Vance Badawey

[Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act, September 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, again, the short answer is yes. One of the things we do cherish and respect in the House is the work of committees.

Being on the transport committee since 2015 with her colleague, we look forward to integrating a lot of the reports that we have completed, whether it be the ports modernization review, the St. Lawrence Seaway review, the labour strategy or the task force that looked after supply chains. The intent of the committee will be to come forward with an integration of those recommendations, and, again, as a whole-of-government approach to ensure that all legislation is very consistent with each other. However, most important is that it aligns so that it best serves those who it is supposed to serve, and those are the customers who are within the supply chains. Of course, it would create net fluidity.

Updating the legislation and updating the means by which we want to move people and goods around the committee is ultimately what the committee, the House and this government are trying to do.

[Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act, September 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the short answer would be yes. We should be dealing with that in partnership with those agencies with which we do business. May I suggest for the member that with this going to committee after the bill moves through second reading, that the member who is sitting right next to him bring that issue up. Of course, we can come forward with some recommendations to help deal with that situation.

[Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act, September 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's involvement in the Great Lakes issues as well, and I thank him for that.

This is a whole-of-government approach. Essentially, when we look at appointing people to different authorities, and I want to mention that these authorities are federal government authorities, there is a lot of communication that happens between the federal government, the minister, the whole of government, different departments, as well as the authority itself.

I would anticipate and expect that when appointments are made, like all appointments that are being made, there will be a great deal of discussion with the authority itself and the partners that we work with almost on a daily basis. With that said, the right person will be chosen for those positions that would otherwise by appointed by the minister.

[Strengthening the Port System and Railway Safety in Canada Act, September 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity this afternoon to thank all members and all parties of the House for participating in this very important second reading debate on Bill C-33, strengthening the port system and railway safety in Canada act, with respect to improving the safety and security at Canada's marine ports.

I would like to further describe the rationale for the measures that are designed to enhance the security of Canada's marine transportation system.

Transport Canada has the important mandate of promoting a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation system. In addition to developing policies and programs for marine security, the Minister of Transport also has the lead responsibility for marine security policy, coordination and regulation across government, a whole-of-government approach.

When introduced in 1994, the Marine Transportation Security Act was intended to address a long-standing omission in federal powers and better equip the government and the marine transportation industry to respond to any threat to the security of people, goods, vessels, ports and facilities in the Canadian marine environment.

In the decades following, Canada's marine security landscape has changed significantly. While concerns around physical disruption perpetrated by terrorist actions still exist, emerging challenges, such as cybersecurity and biosecurity, are challenging our current threat-focused security framework.

Canada's marine transportation system is a central component of our national, provincial and regional economies. It is one of the primary means for moving Canadian exports to market and for imported goods from abroad to arrive in Canada, as well as in the Midwest in the United States, through the networks we have established throughout the many years of partnerships with different sectors. As such, it is an important enabler of Canadian economic growth well into the future.

As an example, my home riding and region of Niagara is an integral part of our economy. Niagara, which is known as a multimodal transportation hub, is essential to the overall Canadian economy and is growing to be one of the nation's most strategic trade corridors, therefore strengthening Canada's overall international trade performance.

Security events, however, can have a significant impact on port and marine-related operations, which in turn directly affect the efficiency of Canada's supply chains. Concerns over security issues, including a dated regime, can lead to the perception of Canada as a weak link in global supply chains that can affect when and where companies decide to invest. Hence, this is the reason for the bill.

Such a perception could adversely affect Canada's relations with other major trading partners and have significant impacts on future opportunities for economic growth and development, like what is happening in the Niagara region as a transportation hub, with respect to the movement of trade and people. Right now the transportation committee is discussing high-speed rail to bring the country closer together and enable us to welcome visitors who can move around our great nation with great fluidity in tandem with the movement of trade within the infrastructure we have established throughout the past century.

A secure transportation system promotes a secure economy, a resilient supply chain and further supports the competitiveness of Canadian ports. In a constantly changing world, Canada's marine system needs a modern security framework to adapt and respond to increasing complex challenges in tandem with other methods of transportation, such as rail, road and air.

Today, as part of Bill C-33, the government is seeking to modernize the Marine Transportation Security Act to ensure that it remains modern, usable, flexible and a consistent piece of Transport Canada's legislative framework. Modernizing the act will enable the government to have access to tools to address new and emerging security concerns, reflecting the challenges, but, more important, addressing those challenges so we accrue over time confidence with future as well as present international investors.

The proposed amendments will introduce new ministerial authorities, such as the power to make interim orders, the ability to require ports and other marine facilities to accept vessels that have been directed to these locations, and the ability to issue emergency directions to persons or vessels to address immediate security threats.

Unlike other marine legislation, the current Marine Transportation Security Act does not provide effective tools to be used in exceptional circumstances across the industries. The ability to make interim orders will align across Transport Canada's legislation and allow the department to take immediate action to deal with security threats or risks, or take action to address a threat to marine transportation security or to the health of persons in the marine transportation system. This will allow us to better protect the integrity and efficiency of Canada's supply chains.

The proposal will also introduce new regulatory-making authorities that will allow Transport Canada to: one, implement a cost-recovery framework; two, address maritime threats and risks to the health of persons involved in the marine transportation system; three, implement formalized information-sharing channels with federal partners; and, four, establish exclusion zones for vessels.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted emerging biosecurity threats, such as global pathogens, which pose significant risks to public safety and the broader Canadian supply chains, as well as those that flow to Canada, into the U.S. and to our binational partners internationally.

The marine environment poses a unique vector for virus transmission, with cruise ships, for example, or vessels interacting in northern and remote communities. An outbreak on board a vessel or at maritime facilities could cause significant impacts to workers' health and security, which would have a direct effect on our supply chains.

Finally, this proposal will support a shift in the approach to marine security since the act was first established. The shift includes enabling the department to enter into agreements with partner organizations to oversee enforcement of the act and its regulations. This will allow Transport Canada to leverage expertise of organizations and the capacity of other government departments, once again, a whole-of-government approach.

The proposed amendments to the act included in the bill will modernize Canada's security framework, but, most important, it will create more fluidity to ensure more confidence in our transportation system across our great nation.

[National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21st, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, in commemoration of National Indigenous Peoples Day, the summer solstice is traditionally a time when indigenous peoples celebrate their culture, achievements and heritage. Today we join them in honouring the strength and resilience of these cultures. This symbolic time of year represents optimism, light and reflection; it represents reflection on our colonial past and optimism towards rebuilding broken relationships through reconciliation and trust.

In Niagara, the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, along with the Niagara Regional Native Centre, will be hosting festivities and telling stories today. I encourage all people of Turtle Island to go out and participate in their local community gathering today to strengthen their community relationships and foster a brighter future, all tied together by trust and togetherness.

Happy National Indigenous Peoples Day.

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, June 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, once again I want to thank the member for bringing up this issue. I respect his comments very much and I thank him for that.

The IRCC thoroughly investigated its South Africa office and determined that filtering applications by race could not happen, given the protocols, as I said earlier, that are in place. First, the IRCC does not collect information on the race of applicants. South Africa's caseload goes through our standard global intake process to assess eligibility and risk. We shifted to electronic submissions during the pandemic, so, as I said earlier, there are no new paper applications coming in and the offices have no means by which to filter out digital applications.

As in every other processing office abroad, South Africa's caseload is reviewed by local staff from different racial and ethnic backgrounds who work on a rotation system. Their decisions are made in tandem with Canada-based officials.

Finally, the work to ensure that processes are fair for all is something that we as a government—

[Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, June 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Spadina—Fort York for raising this important issue.

The IRCC takes the integrity of Canada's immigration system and the experiences of clients extremely seriously. Our government continues to work diligently on our anti-racism strategy as well as the action plan, both at home as well as abroad, and remains steadfast in its commitment to a fair and non-discriminatory application of immigration procedures.

Since the hon. member referenced South Africa in his claim, I would like to point out that the IRCC investigated selection practices at its offices in Pretoria, South Africa. It was determined that filtering applications by race could not happen, given all the protocols that are currently in place.

To start with, IRCC does not collect information on the race of applicants. Next, South Africa's immigration caseload goes through the same global triage intake process as all of the caseloads from all of the countries in order to assess eligibility as well as risk. The department also shifted to electronic submissions during the pandemic, and as such, there are no active paper files within the IRCC offices abroad, other than a small number of applications pending from before the pandemic.

Finally, South Africa's caseload is reviewed by a team of locally engaged staff from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, who work on a rotation system. They are assigned different tasks and applications every week. The teams are also rotated every three months.

Decisions on applications are not made solely by locally engaged staff, but rather by a diverse team made up of local staff from all backgrounds, officials in Canada and temporary-duty decision-makers. Team members also rotate in and out on a system managed by a Canada-based official. These protocols are in place to ensure a work environment that promotes not only continuous learning and engagement but also maximum oversight and minimal risk of systemic discrimination.

IRCC offices abroad take anti-racism very seriously. The IRCC staff in Pretoria complete a training program on inclusion and diversity, with a specific focus on their clientele. It was completed in April of this year, and we are going to continue to do the same.

I want to assure Canadians that while we acknowledge the difficult reality that systemic racism exists around the world, IRCC has made every effort to confront and overcome it in its procedures and its staffing. IRCC has an obligation to clients, to employees and to everyone it serves globally to ensure that it is doing all it can to prevent discrimination and promote equity. As a government committed to combatting racism both at home and abroad, we will always look for opportunities to do more.

[Indigenous Affairs, June 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I think I did answer the question. I was very explicit about the numbers that we have invested over the past few years and will be investing in the upcoming years.

I do agree with the hon. member that for far too long indigenous peoples in Canada have suffered from inadequate housing. That is why, as I mentioned earlier, the government has been working with first nations, Inuit and Métis to come up with practical solutions to meet their needs. We have co-developed strategies as well as policies and we have worked together to implement them.

We are working with indigenous partners to understand what will work best for communities. We have not imposed a top-down, made-in-Ottawa solution to go with indigenous housing problems. It is the opposite, from the bottom up. We are seeing results. We are seeing improvements that are being made across the country.

We know there is much more work to do and that work is under way. Having safe housing is the foundation for everyone and we are committed to making this a reality for indigenous peoples across this country.

[Indigenous Affairs, June 20th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I want to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional territory of the Algonquin and Anishinabe peoples.

Safe and affordable housing provides the safety and security that families need to learn, live and play. Indigenous peoples are more likely to experience poor housing conditions and overcrowding than the general population. This is unacceptable.

Over the past year and a half, I have visited communities throughout the country, especially in the north and Nunavut, and met with families who are struggling to find decent and affordable housing, but there are success stories too in communities that are using new investments to build housing that matches the needs of their communities.

Our government has been hard at work to ensure that indigenous peoples have the same access to safe and secure housing as other Canadians. Since 2015, the government has committed more than $7 billion in funding for first nations, Inuit and Métis housing. We have now built or renovated nine houses for every one house built under the Stephen Harper Conservative government and we have fixed the gap left by the previous government by investing in off-reserve urban, rural and northern housing, which received zero funding from the Conservatives.

In budget 2023, we provided investments to improve housing for indigenous peoples living in urban, rural and northern areas. We are investing $4 billion over seven years, starting in 2024-25, to implement a co-developed urban, rural and northern indigenous housing strategy.

In last year's budget, the government invested an additional $4.3 billion to support housing in first nations, Inuit and Métis Nation communities. The funding includes $2.4 billion over five years to support first nations housing on reserve, $565 million over five years to support housing in self-governing and modern treaty holder first nations communities, $845 million over seven years to support housing in Inuit communities and $190 million over seven years for housing in Métis communities. The 2022 budget also included $300 million for urban, rural and northern housing.

Earlier this month, the member for Nunavut joined the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada and others to announce the transfer of $287.1 million for an indigenous, by indigenous approach to fund housing projects in urban, rural and northern settings, a historic change driven by a commitment to self-determination. We are starting to see some results. Census 2021 data shows that, since 2016, the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous populations living in crowded housing declined by 1.7%.

As members can see, the government has been taking concrete action to work with partners and improve the housing situation for indigenous people across this great nation.

[Craig Bowman, June 15th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we believe in our hearts that if our loved ones were ever in danger, we would do whatever was necessary to keep them safe. However, how far would we be willing to go to help someone we did not know?

Would we charge through the front door of a burning house to search for someone caught in the flames? Would we be willing to breathe air loaded with soot and ash, knowing it could shorten our lives? How far would any of us go? What risk would we take?

Welland firefighter Captain Craig “Opie” Bowman knew the answer to those questions. Because of his courage and the courage of firefighters like him, few of us will ever face those kinds of decisions.

On May 21, Captain Bowman lost his life after a courageous battle with occupational illness. His wife, Alisen, and children, Alexis and Colin, have suffered an enormous loss, but so many others have been spared that pain because of the bravery of such firefighters as Craig Bowman.

On behalf of the people of Canada, I thank my friend Captain Bowman for his service. May he rest in peace.