2018-11-28

Mr. Speaker, this year is the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing massacre. Approximately 300,000 people were killed and an estimated 200,000 women from Japanese-occupied territories were tricked or coerced into sexual slavery. A family member told me today my grandmother and mother never stopped talking about what happened and how shameful it was that so much of the world never even knew. On behalf of Order of Canada recipient Joy Kogawa and nearly 40,000 Canadians, I ask: Will the Prime Minister declare December 13 every year as Nanjing massacre commemorative day, yes or no?

Mr. Speaker, these answers are not going to satisfy. I do not think the Prime Minister is fully understanding the gravity of this situation. He is claiming ignorance, but on September 19, in the middle of its study on money laundering, the Prime Minister removed the MP from the finance committee. The RCMP, FINTRAC and the Ethics Commissioner are all investigating this colleague and friend of the Prime Minister. He said he knew nothing. He did nothing. Once again, did the Prime Minister remove the member of Parliament for Brampton East from the finance committee because he was using his position to avoid possible prosecution?

Mr. Speaker, last week, Conservatives and New Democrats worked together to try to fast-track a bill that would effectively fight forced organ harvesting. This bill has the support of high-profile Liberals like Irwin Cotler, but the government chose to delay the bill, substantially reducing its chances of passing. Victims have waited too long. Why are the Liberals delaying action on the forced harvesting and trafficking of human organs?

Mr. Speaker, this week we have learned that it is impossible to clean up the 250,000 litres of oil spilled near St. John's. This environmental disaster is Newfoundland's largest oil spill ever. It turns out the Liberals' so-called oceans protection plan does not protect oceans after all: first the Marathassa, then theNathan E. Stewart and now this. No wonder British Columbians do not trust the Liberals on Trans Mountain. Newfoundland proves the Liberals do not have a credible spill recovery operation in place. Canadians want to know: Is this the Liberals' idea of world-class oil spill response?

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a Liberal MP. Last I checked, he had not been expelled from caucus. He was part of the delegation that went to India, the disastrous trip the Prime Minister organized with several other members, in case anyone has forgotten. The Liberal member even invited his old boss to come along. It is actually rather ironic, when you think about it. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and was asking the RCMP about how it investigates money laundering. The Prime Minister is telling us today that he has known about this situation only since last week.Can he confirm the date?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been dragging their feet to finish the Wollaston Lake road project. For 30 years, the Hatchet Lake Dene First Nation has been fighting to get this all-season road done to make its community accessible. Without it, it has to fly in its already overpriced food and supplies. Northerners deserve answers.Why are the Liberals ignoring Hatchet Lake Dene First Nation and refusing to complete the Wollaston Lake road project once and for all?

Mr. Speaker, twice in that answer the member opposite talked about the fact that the Conservatives got to a phoney balance just in time for the election. The way they did that was by cutting services to our veterans, cutting the Canadian Border Services Agency, cutting programs and opportunities for Canadian and by cutting and saving on things like the implementation of Phoenix. They brought together a phoney balance that hurt Canadians, that hurt the services and that is why Canadians kicked them out.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's policy has just cost thousands of Ontarians in auto their jobs and he has forced more than 100,000 Albertans out of work, with no end in sight. He insults Albertans by just saying that he "feels that frustration" and "understands that anxiety", while the finance minister says he is “watching carefully”.It is within the Liberals' control to fix this crisis they created. The reality is that three companies wanted to build to pipelines when he was elected, now they are all gone. This crisis harms workers and families in every single province.Instead of empty platitudes, what exactly will the Prime Minister do today to fix the mess he has made?

Mr. Speaker, the conspiracy theory being peddled by Conservatives is insulting to the intelligence of Canadians and to the professionalism of journalists. The Conservatives think Canadian journalists can be bought. We do not. We know that their work is essential to our democracy. France, Sweden, German, the U.K. and many others took action to support journalism without compromising its independence. Newspapers are going through a crisis. That is why we are taking action right now to help them get through this crisis and continue to stay strong and defend our democracy the way they always do.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the industry minister said in the House, “read my lips”. The people of Oshawa have been reading those lips all week and what they see is a Liberal government that will do nothing to save their jobs. The Prime Minister is throwing away another $14 billion to corporate CEOs but has shown that he is not willing to do a thing for Oshawa auto workers and thousands of others whose jobs are threatened by the closure.Why has the Prime Minister not convened an emergency meeting of labour, business and elected representatives to save those jobs? Why will the Liberals not act?

Mr. Speaker, it has been a week since the Liberals announced their undefined, mis-targeted, temporary patch of a $600-million plus election year bailout for Canada's struggling new industry. Owners and publishers who get million dollar cheques and bonuses and partisan big union bosses, not surprisingly, praise the bailout, but dozens of this country's most respected journalists have denounced it because it casts a dark shadow over the independence of their craft. Does the Prime Minister now understand how unacceptable this bailout is an election year?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is going to have to put on his teaching hat here and explain the logic on this one.For large industrial emitters, the carbon tax will kill jobs, so they need a massive exemption to protect them from competition from other countries, but that very same carbon tax will somehow create jobs in the auto sector. That makes no sense. A carbon tax is bad for all Canadian workers. Now that we have seen the impact of this policy, chasing future jobs and investment away, will he do the right thing and cancel his carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, of course we deplore the horrific events that took place in Nanjing 80 years ago. All Canadians can agree that the loss of life and violence that so many civilians faced should never be forgotten. We will never forget those terrible acts. The memory of these victims and survivors must be addressed in the true spirit of reconciliation.

Mr. Speaker, stating falsehoods about our record will not distract Canadians from the promise he made to them in the last election. He said that if he were elected, we would have three tiny, temporary deficits. Since that time we have had large deficits. This year it is three times the size he promised. Next year, when the budget was supposed to balance itself, it in fact will be bigger than it is right now. The question one more time is this. He promised the budget would balance itself. When?

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion: That the House recognize that 81 years ago Imperial Japanese army forces raped an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 Chinese women and girls and approximately 300,000 people were killed; that, after the Nanking massacre, the military sexual slavery system of the Japanese military expanded rapidly, and an estimated 200,000 women from Korea, the Philippines, China, Burma, Indonesia and other Japanese occupied territories were tricked, kidnapped or coerced to work in brothels to serve as “comfort women” to the Imperial Japanese army; that western eye witnesses in Nanking described the atrocities as “hell on earth”; that the House of Commons, in 2007, unanimously passed a motion in recognition that the Imperial armed forces of Japan used women as sex slaves during the Second World War; therefore, in the opinion of the House, the government formally acknowledge this by declaring December 13 of each year as Nanking massacre commemorative day in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, it has been revealed that under the Prime Minister, over 3,000 veterans had to wait over a year to have a decision made about their worthiness to receive the benefits they have earned. That is completely unacceptable.The Prime Minister said he would not take them to court. He is doing just that. He said they were asking for too much. He broke his promise on pensions. The Prime Minister has been failing our veterans for the past three years in government. When is he going to stop pointing fingers and take responsibility for his failures?

Mr. Speaker, the closure of the GM plant in Oshawa is terrible news for thousands of families. Workers are angry.How can a government hand over billions of our dollars to a company without first obtaining a guarantee that jobs here will be protected? Will the Prime Minister fight to keep jobs in Oshawa, or will he continue to give gifts to big corporations without asking for anything in return?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is claiming ignorance—

Mr. Speaker, now he wants to blame the Conservatives for a global financial crisis that started outside of our borders and from which Canada was the first country to recover and after which the first to balance its budget.At the time, the Liberals said spend more, spend now, spend faster. They wanted the deficit to be even bigger. We managed to control the deficit, balance the budget and come out stronger than before. The question is this. He promised the budget would balance itself in 2019. When will the budget balance itself?

Mr. Speaker, the government negotiated a bad deal for our farmers, we have tariffs on softwood lumber, steel and aluminum, there is a crisis in our oil and gas sector, and now the Canadian automotive industry is going through an accelerated downturn. All of that is happening under this Prime Minister's government.Instead of standing up and offering the usual platitudes, when will the Prime Minister stand up and fight for Canadian workers and for the industries that employ them?

Mr. Speaker, Canada, at the Prime Minister's direction, just voted against eight measures at the United Nations designed to hold Cuba accountable for things like the release of political prisoners, the promotion of gender equality, abuses that prevent freedom of assembly and speech, and Cuba's prohibition on the workers' right to strike.In doing so, Canada stood against these measures with the regimes of Iran, Syria and North Korea. Will the Prime Minister reverse his shameful position on these votes?

Mr. Speaker, over 2,000 Albertans were in Calgary last week to tell the Prime Minister not to come back until he had a solution to fix the problem he had created. He vetoed the northern gateway pipeline and he killed the energy east pipeline. He said that spending billions of dollars on the Trans Mountain pipeline would get it built, and he cannot get construction started. He gave Canadian money to go to the U.S. to compete with Canada. He landlocked Canadian oil, costing provinces billions of dollars.He defends using tax dollars to stop Canadian pipelines. His job killing carbon tax and Bill C-69 will make that discount permanent. When will he withdraw his “no more pipelines” bill, Bill C-69?

Mr. Speaker, it is the Prime Minister's policies that are transitioning the auto sector right out of our country. He knows that his carbon tax is making it more difficult to keep jobs here in Canada because he said it himself. That is why the Liberals have granted a massive exemption to large industrial emitters.Workers in Oshawa are fighting to keep their jobs. The least the Prime Minister could do is help them in that fight. Will he repeal the carbon tax so that Canadian auto sector jobs can stay right here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Inuktitut][English]My question is for the Prime Minister. His government has refused to include the Government of Nunavut as a signatory to two Dene treaties. These treaties will infringe on and limit the territorial government's legislative authority. Observer status just does not cut it. The Government of Nunavut has to be a full participant. As the premier has said, the Government of Canada cannot simply shove this agreement down Nunavummiut's throat. This is unprecedented.Will the Prime Minister tell this House why his government has excluded the Government of Nunavut as a signatory to these important treaties?

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear the member for Papineau talking about Quebec and the environment. I am very proud of my Conservative colleagues and I am very proud to be a member of a party that was able to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2.2% when it was in office. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that. The facts speak for themselves.Meanwhile, while more and more clouds are gathering in Canada's economic sky, the only thing the Liberal government is proposing is a carbon tax.Why is it doing that?

Mr. Speaker, during the financial crisis of 2008, the Conservative government put billions of dollars into the Canadian economy but did not manage to stimulate economic growth for Canadians. On the contrary, Stephen Harper's Conservative government posted the worst economic growth of any prime minister since R.B. Bennett during the Great Depression, many decades ago.We know that investing in Canadians, investing in infrastructure and investing in the future is what Canadians need.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister chose to appoint the member for Brampton East to the very powerful finance committee. While there, he used his access to senior Finance officials and money laundering experts to ask very troubling questions. I will quote: How many resources does FINTRAC have to go after each little $10,000 transaction? If I'm money laundering, I'm not doing transactions in the millions to catch attention. I'm doing them at the $10,000, $15,000 limit to get away with it. Those questions were so disturbing they raised red flags with the RCMP.Did the Prime Minister or anyone in his office find those question so disturbing that they acted upon them?

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal policies that are actually hurting the ability for businesses to invest in Canada and create jobs. It is the Liberal policies in Ontario that created massive increases in energy costs, something that our competitors around the world do not face. Liberal increases to payroll taxes make it more expensive for employers here in Canada to keep jobs here. Now the carbon tax is making it more difficult to invest in Canada. We know that because the government admits it. Will the Prime Minister give the same exemption to other businesses that he has granted to large industrial emitters?

Mr. Speaker, this week, The Globe and Mail reported that not only did the Liberal member for Brampton East gamble away millions of dollars at casinos—and by the way, we wonder where he got all that money—but he was also under RCMP investigation for months. This is an extremely worrisome, even troubling, situation. This is another case of a Liberal MP caught up in some wild shenanigans.My question for the Prime Minister is simple and is the same as the one my colleague asked just now.When did the Prime Minister find out that the RCMP was investigating this member?

Mr. Speaker, basically, every fact he stated was false in that response, but that will not distract from the reality. He likes to talk about what Canadians chose in the last election. Well, Canadians were told that the budget would balance itself in 2019. In good faith, they trusted the then Liberal leader that he would keep his word. Now the deficit is three times the size he promised and there are deficits for another quarter century to come. When will the budget balance itself?

Mr. Speaker, the meeting of party leaders to discuss the French-language services crisis in Ontario is a step in the right direction.However, as much as the Liberals love their consultations, getting together for a little chit-chat is not enough. At some point, there has to be action. That is what Franco-Ontarians want, and they are the people the Prime Minister should be listening to.Can the Prime Minister confirm that he plans to take action and that this meeting is not just a smoke screen?

Mr. Speaker, once again, I will take no lessons from Conservatives on how to treat our veterans. They shuttered nine veterans service centres in order to create a phony budget balance just in time for the election. They nickel-and-dimed our veterans while using them as props in photo ops. What we have done is invested over $10 billion in veterans over the past three years. We have ensured that we are improving services, that we are improving supports to families, and that we are giving veterans the services they need, including following through on a pension for life commitment that we made to veterans.We will continue to stand up for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, dark clouds are looming over Canada's economy.In the past few weeks alone, we lost 2,500 jobs in the auto sector, 3,000 jobs in the aerospace sector, and 19,000 jobs in Alberta's energy sector alone. What is more, Canadians invest much more in the United States than Americans invest in Canada.That is the record of the Liberal Prime Minister who took no precautions to deal with this reality.What is the Prime Minister going to do other than impose the Liberal carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, obviously all of our hearts go out to the workers and we plan on supporting them. I have to highlight that when I spoke with the Premier of Ontario, we agreed we were going to put partisanship aside and focus on how we were going to support the families that are suffering and worried because of the decisions taken.On the question of the carbon tax, of pricing pollution and putting a price on that pollution, we know that making sure that pollution is not free is how we are going to move forward on protecting jobs, on protecting our future and protecting the environment for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, before the global financial crisis of 2008, Minister Flaherty paid down nearly $40 billion of our debt. To be fair, I will say that previous Liberal governments did the exact same thing. These decisions prepared us for the coming crisis.Now, we are still seeing problems in the energy and auto sectors, increasing interest rates and potential upcoming crises.How much of our national debt has the Prime Minister paid down?

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the auto sector that the government's policy has had a devastating effect on, but also the energy sector in Canada. It was the Prime Minister's decision to kill the northern gateway project, which would have opened up Asian markets. It was his decision that killed the pipeline that would have brought western energy to eastern Canadian markets. As a result, there have been drastic job losses in Alberta.The Prime Minister knows that under the Conservative government, four major pipeline projects were built. His preference is to phase-out the energy sector. Was it always his intention to phase-out the energy sector before the next election?

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue we take very seriously. Obviously, the protection of Canadians is something that is fundamental for any government to be responsible for. We will continue to work with all interested parties to move forward on this important initiative.

Mr. Speaker, the announced closure of the GM plant is devastating for the families of the 2,500 workers and the community. However, it is not just workers and families in Oshawa who are worried about the future; it is all auto workers across the country.The Prime Minister must do more than just express his disappointment. He must demonstrate some leadership and develop a national strategy, such as the one proposed and advocated by the member for Windsor West, if he wants to make sure that our auto industry does not just survive, but thrives. Will he do so?

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the clarification on the member's decision, but what we are seeking is to know when the Prime Minister knew that the RCMP was investigating the member.The Globe and Mail is reporting today that the member publicly questioned senior officials of the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies earlier this year about the way they investigate money laundering. At the same time, the Mounties were probing his multi-million dollar gambling activities and sought to determine the origin of the funds. The member was removed from this committee on September 19. When did the Prime Minister know he was under RCMP surveillance?

Mr. Speaker, I found out about the situation facing the hon. member last week. We then accepted the member's suggestion that he withdraw from politics. We know there are still many unanswered questions, and the RCMP is seeking those answers. We are confident that the RCMP will do what it takes in order to fully understand what happened.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for South Surrey—White Rock for his hard work on the file and for his outstanding fashion sense.Last week, we were thrilled to announce our $7 million investment in the expansion of the Darkwoods Conservation Area. This investment builds on the historic action we are taking to protect nature in Canada, including committing $1.3 billion this year alone to protecting our lands, water and wildlife. We will continue to work hard to protect our natural heritage for our children and grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to be in Alberta last week to listen directly to the concerns of folks in the oil sands and business leaders in Calgary. We know there is work we need to do together, and we will do it. The one thing they asked for was the one thing they have been asking for more than a decade: to get our resources to new markets other than the United States. For 10 years, that Conservative government, which pretended to be a great friend to Alberta, was unable to deliver on the one thing they asked for more than anything else.We are focusing on getting things done the right way, and that is exactly what we will do.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday past, the Prime Minister announced that effective immediately the Liberal member for Brampton East would be resigning. We have heard that it had to do with health problems; then it was gambling problems. We have heard as well that the Ethics Commissioner delisted his investigation on the basis of the Prime Minister's announcement of the member's resignation. Yesterday, the Speaker clarified that the member certainly has not resigned. As a result, the Ethics Commissioner has re-listed the inquiry and the investigation going on. The RCMP has sought access to records.When did the Prime Minister know that the member for Brampton East was under investigation by the RCMP?

Mr. Speaker, a free and independent press is the cornerstone of any democracy. We understand that. We also understand that the transformation of the news industry and the digital challenges it is facing require new models to support strong, independent journalism. That is why our government is choosing to step up to defend the independence and the strength and the capacity of journalists to do their job in this country. We know that attacking journalists, as the members opposite like to do, is not the way to strengthen our democracy. We will support the capacity of journalists to do their job independently.

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent is really concerned about the environment, I would encourage him to talk to his leader and have him share with us his plan to deal with climate change.The Conservatives have no plan to tackle climate change, but Quebeckers expect better, just like the rest of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, we have always worked to demonstrate that we understand that growing the economy and protecting the environment need to go hand in hand, and we will continue to do that.It has been 14 days since the Ontario Conservative government cut services to francophones. In those 14 days, the Leader of the Opposition has not asked me a single question on this important issue. We think it is very important to talk about this and to stand up and defend francophones.That is why I am very happy at the prospect of sitting down with the Leader of the Opposition to discuss this matter later.

Mr. Speaker, it troubles me to hear not only a Conservative, but a Quebecker talk about his concern over our leadership on the environment. We know that the way to build a stronger economy for the future is to protect the environment at the same time. Quebeckers regularly express their support for the idea of putting a price on pollution. They want us to do even more and that is what we will do.The member opposite should reconsider his position that would obstruct a price on pollution and a plan to deal with climate change while growing the economy.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear from that answer that the Prime Minister does not understand the economic and technological realities that have created this crisis for our free and independent Canadian news industry. This bailout is not a long-term remedy. It is a temporary patch that ignores, for example, suggestions from the Public Policy Forum, like ending tax writeoffs for advertisers on foreign digital platforms or resizing the mandate of Canada's semi-private public broadcaster.Why will the Prime Minister not listen to Canada's independent journalists?

Mr. Speaker, we are concerned about our seniors, we are concerned about future seniors, which is why we strengthened CPP for future generations, something the members opposite oppose, which is something the member indicated right now.We are making sure that we take action by lowering small business taxes to actually support our small businesses across the country. We invested in an accelerated capital cost allowance program that is going to help our businesses be more competitive.As to making sure that we put a price on pollution, Canadians know that the way to build the economy of the future and the jobs of the future is to prepare for the transition, and that is what we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite had better relations with labour, he might have learned that I sat down with Jerry Dias yesterday and had an excellent conversation with labour about what we are going to do as our next steps to fight for those GM jobs, to support our workers.We are going to continue to work with labour, and yes, with industry, and with workers and local community leaders right across the country, but particularly in Oshawa right now, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support those families.

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board cannot seem to keep his story straight. What he told this House is completely different from what he told the RCMP. We are not asking the Prime Minister about a court case. We are asking about whether a minister can be trusted, and whether he told the truth.I have a simple question for the Prime Minister. Does the President of the Treasury Board still have the full support of the Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, our government has regularly made historic investments in our official language minority communities.We will keep working with communities across the country. We will keep working with Franco-Ontarians and others to defend their institutions and their communities and to ensure that their economies and their communities remain successful for years to come.I am happy to have the chance to sit down with the other party leaders to talk about how we can address this issue, as it is one on which we can all come together.

Mr. Speaker, we have continued to invest in businesses and workers right across this country. Of course, our hearts go out to the workers in Oshawa, who are facing these cuts, but we continue to stand with them and we will continue to fight for them.In terms of understanding, the best way to secure jobs for the future is to take genuine action on climate change and support our economies and our families to thrive through the transition to a lower-carbon economy. That is what we are doing. The members opposite have no plan and instead just try to play politics.

Mr. Speaker, no relation is more important to this government than that with indigenous peoples, and that is why we are moving forward on a true nation-to-nation relationship in partnership with them. It is also why we are taking concrete action on definitive projects that are going to make a difference, whether it is ending boil water advisories, building new schools, or building roads and community infrastructure. We are going to continue to work hand in hand with indigenous communities right across this country to give them opportunities to grow their economies and make sure that they have every opportunity that all Canadians have.

Mr. Speaker, as I told the citizens of Rouyn-Noranda when I was there a few months ago, we take their concerns very seriously. We have undertaken to have Nav Canada continue consultations in order to make the right decision for the people living there and to ensure safety and the services required.

Mr. Speaker, last week, the member stated his intentions after informing us of the challenges he is facing. As I said, we agreed with the decision he has taken to step down.

Mr. Speaker, the evidence in Vice-Admiral Norman's legal proceedings have revealed that the President of the Treasury Board told two different stories about political interference in the case of the ship Asterix. In the House, he stated that his role was to ask questions about procurement contracts. However, when interviewed by the RCMP, he said that that was not his job. Both versions cannot be true.Does the Prime Minister still have confidence in his President of the Treasury Board?

Mr. Speaker, obviously we continue to stand with the workers at the GM plant and those right across the country. We know that the auto sector is a vital element of our economic growth. That is why we fought so hard for it in renegotiating the NAFTA deal. Specifically, since November 2015, our government has invested $389 million in 37 projects undertaken by Canada's automotive sector, resulting in nearly $4.1 billion in total investments in the sector. That is the work we are doing to support auto workers in this country, and that we have done over the past three years.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for London North Centre for his hard work and for highlighting the important role social innovation and social finance play in developing innovative solutions for pressing social problems and community needs.The social innovation and social finance strategy co-creation steering group recommended creating a social finance fund to help accelerate the growth of social enterprise in Canada.Last week, we committed $755 million for a social finance fund which will help generate up to $2 billion in economic activity and help create and maintain as many as 100,000 jobs over the next decade.

Mr. Speaker, we will absolutely continue to fight. When I spoke to GM's CEO, I reminded her that GM has a long and proud history in Oshawa, thanks to the workers who gave their all to a job they loved.As I told the workers' representatives yesterday, we will be there to support the workers and their families, who are going through tough times. We are also developing an industry plan that will focus on new initiatives related to technology, talent, infrastructure and consumers.

Mr. Speaker, I learned about the member's challenges last week, and we immediately recommended that he take action. We agree with his decision to leave the House and to step down from his duties as a member of Parliament. Obviously, the RCMP will continue its investigation free from any political interference, or even the perception of interference.

Mr. Speaker, we have our historic investments in an oceans protection plan of $1.5 billion. We will work with local communities, partner with top scientists, partner with indigenous communities and demonstrate that we have the capacity to respond to spills and to protect our coasts and the livelihood of those who depend on them.We know that there is always more work to do, but we have focused on investing smartly, on trusting science and on working in partnership with provinces, municipalities and indigenous people to keep our oceans safe.

Mr. Speaker, we have been fighting to protect Canadian workers and industries since the beginning. We created the strongest economic growth of the G7 in 2017. We created the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. In our latest economic statement, we responded to the calls from Canada's industries by investing $14 billion to help them invest in our jobs and success in this country for years to come.We will continue to listen to workers and to work with them and our industries to build a better Canada.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to stand as a strong voice for human rights around the world in a broad range of cases. We will always make decisions on the best way to both support Canadian interests and defend Canadian values at any multilateral forum, whether it be the UN or anywhere else.Canadians can count on us to stand up for the values and priorities that we hold dear.

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to advancing reconciliation with indigenous peoples to the conclusion of modern treaties. Treaty negotiations are conducted in confidence between the parties at the negotiating tables. We are hopeful that the modern treaties will meet the interests of all negotiating partners and will be concluded in the very near future.

Mr. Speaker, that is throwing money at it. It is not having a strategy.This week, it was GM, but other closures could be coming. That is why the federal government needs to develop a coordinated strategy to save jobs. It also needs to make sure that Canada's automotive sector shifts towards manufacturing electric and hybrid vehicles.The Prime Minister expressed his disappointment, but now he needs to show some leadership.Will he convene at least one summit on the future of the auto sector with unions, the industry, the provinces, and the mayors of the municipalities and communities whose economies rely on the auto sector?

Mr. Speaker, we learned about the member's challenges last week when he came forward and told us about his gambling addiction.We also will highlight how important it is to ensure that everyone understands that the RCMP's investigations happened completely independently and without their giving advice or notification to any politicians of investigations that they needed to undertake.

Mr. Speaker, the member informed us of challenges he is facing and put out a public statement on his decision to resign. We agreed that his decision, which he announced in his statement, was the right one to take.

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians had a choice between a government that was committed to cutting and balancing the budget at all costs or our government that was looking at investing in communities, investing in Canadians, supporting small businesses, lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. Canadians made the right choice. We have grown the economy, we have created 600,000 jobs and we have seen the unemployment rate drop to record low levels. The economy is doing well because we are investing in Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that every single member of my cabinet, including the President of the Treasury Board, continues to enjoy my full confidence.

Mr. Speaker, $150 billion, that is how much the Conservative government added to our deficit, without growth or jobs to show for it. We watched over the creation of close to 600,000 new jobs in Canada, the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, the fastest growth in the G7 last year. We have done that because we are investing in the middle class. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a Canada child benefit that helps nine out of 10 Canadian families—

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives' strategy of shouting and shaking their fists at things actually got things done, Mr. Harper would have gotten 10 pipelines built to new markets, but he did not. We have taken a different approach. We have approved the LNG Canada terminal in B.C., the largest private sector investment in Canada's history. We expanded export capacity for the Alberta Clipper project. We approved the Nova Gas pipeline, the Line 3 replacement project, the Arnaud apatite mine, Woodfibre LNG, the Ridley Island propane terminal and more. We are doing things the right way to get them done for Alberta.

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with unions, industry, workers and communities for three years now to attract investments. We have invested $4.1 billion in Canada's automotive sector because we believe in the future of our workers and our industry.We will always put the quality of Canadians' work front and centre, and that is why we are attracting investments from around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I recently met with community members and representatives of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. They were all particularly concerned with protecting our land, water, oceans and wildlife. Like many British Columbians, I recently heard the Minister of Environment and Climate Change announce that we were investing $7 million to expand Canada's iconic Darkwoods Conservation Area in the Kootenays of British Columbia. Would the Prime Minister please explain what further actions are being taken to protect our nature, our biodiversity, our Canada?

Mr. Speaker, everyone is worried about the replacement of overnight staff by an automated weather station at the Rouyn-Noranda airport.The automated system proposed by Nav Canada is not 100% reliable, especially for detecting freezing rain. Other airports, such as those in Windsor and Bathurst, are also affected. Following a meeting with Nav Canada, the mayor of Rouyn-Noranda complained that the consultation process is ill-suited to the regions.Will the Prime Minister opt for people's safety and maintain overnight services in Rouyn-Noranda and elsewhere?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. As he should know, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on this matter as it is currently before the courts.

Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks, the government has signed four new agreements to fund superclusters across Canada. Would the Prime Minister tell the House how this important initiative will prepare talented Canadian workers for the innovative jobs of today and tomorrow?

Mr. Speaker, in my community of London, Ontario, the Pillar Nonprofit Network supports more than 600 non-profits, social enterprises and social innovators by helping them share resources and knowledge, and building connections between non-profit, business and government organizations.Could the Prime Minister tell the House what the government is doing to support organizations such as Pillar, as well as the many social enterprise businesses and organizations like it across the country?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mount Royal for his hard work and for that important question. Our plan is to grow the economy and create middle-class jobs by transforming ideas into concrete solutions. Under the innovation supercluster initiative, we are teaming up with companies of all sizes, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations. Together, the five superclusters are projected to create more than 50,000 jobs and grow Canada's economy by more than $50 billion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, no, we did not.

Mr. Speaker, twice in that answer the member opposite talked about the fact that the Conservatives got to a phoney balance just in time for the election. The way they did that was by cutting services to our veterans, cutting the Canadian Border Services Agency, cutting programs and opportunities for Canadian and by cutting and saving on things like the implementation of Phoenix. They brought together a phoney balance that hurt Canadians, that hurt the services and that is why Canadians kicked them out.

Mr. Speaker, the government negotiated a bad deal for our farmers, we have tariffs on softwood lumber, steel and aluminum, there is a crisis in our oil and gas sector, and now the Canadian automotive industry is going through an accelerated downturn. All of that is happening under this Prime Minister's government.Instead of standing up and offering the usual platitudes, when will the Prime Minister stand up and fight for Canadian workers and for the industries that employ them?

Mr. Speaker, of course we deplore the horrific events that took place in Nanjing 80 years ago. All Canadians can agree that the loss of life and violence that so many civilians faced should never be forgotten. We will never forget those terrible acts. The memory of these victims and survivors must be addressed in the true spirit of reconciliation.

Mr. Speaker, the closure of the GM plant in Oshawa is terrible news for thousands of families. Workers are angry.How can a government hand over billions of our dollars to a company without first obtaining a guarantee that jobs here will be protected? Will the Prime Minister fight to keep jobs in Oshawa, or will he continue to give gifts to big corporations without asking for anything in return?

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the auto sector that the government's policy has had a devastating effect on, but also the energy sector in Canada. It was the Prime Minister's decision to kill the northern gateway project, which would have opened up Asian markets. It was his decision that killed the pipeline that would have brought western energy to eastern Canadian markets. As a result, there have been drastic job losses in Alberta.The Prime Minister knows that under the Conservative government, four major pipeline projects were built. His preference is to phase-out the energy sector. Was it always his intention to phase-out the energy sector before the next election?

Mr. Speaker, once again, I will take no lessons from Conservatives on how to treat our veterans. They shuttered nine veterans service centres in order to create a phony budget balance just in time for the election. They nickel-and-dimed our veterans while using them as props in photo ops. What we have done is invested over $10 billion in veterans over the past three years. We have ensured that we are improving services, that we are improving supports to families, and that we are giving veterans the services they need, including following through on a pension for life commitment that we made to veterans.We will continue to stand up for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, as I told the citizens of Rouyn-Noranda when I was there a few months ago, we take their concerns very seriously. We have undertaken to have Nav Canada continue consultations in order to make the right decision for the people living there and to ensure safety and the services required.

Mr. Speaker, over 2,000 Albertans were in Calgary last week to tell the Prime Minister not to come back until he had a solution to fix the problem he had created. He vetoed the northern gateway pipeline and he killed the energy east pipeline. He said that spending billions of dollars on the Trans Mountain pipeline would get it built, and he cannot get construction started. He gave Canadian money to go to the U.S. to compete with Canada. He landlocked Canadian oil, costing provinces billions of dollars.He defends using tax dollars to stop Canadian pipelines. His job killing carbon tax and Bill C-69 will make that discount permanent. When will he withdraw his “no more pipelines” bill, Bill C-69?

Mr. Speaker, that is throwing money at it. It is not having a strategy.This week, it was GM, but other closures could be coming. That is why the federal government needs to develop a coordinated strategy to save jobs. It also needs to make sure that Canada's automotive sector shifts towards manufacturing electric and hybrid vehicles.The Prime Minister expressed his disappointment, but now he needs to show some leadership.Will he convene at least one summit on the future of the auto sector with unions, the industry, the provinces, and the mayors of the municipalities and communities whose economies rely on the auto sector?

Mr. Speaker, everyone is worried about the replacement of overnight staff by an automated weather station at the Rouyn-Noranda airport.The automated system proposed by Nav Canada is not 100% reliable, especially for detecting freezing rain. Other airports, such as those in Windsor and Bathurst, are also affected. Following a meeting with Nav Canada, the mayor of Rouyn-Noranda complained that the consultation process is ill-suited to the regions.Will the Prime Minister opt for people's safety and maintain overnight services in Rouyn-Noranda and elsewhere?

Mr. Speaker, last week, the member stated his intentions after informing us of the challenges he is facing. As I said, we agreed with the decision he has taken to step down.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the industry minister said in the House, “read my lips”. The people of Oshawa have been reading those lips all week and what they see is a Liberal government that will do nothing to save their jobs. The Prime Minister is throwing away another $14 billion to corporate CEOs but has shown that he is not willing to do a thing for Oshawa auto workers and thousands of others whose jobs are threatened by the closure.Why has the Prime Minister not convened an emergency meeting of labour, business and elected representatives to save those jobs? Why will the Liberals not act?

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a Liberal MP. Last I checked, he had not been expelled from caucus. He was part of the delegation that went to India, the disastrous trip the Prime Minister organized with several other members, in case anyone has forgotten. The Liberal member even invited his old boss to come along. It is actually rather ironic, when you think about it. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and was asking the RCMP about how it investigates money laundering. The Prime Minister is telling us today that he has known about this situation only since last week.Can he confirm the date?

Mr. Speaker, the announced closure of the GM plant is devastating for the families of the 2,500 workers and the community. However, it is not just workers and families in Oshawa who are worried about the future; it is all auto workers across the country.The Prime Minister must do more than just express his disappointment. He must demonstrate some leadership and develop a national strategy, such as the one proposed and advocated by the member for Windsor West, if he wants to make sure that our auto industry does not just survive, but thrives. Will he do so?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is going to have to put on his teaching hat here and explain the logic on this one.For large industrial emitters, the carbon tax will kill jobs, so they need a massive exemption to protect them from competition from other countries, but that very same carbon tax will somehow create jobs in the auto sector. That makes no sense. A carbon tax is bad for all Canadian workers. Now that we have seen the impact of this policy, chasing future jobs and investment away, will he do the right thing and cancel his carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians had a choice between a government that was committed to cutting and balancing the budget at all costs or our government that was looking at investing in communities, investing in Canadians, supporting small businesses, lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. Canadians made the right choice. We have grown the economy, we have created 600,000 jobs and we have seen the unemployment rate drop to record low levels. The economy is doing well because we are investing in Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the clarification on the member's decision, but what we are seeking is to know when the Prime Minister knew that the RCMP was investigating the member.The Globe and Mail is reporting today that the member publicly questioned senior officials of the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies earlier this year about the way they investigate money laundering. At the same time, the Mounties were probing his multi-million dollar gambling activities and sought to determine the origin of the funds. The member was removed from this committee on September 19. When did the Prime Minister know he was under RCMP surveillance?

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion: That the House recognize that 81 years ago Imperial Japanese army forces raped an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 Chinese women and girls and approximately 300,000 people were killed; that, after the Nanking massacre, the military sexual slavery system of the Japanese military expanded rapidly, and an estimated 200,000 women from Korea, the Philippines, China, Burma, Indonesia and other Japanese occupied territories were tricked, kidnapped or coerced to work in brothels to serve as “comfort women” to the Imperial Japanese army; that western eye witnesses in Nanking described the atrocities as “hell on earth”; that the House of Commons, in 2007, unanimously passed a motion in recognition that the Imperial armed forces of Japan used women as sex slaves during the Second World War; therefore, in the opinion of the House, the government formally acknowledge this by declaring December 13 of each year as Nanking massacre commemorative day in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's policy has just cost thousands of Ontarians in auto their jobs and he has forced more than 100,000 Albertans out of work, with no end in sight. He insults Albertans by just saying that he "feels that frustration" and "understands that anxiety", while the finance minister says he is “watching carefully”.It is within the Liberals' control to fix this crisis they created. The reality is that three companies wanted to build to pipelines when he was elected, now they are all gone. This crisis harms workers and families in every single province.Instead of empty platitudes, what exactly will the Prime Minister do today to fix the mess he has made?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister chose to appoint the member for Brampton East to the very powerful finance committee. While there, he used his access to senior Finance officials and money laundering experts to ask very troubling questions. I will quote: How many resources does FINTRAC have to go after each little $10,000 transaction? If I'm money laundering, I'm not doing transactions in the millions to catch attention. I'm doing them at the $10,000, $15,000 limit to get away with it. Those questions were so disturbing they raised red flags with the RCMP.Did the Prime Minister or anyone in his office find those question so disturbing that they acted upon them?

Mr. Speaker, this week, The Globe and Mail reported that not only did the Liberal member for Brampton East gamble away millions of dollars at casinos—and by the way, we wonder where he got all that money—but he was also under RCMP investigation for months. This is an extremely worrisome, even troubling, situation. This is another case of a Liberal MP caught up in some wild shenanigans.My question for the Prime Minister is simple and is the same as the one my colleague asked just now.When did the Prime Minister find out that the RCMP was investigating this member?

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with unions, industry, workers and communities for three years now to attract investments. We have invested $4.1 billion in Canada's automotive sector because we believe in the future of our workers and our industry.We will always put the quality of Canadians' work front and centre, and that is why we are attracting investments from around the world.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is claiming ignorance—

Mr. Speaker, these answers are not going to satisfy. I do not think the Prime Minister is fully understanding the gravity of this situation. He is claiming ignorance, but on September 19, in the middle of its study on money laundering, the Prime Minister removed the MP from the finance committee. The RCMP, FINTRAC and the Ethics Commissioner are all investigating this colleague and friend of the Prime Minister. He said he knew nothing. He did nothing. Once again, did the Prime Minister remove the member of Parliament for Brampton East from the finance committee because he was using his position to avoid possible prosecution?

Mr. Speaker, no, we did not.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. As he should know, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on this matter as it is currently before the courts.

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal policies that are actually hurting the ability for businesses to invest in Canada and create jobs. It is the Liberal policies in Ontario that created massive increases in energy costs, something that our competitors around the world do not face. Liberal increases to payroll taxes make it more expensive for employers here in Canada to keep jobs here. Now the carbon tax is making it more difficult to invest in Canada. We know that because the government admits it. Will the Prime Minister give the same exemption to other businesses that he has granted to large industrial emitters?

Mr. Speaker, it has been revealed that under the Prime Minister, over 3,000 veterans had to wait over a year to have a decision made about their worthiness to receive the benefits they have earned. That is completely unacceptable.The Prime Minister said he would not take them to court. He is doing just that. He said they were asking for too much. He broke his promise on pensions. The Prime Minister has been failing our veterans for the past three years in government. When is he going to stop pointing fingers and take responsibility for his failures?

Mr. Speaker, obviously we continue to stand with the workers at the GM plant and those right across the country. We know that the auto sector is a vital element of our economic growth. That is why we fought so hard for it in renegotiating the NAFTA deal. Specifically, since November 2015, our government has invested $389 million in 37 projects undertaken by Canada's automotive sector, resulting in nearly $4.1 billion in total investments in the sector. That is the work we are doing to support auto workers in this country, and that we have done over the past three years.

Mr. Speaker, last week, Conservatives and New Democrats worked together to try to fast-track a bill that would effectively fight forced organ harvesting. This bill has the support of high-profile Liberals like Irwin Cotler, but the government chose to delay the bill, substantially reducing its chances of passing. Victims have waited too long. Why are the Liberals delaying action on the forced harvesting and trafficking of human organs?

Mr. Speaker, it has been a week since the Liberals announced their undefined, mis-targeted, temporary patch of a $600-million plus election year bailout for Canada's struggling new industry. Owners and publishers who get million dollar cheques and bonuses and partisan big union bosses, not surprisingly, praise the bailout, but dozens of this country's most respected journalists have denounced it because it casts a dark shadow over the independence of their craft. Does the Prime Minister now understand how unacceptable this bailout is an election year?

Mr. Speaker, dark clouds are looming over Canada's economy.In the past few weeks alone, we lost 2,500 jobs in the auto sector, 3,000 jobs in the aerospace sector, and 19,000 jobs in Alberta's energy sector alone. What is more, Canadians invest much more in the United States than Americans invest in Canada.That is the record of the Liberal Prime Minister who took no precautions to deal with this reality.What is the Prime Minister going to do other than impose the Liberal carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, the conspiracy theory being peddled by Conservatives is insulting to the intelligence of Canadians and to the professionalism of journalists. The Conservatives think Canadian journalists can be bought. We do not. We know that their work is essential to our democracy. France, Sweden, German, the U.K. and many others took action to support journalism without compromising its independence. Newspapers are going through a crisis. That is why we are taking action right now to help them get through this crisis and continue to stay strong and defend our democracy the way they always do.

Mr. Speaker, I learned about the member's challenges last week, and we immediately recommended that he take action. We agree with his decision to leave the House and to step down from his duties as a member of Parliament. Obviously, the RCMP will continue its investigation free from any political interference, or even the perception of interference.

Mr. Speaker, it is clear from that answer that the Prime Minister does not understand the economic and technological realities that have created this crisis for our free and independent Canadian news industry. This bailout is not a long-term remedy. It is a temporary patch that ignores, for example, suggestions from the Public Policy Forum, like ending tax writeoffs for advertisers on foreign digital platforms or resizing the mandate of Canada's semi-private public broadcaster.Why will the Prime Minister not listen to Canada's independent journalists?

Mr. Speaker, the evidence in Vice-Admiral Norman's legal proceedings have revealed that the President of the Treasury Board told two different stories about political interference in the case of the ship Asterix. In the House, he stated that his role was to ask questions about procurement contracts. However, when interviewed by the RCMP, he said that that was not his job. Both versions cannot be true.Does the Prime Minister still have confidence in his President of the Treasury Board?

Mr. Speaker, $150 billion, that is how much the Conservative government added to our deficit, without growth or jobs to show for it. We watched over the creation of close to 600,000 new jobs in Canada, the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, the fastest growth in the G7 last year. We have done that because we are investing in the middle class. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a Canada child benefit that helps nine out of 10 Canadian families—

Mr. Speaker, it is the Prime Minister's policies that are transitioning the auto sector right out of our country. He knows that his carbon tax is making it more difficult to keep jobs here in Canada because he said it himself. That is why the Liberals have granted a massive exemption to large industrial emitters.Workers in Oshawa are fighting to keep their jobs. The least the Prime Minister could do is help them in that fight. Will he repeal the carbon tax so that Canadian auto sector jobs can stay right here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, before the global financial crisis of 2008, Minister Flaherty paid down nearly $40 billion of our debt. To be fair, I will say that previous Liberal governments did the exact same thing. These decisions prepared us for the coming crisis.Now, we are still seeing problems in the energy and auto sectors, increasing interest rates and potential upcoming crises.How much of our national debt has the Prime Minister paid down?

Mr. Speaker, it troubles me to hear not only a Conservative, but a Quebecker talk about his concern over our leadership on the environment. We know that the way to build a stronger economy for the future is to protect the environment at the same time. Quebeckers regularly express their support for the idea of putting a price on pollution. They want us to do even more and that is what we will do.The member opposite should reconsider his position that would obstruct a price on pollution and a plan to deal with climate change while growing the economy.

Mr. Speaker, obviously all of our hearts go out to the workers and we plan on supporting them. I have to highlight that when I spoke with the Premier of Ontario, we agreed we were going to put partisanship aside and focus on how we were going to support the families that are suffering and worried because of the decisions taken.On the question of the carbon tax, of pricing pollution and putting a price on that pollution, we know that making sure that pollution is not free is how we are going to move forward on protecting jobs, on protecting our future and protecting the environment for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, during the financial crisis of 2008, the Conservative government put billions of dollars into the Canadian economy but did not manage to stimulate economic growth for Canadians. On the contrary, Stephen Harper's Conservative government posted the worst economic growth of any prime minister since R.B. Bennett during the Great Depression, many decades ago.We know that investing in Canadians, investing in infrastructure and investing in the future is what Canadians need.

Mr. Speaker, basically, every fact he stated was false in that response, but that will not distract from the reality. He likes to talk about what Canadians chose in the last election. Well, Canadians were told that the budget would balance itself in 2019. In good faith, they trusted the then Liberal leader that he would keep his word. Now the deficit is three times the size he promised and there are deficits for another quarter century to come. When will the budget balance itself?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for South Surrey—White Rock for his hard work on the file and for his outstanding fashion sense.Last week, we were thrilled to announce our $7 million investment in the expansion of the Darkwoods Conservation Area. This investment builds on the historic action we are taking to protect nature in Canada, including committing $1.3 billion this year alone to protecting our lands, water and wildlife. We will continue to work hard to protect our natural heritage for our children and grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, we are concerned about our seniors, we are concerned about future seniors, which is why we strengthened CPP for future generations, something the members opposite oppose, which is something the member indicated right now.We are making sure that we take action by lowering small business taxes to actually support our small businesses across the country. We invested in an accelerated capital cost allowance program that is going to help our businesses be more competitive.As to making sure that we put a price on pollution, Canadians know that the way to build the economy of the future and the jobs of the future is to prepare for the transition, and that is what we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, this week we have learned that it is impossible to clean up the 250,000 litres of oil spilled near St. John's. This environmental disaster is Newfoundland's largest oil spill ever. It turns out the Liberals' so-called oceans protection plan does not protect oceans after all: first the Marathassa, then theNathan E. Stewart and now this. No wonder British Columbians do not trust the Liberals on Trans Mountain. Newfoundland proves the Liberals do not have a credible spill recovery operation in place. Canadians want to know: Is this the Liberals' idea of world-class oil spill response?

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for London North Centre for his hard work and for highlighting the important role social innovation and social finance play in developing innovative solutions for pressing social problems and community needs.The social innovation and social finance strategy co-creation steering group recommended creating a social finance fund to help accelerate the growth of social enterprise in Canada.Last week, we committed $755 million for a social finance fund which will help generate up to $2 billion in economic activity and help create and maintain as many as 100,000 jobs over the next decade.

Mr. Speaker, a free and independent press is the cornerstone of any democracy. We understand that. We also understand that the transformation of the news industry and the digital challenges it is facing require new models to support strong, independent journalism. That is why our government is choosing to step up to defend the independence and the strength and the capacity of journalists to do their job in this country. We know that attacking journalists, as the members opposite like to do, is not the way to strengthen our democracy. We will support the capacity of journalists to do their job independently.

Mr. Speaker, we will absolutely continue to fight. When I spoke to GM's CEO, I reminded her that GM has a long and proud history in Oshawa, thanks to the workers who gave their all to a job they loved.As I told the workers' representatives yesterday, we will be there to support the workers and their families, who are going through tough times. We are also developing an industry plan that will focus on new initiatives related to technology, talent, infrastructure and consumers.

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to advancing reconciliation with indigenous peoples to the conclusion of modern treaties. Treaty negotiations are conducted in confidence between the parties at the negotiating tables. We are hopeful that the modern treaties will meet the interests of all negotiating partners and will be concluded in the very near future.

Mr. Speaker, we learned about the member's challenges last week when he came forward and told us about his gambling addiction.We also will highlight how important it is to ensure that everyone understands that the RCMP's investigations happened completely independently and without their giving advice or notification to any politicians of investigations that they needed to undertake.

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board cannot seem to keep his story straight. What he told this House is completely different from what he told the RCMP. We are not asking the Prime Minister about a court case. We are asking about whether a minister can be trusted, and whether he told the truth.I have a simple question for the Prime Minister. Does the President of the Treasury Board still have the full support of the Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, the meeting of party leaders to discuss the French-language services crisis in Ontario is a step in the right direction.However, as much as the Liberals love their consultations, getting together for a little chit-chat is not enough. At some point, there has to be action. That is what Franco-Ontarians want, and they are the people the Prime Minister should be listening to.Can the Prime Minister confirm that he plans to take action and that this meeting is not just a smoke screen?

Mr. Speaker, the member informed us of challenges he is facing and put out a public statement on his decision to resign. We agreed that his decision, which he announced in his statement, was the right one to take.

Mr. Speaker, stating falsehoods about our record will not distract Canadians from the promise he made to them in the last election. He said that if he were elected, we would have three tiny, temporary deficits. Since that time we have had large deficits. This year it is three times the size he promised. Next year, when the budget was supposed to balance itself, it in fact will be bigger than it is right now. The question one more time is this. He promised the budget would balance itself. When?

Mr. Speaker, Canada, at the Prime Minister's direction, just voted against eight measures at the United Nations designed to hold Cuba accountable for things like the release of political prisoners, the promotion of gender equality, abuses that prevent freedom of assembly and speech, and Cuba's prohibition on the workers' right to strike.In doing so, Canada stood against these measures with the regimes of Iran, Syria and North Korea. Will the Prime Minister reverse his shameful position on these votes?

Mr. Speaker, I recently met with community members and representatives of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. They were all particularly concerned with protecting our land, water, oceans and wildlife. Like many British Columbians, I recently heard the Minister of Environment and Climate Change announce that we were investing $7 million to expand Canada's iconic Darkwoods Conservation Area in the Kootenays of British Columbia. Would the Prime Minister please explain what further actions are being taken to protect our nature, our biodiversity, our Canada?

Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Inuktitut][English]My question is for the Prime Minister. His government has refused to include the Government of Nunavut as a signatory to two Dene treaties. These treaties will infringe on and limit the territorial government's legislative authority. Observer status just does not cut it. The Government of Nunavut has to be a full participant. As the premier has said, the Government of Canada cannot simply shove this agreement down Nunavummiut's throat. This is unprecedented.Will the Prime Minister tell this House why his government has excluded the Government of Nunavut as a signatory to these important treaties?

Mr. Speaker, now he wants to blame the Conservatives for a global financial crisis that started outside of our borders and from which Canada was the first country to recover and after which the first to balance its budget.At the time, the Liberals said spend more, spend now, spend faster. They wanted the deficit to be even bigger. We managed to control the deficit, balance the budget and come out stronger than before. The question is this. He promised the budget would balance itself in 2019. When will the budget balance itself?

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives' strategy of shouting and shaking their fists at things actually got things done, Mr. Harper would have gotten 10 pipelines built to new markets, but he did not. We have taken a different approach. We have approved the LNG Canada terminal in B.C., the largest private sector investment in Canada's history. We expanded export capacity for the Alberta Clipper project. We approved the Nova Gas pipeline, the Line 3 replacement project, the Arnaud apatite mine, Woodfibre LNG, the Ridley Island propane terminal and more. We are doing things the right way to get them done for Alberta.

Mr. Speaker, this year is the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing massacre. Approximately 300,000 people were killed and an estimated 200,000 women from Japanese-occupied territories were tricked or coerced into sexual slavery. A family member told me today my grandmother and mother never stopped talking about what happened and how shameful it was that so much of the world never even knew. On behalf of Order of Canada recipient Joy Kogawa and nearly 40,000 Canadians, I ask: Will the Prime Minister declare December 13 every year as Nanjing massacre commemorative day, yes or no?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mount Royal for his hard work and for that important question. Our plan is to grow the economy and create middle-class jobs by transforming ideas into concrete solutions. Under the innovation supercluster initiative, we are teaming up with companies of all sizes, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations. Together, the five superclusters are projected to create more than 50,000 jobs and grow Canada's economy by more than $50 billion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, in my community of London, Ontario, the Pillar Nonprofit Network supports more than 600 non-profits, social enterprises and social innovators by helping them share resources and knowledge, and building connections between non-profit, business and government organizations.Could the Prime Minister tell the House what the government is doing to support organizations such as Pillar, as well as the many social enterprise businesses and organizations like it across the country?

Mr. Speaker, on Friday past, the Prime Minister announced that effective immediately the Liberal member for Brampton East would be resigning. We have heard that it had to do with health problems; then it was gambling problems. We have heard as well that the Ethics Commissioner delisted his investigation on the basis of the Prime Minister's announcement of the member's resignation. Yesterday, the Speaker clarified that the member certainly has not resigned. As a result, the Ethics Commissioner has re-listed the inquiry and the investigation going on. The RCMP has sought access to records.When did the Prime Minister know that the member for Brampton East was under investigation by the RCMP?

Mr. Speaker, our government has regularly made historic investments in our official language minority communities.We will keep working with communities across the country. We will keep working with Franco-Ontarians and others to defend their institutions and their communities and to ensure that their economies and their communities remain successful for years to come.I am happy to have the chance to sit down with the other party leaders to talk about how we can address this issue, as it is one on which we can all come together.

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue we take very seriously. Obviously, the protection of Canadians is something that is fundamental for any government to be responsible for. We will continue to work with all interested parties to move forward on this important initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to be in Alberta last week to listen directly to the concerns of folks in the oil sands and business leaders in Calgary. We know there is work we need to do together, and we will do it. The one thing they asked for was the one thing they have been asking for more than a decade: to get our resources to new markets other than the United States. For 10 years, that Conservative government, which pretended to be a great friend to Alberta, was unable to deliver on the one thing they asked for more than anything else.We are focusing on getting things done the right way, and that is exactly what we will do.

Mr. Speaker, I found out about the situation facing the hon. member last week. We then accepted the member's suggestion that he withdraw from politics. We know there are still many unanswered questions, and the RCMP is seeking those answers. We are confident that the RCMP will do what it takes in order to fully understand what happened.

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite had better relations with labour, he might have learned that I sat down with Jerry Dias yesterday and had an excellent conversation with labour about what we are going to do as our next steps to fight for those GM jobs, to support our workers.We are going to continue to work with labour, and yes, with industry, and with workers and local community leaders right across the country, but particularly in Oshawa right now, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support those families.

Mr. Speaker, we have always worked to demonstrate that we understand that growing the economy and protecting the environment need to go hand in hand, and we will continue to do that.It has been 14 days since the Ontario Conservative government cut services to francophones. In those 14 days, the Leader of the Opposition has not asked me a single question on this important issue. We think it is very important to talk about this and to stand up and defend francophones.That is why I am very happy at the prospect of sitting down with the Leader of the Opposition to discuss this matter later.

Mr. Speaker, we have our historic investments in an oceans protection plan of $1.5 billion. We will work with local communities, partner with top scientists, partner with indigenous communities and demonstrate that we have the capacity to respond to spills and to protect our coasts and the livelihood of those who depend on them.We know that there is always more work to do, but we have focused on investing smartly, on trusting science and on working in partnership with provinces, municipalities and indigenous people to keep our oceans safe.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that every single member of my cabinet, including the President of the Treasury Board, continues to enjoy my full confidence.

Mr. Speaker, no relation is more important to this government than that with indigenous peoples, and that is why we are moving forward on a true nation-to-nation relationship in partnership with them. It is also why we are taking concrete action on definitive projects that are going to make a difference, whether it is ending boil water advisories, building new schools, or building roads and community infrastructure. We are going to continue to work hand in hand with indigenous communities right across this country to give them opportunities to grow their economies and make sure that they have every opportunity that all Canadians have.

Mr. Speaker, we have continued to invest in businesses and workers right across this country. Of course, our hearts go out to the workers in Oshawa, who are facing these cuts, but we continue to stand with them and we will continue to fight for them.In terms of understanding, the best way to secure jobs for the future is to take genuine action on climate change and support our economies and our families to thrive through the transition to a lower-carbon economy. That is what we are doing. The members opposite have no plan and instead just try to play politics.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to stand as a strong voice for human rights around the world in a broad range of cases. We will always make decisions on the best way to both support Canadian interests and defend Canadian values at any multilateral forum, whether it be the UN or anywhere else.Canadians can count on us to stand up for the values and priorities that we hold dear.

Mr. Speaker, we have been fighting to protect Canadian workers and industries since the beginning. We created the strongest economic growth of the G7 in 2017. We created the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. In our latest economic statement, we responded to the calls from Canada's industries by investing $14 billion to help them invest in our jobs and success in this country for years to come.We will continue to listen to workers and to work with them and our industries to build a better Canada.

Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks, the government has signed four new agreements to fund superclusters across Canada. Would the Prime Minister tell the House how this important initiative will prepare talented Canadian workers for the innovative jobs of today and tomorrow?

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent is really concerned about the environment, I would encourage him to talk to his leader and have him share with us his plan to deal with climate change.The Conservatives have no plan to tackle climate change, but Quebeckers expect better, just like the rest of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been dragging their feet to finish the Wollaston Lake road project. For 30 years, the Hatchet Lake Dene First Nation has been fighting to get this all-season road done to make its community accessible. Without it, it has to fly in its already overpriced food and supplies. Northerners deserve answers.Why are the Liberals ignoring Hatchet Lake Dene First Nation and refusing to complete the Wollaston Lake road project once and for all?

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear the member for Papineau talking about Quebec and the environment. I am very proud of my Conservative colleagues and I am very proud to be a member of a party that was able to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2.2% when it was in office. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that. The facts speak for themselves.Meanwhile, while more and more clouds are gathering in Canada's economic sky, the only thing the Liberal government is proposing is a carbon tax.Why is it doing that?

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear the member for Papineau talking about Quebec and the environment. I am very proud of my Conservative colleagues and I am very proud to be a member of a party that was able to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2.2% when it was in office. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that. The facts speak for themselves.Meanwhile, while more and more clouds are gathering in Canada's economic sky, the only thing the Liberal government is proposing is a carbon tax.Why is it doing that?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been dragging their feet to finish the Wollaston Lake road project. For 30 years, the Hatchet Lake Dene First Nation has been fighting to get this all-season road done to make its community accessible. Without it, it has to fly in its already overpriced food and supplies. Northerners deserve answers.Why are the Liberals ignoring Hatchet Lake Dene First Nation and refusing to complete the Wollaston Lake road project once and for all?

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent is really concerned about the environment, I would encourage him to talk to his leader and have him share with us his plan to deal with climate change.The Conservatives have no plan to tackle climate change, but Quebeckers expect better, just like the rest of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks, the government has signed four new agreements to fund superclusters across Canada. Would the Prime Minister tell the House how this important initiative will prepare talented Canadian workers for the innovative jobs of today and tomorrow?

Mr. Speaker, we have been fighting to protect Canadian workers and industries since the beginning. We created the strongest economic growth of the G7 in 2017. We created the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. In our latest economic statement, we responded to the calls from Canada's industries by investing $14 billion to help them invest in our jobs and success in this country for years to come.We will continue to listen to workers and to work with them and our industries to build a better Canada.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to stand as a strong voice for human rights around the world in a broad range of cases. We will always make decisions on the best way to both support Canadian interests and defend Canadian values at any multilateral forum, whether it be the UN or anywhere else.Canadians can count on us to stand up for the values and priorities that we hold dear.

Mr. Speaker, we have continued to invest in businesses and workers right across this country. Of course, our hearts go out to the workers in Oshawa, who are facing these cuts, but we continue to stand with them and we will continue to fight for them.In terms of understanding, the best way to secure jobs for the future is to take genuine action on climate change and support our economies and our families to thrive through the transition to a lower-carbon economy. That is what we are doing. The members opposite have no plan and instead just try to play politics.

Mr. Speaker, no relation is more important to this government than that with indigenous peoples, and that is why we are moving forward on a true nation-to-nation relationship in partnership with them. It is also why we are taking concrete action on definitive projects that are going to make a difference, whether it is ending boil water advisories, building new schools, or building roads and community infrastructure. We are going to continue to work hand in hand with indigenous communities right across this country to give them opportunities to grow their economies and make sure that they have every opportunity that all Canadians have.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that every single member of my cabinet, including the President of the Treasury Board, continues to enjoy my full confidence.

Mr. Speaker, we have our historic investments in an oceans protection plan of $1.5 billion. We will work with local communities, partner with top scientists, partner with indigenous communities and demonstrate that we have the capacity to respond to spills and to protect our coasts and the livelihood of those who depend on them.We know that there is always more work to do, but we have focused on investing smartly, on trusting science and on working in partnership with provinces, municipalities and indigenous people to keep our oceans safe.

Mr. Speaker, we have always worked to demonstrate that we understand that growing the economy and protecting the environment need to go hand in hand, and we will continue to do that.It has been 14 days since the Ontario Conservative government cut services to francophones. In those 14 days, the Leader of the Opposition has not asked me a single question on this important issue. We think it is very important to talk about this and to stand up and defend francophones.That is why I am very happy at the prospect of sitting down with the Leader of the Opposition to discuss this matter later.

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite had better relations with labour, he might have learned that I sat down with Jerry Dias yesterday and had an excellent conversation with labour about what we are going to do as our next steps to fight for those GM jobs, to support our workers.We are going to continue to work with labour, and yes, with industry, and with workers and local community leaders right across the country, but particularly in Oshawa right now, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support those families.

Mr. Speaker, I found out about the situation facing the hon. member last week. We then accepted the member's suggestion that he withdraw from politics. We know there are still many unanswered questions, and the RCMP is seeking those answers. We are confident that the RCMP will do what it takes in order to fully understand what happened.

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to be in Alberta last week to listen directly to the concerns of folks in the oil sands and business leaders in Calgary. We know there is work we need to do together, and we will do it. The one thing they asked for was the one thing they have been asking for more than a decade: to get our resources to new markets other than the United States. For 10 years, that Conservative government, which pretended to be a great friend to Alberta, was unable to deliver on the one thing they asked for more than anything else.We are focusing on getting things done the right way, and that is exactly what we will do.

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue we take very seriously. Obviously, the protection of Canadians is something that is fundamental for any government to be responsible for. We will continue to work with all interested parties to move forward on this important initiative.

Mr. Speaker, our government has regularly made historic investments in our official language minority communities.We will keep working with communities across the country. We will keep working with Franco-Ontarians and others to defend their institutions and their communities and to ensure that their economies and their communities remain successful for years to come.I am happy to have the chance to sit down with the other party leaders to talk about how we can address this issue, as it is one on which we can all come together.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday past, the Prime Minister announced that effective immediately the Liberal member for Brampton East would be resigning. We have heard that it had to do with health problems; then it was gambling problems. We have heard as well that the Ethics Commissioner delisted his investigation on the basis of the Prime Minister's announcement of the member's resignation. Yesterday, the Speaker clarified that the member certainly has not resigned. As a result, the Ethics Commissioner has re-listed the inquiry and the investigation going on. The RCMP has sought access to records.When did the Prime Minister know that the member for Brampton East was under investigation by the RCMP?

Mr. Speaker, in my community of London, Ontario, the Pillar Nonprofit Network supports more than 600 non-profits, social enterprises and social innovators by helping them share resources and knowledge, and building connections between non-profit, business and government organizations.Could the Prime Minister tell the House what the government is doing to support organizations such as Pillar, as well as the many social enterprise businesses and organizations like it across the country?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mount Royal for his hard work and for that important question. Our plan is to grow the economy and create middle-class jobs by transforming ideas into concrete solutions. Under the innovation supercluster initiative, we are teaming up with companies of all sizes, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations. Together, the five superclusters are projected to create more than 50,000 jobs and grow Canada's economy by more than $50 billion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, this year is the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing massacre. Approximately 300,000 people were killed and an estimated 200,000 women from Japanese-occupied territories were tricked or coerced into sexual slavery. A family member told me today my grandmother and mother never stopped talking about what happened and how shameful it was that so much of the world never even knew. On behalf of Order of Canada recipient Joy Kogawa and nearly 40,000 Canadians, I ask: Will the Prime Minister declare December 13 every year as Nanjing massacre commemorative day, yes or no?

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives' strategy of shouting and shaking their fists at things actually got things done, Mr. Harper would have gotten 10 pipelines built to new markets, but he did not. We have taken a different approach. We have approved the LNG Canada terminal in B.C., the largest private sector investment in Canada's history. We expanded export capacity for the Alberta Clipper project. We approved the Nova Gas pipeline, the Line 3 replacement project, the Arnaud apatite mine, Woodfibre LNG, the Ridley Island propane terminal and more. We are doing things the right way to get them done for Alberta.

Mr. Speaker, now he wants to blame the Conservatives for a global financial crisis that started outside of our borders and from which Canada was the first country to recover and after which the first to balance its budget.At the time, the Liberals said spend more, spend now, spend faster. They wanted the deficit to be even bigger. We managed to control the deficit, balance the budget and come out stronger than before. The question is this. He promised the budget would balance itself in 2019. When will the budget balance itself?

Mr. Speaker, [Member spoke in Inuktitut][English]My question is for the Prime Minister. His government has refused to include the Government of Nunavut as a signatory to two Dene treaties. These treaties will infringe on and limit the territorial government's legislative authority. Observer status just does not cut it. The Government of Nunavut has to be a full participant. As the premier has said, the Government of Canada cannot simply shove this agreement down Nunavummiut's throat. This is unprecedented.Will the Prime Minister tell this House why his government has excluded the Government of Nunavut as a signatory to these important treaties?

Mr. Speaker, I recently met with community members and representatives of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. They were all particularly concerned with protecting our land, water, oceans and wildlife. Like many British Columbians, I recently heard the Minister of Environment and Climate Change announce that we were investing $7 million to expand Canada's iconic Darkwoods Conservation Area in the Kootenays of British Columbia. Would the Prime Minister please explain what further actions are being taken to protect our nature, our biodiversity, our Canada?

Mr. Speaker, the member informed us of challenges he is facing and put out a public statement on his decision to resign. We agreed that his decision, which he announced in his statement, was the right one to take.

Mr. Speaker, stating falsehoods about our record will not distract Canadians from the promise he made to them in the last election. He said that if he were elected, we would have three tiny, temporary deficits. Since that time we have had large deficits. This year it is three times the size he promised. Next year, when the budget was supposed to balance itself, it in fact will be bigger than it is right now. The question one more time is this. He promised the budget would balance itself. When?

Mr. Speaker, Canada, at the Prime Minister's direction, just voted against eight measures at the United Nations designed to hold Cuba accountable for things like the release of political prisoners, the promotion of gender equality, abuses that prevent freedom of assembly and speech, and Cuba's prohibition on the workers' right to strike.In doing so, Canada stood against these measures with the regimes of Iran, Syria and North Korea. Will the Prime Minister reverse his shameful position on these votes?

Mr. Speaker, the meeting of party leaders to discuss the French-language services crisis in Ontario is a step in the right direction.However, as much as the Liberals love their consultations, getting together for a little chit-chat is not enough. At some point, there has to be action. That is what Franco-Ontarians want, and they are the people the Prime Minister should be listening to.Can the Prime Minister confirm that he plans to take action and that this meeting is not just a smoke screen?

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board cannot seem to keep his story straight. What he told this House is completely different from what he told the RCMP. We are not asking the Prime Minister about a court case. We are asking about whether a minister can be trusted, and whether he told the truth.I have a simple question for the Prime Minister. Does the President of the Treasury Board still have the full support of the Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, we learned about the member's challenges last week when he came forward and told us about his gambling addiction.We also will highlight how important it is to ensure that everyone understands that the RCMP's investigations happened completely independently and without their giving advice or notification to any politicians of investigations that they needed to undertake.

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to advancing reconciliation with indigenous peoples to the conclusion of modern treaties. Treaty negotiations are conducted in confidence between the parties at the negotiating tables. We are hopeful that the modern treaties will meet the interests of all negotiating partners and will be concluded in the very near future.

Mr. Speaker, we will absolutely continue to fight. When I spoke to GM's CEO, I reminded her that GM has a long and proud history in Oshawa, thanks to the workers who gave their all to a job they loved.As I told the workers' representatives yesterday, we will be there to support the workers and their families, who are going through tough times. We are also developing an industry plan that will focus on new initiatives related to technology, talent, infrastructure and consumers.

Mr. Speaker, a free and independent press is the cornerstone of any democracy. We understand that. We also understand that the transformation of the news industry and the digital challenges it is facing require new models to support strong, independent journalism. That is why our government is choosing to step up to defend the independence and the strength and the capacity of journalists to do their job in this country. We know that attacking journalists, as the members opposite like to do, is not the way to strengthen our democracy. We will support the capacity of journalists to do their job independently.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for London North Centre for his hard work and for highlighting the important role social innovation and social finance play in developing innovative solutions for pressing social problems and community needs.The social innovation and social finance strategy co-creation steering group recommended creating a social finance fund to help accelerate the growth of social enterprise in Canada.Last week, we committed $755 million for a social finance fund which will help generate up to $2 billion in economic activity and help create and maintain as many as 100,000 jobs over the next decade.

Mr. Speaker, this week we have learned that it is impossible to clean up the 250,000 litres of oil spilled near St. John's. This environmental disaster is Newfoundland's largest oil spill ever. It turns out the Liberals' so-called oceans protection plan does not protect oceans after all: first the Marathassa, then theNathan E. Stewart and now this. No wonder British Columbians do not trust the Liberals on Trans Mountain. Newfoundland proves the Liberals do not have a credible spill recovery operation in place. Canadians want to know: Is this the Liberals' idea of world-class oil spill response?

Mr. Speaker, we are concerned about our seniors, we are concerned about future seniors, which is why we strengthened CPP for future generations, something the members opposite oppose, which is something the member indicated right now.We are making sure that we take action by lowering small business taxes to actually support our small businesses across the country. We invested in an accelerated capital cost allowance program that is going to help our businesses be more competitive.As to making sure that we put a price on pollution, Canadians know that the way to build the economy of the future and the jobs of the future is to prepare for the transition, and that is what we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for South Surrey—White Rock for his hard work on the file and for his outstanding fashion sense.Last week, we were thrilled to announce our $7 million investment in the expansion of the Darkwoods Conservation Area. This investment builds on the historic action we are taking to protect nature in Canada, including committing $1.3 billion this year alone to protecting our lands, water and wildlife. We will continue to work hard to protect our natural heritage for our children and grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, during the financial crisis of 2008, the Conservative government put billions of dollars into the Canadian economy but did not manage to stimulate economic growth for Canadians. On the contrary, Stephen Harper's Conservative government posted the worst economic growth of any prime minister since R.B. Bennett during the Great Depression, many decades ago.We know that investing in Canadians, investing in infrastructure and investing in the future is what Canadians need.

Mr. Speaker, basically, every fact he stated was false in that response, but that will not distract from the reality. He likes to talk about what Canadians chose in the last election. Well, Canadians were told that the budget would balance itself in 2019. In good faith, they trusted the then Liberal leader that he would keep his word. Now the deficit is three times the size he promised and there are deficits for another quarter century to come. When will the budget balance itself?

Mr. Speaker, obviously all of our hearts go out to the workers and we plan on supporting them. I have to highlight that when I spoke with the Premier of Ontario, we agreed we were going to put partisanship aside and focus on how we were going to support the families that are suffering and worried because of the decisions taken.On the question of the carbon tax, of pricing pollution and putting a price on that pollution, we know that making sure that pollution is not free is how we are going to move forward on protecting jobs, on protecting our future and protecting the environment for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, it troubles me to hear not only a Conservative, but a Quebecker talk about his concern over our leadership on the environment. We know that the way to build a stronger economy for the future is to protect the environment at the same time. Quebeckers regularly express their support for the idea of putting a price on pollution. They want us to do even more and that is what we will do.The member opposite should reconsider his position that would obstruct a price on pollution and a plan to deal with climate change while growing the economy.

Mr. Speaker, before the global financial crisis of 2008, Minister Flaherty paid down nearly $40 billion of our debt. To be fair, I will say that previous Liberal governments did the exact same thing. These decisions prepared us for the coming crisis.Now, we are still seeing problems in the energy and auto sectors, increasing interest rates and potential upcoming crises.How much of our national debt has the Prime Minister paid down?

Mr. Speaker, it is the Prime Minister's policies that are transitioning the auto sector right out of our country. He knows that his carbon tax is making it more difficult to keep jobs here in Canada because he said it himself. That is why the Liberals have granted a massive exemption to large industrial emitters.Workers in Oshawa are fighting to keep their jobs. The least the Prime Minister could do is help them in that fight. Will he repeal the carbon tax so that Canadian auto sector jobs can stay right here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, $150 billion, that is how much the Conservative government added to our deficit, without growth or jobs to show for it. We watched over the creation of close to 600,000 new jobs in Canada, the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, the fastest growth in the G7 last year. We have done that because we are investing in the middle class. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a Canada child benefit that helps nine out of 10 Canadian families—

Mr. Speaker, the evidence in Vice-Admiral Norman's legal proceedings have revealed that the President of the Treasury Board told two different stories about political interference in the case of the ship Asterix. In the House, he stated that his role was to ask questions about procurement contracts. However, when interviewed by the RCMP, he said that that was not his job. Both versions cannot be true.Does the Prime Minister still have confidence in his President of the Treasury Board?

Mr. Speaker, it is clear from that answer that the Prime Minister does not understand the economic and technological realities that have created this crisis for our free and independent Canadian news industry. This bailout is not a long-term remedy. It is a temporary patch that ignores, for example, suggestions from the Public Policy Forum, like ending tax writeoffs for advertisers on foreign digital platforms or resizing the mandate of Canada's semi-private public broadcaster.Why will the Prime Minister not listen to Canada's independent journalists?

Mr. Speaker, I learned about the member's challenges last week, and we immediately recommended that he take action. We agree with his decision to leave the House and to step down from his duties as a member of Parliament. Obviously, the RCMP will continue its investigation free from any political interference, or even the perception of interference.

Mr. Speaker, the conspiracy theory being peddled by Conservatives is insulting to the intelligence of Canadians and to the professionalism of journalists. The Conservatives think Canadian journalists can be bought. We do not. We know that their work is essential to our democracy. France, Sweden, German, the U.K. and many others took action to support journalism without compromising its independence. Newspapers are going through a crisis. That is why we are taking action right now to help them get through this crisis and continue to stay strong and defend our democracy the way they always do.

Mr. Speaker, dark clouds are looming over Canada's economy.In the past few weeks alone, we lost 2,500 jobs in the auto sector, 3,000 jobs in the aerospace sector, and 19,000 jobs in Alberta's energy sector alone. What is more, Canadians invest much more in the United States than Americans invest in Canada.That is the record of the Liberal Prime Minister who took no precautions to deal with this reality.What is the Prime Minister going to do other than impose the Liberal carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, it has been a week since the Liberals announced their undefined, mis-targeted, temporary patch of a $600-million plus election year bailout for Canada's struggling new industry. Owners and publishers who get million dollar cheques and bonuses and partisan big union bosses, not surprisingly, praise the bailout, but dozens of this country's most respected journalists have denounced it because it casts a dark shadow over the independence of their craft. Does the Prime Minister now understand how unacceptable this bailout is an election year?

Mr. Speaker, last week, Conservatives and New Democrats worked together to try to fast-track a bill that would effectively fight forced organ harvesting. This bill has the support of high-profile Liberals like Irwin Cotler, but the government chose to delay the bill, substantially reducing its chances of passing. Victims have waited too long. Why are the Liberals delaying action on the forced harvesting and trafficking of human organs?

Mr. Speaker, obviously we continue to stand with the workers at the GM plant and those right across the country. We know that the auto sector is a vital element of our economic growth. That is why we fought so hard for it in renegotiating the NAFTA deal. Specifically, since November 2015, our government has invested $389 million in 37 projects undertaken by Canada's automotive sector, resulting in nearly $4.1 billion in total investments in the sector. That is the work we are doing to support auto workers in this country, and that we have done over the past three years.

Mr. Speaker, it has been revealed that under the Prime Minister, over 3,000 veterans had to wait over a year to have a decision made about their worthiness to receive the benefits they have earned. That is completely unacceptable.The Prime Minister said he would not take them to court. He is doing just that. He said they were asking for too much. He broke his promise on pensions. The Prime Minister has been failing our veterans for the past three years in government. When is he going to stop pointing fingers and take responsibility for his failures?

Mr. Speaker, it is the Liberal policies that are actually hurting the ability for businesses to invest in Canada and create jobs. It is the Liberal policies in Ontario that created massive increases in energy costs, something that our competitors around the world do not face. Liberal increases to payroll taxes make it more expensive for employers here in Canada to keep jobs here. Now the carbon tax is making it more difficult to invest in Canada. We know that because the government admits it. Will the Prime Minister give the same exemption to other businesses that he has granted to large industrial emitters?

Mr. Speaker, we have been working with unions, industry, workers and communities for three years now to attract investments. We have invested $4.1 billion in Canada's automotive sector because we believe in the future of our workers and our industry.We will always put the quality of Canadians' work front and centre, and that is why we are attracting investments from around the world.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is claiming ignorance—

Mr. Speaker, these answers are not going to satisfy. I do not think the Prime Minister is fully understanding the gravity of this situation. He is claiming ignorance, but on September 19, in the middle of its study on money laundering, the Prime Minister removed the MP from the finance committee. The RCMP, FINTRAC and the Ethics Commissioner are all investigating this colleague and friend of the Prime Minister. He said he knew nothing. He did nothing. Once again, did the Prime Minister remove the member of Parliament for Brampton East from the finance committee because he was using his position to avoid possible prosecution?

Mr. Speaker, no, we did not.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. As he should know, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on this matter as it is currently before the courts.

Mr. Speaker, this week, The Globe and Mail reported that not only did the Liberal member for Brampton East gamble away millions of dollars at casinos—and by the way, we wonder where he got all that money—but he was also under RCMP investigation for months. This is an extremely worrisome, even troubling, situation. This is another case of a Liberal MP caught up in some wild shenanigans.My question for the Prime Minister is simple and is the same as the one my colleague asked just now.When did the Prime Minister find out that the RCMP was investigating this member?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister chose to appoint the member for Brampton East to the very powerful finance committee. While there, he used his access to senior Finance officials and money laundering experts to ask very troubling questions. I will quote: How many resources does FINTRAC have to go after each little $10,000 transaction? If I'm money laundering, I'm not doing transactions in the millions to catch attention. I'm doing them at the $10,000, $15,000 limit to get away with it. Those questions were so disturbing they raised red flags with the RCMP.Did the Prime Minister or anyone in his office find those question so disturbing that they acted upon them?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's policy has just cost thousands of Ontarians in auto their jobs and he has forced more than 100,000 Albertans out of work, with no end in sight. He insults Albertans by just saying that he "feels that frustration" and "understands that anxiety", while the finance minister says he is “watching carefully”.It is within the Liberals' control to fix this crisis they created. The reality is that three companies wanted to build to pipelines when he was elected, now they are all gone. This crisis harms workers and families in every single province.Instead of empty platitudes, what exactly will the Prime Minister do today to fix the mess he has made?

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I think you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion: That the House recognize that 81 years ago Imperial Japanese army forces raped an estimated 20,000 to 80,000 Chinese women and girls and approximately 300,000 people were killed; that, after the Nanking massacre, the military sexual slavery system of the Japanese military expanded rapidly, and an estimated 200,000 women from Korea, the Philippines, China, Burma, Indonesia and other Japanese occupied territories were tricked, kidnapped or coerced to work in brothels to serve as “comfort women” to the Imperial Japanese army; that western eye witnesses in Nanking described the atrocities as “hell on earth”; that the House of Commons, in 2007, unanimously passed a motion in recognition that the Imperial armed forces of Japan used women as sex slaves during the Second World War; therefore, in the opinion of the House, the government formally acknowledge this by declaring December 13 of each year as Nanking massacre commemorative day in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the clarification on the member's decision, but what we are seeking is to know when the Prime Minister knew that the RCMP was investigating the member.The Globe and Mail is reporting today that the member publicly questioned senior officials of the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies earlier this year about the way they investigate money laundering. At the same time, the Mounties were probing his multi-million dollar gambling activities and sought to determine the origin of the funds. The member was removed from this committee on September 19. When did the Prime Minister know he was under RCMP surveillance?

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians had a choice between a government that was committed to cutting and balancing the budget at all costs or our government that was looking at investing in communities, investing in Canadians, supporting small businesses, lowering taxes on the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest 1%. Canadians made the right choice. We have grown the economy, we have created 600,000 jobs and we have seen the unemployment rate drop to record low levels. The economy is doing well because we are investing in Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is going to have to put on his teaching hat here and explain the logic on this one.For large industrial emitters, the carbon tax will kill jobs, so they need a massive exemption to protect them from competition from other countries, but that very same carbon tax will somehow create jobs in the auto sector. That makes no sense. A carbon tax is bad for all Canadian workers. Now that we have seen the impact of this policy, chasing future jobs and investment away, will he do the right thing and cancel his carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, the announced closure of the GM plant is devastating for the families of the 2,500 workers and the community. However, it is not just workers and families in Oshawa who are worried about the future; it is all auto workers across the country.The Prime Minister must do more than just express his disappointment. He must demonstrate some leadership and develop a national strategy, such as the one proposed and advocated by the member for Windsor West, if he wants to make sure that our auto industry does not just survive, but thrives. Will he do so?

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a Liberal MP. Last I checked, he had not been expelled from caucus. He was part of the delegation that went to India, the disastrous trip the Prime Minister organized with several other members, in case anyone has forgotten. The Liberal member even invited his old boss to come along. It is actually rather ironic, when you think about it. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and was asking the RCMP about how it investigates money laundering. The Prime Minister is telling us today that he has known about this situation only since last week.Can he confirm the date?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the industry minister said in the House, “read my lips”. The people of Oshawa have been reading those lips all week and what they see is a Liberal government that will do nothing to save their jobs. The Prime Minister is throwing away another $14 billion to corporate CEOs but has shown that he is not willing to do a thing for Oshawa auto workers and thousands of others whose jobs are threatened by the closure.Why has the Prime Minister not convened an emergency meeting of labour, business and elected representatives to save those jobs? Why will the Liberals not act?

Mr. Speaker, last week, the member stated his intentions after informing us of the challenges he is facing. As I said, we agreed with the decision he has taken to step down.

Mr. Speaker, everyone is worried about the replacement of overnight staff by an automated weather station at the Rouyn-Noranda airport.The automated system proposed by Nav Canada is not 100% reliable, especially for detecting freezing rain. Other airports, such as those in Windsor and Bathurst, are also affected. Following a meeting with Nav Canada, the mayor of Rouyn-Noranda complained that the consultation process is ill-suited to the regions.Will the Prime Minister opt for people's safety and maintain overnight services in Rouyn-Noranda and elsewhere?

Mr. Speaker, that is throwing money at it. It is not having a strategy.This week, it was GM, but other closures could be coming. That is why the federal government needs to develop a coordinated strategy to save jobs. It also needs to make sure that Canada's automotive sector shifts towards manufacturing electric and hybrid vehicles.The Prime Minister expressed his disappointment, but now he needs to show some leadership.Will he convene at least one summit on the future of the auto sector with unions, the industry, the provinces, and the mayors of the municipalities and communities whose economies rely on the auto sector?

Mr. Speaker, over 2,000 Albertans were in Calgary last week to tell the Prime Minister not to come back until he had a solution to fix the problem he had created. He vetoed the northern gateway pipeline and he killed the energy east pipeline. He said that spending billions of dollars on the Trans Mountain pipeline would get it built, and he cannot get construction started. He gave Canadian money to go to the U.S. to compete with Canada. He landlocked Canadian oil, costing provinces billions of dollars.He defends using tax dollars to stop Canadian pipelines. His job killing carbon tax and Bill C-69 will make that discount permanent. When will he withdraw his “no more pipelines” bill, Bill C-69?

Mr. Speaker, as I told the citizens of Rouyn-Noranda when I was there a few months ago, we take their concerns very seriously. We have undertaken to have Nav Canada continue consultations in order to make the right decision for the people living there and to ensure safety and the services required.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I will take no lessons from Conservatives on how to treat our veterans. They shuttered nine veterans service centres in order to create a phony budget balance just in time for the election. They nickel-and-dimed our veterans while using them as props in photo ops. What we have done is invested over $10 billion in veterans over the past three years. We have ensured that we are improving services, that we are improving supports to families, and that we are giving veterans the services they need, including following through on a pension for life commitment that we made to veterans.We will continue to stand up for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the auto sector that the government's policy has had a devastating effect on, but also the energy sector in Canada. It was the Prime Minister's decision to kill the northern gateway project, which would have opened up Asian markets. It was his decision that killed the pipeline that would have brought western energy to eastern Canadian markets. As a result, there have been drastic job losses in Alberta.The Prime Minister knows that under the Conservative government, four major pipeline projects were built. His preference is to phase-out the energy sector. Was it always his intention to phase-out the energy sector before the next election?

Mr. Speaker, the closure of the GM plant in Oshawa is terrible news for thousands of families. Workers are angry.How can a government hand over billions of our dollars to a company without first obtaining a guarantee that jobs here will be protected? Will the Prime Minister fight to keep jobs in Oshawa, or will he continue to give gifts to big corporations without asking for anything in return?

Mr. Speaker, of course we deplore the horrific events that took place in Nanjing 80 years ago. All Canadians can agree that the loss of life and violence that so many civilians faced should never be forgotten. We will never forget those terrible acts. The memory of these victims and survivors must be addressed in the true spirit of reconciliation.

Mr. Speaker, the government negotiated a bad deal for our farmers, we have tariffs on softwood lumber, steel and aluminum, there is a crisis in our oil and gas sector, and now the Canadian automotive industry is going through an accelerated downturn. All of that is happening under this Prime Minister's government.Instead of standing up and offering the usual platitudes, when will the Prime Minister stand up and fight for Canadian workers and for the industries that employ them?

Mr. Speaker, twice in that answer the member opposite talked about the fact that the Conservatives got to a phoney balance just in time for the election. The way they did that was by cutting services to our veterans, cutting the Canadian Border Services Agency, cutting programs and opportunities for Canadian and by cutting and saving on things like the implementation of Phoenix. They brought together a phoney balance that hurt Canadians, that hurt the services and that is why Canadians kicked them out.