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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 70

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 12, 2022 10:00AM
  • May/12/22 2:54:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in further shocking testimony, the RCMP commissioner admitted at committee that border protests were cleared without using any powers under the Emergencies Act. On May 3, the minister said that the government needed to invoke the act to clear the border. Clearly, the minister and the commissioner cannot both be right. Will the minister tell Canadians: Is the RCMP commissioner misleading Canadians, or is he?
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  • May/12/22 2:54:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will tell this chamber who is misleading Canadians. It is that hon. colleague over there who continues to paraphrase, very recklessly and inaccurately, the actual testimony of the commissioner, who said that she used the Emergencies Act to restore public safety. We will continue to be transparent with all members of this chamber and all Canadians about why it is that we invoked that act. It was to protect Canadians.
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  • May/12/22 2:55:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the RCMP commissioner's testimony in committee flatly contradicted the Liberal government's position. For weeks, the Minister of Public Safety and the Prime Minister asserted that law enforcement asked the government to invoke the Emergencies Act. On May 3, the minister said he acted on the recommendation of law enforcement, but Commissioner Lucki testified that the RCMP never asked the government to invoke the act. Can the minister tell us who asked for the act to be invoked or will he admit that he made it up?
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  • May/12/22 2:56:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have already said several times, the commissioner testified that invoking the Emergencies Act helped restore public safety. It gave police forces new powers and new authority to protect Canadians' health and safety. That is why we invoked the Emergencies Act.
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  • May/12/22 2:56:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, is the minister denying that the RCMP commissioner, in her testimony, said the police did not need the emergencies act to clear the borders? Maybe the act helped the authorities do other things, but the salient point here is that the commissioner confirmed the RCMP did not need the act to clear the borders. Is that true, yes or no?
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  • May/12/22 2:57:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the commissioner said in her testimony that the Emergencies Act has discouraged the return of illegal protests in the community. These were illegal protests. The events were very clear. Only the Conservatives do not understand the gravity of the situation. We invoked the Emergencies Act to protect Canadians.
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  • May/12/22 2:57:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these are challenging times for the current environment minister. He is being sued by Équiterre, the environmental group he founded. Équiterre is accusing the minister of betraying his global climate obligations by approving the Bay du Nord project. The minister must have known that he could not allow a billion barrels of oil to be extracted in the middle of a fragile marine ecosystem, and at depths that would prevent any rapid response in the event of a leak. He knows Équiterre very well; it is his family. Deep down, is he really surprised that Équiterre is suing him?
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  • May/12/22 2:58:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. On the one hand, a province is suing us because it says we are going too far in environmental assessments. On the other hand, environmental groups say we are doing too little. What we are doing is striking a balance and finding the best possible way to advance environmental assessment and environmental protection in this country.
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  • May/12/22 2:58:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the current Minister of Environment and Climate Change was appointed, even us Bloc members were happy. We saw this as a sign of hope. Finally, an environmentalist, we said. That goes to show just how disappointed we are. We never would have thought that this man, who made decisions like authorizing Bay du Nord, would ever be lauded by Conservatives in the House and sued by Équiterre. When will the minister recognize that his attempt to change the system from within the Liberal government of a petro-state has failed?
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  • May/12/22 2:59:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a friend recently told me that when there is a fire, we need more firefighters, not fewer. We need more environmentalists in the House, and definitely within government, to advance environmental issues. I am very pleased to be here with my colleagues because, over the past five months, we have presented a plan that will allow Canada to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets. No matter what happens with oil and gas production, pollution will go down.
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  • May/12/22 3:00:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we saw reports Tuesday of an Afghan interpreter for the Canadian army being thrown into a steel container and beaten within an inch of his life by the Taliban. For members to respond about bringing 40,000 already outside the country is to be deliberately misleading. Between 600 and 1,000 of our allies, who the government left behind, have been executed by the Taliban. If Canada has our Afghan allies' backs, why are so many being hunted down and executed with no help from the Liberal government?
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  • May/12/22 3:00:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the kind of circumstance the hon. member described is exactly why we have made one of the most substantial commitments of any nation in the world to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees here in Canada. I am pleased to share that, as of this week when we arrived in Ottawa, there were 12,600 Afghan refugees. Today, there are 12,900. By tomorrow, there will be 13,200. We are seeing a regular pace of arrival because we have made a commitment and put a plan in place to welcome some of the world's most vulnerable people to Canada. We will not waver on our commitment until we make good on it to the people who helped us during our time of need.
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  • May/12/22 3:01:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, testimony at the Afghan committee has been filled with tragic personal stories and underscores the crisis Afghans are facing under Taliban rule. People are being tortured and killed while waiting to come to Canada. We even saw a 10-year-old girl killed while her application was stuck in the Liberal-made immigration backlog. Delays, red tape and unreasonable requirements have made this process almost impossible for stranded Afghans. Will the government do the right thing and implement the Conservatives' ask for single journey travel documents for Afghans?
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  • May/12/22 3:01:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member's use of one party's name for his own political interest is beyond disgraceful. The reality is the Conservative Party of Canada campaigned on a commitment to bring precisely zero Afghan refugees to Canada. When they were in power over the course of four years, they were able to bring 800 people to Canada. Their extended families were not allowed to come. That demanded that we create a special pathway to make space for 5,000 of them because they are the very people that the Conservatives left behind. I will not take lessons on the Afghan resettlement initiative on the basis of their history. They do not deserve that credit. We will continue to go forward to help the world's most vulnerable, with or without them.
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  • May/12/22 3:02:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during testimony at the Afghanistan committee, both Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces confirmed that lessons learned reviews were conducted by their respective departments in regard to the evacuation of Afghans from Kabul. Further testimony confirmed that there was an interdepartmental review, led by PCO, conducted. Will the chair of the Afghanistan committee highlight why it is essential that the Liberal government release these crucial reviews immediately to the committee for inclusion in the committee's mandated report back to Parliament by June 8?
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  • May/12/22 3:03:35 p.m.
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Is it the hon. chair of the Afghan committee or the hon. vice-chair?
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  • May/12/22 3:04:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as vice-chair of the committee, I will respond. Parliament— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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  • May/12/22 3:04:22 p.m.
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Members can only ask questions about the agenda of the committee, unfortunately. The hon. Minister of Immigration.
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  • May/12/22 3:04:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have heard of pitching around a hitter in baseball, but never on the floor of the House of Commons.
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  • May/12/22 3:04:44 p.m.
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Let us clarify the question. The member for Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound can re-ask the question.
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