Peter Kent

[Ethics, March 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conflict of Interest Code demands that all members uphold their public duties with honesty and fulfill to the highest standard so as to avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest. The member's conduct goes well beyond apparent conflict. This is a blatantly formalized case of a cash for access retainer.

Was the member's boss invited on the India trip to seek business in India or was he invited to hang with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Infrastructure , and the Minister of Innovation to get an inside track on contracts in Canada?

[Oceans Act, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my thanks to my hon. colleague for his remarks, although he somewhat misrepresented the amount of marine protected areas accomplished under the previous Conservative government and that were in the process when the Liberal government came to power.

Previous changes to the Fisheries Act under the Conservative government provided for predictability, certainty, and timely review for those covered by the act. Conservatives have long supported protection of our lakes, oceans, and our fisheries. However, one of our many concerns with the bill is that it undermines transparency in that it gives the minister the power to withhold information from certain proponents.

What happened to the Liberal commitment to greater transparency?

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 26th, 2018]

With regard to the Trudeau Report: (a) what does the government consider to be the report’s “recommendations”; and (b) what specific action has the government taken to implement each recommendation in (a)?

[Privacy, March 22nd, 2018]

That is simply not adequate, Mr. Speaker. One is measured by those with whom one associates.

Could the minister explain to the House whether the mining of Canadians' social media data, and the use of the results of such analysis to tilt future Canadian election outcomes falls under Mr. Thalmann's responsibilities as the director of special projects for the Prime Minister?

[Privacy, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals assure us the 2016 pilot data project and contract with Mr. Wylie was one time, a quick $100,000 out the door, contract ended, let us move on.

We now know two senior Liberal data specialists were on stage with Mr. Wylie at a conference later that year. One of them was the Liberal research bureau's director, and the other Brett Thalmann, now the director of special projects in the Prime Minister's Office.

Could the minister explain this continuing relationship with Mr. Wylie at the highest levels of the PMO?

[The Budget, March 21st, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for a very interesting discussion of policy issues, as always. In fact, there was probably more policy analysis in the last 10 minutes from my colleague than one can find in the entire budget 2018.

I would like to ask my colleague about his thoughts on the Parliamentary Budget Officer's observations and criticisms of the lack of detail within budget 2018, and the lack of a plan for infrastructure, for example. I wonder whether he might agree with me that the most notable aspect of budget 2018 is the lack of economic analysis.

[Privacy, March 21st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, that is hardly reassuring given that the Liberals have now twice toyed with data mining to tilt the democratic process.

We are reassured the Privacy Commissioner has launched an investigation into the possible violation of Canadians' privacy through manipulation of their social media behaviour. As well, the ethics committee is moving toward an investigation of the developing Facebook scandal.

However, will the Prime Minister's Office and the minister explain to Canadians what the Liberal caucus research bureau was planning with Mr. Wylie in 2016?

[The Budget, March 19th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I always enjoy following the hon. member's wanderings through historical revisionism. I would agree that the Canadian economy is humming, but it is not humming because of what the Liberal government is doing. It is humming because the world economy is humming, and the U.S. economy is humming.

The most remarkable thing about this budget, as many economists have pointed out, is that it is notable for its lack of economic analysis, something that the Parliamentary Budget Officer fully agrees with, when he talks about the lack of detail on direct program expenses, the lack of detail on infrastructure spending, and here he pauses to remind the government that roughly a quarter of the planned infrastructure spending will lapse because the government has not figured out how to get those billions of dollars out the door, and the lack of detail in national defence, with no explanation of how Canada's new defence policy is going to be funded over the coming years.

My friend likes to talk about the GDP. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has noted, and this is where I will come to my question, that budget 2018 bases its estimates on U.S. potential real GDP, in other words, the potential for the American economy to continue to grow sustainably. The budget officer suggests and requests—

[Latin American Heritage Month Act, March 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for a question that regularly comes to the surface at a time when temporary foreign workers from Central America and South America come north to Canada to assist in the harvesting of crops or to work in the meat-packing industry in western Canada. Too often, they are discriminated against by the uninformed in the communities where they are temporarily employed. Sometimes they live in less than appropriate or comfortable housing conditions.

On any number of occasions in the last 15 years, the House of Commons has considered granting broader rights and benefits to those who, as my colleague just said, are good enough to come to Canada to work but, in too many cases, have not received the subsequent benefits they should have received or the opportunity to perhaps make their residency in Canada permanent, which Latin American students, for example, can now accomplish much more easily than in the past.

[Latin American Heritage Month Act, March 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for telling us about her fond remembrance of Senator Enverga.

The heritage months that have been recognized by the Parliament of Canada, by the upper house and this House, have at their heart, I believe, the unspoken intent of intercultural recognition, acceptance, and the celebration of Canada's wonderful diversity. They provide an occasion, on an annual basis, for subsequent generations to maintain that memory when there may be a tendency, in this case for those of Latin American heritage, to lose some contact with their language and culture.

We passed a bill just recently for Jewish Heritage Month. Canadians of Latin American origin, like those of black origin or Asian origin, do celebrate and maintain all of the best of their individual cultures and languages, as well as share them to enable all Canadians to join in the celebrations, in this case celebrations that would take place during the month of October.