Most toxic speeches
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the NDP that it was shameful that the Harper government allowed garbage to be exported without permits or safeguards. That is why in 2016, we signed the Basel agreement. The NDP needs to get its facts straight on that. We changed our regulations to comply with international obligations and strengthened controls of our exports.Despite this garbage having been exported to the Philippines under the Harper government, we are doing the right thing by bringing it back to Canada to ensure that it is properly disposed of.
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Let me finish.Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Mr. Speaker, here is another national security matter.We have learned that Mexicans have been crossing the border into Canada to commit criminal acts. We know that 190 of them have been arrested by Canadian authorities. However, we also know that 400 drug traffickers have entered Canada and 200 of them are living in Montreal. I want to know the truth.The Prime Minister has boasted about being open and transparent, so can he tell us whether drug traffickers are a threat to Canada's national security?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would like to take pride in our exports. My hometown produces an award-winning electric vehicle that we are proud to ship worldwide.The Prime Minister is undermining Canada's reputation when he allows hundreds of garbage containers of household waste, plastics and recyclables to be dumped to rot in other countries.When the Environment Minister was called out by the Philippines and Malaysia, the response to its own dumpster fire was that Canadian taxpayers now have to pay millions of dollars to pick up these companies' trash. The Prime Minister will not sign the Basel Convention Ban Amendment to stop companies from doing this.How many more countries will he allow to be his personal dumping destinations?
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as dumb, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Mr. Speaker, in February, the minister announced funding to make much needed safety improvements to the Fond du Lac Airport, but now the Liberals are telling the community that it needs to apply again for already promised funding. The Liberals are really quick to make promises to northerners, but they act more like the Conservatives, who never cared to invest in northern Saskatchewan. Northerners are tired of being betrayed by the Liberals.Will the Prime Minister commit to his promise to Fond du Lac and release the funding today?
Mr. Speaker, that is straight-up misinformation. Here is the truth: with just five months to go until the election, the Liberal government gave an openly pro-Liberal and aggressively anti-Conservative union the power to influence who will get $600 million in funding for the media. This is another Liberal ploy to interfere and try to influence the upcoming election campaign.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and boot his Unifor buddies off the panel, period?
Mr. Speaker, rushing the ratification of the new NAFTA as it stands will hurt workers, communities and our environment. While Congress in the U.S. is fighting for a better deal, the Liberals are busy doing Donald Trump's dirty work. Do Liberals understand how much NAFTA has cost working people?We do, because, unlike the Prime Minister, we work shoulder to shoulder with people who lost their jobs. The Prime Minister has no idea what this does to families. Liberals are telling working people that they are more interested in a trophy on the trade shelf than they are in improving their lives.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing for working people and wait for a better deal?
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the arguments the Conservatives are making on this issue are exactly the same arguments they have always made on why we should be eliminating the CBC. We disagree. We believe in CBC/Radio-Canada as a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to bring to Canadians news that matters to Canadians. We are always going to stand up to defend the CBC against the Conservatives, but indeed defend both employers and employees of media organizations against people who want to undermine them and attack them.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do nothing but flail about, because they have nothing to counter the fact that our plan is working. One million jobs have been created over the past four years. We have the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, including 300,000 kids. We have done this because we know that investing in the middle class, protecting the environment and working with all Canadians is the way to build a stronger future and a stronger economy.The Conservatives have nothing to say on that, so they resort to personal attacks and scary division tactics.
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate
Mr. Speaker, I had the tremendous pleasure of being in northern Saskatchewan just a week and a half ago to meet with folks in Meadow Lake to see the extraordinary work that is being done as we continue to invest in communities across northern Saskatchewan and, indeed, in indigenous communities right across the country. Reconciliation happens when we work in partnership and when we invest historic amounts of money in communities, but mostly when we give communities the strength and ability to build their own futures. That is what reconciliation means and that is what we will continue with.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about carbon taxes and the skyrocketing price of gas at the pumps.The Prime Minister himself has said that is exactly what we want. The Liberals' own secret documents show that the government plans to raise the carbon tax by another 60¢ per litre.When will the Prime Minister admit that his carbon tax is nothing more than a blatant cash grab that will hurt struggling Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to put his friend Jerry Dias and Unifor on the media funding panel is going to show how far the Liberals would go in trying to stack the deck in the next election. Unifor is overtly anti-Conservative. Its members are planning to campaign against us in the next election. No one is denying that. I guess that is why he is the Prime Minister's friend, but they have no business being on this media panel decision-making process.Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision and remove his friend and Unifor from this media
Mr. Speaker, the greatest threat to Canada's trading relationship with the United States is the weakness of the Prime Minister. Any old deal would have been better than the deal that he came home with. Concession after concession on dairy, on autos, on pharmaceuticals and now, in order to get steel tariffs lifted, he had to give away the only piece of leverage that Canada had. He has actually agreed not to put strategic tariffs on other U.S. industries. Once again, why did the Prime Minister give Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, too many families across the country are losing loved ones to the opioid public health crisis.The NDP government in B.C. launched a lawsuit against drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Ontario has now joined the lawsuit.Will the Prime Minister have the courage to support our demand for an inquiry into the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis to bring justice to the families?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House. The hon. member for WellingtonHalton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully. As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking. I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, to follow Conservatives' logic, anyone who has been attacked and mistreated by the Conservatives should not have a voice. That is what the 2015 election countered, as Canadians rose up across the country to reject the Conservative attacks and demonization of media, of indigenous peoples, of environmentalists, of hard-working Canadians, of young people.That approach by the Conservatives is exactly what is going to fail them again this time.
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep attacking organized labour, but we know that unions and workers are an essential part of our society and that they have a crucially important role to play. At the same time, we see the Conservatives making the same arguments on this issue that they made when they said we should eliminate the CBC. That is something the Conservatives have wanted for a long time. That is what the leader of the Conservative Party promised in his leadership campaign. We know the Conservatives will always go after the CBC
Mr. Speaker, the people of Grassy Narrows have suffered 50 years of lies, cover-ups and broken promises. Two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that that spring there would be shovels in the ground to build a mercury treatment centre, and nothing was done. Enough with the broken promises. Where is the money for the mercury treatment centre? What is the timeline? Why is the Prime Minister refusing to cover the treatment for people who have been poisoned by the corporate and political crime at Grassy Narrows?
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the Canada-U.S. trade relationship faced its greatest threat. We worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians.The Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they absolutely wanted to abdicate, at all costs, to get any old deal. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed. Now they are in favour of this good deal and have committed to ratifying it. They are all over the place.Our government is committed to standing up for Canadian workers, protecting jobs and always being there for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, Jerry Dias is not a journalist. He represents a union that has called itself the resistance to Conservatives. It is bankrolling partisan attack ads put out by a third party organization and run by high-level Liberal backroom veterans. There are other entities that could represent workers on this panel, but the Liberals chose a Liberal-friendly partisan organization.It is very clear that this is just one aspect of the Prime Minister's attempt to rig the next election, including putting caps on Conservatives but not on government spending announcements. Why
Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to Donald Trump. He abandoned access to markets for our main exports. He relinquished our influence and gave Mr. Trump all the power. He makes concessions every time he is at the table. President Trump is in charge and thanks to the Prime Minister, Canada can only stand by and watch.Why is the Prime Minister so proud of this historic humiliation?
Mr. Speaker, despite the protests of the Prime Minister, the issue here is one of bias. The question is whether or not an entity that has sworn that it likes to elect Liberals, and in fact make sure the Conservatives do not form government, an entity that gave $400,000, and boasted about it, to ensure the Conservative defeat in 2015 and as well says it is doing it again, and in fact has started again, is an appropriate appointment to a panel that is making decisions on who gets journalistic money.Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, gun violence in Canada is on the rise. While crime rates in general have dropped during the past several decades, gun violence has increased. Between 2013 and 2017, gun homicides across Canada doubled. More specifically, in my home town of Toronto we endured 96 tragic homicides in 2018. Could the Prime Minister inform the House what steps our government has taken to promote the safety of our communities?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's opioid crisis has claimed the lives of thousands of people of all ages and in all regions. Thousands of families have lost loved ones, and, tragically, experts say this crisis was avoidable. B.C. has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit and now other provinces are joining in. Again, provinces are leading the way while Liberals are trying to catch up.Will the Prime Minister finally agree to join this lawsuit and make sure drug companies are held to account for their role in this public health crisis?
Mr. Speaker, we will make no apologies for putting forward an opportunity to build a strong, independent media that is secure as we move forward to make sure that both employers and employees are represented. It is absolutely laughable that the Conservatives, who were found guilty of election fraud in multiple past elections, give any lessons on independence. What they tried to do with their unfair elections act was muzzle Elections Canada, preventing it from talking to young people, removing the right to vote from thousands of aboriginal people, thousands of young people, people right
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work.All of us can agree that one lost life is too many. Yesterday, our legislation passed to uphold our commitment for better background checks, for standardized record-keeping, for impartial classification and for safer transportation.Now the Conservatives have said they would repeal this legislation. If the Conservatives remove enhanced background checks, people will no longer need to show a licence when buying a firearm in Canada.Together with new federal investments, this bill will combat gun violence and
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, all the misleading quotes do not change the fact that people are concerned about lost jobs and rising drug costs. Here is a new quote: Canada continues to stand alone in failing to protect our key industries. The federal government must defend Canadian jobs. We do not support the rush to ratify. That is from Ken Neumann of United Steelworkers.Why is the Prime Minister propping up Donald Trump instead of working with progressives in Congress to get a better deal? When exactly did he give up on trying to do better?
Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 400 days since the Leader of the Opposition promised a plan to fight climate change. All the Conservatives have been doing is dragging their feet and encouraging their friends to take the government to court, instead of fighting climate change.I was happy to note that 97% of Canadians eligible for the climate incentive actually collected it. This means that families are better off with our price on pollution than they were before, as we fight climate change, because Canadians know that we have to fight climate change to build a strong economy.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister asked the chief of the defence staff to apologize for him, but he is the prime minister who has broken promises on veterans pensions. He is the prime minister who forced the Equitas Society's Afghanistan veterans back to court. He is the prime minister who cancelled the Afghanistan monument in 2016, which would otherwise be open to the public today. Moreover, the barring of families and veterans from a secret ceremony a few weeks ago was reprehensible. It has been four years of broken promises and four ineffective ministers. Why should military families and veterans ever believe this prime minister?
Mr. Speaker, we know that getting our oil resources to new markets is something that matters to Canadians right across the country and will help people in British Columbia.Unfortunately, for 10 years the Conservatives failed to get pipelines built to new markets. Their approach was to bulldoze through environmental protection and ignore indigenous peoples. They completely failed to get their exports to non-U.S. markets.We are following the court's direction on TMX, in the right way. We are diversifying our exports to support our workers, because, quite frankly, families in Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere cannot afford Conservative failures.
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons on ineffective ministers from that man, who was the one who presided over photo ops and cuts to veterans services under the Harper government. The fact is they used veterans for photo ops, instead of giving them the money they had, so as to balance the budget by nickel and diming them.We knew that what we were going to do was to invest $10 billion in veterans. A new veterans pension for life makes sure that every single veteran is better off now, and that is what we are going to stick with.
Mr. Speaker, two men were recently arrested in Richmond Hill for possessing explosive materials. At the time, the Minister of Public Safety dismissed the incident, claiming that it was not a national security matter. We have since learned that the FBI is investigating. Everyone knows that the FBI does not waste its time investigating trivial matters.Will the Prime Minister be transparent about this national security issue in my riding and provide the House with an update on the investigation?
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the United States trading relationship faced its greatest threats, but we worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians. Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they were in favour of our signing any old deal just to get things done and abdicating on it all, the way Stephen Harper told them to. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed, which we negotiated with the help of all Canadians, and now they are in favour of the deal and they commit to ratifying it. They are all over the place. We are staying focused on supporting Canadians, on fighting for workers
Mr. Speaker, what we know, whether on climate change or gas prices, is that we do not need another high school drama production from the Prime Minister. We need clear answers.The Prime Minister said that he believed $1.60-a-litre gas prices are exactly what we want. He admits his price on gas will go up 250%.Will the Prime Minister tell us the full and final price increase that his carbon tax will impose on a litre of gasoline?
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are playing the same old game of trying to pit Canadians against each other and distract from the fact that climate change is a real and pressing challenge to communities right across the country. Extreme wildfires, incredible flooding right across the country and greater drought periods are challenges costing Canadian families thousands upon thousands of dollars, and the economy millions upon billions of dollars.We have a plan to fight climate change. We know that we do not have a plan to build a stronger economy unless we have a plan to fight climate change. The Conservatives do not know that.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and
Mr. Speaker, even the members opposite are following the plan of the Liberal environment minister, screaming louder and louder to cover up the truth.The Prime Minister said $1.60-a-litre gas prices in B.C. are exactly what he wants. Will he admit that that is where all prices are going across Canada once his carbon tax is fully implemented?
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Mr. Speaker, Unifor, the largest union of journalists in the country, has clearly picked a side. It has declared war on the Conservative Party.What did the Liberals do? With just five months to go before the election, the Prime Minister gathered together his good friends from Unifor to form a panel that will decide how the Liberal government will distribute $600 million to Canadian media outlets. That makes no sense.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and remove his Unifor friends from the panel?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been forced to confirm that they are cutting benefits for veterans with severe and permanent injuries under the Prime Minister's veterans pension scheme. Veterans like Medric Cousineau have received letters that provide proof of the Prime Minister's betrayal. Even Liberal members of Parliament are calling this unacceptable.Does the Prime Minister agree with his Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, or does he still think veterans are asking for too much?
Mr. Speaker, this is actually embarrassing, that the Prime Minister does not understand the concept of bias on a panel that is making decisions.However, I should not be surprised. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks it is okay to traipse across the line that separates the judicial system from the executive branch. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks that ethical rules do not apply to him. This is the same Prime Minister who also made sure that he set up, beforehand, exactly what the outcome for Mark Norman would have been in terms of being charged.I take no lessons from this Prime Minister. Will he remove Unifor?
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister actually respected journalists, he would know that they do not want his friend Jerry and Unifor involved in this half-billion-dollar funding.Here is what they are saying about the impact it is going to have. They are saying that it is disastrous for public trust, that it erodes the independence and places journalists in a permanent and inescapable conflict of interest.The Prime Minister is making a terrible decision and he is using journalists as his cover. Will the Prime Minister stop putting journalists in this conflict of interest, reverse this decision and remove his friend Jerry and Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, defending our strong, independent media is something that is essential to this government, indeed to all Canadians, if we are going to defend our democracy. That means gathering a range of voices that represent different interests within the media universe to make sure that all voices are heard. We feel that it is important that employees, as well as employers, are heard from on that panel.The fact that the Conservatives, for many years, unfairly attacked organized labour and attacked unions across this country is now something they are
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong and independent media is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy, so we are acting to ensure that the media continues to hold elected officials to account. As part of that, we are ensuring that both employers and employees are represented on this independent panel. The Conservatives keep up their attacks on organized labour; we will defend workers right across this country. The Conservatives will keep up their attacks on the media, including on CBC, which the Leader of the Opposition committed to eliminate; we are going to stay focused on protecting the
Mr. Speaker, we know that a strong, independent media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy. That is why we wanted to make sure, on our independent panel, that unlike what the Conservatives want, it is not just newspaper owners and media giants that are on that panel. We need to make sure that hard-working journalists are well represented on that panel as well.On this side of the House, we will always defend labour and we will always defend workers, unlike the Conservatives, who attack organized labour at every chance they get, including with Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 in the last Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, a delegation from Saguenay is visiting Davie today. The delegation wants to send the clear message that the shipyard is ready to secure new contracts from the federal government and that businesses in the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region are ready to reap the benefits. The contracting process is taking too long, and that is holding up the potential economic spinoffs.Will the Liberals pledge to take all necessary steps to ensure that Davie gets new contracts before the election, thus ensuring all the workers in my region can benefit from the resulting economic activity?
Mr. Speaker, this government takes very seriously the responsibility to keep Canadians safe. That is why I can assure all members of the House that our security agencies, that our RCMP, take to heart their responsibility to make sure that Canadians are well protected. They are following all the appropriate procedures in every case. We have full confidence in the excellence of our intelligence agencies and our police services.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to its panel to determine eligibility for half a billion dollar bailout package has destroyed the government's credibility. Unifor is a highly partisan group with aggressive partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to his panel.Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he is openly trying to stack the deck in advance of the next election?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure to get Trans Mountain built has contributed to sky-high gas prices in British Columbia. However, he says that is exactly what he wants.Rural people in my riding have no options. They cannot take public transit. They cannot take jerry cans across the border for cheaper gas in the U.S. When a person has to drive hundreds of kilometres to simply get to a hospital, electric vehicles remain impractical.When will the Prime Minister take real steps to address the issue of high gas prices?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA is going to have a major impact on our workers, but the Liberals can fix this deal.As the national director of United Steelworkers has said, Canada should not leave it up to the U.S. Congress to stand up for our workers. Our priority is protecting jobs in Canada.Will the Prime Minister work with us and not rush the NAFTA ratification, so we can be sure that all workers in Canada are properly protected?
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the tragic impact of the opioid crisis in B.C. and, indeed, right across the country. We have responded by investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment. We have restored harm reduction and approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are significantly removing barriers to treatment of those struggling with addictions. We are taking action to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, this week is National Accessibility Week, and I am proud of the investments our government has made and the work we have accomplished on accessibility in my riding of Shefford and across Canada since 2015. We are celebrating the accomplishments of Canadians with disabilities and the work being done across the country to give all Canadians the same opportunities to succeed.Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what our government is doing to create meaningful change and to help eliminate barriers to inclusion?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper told everyone, no matter what, just abdicate to the United States and that is exactly what the Conservatives were recommending we do. We stood strong alongside all Canadians and got a good deal for Canadians the way they expected.Do not take any lessons from the Conservatives on trade. They could not get CETA done. They could not get the TPP done. It is this government that made sure that we are the only G7 country to have a free trade deal with every other G7 country.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the head of the government. He has many roles and responsibilities, but his primary duty consists of two fundamental objectives. First of all, he must ensure our great federation is politically united. Second, he must ensure that the government is there for our military personnel, and that includes giving them the honours they deserve. Did the Prime Minister share the profound disappointment felt by Canadians and by our troops when they learned that the families of fallen Afghanistan war soldiers were excluded from the war memorial event?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton EastStoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Minister of Transport has done a lot of work on the new standards and new ways to ensure Canadians' safety. The top priority of the Minister of Transport and the government is the safety of Canadians who travel across the country and abroad. We will continue to put Canadians' safety front and centre when making decisions, and we will take steps to ensure that this is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility to protect the safety of Canadians very seriously. That is why we trust our security agencies and our national police force to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will not comment on specific investigations, but we will always assure Canadians that our agencies are doing their job to keep them safe.
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is following the direction of his environment minister, who said this week, if you actually say it louder, weve learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it. So just go in.
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with those who have lost family and friends in this opioid crisis.We continue to act to address this crisis. We are investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment, we have approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are removing barriers to treatment. We will continue to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, as we are proving every day, our government is there to stand up for Canadian workers and to protect jobs. That is what we negotiated in the new NAFTA. The NDP is criticizing the deal in the House of Commons, but at private events it has described the new NAFTA as the best deal possible. The NDP members know that the new NAFTA will protect millions of jobs that were in jeopardy. One need only listen to the member for RosemontLa Petite-Patrie, who said that the new NAFTA is the best deal possible and that it protects workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question and for his hard work.In budget 2019 we made significant investments to better support Canadians with disabilities. Unlike the Conservatives, we are prioritizing the passage of our historic accessibility bill, which will help create a system to proactively identify and eliminate barriers. We are building a country in which all Canadians can fully participate in society. We hope to have the support of all political parties.
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the excellent work done by workers at the Davie shipyard. They always deliver on time and on budget. The Conservatives shut Davie out of the national strategy. We awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Quebec companies, including $700 million for three icebreakers.In addition to the strategy, we have announced our intention of awarding Davie a contract to build two new east coast ferries. We will keep supporting workers across the country, including workers in SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean.
Mr. Speaker, since January 2018, the visa exemption has allowed Canadians to welcome nearly 500,000 legitimate travellers from Mexico, which has generated millions of dollars in economic benefits.During that same period, the Canada Border Services Agency prepared inadmissibility reports for approximately 190 Mexican nationals on criminality grounds. That accounts for 0.04% of all Mexican travellers seeking entry into Canada.The CBSA is working with our national and international partners. Information sharing
Mr. Speaker, let us remember that the Prime Minister promised a better NAFTA deal. Then he volunteered to renegotiate Canada's trading arrangement and not only did he come back with concession after concession, with no win at all, but he even signed a deal that still had steel and aluminum tariffs in place. Now we learn that there is language in the new agreement that suggests that Canada now has a quota by another name.Will the Prime Minister finally admit that this deal on steel tariffs is just not as advertised?
Mr. Speaker, the valiant Medric Cousineau is joining with those who say that not all veterans who participate in the new pension for life program are treated the same. A Liberal member from Nova Scotia said that if one veteran received less, that would be unacceptable.I remember when the Prime Minister said that veterans were asking for more than the government could give them.Does the Prime Minister agree with what his member said?
Mr. Speaker, do they know whom I listen to? I listen to Hassan Yussuf of the Canadian Labour Congress, who said that the updated NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of gender. I listen to Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, who said, We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.I listen, of course, to our friend Jerry Dias at Unifor, who said that this is a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, in a 2013 report on an accident between a bus and a VIA Rail train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada called for Transport Canada to examine the creation of crashworthiness standards for buses.Since then, there have been several of these types of accidents, including the sad accident involving the Humboldt Broncos. We are now at 19 people dead and 33 injured. However, Transport Canada has not yet done anything to change the crashworthiness standard.Can the Prime Minister explain why his minister has failed to act on this matter, even though his government has been in power for almost four years?
Mr. Speaker, let's try a different approach.The Minister of Public Safety said that the incident in Richmond Hill was not a matter of national security, but we have since learned that the FBI is involved.Can the Prime Minister confirm that this is a matter of national security? If not, why would the FBI be here?
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has been our priority ever since we took office, because the Conservatives gutted Veterans Affairs to balance the budget and used them for photo ops. We made investments of over $10 billion in new dollars in Canada's veterans so they are better supported. We are delivering on the promise to reintroduce the new pension for life, and that policy was designed so that every injured veteran is better off under our new system than they were under the old one. I have instructed Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is the case in every single case.
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has always been our top priority. The Conservatives cut veterans services to try to balance the budget at all costs.Our investment of over $10 billion provides more support to veterans. Thanks to our promise to reintroduce a new pension for life program, every injured veteran should be getting better support now than under the former system. I have asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such. There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize the numerous health issues the community suffers to this day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to build a health facility in Grassy Narrows. At the invitation of Chief Turtle, the minister is actually visiting the community today. We are focused on moving this critical work forward, working with the community to advance a solution. It is imperative that we all work together and ensure that the people of Grassy Narrows get the support they need.
Mr. Speaker, as we know, strong, independent media are vital to democracy. We will always take action to protect them. We recognize that both employers and employees must be part of the discussion on how we will defend our media.The Conservatives may only want to help the bosses and owners of media networks, but we are concerned about journalists and the plight of workers. We will always stand up for our media so that they can do their job, which is to look at issues with a critical eye and keep Canadians informed.
Mr. Speaker, the negotiation of NAFTA was a long and difficult process, but throughout it we could count on Canadians from all different backgrounds who had our backs as a government, and that was one of the reasons we got to a great deal. I was happy that we had former Conservative cabinet ministers supporting us on this. I was also happy that we had so many strong labour leaders supporting us and helping us in the renegotiation of NAFTA. That is why I thank organized labour for their support for this new deal and continue to work with them to protect Canadian jobs.
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the women and men who served in Afghanistan for their work and their sacrifices.The chief of the defence staff has apologized and has confirmed that the memorial will be accessible to anyone who wishes to visit it, whenever they like.We are working on creating a public monument that recognizes the service of our men and women in uniform throughout the war in Afghanistan. We held consultations with veterans, their families and stakeholders. We will select the location of the monument in partnership with the National Capital Commission. We will always stand up for our veterans and remember their sacrifices.
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the NDP that it was shameful that the Harper government allowed garbage to be exported without permits or safeguards. That is why in 2016, we signed the Basel agreement. The NDP needs to get its facts straight on that. We changed our regulations to comply with international obligations and strengthened controls of our exports.Despite this garbage having been exported to the Philippines under the Harper government, we are doing the right thing by bringing it back to Canada to ensure that it is properly disposed of.
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Let me finish.Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Mr. Speaker, here is another national security matter.We have learned that Mexicans have been crossing the border into Canada to commit criminal acts. We know that 190 of them have been arrested by Canadian authorities. However, we also know that 400 drug traffickers have entered Canada and 200 of them are living in Montreal. I want to know the truth.The Prime Minister has boasted about being open and transparent, so can he tell us whether drug traffickers are a threat to Canada's national security?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would like to take pride in our exports. My hometown produces an award-winning electric vehicle that we are proud to ship worldwide.The Prime Minister is undermining Canada's reputation when he allows hundreds of garbage containers of household waste, plastics and recyclables to be dumped to rot in other countries.When the Environment Minister was called out by the Philippines and Malaysia, the response to its own dumpster fire was that Canadian taxpayers now have to pay millions of dollars to pick up these companies' trash. The Prime Minister will not sign the Basel Convention Ban Amendment to stop companies from doing this.How many more countries will he allow to be his personal dumping destinations?
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as dumb, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Mr. Speaker, in February, the minister announced funding to make much needed safety improvements to the Fond du Lac Airport, but now the Liberals are telling the community that it needs to apply again for already promised funding. The Liberals are really quick to make promises to northerners, but they act more like the Conservatives, who never cared to invest in northern Saskatchewan. Northerners are tired of being betrayed by the Liberals.Will the Prime Minister commit to his promise to Fond du Lac and release the funding today?
Mr. Speaker, that is straight-up misinformation. Here is the truth: with just five months to go until the election, the Liberal government gave an openly pro-Liberal and aggressively anti-Conservative union the power to influence who will get $600 million in funding for the media. This is another Liberal ploy to interfere and try to influence the upcoming election campaign.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and boot his Unifor buddies off the panel, period?
Mr. Speaker, rushing the ratification of the new NAFTA as it stands will hurt workers, communities and our environment. While Congress in the U.S. is fighting for a better deal, the Liberals are busy doing Donald Trump's dirty work. Do Liberals understand how much NAFTA has cost working people?We do, because, unlike the Prime Minister, we work shoulder to shoulder with people who lost their jobs. The Prime Minister has no idea what this does to families. Liberals are telling working people that they are more interested in a trophy on the trade shelf than they are in improving their lives.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing for working people and wait for a better deal?
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the arguments the Conservatives are making on this issue are exactly the same arguments they have always made on why we should be eliminating the CBC. We disagree. We believe in CBC/Radio-Canada as a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to bring to Canadians news that matters to Canadians. We are always going to stand up to defend the CBC against the Conservatives, but indeed defend both employers and employees of media organizations against people who want to undermine them and attack them.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do nothing but flail about, because they have nothing to counter the fact that our plan is working. One million jobs have been created over the past four years. We have the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, including 300,000 kids. We have done this because we know that investing in the middle class, protecting the environment and working with all Canadians is the way to build a stronger future and a stronger economy.The Conservatives have nothing to say on that, so they resort to personal attacks and scary division tactics.
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate
Mr. Speaker, I had the tremendous pleasure of being in northern Saskatchewan just a week and a half ago to meet with folks in Meadow Lake to see the extraordinary work that is being done as we continue to invest in communities across northern Saskatchewan and, indeed, in indigenous communities right across the country. Reconciliation happens when we work in partnership and when we invest historic amounts of money in communities, but mostly when we give communities the strength and ability to build their own futures. That is what reconciliation means and that is what we will continue with.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about carbon taxes and the skyrocketing price of gas at the pumps.The Prime Minister himself has said that is exactly what we want. The Liberals' own secret documents show that the government plans to raise the carbon tax by another 60¢ per litre.When will the Prime Minister admit that his carbon tax is nothing more than a blatant cash grab that will hurt struggling Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to put his friend Jerry Dias and Unifor on the media funding panel is going to show how far the Liberals would go in trying to stack the deck in the next election. Unifor is overtly anti-Conservative. Its members are planning to campaign against us in the next election. No one is denying that. I guess that is why he is the Prime Minister's friend, but they have no business being on this media panel decision-making process.Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision and remove his friend and Unifor from this media
Mr. Speaker, the greatest threat to Canada's trading relationship with the United States is the weakness of the Prime Minister. Any old deal would have been better than the deal that he came home with. Concession after concession on dairy, on autos, on pharmaceuticals and now, in order to get steel tariffs lifted, he had to give away the only piece of leverage that Canada had. He has actually agreed not to put strategic tariffs on other U.S. industries. Once again, why did the Prime Minister give Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, too many families across the country are losing loved ones to the opioid public health crisis.The NDP government in B.C. launched a lawsuit against drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Ontario has now joined the lawsuit.Will the Prime Minister have the courage to support our demand for an inquiry into the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis to bring justice to the families?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House. The hon. member for WellingtonHalton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully. As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking. I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, to follow Conservatives' logic, anyone who has been attacked and mistreated by the Conservatives should not have a voice. That is what the 2015 election countered, as Canadians rose up across the country to reject the Conservative attacks and demonization of media, of indigenous peoples, of environmentalists, of hard-working Canadians, of young people.That approach by the Conservatives is exactly what is going to fail them again this time.
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep attacking organized labour, but we know that unions and workers are an essential part of our society and that they have a crucially important role to play. At the same time, we see the Conservatives making the same arguments on this issue that they made when they said we should eliminate the CBC. That is something the Conservatives have wanted for a long time. That is what the leader of the Conservative Party promised in his leadership campaign. We know the Conservatives will always go after the CBC
Mr. Speaker, the people of Grassy Narrows have suffered 50 years of lies, cover-ups and broken promises. Two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that that spring there would be shovels in the ground to build a mercury treatment centre, and nothing was done. Enough with the broken promises. Where is the money for the mercury treatment centre? What is the timeline? Why is the Prime Minister refusing to cover the treatment for people who have been poisoned by the corporate and political crime at Grassy Narrows?
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the Canada-U.S. trade relationship faced its greatest threat. We worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians.The Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they absolutely wanted to abdicate, at all costs, to get any old deal. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed. Now they are in favour of this good deal and have committed to ratifying it. They are all over the place.Our government is committed to standing up for Canadian workers, protecting jobs and always being there for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, Jerry Dias is not a journalist. He represents a union that has called itself the resistance to Conservatives. It is bankrolling partisan attack ads put out by a third party organization and run by high-level Liberal backroom veterans. There are other entities that could represent workers on this panel, but the Liberals chose a Liberal-friendly partisan organization.It is very clear that this is just one aspect of the Prime Minister's attempt to rig the next election, including putting caps on Conservatives but not on government spending announcements. Why
Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to Donald Trump. He abandoned access to markets for our main exports. He relinquished our influence and gave Mr. Trump all the power. He makes concessions every time he is at the table. President Trump is in charge and thanks to the Prime Minister, Canada can only stand by and watch.Why is the Prime Minister so proud of this historic humiliation?
Mr. Speaker, despite the protests of the Prime Minister, the issue here is one of bias. The question is whether or not an entity that has sworn that it likes to elect Liberals, and in fact make sure the Conservatives do not form government, an entity that gave $400,000, and boasted about it, to ensure the Conservative defeat in 2015 and as well says it is doing it again, and in fact has started again, is an appropriate appointment to a panel that is making decisions on who gets journalistic money.Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, gun violence in Canada is on the rise. While crime rates in general have dropped during the past several decades, gun violence has increased. Between 2013 and 2017, gun homicides across Canada doubled. More specifically, in my home town of Toronto we endured 96 tragic homicides in 2018. Could the Prime Minister inform the House what steps our government has taken to promote the safety of our communities?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's opioid crisis has claimed the lives of thousands of people of all ages and in all regions. Thousands of families have lost loved ones, and, tragically, experts say this crisis was avoidable. B.C. has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit and now other provinces are joining in. Again, provinces are leading the way while Liberals are trying to catch up.Will the Prime Minister finally agree to join this lawsuit and make sure drug companies are held to account for their role in this public health crisis?
Mr. Speaker, we will make no apologies for putting forward an opportunity to build a strong, independent media that is secure as we move forward to make sure that both employers and employees are represented. It is absolutely laughable that the Conservatives, who were found guilty of election fraud in multiple past elections, give any lessons on independence. What they tried to do with their unfair elections act was muzzle Elections Canada, preventing it from talking to young people, removing the right to vote from thousands of aboriginal people, thousands of young people, people right
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work.All of us can agree that one lost life is too many. Yesterday, our legislation passed to uphold our commitment for better background checks, for standardized record-keeping, for impartial classification and for safer transportation.Now the Conservatives have said they would repeal this legislation. If the Conservatives remove enhanced background checks, people will no longer need to show a licence when buying a firearm in Canada.Together with new federal investments, this bill will combat gun violence and
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, all the misleading quotes do not change the fact that people are concerned about lost jobs and rising drug costs. Here is a new quote: Canada continues to stand alone in failing to protect our key industries. The federal government must defend Canadian jobs. We do not support the rush to ratify. That is from Ken Neumann of United Steelworkers.Why is the Prime Minister propping up Donald Trump instead of working with progressives in Congress to get a better deal? When exactly did he give up on trying to do better?
Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 400 days since the Leader of the Opposition promised a plan to fight climate change. All the Conservatives have been doing is dragging their feet and encouraging their friends to take the government to court, instead of fighting climate change.I was happy to note that 97% of Canadians eligible for the climate incentive actually collected it. This means that families are better off with our price on pollution than they were before, as we fight climate change, because Canadians know that we have to fight climate change to build a strong economy.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister asked the chief of the defence staff to apologize for him, but he is the prime minister who has broken promises on veterans pensions. He is the prime minister who forced the Equitas Society's Afghanistan veterans back to court. He is the prime minister who cancelled the Afghanistan monument in 2016, which would otherwise be open to the public today. Moreover, the barring of families and veterans from a secret ceremony a few weeks ago was reprehensible. It has been four years of broken promises and four ineffective ministers. Why should military families and veterans ever believe this prime minister?
Mr. Speaker, we know that getting our oil resources to new markets is something that matters to Canadians right across the country and will help people in British Columbia.Unfortunately, for 10 years the Conservatives failed to get pipelines built to new markets. Their approach was to bulldoze through environmental protection and ignore indigenous peoples. They completely failed to get their exports to non-U.S. markets.We are following the court's direction on TMX, in the right way. We are diversifying our exports to support our workers, because, quite frankly, families in Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere cannot afford Conservative failures.
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons on ineffective ministers from that man, who was the one who presided over photo ops and cuts to veterans services under the Harper government. The fact is they used veterans for photo ops, instead of giving them the money they had, so as to balance the budget by nickel and diming them.We knew that what we were going to do was to invest $10 billion in veterans. A new veterans pension for life makes sure that every single veteran is better off now, and that is what we are going to stick with.
Mr. Speaker, two men were recently arrested in Richmond Hill for possessing explosive materials. At the time, the Minister of Public Safety dismissed the incident, claiming that it was not a national security matter. We have since learned that the FBI is investigating. Everyone knows that the FBI does not waste its time investigating trivial matters.Will the Prime Minister be transparent about this national security issue in my riding and provide the House with an update on the investigation?
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the United States trading relationship faced its greatest threats, but we worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians. Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they were in favour of our signing any old deal just to get things done and abdicating on it all, the way Stephen Harper told them to. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed, which we negotiated with the help of all Canadians, and now they are in favour of the deal and they commit to ratifying it. They are all over the place. We are staying focused on supporting Canadians, on fighting for workers
Mr. Speaker, what we know, whether on climate change or gas prices, is that we do not need another high school drama production from the Prime Minister. We need clear answers.The Prime Minister said that he believed $1.60-a-litre gas prices are exactly what we want. He admits his price on gas will go up 250%.Will the Prime Minister tell us the full and final price increase that his carbon tax will impose on a litre of gasoline?
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are playing the same old game of trying to pit Canadians against each other and distract from the fact that climate change is a real and pressing challenge to communities right across the country. Extreme wildfires, incredible flooding right across the country and greater drought periods are challenges costing Canadian families thousands upon thousands of dollars, and the economy millions upon billions of dollars.We have a plan to fight climate change. We know that we do not have a plan to build a stronger economy unless we have a plan to fight climate change. The Conservatives do not know that.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and
Mr. Speaker, even the members opposite are following the plan of the Liberal environment minister, screaming louder and louder to cover up the truth.The Prime Minister said $1.60-a-litre gas prices in B.C. are exactly what he wants. Will he admit that that is where all prices are going across Canada once his carbon tax is fully implemented?
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Mr. Speaker, Unifor, the largest union of journalists in the country, has clearly picked a side. It has declared war on the Conservative Party.What did the Liberals do? With just five months to go before the election, the Prime Minister gathered together his good friends from Unifor to form a panel that will decide how the Liberal government will distribute $600 million to Canadian media outlets. That makes no sense.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and remove his Unifor friends from the panel?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been forced to confirm that they are cutting benefits for veterans with severe and permanent injuries under the Prime Minister's veterans pension scheme. Veterans like Medric Cousineau have received letters that provide proof of the Prime Minister's betrayal. Even Liberal members of Parliament are calling this unacceptable.Does the Prime Minister agree with his Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, or does he still think veterans are asking for too much?
Mr. Speaker, this is actually embarrassing, that the Prime Minister does not understand the concept of bias on a panel that is making decisions.However, I should not be surprised. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks it is okay to traipse across the line that separates the judicial system from the executive branch. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks that ethical rules do not apply to him. This is the same Prime Minister who also made sure that he set up, beforehand, exactly what the outcome for Mark Norman would have been in terms of being charged.I take no lessons from this Prime Minister. Will he remove Unifor?
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister actually respected journalists, he would know that they do not want his friend Jerry and Unifor involved in this half-billion-dollar funding.Here is what they are saying about the impact it is going to have. They are saying that it is disastrous for public trust, that it erodes the independence and places journalists in a permanent and inescapable conflict of interest.The Prime Minister is making a terrible decision and he is using journalists as his cover. Will the Prime Minister stop putting journalists in this conflict of interest, reverse this decision and remove his friend Jerry and Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, defending our strong, independent media is something that is essential to this government, indeed to all Canadians, if we are going to defend our democracy. That means gathering a range of voices that represent different interests within the media universe to make sure that all voices are heard. We feel that it is important that employees, as well as employers, are heard from on that panel.The fact that the Conservatives, for many years, unfairly attacked organized labour and attacked unions across this country is now something they are
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong and independent media is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy, so we are acting to ensure that the media continues to hold elected officials to account. As part of that, we are ensuring that both employers and employees are represented on this independent panel. The Conservatives keep up their attacks on organized labour; we will defend workers right across this country. The Conservatives will keep up their attacks on the media, including on CBC, which the Leader of the Opposition committed to eliminate; we are going to stay focused on protecting the
Mr. Speaker, we know that a strong, independent media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy. That is why we wanted to make sure, on our independent panel, that unlike what the Conservatives want, it is not just newspaper owners and media giants that are on that panel. We need to make sure that hard-working journalists are well represented on that panel as well.On this side of the House, we will always defend labour and we will always defend workers, unlike the Conservatives, who attack organized labour at every chance they get, including with Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 in the last Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, a delegation from Saguenay is visiting Davie today. The delegation wants to send the clear message that the shipyard is ready to secure new contracts from the federal government and that businesses in the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region are ready to reap the benefits. The contracting process is taking too long, and that is holding up the potential economic spinoffs.Will the Liberals pledge to take all necessary steps to ensure that Davie gets new contracts before the election, thus ensuring all the workers in my region can benefit from the resulting economic activity?
Mr. Speaker, this government takes very seriously the responsibility to keep Canadians safe. That is why I can assure all members of the House that our security agencies, that our RCMP, take to heart their responsibility to make sure that Canadians are well protected. They are following all the appropriate procedures in every case. We have full confidence in the excellence of our intelligence agencies and our police services.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to its panel to determine eligibility for half a billion dollar bailout package has destroyed the government's credibility. Unifor is a highly partisan group with aggressive partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to his panel.Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he is openly trying to stack the deck in advance of the next election?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure to get Trans Mountain built has contributed to sky-high gas prices in British Columbia. However, he says that is exactly what he wants.Rural people in my riding have no options. They cannot take public transit. They cannot take jerry cans across the border for cheaper gas in the U.S. When a person has to drive hundreds of kilometres to simply get to a hospital, electric vehicles remain impractical.When will the Prime Minister take real steps to address the issue of high gas prices?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA is going to have a major impact on our workers, but the Liberals can fix this deal.As the national director of United Steelworkers has said, Canada should not leave it up to the U.S. Congress to stand up for our workers. Our priority is protecting jobs in Canada.Will the Prime Minister work with us and not rush the NAFTA ratification, so we can be sure that all workers in Canada are properly protected?
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the tragic impact of the opioid crisis in B.C. and, indeed, right across the country. We have responded by investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment. We have restored harm reduction and approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are significantly removing barriers to treatment of those struggling with addictions. We are taking action to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, this week is National Accessibility Week, and I am proud of the investments our government has made and the work we have accomplished on accessibility in my riding of Shefford and across Canada since 2015. We are celebrating the accomplishments of Canadians with disabilities and the work being done across the country to give all Canadians the same opportunities to succeed.Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what our government is doing to create meaningful change and to help eliminate barriers to inclusion?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper told everyone, no matter what, just abdicate to the United States and that is exactly what the Conservatives were recommending we do. We stood strong alongside all Canadians and got a good deal for Canadians the way they expected.Do not take any lessons from the Conservatives on trade. They could not get CETA done. They could not get the TPP done. It is this government that made sure that we are the only G7 country to have a free trade deal with every other G7 country.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the head of the government. He has many roles and responsibilities, but his primary duty consists of two fundamental objectives. First of all, he must ensure our great federation is politically united. Second, he must ensure that the government is there for our military personnel, and that includes giving them the honours they deserve. Did the Prime Minister share the profound disappointment felt by Canadians and by our troops when they learned that the families of fallen Afghanistan war soldiers were excluded from the war memorial event?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton EastStoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Minister of Transport has done a lot of work on the new standards and new ways to ensure Canadians' safety. The top priority of the Minister of Transport and the government is the safety of Canadians who travel across the country and abroad. We will continue to put Canadians' safety front and centre when making decisions, and we will take steps to ensure that this is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility to protect the safety of Canadians very seriously. That is why we trust our security agencies and our national police force to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will not comment on specific investigations, but we will always assure Canadians that our agencies are doing their job to keep them safe.
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is following the direction of his environment minister, who said this week, if you actually say it louder, weve learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it. So just go in.
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with those who have lost family and friends in this opioid crisis.We continue to act to address this crisis. We are investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment, we have approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are removing barriers to treatment. We will continue to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, as we are proving every day, our government is there to stand up for Canadian workers and to protect jobs. That is what we negotiated in the new NAFTA. The NDP is criticizing the deal in the House of Commons, but at private events it has described the new NAFTA as the best deal possible. The NDP members know that the new NAFTA will protect millions of jobs that were in jeopardy. One need only listen to the member for RosemontLa Petite-Patrie, who said that the new NAFTA is the best deal possible and that it protects workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question and for his hard work.In budget 2019 we made significant investments to better support Canadians with disabilities. Unlike the Conservatives, we are prioritizing the passage of our historic accessibility bill, which will help create a system to proactively identify and eliminate barriers. We are building a country in which all Canadians can fully participate in society. We hope to have the support of all political parties.
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the excellent work done by workers at the Davie shipyard. They always deliver on time and on budget. The Conservatives shut Davie out of the national strategy. We awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Quebec companies, including $700 million for three icebreakers.In addition to the strategy, we have announced our intention of awarding Davie a contract to build two new east coast ferries. We will keep supporting workers across the country, including workers in SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean.
Mr. Speaker, since January 2018, the visa exemption has allowed Canadians to welcome nearly 500,000 legitimate travellers from Mexico, which has generated millions of dollars in economic benefits.During that same period, the Canada Border Services Agency prepared inadmissibility reports for approximately 190 Mexican nationals on criminality grounds. That accounts for 0.04% of all Mexican travellers seeking entry into Canada.The CBSA is working with our national and international partners. Information sharing
Mr. Speaker, let us remember that the Prime Minister promised a better NAFTA deal. Then he volunteered to renegotiate Canada's trading arrangement and not only did he come back with concession after concession, with no win at all, but he even signed a deal that still had steel and aluminum tariffs in place. Now we learn that there is language in the new agreement that suggests that Canada now has a quota by another name.Will the Prime Minister finally admit that this deal on steel tariffs is just not as advertised?
Mr. Speaker, the valiant Medric Cousineau is joining with those who say that not all veterans who participate in the new pension for life program are treated the same. A Liberal member from Nova Scotia said that if one veteran received less, that would be unacceptable.I remember when the Prime Minister said that veterans were asking for more than the government could give them.Does the Prime Minister agree with what his member said?
Mr. Speaker, do they know whom I listen to? I listen to Hassan Yussuf of the Canadian Labour Congress, who said that the updated NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of gender. I listen to Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, who said, We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.I listen, of course, to our friend Jerry Dias at Unifor, who said that this is a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, in a 2013 report on an accident between a bus and a VIA Rail train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada called for Transport Canada to examine the creation of crashworthiness standards for buses.Since then, there have been several of these types of accidents, including the sad accident involving the Humboldt Broncos. We are now at 19 people dead and 33 injured. However, Transport Canada has not yet done anything to change the crashworthiness standard.Can the Prime Minister explain why his minister has failed to act on this matter, even though his government has been in power for almost four years?
Mr. Speaker, let's try a different approach.The Minister of Public Safety said that the incident in Richmond Hill was not a matter of national security, but we have since learned that the FBI is involved.Can the Prime Minister confirm that this is a matter of national security? If not, why would the FBI be here?
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has been our priority ever since we took office, because the Conservatives gutted Veterans Affairs to balance the budget and used them for photo ops. We made investments of over $10 billion in new dollars in Canada's veterans so they are better supported. We are delivering on the promise to reintroduce the new pension for life, and that policy was designed so that every injured veteran is better off under our new system than they were under the old one. I have instructed Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is the case in every single case.
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has always been our top priority. The Conservatives cut veterans services to try to balance the budget at all costs.Our investment of over $10 billion provides more support to veterans. Thanks to our promise to reintroduce a new pension for life program, every injured veteran should be getting better support now than under the former system. I have asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such. There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize the numerous health issues the community suffers to this day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to build a health facility in Grassy Narrows. At the invitation of Chief Turtle, the minister is actually visiting the community today. We are focused on moving this critical work forward, working with the community to advance a solution. It is imperative that we all work together and ensure that the people of Grassy Narrows get the support they need.
Mr. Speaker, as we know, strong, independent media are vital to democracy. We will always take action to protect them. We recognize that both employers and employees must be part of the discussion on how we will defend our media.The Conservatives may only want to help the bosses and owners of media networks, but we are concerned about journalists and the plight of workers. We will always stand up for our media so that they can do their job, which is to look at issues with a critical eye and keep Canadians informed.
Mr. Speaker, the negotiation of NAFTA was a long and difficult process, but throughout it we could count on Canadians from all different backgrounds who had our backs as a government, and that was one of the reasons we got to a great deal. I was happy that we had former Conservative cabinet ministers supporting us on this. I was also happy that we had so many strong labour leaders supporting us and helping us in the renegotiation of NAFTA. That is why I thank organized labour for their support for this new deal and continue to work with them to protect Canadian jobs.
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the women and men who served in Afghanistan for their work and their sacrifices.The chief of the defence staff has apologized and has confirmed that the memorial will be accessible to anyone who wishes to visit it, whenever they like.We are working on creating a public monument that recognizes the service of our men and women in uniform throughout the war in Afghanistan. We held consultations with veterans, their families and stakeholders. We will select the location of the monument in partnership with the National Capital Commission. We will always stand up for our veterans and remember their sacrifices.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister actually respected journalists, he would know that they do not want his friend Jerry and Unifor involved in this half-billion-dollar funding.Here is what they are saying about the impact it is going to have. They are saying that it is disastrous for public trust, that it erodes the independence and places journalists in a permanent and inescapable conflict of interest.The Prime Minister is making a terrible decision and he is using journalists as his cover. Will the Prime Minister stop putting journalists in this conflict of interest, reverse this decision and remove his friend Jerry and Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with those who have lost family and friends in this opioid crisis.We continue to act to address this crisis. We are investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment, we have approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are removing barriers to treatment. We will continue to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, in a 2013 report on an accident between a bus and a VIA Rail train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada called for Transport Canada to examine the creation of crashworthiness standards for buses.Since then, there have been several of these types of accidents, including the sad accident involving the Humboldt Broncos. We are now at 19 people dead and 33 injured. However, Transport Canada has not yet done anything to change the crashworthiness standard.Can the Prime Minister explain why his minister has failed to act on this matter, even though his government has been in power for almost four years?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been forced to confirm that they are cutting benefits for veterans with severe and permanent injuries under the Prime Minister's veterans pension scheme. Veterans like Medric Cousineau have received letters that provide proof of the Prime Minister's betrayal. Even Liberal members of Parliament are calling this unacceptable.Does the Prime Minister agree with his Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, or does he still think veterans are asking for too much?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister asked the chief of the defence staff to apologize for him, but he is the prime minister who has broken promises on veterans pensions. He is the prime minister who forced the Equitas Society's Afghanistan veterans back to court. He is the prime minister who cancelled the Afghanistan monument in 2016, which would otherwise be open to the public today. Moreover, the barring of families and veterans from a secret ceremony a few weeks ago was reprehensible. It has been four years of broken promises and four ineffective ministers. Why should military families and veterans ever believe this prime minister?
Mr. Speaker, here is another national security matter.We have learned that Mexicans have been crossing the border into Canada to commit criminal acts. We know that 190 of them have been arrested by Canadian authorities. However, we also know that 400 drug traffickers have entered Canada and 200 of them are living in Montreal. I want to know the truth.The Prime Minister has boasted about being open and transparent, so can he tell us whether drug traffickers are a threat to Canada's national security?
Mr. Speaker, the people of Grassy Narrows have suffered 50 years of lies, cover-ups and broken promises. Two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that that spring there would be shovels in the ground to build a mercury treatment centre, and nothing was done. Enough with the broken promises. Where is the money for the mercury treatment centre? What is the timeline? Why is the Prime Minister refusing to cover the treatment for people who have been poisoned by the corporate and political crime at Grassy Narrows?
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do nothing but flail about, because they have nothing to counter the fact that our plan is working. One million jobs have been created over the past four years. We have the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, including 300,000 kids. We have done this because we know that investing in the middle class, protecting the environment and working with all Canadians is the way to build a stronger future and a stronger economy.The Conservatives have nothing to say on that, so they resort to personal attacks and scary division tactics.
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the tragic impact of the opioid crisis in B.C. and, indeed, right across the country. We have responded by investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment. We have restored harm reduction and approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are significantly removing barriers to treatment of those struggling with addictions. We are taking action to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Mr. Speaker, gun violence in Canada is on the rise. While crime rates in general have dropped during the past several decades, gun violence has increased. Between 2013 and 2017, gun homicides across Canada doubled. More specifically, in my home town of Toronto we endured 96 tragic homicides in 2018. Could the Prime Minister inform the House what steps our government has taken to promote the safety of our communities?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such. There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize the numerous health issues the community suffers to this day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to build a health facility in Grassy Narrows. At the invitation of Chief Turtle, the minister is actually visiting the community today. We are focused on moving this critical work forward, working with the community to advance a solution. It is imperative that we all work together and ensure that the people of Grassy Narrows get the support they need.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
Mr. Speaker, we know that getting our oil resources to new markets is something that matters to Canadians right across the country and will help people in British Columbia.Unfortunately, for 10 years the Conservatives failed to get pipelines built to new markets. Their approach was to bulldoze through environmental protection and ignore indigenous peoples. They completely failed to get their exports to non-U.S. markets.We are following the court's direction on TMX, in the right way. We are diversifying our exports to support our workers, because, quite frankly, families in Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere cannot afford Conservative failures.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is following the direction of his environment minister, who said this week, if you actually say it louder, weve learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it. So just go in.
Mr. Speaker, let's try a different approach.The Minister of Public Safety said that the incident in Richmond Hill was not a matter of national security, but we have since learned that the FBI is involved.Can the Prime Minister confirm that this is a matter of national security? If not, why would the FBI be here?
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion
Let me finish.Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Mr. Speaker, Jerry Dias is not a journalist. He represents a union that has called itself the resistance to Conservatives. It is bankrolling partisan attack ads put out by a third party organization and run by high-level Liberal backroom veterans. There are other entities that could represent workers on this panel, but the Liberals chose a Liberal-friendly partisan organization.It is very clear that this is just one aspect of the Prime Minister's attempt to rig the next election, including putting caps on Conservatives but not on government spending announcements. Why
Mr. Speaker, we will make no apologies for putting forward an opportunity to build a strong, independent media that is secure as we move forward to make sure that both employers and employees are represented. It is absolutely laughable that the Conservatives, who were found guilty of election fraud in multiple past elections, give any lessons on independence. What they tried to do with their unfair elections act was muzzle Elections Canada, preventing it from talking to young people, removing the right to vote from thousands of aboriginal people, thousands of young people, people right
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to put his friend Jerry Dias and Unifor on the media funding panel is going to show how far the Liberals would go in trying to stack the deck in the next election. Unifor is overtly anti-Conservative. Its members are planning to campaign against us in the next election. No one is denying that. I guess that is why he is the Prime Minister's friend, but they have no business being on this media panel decision-making process.Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision and remove his friend and Unifor from this media
Mr. Speaker, two men were recently arrested in Richmond Hill for possessing explosive materials. At the time, the Minister of Public Safety dismissed the incident, claiming that it was not a national security matter. We have since learned that the FBI is investigating. Everyone knows that the FBI does not waste its time investigating trivial matters.Will the Prime Minister be transparent about this national security issue in my riding and provide the House with an update on the investigation?
Mr. Speaker, let us remember that the Prime Minister promised a better NAFTA deal. Then he volunteered to renegotiate Canada's trading arrangement and not only did he come back with concession after concession, with no win at all, but he even signed a deal that still had steel and aluminum tariffs in place. Now we learn that there is language in the new agreement that suggests that Canada now has a quota by another name.Will the Prime Minister finally admit that this deal on steel tariffs is just not as advertised?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure to get Trans Mountain built has contributed to sky-high gas prices in British Columbia. However, he says that is exactly what he wants.Rural people in my riding have no options. They cannot take public transit. They cannot take jerry cans across the border for cheaper gas in the U.S. When a person has to drive hundreds of kilometres to simply get to a hospital, electric vehicles remain impractical.When will the Prime Minister take real steps to address the issue of high gas prices?
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep attacking organized labour, but we know that unions and workers are an essential part of our society and that they have a crucially important role to play. At the same time, we see the Conservatives making the same arguments on this issue that they made when they said we should eliminate the CBC. That is something the Conservatives have wanted for a long time. That is what the leader of the Conservative Party promised in his leadership campaign. We know the Conservatives will always go after the CBC
Mr. Speaker, since January 2018, the visa exemption has allowed Canadians to welcome nearly 500,000 legitimate travellers from Mexico, which has generated millions of dollars in economic benefits.During that same period, the Canada Border Services Agency prepared inadmissibility reports for approximately 190 Mexican nationals on criminality grounds. That accounts for 0.04% of all Mexican travellers seeking entry into Canada.The CBSA is working with our national and international partners. Information sharing
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about carbon taxes and the skyrocketing price of gas at the pumps.The Prime Minister himself has said that is exactly what we want. The Liberals' own secret documents show that the government plans to raise the carbon tax by another 60¢ per litre.When will the Prime Minister admit that his carbon tax is nothing more than a blatant cash grab that will hurt struggling Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, the valiant Medric Cousineau is joining with those who say that not all veterans who participate in the new pension for life program are treated the same. A Liberal member from Nova Scotia said that if one veteran received less, that would be unacceptable.I remember when the Prime Minister said that veterans were asking for more than the government could give them.Does the Prime Minister agree with what his member said?
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the NDP that it was shameful that the Harper government allowed garbage to be exported without permits or safeguards. That is why in 2016, we signed the Basel agreement. The NDP needs to get its facts straight on that. We changed our regulations to comply with international obligations and strengthened controls of our exports.Despite this garbage having been exported to the Philippines under the Harper government, we are doing the right thing by bringing it back to Canada to ensure that it is properly disposed of.
Mr. Speaker, as we know, strong, independent media are vital to democracy. We will always take action to protect them. We recognize that both employers and employees must be part of the discussion on how we will defend our media.The Conservatives may only want to help the bosses and owners of media networks, but we are concerned about journalists and the plight of workers. We will always stand up for our media so that they can do their job, which is to look at issues with a critical eye and keep Canadians informed.
Mr. Speaker, to follow Conservatives' logic, anyone who has been attacked and mistreated by the Conservatives should not have a voice. That is what the 2015 election countered, as Canadians rose up across the country to reject the Conservative attacks and demonization of media, of indigenous peoples, of environmentalists, of hard-working Canadians, of young people.That approach by the Conservatives is exactly what is going to fail them again this time.
Mr. Speaker, even the members opposite are following the plan of the Liberal environment minister, screaming louder and louder to cover up the truth.The Prime Minister said $1.60-a-litre gas prices in B.C. are exactly what he wants. Will he admit that that is where all prices are going across Canada once his carbon tax is fully implemented?
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility to protect the safety of Canadians very seriously. That is why we trust our security agencies and our national police force to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will not comment on specific investigations, but we will always assure Canadians that our agencies are doing their job to keep them safe.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question and for his hard work.In budget 2019 we made significant investments to better support Canadians with disabilities. Unlike the Conservatives, we are prioritizing the passage of our historic accessibility bill, which will help create a system to proactively identify and eliminate barriers. We are building a country in which all Canadians can fully participate in society. We hope to have the support of all political parties.
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as dumb, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to its panel to determine eligibility for half a billion dollar bailout package has destroyed the government's credibility. Unifor is a highly partisan group with aggressive partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to his panel.Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he is openly trying to stack the deck in advance of the next election?
Mr. Speaker, that is straight-up misinformation. Here is the truth: with just five months to go until the election, the Liberal government gave an openly pro-Liberal and aggressively anti-Conservative union the power to influence who will get $600 million in funding for the media. This is another Liberal ploy to interfere and try to influence the upcoming election campaign.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and boot his Unifor buddies off the panel, period?
Mr. Speaker, a delegation from Saguenay is visiting Davie today. The delegation wants to send the clear message that the shipyard is ready to secure new contracts from the federal government and that businesses in the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region are ready to reap the benefits. The contracting process is taking too long, and that is holding up the potential economic spinoffs.Will the Liberals pledge to take all necessary steps to ensure that Davie gets new contracts before the election, thus ensuring all the workers in my region can benefit from the resulting economic activity?
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong and independent media is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy, so we are acting to ensure that the media continues to hold elected officials to account. As part of that, we are ensuring that both employers and employees are represented on this independent panel. The Conservatives keep up their attacks on organized labour; we will defend workers right across this country. The Conservatives will keep up their attacks on the media, including on CBC, which the Leader of the Opposition committed to eliminate; we are going to stay focused on protecting the
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the head of the government. He has many roles and responsibilities, but his primary duty consists of two fundamental objectives. First of all, he must ensure our great federation is politically united. Second, he must ensure that the government is there for our military personnel, and that includes giving them the honours they deserve. Did the Prime Minister share the profound disappointment felt by Canadians and by our troops when they learned that the families of fallen Afghanistan war soldiers were excluded from the war memorial event?
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House. The hon. member for WellingtonHalton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully. As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking. I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in February, the minister announced funding to make much needed safety improvements to the Fond du Lac Airport, but now the Liberals are telling the community that it needs to apply again for already promised funding. The Liberals are really quick to make promises to northerners, but they act more like the Conservatives, who never cared to invest in northern Saskatchewan. Northerners are tired of being betrayed by the Liberals.Will the Prime Minister commit to his promise to Fond du Lac and release the funding today?
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has been our priority ever since we took office, because the Conservatives gutted Veterans Affairs to balance the budget and used them for photo ops. We made investments of over $10 billion in new dollars in Canada's veterans so they are better supported. We are delivering on the promise to reintroduce the new pension for life, and that policy was designed so that every injured veteran is better off under our new system than they were under the old one. I have instructed Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is the case in every single case.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are playing the same old game of trying to pit Canadians against each other and distract from the fact that climate change is a real and pressing challenge to communities right across the country. Extreme wildfires, incredible flooding right across the country and greater drought periods are challenges costing Canadian families thousands upon thousands of dollars, and the economy millions upon billions of dollars.We have a plan to fight climate change. We know that we do not have a plan to build a stronger economy unless we have a plan to fight climate change. The Conservatives do not know that.
Mr. Speaker, defending our strong, independent media is something that is essential to this government, indeed to all Canadians, if we are going to defend our democracy. That means gathering a range of voices that represent different interests within the media universe to make sure that all voices are heard. We feel that it is important that employees, as well as employers, are heard from on that panel.The fact that the Conservatives, for many years, unfairly attacked organized labour and attacked unions across this country is now something they are
Mr. Speaker, what we know, whether on climate change or gas prices, is that we do not need another high school drama production from the Prime Minister. We need clear answers.The Prime Minister said that he believed $1.60-a-litre gas prices are exactly what we want. He admits his price on gas will go up 250%.Will the Prime Minister tell us the full and final price increase that his carbon tax will impose on a litre of gasoline?
Mr. Speaker, this is actually embarrassing, that the Prime Minister does not understand the concept of bias on a panel that is making decisions.However, I should not be surprised. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks it is okay to traipse across the line that separates the judicial system from the executive branch. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks that ethical rules do not apply to him. This is the same Prime Minister who also made sure that he set up, beforehand, exactly what the outcome for Mark Norman would have been in terms of being charged.I take no lessons from this Prime Minister. Will he remove Unifor?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA is going to have a major impact on our workers, but the Liberals can fix this deal.As the national director of United Steelworkers has said, Canada should not leave it up to the U.S. Congress to stand up for our workers. Our priority is protecting jobs in Canada.Will the Prime Minister work with us and not rush the NAFTA ratification, so we can be sure that all workers in Canada are properly protected?
Mr. Speaker, rushing the ratification of the new NAFTA as it stands will hurt workers, communities and our environment. While Congress in the U.S. is fighting for a better deal, the Liberals are busy doing Donald Trump's dirty work. Do Liberals understand how much NAFTA has cost working people?We do, because, unlike the Prime Minister, we work shoulder to shoulder with people who lost their jobs. The Prime Minister has no idea what this does to families. Liberals are telling working people that they are more interested in a trophy on the trade shelf than they are in improving their lives.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing for working people and wait for a better deal?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work.All of us can agree that one lost life is too many. Yesterday, our legislation passed to uphold our commitment for better background checks, for standardized record-keeping, for impartial classification and for safer transportation.Now the Conservatives have said they would repeal this legislation. If the Conservatives remove enhanced background checks, people will no longer need to show a licence when buying a firearm in Canada.Together with new federal investments, this bill will combat gun violence and
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons on ineffective ministers from that man, who was the one who presided over photo ops and cuts to veterans services under the Harper government. The fact is they used veterans for photo ops, instead of giving them the money they had, so as to balance the budget by nickel and diming them.We knew that what we were going to do was to invest $10 billion in veterans. A new veterans pension for life makes sure that every single veteran is better off now, and that is what we are going to stick with.
Mr. Speaker, Canada's opioid crisis has claimed the lives of thousands of people of all ages and in all regions. Thousands of families have lost loved ones, and, tragically, experts say this crisis was avoidable. B.C. has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit and now other provinces are joining in. Again, provinces are leading the way while Liberals are trying to catch up.Will the Prime Minister finally agree to join this lawsuit and make sure drug companies are held to account for their role in this public health crisis?
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has always been our top priority. The Conservatives cut veterans services to try to balance the budget at all costs.Our investment of over $10 billion provides more support to veterans. Thanks to our promise to reintroduce a new pension for life program, every injured veteran should be getting better support now than under the former system. I have asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Mr. Speaker, this government takes very seriously the responsibility to keep Canadians safe. That is why I can assure all members of the House that our security agencies, that our RCMP, take to heart their responsibility to make sure that Canadians are well protected. They are following all the appropriate procedures in every case. We have full confidence in the excellence of our intelligence agencies and our police services.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the arguments the Conservatives are making on this issue are exactly the same arguments they have always made on why we should be eliminating the CBC. We disagree. We believe in CBC/Radio-Canada as a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to bring to Canadians news that matters to Canadians. We are always going to stand up to defend the CBC against the Conservatives, but indeed defend both employers and employees of media organizations against people who want to undermine them and attack them.
Mr. Speaker, we know that a strong, independent media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy. That is why we wanted to make sure, on our independent panel, that unlike what the Conservatives want, it is not just newspaper owners and media giants that are on that panel. We need to make sure that hard-working journalists are well represented on that panel as well.On this side of the House, we will always defend labour and we will always defend workers, unlike the Conservatives, who attack organized labour at every chance they get, including with Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 in the last Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, the greatest threat to Canada's trading relationship with the United States is the weakness of the Prime Minister. Any old deal would have been better than the deal that he came home with. Concession after concession on dairy, on autos, on pharmaceuticals and now, in order to get steel tariffs lifted, he had to give away the only piece of leverage that Canada had. He has actually agreed not to put strategic tariffs on other U.S. industries. Once again, why did the Prime Minister give Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, as we are proving every day, our government is there to stand up for Canadian workers and to protect jobs. That is what we negotiated in the new NAFTA. The NDP is criticizing the deal in the House of Commons, but at private events it has described the new NAFTA as the best deal possible. The NDP members know that the new NAFTA will protect millions of jobs that were in jeopardy. One need only listen to the member for RosemontLa Petite-Patrie, who said that the new NAFTA is the best deal possible and that it protects workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Minister of Transport has done a lot of work on the new standards and new ways to ensure Canadians' safety. The top priority of the Minister of Transport and the government is the safety of Canadians who travel across the country and abroad. We will continue to put Canadians' safety front and centre when making decisions, and we will take steps to ensure that this is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the women and men who served in Afghanistan for their work and their sacrifices.The chief of the defence staff has apologized and has confirmed that the memorial will be accessible to anyone who wishes to visit it, whenever they like.We are working on creating a public monument that recognizes the service of our men and women in uniform throughout the war in Afghanistan. We held consultations with veterans, their families and stakeholders. We will select the location of the monument in partnership with the National Capital Commission. We will always stand up for our veterans and remember their sacrifices.
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
Mr. Speaker, I had the tremendous pleasure of being in northern Saskatchewan just a week and a half ago to meet with folks in Meadow Lake to see the extraordinary work that is being done as we continue to invest in communities across northern Saskatchewan and, indeed, in indigenous communities right across the country. Reconciliation happens when we work in partnership and when we invest historic amounts of money in communities, but mostly when we give communities the strength and ability to build their own futures. That is what reconciliation means and that is what we will continue with.
Mr. Speaker, all the misleading quotes do not change the fact that people are concerned about lost jobs and rising drug costs. Here is a new quote: Canada continues to stand alone in failing to protect our key industries. The federal government must defend Canadian jobs. We do not support the rush to ratify. That is from Ken Neumann of United Steelworkers.Why is the Prime Minister propping up Donald Trump instead of working with progressives in Congress to get a better deal? When exactly did he give up on trying to do better?
Mr. Speaker, the negotiation of NAFTA was a long and difficult process, but throughout it we could count on Canadians from all different backgrounds who had our backs as a government, and that was one of the reasons we got to a great deal. I was happy that we had former Conservative cabinet ministers supporting us on this. I was also happy that we had so many strong labour leaders supporting us and helping us in the renegotiation of NAFTA. That is why I thank organized labour for their support for this new deal and continue to work with them to protect Canadian jobs.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would like to take pride in our exports. My hometown produces an award-winning electric vehicle that we are proud to ship worldwide.The Prime Minister is undermining Canada's reputation when he allows hundreds of garbage containers of household waste, plastics and recyclables to be dumped to rot in other countries.When the Environment Minister was called out by the Philippines and Malaysia, the response to its own dumpster fire was that Canadian taxpayers now have to pay millions of dollars to pick up these companies' trash. The Prime Minister will not sign the Basel Convention Ban Amendment to stop companies from doing this.How many more countries will he allow to be his personal dumping destinations?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper told everyone, no matter what, just abdicate to the United States and that is exactly what the Conservatives were recommending we do. We stood strong alongside all Canadians and got a good deal for Canadians the way they expected.Do not take any lessons from the Conservatives on trade. They could not get CETA done. They could not get the TPP done. It is this government that made sure that we are the only G7 country to have a free trade deal with every other G7 country.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton EastStoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to Donald Trump. He abandoned access to markets for our main exports. He relinquished our influence and gave Mr. Trump all the power. He makes concessions every time he is at the table. President Trump is in charge and thanks to the Prime Minister, Canada can only stand by and watch.Why is the Prime Minister so proud of this historic humiliation?
Mr. Speaker, Unifor, the largest union of journalists in the country, has clearly picked a side. It has declared war on the Conservative Party.What did the Liberals do? With just five months to go before the election, the Prime Minister gathered together his good friends from Unifor to form a panel that will decide how the Liberal government will distribute $600 million to Canadian media outlets. That makes no sense.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and remove his Unifor friends from the panel?
Mr. Speaker, this week is National Accessibility Week, and I am proud of the investments our government has made and the work we have accomplished on accessibility in my riding of Shefford and across Canada since 2015. We are celebrating the accomplishments of Canadians with disabilities and the work being done across the country to give all Canadians the same opportunities to succeed.Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what our government is doing to create meaningful change and to help eliminate barriers to inclusion?
Mr. Speaker, too many families across the country are losing loved ones to the opioid public health crisis.The NDP government in B.C. launched a lawsuit against drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Ontario has now joined the lawsuit.Will the Prime Minister have the courage to support our demand for an inquiry into the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis to bring justice to the families?
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the United States trading relationship faced its greatest threats, but we worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians. Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they were in favour of our signing any old deal just to get things done and abdicating on it all, the way Stephen Harper told them to. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed, which we negotiated with the help of all Canadians, and now they are in favour of the deal and they commit to ratifying it. They are all over the place. We are staying focused on supporting Canadians, on fighting for workers
Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 400 days since the Leader of the Opposition promised a plan to fight climate change. All the Conservatives have been doing is dragging their feet and encouraging their friends to take the government to court, instead of fighting climate change.I was happy to note that 97% of Canadians eligible for the climate incentive actually collected it. This means that families are better off with our price on pollution than they were before, as we fight climate change, because Canadians know that we have to fight climate change to build a strong economy.
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the Canada-U.S. trade relationship faced its greatest threat. We worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians.The Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they absolutely wanted to abdicate, at all costs, to get any old deal. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed. Now they are in favour of this good deal and have committed to ratifying it. They are all over the place.Our government is committed to standing up for Canadian workers, protecting jobs and always being there for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the excellent work done by workers at the Davie shipyard. They always deliver on time and on budget. The Conservatives shut Davie out of the national strategy. We awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Quebec companies, including $700 million for three icebreakers.In addition to the strategy, we have announced our intention of awarding Davie a contract to build two new east coast ferries. We will keep supporting workers across the country, including workers in SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean.
Mr. Speaker, do they know whom I listen to? I listen to Hassan Yussuf of the Canadian Labour Congress, who said that the updated NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of gender. I listen to Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, who said, We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.I listen, of course, to our friend Jerry Dias at Unifor, who said that this is a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, despite the protests of the Prime Minister, the issue here is one of bias. The question is whether or not an entity that has sworn that it likes to elect Liberals, and in fact make sure the Conservatives do not form government, an entity that gave $400,000, and boasted about it, to ensure the Conservative defeat in 2015 and as well says it is doing it again, and in fact has started again, is an appropriate appointment to a panel that is making decisions on who gets journalistic money.Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister actually respected journalists, he would know that they do not want his friend Jerry and Unifor involved in this half-billion-dollar funding.Here is what they are saying about the impact it is going to have. They are saying that it is disastrous for public trust, that it erodes the independence and places journalists in a permanent and inescapable conflict of interest.The Prime Minister is making a terrible decision and he is using journalists as his cover. Will the Prime Minister stop putting journalists in this conflict of interest, reverse this decision and remove his friend Jerry and Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with those who have lost family and friends in this opioid crisis.We continue to act to address this crisis. We are investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment, we have approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are removing barriers to treatment. We will continue to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, in a 2013 report on an accident between a bus and a VIA Rail train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada called for Transport Canada to examine the creation of crashworthiness standards for buses.Since then, there have been several of these types of accidents, including the sad accident involving the Humboldt Broncos. We are now at 19 people dead and 33 injured. However, Transport Canada has not yet done anything to change the crashworthiness standard.Can the Prime Minister explain why his minister has failed to act on this matter, even though his government has been in power for almost four years?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been forced to confirm that they are cutting benefits for veterans with severe and permanent injuries under the Prime Minister's veterans pension scheme. Veterans like Medric Cousineau have received letters that provide proof of the Prime Minister's betrayal. Even Liberal members of Parliament are calling this unacceptable.Does the Prime Minister agree with his Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, or does he still think veterans are asking for too much?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister asked the chief of the defence staff to apologize for him, but he is the prime minister who has broken promises on veterans pensions. He is the prime minister who forced the Equitas Society's Afghanistan veterans back to court. He is the prime minister who cancelled the Afghanistan monument in 2016, which would otherwise be open to the public today. Moreover, the barring of families and veterans from a secret ceremony a few weeks ago was reprehensible. It has been four years of broken promises and four ineffective ministers. Why should military families and veterans ever believe this prime minister?
Mr. Speaker, here is another national security matter.We have learned that Mexicans have been crossing the border into Canada to commit criminal acts. We know that 190 of them have been arrested by Canadian authorities. However, we also know that 400 drug traffickers have entered Canada and 200 of them are living in Montreal. I want to know the truth.The Prime Minister has boasted about being open and transparent, so can he tell us whether drug traffickers are a threat to Canada's national security?
Mr. Speaker, the people of Grassy Narrows have suffered 50 years of lies, cover-ups and broken promises. Two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that that spring there would be shovels in the ground to build a mercury treatment centre, and nothing was done. Enough with the broken promises. Where is the money for the mercury treatment centre? What is the timeline? Why is the Prime Minister refusing to cover the treatment for people who have been poisoned by the corporate and political crime at Grassy Narrows?
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do nothing but flail about, because they have nothing to counter the fact that our plan is working. One million jobs have been created over the past four years. We have the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, including 300,000 kids. We have done this because we know that investing in the middle class, protecting the environment and working with all Canadians is the way to build a stronger future and a stronger economy.The Conservatives have nothing to say on that, so they resort to personal attacks and scary division tactics.
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the tragic impact of the opioid crisis in B.C. and, indeed, right across the country. We have responded by investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment. We have restored harm reduction and approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are significantly removing barriers to treatment of those struggling with addictions. We are taking action to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Mr. Speaker, gun violence in Canada is on the rise. While crime rates in general have dropped during the past several decades, gun violence has increased. Between 2013 and 2017, gun homicides across Canada doubled. More specifically, in my home town of Toronto we endured 96 tragic homicides in 2018. Could the Prime Minister inform the House what steps our government has taken to promote the safety of our communities?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such. There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize the numerous health issues the community suffers to this day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to build a health facility in Grassy Narrows. At the invitation of Chief Turtle, the minister is actually visiting the community today. We are focused on moving this critical work forward, working with the community to advance a solution. It is imperative that we all work together and ensure that the people of Grassy Narrows get the support they need.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
Mr. Speaker, we know that getting our oil resources to new markets is something that matters to Canadians right across the country and will help people in British Columbia.Unfortunately, for 10 years the Conservatives failed to get pipelines built to new markets. Their approach was to bulldoze through environmental protection and ignore indigenous peoples. They completely failed to get their exports to non-U.S. markets.We are following the court's direction on TMX, in the right way. We are diversifying our exports to support our workers, because, quite frankly, families in Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere cannot afford Conservative failures.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is following the direction of his environment minister, who said this week, if you actually say it louder, weve learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it. So just go in.
Mr. Speaker, let's try a different approach.The Minister of Public Safety said that the incident in Richmond Hill was not a matter of national security, but we have since learned that the FBI is involved.Can the Prime Minister confirm that this is a matter of national security? If not, why would the FBI be here?
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion
Let me finish.Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Mr. Speaker, Jerry Dias is not a journalist. He represents a union that has called itself the resistance to Conservatives. It is bankrolling partisan attack ads put out by a third party organization and run by high-level Liberal backroom veterans. There are other entities that could represent workers on this panel, but the Liberals chose a Liberal-friendly partisan organization.It is very clear that this is just one aspect of the Prime Minister's attempt to rig the next election, including putting caps on Conservatives but not on government spending announcements. Why
Mr. Speaker, we will make no apologies for putting forward an opportunity to build a strong, independent media that is secure as we move forward to make sure that both employers and employees are represented. It is absolutely laughable that the Conservatives, who were found guilty of election fraud in multiple past elections, give any lessons on independence. What they tried to do with their unfair elections act was muzzle Elections Canada, preventing it from talking to young people, removing the right to vote from thousands of aboriginal people, thousands of young people, people right
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to put his friend Jerry Dias and Unifor on the media funding panel is going to show how far the Liberals would go in trying to stack the deck in the next election. Unifor is overtly anti-Conservative. Its members are planning to campaign against us in the next election. No one is denying that. I guess that is why he is the Prime Minister's friend, but they have no business being on this media panel decision-making process.Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision and remove his friend and Unifor from this media
Mr. Speaker, two men were recently arrested in Richmond Hill for possessing explosive materials. At the time, the Minister of Public Safety dismissed the incident, claiming that it was not a national security matter. We have since learned that the FBI is investigating. Everyone knows that the FBI does not waste its time investigating trivial matters.Will the Prime Minister be transparent about this national security issue in my riding and provide the House with an update on the investigation?
Mr. Speaker, let us remember that the Prime Minister promised a better NAFTA deal. Then he volunteered to renegotiate Canada's trading arrangement and not only did he come back with concession after concession, with no win at all, but he even signed a deal that still had steel and aluminum tariffs in place. Now we learn that there is language in the new agreement that suggests that Canada now has a quota by another name.Will the Prime Minister finally admit that this deal on steel tariffs is just not as advertised?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure to get Trans Mountain built has contributed to sky-high gas prices in British Columbia. However, he says that is exactly what he wants.Rural people in my riding have no options. They cannot take public transit. They cannot take jerry cans across the border for cheaper gas in the U.S. When a person has to drive hundreds of kilometres to simply get to a hospital, electric vehicles remain impractical.When will the Prime Minister take real steps to address the issue of high gas prices?
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep attacking organized labour, but we know that unions and workers are an essential part of our society and that they have a crucially important role to play. At the same time, we see the Conservatives making the same arguments on this issue that they made when they said we should eliminate the CBC. That is something the Conservatives have wanted for a long time. That is what the leader of the Conservative Party promised in his leadership campaign. We know the Conservatives will always go after the CBC
Mr. Speaker, since January 2018, the visa exemption has allowed Canadians to welcome nearly 500,000 legitimate travellers from Mexico, which has generated millions of dollars in economic benefits.During that same period, the Canada Border Services Agency prepared inadmissibility reports for approximately 190 Mexican nationals on criminality grounds. That accounts for 0.04% of all Mexican travellers seeking entry into Canada.The CBSA is working with our national and international partners. Information sharing
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about carbon taxes and the skyrocketing price of gas at the pumps.The Prime Minister himself has said that is exactly what we want. The Liberals' own secret documents show that the government plans to raise the carbon tax by another 60¢ per litre.When will the Prime Minister admit that his carbon tax is nothing more than a blatant cash grab that will hurt struggling Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, the valiant Medric Cousineau is joining with those who say that not all veterans who participate in the new pension for life program are treated the same. A Liberal member from Nova Scotia said that if one veteran received less, that would be unacceptable.I remember when the Prime Minister said that veterans were asking for more than the government could give them.Does the Prime Minister agree with what his member said?
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the NDP that it was shameful that the Harper government allowed garbage to be exported without permits or safeguards. That is why in 2016, we signed the Basel agreement. The NDP needs to get its facts straight on that. We changed our regulations to comply with international obligations and strengthened controls of our exports.Despite this garbage having been exported to the Philippines under the Harper government, we are doing the right thing by bringing it back to Canada to ensure that it is properly disposed of.
Mr. Speaker, as we know, strong, independent media are vital to democracy. We will always take action to protect them. We recognize that both employers and employees must be part of the discussion on how we will defend our media.The Conservatives may only want to help the bosses and owners of media networks, but we are concerned about journalists and the plight of workers. We will always stand up for our media so that they can do their job, which is to look at issues with a critical eye and keep Canadians informed.
Mr. Speaker, to follow Conservatives' logic, anyone who has been attacked and mistreated by the Conservatives should not have a voice. That is what the 2015 election countered, as Canadians rose up across the country to reject the Conservative attacks and demonization of media, of indigenous peoples, of environmentalists, of hard-working Canadians, of young people.That approach by the Conservatives is exactly what is going to fail them again this time.
Mr. Speaker, even the members opposite are following the plan of the Liberal environment minister, screaming louder and louder to cover up the truth.The Prime Minister said $1.60-a-litre gas prices in B.C. are exactly what he wants. Will he admit that that is where all prices are going across Canada once his carbon tax is fully implemented?
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility to protect the safety of Canadians very seriously. That is why we trust our security agencies and our national police force to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will not comment on specific investigations, but we will always assure Canadians that our agencies are doing their job to keep them safe.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question and for his hard work.In budget 2019 we made significant investments to better support Canadians with disabilities. Unlike the Conservatives, we are prioritizing the passage of our historic accessibility bill, which will help create a system to proactively identify and eliminate barriers. We are building a country in which all Canadians can fully participate in society. We hope to have the support of all political parties.
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as dumb, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to its panel to determine eligibility for half a billion dollar bailout package has destroyed the government's credibility. Unifor is a highly partisan group with aggressive partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to his panel.Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he is openly trying to stack the deck in advance of the next election?
Mr. Speaker, that is straight-up misinformation. Here is the truth: with just five months to go until the election, the Liberal government gave an openly pro-Liberal and aggressively anti-Conservative union the power to influence who will get $600 million in funding for the media. This is another Liberal ploy to interfere and try to influence the upcoming election campaign.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and boot his Unifor buddies off the panel, period?
Mr. Speaker, a delegation from Saguenay is visiting Davie today. The delegation wants to send the clear message that the shipyard is ready to secure new contracts from the federal government and that businesses in the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region are ready to reap the benefits. The contracting process is taking too long, and that is holding up the potential economic spinoffs.Will the Liberals pledge to take all necessary steps to ensure that Davie gets new contracts before the election, thus ensuring all the workers in my region can benefit from the resulting economic activity?
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong and independent media is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy, so we are acting to ensure that the media continues to hold elected officials to account. As part of that, we are ensuring that both employers and employees are represented on this independent panel. The Conservatives keep up their attacks on organized labour; we will defend workers right across this country. The Conservatives will keep up their attacks on the media, including on CBC, which the Leader of the Opposition committed to eliminate; we are going to stay focused on protecting the
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the head of the government. He has many roles and responsibilities, but his primary duty consists of two fundamental objectives. First of all, he must ensure our great federation is politically united. Second, he must ensure that the government is there for our military personnel, and that includes giving them the honours they deserve. Did the Prime Minister share the profound disappointment felt by Canadians and by our troops when they learned that the families of fallen Afghanistan war soldiers were excluded from the war memorial event?
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House. The hon. member for WellingtonHalton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully. As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking. I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in February, the minister announced funding to make much needed safety improvements to the Fond du Lac Airport, but now the Liberals are telling the community that it needs to apply again for already promised funding. The Liberals are really quick to make promises to northerners, but they act more like the Conservatives, who never cared to invest in northern Saskatchewan. Northerners are tired of being betrayed by the Liberals.Will the Prime Minister commit to his promise to Fond du Lac and release the funding today?
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has been our priority ever since we took office, because the Conservatives gutted Veterans Affairs to balance the budget and used them for photo ops. We made investments of over $10 billion in new dollars in Canada's veterans so they are better supported. We are delivering on the promise to reintroduce the new pension for life, and that policy was designed so that every injured veteran is better off under our new system than they were under the old one. I have instructed Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is the case in every single case.
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are playing the same old game of trying to pit Canadians against each other and distract from the fact that climate change is a real and pressing challenge to communities right across the country. Extreme wildfires, incredible flooding right across the country and greater drought periods are challenges costing Canadian families thousands upon thousands of dollars, and the economy millions upon billions of dollars.We have a plan to fight climate change. We know that we do not have a plan to build a stronger economy unless we have a plan to fight climate change. The Conservatives do not know that.
Mr. Speaker, defending our strong, independent media is something that is essential to this government, indeed to all Canadians, if we are going to defend our democracy. That means gathering a range of voices that represent different interests within the media universe to make sure that all voices are heard. We feel that it is important that employees, as well as employers, are heard from on that panel.The fact that the Conservatives, for many years, unfairly attacked organized labour and attacked unions across this country is now something they are
Mr. Speaker, what we know, whether on climate change or gas prices, is that we do not need another high school drama production from the Prime Minister. We need clear answers.The Prime Minister said that he believed $1.60-a-litre gas prices are exactly what we want. He admits his price on gas will go up 250%.Will the Prime Minister tell us the full and final price increase that his carbon tax will impose on a litre of gasoline?
Mr. Speaker, this is actually embarrassing, that the Prime Minister does not understand the concept of bias on a panel that is making decisions.However, I should not be surprised. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks it is okay to traipse across the line that separates the judicial system from the executive branch. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks that ethical rules do not apply to him. This is the same Prime Minister who also made sure that he set up, beforehand, exactly what the outcome for Mark Norman would have been in terms of being charged.I take no lessons from this Prime Minister. Will he remove Unifor?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA is going to have a major impact on our workers, but the Liberals can fix this deal.As the national director of United Steelworkers has said, Canada should not leave it up to the U.S. Congress to stand up for our workers. Our priority is protecting jobs in Canada.Will the Prime Minister work with us and not rush the NAFTA ratification, so we can be sure that all workers in Canada are properly protected?
Mr. Speaker, rushing the ratification of the new NAFTA as it stands will hurt workers, communities and our environment. While Congress in the U.S. is fighting for a better deal, the Liberals are busy doing Donald Trump's dirty work. Do Liberals understand how much NAFTA has cost working people?We do, because, unlike the Prime Minister, we work shoulder to shoulder with people who lost their jobs. The Prime Minister has no idea what this does to families. Liberals are telling working people that they are more interested in a trophy on the trade shelf than they are in improving their lives.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing for working people and wait for a better deal?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work.All of us can agree that one lost life is too many. Yesterday, our legislation passed to uphold our commitment for better background checks, for standardized record-keeping, for impartial classification and for safer transportation.Now the Conservatives have said they would repeal this legislation. If the Conservatives remove enhanced background checks, people will no longer need to show a licence when buying a firearm in Canada.Together with new federal investments, this bill will combat gun violence and
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons on ineffective ministers from that man, who was the one who presided over photo ops and cuts to veterans services under the Harper government. The fact is they used veterans for photo ops, instead of giving them the money they had, so as to balance the budget by nickel and diming them.We knew that what we were going to do was to invest $10 billion in veterans. A new veterans pension for life makes sure that every single veteran is better off now, and that is what we are going to stick with.
Mr. Speaker, Canada's opioid crisis has claimed the lives of thousands of people of all ages and in all regions. Thousands of families have lost loved ones, and, tragically, experts say this crisis was avoidable. B.C. has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit and now other provinces are joining in. Again, provinces are leading the way while Liberals are trying to catch up.Will the Prime Minister finally agree to join this lawsuit and make sure drug companies are held to account for their role in this public health crisis?
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has always been our top priority. The Conservatives cut veterans services to try to balance the budget at all costs.Our investment of over $10 billion provides more support to veterans. Thanks to our promise to reintroduce a new pension for life program, every injured veteran should be getting better support now than under the former system. I have asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Mr. Speaker, this government takes very seriously the responsibility to keep Canadians safe. That is why I can assure all members of the House that our security agencies, that our RCMP, take to heart their responsibility to make sure that Canadians are well protected. They are following all the appropriate procedures in every case. We have full confidence in the excellence of our intelligence agencies and our police services.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the arguments the Conservatives are making on this issue are exactly the same arguments they have always made on why we should be eliminating the CBC. We disagree. We believe in CBC/Radio-Canada as a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to bring to Canadians news that matters to Canadians. We are always going to stand up to defend the CBC against the Conservatives, but indeed defend both employers and employees of media organizations against people who want to undermine them and attack them.
Mr. Speaker, we know that a strong, independent media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy. That is why we wanted to make sure, on our independent panel, that unlike what the Conservatives want, it is not just newspaper owners and media giants that are on that panel. We need to make sure that hard-working journalists are well represented on that panel as well.On this side of the House, we will always defend labour and we will always defend workers, unlike the Conservatives, who attack organized labour at every chance they get, including with Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 in the last Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, the greatest threat to Canada's trading relationship with the United States is the weakness of the Prime Minister. Any old deal would have been better than the deal that he came home with. Concession after concession on dairy, on autos, on pharmaceuticals and now, in order to get steel tariffs lifted, he had to give away the only piece of leverage that Canada had. He has actually agreed not to put strategic tariffs on other U.S. industries. Once again, why did the Prime Minister give Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, as we are proving every day, our government is there to stand up for Canadian workers and to protect jobs. That is what we negotiated in the new NAFTA. The NDP is criticizing the deal in the House of Commons, but at private events it has described the new NAFTA as the best deal possible. The NDP members know that the new NAFTA will protect millions of jobs that were in jeopardy. One need only listen to the member for RosemontLa Petite-Patrie, who said that the new NAFTA is the best deal possible and that it protects workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Minister of Transport has done a lot of work on the new standards and new ways to ensure Canadians' safety. The top priority of the Minister of Transport and the government is the safety of Canadians who travel across the country and abroad. We will continue to put Canadians' safety front and centre when making decisions, and we will take steps to ensure that this is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the women and men who served in Afghanistan for their work and their sacrifices.The chief of the defence staff has apologized and has confirmed that the memorial will be accessible to anyone who wishes to visit it, whenever they like.We are working on creating a public monument that recognizes the service of our men and women in uniform throughout the war in Afghanistan. We held consultations with veterans, their families and stakeholders. We will select the location of the monument in partnership with the National Capital Commission. We will always stand up for our veterans and remember their sacrifices.
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
Mr. Speaker, I had the tremendous pleasure of being in northern Saskatchewan just a week and a half ago to meet with folks in Meadow Lake to see the extraordinary work that is being done as we continue to invest in communities across northern Saskatchewan and, indeed, in indigenous communities right across the country. Reconciliation happens when we work in partnership and when we invest historic amounts of money in communities, but mostly when we give communities the strength and ability to build their own futures. That is what reconciliation means and that is what we will continue with.
Mr. Speaker, all the misleading quotes do not change the fact that people are concerned about lost jobs and rising drug costs. Here is a new quote: Canada continues to stand alone in failing to protect our key industries. The federal government must defend Canadian jobs. We do not support the rush to ratify. That is from Ken Neumann of United Steelworkers.Why is the Prime Minister propping up Donald Trump instead of working with progressives in Congress to get a better deal? When exactly did he give up on trying to do better?
Mr. Speaker, the negotiation of NAFTA was a long and difficult process, but throughout it we could count on Canadians from all different backgrounds who had our backs as a government, and that was one of the reasons we got to a great deal. I was happy that we had former Conservative cabinet ministers supporting us on this. I was also happy that we had so many strong labour leaders supporting us and helping us in the renegotiation of NAFTA. That is why I thank organized labour for their support for this new deal and continue to work with them to protect Canadian jobs.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would like to take pride in our exports. My hometown produces an award-winning electric vehicle that we are proud to ship worldwide.The Prime Minister is undermining Canada's reputation when he allows hundreds of garbage containers of household waste, plastics and recyclables to be dumped to rot in other countries.When the Environment Minister was called out by the Philippines and Malaysia, the response to its own dumpster fire was that Canadian taxpayers now have to pay millions of dollars to pick up these companies' trash. The Prime Minister will not sign the Basel Convention Ban Amendment to stop companies from doing this.How many more countries will he allow to be his personal dumping destinations?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper told everyone, no matter what, just abdicate to the United States and that is exactly what the Conservatives were recommending we do. We stood strong alongside all Canadians and got a good deal for Canadians the way they expected.Do not take any lessons from the Conservatives on trade. They could not get CETA done. They could not get the TPP done. It is this government that made sure that we are the only G7 country to have a free trade deal with every other G7 country.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton EastStoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to Donald Trump. He abandoned access to markets for our main exports. He relinquished our influence and gave Mr. Trump all the power. He makes concessions every time he is at the table. President Trump is in charge and thanks to the Prime Minister, Canada can only stand by and watch.Why is the Prime Minister so proud of this historic humiliation?
Mr. Speaker, Unifor, the largest union of journalists in the country, has clearly picked a side. It has declared war on the Conservative Party.What did the Liberals do? With just five months to go before the election, the Prime Minister gathered together his good friends from Unifor to form a panel that will decide how the Liberal government will distribute $600 million to Canadian media outlets. That makes no sense.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and remove his Unifor friends from the panel?
Mr. Speaker, this week is National Accessibility Week, and I am proud of the investments our government has made and the work we have accomplished on accessibility in my riding of Shefford and across Canada since 2015. We are celebrating the accomplishments of Canadians with disabilities and the work being done across the country to give all Canadians the same opportunities to succeed.Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what our government is doing to create meaningful change and to help eliminate barriers to inclusion?
Mr. Speaker, too many families across the country are losing loved ones to the opioid public health crisis.The NDP government in B.C. launched a lawsuit against drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Ontario has now joined the lawsuit.Will the Prime Minister have the courage to support our demand for an inquiry into the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis to bring justice to the families?
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the United States trading relationship faced its greatest threats, but we worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians. Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they were in favour of our signing any old deal just to get things done and abdicating on it all, the way Stephen Harper told them to. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed, which we negotiated with the help of all Canadians, and now they are in favour of the deal and they commit to ratifying it. They are all over the place. We are staying focused on supporting Canadians, on fighting for workers
Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 400 days since the Leader of the Opposition promised a plan to fight climate change. All the Conservatives have been doing is dragging their feet and encouraging their friends to take the government to court, instead of fighting climate change.I was happy to note that 97% of Canadians eligible for the climate incentive actually collected it. This means that families are better off with our price on pollution than they were before, as we fight climate change, because Canadians know that we have to fight climate change to build a strong economy.
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the Canada-U.S. trade relationship faced its greatest threat. We worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians.The Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they absolutely wanted to abdicate, at all costs, to get any old deal. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed. Now they are in favour of this good deal and have committed to ratifying it. They are all over the place.Our government is committed to standing up for Canadian workers, protecting jobs and always being there for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the excellent work done by workers at the Davie shipyard. They always deliver on time and on budget. The Conservatives shut Davie out of the national strategy. We awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Quebec companies, including $700 million for three icebreakers.In addition to the strategy, we have announced our intention of awarding Davie a contract to build two new east coast ferries. We will keep supporting workers across the country, including workers in SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean.
Mr. Speaker, do they know whom I listen to? I listen to Hassan Yussuf of the Canadian Labour Congress, who said that the updated NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of gender. I listen to Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, who said, We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.I listen, of course, to our friend Jerry Dias at Unifor, who said that this is a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, despite the protests of the Prime Minister, the issue here is one of bias. The question is whether or not an entity that has sworn that it likes to elect Liberals, and in fact make sure the Conservatives do not form government, an entity that gave $400,000, and boasted about it, to ensure the Conservative defeat in 2015 and as well says it is doing it again, and in fact has started again, is an appropriate appointment to a panel that is making decisions on who gets journalistic money.Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?
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Mr. Speaker, despite the protests of the Prime Minister, the issue here is one of bias. The question is whether or not an entity that has sworn that it likes to elect Liberals, and in fact make sure the Conservatives do not form government, an entity that gave $400,000, and boasted about it, to ensure the Conservative defeat in 2015 and as well says it is doing it again, and in fact has started again, is an appropriate appointment to a panel that is making decisions on who gets journalistic money.Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, do they know whom I listen to? I listen to Hassan Yussuf of the Canadian Labour Congress, who said that the updated NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of gender. I listen to Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, who said, We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.I listen, of course, to our friend Jerry Dias at Unifor, who said that this is a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the excellent work done by workers at the Davie shipyard. They always deliver on time and on budget. The Conservatives shut Davie out of the national strategy. We awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Quebec companies, including $700 million for three icebreakers.In addition to the strategy, we have announced our intention of awarding Davie a contract to build two new east coast ferries. We will keep supporting workers across the country, including workers in SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean.
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the Canada-U.S. trade relationship faced its greatest threat. We worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians.The Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they absolutely wanted to abdicate, at all costs, to get any old deal. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed. Now they are in favour of this good deal and have committed to ratifying it. They are all over the place.Our government is committed to standing up for Canadian workers, protecting jobs and always being there for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 400 days since the Leader of the Opposition promised a plan to fight climate change. All the Conservatives have been doing is dragging their feet and encouraging their friends to take the government to court, instead of fighting climate change.I was happy to note that 97% of Canadians eligible for the climate incentive actually collected it. This means that families are better off with our price on pollution than they were before, as we fight climate change, because Canadians know that we have to fight climate change to build a strong economy.
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the United States trading relationship faced its greatest threats, but we worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians. Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they were in favour of our signing any old deal just to get things done and abdicating on it all, the way Stephen Harper told them to. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed, which we negotiated with the help of all Canadians, and now they are in favour of the deal and they commit to ratifying it. They are all over the place. We are staying focused on supporting Canadians, on fighting for workers
Mr. Speaker, too many families across the country are losing loved ones to the opioid public health crisis.The NDP government in B.C. launched a lawsuit against drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Ontario has now joined the lawsuit.Will the Prime Minister have the courage to support our demand for an inquiry into the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis to bring justice to the families?
Mr. Speaker, this week is National Accessibility Week, and I am proud of the investments our government has made and the work we have accomplished on accessibility in my riding of Shefford and across Canada since 2015. We are celebrating the accomplishments of Canadians with disabilities and the work being done across the country to give all Canadians the same opportunities to succeed.Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what our government is doing to create meaningful change and to help eliminate barriers to inclusion?
Mr. Speaker, Unifor, the largest union of journalists in the country, has clearly picked a side. It has declared war on the Conservative Party.What did the Liberals do? With just five months to go before the election, the Prime Minister gathered together his good friends from Unifor to form a panel that will decide how the Liberal government will distribute $600 million to Canadian media outlets. That makes no sense.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and remove his Unifor friends from the panel?
Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to Donald Trump. He abandoned access to markets for our main exports. He relinquished our influence and gave Mr. Trump all the power. He makes concessions every time he is at the table. President Trump is in charge and thanks to the Prime Minister, Canada can only stand by and watch.Why is the Prime Minister so proud of this historic humiliation?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton EastStoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper told everyone, no matter what, just abdicate to the United States and that is exactly what the Conservatives were recommending we do. We stood strong alongside all Canadians and got a good deal for Canadians the way they expected.Do not take any lessons from the Conservatives on trade. They could not get CETA done. They could not get the TPP done. It is this government that made sure that we are the only G7 country to have a free trade deal with every other G7 country.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would like to take pride in our exports. My hometown produces an award-winning electric vehicle that we are proud to ship worldwide.The Prime Minister is undermining Canada's reputation when he allows hundreds of garbage containers of household waste, plastics and recyclables to be dumped to rot in other countries.When the Environment Minister was called out by the Philippines and Malaysia, the response to its own dumpster fire was that Canadian taxpayers now have to pay millions of dollars to pick up these companies' trash. The Prime Minister will not sign the Basel Convention Ban Amendment to stop companies from doing this.How many more countries will he allow to be his personal dumping destinations?
Mr. Speaker, the negotiation of NAFTA was a long and difficult process, but throughout it we could count on Canadians from all different backgrounds who had our backs as a government, and that was one of the reasons we got to a great deal. I was happy that we had former Conservative cabinet ministers supporting us on this. I was also happy that we had so many strong labour leaders supporting us and helping us in the renegotiation of NAFTA. That is why I thank organized labour for their support for this new deal and continue to work with them to protect Canadian jobs.
Mr. Speaker, all the misleading quotes do not change the fact that people are concerned about lost jobs and rising drug costs. Here is a new quote: Canada continues to stand alone in failing to protect our key industries. The federal government must defend Canadian jobs. We do not support the rush to ratify. That is from Ken Neumann of United Steelworkers.Why is the Prime Minister propping up Donald Trump instead of working with progressives in Congress to get a better deal? When exactly did he give up on trying to do better?
Mr. Speaker, I had the tremendous pleasure of being in northern Saskatchewan just a week and a half ago to meet with folks in Meadow Lake to see the extraordinary work that is being done as we continue to invest in communities across northern Saskatchewan and, indeed, in indigenous communities right across the country. Reconciliation happens when we work in partnership and when we invest historic amounts of money in communities, but mostly when we give communities the strength and ability to build their own futures. That is what reconciliation means and that is what we will continue with.
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the women and men who served in Afghanistan for their work and their sacrifices.The chief of the defence staff has apologized and has confirmed that the memorial will be accessible to anyone who wishes to visit it, whenever they like.We are working on creating a public monument that recognizes the service of our men and women in uniform throughout the war in Afghanistan. We held consultations with veterans, their families and stakeholders. We will select the location of the monument in partnership with the National Capital Commission. We will always stand up for our veterans and remember their sacrifices.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Minister of Transport has done a lot of work on the new standards and new ways to ensure Canadians' safety. The top priority of the Minister of Transport and the government is the safety of Canadians who travel across the country and abroad. We will continue to put Canadians' safety front and centre when making decisions, and we will take steps to ensure that this is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, as we are proving every day, our government is there to stand up for Canadian workers and to protect jobs. That is what we negotiated in the new NAFTA. The NDP is criticizing the deal in the House of Commons, but at private events it has described the new NAFTA as the best deal possible. The NDP members know that the new NAFTA will protect millions of jobs that were in jeopardy. One need only listen to the member for RosemontLa Petite-Patrie, who said that the new NAFTA is the best deal possible and that it protects workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, the greatest threat to Canada's trading relationship with the United States is the weakness of the Prime Minister. Any old deal would have been better than the deal that he came home with. Concession after concession on dairy, on autos, on pharmaceuticals and now, in order to get steel tariffs lifted, he had to give away the only piece of leverage that Canada had. He has actually agreed not to put strategic tariffs on other U.S. industries. Once again, why did the Prime Minister give Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, we know that a strong, independent media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy. That is why we wanted to make sure, on our independent panel, that unlike what the Conservatives want, it is not just newspaper owners and media giants that are on that panel. We need to make sure that hard-working journalists are well represented on that panel as well.On this side of the House, we will always defend labour and we will always defend workers, unlike the Conservatives, who attack organized labour at every chance they get, including with Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 in the last Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the arguments the Conservatives are making on this issue are exactly the same arguments they have always made on why we should be eliminating the CBC. We disagree. We believe in CBC/Radio-Canada as a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to bring to Canadians news that matters to Canadians. We are always going to stand up to defend the CBC against the Conservatives, but indeed defend both employers and employees of media organizations against people who want to undermine them and attack them.
Mr. Speaker, this government takes very seriously the responsibility to keep Canadians safe. That is why I can assure all members of the House that our security agencies, that our RCMP, take to heart their responsibility to make sure that Canadians are well protected. They are following all the appropriate procedures in every case. We have full confidence in the excellence of our intelligence agencies and our police services.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has always been our top priority. The Conservatives cut veterans services to try to balance the budget at all costs.Our investment of over $10 billion provides more support to veterans. Thanks to our promise to reintroduce a new pension for life program, every injured veteran should be getting better support now than under the former system. I have asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, Canada's opioid crisis has claimed the lives of thousands of people of all ages and in all regions. Thousands of families have lost loved ones, and, tragically, experts say this crisis was avoidable. B.C. has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit and now other provinces are joining in. Again, provinces are leading the way while Liberals are trying to catch up.Will the Prime Minister finally agree to join this lawsuit and make sure drug companies are held to account for their role in this public health crisis?
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons on ineffective ministers from that man, who was the one who presided over photo ops and cuts to veterans services under the Harper government. The fact is they used veterans for photo ops, instead of giving them the money they had, so as to balance the budget by nickel and diming them.We knew that what we were going to do was to invest $10 billion in veterans. A new veterans pension for life makes sure that every single veteran is better off now, and that is what we are going to stick with.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work.All of us can agree that one lost life is too many. Yesterday, our legislation passed to uphold our commitment for better background checks, for standardized record-keeping, for impartial classification and for safer transportation.Now the Conservatives have said they would repeal this legislation. If the Conservatives remove enhanced background checks, people will no longer need to show a licence when buying a firearm in Canada.Together with new federal investments, this bill will combat gun violence and
Mr. Speaker, rushing the ratification of the new NAFTA as it stands will hurt workers, communities and our environment. While Congress in the U.S. is fighting for a better deal, the Liberals are busy doing Donald Trump's dirty work. Do Liberals understand how much NAFTA has cost working people?We do, because, unlike the Prime Minister, we work shoulder to shoulder with people who lost their jobs. The Prime Minister has no idea what this does to families. Liberals are telling working people that they are more interested in a trophy on the trade shelf than they are in improving their lives.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing for working people and wait for a better deal?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA is going to have a major impact on our workers, but the Liberals can fix this deal.As the national director of United Steelworkers has said, Canada should not leave it up to the U.S. Congress to stand up for our workers. Our priority is protecting jobs in Canada.Will the Prime Minister work with us and not rush the NAFTA ratification, so we can be sure that all workers in Canada are properly protected?
Mr. Speaker, this is actually embarrassing, that the Prime Minister does not understand the concept of bias on a panel that is making decisions.However, I should not be surprised. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks it is okay to traipse across the line that separates the judicial system from the executive branch. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks that ethical rules do not apply to him. This is the same Prime Minister who also made sure that he set up, beforehand, exactly what the outcome for Mark Norman would have been in terms of being charged.I take no lessons from this Prime Minister. Will he remove Unifor?
Mr. Speaker, what we know, whether on climate change or gas prices, is that we do not need another high school drama production from the Prime Minister. We need clear answers.The Prime Minister said that he believed $1.60-a-litre gas prices are exactly what we want. He admits his price on gas will go up 250%.Will the Prime Minister tell us the full and final price increase that his carbon tax will impose on a litre of gasoline?
Mr. Speaker, defending our strong, independent media is something that is essential to this government, indeed to all Canadians, if we are going to defend our democracy. That means gathering a range of voices that represent different interests within the media universe to make sure that all voices are heard. We feel that it is important that employees, as well as employers, are heard from on that panel.The fact that the Conservatives, for many years, unfairly attacked organized labour and attacked unions across this country is now something they are
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are playing the same old game of trying to pit Canadians against each other and distract from the fact that climate change is a real and pressing challenge to communities right across the country. Extreme wildfires, incredible flooding right across the country and greater drought periods are challenges costing Canadian families thousands upon thousands of dollars, and the economy millions upon billions of dollars.We have a plan to fight climate change. We know that we do not have a plan to build a stronger economy unless we have a plan to fight climate change. The Conservatives do not know that.
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has been our priority ever since we took office, because the Conservatives gutted Veterans Affairs to balance the budget and used them for photo ops. We made investments of over $10 billion in new dollars in Canada's veterans so they are better supported. We are delivering on the promise to reintroduce the new pension for life, and that policy was designed so that every injured veteran is better off under our new system than they were under the old one. I have instructed Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is the case in every single case.
Mr. Speaker, in February, the minister announced funding to make much needed safety improvements to the Fond du Lac Airport, but now the Liberals are telling the community that it needs to apply again for already promised funding. The Liberals are really quick to make promises to northerners, but they act more like the Conservatives, who never cared to invest in northern Saskatchewan. Northerners are tired of being betrayed by the Liberals.Will the Prime Minister commit to his promise to Fond du Lac and release the funding today?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House. The hon. member for WellingtonHalton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully. As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking. I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the head of the government. He has many roles and responsibilities, but his primary duty consists of two fundamental objectives. First of all, he must ensure our great federation is politically united. Second, he must ensure that the government is there for our military personnel, and that includes giving them the honours they deserve. Did the Prime Minister share the profound disappointment felt by Canadians and by our troops when they learned that the families of fallen Afghanistan war soldiers were excluded from the war memorial event?
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong and independent media is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy, so we are acting to ensure that the media continues to hold elected officials to account. As part of that, we are ensuring that both employers and employees are represented on this independent panel. The Conservatives keep up their attacks on organized labour; we will defend workers right across this country. The Conservatives will keep up their attacks on the media, including on CBC, which the Leader of the Opposition committed to eliminate; we are going to stay focused on protecting the
Mr. Speaker, a delegation from Saguenay is visiting Davie today. The delegation wants to send the clear message that the shipyard is ready to secure new contracts from the federal government and that businesses in the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region are ready to reap the benefits. The contracting process is taking too long, and that is holding up the potential economic spinoffs.Will the Liberals pledge to take all necessary steps to ensure that Davie gets new contracts before the election, thus ensuring all the workers in my region can benefit from the resulting economic activity?
Mr. Speaker, that is straight-up misinformation. Here is the truth: with just five months to go until the election, the Liberal government gave an openly pro-Liberal and aggressively anti-Conservative union the power to influence who will get $600 million in funding for the media. This is another Liberal ploy to interfere and try to influence the upcoming election campaign.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and boot his Unifor buddies off the panel, period?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to its panel to determine eligibility for half a billion dollar bailout package has destroyed the government's credibility. Unifor is a highly partisan group with aggressive partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to his panel.Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he is openly trying to stack the deck in advance of the next election?
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as dumb, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question and for his hard work.In budget 2019 we made significant investments to better support Canadians with disabilities. Unlike the Conservatives, we are prioritizing the passage of our historic accessibility bill, which will help create a system to proactively identify and eliminate barriers. We are building a country in which all Canadians can fully participate in society. We hope to have the support of all political parties.
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility to protect the safety of Canadians very seriously. That is why we trust our security agencies and our national police force to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will not comment on specific investigations, but we will always assure Canadians that our agencies are doing their job to keep them safe.
Mr. Speaker, to follow Conservatives' logic, anyone who has been attacked and mistreated by the Conservatives should not have a voice. That is what the 2015 election countered, as Canadians rose up across the country to reject the Conservative attacks and demonization of media, of indigenous peoples, of environmentalists, of hard-working Canadians, of young people.That approach by the Conservatives is exactly what is going to fail them again this time.
Mr. Speaker, even the members opposite are following the plan of the Liberal environment minister, screaming louder and louder to cover up the truth.The Prime Minister said $1.60-a-litre gas prices in B.C. are exactly what he wants. Will he admit that that is where all prices are going across Canada once his carbon tax is fully implemented?
Mr. Speaker, as we know, strong, independent media are vital to democracy. We will always take action to protect them. We recognize that both employers and employees must be part of the discussion on how we will defend our media.The Conservatives may only want to help the bosses and owners of media networks, but we are concerned about journalists and the plight of workers. We will always stand up for our media so that they can do their job, which is to look at issues with a critical eye and keep Canadians informed.
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the NDP that it was shameful that the Harper government allowed garbage to be exported without permits or safeguards. That is why in 2016, we signed the Basel agreement. The NDP needs to get its facts straight on that. We changed our regulations to comply with international obligations and strengthened controls of our exports.Despite this garbage having been exported to the Philippines under the Harper government, we are doing the right thing by bringing it back to Canada to ensure that it is properly disposed of.
Mr. Speaker, the valiant Medric Cousineau is joining with those who say that not all veterans who participate in the new pension for life program are treated the same. A Liberal member from Nova Scotia said that if one veteran received less, that would be unacceptable.I remember when the Prime Minister said that veterans were asking for more than the government could give them.Does the Prime Minister agree with what his member said?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about carbon taxes and the skyrocketing price of gas at the pumps.The Prime Minister himself has said that is exactly what we want. The Liberals' own secret documents show that the government plans to raise the carbon tax by another 60¢ per litre.When will the Prime Minister admit that his carbon tax is nothing more than a blatant cash grab that will hurt struggling Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, since January 2018, the visa exemption has allowed Canadians to welcome nearly 500,000 legitimate travellers from Mexico, which has generated millions of dollars in economic benefits.During that same period, the Canada Border Services Agency prepared inadmissibility reports for approximately 190 Mexican nationals on criminality grounds. That accounts for 0.04% of all Mexican travellers seeking entry into Canada.The CBSA is working with our national and international partners. Information sharing
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep attacking organized labour, but we know that unions and workers are an essential part of our society and that they have a crucially important role to play. At the same time, we see the Conservatives making the same arguments on this issue that they made when they said we should eliminate the CBC. That is something the Conservatives have wanted for a long time. That is what the leader of the Conservative Party promised in his leadership campaign. We know the Conservatives will always go after the CBC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure to get Trans Mountain built has contributed to sky-high gas prices in British Columbia. However, he says that is exactly what he wants.Rural people in my riding have no options. They cannot take public transit. They cannot take jerry cans across the border for cheaper gas in the U.S. When a person has to drive hundreds of kilometres to simply get to a hospital, electric vehicles remain impractical.When will the Prime Minister take real steps to address the issue of high gas prices?
Mr. Speaker, let us remember that the Prime Minister promised a better NAFTA deal. Then he volunteered to renegotiate Canada's trading arrangement and not only did he come back with concession after concession, with no win at all, but he even signed a deal that still had steel and aluminum tariffs in place. Now we learn that there is language in the new agreement that suggests that Canada now has a quota by another name.Will the Prime Minister finally admit that this deal on steel tariffs is just not as advertised?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to put his friend Jerry Dias and Unifor on the media funding panel is going to show how far the Liberals would go in trying to stack the deck in the next election. Unifor is overtly anti-Conservative. Its members are planning to campaign against us in the next election. No one is denying that. I guess that is why he is the Prime Minister's friend, but they have no business being on this media panel decision-making process.Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision and remove his friend and Unifor from this media
Mr. Speaker, two men were recently arrested in Richmond Hill for possessing explosive materials. At the time, the Minister of Public Safety dismissed the incident, claiming that it was not a national security matter. We have since learned that the FBI is investigating. Everyone knows that the FBI does not waste its time investigating trivial matters.Will the Prime Minister be transparent about this national security issue in my riding and provide the House with an update on the investigation?
Mr. Speaker, we will make no apologies for putting forward an opportunity to build a strong, independent media that is secure as we move forward to make sure that both employers and employees are represented. It is absolutely laughable that the Conservatives, who were found guilty of election fraud in multiple past elections, give any lessons on independence. What they tried to do with their unfair elections act was muzzle Elections Canada, preventing it from talking to young people, removing the right to vote from thousands of aboriginal people, thousands of young people, people right
Mr. Speaker, Jerry Dias is not a journalist. He represents a union that has called itself the resistance to Conservatives. It is bankrolling partisan attack ads put out by a third party organization and run by high-level Liberal backroom veterans. There are other entities that could represent workers on this panel, but the Liberals chose a Liberal-friendly partisan organization.It is very clear that this is just one aspect of the Prime Minister's attempt to rig the next election, including putting caps on Conservatives but not on government spending announcements. Why
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is following the direction of his environment minister, who said this week, if you actually say it louder, weve learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it. So just go in.
Mr. Speaker, let's try a different approach.The Minister of Public Safety said that the incident in Richmond Hill was not a matter of national security, but we have since learned that the FBI is involved.Can the Prime Minister confirm that this is a matter of national security? If not, why would the FBI be here?
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion
Let me finish.Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Mr. Speaker, we know that getting our oil resources to new markets is something that matters to Canadians right across the country and will help people in British Columbia.Unfortunately, for 10 years the Conservatives failed to get pipelines built to new markets. Their approach was to bulldoze through environmental protection and ignore indigenous peoples. They completely failed to get their exports to non-U.S. markets.We are following the court's direction on TMX, in the right way. We are diversifying our exports to support our workers, because, quite frankly, families in Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere cannot afford Conservative failures.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize the numerous health issues the community suffers to this day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to build a health facility in Grassy Narrows. At the invitation of Chief Turtle, the minister is actually visiting the community today. We are focused on moving this critical work forward, working with the community to advance a solution. It is imperative that we all work together and ensure that the people of Grassy Narrows get the support they need.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such. There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Mr. Speaker, gun violence in Canada is on the rise. While crime rates in general have dropped during the past several decades, gun violence has increased. Between 2013 and 2017, gun homicides across Canada doubled. More specifically, in my home town of Toronto we endured 96 tragic homicides in 2018. Could the Prime Minister inform the House what steps our government has taken to promote the safety of our communities?
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the tragic impact of the opioid crisis in B.C. and, indeed, right across the country. We have responded by investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment. We have restored harm reduction and approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are significantly removing barriers to treatment of those struggling with addictions. We are taking action to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do nothing but flail about, because they have nothing to counter the fact that our plan is working. One million jobs have been created over the past four years. We have the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, including 300,000 kids. We have done this because we know that investing in the middle class, protecting the environment and working with all Canadians is the way to build a stronger future and a stronger economy.The Conservatives have nothing to say on that, so they resort to personal attacks and scary division tactics.
Mr. Speaker, the people of Grassy Narrows have suffered 50 years of lies, cover-ups and broken promises. Two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that that spring there would be shovels in the ground to build a mercury treatment centre, and nothing was done. Enough with the broken promises. Where is the money for the mercury treatment centre? What is the timeline? Why is the Prime Minister refusing to cover the treatment for people who have been poisoned by the corporate and political crime at Grassy Narrows?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister asked the chief of the defence staff to apologize for him, but he is the prime minister who has broken promises on veterans pensions. He is the prime minister who forced the Equitas Society's Afghanistan veterans back to court. He is the prime minister who cancelled the Afghanistan monument in 2016, which would otherwise be open to the public today. Moreover, the barring of families and veterans from a secret ceremony a few weeks ago was reprehensible. It has been four years of broken promises and four ineffective ministers. Why should military families and veterans ever believe this prime minister?
Mr. Speaker, here is another national security matter.We have learned that Mexicans have been crossing the border into Canada to commit criminal acts. We know that 190 of them have been arrested by Canadian authorities. However, we also know that 400 drug traffickers have entered Canada and 200 of them are living in Montreal. I want to know the truth.The Prime Minister has boasted about being open and transparent, so can he tell us whether drug traffickers are a threat to Canada's national security?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been forced to confirm that they are cutting benefits for veterans with severe and permanent injuries under the Prime Minister's veterans pension scheme. Veterans like Medric Cousineau have received letters that provide proof of the Prime Minister's betrayal. Even Liberal members of Parliament are calling this unacceptable.Does the Prime Minister agree with his Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, or does he still think veterans are asking for too much?
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and
Mr. Speaker, in a 2013 report on an accident between a bus and a VIA Rail train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada called for Transport Canada to examine the creation of crashworthiness standards for buses.Since then, there have been several of these types of accidents, including the sad accident involving the Humboldt Broncos. We are now at 19 people dead and 33 injured. However, Transport Canada has not yet done anything to change the crashworthiness standard.Can the Prime Minister explain why his minister has failed to act on this matter, even though his government has been in power for almost four years?
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with those who have lost family and friends in this opioid crisis.We continue to act to address this crisis. We are investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment, we have approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are removing barriers to treatment. We will continue to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister actually respected journalists, he would know that they do not want his friend Jerry and Unifor involved in this half-billion-dollar funding.Here is what they are saying about the impact it is going to have. They are saying that it is disastrous for public trust, that it erodes the independence and places journalists in a permanent and inescapable conflict of interest.The Prime Minister is making a terrible decision and he is using journalists as his cover. Will the Prime Minister stop putting journalists in this conflict of interest, reverse this decision and remove his friend Jerry and Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, despite the protests of the Prime Minister, the issue here is one of bias. The question is whether or not an entity that has sworn that it likes to elect Liberals, and in fact make sure the Conservatives do not form government, an entity that gave $400,000, and boasted about it, to ensure the Conservative defeat in 2015 and as well says it is doing it again, and in fact has started again, is an appropriate appointment to a panel that is making decisions on who gets journalistic money.Will the Prime Minister remove Unifor from this panel?
Mr. Speaker, do they know whom I listen to? I listen to Hassan Yussuf of the Canadian Labour Congress, who said that the updated NAFTA gets it right on labour provisions, including provisions to protect workers against employment discrimination on the basis of gender. I listen to Lino LoMedico, a team leader at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant, who said, We're actually very proud of the job that our Canadian government did and kudos to the negotiator.I listen, of course, to our friend Jerry Dias at Unifor, who said that this is a much better deal than the deal that was signed 24 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the excellent work done by workers at the Davie shipyard. They always deliver on time and on budget. The Conservatives shut Davie out of the national strategy. We awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Quebec companies, including $700 million for three icebreakers.In addition to the strategy, we have announced our intention of awarding Davie a contract to build two new east coast ferries. We will keep supporting workers across the country, including workers in SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean.
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the Canada-U.S. trade relationship faced its greatest threat. We worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians.The Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they absolutely wanted to abdicate, at all costs, to get any old deal. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed. Now they are in favour of this good deal and have committed to ratifying it. They are all over the place.Our government is committed to standing up for Canadian workers, protecting jobs and always being there for Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 400 days since the Leader of the Opposition promised a plan to fight climate change. All the Conservatives have been doing is dragging their feet and encouraging their friends to take the government to court, instead of fighting climate change.I was happy to note that 97% of Canadians eligible for the climate incentive actually collected it. This means that families are better off with our price on pollution than they were before, as we fight climate change, because Canadians know that we have to fight climate change to build a strong economy.
Mr. Speaker, under our government, the United States trading relationship faced its greatest threats, but we worked hard to get a good deal for Canadians. Conservatives cannot make up their minds. In the beginning, they were in favour of our signing any old deal just to get things done and abdicating on it all, the way Stephen Harper told them to. Then they opposed the good deal that we signed, which we negotiated with the help of all Canadians, and now they are in favour of the deal and they commit to ratifying it. They are all over the place. We are staying focused on supporting Canadians, on fighting for workers
Mr. Speaker, too many families across the country are losing loved ones to the opioid public health crisis.The NDP government in B.C. launched a lawsuit against drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Ontario has now joined the lawsuit.Will the Prime Minister have the courage to support our demand for an inquiry into the role of drug companies in the opioid crisis to bring justice to the families?
Mr. Speaker, this week is National Accessibility Week, and I am proud of the investments our government has made and the work we have accomplished on accessibility in my riding of Shefford and across Canada since 2015. We are celebrating the accomplishments of Canadians with disabilities and the work being done across the country to give all Canadians the same opportunities to succeed.Could the Prime Minister please tell the House what our government is doing to create meaningful change and to help eliminate barriers to inclusion?
Mr. Speaker, Unifor, the largest union of journalists in the country, has clearly picked a side. It has declared war on the Conservative Party.What did the Liberals do? With just five months to go before the election, the Prime Minister gathered together his good friends from Unifor to form a panel that will decide how the Liberal government will distribute $600 million to Canadian media outlets. That makes no sense.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and remove his Unifor friends from the panel?
Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister is the best thing that has happened to Donald Trump. He abandoned access to markets for our main exports. He relinquished our influence and gave Mr. Trump all the power. He makes concessions every time he is at the table. President Trump is in charge and thanks to the Prime Minister, Canada can only stand by and watch.Why is the Prime Minister so proud of this historic humiliation?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Hamilton EastStoney Creek for his leadership on the steel file and for his question. I was incredibly happy to be able to visit plants in Hamilton, Sault Ste. Marie and Sept-Îles to tell workers directly about this huge win for Canada and also to thank them for standing steadfast while we made sure that the United States lifted these unfair tariffs. When our steel and aluminum workers needed to be defended, we stood up and put over $15 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Despite what members opposite and the Premier of Ontario said, we held strong.
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper told everyone, no matter what, just abdicate to the United States and that is exactly what the Conservatives were recommending we do. We stood strong alongside all Canadians and got a good deal for Canadians the way they expected.Do not take any lessons from the Conservatives on trade. They could not get CETA done. They could not get the TPP done. It is this government that made sure that we are the only G7 country to have a free trade deal with every other G7 country.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would like to take pride in our exports. My hometown produces an award-winning electric vehicle that we are proud to ship worldwide.The Prime Minister is undermining Canada's reputation when he allows hundreds of garbage containers of household waste, plastics and recyclables to be dumped to rot in other countries.When the Environment Minister was called out by the Philippines and Malaysia, the response to its own dumpster fire was that Canadian taxpayers now have to pay millions of dollars to pick up these companies' trash. The Prime Minister will not sign the Basel Convention Ban Amendment to stop companies from doing this.How many more countries will he allow to be his personal dumping destinations?
Mr. Speaker, the negotiation of NAFTA was a long and difficult process, but throughout it we could count on Canadians from all different backgrounds who had our backs as a government, and that was one of the reasons we got to a great deal. I was happy that we had former Conservative cabinet ministers supporting us on this. I was also happy that we had so many strong labour leaders supporting us and helping us in the renegotiation of NAFTA. That is why I thank organized labour for their support for this new deal and continue to work with them to protect Canadian jobs.
Mr. Speaker, all the misleading quotes do not change the fact that people are concerned about lost jobs and rising drug costs. Here is a new quote: Canada continues to stand alone in failing to protect our key industries. The federal government must defend Canadian jobs. We do not support the rush to ratify. That is from Ken Neumann of United Steelworkers.Why is the Prime Minister propping up Donald Trump instead of working with progressives in Congress to get a better deal? When exactly did he give up on trying to do better?
Mr. Speaker, I had the tremendous pleasure of being in northern Saskatchewan just a week and a half ago to meet with folks in Meadow Lake to see the extraordinary work that is being done as we continue to invest in communities across northern Saskatchewan and, indeed, in indigenous communities right across the country. Reconciliation happens when we work in partnership and when we invest historic amounts of money in communities, but mostly when we give communities the strength and ability to build their own futures. That is what reconciliation means and that is what we will continue with.
Mr. Speaker, we know that all Canadians expect us to have a plan to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. That is exactly what we are doing.By putting a price on pollution, investing in renewable energy and new technologies, and creating new parks and marine protected areas, we are going to keep defending the environment while maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years. One million new jobs have been created. We have one of the best economic growth rates in the G7. We know that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand, and now we are proving it.
Mr. Speaker, we are grateful to the women and men who served in Afghanistan for their work and their sacrifices.The chief of the defence staff has apologized and has confirmed that the memorial will be accessible to anyone who wishes to visit it, whenever they like.We are working on creating a public monument that recognizes the service of our men and women in uniform throughout the war in Afghanistan. We held consultations with veterans, their families and stakeholders. We will select the location of the monument in partnership with the National Capital Commission. We will always stand up for our veterans and remember their sacrifices.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Minister of Transport has done a lot of work on the new standards and new ways to ensure Canadians' safety. The top priority of the Minister of Transport and the government is the safety of Canadians who travel across the country and abroad. We will continue to put Canadians' safety front and centre when making decisions, and we will take steps to ensure that this is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, as we are proving every day, our government is there to stand up for Canadian workers and to protect jobs. That is what we negotiated in the new NAFTA. The NDP is criticizing the deal in the House of Commons, but at private events it has described the new NAFTA as the best deal possible. The NDP members know that the new NAFTA will protect millions of jobs that were in jeopardy. One need only listen to the member for RosemontLa Petite-Patrie, who said that the new NAFTA is the best deal possible and that it protects workers across the country.
Mr. Speaker, the greatest threat to Canada's trading relationship with the United States is the weakness of the Prime Minister. Any old deal would have been better than the deal that he came home with. Concession after concession on dairy, on autos, on pharmaceuticals and now, in order to get steel tariffs lifted, he had to give away the only piece of leverage that Canada had. He has actually agreed not to put strategic tariffs on other U.S. industries. Once again, why did the Prime Minister give Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, we know that a strong, independent media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy. That is why we wanted to make sure, on our independent panel, that unlike what the Conservatives want, it is not just newspaper owners and media giants that are on that panel. We need to make sure that hard-working journalists are well represented on that panel as well.On this side of the House, we will always defend labour and we will always defend workers, unlike the Conservatives, who attack organized labour at every chance they get, including with Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 in the last Parliament.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the arguments the Conservatives are making on this issue are exactly the same arguments they have always made on why we should be eliminating the CBC. We disagree. We believe in CBC/Radio-Canada as a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to bring to Canadians news that matters to Canadians. We are always going to stand up to defend the CBC against the Conservatives, but indeed defend both employers and employees of media organizations against people who want to undermine them and attack them.
Mr. Speaker, this government takes very seriously the responsibility to keep Canadians safe. That is why I can assure all members of the House that our security agencies, that our RCMP, take to heart their responsibility to make sure that Canadians are well protected. They are following all the appropriate procedures in every case. We have full confidence in the excellence of our intelligence agencies and our police services.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are proud of the work we are doing for seniors, whether it was increasing the GIS by 10% for our most vulnerable single seniors or restoring the age of retirement to 65 from the 67 that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives put it at. We have continued to invest in seniors, particularly in housing, with our national housing strategy of $40 billion moving forward. We are making sure that seniors find life more affordable, because we know that supporting our seniors through a broad range of investments is the right thing for our society and the right thing for our future.
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has always been our top priority. The Conservatives cut veterans services to try to balance the budget at all costs.Our investment of over $10 billion provides more support to veterans. Thanks to our promise to reintroduce a new pension for life program, every injured veteran should be getting better support now than under the former system. I have asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is always the case.
Mr. Speaker, Canada's opioid crisis has claimed the lives of thousands of people of all ages and in all regions. Thousands of families have lost loved ones, and, tragically, experts say this crisis was avoidable. B.C. has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit and now other provinces are joining in. Again, provinces are leading the way while Liberals are trying to catch up.Will the Prime Minister finally agree to join this lawsuit and make sure drug companies are held to account for their role in this public health crisis?
Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons on ineffective ministers from that man, who was the one who presided over photo ops and cuts to veterans services under the Harper government. The fact is they used veterans for photo ops, instead of giving them the money they had, so as to balance the budget by nickel and diming them.We knew that what we were going to do was to invest $10 billion in veterans. A new veterans pension for life makes sure that every single veteran is better off now, and that is what we are going to stick with.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work.All of us can agree that one lost life is too many. Yesterday, our legislation passed to uphold our commitment for better background checks, for standardized record-keeping, for impartial classification and for safer transportation.Now the Conservatives have said they would repeal this legislation. If the Conservatives remove enhanced background checks, people will no longer need to show a licence when buying a firearm in Canada.Together with new federal investments, this bill will combat gun violence and
Mr. Speaker, rushing the ratification of the new NAFTA as it stands will hurt workers, communities and our environment. While Congress in the U.S. is fighting for a better deal, the Liberals are busy doing Donald Trump's dirty work. Do Liberals understand how much NAFTA has cost working people?We do, because, unlike the Prime Minister, we work shoulder to shoulder with people who lost their jobs. The Prime Minister has no idea what this does to families. Liberals are telling working people that they are more interested in a trophy on the trade shelf than they are in improving their lives.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing for working people and wait for a better deal?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA is going to have a major impact on our workers, but the Liberals can fix this deal.As the national director of United Steelworkers has said, Canada should not leave it up to the U.S. Congress to stand up for our workers. Our priority is protecting jobs in Canada.Will the Prime Minister work with us and not rush the NAFTA ratification, so we can be sure that all workers in Canada are properly protected?
Mr. Speaker, this is actually embarrassing, that the Prime Minister does not understand the concept of bias on a panel that is making decisions.However, I should not be surprised. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks it is okay to traipse across the line that separates the judicial system from the executive branch. This is the same Prime Minister who thinks that ethical rules do not apply to him. This is the same Prime Minister who also made sure that he set up, beforehand, exactly what the outcome for Mark Norman would have been in terms of being charged.I take no lessons from this Prime Minister. Will he remove Unifor?
Mr. Speaker, what we know, whether on climate change or gas prices, is that we do not need another high school drama production from the Prime Minister. We need clear answers.The Prime Minister said that he believed $1.60-a-litre gas prices are exactly what we want. He admits his price on gas will go up 250%.Will the Prime Minister tell us the full and final price increase that his carbon tax will impose on a litre of gasoline?
Mr. Speaker, defending our strong, independent media is something that is essential to this government, indeed to all Canadians, if we are going to defend our democracy. That means gathering a range of voices that represent different interests within the media universe to make sure that all voices are heard. We feel that it is important that employees, as well as employers, are heard from on that panel.The fact that the Conservatives, for many years, unfairly attacked organized labour and attacked unions across this country is now something they are
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are playing the same old game of trying to pit Canadians against each other and distract from the fact that climate change is a real and pressing challenge to communities right across the country. Extreme wildfires, incredible flooding right across the country and greater drought periods are challenges costing Canadian families thousands upon thousands of dollars, and the economy millions upon billions of dollars.We have a plan to fight climate change. We know that we do not have a plan to build a stronger economy unless we have a plan to fight climate change. The Conservatives do not know that.
Mr. Speaker, the well-being and financial security of our veterans has been our priority ever since we took office, because the Conservatives gutted Veterans Affairs to balance the budget and used them for photo ops. We made investments of over $10 billion in new dollars in Canada's veterans so they are better supported. We are delivering on the promise to reintroduce the new pension for life, and that policy was designed so that every injured veteran is better off under our new system than they were under the old one. I have instructed Veterans Affairs to ensure that that is the case in every single case.
Mr. Speaker, in February, the minister announced funding to make much needed safety improvements to the Fond du Lac Airport, but now the Liberals are telling the community that it needs to apply again for already promised funding. The Liberals are really quick to make promises to northerners, but they act more like the Conservatives, who never cared to invest in northern Saskatchewan. Northerners are tired of being betrayed by the Liberals.Will the Prime Minister commit to his promise to Fond du Lac and release the funding today?
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It is not the first time I have risen on this point of order, but it is the first time I have risen on a point of order from my new vantage point in the House. The hon. member for WellingtonHalton Hills is completely correct with respect to his point of order on decorum. Under Standing Order 16, none of the members in this place are to speak when another member is speaking, interrupt him or her or speak disrespectfully. As impossible as it is for me to believe it to be the case, my vantage point in this corner of the House subjects me to more noise than when I was in the other corner of the House, and I cannot hear people speaking. I am ashamed of my colleagues who cannot control themselves and perform in a way that would make their constituents proud. Think of your constituents before you shout with derision at our Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, for a decade, Canadians saw how the Conservatives mistreated the institution that was the Senate, torqued it, used it for their own particular gain, pushed partisanship, pushed patronage in the Senate, with senators such as Lynn Beyak, such as Don Meredith, such as others. The fact is, we moved forward on removing partisanship and patronage from the Senate. It is now a more independent body of truly sober second thought, and we wish the Conservatives would commit to ending their prospective patronage in the Senate
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is the head of the government. He has many roles and responsibilities, but his primary duty consists of two fundamental objectives. First of all, he must ensure our great federation is politically united. Second, he must ensure that the government is there for our military personnel, and that includes giving them the honours they deserve. Did the Prime Minister share the profound disappointment felt by Canadians and by our troops when they learned that the families of fallen Afghanistan war soldiers were excluded from the war memorial event?
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we know that a strong and independent media is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy, so we are acting to ensure that the media continues to hold elected officials to account. As part of that, we are ensuring that both employers and employees are represented on this independent panel. The Conservatives keep up their attacks on organized labour; we will defend workers right across this country. The Conservatives will keep up their attacks on the media, including on CBC, which the Leader of the Opposition committed to eliminate; we are going to stay focused on protecting the
Mr. Speaker, a delegation from Saguenay is visiting Davie today. The delegation wants to send the clear message that the shipyard is ready to secure new contracts from the federal government and that businesses in the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean region are ready to reap the benefits. The contracting process is taking too long, and that is holding up the potential economic spinoffs.Will the Liberals pledge to take all necessary steps to ensure that Davie gets new contracts before the election, thus ensuring all the workers in my region can benefit from the resulting economic activity?
Mr. Speaker, that is straight-up misinformation. Here is the truth: with just five months to go until the election, the Liberal government gave an openly pro-Liberal and aggressively anti-Conservative union the power to influence who will get $600 million in funding for the media. This is another Liberal ploy to interfere and try to influence the upcoming election campaign.Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and boot his Unifor buddies off the panel, period?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Unifor to its panel to determine eligibility for half a billion dollar bailout package has destroyed the government's credibility. Unifor is a highly partisan group with aggressive partisan goals. It has made it clear that its objective is to help elect Liberals and defeat Conservatives, yet the Prime Minister has decided to appoint this group to his panel.Why does the Prime Minister not just admit that he is openly trying to stack the deck in advance of the next election?
Mr. Speaker, Hamilton is Canada's steel city. The imposition of steel tariffs by the United States caused us great concern, here and throughout North America. We fought back with retaliatory tariffs, which the Conservative member for Durham described as dumb, but we held firm, and now the tariffs are fully lifted, protecting thousands of steelworkers' jobs across Canada.Could the Prime Minister speak to the House about this important achievement?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question and for his hard work.In budget 2019 we made significant investments to better support Canadians with disabilities. Unlike the Conservatives, we are prioritizing the passage of our historic accessibility bill, which will help create a system to proactively identify and eliminate barriers. We are building a country in which all Canadians can fully participate in society. We hope to have the support of all political parties.
Mr. Speaker, we take our responsibility to protect the safety of Canadians very seriously. That is why we trust our security agencies and our national police force to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe. We will not comment on specific investigations, but we will always assure Canadians that our agencies are doing their job to keep them safe.
Mr. Speaker, to follow Conservatives' logic, anyone who has been attacked and mistreated by the Conservatives should not have a voice. That is what the 2015 election countered, as Canadians rose up across the country to reject the Conservative attacks and demonization of media, of indigenous peoples, of environmentalists, of hard-working Canadians, of young people.That approach by the Conservatives is exactly what is going to fail them again this time.
Mr. Speaker, even the members opposite are following the plan of the Liberal environment minister, screaming louder and louder to cover up the truth.The Prime Minister said $1.60-a-litre gas prices in B.C. are exactly what he wants. Will he admit that that is where all prices are going across Canada once his carbon tax is fully implemented?
Mr. Speaker, as we know, strong, independent media are vital to democracy. We will always take action to protect them. We recognize that both employers and employees must be part of the discussion on how we will defend our media.The Conservatives may only want to help the bosses and owners of media networks, but we are concerned about journalists and the plight of workers. We will always stand up for our media so that they can do their job, which is to look at issues with a critical eye and keep Canadians informed.
Mr. Speaker, we agree with the NDP that it was shameful that the Harper government allowed garbage to be exported without permits or safeguards. That is why in 2016, we signed the Basel agreement. The NDP needs to get its facts straight on that. We changed our regulations to comply with international obligations and strengthened controls of our exports.Despite this garbage having been exported to the Philippines under the Harper government, we are doing the right thing by bringing it back to Canada to ensure that it is properly disposed of.
Mr. Speaker, the valiant Medric Cousineau is joining with those who say that not all veterans who participate in the new pension for life program are treated the same. A Liberal member from Nova Scotia said that if one veteran received less, that would be unacceptable.I remember when the Prime Minister said that veterans were asking for more than the government could give them.Does the Prime Minister agree with what his member said?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are worried about carbon taxes and the skyrocketing price of gas at the pumps.The Prime Minister himself has said that is exactly what we want. The Liberals' own secret documents show that the government plans to raise the carbon tax by another 60¢ per litre.When will the Prime Minister admit that his carbon tax is nothing more than a blatant cash grab that will hurt struggling Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, since January 2018, the visa exemption has allowed Canadians to welcome nearly 500,000 legitimate travellers from Mexico, which has generated millions of dollars in economic benefits.During that same period, the Canada Border Services Agency prepared inadmissibility reports for approximately 190 Mexican nationals on criminality grounds. That accounts for 0.04% of all Mexican travellers seeking entry into Canada.The CBSA is working with our national and international partners. Information sharing
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives keep attacking organized labour, but we know that unions and workers are an essential part of our society and that they have a crucially important role to play. At the same time, we see the Conservatives making the same arguments on this issue that they made when they said we should eliminate the CBC. That is something the Conservatives have wanted for a long time. That is what the leader of the Conservative Party promised in his leadership campaign. We know the Conservatives will always go after the CBC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's failure to get Trans Mountain built has contributed to sky-high gas prices in British Columbia. However, he says that is exactly what he wants.Rural people in my riding have no options. They cannot take public transit. They cannot take jerry cans across the border for cheaper gas in the U.S. When a person has to drive hundreds of kilometres to simply get to a hospital, electric vehicles remain impractical.When will the Prime Minister take real steps to address the issue of high gas prices?
Mr. Speaker, let us remember that the Prime Minister promised a better NAFTA deal. Then he volunteered to renegotiate Canada's trading arrangement and not only did he come back with concession after concession, with no win at all, but he even signed a deal that still had steel and aluminum tariffs in place. Now we learn that there is language in the new agreement that suggests that Canada now has a quota by another name.Will the Prime Minister finally admit that this deal on steel tariffs is just not as advertised?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's decision to put his friend Jerry Dias and Unifor on the media funding panel is going to show how far the Liberals would go in trying to stack the deck in the next election. Unifor is overtly anti-Conservative. Its members are planning to campaign against us in the next election. No one is denying that. I guess that is why he is the Prime Minister's friend, but they have no business being on this media panel decision-making process.Will the Prime Minister reverse this decision and remove his friend and Unifor from this media
Mr. Speaker, two men were recently arrested in Richmond Hill for possessing explosive materials. At the time, the Minister of Public Safety dismissed the incident, claiming that it was not a national security matter. We have since learned that the FBI is investigating. Everyone knows that the FBI does not waste its time investigating trivial matters.Will the Prime Minister be transparent about this national security issue in my riding and provide the House with an update on the investigation?
Mr. Speaker, we will make no apologies for putting forward an opportunity to build a strong, independent media that is secure as we move forward to make sure that both employers and employees are represented. It is absolutely laughable that the Conservatives, who were found guilty of election fraud in multiple past elections, give any lessons on independence. What they tried to do with their unfair elections act was muzzle Elections Canada, preventing it from talking to young people, removing the right to vote from thousands of aboriginal people, thousands of young people, people right
Mr. Speaker, Jerry Dias is not a journalist. He represents a union that has called itself the resistance to Conservatives. It is bankrolling partisan attack ads put out by a third party organization and run by high-level Liberal backroom veterans. There are other entities that could represent workers on this panel, but the Liberals chose a Liberal-friendly partisan organization.It is very clear that this is just one aspect of the Prime Minister's attempt to rig the next election, including putting caps on Conservatives but not on government spending announcements. Why
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is following the direction of his environment minister, who said this week, if you actually say it louder, weve learned in the House of Commons, if you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that is your talking point, people will totally believe it. So just go in.
Mr. Speaker, let's try a different approach.The Minister of Public Safety said that the incident in Richmond Hill was not a matter of national security, but we have since learned that the FBI is involved.Can the Prime Minister confirm that this is a matter of national security? If not, why would the FBI be here?
Mr. Speaker, it has been 59 days since the Prime Minister sent me a letter threatening to sue me for comments I made regarding his political interference in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Now, not only did I not withdraw or apologize for my remarks, I repeated them word for word outside the House of Commons.Will the Prime Minister tell me on what date I can expect to see him in court, testifying under oath, for his role in the SNC-Lavalin affair?
Mr. Speaker, I believe you would find the unanimous consent of the House for me to move the following motion
Let me finish.Here is the motion: that the House of Commons reiterate that a woman's body belongs to her and her alone and recognize her freedom of choice on abortion for any reason.
Mr. Speaker, we know that getting our oil resources to new markets is something that matters to Canadians right across the country and will help people in British Columbia.Unfortunately, for 10 years the Conservatives failed to get pipelines built to new markets. Their approach was to bulldoze through environmental protection and ignore indigenous peoples. They completely failed to get their exports to non-U.S. markets.We are following the court's direction on TMX, in the right way. We are diversifying our exports to support our workers, because, quite frankly, families in Alberta, B.C. and elsewhere cannot afford Conservative failures.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The House has rules and the rule is clear. When a chair occupant rises, all members need to sit down in their place to defer to the authority of the Speaker. I would ask that you clarify the rule of the House in this regard.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize the numerous health issues the community suffers to this day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to build a health facility in Grassy Narrows. At the invitation of Chief Turtle, the minister is actually visiting the community today. We are focused on moving this critical work forward, working with the community to advance a solution. It is imperative that we all work together and ensure that the people of Grassy Narrows get the support they need.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order resulting out of question period and the question we have been asking about the Afghanistan fallen and such. There have been discussions among the parties and if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the sacrifices Canadian military families make on a daily basis and the contributions of these families to the fabric of our society and show appreciation for their ongoing commitment to the safety and security of Canada by designating the third Friday in September of each year military family appreciation day; that the Prime Minister apologize to the military families that were excluded from participating in the secret dedication ceremony for the Afghanistan memorial; and that the government right this wrong and make the Afghanistan memorial accessible to the families of the fallen.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hand-picked senators have sole-sourced a contract to a private security company to provide extra bodyguards in the new Senate chamber. When questions were asked about this contract, all the men in black, the private mystery security agents, were sent home. There is something rotten in the Senate.Why did the Prime Minister's appointed leader of the Liberal government in the Senate break the rules and issue this untendered secret contract?
Mr. Speaker, gun violence in Canada is on the rise. While crime rates in general have dropped during the past several decades, gun violence has increased. Between 2013 and 2017, gun homicides across Canada doubled. More specifically, in my home town of Toronto we endured 96 tragic homicides in 2018. Could the Prime Minister inform the House what steps our government has taken to promote the safety of our communities?
Mr. Speaker, B.C. gives low-income seniors a bus pass so they can get around, and it also provides rent-geared-to-income housing so they can find homes they can afford to rent. This year, the CRA demanded that B.C. issue forms to those seniors for the full cost of the bus pass, over $500. While this does not affect their taxes, it artificially boosts the income used to calculate their rents. My friend Brigid has seen her rent go up by $240 per year under this new CRA policy.Why does the CRA keep going after the people who can least afford it?
Mr. Speaker, we are deeply concerned by the tragic impact of the opioid crisis in B.C. and, indeed, right across the country. We have responded by investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment. We have restored harm reduction and approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are significantly removing barriers to treatment of those struggling with addictions. We are taking action to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do nothing but flail about, because they have nothing to counter the fact that our plan is working. One million jobs have been created over the past four years. We have the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand Canadians have been lifted out of poverty, including 300,000 kids. We have done this because we know that investing in the middle class, protecting the environment and working with all Canadians is the way to build a stronger future and a stronger economy.The Conservatives have nothing to say on that, so they resort to personal attacks and scary division tactics.
Mr. Speaker, the people of Grassy Narrows have suffered 50 years of lies, cover-ups and broken promises. Two years ago, the Prime Minister promised that that spring there would be shovels in the ground to build a mercury treatment centre, and nothing was done. Enough with the broken promises. Where is the money for the mercury treatment centre? What is the timeline? Why is the Prime Minister refusing to cover the treatment for people who have been poisoned by the corporate and political crime at Grassy Narrows?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister asked the chief of the defence staff to apologize for him, but he is the prime minister who has broken promises on veterans pensions. He is the prime minister who forced the Equitas Society's Afghanistan veterans back to court. He is the prime minister who cancelled the Afghanistan monument in 2016, which would otherwise be open to the public today. Moreover, the barring of families and veterans from a secret ceremony a few weeks ago was reprehensible. It has been four years of broken promises and four ineffective ministers. Why should military families and veterans ever believe this prime minister?
Mr. Speaker, here is another national security matter.We have learned that Mexicans have been crossing the border into Canada to commit criminal acts. We know that 190 of them have been arrested by Canadian authorities. However, we also know that 400 drug traffickers have entered Canada and 200 of them are living in Montreal. I want to know the truth.The Prime Minister has boasted about being open and transparent, so can he tell us whether drug traffickers are a threat to Canada's national security?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion noting that all projects involving the transportation of petroleum products must be submitted to the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, Quebec's environmental hearings board. However, Ottawa does not understand this, because here, the national interest means the interests of oil companies, and that is that.We keep repeating over and over that Quebec does not want dirty oil pipelines. We do not want them. That seems pretty clear to me.Will the Prime Minister pledge not to revive any dirty oil pipeline projects in Quebec, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been forced to confirm that they are cutting benefits for veterans with severe and permanent injuries under the Prime Minister's veterans pension scheme. Veterans like Medric Cousineau have received letters that provide proof of the Prime Minister's betrayal. Even Liberal members of Parliament are calling this unacceptable.Does the Prime Minister agree with his Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, or does he still think veterans are asking for too much?
Mr. Speaker, in this time of misinformation and fake news and populism, the opposition leader is doubling down on misleading Canadians. It shows that he is still following Stephen Harper's playbook. We put him on notice, because he and his party have a history of making false and defamatory statements. That is what he did in December against the Minister of Innovation. He was forced to swallow his words and retract his statements. We will not stand by while he tries to mislead Canadians again.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the subject of unanimous consent for motions from the floor. Recently, the House of Commons put forward a motion to apologize to Mark Norman for the vicious attack by his government against him that caused a massive heartache for him and his family. The Prime Minister snuck out the door before that could be voted upon. I would like to invite him to rise now and
Mr. Speaker, in a 2013 report on an accident between a bus and a VIA Rail train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada called for Transport Canada to examine the creation of crashworthiness standards for buses.Since then, there have been several of these types of accidents, including the sad accident involving the Humboldt Broncos. We are now at 19 people dead and 33 injured. However, Transport Canada has not yet done anything to change the crashworthiness standard.Can the Prime Minister explain why his minister has failed to act on this matter, even though his government has been in power for almost four years?
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with those who have lost family and friends in this opioid crisis.We continue to act to address this crisis. We are investing $350 million in emergency response, much of it in treatment, we have approved almost 30 supervised consumption sites, and we are removing barriers to treatment. We will continue to do all we can to save lives and turn the tide of this terrible crisis.
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister actually respected journalists, he would know that they do not want his friend Jerry and Unifor involved in this half-billion-dollar funding.Here is what they are saying about the impact it is going to have. They are saying that it is disastrous for public trust, that it erodes the independence and places journalists in a permanent and inescapable conflict of interest.The Prime Minister is making a terrible decision and he is using journalists as his cover. Will the Prime Minister stop putting journalists in this conflict of interest, reverse this decision and remove his friend Jerry and Unifor from this panel?