Thomas Mulcair

[National Defence, September 20th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, what is the government's logic?

The Liberals are opposed to the UN treaty for nuclear disarmament, but they are leaving the door open to participating in an ineffective, dangerous system that will precipitate an arms race.

Is that the Liberals' foreign policy?

Is it accepting Donald Trump's belligerent fire and fury policy rather than participating in the diplomatic efforts that more than 120 countries are making towards disarmament?

What kind of world do they want to live in?

[National Defence, September 20th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister left the door open to joining American ballistic missile defence, just one month after saying the Liberals would not change their position against such a system.

The system is dangerously unreliable, exorbitantly expensive, and it may well just spur a nuclear arms race. Just last week the Canadian Deputy Commander of NORAD warned clearly, “The extant U.S. policy is not to defend Canada.”

How has Trump convinced the Liberal government to keep this one on the table nonetheless?

[Marijuana, September 19th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has just said today that he is never going to get turned back at the U.S. border, even though he admitted smoking marijuana while he was a member of Parliament. We just want to make sure the same rule applies to all Canadians.

Legalized marijuana will soon be a reality. It is a very important change, but we have to get it right. The NDP supports this legalization, but the Liberals' bill will not legalize edible forms of cannabis, which is a far healthier option than smoking it. The black market, of course, will continue to thrive under the new rules.

If one of the key purposes is to eliminate the black market, why will the Liberals not fix this problem in their legislation?

[Marijuana, September 19th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, once again, this is not very reassuring for our bilingualism bonus.

Obviously Canada is moving toward legalizing marijuana, and the NDP supports that, but the Liberals have left enormous gaps, and the bulk of the work is being left to the provinces. We know that Canadians are often turned back at the U.S. border when they admit to having smoked marijuana—everyone except the Prime Minister it would seem—even if they have never been convicted.

What is the government doing to reach an agreement with the Americans to ensure that Canadians will not be denied entry into the United States for things that will soon be legal in Canada?

[Official Languages, September 19th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to understand the answer given by the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and what it has to do with the question, which is not very reassuring. He refused to say whether or not they are going to do so.

The chair of Impératif français believes that the recommendation represents an anglophone vision of bilingualism. The public service employees' union is just as skeptical. We know that the Liberal government does not usually consult. We do not even have a Commissioner of Official Languages at this time.

Could he at least promise to consult parliamentarians, linguistic minorities, and the unions about the bilingualism bonus before scrapping it?

[Official Languages, September 19th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, a bilingualism bonus intended to encourage civil servants to learn both English and French has existed for 40 years. A Liberal report is now recommending that the federal government scrap this bonus.

Does the Liberal government really plan to eliminate a bonus that helps to promote bilingualism in Canada's civil service?

[Foreign Affairs, September 18th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, does the Prime Minister really not understand the difference between a contract to manufacture and his responsibility to sign the export permits? That is what this is about. Canada has a rule under international law that we will not export to countries that are using arms manufactured in our country to attack civilians. That is what is happening in Saudi Arabia, a country with a horrible human rights record. The Prime Minister loves to talk a good game. We are increasing our greenhouse gases every year. He talks about the environment. We are exporting to Saudi Arabia to kill civilians.

When is the Prime Minister going to stop talking and start acting?

[Foreign Affairs, September 18th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Saudi Arabia is another issue that this Prime Minister mishandled. Although he made an emotional promise to Ensaf Haidar to take action to help her husband, Raif Badawi, two years later, nothing has been done.

In the meantime, his government has allowed the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, a country with an abysmal human rights record. It has been proven that Saudi Arabia uses Canadian weapons against civilians.

The time for making speeches has passed. Will the Prime Minister act to prohibit the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia, yes or no?

[Foreign Affairs, September 18th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is of course that the UN talks are taking place without Canada. The Prime Minister talks a very good game when it comes to world peace, but he refuses to be at the table where we could be playing a role.

It is a good thing Lloyd Axworthy did not act this way.

As a Canadian, I am very proud that the Ottawa treaty to ban landmines has the word “Ottawa” in its title. Even if Canada was not planting the mines, we saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

Let me come back to the question instead of the non-answer that is really about something else: why are we not at the negotiating table for nuclear disarmament? That is my question.

[Foreign Affairs, September 18th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, at no time since the Cuban missile crisis has the world been more aware of the threat of nuclear weapons.

I would like the Prime Minister to cast his mind back to last spring when I asked him about nuclear disarmament, and he told me that it would be well-intentioned but useless for Canada to be at the table for the UN talks. After the war of words between Donald Trump and Pyongyang over the summer, does the Prime Minister still believe that engaging in UN talks about nuclear disarmament is useless?