Steven Blaney

[Business of Supply, November 3rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be coming to you today from Lévis and to say hello to everyone watching, my parliamentary colleagues and the Canadian people.

First let me say that I will be sharing my time with an entrepreneur, the member for Cloverdale—Langley City, who is a remarkable business woman. She is also a mother and a grandmother several times over, not that anyone could tell by looking at her. She built a business with over 200 employees. I am very proud to serve alongside her.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate my colleague, the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, who just expressed himself in impeccable French. I congratulate him on speaking and answering in French, one of our two national languages.

Today is a great day for the House of Commons and for our country because our leader, the leader of the Conservative Party, has decided to focus Parliament's attention on what drives our economic activity, keeps our regions alive and sustains Lévis's economy: our businesses, specifically our small businesses. These include restaurants and businesses in the transportation sector. There are many businesses in the manufacturing sector here, as well as in the tourism sector.

We know these businesses have been struggling for over six months. Of course, health regulations are putting enormous pressure on them, but our role as parliamentarians is to ensure that government measures do not become an added burden. These businesses have enough to deal with, given the impact of the pandemic and health requirements. They do not need measures that cause them even greater harm.

Sadly, based on what we have seen over the past few weeks and months, we know that when we as parliamentarians ask the Liberals questions, we get no answers. I sent several letters to the former finance minister, Mr. Morneau, asking him to take immediate action to support our businesses and to rectify inconsistencies over time. I received no response to those letters.

Unfortunately, we have seen that the Liberals are always very quick to help their friends. I am thinking of WE Charity and the purchase of medical equipment from a former Liberal MP at twice the going rate. That is not what our businesses want to hear. People have experienced immense hardship here in my riding. Our businesses have had trouble recruiting workers over the past six months because labour is scarce due to the disincentives put in place by the federal government.

What our leader is proposing today will provide businesses with more flexibility. For those just joining us, the motion moved by the Conservatives is meant to make the commercial rent assistance program more flexible.

The measure brought in by the Liberals was basically ineffective. Ninety per cent of businesses either had to close or saw a drop in traffic, but they still had to pay their rent in full or make arrangements with their landlords, who may or may not be willing to accommodate them.

Many businesses have been penalized by commercial rent, which is why we are asking for some flexibility regarding audits, so that we can provide support in the area of taxation, for example. As we are in the midst of the second wave, we must not add any further burden that will affect the financial health or morale of our struggling businesses.

One example of this is the wage subsidy, which the Liberals unfortunately brought in after implementing the CERB. Our businesses are the backbone of our economy. They are what I call the real economy. They are what will get us through the crisis now, and they are what will remain when the crisis is over.

The Liberals are plunging our country further and further into debt. There are no fiscal anchors. We eventually need to be able to pay back all the money spent during the crisis. Of course we want to support our businesses, our families and our workers, but we must do it wisely with targeted measures. Unfortunately, the measures brought in by the Liberals have hurt our businesses.

I will give two concrete examples.

The first is a pharmacist in my riding who called to tell me that he was having a hard time finding employees. Young people did not want to work because they were receiving the Canada emergency response benefit, the Canada emergency student benefit and the infamous Canada student service grant. This pharmacist, who was playing a vital role in fighting the pandemic, was facing an additional challenge because of the government. As I said, fighting the pandemic is already hard enough without the government making it harder. That is the first problem.

The second example, and second problem, concerns the overlapping measures that have not delivered the intended results. This is what happened to a restaurant owner whose employees told him that they were better off claiming government benefits than working part time. He was already in a tough spot, with food delivery for example, and now he was having a hard time retaining staff.

What we are telling the minister and the government is to ensure that the measures are effective and to make adjustments. That is the role of Parliament. The letters I have sent have been ignored. The government prorogued the session and we have learned that the Liberals were prepared to give money to their party cronies who had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Prime Minister's family members. They were also prepared to award contracts for twice the price to firms that provide equipment that they can obtain elsewhere for half the price.

Our vision is different, and that is why, as Conservatives, we stand up for our businesses. That is also why I hope the Liberals will support the motion we are putting forward, which calls for flexibility, for red tape reduction for bureaucrats and businesses and, at the same time, for ensuring that commercial rent is in fact paid directly to businesses rather than through a third party whose interest is not at stake.

That is what today's motion is really about. Earlier, I heard some speeches. What matters for our businesses is how to maintain the employee-employer relationships. Yesterday I spoke to a tourism company that has buses. The hardest part for this company is that the wage subsidy is not helping much. It is going through a difficult period because its revenue has been dropping for more than six months. Given the second wave, this remains a very difficult period.

It is therefore important that our measures be well targeted. Unfortunately, the government does not have fiscal anchors, which creates a burden. We want to support our businesses, but, sooner or later, we will have to be able to reimburse those sums, which have been poorly invested and have also harmed our wealth creators.

We must not kill the goose that lays the golden egg. The Liberals do not seem to be concerned about that right now, but, as our leader says, supporting people and businesses, especially those in the tourism and restaurant industries, is our primary concern. The purpose of today's motion is to give them a bit of breathing room so that they can get through this period and so that when this pandemic is over, when we have the vaccine and we have overcome these difficulties, we will still have these businesses, which will have managed to survive and create the wealth we need. It is not the government that creates wealth, it is our businesses.

In closing, I want to recognize businesses in Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis such as Bubble T, Rotobec, Exceldor and even the likes of Desjardins, which we rely on during this time. We need to be there for them. Let us adopt this motion. I urge the Liberals to support today's motion so that we can get through the pandemic with our businesses intact, once this crisis is nothing more than a bad memory.

[Infrastructure, October 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, five years ago the Liberals promised to repaint the Quebec Bridge.

Since then, rust has been eating away at our heritage gem. If the Liberals had kept their promise, the paint would have dried a long time ago. However, they decided to appoint a negotiator to buy time. His report has been under wraps for over six months. When will the Liberals release the Charest report and implement its recommendations? They need to act now before the bridge rusts out.

[Patrice Vincent and Nathan Cirillo, October 22nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, six years ago, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed in a parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu simply because he was wearing his Canadian military uniform.

Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a 24-year-old father, was gunned down while standing guard at the foot of the Canadian National War Memorial, which pays tribute to our brave veterans. The killer would then enter Parliament to sow terror, but was very courageously neutralized by our security officers, for which we are eternally grateful.

These vicious attacks perpetrated by people who were radicalized by Islamic extremism remind us of how vulnerable we are. Canadians showed remarkable resilience in the face of those attacks. The next day, all parliamentarians were in the House to get on with business and keep our democracy alive. Today, let us pay tribute to these two Canadian heroes and let us continue to proudly uphold their values of freedom, commitment and duty, which are pillars of our Canadian identity.

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, it is certainly important to have the best transparency we can expect. Unfortunately, we are faced with a wall, which I would call a wall of darkness, from the government. We need to know if the right decisions have been made, especially in ensuring that the health system is well supported and that appropriate measures were taken. Because of the refusal of the Liberals to move forward, we cannot get into that and avoid mistakes being repeated as we continue to fight the pandemic.

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question.

We have to learn from past mistakes to avoid repeating them. We know that we are in the midst of a second wave. The virus is still with us, and we must look to the future to see how we can avoid repercussions on our activities, whether on our health or our economy.

Members will recall that the City of Montreal started controlling access to the Montreal airport because the government was asleep at the switch.

We want to give it a wake-up call, and that is precisely the role of the Standing Committee on Health.

Why are the Liberals refusing to let the committee do its job? Lives are at stake, as are large amounts of money and, above all, the future of our country.

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I am reaching out to my colleague. If he wants to improve the motion that was moved today, what is he waiting for? Why does he not move an amendment?

We are open and, of course, we are proud. Bellechasse businesses are helping in the fight against the pandemic, contributing in the fields of health care and pharmaceuticals. I am thinking of Moore Plastics in Saint-Damien, Alifab and CFR Group. We have companies that are prepared for that.

The motion basically says that we do not want the government to give us redacted documents, documents that have so many things blacked out that it is impossible to even get the gist. What we want is effective measures. This is an open motion that says, “Let's work together”. I repeat: We are reaching out to the government.

What does the government have to hide? Otherwise, why will the Liberals not simply support this motion?

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, that was an excellent speech by my colleague from Alberta.

Essentially, he told us that our most important job here in the House is to be here for Canadians and implement effective measures to fight the pandemic.

That is exactly what we are talking about today. Basically, the motion before us is asking the Standing Committee on Health to do everything it can to ensure that the government's response works. We have to implement effective measures to fight the pandemic and be transparent.

The issue we are tackling today is the lack of transparency and effective measures to fight the pandemic. Would every member agree that we are here in Parliament to make sure the government helps businesses?

One such business is Autocar Excellence in Bellechasse, which has some beautiful brand-new buses in Bellechasse but cannot use them for obvious reasons. Another is Prevost in Sainte-Claire, maker of those very buses, for which demand is very low now that we are in the second wave.

Our role is to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, especially on health. The Standing Committee on Health has important work to do, and that is what we are asking of it today. Unfortunately, it appears that the Liberals are trying to hide something. If they are so proud of how they have handled the pandemic, they should open up the books so we can see what we can improve and how.

The fact is, when the Conservatives sounded the alarm back in January about what lay ahead, the Minister of Health said that closing the border would not be a very effective tool for fighting the pandemic, and yet that is how the virus first got here, across the border. From day one, the government has been caught with its pants down, as we like to say back home.

What we want is to be able to respond better. In the first wave, the measures that were implemented were improvised and took away Canadians' motivation to stay at work.

The Liberals then started giving contracts to their friends. Yesterday, we had a vote on the WE Charity scandal. When the Liberals felt things starting to heat up at committee, they shut down Parliament and the finance minister resigned. Yesterday, they made the ultimate threat that they would trigger a general election. As my colleague stated, the Liberals were willing to hold an election to cover up a scandal.

We want to dig deep by demanding transparency and dealing with the pandemic efficiently. That is our job as parliamentarians. From the Bloc Québécois to the NDP, MPs are saying today that they want to work together to ensure that the government's response is effective.

In its throne speech this fall, the government listed many priorities. Once again, however, it was all over the map, with no clear proposals and nothing about efficient testing measures.

We want efficient testing. Right now, people are being diagnosed with COVID-19 and having to stay home. The faster we can identify these cases, the faster they can go back to contributing to the economy. I am thinking of parents in particular.

No one is talking about all the indirect effects of the pandemic, such as loneliness among seniors and many other people. That is why the government must adopt the most effective response possible. We Conservatives and the members of the other opposition parties are prepared to make the effort to implement effective measures. Unfortunately, as I was saying, we are up against the less than transparent Liberal Party, which appears to have something to hide.

This week, it was reported that friends of the Liberal Party obtained contracts to supply medical equipment at almost twice the going rate. We understand why the Liberals would want to hide these types of things.

There are lives at stake, and there are also colossal amounts being invested in the fight against the pandemic. That is one more reason why we should be vigilant and implement effective measures. The Liberals' mismanagement of the pandemic makes the opposition’s work all the more important.

Unfortunately, the parties' hands are tied because the Liberals seem to be hiding something.

In today's motion, we are calling for effective tools. Alberta, Quebec and the other provinces need targeted measures, such as testing, effective vaccines or treatments, so that their floundering health care systems can meet this challenge.

Back when the Liberals were saying that there was no danger, they sent PPE to China. That is pretty outrageous. They sent hundreds of thousands of masks, gloves and gowns from our stockpile to another country. A few weeks or months later, we had a shortage. On top of that, we used to have an early pandemic alert system, but it was shut down before the pandemic.

Not only did the government not have the right tools in place, but it also implemented measures that turned out to be counterproductive. That is why it is important to let the Standing Committee on Health do its job. Starting now, how can we work constructively to make sure the government's pandemic response is effective and supports businesses, families, the health care system and the provinces?

We think keeping the border closed is important. Once again this week, American billionaires came over to hang out in COVID-19 hot spots. How could Canada's Minister of Health let these people in and put others in danger, when Canadians are being told to stay home, limit their activities, and self-isolate when they return to the country? We do not want a double standard. These are legitimate questions that opposition members are asking themselves. We want answers from the government, but it is like talking to a brick wall.

When it comes to mask wearing, the government initially said that it might not be effective. In fact, the government actually advised against wearing masks, but we now know that wearing a mask gives us the best chances to stay safe. In fact, what we want to do at the Standing Committee on Health is give ourselves the best chances to have effective measures.

We want to speed up testing. I will come back to that because it is important. As my colleague was saying, many countries have a host of mechanisms to allow people to get a quick diagnosis and take the necessary measures when they have reason to believe they contracted COVID-19. Time is money, as the saying goes. The government's slow response is costing us a lot of time.

I am asking my Liberal colleagues if they are prepared to work with us on fighting the pandemic and taking effective measures. We are prepared to do the work. We are reaching out to the government and saying, let's work together. These are exceptional times. We are in a health crisis. It is time to pull together, work together and have a Parliament that works.

Why are the Liberals rejecting our offer of help to turn this pandemic into nothing but a bad memory?

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague on his speech and his contributions to the committee.

Opposition members are responsible for making sure that the government's pandemic response is up to the task of helping families, businesses, and people who are isolating because of the pandemic, are they not?

I applaud my colleague's work at the Standing Committee on Health, where we work well together.

Why do the Liberals not want us to help them do a better job of fighting the pandemic?

Why does he think the Liberals are refusing to let the committee do its work and refusing to make sure that the Government of Canada's response does a better job of helping the people of Canada and Quebec?

[Ethics, October 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we can see that the pandemic is an excuse for everything. The Liberals want to use it to hide their scandals and corruption.

They have been found out. What are they doing? They want to trigger an election. There have been quite a few scandals and close friends who closed up shop when they got caught red-handed with hundreds of millions of dollars. At present, the Liberals are throwing money out the window. My question is simple.

Where is this money going and is it being managed properly?

We can chew gum and walk at the same time. If the Liberals did not know it, we are informing them. That is what we want.

What are they trying to hide? Why not come clean with the powerful disinfectant that is the truth?

[COVID-19 Emergency Response, October 19th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Liberals' border management is a big disaster, but that is how the virus is getting into the country. American millionaires in private jets are being allowed to enter the country's three hot spots.

Why the double standard?

Why do Canadians have to quarantine while American millionaires do not?