Marty Morantz

[National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act, February 17th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Northumberland—Peterborough South.

In December 1973, Parliament enacted the Foreign Investment Review Act, which was known as FIRA, to deal with the issue of foreign investors controlling Canadian industry, trade and commerce, and the ability of Canadians to maintain effective control over their economic future.

These investments would be allowed to proceed only if the government had determined that they were, or were likely to be, of significant benefit to Canada. This net benefit test still exists today, but much has changed given rising national security concerns that necessitate new measures. Let me elaborate.

In June 2017, Hytera Communications, a company owned by the Chinese Communist Party, acquired Norsat International, a B.C. telecom company. Just like that, a firm backed by an authoritarian regime took over an essential service provider here in Canada.

One would think this takeover would have raised some red flags, but it did not, not for the Liberal government at least. If it had acted rationally, the government would have conducted a national security review into Hytera. However, after eight years in power, it is clear that rationality is in short supply these days.

It did not bat an eye when, as all of this was taking place, our own Border Services Agency was using equipment from Hytera. We are talking about a company that has been charged with 21 counts of espionage. That company has been banned from doing business with our neighbour to the south. Up until that point, the Liberals have said that business is business, even when it means letting a hostile regime gain access to our essential services.

This sort of lax attitude toward issues of national security is clearly a problem. What is even more problematic is that for five long years after the Hytera fiasco, the government has not learned from its mistakes.

In 2020, it gave out a contract to Nuctech, a company founded by the son of a Chinese Community Party secretary general. It would not have taken a national security review to figure out who the company's founder was. A quick Google search would have sufficed.

It was not just standard, run-of-the-mill work that this company with Chinese Communist Party connections was doing. Nuctech was supplying X-ray equipment, of all things, to almost 200 Canadian embassies and consulates.

Two years ago, it looked like the government was changing its course when it updated its national security review guidelines. This was not the case, or at least it certainly was not the case when the Minister of Industry greenlit the takeover of a Canadian lithium mine by a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

Once again, the opportunity was right there. The minister could have requested a national security review. The review framework was even new and improved, or so they would have us think. However, the minister did not act. Delays, half measures and slaps on the wrist. Those have been the Liberal responses to national security threats throughout the past eight years.

Huawei is a perfect example of this. By 2021, each and every one of our allies within the Five Eyes had already banned Huawei from using their 5G networks. For years, my colleagues and I have been calling on the government to do the right thing: Listen to our allies, listen to security experts and ban Huawei from accessing 5G.

Reluctantly, and far too late, the Liberals finally took our advice and took a stand against the Chinese Communist Party. That was less than a year ago. With the Liberal government's dismal track record in matters related to national security, Bill C-34 feels like too little, too late. It is like the goalie letting in eight goals, then coming onto the ice at the last minute and saying, “Don't worry guys. I've got this.”

To be fair, this bill does address Canada's national security. It is a policy area where the government has been complacent for far too long. For that reason, I am prepared to support the bill at this stage, as long as it can be strengthened in committee.

For a while, a lot of us had the naive idea that these regimes were emerging partners, and they were slowly moving toward the democratic norm. Putin's war changed all of that, and it is time that Canada acted accordingly. It is time for a reality check. Hostile foreign governments want to subvert and undermine this country. The threat is real and the threat is here. Canadians are well aware. A few weeks ago, all that Canadians had to do was look up and see a Chinese surveillance balloon flying at 60,000 feet.

Bill C-34 responds to this new reality, but not well enough and not in its current form. The bill puts the power to request national security reviews in the hands of the Minister of Industry, the same minister whose predecessor did not even request a security review when Hytera took over an essential Canadian telecom provider. It is the same minister who, even after strengthening the security review guidelines in 2021, chose not to investigate the Chinese takeover of a critical Canadian mining company.

The bill is only as strong as the minister's scrutiny, whoever that minister may be in the future. Conservatives believe matters of such importance should be scrutinized by all of cabinet to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

There are also existing problems with the Investment Canada Act that are not even addressed in Bill C-34. For no apparent reason, when a state-owned enterprise invests in a Canadian company, a national security review is only triggered if the Canadian company has assets worth more than $454 million. This provision has it all wrong. It is not about the size of the company that is being acquired. It is about the security risks that would inherently arise when a hostile state-owned company gains control over a critical service or product here in Canada.

Bill C-34 needs a provision that would trigger an automatic national security review when a state-owned enterprise invests in Canada. The threshold should be zero dollars, not $454 million. Also, the bill would only deal with share purchases and non-asset purchases. Therefore, in theory, there is a roundabout way that foreign investors could acquire assets in Canada and completely circumvent the legislation. It is clearly a loophole that needs to be plugged.

Since 2017, Chinese companies have been governed by the national intelligence law. This law compels every citizen and every company to hand over data to Chinese intelligence agencies. For almost six years, so much Canadian information has gone to China's autocratic government that it is hard to even quantify. We need to put an end to this, but right now, Bill C-34 would not do that.

Bill C-34 needs a presumption against allowing the takeover of Canadian companies by China's designated state-owned entities. It needs a reformed net benefit test to better account for the potential effects of a transaction on the broader innovation ecosystem, with a particular focus on protecting intellectual property and human capital. It needs automatic review of transactions involving sensitive sectors, such as defence, artificial intelligence and rare earth minerals. It also needs a mandatory national security review for state-owned enterprises where national security is a concern.

The act would not attempt to change definitions of state-owned enterprises or look at the issue of what constitutes control. One would not have to buy 50% of a company to control it. Someone could buy small percentages of it, get a number of seats on the board or change management, which Hytera has done.

It is clear that Canada needs to improve these protections. Bill C-34 would be a small step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.

[Carbon Pricing, February 10th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal Prime Minister, he leaves a sad legacy. It is not his fault that Canadians cannot afford to eat, heat or house themselves, he says, but now he is making it even worse. He is going to triple the carbon tax. Conservatives will turn all this hurt into hope by fighting to keep the heat on and take the tax off.

Will the Prime Minister take responsibility for this mess he made and get out of the way so Conservatives can fix what he broke?

[Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter, February 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising today to celebrate the great work of the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter. Before the House rose last year, I had the pleasure of joining the grand opening of its brand-new location on Portage Avenue in my riding. The work that Carla Martinelli-Irvine and her team do at this shelter is truly vital and heartwarming.

This organization has rescued more than 10,000 animals that find themselves without places to call home. The Pet Rescue Shelter takes these animals in, gives them medical treatment and ensures that they have places to stay before they eventually find their new homes. Most importantly, the Pet Rescue Shelter is Manitoba’s first no-kill animal shelter. It understands that our furry friends should never be euthanized simply because they find themselves without owners.

I want to thank Carla and her entire team for the work that they do, and I wish them all continued success in helping Manitoba pets find their forever homes.

[National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act, February 6th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I noted that during his speech, the member talked about the security of our economy. Right now, under the legislation, foreign investment review is triggered only when the assets of a Canadian corporation are at least $454 million.

I wonder if the member would agree that, given the nature of security threats and foreign acquisitions by hostile governments, it would be better to have that threshold at zero dollars.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2023]

With regard to written or electronic correspondence received by the Office of the Prime Minister from the general public since January 1, 2020: (a) what were the top 10 topics or subject matters, in terms of volume of correspondence; and (b) for each of the top 10 topics in (a), how many pieces of correspondence were received?

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 30th, 2023]

With regard to the government's response to findings from the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the 2022 Fall Economic Statement included $14.2 billion in new measures without providing specific details on this spending: what is the itemized breakdown of how the $14.2 billion will be spent, by year?

[Hon. Jim Carr, December 14th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, “I am encouraged, excited and optimistic about how we can strengthen our federation in ways we have strived to achieve as a nation for decades.” These were words from the speech delivered just this year on his private member's bill. Jim was a nation builder and a gentleman, but most of all, Jim was a true mensch.

It is not easy for members to get their bills passed around here. It is a rare accomplishment. It is a blessing Jim lived to see his bill pass the House. His bill was the building of a green economy in the Prairies act. It just passed the House last week.

Although it is a rare accomplishment for any MP, for Jim it was one of many great accomplishments in his life. Jim was a husband, a father, a politician, a journalist and an accomplished musician. In fact, he was an oboist who played with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He would always greet people with a great big smile, and he was always interested in how he could help them. As a politician, he was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1988 as the MLA for Fort Rouge and then Crescentwood in Winnipeg, where he served as the deputy leader of the official opposition for the Manitoba Liberals.

Jim left provincial politics in 1992 to become a well-respected editorial writer and columnist. In 1998, he co-founded the Business Council of Manitoba, where he served as its president and CEO until 2015.

It was in 2011 when he and I first met. I had decided to run in the 2011 provincial election, and I asked to meet with him in his capacity as head of the Business Council of Manitoba to discuss its policies. He immediately agreed to the meeting, and I am pretty sure we met for over two hours that day, debating the nuances of the Manitoba economy and the importance of well-developed policy. In fact, I remember a long discussion over whether the provincial sales tax should be increased from 7% to 8%. Of course, as a good Tory, I argued against this increase. In the end, a gentleman throughout, Jim agreed to disagree with me on that one.

During that meeting, Jim and I also discussed his admiration for former Manitoba premier Duff Roblin. Jim admired Roblin for bringing in transformative education reform in the 1960s, and of course everyone admired Premier Roblin for getting the Red River Floodway built, what Manitobans affectionately call “Duff's Ditch.”

During that meeting, Jim told me that he and Premier Roblin were in fact close friends. Premier Roblin had just passed away. Jim also told me he had assisted Premier Roblin in the writing of his memoir and was a close confidant of the former premier. Even then, Jim was building bridges. Premier Roblin was a Progressive Conservative and Jim was a Liberal, but it did not matter what one's political party was for Jim. What mattered was what could be accomplished together.

When Premier Roblin passed away in 2010, Jim gave the eulogy, saying “throughout his long stint in public life, Roblin never had an ill word to say about anybody...Civility and respect were never compromised.” Today, I am saying that about Jim.

In 2015, 23 years after he left the Manitoba legislature, Jim was elected as the member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre, a role he cherished. He loved serving his constituents and he loved solving problems. He served in cabinet as Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of International Trade Diversification and special representative for the Prairies.

It goes without saying that Jim had the respect of all members of the House regardless of their political affiliation. He was a fearless advocate for the interest of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Canada.

Just three weeks ago, I was with him at the grand opening of The Leaf at Diversity Garden in Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, where he spoke optimistically about the future of Winnipeg. Jim was always an insightful and thoughtful speaker, and I always enjoyed very much listening to his words.

Jim was also a strong supporter and well-respected member of Winnipeg's Jewish community. He would regularly attend community events and give remarks. He was a fighter against all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, but in true form, always the bridge builder, he joined Winnipeg's Arab Jewish Dialogue, where members of both communities would meet regularly together to discuss and try to solve issues.

In the speech Jim gave about his bill, he started it by talking about how he had won the private member's bill lottery. He said, “one does not plan in life to win the lottery, but when one does, one is left with decisions about how to take advantage of the good fortune.” I think it is safe to say that all Canadians won the lottery for having Jim share his life with us. It was our good fortune.

On behalf of my Conservative colleagues, I want to offer our sincerest condolences to his spouse, Colleen Suche, his children, grandchildren and his extended family.

In Judaism, there is a concept called tikkun olam. It literally means repair the world to make it a better place. There can be no doubt that Jim Carr left this world a far better place.

May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life and may his memory be a blessing.

[Member spoke in Hebrew and provided the following translation:]

Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe, the judge of truth.

[English]

Jim will be missed.

[Committees of the House, December 13th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I certainly enjoyed my time on the foreign affairs committee working with my colleague. I found him to be a very insightful and knowledgeable person when it came to foreign affairs.

I appreciate his comments about the committee being tied up. However, we are here today for a motion about the Sino-Tibetan dialogue. I know he said it is obvious we should pass it, but the Tibetan community is likely watching. I wonder if he would like to elaborate on the importance of this motion to that committee.

[Finance, December 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen $52 billion in new inflationary spending and $500 billion in deficits in just two years. Yesterday the Auditor General reported that $32 billion in overpayments and suspicious payments just went out the door. The Governor of the Bank of Canada said that if Liberal spending had been less, inflation would have been lower, and today interest rates went up by another half a per cent.

The Prime Minister's big spending is now hurting Canadians. Will he stop the spending, stop the waste and get inflation under control finally?

[Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2022, December 6th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, in the Parliamentary Budget Officer's review of the fall economic statement, Bill C-32, he categorized $14.2 billion as unannounced spending. I am just wondering if, before we go to actually vote on this bill, the member would tell us what the details of that spending are.