44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 21, 2022 11:00AM
- Nov/21/22 2:53:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Global News reported on November 7 that the Prime Minister had been briefed last January about federal candidates receiving money from Beijing. We started asking questions a week later, on November 14, but it took until yesterday, November 20, for the Prime Minister to say, “I do not have any information, nor have I been briefed, on any federal candidates receiving any money from China.”
Why did it take the Prime Minister two weeks to say that he had not been briefed on election candidates receiving money from Beijing?
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- Nov/21/22 2:54:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to be unequivocally clear that Canadians can count on our government to remain vigilant when it comes to safeguarding free and fair elections in Canada.
As my hon. colleague knows, we had an independent body look very closely at the allegations of foreign interference and confirmed that that election was free and fair. We remain soberly aware of the threats that hostile actors pose, which is why we are cracking down on foreign funding that could influence elections, which is why we will continue to leverage every single authority at our disposal to protect free and fair elections in Canada.
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- Nov/21/22 2:54:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the 2011 election was free and fair, but that did not prevent an investigation from taking place about the Guelph robocall scandal.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister also said, “I have asked my officials to examine these media reports and give all possible answers—everything they can—to the parliamentary committee that’s looking into this.”
Will the government assure the House that the procedure and House affairs committee will get all the answers and all the documents it is seeking and not defy the committee, this House and you, Mr. Speaker, as it did with the Winnipeg lab documents?
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- Nov/21/22 2:55:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we heard the Prime Minister say, of course we are going to co-operate with the parliamentary committee when it comes to disclosing all the allegations that have been addressed by an independent body, which confirmed that the election in 2019 was both free and fair.
I want to assure my colleague, and all members of the House, that this is not a partisan issue, that every member in the House has to work together to safeguard all our democratic institutions, including elections, so that every Canadian can have their voice represented in this chamber. We will spare no effort in securing that objective.
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- Nov/21/22 2:55:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, two weeks after the Global News allegations came to light, the Prime Minister finally denied having been personally briefed on the network of 11 candidates who were allegedly funded by the regime in Beijing. Yesterday, the Prime Minister told his government, and I quote, “I've asked them to give all information that they can share, that they can with a parliamentary committee looking into it.”
Can the Prime Minister confirm that all documents will be shared with the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and that he will not use his coalition majority to hide documents as the Liberals did in the case of the Winnipeg laboratory?
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- Nov/21/22 2:56:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government respects the parliamentary committee process and, yes, we will co-operate with the committee to look into the matter.
However, we have already conducted an independent, non-partisan process that confirmed that the results of the 2019 election were fair. We will continue to use all of the tools available to us to protect all of our democratic institutions, including elections.
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- Nov/21/22 2:57:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, coming out of COP27, the Minister of Environment said that he was disappointed that we were unable to make more progress, but it is his fault if we have not.
He fought to prevent countries from adding the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels to the final declaration. He censored countries that wanted to recognize the obvious fact that we need to reduce our dependence on oil and gas.
Is Canada's role in the fight against climate change to censor countries that actually want to win that fight?
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- Nov/21/22 2:57:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I heard a lot of praise coming from the international delegations on Canada's various efforts at COP27.
The member will get no argument from this side of the House that there is more to do. That is why we have invested $9.1 billion in our emissions reduction plan, why we are capping oil and gas emissions and why we are eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. We are investing in clean technology, and we want to take advantage of the $2.5-trillion clean energy economy.
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- Nov/21/22 2:58:21 p.m.
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I want to remind hon. members that this is not an Olympic event where one holds up the score. I see a prop, and it can get members thrown out of the House. I just want to point that out to all of you.
The hon. member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia.
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- Nov/21/22 2:58:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at the same time that the Minister of the Environment was censoring the planet at COP27, Canada was continuing its efforts to turn Newfoundland into an oil Klondike.
Five oil companies have been allowed to explore around Bay du Nord for new deposits. The Liberals have the nerve to justify this by saying that we will always need oil for derivative products like oil for bicycle chains and latex gloves. I am not joking. That is what the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment said.
Can the minister tell us how many jars of Vaseline will have to be produced in order to use up the billions of barrels of oil they want to extract in Newfoundland?
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- Nov/21/22 2:59:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this is very important.
We have a comprehensive and robust plan to combat climate change. Of course, we must reduce greenhouse gases. We need to work with our allies, as we did at COP27, and we need to ensure a prosperous future for Canadians. We need to accelerate the energy transition, and our plan does just that.
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- Nov/21/22 2:59:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, earlier today, Statistics Canada reported that the homicide rate in Canada is the highest it has been since 2005, the last year the Liberals were in government in their previous government. In fact, violent crime has risen 32% since the Liberals last took government, but now they want to make it worse: They are letting violent criminals back onto the street after committing serious drug, gang and gun crime.
Will the minister listen to communities, to the police and to victims and abandon his plan to let violent criminals back onto the streets?
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- Nov/21/22 3:00:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-5 received historic royal assent last Thursday. For the first time, we have given back to judges the power to make the punishment fit the crime, allowing all of the judicial system to focus more closely on the serious crimes that the hon. member is referring to. This is a crucial step past the failed Conservative policies that have only led to the overincarceration of Black and indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
We are moving forward in the right direction for a more just Canada.
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- Nov/21/22 3:01:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is just factually incorrect. The mandatory minimum penalties the government is eliminating were mandatory minimums put in place by the Prime Minister's father.
The minister says that under the government, maximum sentences of 10 years or more are increasing, but do members know how often they have been given out? It is zero percent of the time. When the minister talks about increasing maximum penalties, what he is really saying is that we are not going to do anything about violent crime.
Will the minister please abandon his soft-on-crime approach and take gun crime seriously in this country?
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- Nov/21/22 3:01:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. member to read Bill C-21, which is our attack on gun crime, in which we increased the maximum penalties for very serious gun offences.
Another important part of Bill C-5 is the reintroduction of the possibility of conditional sentence orders, which allow our judges, based on the person in front of them, to fashion a punishment that fits the crime. Again, it concentrates our valuable judicial resources on serious crimes. It is a direction that even Justice Michael Moldaver has exhorted us to do, because that is what the system—
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- Nov/21/22 3:02:39 p.m.
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The hon. member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord.
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- Nov/21/22 3:02:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to hear the Liberals tell it, we live in a world where everything is fine and nothing is wrong. I would like to bring them back to planet earth. After seven long years under this government, the rate of violent crime in Canada has increased by 32%. Again, it is up by 32%. The Liberals responded by passing Bill C‑5, which abolishes mandatory minimum sentences for importing illegal weapons.
Will the Liberals do their job and punish violent criminals to protect Canadians?
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- Nov/21/22 3:03:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are doing. For the first time in the country's history, we have repealed mandatory minimum sentences, giving judges the flexibility to impose sentences that fit the crime.
The former Conservative Party's policy failed and contributed to the over-incarceration of indigenous and Black people in the system. With Bill C‑5, which received royal assent last Thursday, we are moving towards a fairer and more equitable country.
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- Nov/21/22 3:03:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, organ and tissue donation is an important part of our health care system. Bill C‑210, which passed unanimously in the previous Parliament, will enable Canadians to indicate on their income tax return whether they want to receive information on organ and tissue donation from their provincial or territorial government.
Can the Minister of National Revenue tell us where we are right now with this collaboration with the provinces and territories?
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- Nov/21/22 3:04:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to take the time to thank my colleague from Yukon for his question and for the work that he does on behalf of his constituents.
I am pleased to announced that Nunavut and Ontario agreed to participate in the organ donation initiative, which will begin in that territory and that province during the next tax filing season. We will continue to work with the other provinces and territories to address the organ donation shortage and increase the potential to save lives.
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