Randeep Sarai

[An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to COVID-19, November 29th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to be here today to speak to Bill C-2, an act to provide further support in response to COVID-19. Our government is moving into the next phase of the recovery, with more targeted support for Canadians, as our economy continues to reopen. The benefits outlined in this bill are and will continue to be essential for Canadians who will be impacted by the pandemic in the months to come.

I do not think any of us in this room could have imagined the immense cost that the COVID-19 virus was going to take on the world when we left the Hill for the weekend and headed home to our constituencies on March 13, 2020. However, here we are about 20 months later continuing to find new ways to respond to the individual and collective toll that the virus has taken on us all.

In the midst of all this hardship and heartbreak, we have also seen incredible resilience and innovation. We have seen health care workers, first responders, service providers and government employees work through continually evolving situations for months to take care of patients, provide essential services and ensure that our country was able to continue to function. We saw the creation, clinical trials, approval and distribution of multiple vaccines for COVID-19.

I heard from many Surrey Centre constituents who expressed how important the previous round of pandemic benefits were for them. I would like to extend my extreme gratitude to all those constituents and stakeholders who have provided very important feedback to us throughout the last year and a half, as well as to the government officials, who have listened to that feedback to make our pandemic supports stronger to support more individuals and businesses.

As we continue to see the evolution of the pandemic, we will continue to adapt our approach to address it. That is what our government is doing with Bill C-2. Our strategy to support Canadians is evolving with the situation, and we are now shifting our focus from blanket support measures to a more targeted approach. By taking a more targeted approach, we will reduce our spending on COVID support while continuing to support those who have been hit hardest by the health and economic impacts of the virus.

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the proposed support and extension of support in this bill for individuals and businesses. They will be essential to Canadians as we move forward through pandemic recovery.

The bill proposes extending some existing COVID support benefits, including the Canada recovery hiring program; the Canada recovery sickness benefit, which has given income support to employed and self-employed individuals who are unable to work because they are sick or need to self-isolate because of COVID-19; and the Canada recovery caregiving benefit, which has given income support to individuals who are unable to work because they must care for a child or family member who needs supervised care. This applies if their school or care facility is closed or unavailable to them because of COVID-19, or if they are sick, self-isolating or at risk of serious health complications because of COVID-19. These three benefits will be extended until May of next year when this legislation is passed. This bill also proposes the creation of new benefits, including the Canada worker lockdown benefit, a measure that will support workers who are unable to work because of a government-imposed public health lockdown; the tourism and hospitality recovery program; and the hardest-hit business recovery program.

We all know that the tourism and hospitality industry, in particular, has been extremely hard hit by the pandemic. With most of the world shutting their doors to non-residents in the early months of the pandemic, the tourism industry faced a sharp decline. Canadian cities and towns across the country rely heavily on the tourism industry to support their local economies. According to Statistics Canada, in March 2020, Canada saw a nearly 55% decrease in international arrivals. With travel and movement restrictions across the country, hotels were at less than 20% occupancy levels. Restaurants and bars were also hard hit during this time, when real GDP dropped by 39.5%.

I met with many constituents and local stakeholders to hear about their concerns, especially restaurant, hotel and banquet hall owners and operators in Surrey. The hotels, restaurants and banquet halls in my riding were particularly hard hit by the lockdown, with local lockdown restrictions forcing many establishments to close their doors completely for a few months, which meant cancelling weddings and other events, and requiring them to switch their service operations to provide takeout and delivery options. Similarly, restaurants had to shut down dining rooms and have takeout only, therefore having to let go of the servers and staff who normally worked there.

Surrey's hotels, like the Civic Hotel, rely on business travel, most of which had come to a virtual halt. That made it very difficult for them to survive. Surrey has a large banquet and wedding industry that was also hard hit due to severe restrictions on the size of weddings. Therefore, many venues and vendors were completely shut down, leaving hundreds out of jobs.

Things have begun to look up for these industries. In the second quarter of 2021, there was an increase of employment generated by the tourism industry with 453,200 jobs added. This time also saw an increase in tourism spending in Canada by over $10.6 billion. We may not have the international travellers coming and going as we are accustomed to, but Canadians have been stepping up and increasing local travel within the country.

With winter coming, though, we know that many businesses and workers will need support as tourism winds down for the season. I am confident that the travel and tourism industry will come back after these hard times. They have shown their resilience and the support offered through these proposed benefits will help this industry through the end of the pandemic.

Our government is committed to working with our international partners to ensure that countries around the world have fair and equitable access to vaccines. As we continue to see the rates of vaccination increase, we will be able to continue to reopen our beautiful country to the world once again, with the knowledge that our families, friends and neighbours will be protected.

We know that winter will most likely bring more challenging times related to the pandemic in different regions across the country. I am very pleased to see that this bill addresses the possibility of local lockdowns, with the Canada workers lockdown benefit. Anticipating these events now will ensure that Canadians have the support they need to get through these challenging times, whether it be to support an ill relative, care for their children or ensure that they can continue to put food on the table should they become ill and need to take a few days off work.

Our health care providers have done a phenomenal job of getting Canadians vaccinated well ahead of our original schedule. We now have 76.3% of the population who have received the full dose of vaccines and the numbers continue to grow.

As vaccine manufacturers continue their clinical trials for younger children and with the approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages five to 11 by Health Canada, we are well on our way to ensuring that all Canadians who are able to receive the vaccine have access. As we continue to move through the changing circumstances of this pandemic, our government will continue to be there for Canadians and Canadian businesses.

[Flooding in British Columbia, November 24th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member on his election and representing the constituents of Edmonton Griesbach.

The government will do whatever it takes. This is a very essential time. As we have seen, even without natural climate disasters, due to the COVID situation globally, supply chains have been even more imperative. They have to be examined and ensured, particularly for indigenous communities, remote communities and communities in the interior, so we will do whatever it takes.

[Flooding in British Columbia, November 24th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of work to be done, absolutely. It is essential to control the growth of the temperature rising. As my colleague from Cloverdale—Langley City alluded to earlier, we must do more. Canada is warming faster than many other countries around the globe. We have a huge watershed in our Arctic that we have to preserve, which is kind of the coolant of the globe, and therefore we must do more. Otherwise, these disastrous events will happen.

We need support from across the aisle on this issue and it should be bipartisan or tripartisan with all parties in this matter.

[Flooding in British Columbia, November 24th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely essential. As we know, the environment does not pick borders or see boundaries and we have to work with our American and global counterparts for many things. In this particular place, we have to work with our partners to the south to make sure they make the same mitigation efforts, the same diking and restoration efforts, so that this does not happen again. Deep collaborations among the provincial and state governments and the two federal governments would have to take place. I will encourage and definitely speak to our ministers of global affairs so they can talk to their counterparts on the U.S. side.

[Flooding in British Columbia, November 24th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful that this emergency debate is taking place tonight to discuss the devastating flooding in my home province of British Columbia. As we anticipate more heavy rain coming this week, the actions that we take and the preparations that are made in the coming days will be very important to support those who will be impacted by future storms.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my condolences to all those affected by the destruction, particularly those in Merritt, Abbotsford, Chilliwack or Hope, including constituents of my colleagues in Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, from Abbotsford and from Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon.

The loss and devastation that we have seen over the past week is heartbreaking. There has been a loss of life, evacuations and people left stranded. Within just a few days, 18,000 were forced to leave their homes and critical infrastructure like highways and railroads in and out of the province were severely damaged.

I would also like to thank all of those who have been working around the clock to support the residents impacted and to those who have stepped up to help their neighbours in the face of these challenging times. British Columbians have faced a great deal of devastation caused by extreme weather and natural disasters. In its look back at the 2021 B.C. wildfire season, the CBC reported 1,600 fires across 8,700 square kilometres in the province this year alone.

This has been the third-largest area impacted in recorded history in a summer filled with drought and record-breaking heat waves. Just last month as we moved into autumn, a time when forest fire season would usually come to an end, we still had 140 fires burning in the province. The consequences of this year's wildfires could be a contributing factor to the flooding experienced in my region.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests described how after intense fire, soil can become repellent to water, causing water to run off and pool rather than be absorbed by the soil. This can lead to landslides and floods after heavy rains or quick-melting snow. This shows the ripple effects that climate change can have. The more extreme heat and natural disasters we experience, the more disasters they may trigger in the future.

If this is not a sign to climate change deniers that climate change is real and here, I do not know what else it will take. On this side of the chamber, we know that the science is clear: human activities are causing unprecedented changes to the earth's climate. Climate change poses significant risks to human health and safety of the environment. It impacts biodiversity and economic growth. Across the country each year, flooding alone leads to more than $1 billion in direct damages to homes, businesses and infrastructure. We know that we cannot afford to not address climate change.

We must continue to take swift and decisive action to address the consequences of climate change, work to lower emissions levels, reduce our consumption and find innovative solutions to reach net zero. Our government is doing just that. In just the last year, our government has invested $60 billion toward climate action and clean growth and an additional $53.6 billion into Canada's green recovery. Since we formed government, we have invested $100 billion to address climate change.

By moving forward to cap and cut oil and gas sector emissions, we are making investments in public transit and mandating the sale of zero-emission vehicles. We are increasing our price on pollution and we are protecting our lands and rivers.

To address climate change adaptation, we invested an additional $1.4 billion toward the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund to further support projects such as wildfire mitigation activities, rehabilitation of stormwater systems and restoration of wetlands and shorelines.

In fact, in 2019, the federal Liberal government funded $76 million, through the $2-billion disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, for Surrey, in partnership with the Semiahmoo First Nation to upgrade 7.5 kilometres of the Nicomeki and Serpentine sea dams, the Colebrook Dike, and upgrade two pump stations and two dikes, but we must do more.

We have been working with provinces and territories to complete flood maps for higher-risk areas, supported first nations and Inuit as they managed the health impacts of climate change such as access to food, impacts of extreme weather events and mental health impacts of climate change on youth.

Our government will continue to invest in our workers and our industry to help bring Canada into the economy of the future while we take action to clean our air and protect Canadians from extreme weather events like the ones we are currently experiencing in B.C. As Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary May Simon said in the Speech from the Throne yesterday, “in a time of crisis, we know how Canadians respond. We step up and we are there for each other. And the government will continue to be there for the people of British Columbia.” Canadians are stepping up.

I had the opportunity to see this first-hand last week, when I joined a team of volunteers delivering food and supplies to Hope and Yale, B.C. This was made possible by the generosity of the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib in Surrey, Richberry farms' Peter Dhillon and the Guru Nanak Food Bank. I thank those who stepped up for their communities and neighbours during the challenging times.

I saw first-hand how people felt scared, isolated and anxious, whether it was from sleeping in their cars for days or from whether they could have bread or milk as the shelves in the stores were bare. When disaster first struck in B.C., search and rescue teams from Comox helped rescue motorists who had been stranded in dangerous conditions. The Canadian Armed Forces on the ground supported relief and mitigation efforts. When remote communities were cut off by landslides and road closures, the Air Task Force members helped deliver essential food and supplies. They delivered over 6,000 pounds of supplies to the Nooaitch and Nicomen first nations communities so far, including critical staples like fresh milk, eggs and potatoes.

Thousands of Canadian Armed Forces members are on standby and will be on their way to assist those most impacted by the tragedy, if needed. I thank the members of the Canadian military for their work, which includes everything from evacuations, rescuing livestock, sandbagging areas at risk of flooding and assisting with infrastructure repairs. We are so grateful for their commitment to keeping British Columbians safe on the ground during this difficult time.

Our government is working closely with provincial counterparts in British Columbia. We recently approved their request for federal assistance from the province for help with its emergency response to the extreme widespread flooding. Indigenous Services Canada also approved a funding request of $4.4 million in additional funding to the First Nations' Emergency Services Society of British Columbia to support it as it assists first nations in their response to the widespread flooding caused by the recent atmospheric river event.

Our government has also been helping residents return home who have been left stranded in the flooded areas where roads have been inaccessible. A local team from my constituency of Surrey Centre, the Surrey Thunder U11 boys hockey team, was on its way to a tournament nearly 400 kilometres away from home and was left stranded with no accessible route home through Canada due to the road damage caused by the flooding. Thanks to the coordination on both sides of the border, including of our government officials, CBSA officers, U.S. immigration and many more who were involved, we were able to get them home safely.

As British Columbians brace for the expected heavy rains coming at the end of this week, our government is watching closely and will stand with the people of British Columbia and continue to work with our provincial counterparts to ensure the safety and well-being of British Columbians.

I would like to close today by acknowledging that there are colleagues from British Columbia who are represented across party lines in the House. I hope that, as we begin the 44th Parliament, we can come together and do what we must do to support all those impacted by these devastating events and the many other challenging situations Canadians are facing across this country. To everyone in B.C. impacted by the floods, please take care and stay safe.

[Criminal Code, June 18th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join the second reading debate on Bill S-204, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (trafficking in human organs), which came to us on May 10, after having passed in the other place.

This important bill proposes to protect vulnerable persons who have organs extracted through exploitation of their vulnerabilities by creating new Criminal Code offences targeting organ trafficking-related conduct that would apply extra-territorially, including a financial transaction offence that would criminalize transplant tourism, a practice that involves purchasing organs abroad, usually in under-resourced countries; and amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to make foreign nationals or permanent residents of Canada who engage in conduct that would constitute an offence under one of the bill's proposed organ trafficking offences be inadmissible to Canada for having violated human or international rights.

International research indicates that traffickers may coerce vulnerable victims into giving up an organ and that organ donors often come from less wealthy nations. That is why organ trafficking affects certain populations disproportionately. Patients from wealthy countries travel abroad to obtain organs from donors in impoverished countries who may suffer from desperate poverty and may feel the need to sell their organs out of financial desperation.

Donors may also be deceived by traffickers into trading their organs for money that may not be paid at the end of the surgery. This exploitation of extreme poverty in certain parts of the world, for example in North Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Central America, drives organ trafficking.

In addition to the abuses I have just noted, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that “In cases of trafficking in persons for organ removal, victims may be recruited through deception, [and may not be] fully informed as to the nature of the procedure, the recovery and the impact—”

[Gurdial Kaur Oppal, June 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, British Columbians recently lost pioneer and centenarian, Gurdial Kaur Oppal, at the age of 104. She came to Canada at the height of the Depression and became widowed at the age of 30, but her tenacity and strength to never give up remained with her until the end.

As a Sikh-Canadian pioneer and devoted member of society, she was also a feminist. She was always speaking out if women were not allowed to participate. She raised two amazing boys, one who became the first Sikh justice and attorney general, the Hon. Wally Oppal, and the other a prominent realtor and boxing fight judge, Harry Oppal. Gurdial Kaur Oppal’s life efforts and accomplishments will not go without acknowledgement. She will always be remembered as an exceptional member of society, as well as a kind-hearted woman fulfilled by serving others.

I would like to extend my most heartfelt condolences to Wally, Harry, Jasmine, Josh and the entire Oppal family as they grapple with the loss of their beloved matriarch. On behalf of Surrey Centre, our thoughts and compassion are with them during this difficult time.

[Public Services and Procurement, June 4th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, the Surrey region was hard hit by the coronavirus this spring. Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and other health care providers have worked around the clock to care for patients and administer vaccines.

As we see a decrease in cases across the country and an increase in vaccines administered, I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement when more Canadians can expect to begin receiving their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I agree in part with my colleague. There are many other very important things happening right now, not to mention what we just discovered at a residential school in British Columbia, in Kamloops, which is heartbreaking. We have a climate change challenge right now that we have to deal with. There are many other things we should be debating.

The all-party National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians has the ability to look at and flesh out these unredacted documents. That is what it is there for, so that we do not jeopardize our security, but, at the same time, it has oversight. It is parliamentarians in this House, as well as the Senate, who are privy to that. Let them do their job. Let us allow them—

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I absolutely think that there should be layers of screening and layers of protection ongoing.

This is something we will always have, where we have to be ahead of the game and we have to have layers of protection for our laboratories, our research centres, whether it is epidemiology or other scientific research. We must protect our interests. We shall continue to do so.

That is why we have agencies like the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, like CSIS, and why we have oversight committees, like the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. We have these committees and these agencies for that very reason. When they see loopholes or any holes, they must plug them. That is where we must have faith, rely on them and give them the resources they need to do what they know how to do best.