44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 3, 2022 10:00AM
- May/3/22 2:23:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there was a plenty of evidence of disruptions at the border, in our communities and to our economy. Many Canadians lost their jobs temporarily. That is one reason why the Emergencies Act needed to be invoked.
Now we must participate in a transparency process, and the government will co-operate with the commissioner, Justice Rouleau.
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- May/3/22 2:24:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the main pillar of our justice system is that all Canadians must be treated equally under the law. When new evidence of fraud comes to light, law enforcement has a duty to investigate, regardless of how powerful or privileged any individual who committed the fraud may be. The Attorney General has an obligation to make sure this applies to everyone, including a sitting prime minister.
Does the Attorney General believe that individuals who commit criminal offences, regardless of how powerful or privileged they are, or what positions they hold, should be charged?
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- May/3/22 2:24:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we see again and again is the Conservatives wanting to play partisan games. Rather than posing questions on the issues that are affecting Canadians they want to throw mud. Canadians are looking for answers, and we have put forward tangible solutions in everything from housing to the environment.
They want to talk about things that happened six years ago. They want to obfuscate and block Parliament from doing its work, taking days and days to repeat the same things. We can do that. They can play their partisan games, or they could do the business of the nation and ask things that Canadians actually care about.
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- May/3/22 2:25:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians do care that they are treated equally under the same laws that apply to the powerful and privileged in this country. The criminal brief released by the RCMP made it clear that, if this were a civil servant or any other Canadian, they would be facing serious criminal charges in this case. There are new known facts that warrant a full investigation.
Does the Attorney General believe that the law should be applied equally to all Canadians, including a sitting prime minister, if they commit a criminal offence?
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- May/3/22 2:26:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I realize that the Conservatives want to spend time talking about things that happened six years ago, but I would ask them about this instead. Right now we have a Bill C-8, which has been debated for 12 days in the House. That was introduced in December, so that is five months of obstruction. I would say that, while they do not want to talk about the economy, while they do not want to talk about the environment and while they do not want to talk about the issues that are important to Canadians, will they at least let the other parties in this place do their work and get the business of this nation done?
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- May/3/22 2:26:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal immigration department is possibly the worst department in Canada, and that is saying something. The wait time for Quebec immigrants applying for permanent residence is 31 months. There is a backlog of 29,000 files, and some cases have been dragging on since 2009. Ottawa is where cases go to die.
That is why it is arrogant to mock Quebec for wanting to manage all of its own immigration files. Above all, it is arrogant towards the people who are waiting.
In light of its obvious incompetence, why does the federal government not let Quebec manage all of its own immigration applications?
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- May/3/22 2:27:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, immigration is essential to our economy.
What is going to get things moving is an increase in Quebec's immigration levels. Quebec is allowed to receive up to 28% of the immigrants who are welcomed to Canada each year, but it has chosen to accept only 13%.
If Quebec really wants to improve wait times for the tens of thousands of people waiting for permanent residence in Quebec, it only has to follow the example of our government and increase its immigration cap.
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- May/3/22 2:28:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us never take women's rights for granted. Let us never assume that everything we have gained will never be taken away. Let us never believe that the issue has been settled once and for all, that everyone agrees that a woman's body is her own, and that the decision to terminate her pregnancy is hers and hers alone.
We need to continue to fight because one careless moment could set us back decades. Can the Deputy Prime Minister guarantee that her government will ensure that women's right to abortion will be protected?
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- May/3/22 2:28:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yes, I would first like to say that, as a Canadian woman, I was both shocked and deeply worried by the news from the United States last night about abortion rights.
Having said that and speaking in the House today as a woman, as a mother and as Canada's Deputy Prime Minister, it is important for me to underline our government's clear and determined commitment to protect a woman's right to choose. That is a fundamental right.
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- May/3/22 2:30:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government leapt into action to go after the Canadians who applied for CERB because the government had told them to, but when it comes to a wealthy, powerful corporation, it cut a sweetheart backroom deal for a company that avoided paying its fair share, over the objections of CRA staff.
Why does the government continue to prioritize going after everyday families instead of going after wealthy corporations that are purposely avoiding paying their fair share? When will the government understand it needs to prioritize the wealthy corporations that are cheating the system and stop going after working-class Canadians?
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- May/3/22 2:31:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the confidence of Canadians and the integrity of our tax system are central to all of the agency's activities. The allegations of misconduct in relation to transfer pricing agreements were reviewed by a third party and no misconduct was found.
Let us be clear. The investigation carried out by an independent tax expert showed that the terms of the agreement were favourable to the agency and did not provide any type of preferential treatment to the taxpayers involved.
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- May/3/22 2:31:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people are paying the price of rising fuel costs and of climate change, while the big oil companies are making record profits. Imperial Oil has earned its biggest profits in 30 years. Cenovus earned $1.6 billion in profits.
Why does the government continue to give more subsidies to these companies, instead of putting an end to oil subsidies?
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- May/3/22 2:32:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is working with all sectors of the economy to reduce greenhouse gases, but also to grow the economy. We are working with the steel sector, the oil sector and all sectors to ensure we have a very strong economy in the future.
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- May/3/22 2:32:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will ask the Minister of Public Safety the same question I asked yesterday, a question that he suspiciously avoided answering.
Did any minister or members of their political staff speak with Justice Rouleau before his appointment as commissioner on the inquiry into the Emergencies Act?
Did they discuss what kind of evidence the inquiry would or would not seek, including documents covered under cabinet confidence or solicitor-client privilege?
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- May/3/22 2:33:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can assure my hon. colleague that the government is fully committed to being transparent around the events and circumstances that led to the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
Last week, we launched the public inquiry, affording Justice Rouleau broad powers to compel witnesses, documents and information, including some classified information, should he choose to ask for it.
Our intention is to shine a light on those events and it would be, I think, a point of departure to hear the Conservatives recognize that there was an emergency. We fulfilled our responsibility to protect Canadians.
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- May/3/22 2:33:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is avoiding the question again, but I will move on.
This past weekend, Ottawa saw the so-called “Rolling Thunder” protest come and go without major incident. During the "freedom convoy” protest, the government claimed that it needed the Emergencies Act because it needed to compel tow truck drivers to remove the protesters.
Over this last weekend, we saw many vehicles towed without needing the Emergencies Act, yet another blow to this government's fabricated claims.
If the government did not need extraordinary powers to get the tow trucks, what did it need them for?
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- May/3/22 2:34:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to all frontline police officers, including members of the RCMP, who ensured that we were able to maintain public safety over the course of the past weekend.
Of course, there are big distinctions between what occurred last weekend and what occurred last winter, which was a national emergency.
We invoked the Emergencies Act after we received advice from law enforcement. Once it was invoked, we were able to restore public safety, and now we will ensure that there is transparency in the accountability of that decision.
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- May/3/22 2:35:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister claimed that Liberals invoked the Emergencies Act because they needed it, yet there was a large protest, related to the winter one that he just referred to, this past weekend, and as far as I am aware, no one remains camped out on the roadways around Parliament. This is in direct contradiction to what the minister is claiming. As this weekend showed, with leadership and coordination between government and police, peace and order can be maintained.
There was clearly a failure by the Liberals to show leadership during the winter protest, as the minister refers to it, and they used the Emergencies Act to bail themselves out.
Is that not right?
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- May/3/22 2:35:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would point out that, notwithstanding the fact that public safety was maintained, there were enforcement actions taken last week as a result of some individuals who, again, crossed the line and broke the law.
It would be, again, an opportunity for the Conservatives to recognize, finally, after months of denying it, that there was an emergency. Collectively, we have a responsibility and a burden as parliamentarians to uphold the law. That is exactly what we did when we invoked the Emergencies Act, and now we will ensure that there is transparency, so that all Canadians can be reaffirmed in that decision.
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- May/3/22 2:36:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, MPs continued to work from right here in Parliament throughout the winter protest. In fact, I would walk across Wellington Street at least once a day, with my infant son in a stroller, to come to work.
If the threat was as serious as the government is now making it out to be, did the Minister of Public Safety knowingly put my life and those of my infant son and every single person who works here in danger?
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