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May/4/23 1:46:53 p.m.
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The member for Cypress Hills—Grasslands is rising on a point of order.

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May/4/23 1:46:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the member gave a speech, he asked the member to apologize. He made the point a few times. The member said some extremely egregious things about the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. He has impugned the integrity of the House and of that member. What has he done? He has—

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The Deputy Speaker

May/4/23 1:47:14 p.m.
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That is a point of debate. That is not a point of order. The hon. member for Winnipeg North.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/4/23 1:47:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will rephrase the question, in addressing the point of order, and ask the member this. Am I not accurate in saying that the member in question actually did get, I am told, not only one but multiple briefings? I suspect, like me, the member himself has no idea of what was actually the content of—

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The Deputy Speaker

May/4/23 1:47:46 p.m.
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The hon. member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin is rising on a point of order.

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Hon. Mike Lake

May/4/23 1:47:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he is referencing the point of order. The fact of the matter is that if we are looking at that particular point, and there is something else that you should apologize for but, on a technicality, said it was not on the record, on that particular point, you said the Prime Minister had a briefing on Monday and then you said that the member got the same briefing two years ago. The member did not get the same briefing that the Prime Minister got, and then you put it on the member and asked—

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The Deputy Speaker

May/4/23 1:48:18 p.m.
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I need to remind folks to run it through the Chair and to not speak directly to the members. There is a reason why we have the Chair here. That is not a point of order but I know the member for Winnipeg North does want to respond to it. The hon. member for Winnipeg North.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

May/4/23 1:48:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it was never my intention to say that the Prime Minister and the member had the same briefing. If that is in fact what I said, I would apologize for saying that it was the same briefing. The question that I posed to the member was: Can he please correct me if I am wrong? They are accusing me of saying misinformation. Did I misquote, in any way, that the member did get a briefing?

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Mr. Frank Caputo

May/4/23 1:49:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would say that the member did misstate. I will invite him, with my last 15 seconds, to apologize. Here is what he said: “The member for Wellington—Halton Hills has known for two years”. Let us see what the member for Wellington—Halton Hills said this morning. I am holding up a press conference here. The briefing was general in nature and did not contain any specific threats concerning a person in Canada. I am paraphrasing next about the targeting of the hon. member and his family. He welcomed these briefings. I am paraphrasing again. The government knew about this two years ago and it did nothing. It did not tell him about this particular individual and it did not expel this particular individual. When the member says that the member for Wellington—Halton Hills has known for two years, that is inaccurate. He received a general briefing. It is wrong that he knew what was actually occurring for two years, that he and his family were targeted. I invite the hon. member to apologize.

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Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

May/4/23 1:50:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to what is happening, it is clear there is an ongoing tit-for-tat situation of she-said-he-said-they-said without getting into the central issue, which is to take partisanship out of this debate and for the Canadian government to make a course correction regarding the action that needs to be taken by putting in place an independent, public inquiry. Aside from the points in the motion, the other piece I am wondering about is this. Does the member agree that what is also important is for Canada to work with its allied countries to come up with a common strategy to deal with the threat of foreign interference by any country?

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Mr. Frank Caputo

May/4/23 1:52:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree 100%, yes.

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Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)

May/4/23 1:52:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, some of the points I was going to make in my speech were just covered by the member from Kamloops. With respect to the debate we just had, the point is that during the debate this morning the member for Kingston and the Islands, the member for Vancouver Granville and the member for Winnipeg North all alluded to the fact that it was the member for Wellington—Halton Hills who knew and did nothing. That is a form of victim abuse. That is not acceptable for this House and it pains me to see members of the government, parliamentary secretaries, building a narrative to discredit an hon. member of this chamber. It has to stop and they need to apologize today. The government is defensive. It is defensive for a very good reason. It goes back to the 2020 report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians covering their actions in 2019. Of particular interest is chapter 2 of this report, the government's response to foreign interference, which notes, I will add, that Canada's allies have identified interference as a significant threat and initiated various countermeasures. It reads,“foreign interference in Canada has received minimal media and academic coverage, and is not part of wider public discourse.” Things have changed since 2020. In their review of foreign interference activities, this non-partisan committee, which only issues reports if every member of the said committee agrees to them, had a number of findings. They read: F8. Some foreign states conduct sophisticated and pervasive foreign interference activities against Canada. Those activities pose a significant risk to national security, principally by undermining Canada's fundamental institutions and eroding the rights and freedoms of Canadians. (Paragraphs 136-175) F9. CSIS has consistently conducted investigations and provided advice to government on foreign interference. (Paragraphs 195-201) F10. Throughout the period under review, the interdepartmental coordination and collaboration on foreign interference was case-specific and ad hoc. Canada's ability to address foreign interference is limited by the absence of a holistic approach to consider relevant risks, appropriate tools and possible implications of responses to state behaviours. (Paragraphs 219-227 and 280-285) F11. Foreign interference has received historically less attention in Canada than other national security threats. This is beginning to change with the government's nascent focus on "hostile state activities." Nonetheless, the security and intelligence community's approach to addressing the threat is still marked by a number of conditions: There are significant differences in how individual security and intelligence organizations interpret the gravity and prevalence of the threat, and prioritize their resources. (Paragraphs 276-279) In determining the measures the government may use to address instances of foreign interference, responses address specific activities and not patterns of behaviour. F12. Government engagement on foreign interference has been limited. With the exception of CSIS outreach activities, the government's interaction with subnational levels of government and civil society on foreign interference is minimal. (Paragraphs 256-267) Engagement is limited in part by the lack of security-cleared individuals at the subnational level. (Paragraph 261) There is no public foreign interference strategy or public report similar to those developed for terrorism or cyber security. (Paragraphs 289-291) I could go on but my time is limited today. The committee made a number of recommendations on actions that the government could take to combat foreign interference, and yet none of those have been taken today. We have still not seen a foreign registry tabled in this Parliament and we have still not seen real action by the government. The only reason we are seeing any action today is because of Robert Fife in The Globe and Mail. Recommendation five in the committee's report reads: R5. The Government of Canada develop a comprehensive strategy to counter foreign interference and build institutional and public resiliency. Drawing from the Committee's review and findings, such a strategy should: a. identify the short- and long-term risks and harms to Canadian institutions and rights and freedoms posed by the threat of foreign interference; b. examine and address the full range of institutional vulnerabilities targeted by hostile foreign states, including areas expressly omitted in the Committee's review; c. assess the adequacy of existing legislation that deals with foreign interference, such as the Security of Information Act or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, and make proposals for changes if required; d. develop practical, whole-of-government operational and policy mechanisms to identify and respond to the activities of hostile states; e. establish regular mechanisms to work with sub-national levels of government... f. include an approach for ministers and senior officials to engage with fundamental institutions and the public; and g. guide cooperation with allies on foreign interference. The next point is that the Government of Canada “support this comprehensive strategy through sustained central leadership” and review of legislation. To conclude, the government has done nothing outlined in the 2020 report. The only reason we are here today and the only reason the Conservative Party has brought this motion forward is to establish a foreign agent registry, to establish a national public inquiry, and to close down the People's Republic of China's police offices in Canada. What is happening to our sovereignty? I will state this emotional appeal.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/4/23 1:58:39 p.m.
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We have a point of order from the hon. deputy House leader.

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Deputy

Mrs. Sherry Romanado

May/4/23 1:58:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I understand that the member opposite is passionate. However, for the sake of the interpreters, I would ask that he not scream.

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The Deputy Speaker

May/4/23 1:58:53 p.m.
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The hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon.

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Mr. Brad Vis

May/4/23 1:58:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will lower my voice, but the passion with which I speak today is because I am scared that our sovereignty is at stake, that the government has been negligent in its responsibilities to Canada and that the country I knew as a young man is not the country of today. I can remember that in the early 2000s it was big national news when members of the American government, the FBI, came to Canada. Canada was upset, yet we stand negligent today when a foreign dictatorship that does not have the interests of Canada at heart establishes a police office in our country. The government has been defensive. We need to vote with the official opposition and take immediate actions to rectify the grave and serious problems the government has caused in our country.

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Ms. Leah Taylor Roy (Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, Lib.)

May/4/23 2:00:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Dutch Heritage Day is celebrated annually in Canada on May 5 to recognize and honour the contributions made by the Dutch community to Canadian society. It coincides with the anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands by Canada during World War II, a day my own mother remembers well, as she and her family were there. They came to Canada on the first ship after the war: my grandmother and her six children, with the seventh on the way. They moved to Owen Sound, where they re-established the dairy farm they had left behind in Holland, maintaining the connection to agriculture that informs my own role on the agriculture committee today. I was delighted to meet with the Dutch ambassador to Canada, Her Excellency Ines Coppoolse, on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Speaker of the House. She spoke passionately about the many areas of shared values and co-operation, from security and agriculture innovation to respect for freedom of the press and technological advancements. I was also able to meet with members of the Liberal Party of Holland during the meetings of Liberal International in Ottawa over the last two days. It was a great opportunity to see so many of my colleagues celebrating Holland. The Dutch community in Canada is one of the largest and most well-established immigrant communities in the country. I am proud to be of Dutch descent. I thank all Canadians of Dutch descent, especially my mother and her family and those of Dutch descent living in my riding of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, for all they have done and for the Dutch treats like stroopwafel, pannenkoek and oliebollen.

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Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)

May/4/23 2:01:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, seven people were attacked with bear spray in broad daylight on a Calgary LRT platform. Two of the victims were my daughters. The investigating officer said that it was the eighth such incident that week. Fortunately, they were not seriously injured, but, sadly, violent attacks are now a daily occurrence on Canada's transit systems. In April alone, there was an Edmonton bus stop stabbing, a sexual assault on a Toronto bus, a shooting on a Calgary bus, three separate stabbings on the SkyTrain in B.C. and a stabbing murder on a Surrey bus. People need public transit. It is part of the solution for reducing traffic congestion and emissions. However, people will not take transit if the government will not do something about the chronic violent repeat offenders who make our communities and our transit systems unsafe.

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Mr. Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville, Lib.)

May/4/23 2:03:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as Liberals from across Canada gather in Ottawa this weekend, we will be missing a woman who left an indelible mark on our Vancouver Liberal family. On April 25, Audrey Sojonky, a tireless advocate for women in politics, passed away peacefully at her home in West Vancouver. She dedicated her life to education and to giving back to her community. She believed deeply in a progressive, inclusive Canada and ran for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1993 election. Hers was the first campaign I ever worked on. She made sure my voice and the voices of young volunteers on her campaign were included in every aspect of what she did, and she never forgot her volunteers. Every time I saw her, even after I was elected to this House, she reminded me of how grateful she was for the work I had done for her 30 years ago and how proud she was of all of us who had achieved great things from her campaign. Among her many achievements, Audrey Sojonky was president of the United Way of the Lower Mainland and a board member of the Vancouver port and the Vancouver Art Gallery. She was also a proud Ukrainian Canadian and deeply involved in the Ukrainian Orthodox community. She leaves behind her loving son Toma and his partner Leigh, her grandchildren Alexa and Lukas, and countless other relatives and friends. May she rest in peace. We will be thinking of her this weekend and always. Vichnaya pamyat, memory eternal.

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Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

May/4/23 2:04:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are halfway through Mental Health Week, which this year is encouraging people to share their story. On this occasion, I would like to hear the stories that we do not hear often enough, those of our farmers. Behind the beautiful landscapes of our regions lies a challenging life and far too often a life of solitude. On behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I want to acknowledge all of our proud farmers and I want to encourage them to share their story. They do not need to bear an undue burden alone, no matter how broad their shoulders. They need to talk, ask for help if necessary whether from a loved one, an outreach worker from the Au cœur des familles agricoles organization or their regional UPA, or even from a health care professional. Mostly, they need to know that we see them working seven days a week, persevering through bad weather, labour problems, the uncertainty of succession planning and foreign competition. They need to know that Quebeckers stand with them.

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