Paul Manly

[Petitions, December 9th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table e-petition 2828, which has 1,861 signatures.

The petitioners are concerned about the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority proposal to build another container terminal at Roberts Bank, creating a massive new man-made island the size of 150 football fields.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to maintain the environmental integrity of the Roberts Bank ecosystem for migratory birds, the endangered southern resident killer whales and other wildlife. They ask the government to deny approval of the Roberts Bank container terminal 2 project.

[Canada Shipping Act, December 9th, 2020]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-261, An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (thermal coal).

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table this private member's bill today, and I am pleased that my colleague, the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, is the seconder on the bill.

Our constituents are fed up with the increased use of the Salish Sea as a free parking lot for bulk freighters anchored around the southern Gulf Islands. Many of these bulk freighters are exporting dirty U.S. thermal coal from ports in British Columbia because the west coast U.S. states have banned the export of thermal coal from their ports. Under international trade rules, we cannot simply ban the export of U.S. thermal coal from Canadians ports. Therefore, this legislation seeks to ban the export of all thermal coal by ship from Canada.

Burning thermal coal is the dirtiest most carbon-intense way to produce electricity. Canada is shutting down its thermal coal electrical generation, and it is hypocritical to be exporting thermal coal to Asia to burn for electricity there. This does not fit our commitment to climate change.

The language of the bill is simple:

It is prohibited for a vessel to load into its hold, at a port or marine installation in Canada, any thermal coal that is to be transported outside Canada.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Criminal Code, December 8th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I know the Conservatives have expressed a lot of concern about people who are making money during the pandemic who should not be making money during the pandemic. I know they are not talking about the 20 billionaires who made $38 billion in the first six months of this pandemic.

The Conservatives are talking about people who got the CERB who do not deserve the CERB. In the last week, I have had a number of constituents, people with disabilities, contact my office because they are getting letters from the CRA saying that they need to pay back the $14,000 they received from the CERB. These are people who have disabilities and who are self-employed and use that income to pay their rent and utilities and to help with expenses. They did not understand the difference between the gross and the net amounts in the application process. People on disability benefits here in British Columbia can earn $12,000 a year before their disability starts getting clawed back, dollar for dollar.

Would the hon. member like to see more compassion on this issue of taking care of people with disabilities now, while they are alive, trying to survive? What does the member think should be done?

[Main Estimates, 2020-21, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I am curious as to whether the member has been receiving calls from constituents who have been told that they need to pay back the CERB. I have a lot of self-employed people, single moms and people with disabilities who thought that the gross income counted. Now they are finding out that it was the net income. Some of their expenses are household expenses like their utilities and part of their rent for their self-employment.

I wonder if the hon. member is hearing from his constituents in Joliette that they are being threatened by the CRA to pay back $14,000 in CERB by December 31.

[Main Estimates, 2020-21, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I am just noting that China is not the China of 2020. It is not the China of 2012 when Stephen Harper signed the Canada-China FIPA, and it is not the China of 1989.

To lock this country into a 31-year FIPA agreement is outrageous. If the hon. member read the FIPA agreements with all of the other countries we have signed FIPA agreements with, he would see that there is a “get out” clause after one year. We have been locked into a 31-year agreement and I think the Conservatives did this so that Sinopec and PetroChina, which have invested in the tar sands, could get their pipelines and product out of this country and invest in strategic resources, and to make sure there was a poison pill if we ever tried to stop pipelines that we do not want running through British Columbia.

[Petitions, December 7th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table petition e-2957, which was promoted by Greenpeace Canada and has 4,359 signatures.

The petitioners are concerned about the dramatic increase in deforestation and fires in the Amazon since President Bolsonaro came to power in Brazil and the threat this represents to humanity by accelerating climate change. They note the Brazilian government has dismantled environmental regulations, enforcement and indigenous rights protections and that indigenous people in Brazil are experiencing especially high levels of violence, land appropriation and other human rights violations.

The petitioners call upon the government to immediately terminate the Canada-Mercosur free trade deal negotiations and make a public statement that the Bolsonaro government's assault on the environment and human rights is unacceptable to Canada.

[Business of Supply, December 3rd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I know the hon. member said he does not want to talk about the past, but he has just talked about the past 10 months. We cannot learn from history unless we realize what our history is.

Coming back to the question from the hon. member for Vancouver East, does the member regret the privatization of Connaught Labs? We had a lab for 70 years that produced vaccines for people around the world at a very low price. It would be doing very well for us right now, if it had not been privatized by the Conservative government. Does the hon. member think that we should be going back to that kind of a model?

[Business of Supply, December 3rd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I would like to follow up on the last question.

For 70 years, Canada was a world leader in vaccine production through Connaught Labs, through a public model of vaccine development and production. Knowing what we know now, do you think it is a good idea to go back to this public ownership model, which would do the research and manufacturing, and not just leaving it up to big pharmaceutical companies? Should we have a public lab in Canada again?

[Criminal Code, December 2nd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, having studied the bill, I think there are enough safeguards in the bill to protect people, but I do hear the concerns of people in the diversability and disability community. There is a lot of fearmongering going on around this bill. People have a lack of trust and for good reason. People with disabilities have been left behind. They deal with institutional poverty. They do not get the care they need. They do not get the services they need. We have seen governments, Conservative and Liberal, cutting these kinds of services. We have seen how the provincial governments do not take their responsibility seriously in looking after people.

Would the hon. member agree something like a guaranteed livable income or a universal pharmacare program would help to take care of people and make sure they have their medicines and that there is an income floor under which they cannot fall, to ensure that people have a good quality of life with the medicine, services and supports they need?

[Criminal Code, December 2nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Fundy Royal for supporting the amendments that I brought forward in committee. The justice committee is not in my portfolio, although one of my portfolios is disability.

It is important to hear from those in the diverse ability community. They have a saying: “Nothing about us without us”. They appreciate being heard, so I had some of my own meetings with Inclusion BC and with members of the diverse ability community in B.C.

One thing we know is that poverty is a social determinant of health, and there are too many people living in poverty in this country. We are a wealthy country, so there is no reason why we have people living in poverty.

We put forward the idea of a guaranteed livable income, so I would like to ask the hon. member what kind of programs he would put forward to eliminate poverty in this country. We need to take care of people.