Marc Garneau

[Taxation, May 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Canada can only be strong when our middle class is thriving, something the Conservative government does not understand. The Conservatives' income splitting only helps 15% of Canadians and largely favours those who are better off. Middle-class families have not had a real raise in decades. It is time to change that.

Under the Liberals, a family with two children earning $90,000 a year would get $490 a month under the Canada child benefit. That is $5,875 a year, fully $2,500 more than what the current government is proposing.

Single-parent families do not get anything from the government with income splitting, but under the Liberals, a single-parent family with an income of $30,000 would receive $533 a month tax free.

In addition, the middle-class tax cut would put up to $670 per person every year back into the pockets of middle-class families.

The Liberal plan will restore fairness to our tax system and stimulate the economy by putting—

[Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, April 30th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have to correct the government House leader who said that none of the past prime ministers had done anything about oversight. I would like to point out for him that in 2005, when Paul Martin was the prime minister, we had in place something to ensure oversight. In fact, at the time, the current justice minister, who was then in the opposition, was on side with it, and so was the NDP.

Unfortunately, it never came to pass, because the NDP provoked an election. However, the point is that we very clearly pushed for oversight 10 years ago.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I appreciated my colleague's remarks. She emphasized the importance of helping Ukraine in various domains, including the economy.

That is certainly one of the positions the Liberal Party has taken. We could help kick-start the Ukrainian economy if we decided to sign a free trade agreement. We could even grant preferential tariffs for some of their export products, in order to get their economy moving. We know there are huge problems in this area. I think the government agrees with us.

I would like to hear what the NDP thinks of this issue.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I was wondering if the hon. minister could tell us why Igor Sechin is not on Canada's sanctions list.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, thank you for the question, and with great respect, I said it in French, but I did not call it the Budapest treaty. I said in the 90s, Ukraine rid itself of its nuclear weapons on the understanding that its territorial integrity would be protected. The member is quite right. It has not been protected. We have seen that very clearly.

Make no mistake about it. Mr. Putin is totally guilty, 100 per cent, of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine. I think everyone in this room is in agreement with that part. The Budapest treaty is another glaring example of an undertaking that was not respected.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I think that would be a very good idea. I have to repeat the fact, as I have done on many occasions, that I complimented previous foreign minister Baird for inviting me and the member for Ottawa Centre to go to Iraq last September. That was very much appreciated,because big decisions have been made, in the case of Iraq, and for all the parties to have at least one person who has some understanding on the ground of some of the more important details is certainly appreciated.

If the government chose to follow up on what my colleague has said, that would be an extremely good idea, because I think we are here for the long haul, and a multi-party delegation going to the training installations in western Ukraine would allow all parties to have a good sense of what our 200 troops are going to be doing over there for the next couple of years at least.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I and the Liberal Party believe that sanctions in a phased manner, progressively being applied more and more strongly, are a way to deter somebody from taking certain actions, as in the case of President Putin in eastern Ukraine, in Crimea.

The thing about sanctions is that they do take time to have their effect felt. We have to be willing to increase the amplitude of those sanctions, which is why my colleague for Wascana asked the question about the SWIFT measures, which are very powerful and difficult sanctions to implement, but certainly are very powerful on the economic front.

If we begin the process of putting sanctions in place, we have to be prepared to continue to strengthen them over time, and all countries that believe the same thing as Canada must be prepared to be consistent and continue to apply those sanctions.

I will repeat something I said in my speech. It is not necessarily how many people we sanction, it is who we sanction. Again, I would like to ask the government why Igor Sechin and Vladimir Yakunin are not on that list when they are key people who are very powerful and very close to Mr. Putin.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I will agree with my colleague that so far there does not appear to have been any progress whatsoever on the diplomatic front. Nevertheless, I asked in committee recently whether Canada was still trying to keep the door open for bilateral discussions with Russia.

At the Australian G20 summit, Angela Merkel spent four hours with Mr. Putin. She continues to try to engage him on the Minsk agreements and things like that, so far with no success, but she continues to keep that door open.

In diplomatic situations that are as difficult as this, if people like Angela Merkel and François Hollande, who have also put sanctions and have a lot at stake in this situation, are able to keep the door open, there is nothing to prevent us from doing what we have done so far and yet still maintain that ability to actually speak to the Russians.

[Ongoing Situation in Ukraine, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, the Liberal Party and I welcome this take note debate. Canada has been involved in a significant manner in support of Ukraine in a number of different ways over the past year. It is a good thing for us to meet tonight to discuss the latest involvement, which is the provision of training for Ukrainian soldiers, a measure that we in the Liberal Party have said quite clearly we support.

Speaking very candidly, I would also like to point out, and I am very proud of this, that if we go back to December 2013, it was, in fact, my colleague from Wascana who first brought the need to come to the assistance of Ukraine to the attention of the House. We have done quite a bit since then and I commend the government for it, and we will, of course, be continuing to do that.

It is important for us as members to express why Canada has taken the position it has to provide assistance to Ukraine.

Let me begin with some fundamentals.

We in Canada recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine. It is important to say that. It is a country which is totally free to chart its own destiny. It does not matter one bit that it is a country which at one time was part of the Soviet Union. The past is irrelevant, if I can put it that way. History cannot be allowed to dictate the future. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been an independent and sovereign country. That is a fundamental starting point of this discussion.

Let us start with Crimea. Crimea is part of Ukraine. More than 50 years ago, the Soviet regime under Nikita Khrushchev ceded Crimea to Ukraine, except for the Sevastopol naval base. Crimea belongs to Ukraine, period. I would also add that Ukraine got rid of its nuclear weapons in the 1990s, an act that was supposed to guarantee Ukraine’s territorial integrity. It is clearly a commitment that has not been respected by Russia.

I repeat: Ukraine is a sovereign country that includes Crimea and all its territory, including the eastern part of the country, even though there are people of Russian ethnic origin in this country. No foreign power has the right to violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Ukraine made the decision to turn to the west for economic reasons in order to seek greater ties with Europe. It is perfectly free to do so. These are the decisions that sovereign countries make. President Putin is not entitled to protest such a decision for the simple reason that it might create more competition for Russian exports. Nor is he allowed to invoke the historical past and argue that Russia somehow has a say in such a decision. Nor is President Putin entitled to say that he is coming to the rescue of those Ukrainians who want to remain closely allied to Russia, whether for ethnic or other reasons.

To put it bluntly, it is simply none of his business, and for anyone to invoke historical ties or previous dominance is unacceptable. It is a matter for Ukraine to decide its future destiny because it is a sovereign state.

It is important for a country such as Canada to stand up for Ukraine. That is what we have done with various measures in the past year.

Canada decided to act to show Russia that its actions, beginning with the invasion of Crimea, were completely unacceptable. We all support this decision.

Let us now take a look at the details, beginning with the economic sanctions. Like other countries, including the United States and a number of other European countries, Canada decided to impose economic sanctions on certain Russian citizens, in particular those who were close to the president. These kinds of sanctions may have an effect over the long term, but we must be patient and persistent. Ultimately the sanctions will prove effective, and we have already noted that there have been a number of consequences for Russia. Combined with the drop in the price of oil, Russia’s major export, sanctions are beginning to have a negative impact on the Russian economy.

However, we must continue to be patient and keep Russia isolated. As we know, the value of the Russian currency has fallen on financial markets. President Putin himself recently announced that Russia’s GDP has dropped about 4% this year.

Economic sanctions work. Look at Iran, for example. However, we have to be patient and we have to ramp them up over time so that their effect becomes more and more constraining. No amount of bravado on the part of President Putin can disguise the fact that economic sanctions are having a negative effect on Russia. Eventually, it will become hard to hide from the majority of Russian citizens.

Before leaving the issue of sanctions, it is important to point out that it is not so much the number of people who are sanctioned as it is who is sanctioned. It is for this reason that the Liberal Party of Canada has been for asking for a long time that Igor Sechin, possibly the second most powerful person in Russia after Putin and an extremely close confidant of the president, be added by Canada to the list of sanctioned people. The United States and other countries have done this, and we simply cannot understand why Canada has not yet done so. The same applies to Vladimir Yakunin.

We need to follow our strong rhetoric with strong action. Other measures taken by Canada include the following military and security-related measures: contributing to the NATO reassurance mission; providing Ukrainian forces with non-kinetic military equipment; and what we are discussing today, which is the recent decision that the Liberal Party supports of providing training to Ukrainian soldiers at bases in the west of the country over the next two years.

Some have raised the issue that Canada could end up providing training to soldiers of questionable loyalty. Having spoken to a DND official recently at the foreign affairs committee on this matter, I am not concerned about that risk.

Finally, Canada is also making available RADARSAT-2 satellite data to Ukraine in order to provide it with greater situational awareness of what is happening on its territory.

In addition to all this, Canada made a commitment to providing moderate economic assistance, a loan of $200 million, and we have also opened the door to discussions leading to a possible free trade agreement. The Liberal Party believes it is also important for Canada to eliminate, for the time being, certain tariffs on Ukrainian exports in order to help stimulate Ukraine’s economy.

Furthermore, it is important for Canada to become involved in the process to democratize Ukrainian institutions, particularly in order to help Ukraine get rid of corruption, which is a major problem. We must remember that Ukraine does not have a long-standing democratic tradition.

Before I conclude, let us talk about diplomacy.

While the Prime Minister's strong words to President Putin at the G20 Australian summit may have made us feel good, it is important never to lose and never to close the door to diplomacy and negotiation. This is what has effectively happened between Canada and Russia. While our position may be clear, solutions are never found without diplomacy and discussion, even if those discussions are difficult. Angela Merkel and François Hollande understand this and they continue diplomatic efforts.

I hope that we in Canada will also be part of future discussions. Otherwise, we remain somewhat on the sidelines in helping to find any possible solution.

[Unemployment Rate, April 29th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her presentation. I certainly agree with her. Modernizing equipment in the manufacturing sector, equipment for manufacturing certain products, increases a company's productivity. That is something Canada should do in order to be innovative and more productive.

As far as job creation is concerned, some people say that modernizing our plants and manufacturing sector comes with the risk of eliminating jobs because people will be replaced by machines. I do not necessarily agree, but I would like to hear what the hon. member has to say about that.