44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 1, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/1/22 2:41:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is really interesting today to hear the Conservatives criticizing government spending. It was just a few months ago when we were on the campaign trail, and they proposed spending in their platform. When they finally got around to releasing it this fiscal year, that amount was higher than what we proposed.
The Conservatives proposed a $168-billion deficit, more than $10 billion above ours. Will the party of flip-flops let Canadians know what they really stand for today?
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- Feb/1/22 2:41:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last year, 300,000 EI applications were not processed on time. Those 300,000 workers were denied their benefits by the federal government, in some cases, for more than three months. Cases continue to pile up every day.
Imagine having to go without income for three months. That is a betrayal of workers who have contributed to EI their whole lives, with the understanding that the federal government would support them in the event of misfortune.
What is the minister doing to eliminate the delays?
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- Feb/1/22 2:42:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to start by saying that this is an issue we take very seriously.
We understand how important it is for everyone to get their benefits because EI is there to help Canadians when they need it.
We have hired more public servants to meet the increased demand and we will continue to adjust internal resources to ensure that everyone who applies will get their benefits.
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- Feb/1/22 2:43:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister hired staff, but not to process backlogged employment insurance files.
She hired inspectors to detect potential fraud. That will help clear out 10,000 cases, but it will not affect all the other people who are waiting. Canada is a G7 country, but right now, we have workers who have had no income for three months and cannot put food on the table because of administrative screw-ups. Some workers even have to disclose that they are destitute in hopes of being prioritized.
When will they get their benefits?
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- Feb/1/22 2:43:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising this important issue. I really appreciate it.
As I said, this is not just about public servants handling fraud cases, although that is important, of course. We are also talking about additional employees hired because of the growing number of claims due to omicron-related closures.
I will work with her and all members of the House to resolve this situation because addressing Canadians' needs is very important to our government.
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- Feb/1/22 2:44:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, behind service standards are people; people who cannot pay their rent because their employment insurance is not coming in, people who are waiting without knowing when that will end and whether they will last long enough, people who have no bread to put on the table. These people are not too concerned about service standards statistics. They want the federal government to find a way to look after them.
When will the minister reduce the backlog to zero?
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- Feb/1/22 2:45:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I told my hon. colleague last week when we talked about this issue, I understand that each application represents one person, one family that needs help. That is why resolving this issue is one of my priorities.
We also need to understand that there is an increase in applications because of the omicron‑related closures, but we are nevertheless putting more resources in place precisely to ensure that every Canadian who has applied—
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- Feb/1/22 2:45:55 p.m.
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Order. The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
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- Feb/1/22 2:45:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Russians are about to invade Ukraine.
They have amassed 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border. They have also moved blood supplies to their field hospitals, as they anticipate the possibility of considerable loss of life. Ukraine has been pleading with Canada to send defensive weapons, but the Prime Minister is refusing its request. As proof of the imminent danger, Canadian troops were moved into the territory.
Will the Prime Minister show some courage, stop playing games and finally come to the aid of Ukraine by sending defensive weapons?
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- Feb/1/22 2:46:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.
When it comes to ensuring that there is not another Russian invasion of Ukraine, of course we believe in diplomacy and deterrence. On the diplomatic front, just yesterday I spoke with officials in the Netherlands, Denmark and Latvia, and this morning I spoke with officials in Estonia. Basically, we are continuing to work with our allies to maintain the alliance's strong unity, and we also believe in Operation Unifier. My colleague is at NATO headquarters in Brussels as we speak.
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- Feb/1/22 2:47:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Ukraine will likely be the theatre of a major conventional land war.
We have been watching Russia's miliary buildup in Belarus, in Russia, in the Donbas region and in Crimea since the Russians held exercises in September. Russia has been threatening Ukraine for some time now, and this Liberal government has had months to prepare a military assistance plan for our friends in Ukraine.
Why does the Prime Minister not understand that Russia is not interested in diplomacy? When will we provide real help to our Ukrainian friends?
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- Feb/1/22 2:47:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, NATO members are unanimous: We have to move forward through diplomatic channels. That is why there are three channels in place, whether it is the Americans talking with the Russians, NATO with Russia or even talks within the OSCE. That is how we ease tensions.
However, we agree that there needs to be deterrence. I hope that my colleague recognizes that the government is doing a great deal through operations Reassurance and Unifier, which we have just extended and expanded.
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- Feb/1/22 2:48:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 33 million Canadians had their mobility data secretly tracked by the Public Health Agency of Canada without their consent. This unprecedented level of surveillance on our citizens came to light when the Liberals admitted not only that they did it, but also that they planned to continue spying on Canadians for another five years.
Protecting the privacy of Canadians is the foundation of our freedoms. Sadly, under these Liberals, the foundations of our democracy are crumbling when this type of massive overreach happens.
My question is a simple one: Who authorized the secret spying on Canadians?
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- Feb/1/22 2:49:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague. He is right to emphasize the importance of protecting people's privacy. I assume he is also emphasizing the importance of protecting people's health and safety. We are doing that together.
We are working with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to ensure that the methods employed, as we know, effectively rely on confidential, anonymized aggregate data to protect people's health and safety, as well as their privacy.
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- Feb/1/22 2:49:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, instead of being focused on normalizing lockdowns, maybe the Liberals should have been focused on keeping our economy open. If someone were to connect the dots, they would see a pattern of massive overreach by the Liberals. They tried to seize control of Parliament at the beginning of the pandemic to completely control spending and taxing. They got caught secretly collecting banking data. They attempted to limit speech and what Canadians can see on the Internet, and now this.
This pattern of control is only seen in countries that many Canadians have fled from. How could anyone think that secretly gathering this data without the consent of Canadians was a good idea?
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- Feb/1/22 2:50:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I already answered the question. However, I thank my colleague for giving me another opportunity to say that we did things right in our country to maintain people's trust, reassure them and protect our economy. Canada's economy is far superior to the economies of other countries around the world who have also been grappling with COVID-19. What is more, we have based our work on science, and Canada has the lowest mortality rate of all the G7 countries, after Japan.
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- Feb/1/22 2:50:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2020, when thousands of Canadians were out thousands of dollars for cancelled flights, the minister told us there was nothing he could do to get them refunds. He told us the Canadian Transportation Agency was an independent arm's-length body. Now we have documents showing the government was not just talking to the CTA, but actively convincing them to let airlines withhold refunds.
Why were senior government officials lobbying the CTA to protect airlines' bottom lines instead of standing up for Canadians?
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- Feb/1/22 2:51:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for reminding us, and reminding all Canadians, that our government was there to help Canadians with their refunds. Our government was there to help airlines struggling with COVID, to support them and to save jobs, to save the skills we need, and to save our economy.
I want to thank him for that reminder because our government will always be there helping Canadians.
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- Feb/1/22 2:52:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that sounded to me like a reminder that the Liberals are here for big business, not for Canadians.
I can give another example. The Liberals keep saying that they understand that this pandemic will not be over in Canada until it is over everywhere, but they are dragging their feet on the TRIPS waiver and have refused to add COVID-19 medicines to Canada's access to medicines regime. Their promises to COVAX are useless.
Will the Prime Minister finally take the action necessary to ensure vaccine equity around the world?
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- Feb/1/22 2:52:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government will always be and has always been a strong advocate for vaccine equity. Canada supports a multilateral approach on intellectual property, specifically for COVID-19 vaccines.
We have been working hard with our colleagues around the WTO table right from the very beginning. Through our leadership at the Ottawa group, we continue to convene these important conversations so we can ensure that everyone gets vaccinated around the world.
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