Hélène Laverdière

[Rail Transportation, June 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals refused to support my bill, claiming that the Minister of Transport already has the power to guarantee the creation of safe railway crossings, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Minister of Transport cannot defend only the interests of rail companies. He has a duty to protect the safety of Canadians.

When will he take action? Would he rather wait until there is an accident?

[Parliamentary Protective Service, June 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, every day, the officers of the parliamentary protective service ensure the safety of members and visitors with a smile, while being impartial and very professional.

It can sometimes be difficult to be impartial on Parliament Hill, when one's superiors report to the RCMP and the Minister of Public Safety.

The NDP is proud to support the demands of PPS members. These officers deserve the respect of the House and this government in their work and in their negotiations.

I also encourage the government to amend the Parliament of Canada Act in order for the protective service to regain its independence in decision-making. This is a matter of principle and respect for the separation of powers in our democracy.

To the PPS officers, you have all our respect and we thank you for being here for us.

[Venezuela, June 1st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, like so many others, I am deeply concerned about the current political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

I think that everyone closely following the situation has seen the images of the crackdown on demonstrators in Caracas. We have been seeing these troubling images for months. All this is occurring during a period of intense polarization within Venezuelan society, although this polarization cannot in any way justify the terrible abuses we are seeing.

The crackdown is steadily intensifying in Venezuela and is taking place in various forms. A good example is freedom of the press. According to Reporters Without Borders, Venezuela now ranks 137th in terms of press freedom. Human rights activists are being attacked, and political opponents are being jailed. I too met with Ms. Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo Lopez, two weeks ago here in Ottawa, and what she said was quite interesting.

I am fascinated by how the Venezuelan national assembly is being treated. We know that during the most recent election, the opposition won two-thirds of the seats in the national assembly. However, since then, the supreme court has been consistently overturning decisions by the elected members and even tried to dissolve the national assembly. In this respect, I agree with what was said earlier, that it looks like a coup within a coup. It is good that they have backed down, but they continue to overturn decisions by legitimate legislators, which is completely unacceptable, especially since the court is politically controlled.

Meanwhile, because of falling oil prices, corruption, populism, and the political situation, the people are suffering. Demonstrators are being dragged before military courts, and water and electricity shortages, hyperinflation, and the lack of necessities are quite terrible. As well, 76% of hospitals are facing serious drug shortages. One consequence of that is skyrocketing infant mortality.

In fact, Human Rights Watch makes a good summary of some of the problems, although it does not list all that we see currently in Venezuela. They say that the accumulation of power in the executive branch and the erosion of human rights guarantees has enabled the government to intimidate, censor, and punish its critics.

Severe shortages of medicine, medical supplies, and food have intensified since 2014, and weak government responses have undermined Venezuelans' rights to health and food. Security forces have arbitrarily detained and tortured protestors, and raids in low-income communities have led to widespread allegations of abuse.

These are comments by Human Rights Watch, a highly credible organization. Amnesty International, another organization I am delighted to work with, has also expressed deep concern about the situation. We must find a solution and restore dialogue, peace, and the rule of law in Venezuela.

The reason I have a problem with the motion is that I think the proposed measures are inappropriate and in some cases counterproductive.

I will start with the part of the motion that I agree with. It reads, “Canada’s foreign policy should always be rooted in protecting and promoting freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law." I completely agree with that.

The rest of the motion, however, is problematic. In part (a), it calls on the government to “develop a plan to provide humanitarian aid directly to Venezuela’s people". I am sorry, but that needs to go through international organizations such as the United Nations. The Venezuelan government says it is prepared to accept aid that comes by way of the United Nations. Aid should be supplied through multilateral organizations, not directly.

The other problem is that the motion condemns the imprisonment of political opponents. That seems feeble to me. I think we should actually call for the liberation of political opponents. This is an anemic suggestion that just does not go far enough.

However, the biggest problem I have is with the referendum. No one else is calling for a referendum. It is important to understand that, if a referendum had been held last year, before the president was halfway through his term of office, it would have led to an election. However, if a referendum is held at this point in the president's term, the vice-president would automatically become the president under the Constitution. There are some serious problems with that. The vice-president has been accused of being a drug lord, and the American government has seized billions of dollars of his assets for drug trafficking. One also has to wonder how he managed to earn billions of dollars in the first place. I do not imagine he earns that much in his capacity as vice-president.

That is a problem, and so the proposed solution is an even worse alternative. The proposed solution will only make the problem worse.

I am a bit disappointed to see that the resolution makes no mention of the crackdown on protesters, for example. I think that the crackdown on protestors has been excessive. The motion does not make any mention of that. It also does not mention the use of gangs or the need to respect the national assembly and its duly elected members. It is not rocket science. I am thinking of the resolution that was adopted by the European Union, for example. I am sorry, but I only have the English version of the document. It reads:

Calls on the Government and the Supreme Court of Venezuela to respect the constitution, in particular the powers conferred on all duly elected members of the parliament....

Calls on the Venezuelan Government to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners....

That is what we should be working on with the people of Venezuela. We also need to work on prevention. When the Conservatives were in office, they cut some of the funding for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which was doing extraordinary work to encourage dialogue and prevent this type of situation. I would like to see the Liberals reinstate that funding. I have asked them before to do that.

[Venezuela, June 1st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech. I must say publicly that it is always a pleasure working with him, particularly on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. I also want to thank him for bringing this important issue for discussion in the House. I share many of his concerns.

That said, I realize that the motion proposes the holding of a referendum, for example. We know that if a referendum were held last year, it would have resulted in a general election. Now that the president in place has served over half of his term, a referendum would have resulted in the vice-president becoming president. However, the vice-president is a drug lord. The U.S. seized billions of dollars from illegal activities.

Does my colleague really want to see the vice-president become president?

[Foreign Affairs, May 30th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the UN Security Council's resolutions are binding on all member countries. I have already asked the minister twice whether Canada would abide by the Security Council's resolution regarding illegal settlements in Palestinian territory, and she twice refused to answer.

How can Canada expect to win a seat on the Security Council if it refuses to follow the rules of the organization and to abide by Security Council resolutions?

[Foreign Affairs, May 29th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, this is about more than just rhetoric. This is about taking action.

During the election campaign, the Prime Minister said that he would not hesitate to criticize President Putin, but his criticism of the pogrom happening in Chechnya right now against gay men has been rather muted, to say the least.

Where is the Liberal leader who was going to stand up to Putin and his human rights abuses? Will the government at least take action and grant emergency visas to the 42 gay men who have fled Chechnya because they fear for their lives?

[International Trade, May 18th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, the United States began the process of renegotiating NAFTA, and I agree that it came as no surprise. Ninety days, that is not far off. President Trump was clear about his intention to protect American jobs and industries. We need a government that will hold its own when defending our industries and our jobs.

How can Canadians have confidence in this government when it is not even prepared to disclose the priorities it will defend during the negotiations?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, since I am running out of time, I want to come back to my first question.

Can the minister promise us today that her government will install an independent, impartial, and credible ombudsman to monitor the activities of Canadian mining industries?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, I would like to know also how many export permits the minister has approved since she took office. It will not be possible to get it right now, but would it be possible to get a list of all the countries for which she has approved export permits?

[Business of Supply, May 17th, 2017]

Madam Chair, we have seen human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, and we have seen very serious allegations of war crimes by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

If the minister were to receive requests for approval of export permits today, would she approve export permits to Saudi Arabia?