Justin Trudeau

[Foreign Affairs, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, it troubles me to hear the Conservatives belittling what the Canola Council and the canola farmers have been asking for for weeks. We were happy to deliver a $500,000 interest-free loan for canola farmers, just like they have been asking for.

We are going to continue to stand up for our farmers, the same way we stand up for our farmers by giving them new access to new markets. With our signing of the CPTPP, of a renewed NAFTA and of CETA, our producers have access to two-thirds of the global economy, and we are now the only G7 country with a free trade deal with every other G7 country.

[Foreign Affairs, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have been asking for help for canola producers for just a few days. We have been working on it for weeks. We stand in solidarity with agricultural families and we are working on resolving this matter.

We have announced changes to the advance payments program. We are increasing the maximum loan limit for all farmers to $1 million. We are increasing the interest-free portion for canola producers to $500,000.

We will continue to look for new markets. We have announced trade missions to Japan and South Korea. Thanks to our trade agreements, businesses now have preferred access to more than 1.5 billion new customers. We will continue—

[Government Priorities, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, our government has been unequivocal in our support for labour, and we are happy to celebrate that this May Day.

There is no question that since forming government, we passed Bill C-4 to eliminate the unfair Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 that Harper passed. We amended the Canada Labour Code to give federally regulated employees the right to flexible work arrangements and implement different leaves. We strengthened occupational health and safety standards. We passed Bill C-65 to protect federally regulated employees from workplace harassment and violence.

We will continually stand up for labour and stand up for workers across Canada.

[Labour, May 1st, 2019]

On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, we are the ones who will always stand up to defend workers. We introduced historic pay equity legislation, which will finally close the gender wage gap in an open and proactive manner.

We have continued to stand up for the interests of forestry workers. We are always there to support steel and aluminum workers. We signed international trade agreements that help our workers and that will create prosperity

We will continue to create jobs in Canada, like the 900,000 jobs that we created over the past three years—

[Ethics, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, all legal service contracts go through diligent and accountable processes. Contracts went through the Department of Justice for projects that were unrelated to one another. Both contracts followed all appropriate rules and policies of the department.

We will continue to ensure that the decision process respects all rules.

[Ethics, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, departmental officials followed the appropriate rules in making the decision. Once again, I find it a bit rich that the Conservatives would go after me on ethical and fundraising issues when they continue to hold secret private fundraisers with their leader. We invite the media to be part of our events. We do not hold our events in millionaires' private homes. We hold them in public places. We will continue to be open and transparent about our fundraising. We expect the Leader of the Opposition to do likewise.

[Campaign Financing, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are bringing up an issue from 10 years ago, before we made changes to the rules that we bring in a new level of openness and transparency to political fundraising, which we have embraced, however, the leader of the opposition has not.

We continue to hold our fundraisers in public, at public locations and we invite the media to be part of them. The Leader of the Opposition continues to hold his fundraisers in secret, refuses to let the media in and is continuing to have the kind of secrecy that we saw too much of during the Harper years.

[Campaign Financing, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is bringing up an issue regarding improper donations made to two political parties over 10 years ago.

Under my leadership, we raised the bar on openness and transparency. We were the first party to proactively disclose MP expenses. We opened up the Board of Internal Economy. We ensured that information regarding fundraisers with the Prime Minister, with ministers and with party leaders or candidates for leadership be publicly available.

We continue to do our fundraisers publicly and invite the media. The Leader of the Opposition does them in secret and keeps the media out.

[Ethics, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House respect officers of Parliament and the work they do every step of the way to ensure that the rules are followed and Canadians know the truth, irrespective of partisanship and attacks across party lines.

Yes, we will always respect and work with officers of Parliament. They do important work, and we on this side of the House will always work with them.

[Ethics, May 1st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, those inappropriate donations were made to two political parties 10 years ago.

Under my leadership, we have raised the bar on transparency. We were the first party to voluntarily disclose its MPs' expenses, we opened up the Board of Internal Economy and we made all fundraisers with the prime minister, ministers, party leaders and leadership candidates open to the public.

We always fully obey the fundraising rules, and everyone who donates to the two political parties must do so, as well.