44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 28, 2022 10:00AM
- Apr/28/22 2:35:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if my hon. colleague wants transparency, I would encourage him to bold, highlight and underline the word “public” in the expression “public inquiry”.
Justice Rouleau has a plethora of experience in both trial law and appellate law. He is familiar with the principles of balancing cabinet confidences with the information he needs to review, so we can ensure we will get it right with respect to the Emergencies Act and take away the lessons learned from this awful episode. It would be nice to see the Conservatives appreciate just how severe this event was.
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- Apr/28/22 2:35:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the government declared a national state of emergency, every blockade had already been cleared by local police, except here in Ottawa.
It is a lie to say that this special legislation was needed. As in other parts of the country, the blockades were easily cleared by local police.
To try to justify his actions, the Prime Minister decided to consult the provinces. However, the provincial premiers did not think it was necessary to invoke the special legislation.
Why consult the provinces when he had no intention of listening to them?
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- Apr/28/22 2:36:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the illegal blockades forced the closure of the borders, the closure of businesses and the layoff of workers, it was Canadians who paid the highest price.
It was on the advice of law enforcement that we invoked the Emergencies Act. It was necessary and it worked.
We have launched a wide-scale independent inquiry and appointed Judge Rouleau as commissioner. We look forward to co-operating with the inquiry in the interest of transparency.
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- Apr/28/22 2:37:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is where the Liberal government is not being honest. The terms of reference that it dictated to Justice Rouleau allow him to investigate wrongdoing by police but prevent him from investigating the Liberal government.
We already know the outcome of the inquiry: Protesters are bad, police officers are bad, and the Liberal government is perfect.
As with all the other scandals, it is the turn of police forces to be thrown under the bus. Why?
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- Apr/28/22 2:37:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a fact that the economy was disrupted during the blockade. It is a fact that there were many disruptions at the border during the illegal blockade. It is also a fact that we invoked the Emergencies Act only after police forces agreed. It was a good decision, and we will now co-operate with the commissioner.
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- Apr/28/22 2:38:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is a fact: The government's invocation of the Emergencies Act was a dark day in Canadian history. Legal experts and Canadians know that there was no need to invoke the act, as Canada's existing laws are sufficient.
The government has since shown that it has no intention of providing any justification for stripping away Canadians' charter rights. They just simply want us to trust them. Really? We do not trust them. That is the issue.
How can the government possibly believe that Canadians trust them?
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- Apr/28/22 2:38:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is because on this side we spoke to Canadians. We spoke to Canadians during the blockades, and their experiences were that their businesses were shut down, workers were—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/28/22 2:38:50 p.m.
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Order. We did make it to question number 14 without too much of an uproar.
The hon. Minister of Public Safety.
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- Apr/28/22 2:39:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I was saying before I was unfortunately interrupted by my colleagues, we spoke with Canadians during the illegal blockades. We spoke with the people who live outside of these chambers who were held hostage, who could not go to work, whose families could not take their children to school and who knew seniors who could not get access to public transportation because of the illegal occupation. It was the police who laid charges independently because of those interruptions, and it was only after we received their advice that we invoked the Emergencies Act. We had to.
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- Apr/28/22 2:39:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to dodge questions about the basic facts of his train wreck of an illegal vacation and the subsequent RCMP investigation that followed. While he attempts to convince Canadians that this issue is solely in the past, it is clear that his skeletons do not remain far from the surface. Although this is not the Prime Minister's first rodeo when it comes to trickery, deception and power-wrangling, time and time again he tells Canadians to look away when he comes under fire.
When will the Prime Minister get off his high horse and admit that he is not above the law?
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- Apr/28/22 2:40:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we are witnessing is, in fact, political theatre. The Conservative Party, virtually since 2015, has been so much focused on character assassination—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/28/22 2:40:40 p.m.
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Order. As soon as we quiet down, I will let the member start over.
The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.
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- Apr/28/22 2:40:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the official opposition makes the point. They are so much focused on character assassination and playing this game, and as much as they want to continue that fixation, I can assure members opposite that we as a government, and in particular the Prime Minister, will continue to focus our attention on what is happening in the real world and what Canadians are facing coast to coast to coast. We will continue to deliver the types of policies, legislation and budgetary measures that are going to make a difference in their lives.
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- Apr/28/22 2:41:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the sanctions against Russia are necessary and valid. Unfortunately, they also penalize our businesses.
Last week, my office arranged a meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade and businesses that are suffering collateral damage from these sanctions. We met with companies in sectors ranging from agriculture to aluminum to lumber, all of which are suffering due to tariffs on Russian products or contract terminations.
Will the government announce a strategy to offset the effects that these sanctions are having on our hard-hit businesses?
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- Apr/28/22 2:43:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from the Bloc Québécois member and the opportunity to talk to his constituents about the impact of the sanctions we have put in place, which are affecting farmers and other businesses in Quebec.
First, I would like to say that everyone agreed with the idea of imposing tariffs and sanctions on Russia, because we all support Ukraine. Second, I would like to say that we will be looking at the situation with respect to farms and fertilizer.
It has been impacted, and the issue of food security in Canada and global food security is one we are very much concerned with.
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- Apr/28/22 2:43:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the member just said, the sector hit hardest by the sanctions is agriculture.
Quebec and eastern Canada use fertilizer imported from Russia, which has been slapped with a 35% surcharge.
Our farmers put their orders in before Russia attacked, so the surcharge is not penalizing Russia, which has already been paid. It is only penalizing our farmers.
A 35% surcharge for imports after the war started is legitimate, but will the government exempt orders placed before the war?
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- Apr/28/22 2:43:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are taking the situation very seriously. We are looking at various options.
We want to make sure our farmers have the inputs they need for a good season so Canada can contribute to food security at home and around the world.
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- Apr/28/22 2:44:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we need to move quickly. This affects everyone.
If fertilizer is already 35% more expensive for farmers, what will happen to food prices? At a time when the cost of groceries is already at a record high, people cannot afford to pay any more.
I would point out that the 35% tariff comes from a well-intentioned sanction against Russia. However, it is ill-conceived, because it has no impact on the Russians, only on our farmers.
Will the government support our farmers before this tariff leads to higher food prices for everyone?
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- Apr/28/22 2:44:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we completely agree that we need to support our farmers and our agricultural producers.
We also completely agree that tariffs and sanctions must be imposed on the Russian government and on Mr. Putin himself in order to support the Ukrainian people in this illegal war.
The last point I will make is that we are preoccupied with this issue. The Minister of Agriculture is working very hard on this issue to work with Canadian farmers to ensure that we are supporting food security in this country and around the world.
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- Apr/28/22 2:45:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government continues to claim that a decrease in international trade necessitated the use of the Emergencies Act. The public safety minister testified that Canada lost $390 million a day in trade and that the government had no choice but to invoke the act because of the damage to the economy. However, new data from Statistics Canada is showing that international trade at both the Ontario and Alberta U.S. borders increased in February compared with the same time last year.
Does the minister not understand basic economics, or is he covering up the truth? Which is it?
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