44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2022 10:00AM
- Dec/13/22 2:50:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today, the Minister of National Defence tabled her response to the Arbour report. Women in the armed forces who have faced years of misogyny and sexual misconduct have heard before that there is a plan and that change is coming.
Justice Arbour did the work. She reviewed thousands of documents and did hundreds of interviews to come up with her 48 recommendations, but she now fears the government response today missed the mark. Today's response has more reviews, more studies and more delays.
After ignoring so many reports and recommendations, why should service members believe that this time will be different?
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- Dec/13/22 2:50:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this time is different. It is my intention and the Department of National Defence's intention to implement all 48 recommendations of the Arbour report. In fact, we have begun doing that and we will continue until it gets done.
We are putting our shoulders to the wheel. This is important for moral reasons and operational reasons as we continued to grow a Canadian Armed Forces where every member feels protected and respected when they put on a uniform for this country.
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- Dec/13/22 2:51:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister says assigning immigration applications to agents who are no longer working at IRCC is ordinary process and part of inventory management. That means the Liberals are deliberately assigning applications to officers knowing that they do not work there anymore. Close to 60,000 applicants have been in a state of limbo, some for as long as 15 years, unable to move forward with their lives.
What does the minister have to say to the families whose lives are being destroyed when their files are deliberately sent to oblivion for processing?
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- Dec/13/22 2:52:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as always, I thank my hon. colleague for her concern for the well-being of newcomers and people seeking to access the Canadian immigration system. It is very important that we provide clarity to families seeking to be reunited, as well as the workers seeking to improve their economic outlook by coming to Canada for opportunities.
There are applications that were tied to officers who no longer work for our department. We maintain the codes of those officers in order to trace the cases, but when those workers leave IRCC, we convert the codes in a manner that allows us to send those cases to the location where they can be most effectively processed. This is a strategy we use to make sure we can process files quickly, and I want to reassure people that every file will be processed.
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- Dec/13/22 2:52:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last Friday, in partnership with the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto, the federal government announced a combined investment of $1.5 billion for the TTC's Bloor-Yonge station expansion and rehabilitation project. Can the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities please update this House on the improvements we will see at the station and the importance of making transit more accessible and reliable for all Canadians?
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- Dec/13/22 2:53:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think all members recognize the extraordinary work done by our colleague in Toronto.
When transit is accessible, easy to use and on time, more Canadians will use it. The investments our government is making in transit are making it more reliable, safer to use and more able to keep up with the increased ridership and population over time.
That is why I was happy to announce the $1.5-billion Bloor-Yonge subway improvement project, which will provide Toronto residents with access to safe, fully accessible and modern stations that are equipped to handle increased ridership. I know how excited members are about this great project.
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Mr. Speaker, a young man who was caught with a prohibited weapon loaded with 72 rounds of ammunition managed to avoid prison thanks to a Liberal law, which of course was supported by the Bloc Québécois and the NDP. There is no longer a minimum sentence for this type of crime in Canada. On the one hand, the government lets criminals roam free and, on the other hand, it wants to penalize honest gun owners by passing Bill C‑21. Talk about a double standard.
Will the Liberals go after the real criminals and leave hunters alone?
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Mr. Speaker, our community's safety is obviously a priority. We have always said that serious crimes will have serious consequences, but we can also recognize that our justice system required reform. With Bill C‑5, we abandoned policies that were unnecessarily harsh, especially towards indigenous people and Black or marginalized people. These policies clearly were not working. We are proud that Bill C‑5 passed and that it will have a positive impact on Canadians.
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- Dec/13/22 2:55:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, a man who was convicted of drug trafficking and possession of illegal guns avoided prison thanks to the Liberals' new legislation that eliminates minimum sentences for certain crimes committed with firearms. On one side, we have the Liberals who allow dangerous armed criminals to go free, and on the other, we have the Prime Minister who is going after hunters and farmers.
When will the Prime Minister stop attacking hunters and farmers and when will he start dealing with the real problems with criminals who are trafficking in firearms and drugs?
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- Dec/13/22 2:56:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we all want a safer society where serious crimes should be met with serious consequences. However, we also have a duty to follow the evidence and set aside failed policies that did not work. That is exactly what we did with Bill C‑5. We are putting resources where they are needed to ensure that our society is safer.
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Mr. Speaker, we have a situation where a serious criminal was heavily armed, trafficking drugs and doing it all illegally. It is because of the Liberals and their soft-on-crime policies that this man, instead of going to prison, can now serve his sentence from the comfort of his home. That is a serious crime but no serious time under the Liberal government.
Why are the Liberals going soft on criminals on one side and letting this guy serve house arrest in the comfort of his home, but attacking honest, trained, tested and law-abiding hunters and farmers? Why are the Liberals doing that? Why are their priorities so misplaced?
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. member, hon. members and Canadians across Canada that conditional sentence orders are only available where there is no threat to public security. The person who is best placed to make that determination, according to the evidence, is the sentencing judge, who has all of the information in front of the bench and makes that determination. We are proud to follow policies that work and abandon policies that do not.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, criminals are thanking the Liberal government for its soft-on-crime agenda. This week, a Montreal criminal was convicted of drug trafficking and possession of loaded illegal weapons. Instead of a mandatory minimum sentence in prison, he is serving his sentence in the comfort of his own home.
The government is failing Canadians. Crime is skyrocketing, and instead of dealing with the problem, it wants to ban hunting rifles. When will this government stop targeting law-abiding hunters and finally go after the dangerous criminals?
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Mr. Speaker, I assure my colleague that we are doing precisely that, including with Bill C-21, which would raise maximum sentences against hardened gun traffickers and give police additional powers to bust up those networks that terrorize our communities.
We also introduced $450 million over the last two years for the CBSA to stop illegal gun smuggling at the border. What did the Conservatives do? They voted against it.
They have got to walk the talk on this. The Conservatives have reversed their position, and they should support Bill C-21 and all of the support we are offering law enforcement on the front lines.
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- Dec/13/22 2:59:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 10,000 companies in Quebec and 50,000 companies in Canada are losing their funding after receiving support from the emergency business account during the pandemic. Ottawa has deemed them ineligible for forgivable loans of $10,000 to $20,000 after the fact and is now requiring them to pay that money back. That means bankruptcy for some businesses. However, they do not know why Ottawa thinks they no longer qualify for the loans. They cannot appeal the decision or even talk to the government, because it is leaving the responsibility of announcing the bad news to financial institutions.
Will the government at least implement a transparent arbitration process?
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- Dec/13/22 2:59:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during the pandemic, the government's job was to help businesses keep their employees on the payroll. Now that the programs have ended, the Canada Revenue Agency has an auditing job to do. We are going to do that, as promised. The work is going well. The goal is also to recover the amounts owed to our workers who also worked and paid their taxes during the pandemic.
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- Dec/13/22 3:00:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, only 57% of the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendations were implemented this year. That is only half. The worst offender with respect to the French language is not Air Canada, it is the federal government itself. How many recommendations has Transport Canada followed? Zero. How many recommendations has Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada followed? Zero. How many recommendations has the Prime Minister's Office followed? The answer is still zero.
How can Quebeckers trust this government to protect French when it boycotts the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendations?
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- Dec/13/22 3:01:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, we are the first government to recognize the decline of French, and that is why we are moving forward with Bill C‑13. It is an ambitious bill that will make changes in federally regulated private businesses throughout Quebec and in regions with a strong francophone presence outside Quebec.
I think that when we look at the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendations, it is important to give him more tools to do his job. He must do his job, and that is why we have really improved his work tools. We look forward to seeing the bill passed.
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- Dec/13/22 3:01:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during a Liberal-made inflationary crisis, Canadians are having a hard time choosing between heating their homes and feeding their families. We found out today that, instead of having the backs of Canadians, they are helping Liberal insiders get rich.
The Liberal international trade minister was caught red-handed and found guilty of breaking ethics laws by giving a sweetheart contract to her friend, the CBC pundit Amanda Alvaro. Will the minister resign?
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- Dec/13/22 3:02:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the commissioner for his important role in ensuring transparency and accountability in our institutions. As the report indicates, I take full responsibility for my actions. I should have recused myself, and I apologize for not doing so.
At no time was there any intention for anyone to benefit inappropriately. My efforts fell short of my own high personal standard for transparency and accountability, which Canadians have a right to expect from their elected officials. I am sorry, and it will not happen again.
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