SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 184 - Apr/25/23

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Apr/25/23 2:51:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, immigration backlog and processing delays continue to have a detrimental impact for people who want to reunite with loved ones and for those who need to get to safety. As the crisis in Sudan worsens, Canadians with loved ones in Sudan are worried sick about their safety. The Liberals must get a fair deal for the PSAC workers to restore all immigration services. The longer the government drags its feet, the longer loved ones trapped in Sudan will have to wait. Will the Prime Minister step in to prevent the processing backlog from getting even worse at IRCC?

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Hon. Mélanie Joly (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:52:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure this House because my colleague mentioned the fact that people stuck in Sudan are not able to get out of Sudan. Canadians right now are being contacted 24-7 because consular services are emergency services. We are there to help them. We have had 550 of them who raised their hands saying they need help; 100 have gotten out of Sudan. We are on this and we will make sure that every Canadian is coming back and is safe.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Apr/25/23 2:52:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are going to cut $150 million in funding to women's shelters by September. Six hundred women's shelters will be impacted across the country. Gender-based violence is on the rise. This is unacceptable. Women and gender-diverse folks always seem to be an afterthought for the government. This funding is desperately needed to help those fleeing violence. Will the Prime Minister commit to renewing this life-saving funding or was his claim to be a feminist government just a farce?

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Hon. Marci Ien (Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:53:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, far from an afterthought, when the pandemic hit, a $3-million emergency funding top-up was what we provided to make sure that shelters could keep the lights on and keep the doors open. This work continues with the national action plan, more than half a billion dollars in the last budget to work with provinces and territories to make sure that the most vulnerable women and girls are safe. I said that we would have women's backs and I stand by my words.

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Mr. Wilson Miao (Richmond Centre, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:53:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our supply chains and trade corridors have experienced challenges due to the pandemic, the impact of climate change and external events such as Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Canada's economy and population continue to grow, and Canadians deserve to get the goods they need on time. Could the minister inform the House on how we can increase capacity at our ports and strengthen our supply chains for Canadians?

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Hon. Omar Alghabra (Minister of Transport, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:54:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Richmond Centre for his advocacy. Last week, the Minister of Natural Resources and I announced that it is in our national interest to increase the capacity of the Port of Vancouver by 50% by approving the Roberts Bank terminal 2 project. The port will have to abide by 370 conditions, and we will continue our work with indigenous peoples, environmental stakeholders and unions to ensure the expansion and resilience of our supply chains. We have always said that our environmental plan is an economic plan. We are getting the job done.

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Mr. Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West, CPC)

Apr/25/23 2:55:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Beijing Communists laundered money into the Trudeau Foundation to gain influence with the Prime Minister. Foundation members who received Beijing's foreign-influence cash were then hand-picked by the Prime Minister to investigate the foreign interference their foundation facilitated. The PM, unbelievably, claims he has no ties to the Trudeau Foundation, yet his office hosted a meeting between foundation leadership and top government bureaucrats. When will the Liberal-NDP alliance end the cover-up and call for an independent investigation into foreign influence that is without the taint of the Trudeau Foundation?

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Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:55:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course the member would be aware that it was not in the Prime Minister's office, but in the building, and that many things happen in his building and in everybody's buildings. I do not know if the member is aware of everything that happens in his office building. These were meetings with public servants, which had nothing to do with the Prime Minister. The thing that I find disturbing is that they keep attacking a foundation when we have rules in this country, which are the strongest in the world, to protect the independence of our charities. The job of the foundation, which is the charity the Conservatives are attacking, is to give scholarships to students so they can be our future leaders. The Conservatives do not care whom or what they attack. Their partisan games continue.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Apr/25/23 2:56:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here we go again. It is just a building. To acquaint the government House leader, because maybe he has never been there, the building is called the Prime Minister's office. It is a four-storey building. Everybody who works in that building is either exempt staff of the Prime Minister or a member of the Prime Minister's own department. It is not like an apartment building where they just rent one space in it and do not know what else goes on. This is the Prime Minister's own office. The Trudeau Foundation met with with five deputy ministers in the Prime Minister's own office. The Prime Minister is a member of the Trudeau Foundation, and he is trying to cover this up. Why will he not tell the truth?

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Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:57:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it has been made clear, first of all, that the Prime Minister is not an active member at all of the Trudeau Foundation. He has been independent from that for more than 10 years. I do not know how much time the member spends on subreddits and 4chan, but instead he should spend some time looking at facts. The facts are that we have some of the strictest rules for charities anywhere in the world. With respect to attacking charities on baseless information and misrepresenting them, the member knows full well that the building that the Prime Minister is in has, yes, the PMO. It also has PCO and, just as they do in the member's building, lots of things happen in different buildings.

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Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Apr/25/23 2:57:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no one believes the Prime Minister's claims that he built a wall between himself and the Trudeau Foundation. He is the only one who can see that wall, and the Beijing regime sees a wide open window. Canada's spy agency has made it clear that the Communist regime sees the Trudeau Foundation as a gateway to influencing the Prime Minister. His own brother, Alexandre, arranged and received a $200,000 cheque from the Beijing regime on behalf of the foundation. Is it not time to let a family member speak out about the use of the Trudeau Foundation to influence the Prime Minister?

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Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 2:58:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I reject in totality the idea that the government would ever allow itself to be influenced by a foreign power. The idea that this would take place is absolutely ridiculous and offensive. However, let us talk about the walls that protect our institutions. Let us talk about the wall that is supposed to exist to protect our public broadcaster, CBC and Radio-Canada, which they want to tear down and destroy. They are talking with foreign tech giants about how to get rid of a public broadcaster. Let us talk about the wall that exists between monetary and fiscal policy in this country and what they want to do to the Bank of Canada. If the Conservatives want to talk about destroying walls, let us talk about what their plans are.

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Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Apr/25/23 2:59:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if I have to choose between the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Liberal government House leader, I will take the word of the security intelligence agency. Its officials found that there had been a donation whose main purpose was to influence the current Prime Minister. An article in La Presse this morning said it well: “The Prime Minister can swear that a Chinese wall separates him from the foundation, but that is not what the donors — and not just Beijing — who have been pouring dollars into the foundation since he took office seem to believe.” When will he finally admit that he is being influenced as Prime Minister because of his proximity to the Trudeau Foundation?

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Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 3:00:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is not up to me to respond. It is up to Canada's laws to protect the independence of any type of foundation in Canada. The law is there to ensure their independence, and it is totally irresponsible to attack a foundation that is responsible for awarding scholarships and ensuring that there is money for the future leaders of our country.

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Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Apr/25/23 3:00:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on Friday, a UN report revealed that the melting of glaciers is “off the charts” and is now irreversible. However, this government does not see this as a global tragedy, but rather as a business opportunity. Believe it or not, in the most recent budget, the government allocated millions of dollars for oil exploration in the Arctic. The unchecked use of oil is what led to this global disaster, and the federal government is seriously thinking that there might be some money to be made now that the ice is melting. When will Canada stop off-loading the consequences of the climate crisis onto future generations?

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Hon. Steven Guilbeault (Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 3:01:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. It gives me an opportunity to remind her that Canada's last greenhouse gas inventory showed that, between 2019 and 2021, the greenhouse gas emissions in our country dropped by over 50 million tonnes. There was no pandemic in 2019 or in 2021. We had the best record of all the G7 countries in 2020 and 2021 when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We are doing better than the United States, better than France, better than Japan and better than Germany.

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Ms. Kristina Michaud (Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, BQ)

Apr/25/23 3:02:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, by all means, let us talk about emissions and Canada's record. In no fewer than five reports released on Thursday, Canada's environment commissioner accuses the government of choosing words over action. Commissioner DeMarco says he is disappointed and frustrated at hearing nothing but empty promises from Ottawa on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity. Is the environment commissioner wrong in each of his five reports, or is the federal government putting us directly on the path to disaster with policies such as oil exploration in the Arctic?

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Hon. Steven Guilbeault (Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 3:02:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that we have a lot of respect for the work of the environment commissioner. Unfortunately, when preparing his five reports, he did not have access to the latest greenhouse gas inventory report, which came out last week after the commissioner's reports. He will no doubt include them next year. I would also like to remind my colleague that in the recent budget that my colleague, the Minister of Finance, tabled in the House a few weeks ago, we made record investments in clean technologies, in renewable energy, which puts us at the top of the list of G20 countries in terms of investment in this sector.

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Mr. Martin Shields (Bow River, CPC)

Apr/25/23 3:03:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Alberta families across the income scale will see a net loss of thousands of dollars because of the government's punishing carbon tax, so says the latest Parliamentary Budget Officer's report, but the Liberals would like to bury that one and cover it up. The ripple effect on the cost of food from farm to truck to store continues to inflate food prices. Albertans know that the carbon tax siphons off their hard-earned money and does not lower emissions. Will this NDP-Liberal government scrap the carbon tax, or will Canadians scrap the government?

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Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)

Apr/25/23 3:03:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know Conservatives do not like to talk about facts, but I am going to put a few facts on the table. In 2006, when they came into office, Canada ranked 17th in the OECD when it comes to child poverty. By the time they had left office in 2015, Canada ranked 24th. It is a little hard to take them seriously when they talk about poverty, but do members know what? After our coming into office in 2015, Canada now ranks second in the OECD when it comes to child poverty. We will take no lessons from the Conservatives. We will continue to act and continue to support Canadians and families.

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