44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 29, 2023 02:00PM
- Mar/29/23 3:04:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, lost in yesterday's budget bonanza was the announcement of the appointment of the interim Ethics Commissioner, a Ms. Martine Richard. Can the Prime Minister confirm for the House, and reassure Canadians, that Ms. Martine Richard is not the same person who is the sister-in-law of the intergovernmental affairs minister, who has been found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act?
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- Mar/29/23 3:04:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, the interim Ethics Commissioner is a career public servant who was, in fact, engaged by the Stephen Harper government to come into the Ethics Commissioner's office. She was number two in the Ethics Commissioner's office, and she has been working there for over a decade.
It makes absolute and complete logical sense that she would be acting on an interim capacity, considering all the information I just shared. The member will be aware that an ethical screen always exists to ensure no such conflict occurs.
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- Mar/29/23 3:05:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have got to be kidding. I guess they got tired of being found guilty. These are the Liberals. The intergovernmental affairs minister, the new Ethics Commissioner's brother-in-law, was found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act. The Prime Minister was found guilty of breaking the act. The trade minister was found guilty of breaking the act.
This is a cabinet of serial lawbreakers, and now they have an inside man working at the Ethics Commissioner's office. How can Canadians have confidence in the officers of Parliament if these guys are stacking the deck?
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- Mar/29/23 3:06:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, Martine Richard is a woman, not a man. Second, that individual has worked in the Ethics Commissioner's office for 10 years. She were engaged when Stephen Harper was in government.
Questioning her credibility, attacking her in that way and continuing with those kinds of conspiracy theories all have a place on Reddit. I am not sure they have a place in this chamber.
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- Mar/29/23 3:06:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is not a conspiracy theory is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was never found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act, unlike the current Prime Minister. The Conservatives never appointed family members to serve in the Ethics Commissioner's office because they wanted Canadians to have confidence in their public institutions, unlike the serial law-breaking Prime Minister, who has twice been found guilty of breaking ethics laws. His intergovernmental affairs minister now has his sister-in-law, who is going to make sure there are no more guilty findings for the Liberals.
Will the Liberals assure Canadians today that they will appoint someone who is independent and does not have the appearance of a conflict of interest?
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- Mar/29/23 3:07:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we absolutely will. In the employment of any independent officer of Parliament, we always ensure that such individuals are independent and beyond reproach. I find it extremely disappointing that they are taking somebody who has worked in the Ethics Commissioner's office for a decade and is now operating in an interim capacity—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Mar/29/23 3:07:41 p.m.
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Order.
The hon. government House leader has the floor.
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- Mar/29/23 3:08:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when we throw around accusations in this place, and when we take public servants who have served their country for more than a decade, I would suggest that we be judicious in the way we approach it.
This is somebody who was appointed when Stephen Harper was the prime minister, who has worked in the Ethics Commissioner's office for a decade and is acting in an interim capacity while we work with all parties collaboratively to find the right individual to be the permanent Ethics Commissioner.
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- Mar/29/23 3:08:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that provincial and territorial programs do not cover dental care needs equally across Canada. Yesterday, as part of the 2023 budget, our government announced that it was committed to moving forward with a transformative investment to provide dental care to Canadians who need it by creating the new Canadian dental care plan.
Can the Minister of Health tell us more about the current plan to move forward with our dental care plan?
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- Mar/29/23 3:09:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from London West for her question. She knows, as we all do, that good oral health is essential for physical and mental health.
That is why we are so pleased that, to date, 250,000 children have received the $650 benefit to take better care of their oral health. That is why we are so pleased that, by 2025, we will be rolling out our dental care plan for all Canadians who do not have private insurance and earn less than $90,000 a year. That is why we are so pleased that people with disabilities, seniors and children will have access to the plan by the end of 2023.
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- Mar/29/23 3:09:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week we found out that Canada imports all its baby formula from other countries. For over a year, there have been shortages of baby formula all across this country, with no end in sight. The shelves are now bare, leaving many families stressed, frustrated and desperate.
Moms and dads who rely on formula to feed their kids are now scared they will not be able to feed their babies. When does the Prime Minister intend to do something about this crisis?
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- Mar/29/23 3:10:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear this question, although I am also very troubled by the challenges that families, mothers, parents and fathers, like me, with children face in those very tight circumstances.
That is why Health Canada has made sure that, with special interim regulation policies, more than 70 additional formulas have been imported in the last few months to Canada, and more will come. We are working with international providers to have more infant formulas come more quickly to those children and families who need them.
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- Mar/29/23 3:11:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the second year in a row, Liberals have expropriated $5 million a quota from elver harvesters to give to others without compensation. This is against two decades of DFO policy that a willing buyer needs a willing seller.
The minister, in committee this week, stated that the expropriation will come mainly from harvesters who have not used their quota, yet her department has said it will come equally from all licence holders. Who was right? Was it the minister, or her officials?
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- Mar/29/23 3:11:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to advancing first nations' treaty right to fish. The elver fishery is unique and the preferred approach remains a willing buyer and a willing seller. That is the way to create predictability in the market and allow all harvesters to adequately plan.
However, in keeping with the Ahousaht court decision, we acknowledge that there are times that there is not a willing seller at a market price. A decision for the 2023 season has not been made, and it will be shared soon.
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- Mar/29/23 3:12:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, more than 50,000 gathered in Toronto last Saturday to support a free Iran. Families of the victims of flight PS752 were there. Survivors of the regime were there, and people with loved ones suffering in Iran were there.
However, the member for Don Valley West stormed out in the middle of the speech of a world-renowned women's rights advocate muttering something that I cannot repeat in the House. Her crime was to call out the government for not banning the IRGC terrorists.
Does he have the courage to stand up to apologize for his embarrassing display of disrespect, or is he going to storm out of here too?
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- Mar/29/23 3:12:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think I can say safely that, without exception, everyone in this House stands with the people of Iran and their struggles against the regime, making sure that they stand with human rights. Every one of us is incredibly aligned on that issue.
Canada is recognized as a world leader in leading the way against the regime and for human rights. We have announced the 10th package of sanctions this last week. We have also made sure that IRGC officials cannot come to this country. We will continue to work.
Let me say that we may have different strategies—
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- Mar/29/23 3:13:35 p.m.
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The hon. member for Hamilton Mountain.
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- Mar/29/23 3:13:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance presented budget 2023, “A Made-in-Canada Plan”. Unlike the empty rhetoric of the Conservative Party, this is a real plan to deliver results for Canadians and one I am proud to share with my constituents of Hamilton Mountain.
Can the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance explain what this budget means for a strong middle class, an affordable economy and a healthy future for Canadians?
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- Mar/29/23 3:14:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Hamilton Mountain for her hard work on the file.
The budget aims to ensure that Canadians have more money in their pockets and invest in the challenges that we are facing today. It delivers on affordability by making sure there is a new grocery rebate that will help 11 million Canadians. It stabilizes and invests in our health care system in the long term, and it makes transformative investments to fight climate change, to build the economy of the future and to support Canadian businesses. That is what budget 2023 is about: delivering for Canadians.
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- Mar/29/23 3:14:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we need to fight the climate crisis like we actually want to win. There is an incredible opportunity. If we make the right investments to tackle the climate crisis and tie that to good jobs, good union jobs and good wages, we can actually create positive economic growth. We did that in this budget. We forced the government to have strings attached to investments so that any dollar that goes to a company has to be tied to guarantees for good wages, good salaries and good union jobs.
Will the government commit to having strings attached to good jobs, good pay and union jobs for any future investments to incentivize business?
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