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Dec/6/21 5:34:50 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, I think the member's question was very misplaced, but I will thank him nonetheless. Our caucus has shown a great deal of leadership, as have all members of the House, in following all of the rules and acting with that leadership space. I was previously a member of the provincial legislature in Alberta. I shared some of my personal medical history. I actually got my first dose of the vaccine when I was 20 weeks pregnant. I very proudly did so, because I thought it was important for women across the province of Alberta, as well as across the country, to see that their leaders were making those decisions. Based on medical advice that I had received from my health care team, I made that decision. I encouraged others to talk to their doctors. That is one of the things I think is really important: to make sure that everyone is taking that time.

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Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)

Dec/6/21 5:36:15 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, unless I missed something, it is hard to determine whether our Conservative colleagues are going to vote for or against Bill C‑3. After all, there are a few contradictions. The English-language media has been reporting that the Conservatives consider it unnecessary to amend the Criminal Code. In the French-language media, however, we sometimes heard the member for Mégantic—L'Érable bring up the notion of prohibiting demonstrations near hospitals and key infrastructure like railroads or pipelines, which is part of the Conservatives' platform. Furthermore, we have not really heard anything from the Conservatives about the proposed 10 days of paid sick leave. I would therefore like to know if my colleague can shed a little more light on these issues, because I would really appreciate it.

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Mrs. Laila Goodridge

Dec/6/21 5:37:03 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, during the last election campaign, we included protecting critical infrastructure such as hospitals, pipelines, highways and railroads in our platform. It was a really popular issue, as we saw in many provinces across the country, including Alberta, where I am from.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Dec/6/21 5:37:53 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Qujannamiik, Uqaqtittiji. As I mentioned earlier today, another example of the lack of health services has to do with three communities in Nunavut: Igloolik, Gjoa Haven and Sanikiluaq. Each of those communities has a population of over 1,000 people. The services I have been talking about and the paid sick leave are all very important. I am trying to hear how difficult it might be for paid sick leave days. My question is very similar to what the other member just asked about paid sick leave. Does the member agree that it is time for 10 days of paid sick leave for our workers?

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Mrs. Laila Goodridge

Dec/6/21 5:38:57 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, the member has raised a very important question in regard to this bill. It is a question that we really need to take to committee to be able to study further and to see some of those answers. We have not been able to have members from the other side of the House give us any clarification as to whether this piece would actually apply to contractors or other federally mandated and regulated employers. That is important—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

Dec/6/21 5:39:29 p.m.
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Resuming debate, the hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove.

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Mr. Tako Van Popta (Langley—Aldergrove, CPC)

Dec/6/21 5:39:37 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, I am here to talk about the government's proposal to amend the Criminal Code to criminalize certain behaviour, which I believe most Canadians thought was already against the law. Before speaking to Bill C-3, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the fine people of Langley—Aldergrove for endorsing me for a second term. It is a great honour to be re-elected. I have promised my constituents that I will be a clear voice for them in this Parliament. I want to thank my wife, Inga, and my extended family for their ongoing support. I also want to thank the many volunteers who helped me throughout the campaign and made my success a reality. Politics is a team sport. Moving onto Bill C-3, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code, I am going to focus on the Criminal Code aspect of the bill, which would make harassing health care workers illegal if the intent is to prevent them from doing the work of serving the public. As I said, many people think that this is already against the law. There are provisions in the Criminal Code that the police and prosecutors could rely on to prevent this type of anti-social behaviour. One thing we have learned through the pandemic is that we must value our health care workers as they are essential to the full and proper functioning of our society and our communities. We owe them a debt of gratitude. Everybody in this House knows a health care worker, is related to somebody who is a frontline health care worker, or is a neighbour to one. I have two family members, a daughter and daughter-in-law, who are. One is a care aid in a seniors home and the other is a nurse in a hospital. Every day they go to work, and they are eager and happy to serve their patients to the best of their abilities. Sometimes they are in very stressful situations, such as situations of understaffing or having to be moved from one ward to another on very short notice. Sometimes they have to work extended shifts due to a shortage of health care workers. Sometimes they have to work in the COVID ward. I think not only of the health care workers, but also of the family members, who share the risks, stresses and strains of health care work. This law is a step in the right direction. It is a gesture in support of our health care workers. A more constructive and substantive way to support our health care workers would be by hiring more nurses. The shortage of nurses is a long-term problem that we knew about long before the COVID pandemic, but it has been exacerbated by that. I met with members of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union. I have a quote here from a publication they shared with me. It states, “Many risk factors for burnout have been exacerbated during the pandemic, including increased patient acuity, understaffing...increased overtime...reassignment to unfamiliar roles”. It goes on to say, “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, severe burnout was typically found in 20%-40% of healthcare workers.” In the spring of 2020, at the commencement of the pandemic, that percentage increased to between 30% and 40%, and by the spring of 2021, it was more like 60%. The publication goes on to say that job vacancies for registered nurses had the largest increase of all occupations over a two-year period. This is what is happening to our health care workers. There is a shortage of them and that shortage is increasing stresses and strains. The best thing that we could do for our health care workers would be to hire more health care workers. I asked the people with whom I met with whether there is a shortage of people who want to be in the nursing industry, and I was told absolutely not. There are many applications to universities and to nursing schools across the country, but not enough seats in these nursing schools. I am thinking of Trinity Western University in my riding. The nursing school has a very good reputation across the country and around the world, and it would love to open up more chairs. That is what we need to do. We need to increase the supply of nurses. Let us go back to Bill C-3. I am happy to listen to the debate. There seems to be a consensus developing that we are all in support of this bill. I am happy to hear that we want to support our health care workers, but I am hoping there is also a consensus forming around the right of protest. Long-standing democratic rights in our society include the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom to protest; however, they need to be done in a balanced way. No rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are absolute. They are always subject to such reasonable limitations as defined in law and as are demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society. The question for the committee would be to determine whether we have found that right balance in Bill C-3. It is an open question. The effective paragraph in the bill states: No person is guilty of an offence under [the relevant] subsection...by reason only that they attend at or near, or approach, a place referred to in that subsection for the purpose...of obtaining or communicating information. We are allowed to have information pickets. I agree with that. I think everyone in the House is going to agree with that, but the right of protest does not extend to interfering with the proper functioning of society. I am going to pivot to something that was in the Conservative platform in the last election. Reference has been made to it by several of the previous Conservative speakers. We are proposing to introduce a critical infrastructure protection act that would prevent protesters from interfering with infrastructure projects, whether they are hospital construction, transit construction or pipeline construction. Yes, we have a right of protest. No, we do not have a right to interfere with legal projects that Canadians have determined are essential for our society. I am very pleased that we are introducing Bill C-3 because not only would it protect health care workers, it would also set a good precedent for us going forward. I look forward to an opportunity, at some point, to introduce something like what the Conservatives were proposing: a critical infrastructure protection act. The work that the committee would do, and that Parliament is doing right now around Bill C-3, is going to be precedent-setting for legislation going forward that would regulate how protesting is to be done. Peaceful protesting is allowed, but getting in the way of society's functioning is not.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Dec/6/21 5:47:27 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, the member made reference to our health care workers. It goes without saying just how much we collectively appreciate how our health care workers have stepped up to the plate. Many years ago, I was the health care critic in the Province of Manitoba. We found that for many health care workers it was more than just the demand of getting more nurses into the profession. It was the way in which human resources often allocated staffing years and things of that nature at different institutions. I am wondering what the member thinks of the Standing Committee on Health looking at this as a possible study, going forward, on health care workers and how Canada can provide some national leadership on the whole health care resources file, with a special focus on nurses.

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Mr. Tako Van Popta

Dec/6/21 5:48:27 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, it starts with having enough people in the workforce. Right now, there is a shortage of health care workers. We are focusing particularly on nurses. We need to solve that problem. We need to get enough people in the workforce working in hospitals and in the many other fields where nurses serve their patients and keep Canadians safe. That is where we need to start. I would certainly be open to any suggestions about how hospital administrators allocate those resources, but the resources need to be there first.

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Ms. Marie-Hélène Gaudreau (Laurentides—Labelle, BQ)

Dec/6/21 5:49:20 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, I am having a hard time understanding what is going on. We hear about the need for health transfers and funding. I hear my colleague talking about what can be done to address the labour shortage, to maintain and respect the work of nurses, but we know that the solution is to increase health transfers and let the appropriate jurisdictions do their work. On the subject of protests, which we heard a lot about during the election campaign, what happened? Quebec took the bull by the horns. As recently as September 2021, the National Assembly took direct action on protests. What does my colleague think of the solution of increasing health transfers and giving Quebec and the provinces the authority to respect our health care workers?

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Mr. Tako Van Popta

Dec/6/21 5:50:18 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, the member's question gives me an opportunity to talk about jurisdiction and Canadian constitutional law. I am not talking about the federal government taking over jurisdiction. Of course, we are going to work with the provinces. Health care is a provincial matter. The federal government needs to work with the provinces to find the best way to increase health care resources.

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Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)

Dec/6/21 5:50:58 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, since the pandemic, the NDP asked the Prime Minister 22 times to fix the old version of the paid sick leave so more workers could access it. Constituents in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith have had to choose between their health and paying rent. This is a choice that no one should have to make. The Conservatives and the Liberals have also voted against making life-saving medications more affordable through pharmacare. Could the member share when they will start putting the health and wellness of workers, and families first and will my colleague support the much-needed 10 paid sick days for workers?

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Mr. Tako Van Popta

Dec/6/21 5:52:17 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, as other speakers have said, this needs to go to committee to be studied. We do not have a lot of detail about the government's plans in that regard. I do know that many unionized workers working in federally regulated industries have paid sick leave in their contracts, and I believe in the sanctity of contracts. I would certainly be willing to look at gaps where further assistance is required. However, that is for the committee to look into.

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Mr. Frank Caputo (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, CPC)

Dec/6/21 5:52:48 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure and an honour to speak while your are in the chair. I congratulate you on your appearance before the House. In short, I support the bill going through second reading and moving on to committee. Like my colleague for Langley—Aldergrove, after a few brief comments I will focus on the proposed Criminal Code amendments. Canada's Conservatives, and our recent platform on this point really bore it out, will continue to be the voice for working Canadians, especially those who have been left behind by the current government. I will now move on to what is very important not only in my riding but in a number of ridings, which is the implication of Bill C-3 when it comes to health care workers. It is a pleasure to appear here on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. Our riding is geographically diverse. Places like 100 Mile House, which has a small hospital, or places like Barrière and Clearwater are often underserviced and it is important that we recognize and protect not only the contribution those health care workers in that area make, but also recognize the tremendous importance they have. In my own experience, during the election, I drove through a protest at Royal Inland Hospital. Two of the fellow candidates, the candidate for the Liberal Party and the candidate for the Green Party, had partners who were critical health care workers, so this was very close to my heart and mind during the election. It really emphasized the strain that the pandemic had placed on health care workers. I want to emphasize for my colleagues in the House that time and again I commend what our front-line health care workers have done. We have seen them step up. I know at the beginning people would go outside and would frequently ring the bells every night as a commemoration to the health care workers. Slowly, those things started to disappear. Then, I believe it was nightly, there would be a procession of all first responders, such as the police, the sheriffs and the ambulances. Then that went to weekly. It can be very easy to forget the sacrifices that have been made by our front-line health care workers. I want to appreciate them as the member of Parliament for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo as well as simply a citizen of Canada. I appreciate all the work they have done. A number of people in my riding have really risen to the occasion during this time, for instance, the workers in specific facilities with outbreaks, seniors homes and the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. Nurses in 100 Mile House stayed in hotel rooms in order to protect their families. Volunteers ran immunization clinics smoothly. People like Dr. Shane Barclay and Laura Bantock lobbied for and obtained a testing centre in Sun Peaks, which is vital to our community, our tourism, our fabric and our recreation in Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. It is critical that we see tourism thrive in a place like Sun Peaks and eradicating the pandemic from Sun Peaks is obviously of critical importance. With that, it is a pleasure that people do not have to travel to Kamloops to have a safer place to work, worship and play. The Criminal Code offers protections to a number of groups. There are already provisions with respect to threatening and intimidating, but Bill C-3 goes one step further. Even in these discussions, the Hansard that is created is important to reflect what the House believes. As somebody who practised law for a number of years and spoke about sentencing on these types of issues, it is important that what we say here reflects the consensus and the issues before the House. The Criminal Code already reflects that it is an aggravating feature to threaten, assault or intimidate certain groups. I think about section 270 of the Criminal Code with respect to assaulting a peace officer. It is an offence to assault anybody, but Parliament has said that when one assaults a peace officer, one has gone one step further and the offence is recognized with a greater level of seriousness for obvious reasons. It is the same thing for children. There are offences that relate specifically to children to reflect the seriousness of committing an offence against a child. Similarly, when it comes to intimidation and obstruction of justice, there are offences that protect justice system participants, reporters and people who carry out their justice system practice. With what I have already said, health care workers are integral to the functioning of our society. Various colleagues on both sides of the House have noted already the strains they are under, so I will not repeat them. However, I wish to note that it is very important that we do protect these groups. I am in favour of studying these issues further at committee. I am therefore speaking in support of the bill going to committee.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate), Lib.)

Dec/6/21 5:58:58 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, during the course of the debate today, we have heard at least a couple Conservative colleagues try to draw a parallel between the protests that are happening outside hospitals with those that occurring along pipelines. I wonder if the member thinks that when this does get to committee, we should draw that comparison and try to further the legislation to include looking at protests along pipelines.

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Mr. Frank Caputo

Dec/6/21 5:59:38 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, Canada relies on infrastructure. At this point, what is before the House is the protection of health care workers. I certainly would be in favour of looking at legislation that protects any critical infrastructure, not just pipelines. Infrastructure is just as critical to Canadians as health care is, so I am in favour of any legislation that extends protection to our system functioning smoothly.

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Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)

Dec/6/21 6:00:22 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Qujannamiik, Uqaqtittiji. First, it is my first opportunity to congratulate the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo on his election. I noticed that his speech was silent on the amendments to the Canada Labour Code, yet he spoke passionately about the importance of health professionals. According to Statistics Canada, my riding of Nunavut has the lowest ratio compared to the rest of Canada for the national average of doctors to residents, which is 85 doctors per 100,000 people. Because of the many issues that we have facing health care in Nunavut, I am particularly interested in what the member's position is on allowing medical certification to be relaxed. Bill C-3 talks about the requirement for medical certification and I would like to hear his position on relaxing the provisions set out in Bill C-3.

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Mr. Frank Caputo

Dec/6/21 6:01:38 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, I live in a riding where there is a significant doctor shortage, but it is nowhere near the shortage that my colleague from Nunavut mentioned. With that, I support anything that is going to get more people into health care facilities. I am open to discussing this at committee so we can dive into it more. Hopefully, we can all come to a consensus so there can be more doctors and nurses. It would be helpful because, simply put, we are just not turning out enough doctors and medical practitioners.

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Mr. Martin Champoux (Drummond, BQ)

Dec/6/21 6:02:24 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, I have to just shake my head when I hear my colleague talk about finding solutions to help regions experiencing a shortage of health care workers. There is a very simple solution. Health falls under provincial and Quebec jurisdiction. We therefore reiterate the unanimous request of Quebec and the provinces to increase health transfers, without conditions. That is the best way for Quebec and the provinces to take charge of recruitment and ensure that all regions in each Canadian province and in Quebec will be well represented and have the staff they need. Does my colleague agree that the government should commit to an immediate and unconditional increase in health transfers, as called for by Quebec and the provinces?

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Mr. Frank Caputo

Dec/6/21 6:03:19 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-3

Madam Speaker, a part of our Conservative platform was actually an increase in health transfers. As my colleague for Langley—Aldergrove pointed out, this is a jurisdictional issue, health care is provided by the provinces, and the federal government does provide funding for that. As set out in our platform in the most recent election, we were all for increasing health transfers to the provinces given our aging population and the need for ongoing care.

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