectively improve programs and services and the lives of Canadians who face significant barriers.

This award is given in memory of Jim Flaherty, who over the course of his career worked to support initiatives for persons with disabilities. On behalf of our government and the minister, I want to thank and congratulate his wife Christine; his sons Quinn, Galen, and John; the Abilities Centre for its work; and his sister Norah for continuing his legacy to enrich the lives of people of all ages and abilities.

[Tobacco Act, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support of my hon. colleague from Sarnia—Lambton and what she has said with respect to what she likes and does not like. As well, she supports the need for regulation, especially when we are talking about protecting our children.

While eight provinces have passed vaping legislation, the approach does not provide a uniform level of protection for Canadians. I am wondering if you can comment on the need for federal leadership to ensure that there is protection across the country, especially when we are considering our children.

[Tobacco Act, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague has visited my riding in the last few months to talk about different pieces of legislation. He knows that Whitby is a bedroom community. There are a lot of young people there.

Could the parliamentary secretary expand on how this piece of legislation would further allow parents in my community to understand the government's responsible and very targeted approach to handling vaping and e-cigarettes?

[Transportation Modernization Act, October 30th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to speak to Bill C-49, an act to amend the Canada Transportation Act and other acts.

This proposed legislation is critically important to help modernize transportation policies and practices to help ensure that we have safe, clean, and efficient transportation across Canada. Of course, Canada is a vast country and we rely on transportation to ensure that our trade happens across the country and that we are able to travel across the country. Therefore, it is critically important.

Last week, we had an opportunity to hear the great news of our fall economic statement. We saw growth in this country that has not been seen in quite some time in terms of our place in the G7. We have seen the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and, more importantly, over 100,000 full-time jobs. Having an efficient transportation system will allow that growth to continue. It will give our businesses, our small businesses in particular, the capacity to get their goods and services from city to city and province to province, and across this great country.

I know that a lot of businesses in Whitby really appreciate the fact that we are looking at transportation. In Whitby, there is always heavy congestion on the 401, just as it bottlenecks into my town. Many of us realize the inefficiencies that can result when we do not pay attention to the intricacies and importance of our transportation networks and to ensuring that we are able to get our businesses' goods and services across the country. This helps broad economic growth. In this we want to make sure that we are taking a whole-of-government approach when looking at ensuring vast economic growth in Canada.

In Whitby there are a lot of families who really like to travel across the country. We have seen various reports in recent times that travel is not so nice for some passengers. The introduction of a passenger bill of rights will give families peace of mind when they are travelling. They want to know that when they have spent their hard-earned money to take a trip across the country either by train or by air that they will be treated appropriately in whatever mode of transportation they take.

However, this is not just about planes or trains. When we think about driving across country on a family trip, it all really ties together. We also want those roadways to be efficient. We want that transportation to be efficient so that people can travel across the country, spend their money, and encourage economic growth when they are going across the country. Again, it is very interconnected, and I think this government has taken a proactive approach of looking at each piece of legislation, seeing that we can build upon each of them in turn and ensure that we do have the economically viable modes of transportation we need to continue to grow the country.

I want to speak a little to the fact that we have adopted some of the amendments brought forward at committee.

When I came to this place, people asked me questions about our capacity to work together across the aisle and to exchange ideas and to ensure that we can put together the best pieces of legislation possible. We have taken the opportunity to put this proposed legislation to committee, and the committee came back with various amendments that we have taken into account. We know that it is very important to the Canadians, including people within my constituency of Whitby, that we serve and represent everyone and take their input into account.

The adoption of those amendments represents a critical opportunity to work together.

[Transportation Modernization Act, October 30th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for the bill. I know families in my riding of Whitby will appreciate the passenger bill of rights, particularly with recent events that have happened on airlines.

I want to ask the minister how the amendments would increase the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of transportation systems across Canada.