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Hon. Mona Fortier (President of the Treasury Board, Lib.)

May/2/22 3:09:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question and for the hard work he does in his riding of Vaudreuil—Soulanges. We will continue to take concrete measures to eliminate discrimination within our institutions. We created the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion, launched programs to remove barriers to recruitment and promotion, released disaggregated data and amended the Public Service Employment Act. Discrimination has always been entrenched in society. Eradicating it will require a constant and unrelenting effort.

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Mr. Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, NDP)

May/2/22 3:09:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Mohamedou Ould Slahi spent 14 years in prison in Guantanamo Bay despite being innocent. During his wrongful detention, he faced extreme conditions, including torture. He has filed a lawsuit with the Federal Court alleging that, while living in Canada, Canadian authorities shared false information that led to his unjust arrest. CSIS monitored him and passed along incorrect information about Mr. Slahi. Will the public safety minister admit that, once again, our national security agencies were complicit in the detention and torture of an innocent person?

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Hon. Marco Mendicino (Minister of Public Safety, Lib.)

May/2/22 3:10:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in line with our values, which are enshrined in the charter, Canada, of course, condemns all forms of torture. Canada has a duty to uphold fundamental rights and freedoms in all instances, and, of course, it would be inappropriate for the government or any member of this chamber to comment on matters that are before the courts.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

May/2/22 3:10:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my question is this: How is the government ensuring that with new publicly-funded plutonium technologies and so-called SMR reactors, we are not increasing the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons undermining global treaties? The experimental Moltex salt reactor in New Brunswick is being built by a company that has never done it before, of course, because no one has. However, the British company, Moltex, has admitted through its CEO that there is a risk. He said the company had to ensure that it has “got the risk of weapons proliferation managed and sufficiently low”. What on earth is “sufficiently low”, in an era in which Putin is sabre-rattling nuclear weapons?

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Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson (Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.)

May/2/22 3:11:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, small, modular reactors are under development in several countries around the world, not simply Canada. We can look to the United States and to the United Kingdom. As the hon. member knows, nuclear energy plays an important role in Canada's current energy mix. In the recent budget, we provided resources for the independent Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to focus on readiness to regulate SMRs. Going forward, Canada is committed to ensuring its nuclear industry continues to comply with all existing international obligations.

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Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay (South Surrey—White Rock, CPC)

May/2/22 3:12:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and I believe if you seek it, you will find the unanimous consent of the House for the following. I move: That this House mourn the tragic loss of four officer cadets on Friday, April 29, 2022, and express its deepest condolences to their families, their friends and the Royal Military College community during this very difficult time.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/2/22 3:12:47 p.m.
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All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay. The House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed to the motion will please say nay. Hearing none, the motion is carried. The Deputy Speaker: Following discussions among representatives of all parties of the House, I understand that there is an agreement to observe a moment of silence in memory of the four officer cadets who lost their lives in Kingston. I will now invite hon. members to please rise. [A moment of silenced observed]

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The Deputy Speaker

May/2/22 3:15:37 p.m.
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It being 3:14 p.m., pursuant to order made Thursday, November 25, 2021, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motions at report stage of Bill C-8. Call in the members. And the bells having rung: The Deputy Speaker: The question is on Motion No. 1. A vote on this motion also applies to Motions Nos. 2 to 10.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/2/22 3:27:52 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-8

I declare the motion defeated.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/2/22 3:28:32 p.m.
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If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to please rise and indicate it to the Chair.

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Hon. David Lametti

May/2/22 3:28:32 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-8

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/2/22 3:28:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote please.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/2/22 3:40:45 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-8

I declare the motion carried.

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

May/2/22 3:41:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8)(a), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to one petition. This return will be tabled in an electronic format.

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Mr. Peter Schiefke (Vaudreuil—Soulanges, Lib.)

May/2/22 3:42:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, entitled “The Canada Infrastructure Bank”.

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Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)

May/2/22 3:42:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, entitled “Collection and Use of Mobility Data by the Government of Canada and Related Issues”.

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Hon. Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, Lib.)

May/2/22 3:43:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move: That the Second Report of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs presented on Monday, April 25, 2022, be modified to substitute the name of the organization “First Nations Finance Authority” with “First Nations Financial Management Board” on page 16 of the report in English, and page 20 in French.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/2/22 3:43:43 p.m.
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All those opposed to the hon. member's moving the motion will please say nay. The House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed to the motion will please say nay. I declare the motion carried.

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Mr. Damien Kurek (Battle River—Crowfoot, CPC)

May/2/22 3:44:20 p.m.
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moved that the third report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, presented on Thursday, March 31, 2022, be concurred in. He said: Mr. Speaker, as always, it is an honour to be able to stand in this place and enter into debate on such important subjects. Let me first state that I will be splitting my time with the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman. Once again, we find ourselves in this place, debating what has become the trend of the Liberal government, the trend of corruption, lack of ethics and failure on the front of integrity time and time again. I rise today not to talk about ancient history, as the Liberals would often like to suggest the Conservatives want to talk about. I rise today not to talk about something that does not have direct impact on Canadians. I rise not to simply have character assassinations as in question period we heard the Liberals suggest is all Conservatives were worried about. I rise today to talk about the integrity and the trust that Canadians need to be able to have in their institutions. When it comes to the report and the amendment that has been brought forward by my hon. colleague, we have an opportunity as parliamentarians to once again discuss the fact that there has been a significant erosion of trust in our public institutions within the country. I would suggest, and the reason I make this suggestion is that I hear it each and every day from constituents, that there has been a significant erosion of trust in our democracy within the country. I rise today to speak to what is known as the question of conflict of interest and lobbying in relation to pandemic spending, something that most Canadians would know as the WE Charity scandal, where the Prime Minister awarded a massive contract to his friends. I had the honour during the first session of the last Parliament to sit on the ethics committee in the midst of what was an unprecedented time in Canadian history, certainly, and in the world, facing a pandemic, and the fact that supports were needed. Conservatives did support, contrary to what the Liberals would like to suggest, some of those supports that Canadians needed so much. What we saw transpire over the year 2020 was that there was an unprecedented level of, obviously, lobbying that resulted in a massive contract being awarded to an organization with very close ties to the Prime Minister and his family and other central members of the government. What was supposed to be $800 million to go toward students finding summer employment during what was a very challenging year for all Canadians ended up being bogged down in scandal. Not only is there the question of ethics and integrity, but certainly, I would suggest, the government met the definition of corruption. I would suggest today in this place that it did show itself to have an unprecedented level of corruption, whether in this program or the many other scandals that we have seen from it. We saw that Canadians suffered. We saw students not getting the supports and resources that they need. We saw the fact that, as I mentioned before, questions were being asked, with more Canadians questioning each and every day the fact that they do not know if they can trust our institutions. They do not know if they can trust our democracy. On and on it went. There was a prorogation, even though the Liberal Prime Minister promised to never prorogue Parliament. Well, he broke that promise. We all know what that means. He broke that promise. The timeline for breaking that promise, I might add, and I know this authoritatively because I was on the committee, was within a number of days of when documents that very well may have been very revealing of the Prime Minister's relationship with this organization were supposed to have been submitted. The Prime Minister participated in a hundreds of millions of dollars coverup. The Liberals' defence quite often was that it was not $800 million, that it would have only been about a $400-million scandal. Well, $400 million is beyond the imagination of most people, the number of dollars that have been wasted by the government in terms of corruption. Let me first thank the committee. It did get back to work. I was involved in the first session of that Parliament. Something the Liberal government certainly does not like is the fact that it does not have a majority, although it seems to have bought one here more recently. It was faced with the fact that the committee did decide to do good work. The Liberals filibustered that committee for countless hours. I know because I participated in many of those hours of filibuster. They tried to teach committee members Latin. They had a whole litany of excuses. It will go down as one of the most unprecedented coverups in Canadian history. We saw that the committee did good work. It brought forward 23 recommendations. A number of months ago, I moved the motion in the ethics committee, which I now have the honour of sitting in again in this Parliament, to retable the report, the good work that the committee did, along with those 23 recommendations, the significant research and testimony and even the admissions of contempt. In a parliamentary democracy, contempt is a significant allegation, but there were admissions of contempt on the part of the Prime Minister. Last year, at the end of the summer of 2021, we saw something which unfortunately is not that uncommon. We saw the Prime Minister flip-flop. He misled Canadians on a whole host of issues. He stood in this place, with his integrity being shown and then a few months later called an election. He promised not to do that. The definition of the word for that is not allowed to be said in this place, but Canadians know what it is. It is an absolute shame that we find ourselves in this situation once again. Now we have seen over the past couple of weeks that once again the integrity of our Prime Minister is showing. This time it is not simply a contract being given to friends of the Prime Minister, but the possibility of criminal charges. I do not know if the Prime Minister simply goofed up when he admitted to the fact that he did not give himself permission to absolve himself of criminal charges, but that is a big deal. The fact is that we have a Prime Minister in this place that seems to have admitted to criminality. In the last couple of minutes of my speech, I'll mention that I hear from Canadians often. They ask questions. They ask how he can get away with this. They ask how we can have a government with the litany of scandals that litter the path of our Prime Minister as he jet-sets from coast to coast to coast. It could be for surfing vacations or for friends to get lucrative government contracts or the fact that during a pandemic there was significant evidence of sole-source contracts for ventilators, as one example, that were never delivered. There are serious questions that Canadians need answers to. Canadians need answers to these questions because there has been a significant erosion of trust, not to mention all of the political and policy differences. Coming from a rural east central Alberta riding, I can say there are a lot of policy differences. I could go on and on about those things. At the heart of it, it should not be about politics when it comes to the integrity of our democracy. Over the course of the next number of hours, I hope we get to once again seek clarity for Canadians, but not for political interests or so-called character assassinations as the Liberals simply like to pivot to when they are afraid to answer questions. All of us have the responsibility to ask the questions when it comes to ensuring that tough questions are asked of our elected officials, in this case the government and the Prime Minister as the leader of that government, that the answers are given and that accountability can be brought back to this country, because I am fearful that the damage that is being done to our democracy is putting it in great peril.

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

May/2/22 3:54:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, to say that I am disappointed, I would say yes. To say I am surprised, I would say no. It is unfortunate that the Conservative Party continues to demonstrate to Canadians its willingness to play games. We are actually supposed to be debating Motion No. 11 to ultimately see parliamentarians be able to sit longer for a debate, in order to accommodate more debate. Now the Conservatives take yet another tactical report, something that focuses on their interests, not the interests of Canadians, and that is what they want to debate, as opposed to debating other, more substantive issues, such as Motion No. 11, Bill C-8 and so forth. Does the member not see the hypocrisy that is oozing from the Conservative caucus on the whole issue of credibility in standing and addressing the issues that Canadians are facing today? It is shameful.

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