Justin Trudeau

[Natural Resources, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, unlike apparently the leader of the official opposition, we believe in free speech. We believe in advocacy on this side of the House.

On this specific—

[Natural Resources, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I find it wonderful that the member of the opposition is asking this question, because indeed we recognize that part of the tools to get this pipeline built is a price on carbon pollution right across the country.

Canadians know that protecting the environment and growing the economy must go together.

For 10 years, Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party were unable to protect the environment and therefore unable to grow the economy the way they should have.

[Natural Resources, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, all along, we have shown that we understand that protecting the environment and growing the economy go together.

For 10 years under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives were unable to build one kilometre of pipeline to new markets. On this side, we are working to ensure that this pipeline gets built. However, our desire to build this pipeline includes wanting to put a price on carbon pollution and to protect our oceans. That all goes together. Canadians know that the environment and the economy go together.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party has continued to play its games of division, and I am worried that the NDP might be trying to stoke fears as well.

The fact is, we have a rigorous immigration system that we are able to apply. We are ensuring the security of Canadians with our controls at the borders and within our borders through the work the RCMP is doing. Canadians can have confidence in the capacity of both our immigration system and our border agents and security services to ensure the safety of Canada and its communities, while remaining open.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to supporting a sound refugee system and protecting the integrity of our borders and the immigration process. We are investing $173 million, $64 million of which will be used to speed up refugee processing. Wait times for work permits have been reduced from three months to three weeks, and we are looking at other ways to enable asylum seekers to fill labour shortages. We will not do what the Conservatives did, which was to slash funding and create unnecessarily long delays.

[Natural Resources, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, what is interesting about the NDP is that its members and their leader cannot even agree on this project. The NDP leader said that he might be able to agree to the project, while the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie has said that his party could never agree to it. We made a decision in the national interest that includes a world-class oceans protection plan, because we know that the environment and the economy go hand in hand. While the NDP is trying to decide what position to take, we will act in Canada's national interest.

[Natural Resources, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we still have a political situation in which two of the parties in this House think there is a choice to be made between the environment and the economy. We were elected on a commitment to both grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time, because, quite frankly, 10 years of the previous government not protecting the environment actually left us with the lowest economic growth rate since the depths of the Great Depression.

We are moving forward on both building pipelines and bringing in protections for the environment at the same time. It is what Canadians expect of this government, and it is what we are delivering.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the families who have been waiting for years are waiting for years largely because of the cuts in processing and immigration services that the previous Harper government brought in, which they are continuing to double down on.

We have made significant investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in improving our immigration processing times and accelerating family reunification, all the while ensuring that we live up to our international commitments to treat asylum seekers with the rules-based approach they need to have.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cut funding for refugees and immigration processing. The Conservative government cut funding for refugee health care. On top of that, this supposedly law and order party actually cut $400 million from the CBSA in their capacity to police and control our borders.

We will take no lessons from them. What we will do is continue to ensure the integrity of our immigration system, of our refugee system, and of our borders.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, April 24th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I think people will be forgiven for rolling their eyes when the Conservatives talk about supporting refugees or accelerating the process for family reunification. Their cuts left us with significant backlogs. They tried to get rid of backlogs by using the delete button.

Instead, we invested significantly in ensuring that we have a robust immigration system that is able to handle asylum seekers and irregular arrivals. We will continue to make sure that Canada is a strong and open country that applies the rules of its immigration system.