44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 19, 2023 10:00AM
- Oct/19/23 10:21:10 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Speaker's ruling encouraging the government to provide more thorough answers on order paper questions. I encourage the government to do the same in relation to providing adequate responses to petitions, as I present one today that is a matter of life and death.
This is about persons with disabilities who are living in poverty, who are suffering more than ever and need financial assistance. Due to an expected 18-month delay to receiving the Canada disability benefit due to regulatory process and a risk to life due to insufficient supports on current disability programs, federally and provincially, Canadians living with disabilities on provincial and federal disability benefits are struggling immensely with benefits significantly below the poverty line.
Over half of those who are unhoused have one or more disabilities. There have been instances of people turning to MAID out of economic desperation and there have been those in the community who have also been lost to suicide. People are desperately awaiting the Canada disability benefit.
The undersigned members of the community of disabled Canadians call upon the House of Commons to, one, consider the implementation of a temporary top-up benefit, a disability emergency response benefit, or DERB, to be immediately provided to help all those currently eligible for any disabled benefit until the Canada disability benefit is being distributed, and, two, consider the disability emergency response benefit to fill the gap and make a difference in the many lives desperately needing support now.
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- Oct/19/23 10:22:57 a.m.
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Just as a reminder to all members, when we present petitions, please try to keep it as succinct as possible so that we can get as many of these in as we possibly can.
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- Oct/19/23 10:23:11 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 14th time on behalf of the people of Swan River, Manitoba, to present a petition on the rising rate of crime. I was just in Swan River, where I listened to more pleas for help to tackle the out-of-control crime wave. I was shown where a repeat offender, armed with an axe, cut through a roof of a local liquor store. While it is October and this may sound like somewhat of a horror film, I can assure us that this has become a grim reality of so many business owners in Swan River.
We need jail, not bail. Petitioners are calling on this Liberal government to end their catch-and-release policies before the damage to this community is beyond repair.
The people of Swan River demand that this Liberal government repeal its soft-on-crime policies that directly threaten their livelihoods and their communities.
I support the good people of Swan River.
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- Oct/19/23 10:24:19 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise virtually this morning to present a petition from constituents who are very concerned about the galloping climate crisis.
The particular approach of these petitioners, physicians, is to cite the health impacts of the climate crisis and to draw the attention of the House to the scientific consensus as represented in the Paris Agreement, that global emissions must be rapidly reduced for it to hold to a less-than-1.5°C global average temperature increase and to make the cuts that are necessary before the year 2030.
Petitioners direct the House to the finding of the World Health Organization, that the climate crisis represents the single largest threat to human health of the 21st century.
They call on the government to act rapidly to reduce the health threats that they list and that I will only summarize, the impacts from wildfire smoke, the impacts on lungs, the increase in insect-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, the threats created by heat domes and heat-related illnesses and death.
They call on this House to act rapidly to complete the end of the dependence of our economy on fossil fuels and take necessary steps to move rapidly to not just net zero but a zero-carbon green energy future.
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- Oct/19/23 10:26:03 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the great people of southwestern Saskatchewan. The petition that I have today is in regard to the government's decision to unilaterally ban the use of strychnine. We have an outbreak of uncontrolled Richardson's ground squirrels, otherwise known as gophers, that are decimating farmland. They are decimating ranch land and they are causing a lot of stress to farmers and to animals, as well as a lot of damage to machinery used to plant and harvest our crops.
The residents are asking the government to reverse its ban, to allow farmers the ability to use strychnine to control the population of the Richardson's ground squirrel once again.
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- Oct/19/23 10:26:51 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to table this petition on behalf of constituents of my from Ucluelet and Tofino.
Emergencies at Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park are attended by Parks Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Coast Guard, West Coast Inland Search and Rescue, B.C.'s emergency response group and the RCMP. However, rescues initially fall into the hands of surfers and beachgoers. The petition cites many people who have died over the last few years, including someone who died this year.
According to Parks Canada, over a million people visit Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, making it the third most visited national park in Canada. Lifeguards watched over the beach as part of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve surf guard program for 40 years until the federal Conservative government cut the program in 2012. We will not find a beach in this country with more people in the water and no lifeguards.
Petitioners are calling on the government and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to reinstate the surf guard tower and surf guard services, and extend the duration of the surf guard program to accommodate the growing number of emergencies, as well as visitors at Long Beach in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. This would save lives.
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- Oct/19/23 10:28:15 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present a petition signed by people from across the country who are concerned about comments that Louis Roy of Quebec's College of Physicians made at committee around babies from birth to one year of age being eligible for euthanasia.
The citizens who signed this petition, residents of Canada, call on the Government of Canada to block any attempt to allow the killing of children by euthanasia.
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- Oct/19/23 10:28:58 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am also presenting a petition this morning from petitioners from across the country who are concerned about the deteriorating human rights protections in India. They are calling on the Government of Canada to protect human rights. They note that Christians, Muslims, and members of Dalit and Sikh groups are being subjected to assault and sexual violence, and their places of worship are being vandalized and threatened.
The petitioners are asking that the Government of Canada ensure that all trade deals with India are premised on mandatory human rights provisions, that extremists are sanctioned and that the government promote a respectful human rights dialogue between Canada and India.
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- Oct/19/23 10:29:39 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be tabling two petitions today.
After eight years, it is clear that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost and his priorities are not aligned with those of Canadians according to these petitioners.
The petitioners raise concerns about the government prioritizing spending on bureaucracy, consultants and waste over a vital area of need for Canadians, which is supporting women's shelters. Petitioners identify the fact that women's shelters are sadly seeing an increased demand. The high cost of living and the housing crisis have made it harder for women and children fleeing violent homes to find a safe place to live.
Petitioners note that at a time when the Liberal government is dramatically increasing spending on bureaucracy and consultants, it is, in fact, cutting $145 million of funding for women's shelters. The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to restore funding for women's shelters.
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- Oct/19/23 10:31:42 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition that I am tabling deals with instances where the Prime Minister, in particular, has tried to interfere in areas of provincial jurisdiction that relate to the rights of parents to make decisions and be involved in conversations about important aspects of their children's lives. In particular, we have seen this attempted interference in the case of New Brunswick where the leader of the opposition, the Conservative leader, called on the Prime Minister to butt out of decisions that should properly be made by provinces and parents.
Petitioners note that in the vast majority of cases, parents care about the well-being of their children and love them much more than any state-run institution. The role of government is to support families and respect parents, not to dictate how they make decisions for their children.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to butt out and let parents raise their own children.
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- Oct/19/23 10:31:52 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.
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- Oct/19/23 10:31:57 a.m.
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Is that agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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moved:
That, in relation to Bill C-50, an act respecting accountability, transparency and engagement to support the creation of sustainable jobs for workers and economic growth in a net-zero economy, not more than one further sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration at second reading stage of the Bill; and
That, 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day allotted to the consideration at second reading stage of the said Bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the said stage of the Bill shall be put forthwith and successively, without further debate or amendment.
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- Oct/19/23 10:33:43 a.m.
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Pursuant to Standing Order 67.1, there will now be a 30-minute question period. I invite hon. members who wish to ask questions to rise in their place or use the “raise hand” function so the Chair has some idea of the number of members who wish to participate in the question period.
Questions and comments, the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
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Mr. Speaker, the government has, in the eight years I have been here, gone on about court decisions, yet we have seen in the last week how it has been completely slapped down by the Supreme Court for showing a flagrant disregard for provincial jurisdiction. It has no regard for how our Constitution is supposed to work as it relates to natural resources and provincial responsibility, yet it is bringing in time allocation to rush through aspects of its extreme anti-energy agenda, even at a time when the Supreme Court has clearly said it has overstepped.
Why will the government not take a pause and listen to not only parliamentarians, but also the Supreme Court instead of ramming through its unconstitutional anti-energy agenda?
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Mr. Speaker, the pearl-clutching.
If the members on the other side had not moved concurrence, maybe we could have been debating this last night. However, they used procedural games to avoid debate, and here we are happy to take questions on a very important matter.
I would also take issue with the fact that the Supreme Court, in its opinion, did a slam dunk or that a fulsome 100% judgment was rendered from the other side. It did not. It actually gave a very thoughtful opinion on where the federal government and the provincial governments should work together on matters of jurisdiction.
I can say that we took it, as we should, very seriously and will be looking at amendments we can making in order to make sure it complies with the rendering that came from the Supreme Court last week.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times in this House, there seems to be two block parties in the House of Commons: the Bloc Québécois and the block everything party. That party is the Conservatives, who block every piece of legislation and refuse to move them forward. They blocked dental care. They blocked everything that provides supports for Canadians.
In this case, of course, I guess there is some weird logic, because they hate clean energy. We have certainly seen that in Alberta where Danielle Smith has ripped up the clean energy sector, costing thousands of jobs. Therefore, legislation that actually helps to support that clean energy sector, creates new jobs for workers and also ensures that workers have a seat at the table is anathema to the Conservatives. Of course, they love bankers and CEOs, but they seem to hate workers, seniors and anybody who really benefits.
Through you to my colleague, is that really why the Conservatives, yet again, have blocked this type of legislation that actually benefits workers and Canadians?
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Mr. Speaker, I do not want to enter into the psychology of the Conservative Party. Therefore, I thank the hon. member for the question, but I will refuse the attempt.
Let me just say this. I would like to comment on his last point, if I could, as that is really what is at the heart of what we are proposing to do here.
Energy workers, oil and gas workers, should not just have a seat at the table, but should be leading that table. The problem is that for far too long concurrent governments, and I would argue ours, have left them out of the debate. They need to not just be a part of that debate, but to lead it.
I have skin in the game. My constituents are oil and gas workers. We have built a very proud offshore industry off the coast of Newfoundland. When they hear talk about change, tumult, and things that are exaggerated on social media like there is some master plan that is being made up in some star chamber, they get nervous necessarily. What we are saying with this legislation is that we are putting them at the table as decisions are made to best prepare them for a future that is happening now.
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Mr. Speaker, I was supposed to rise today to debate Bill C‑50, an important bill that, in fact, was originally to have been named the “just transition act”. For reasons unknown to me, the government seems to be afraid of using this expression, even though it is recognized internationally. It was created by the unions and approved by the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and even the European Union. Everyone in the transition, biodiversity protection and other fields uses the expression.
We have questions. The Bloc Québécois has had only one opportunity to speak, and here we are on day two of the debate. Why is the government unwilling to let us debate Bill C‑50?
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Mr. Speaker, let me speak to the hon. member's mentioning of the phrase “just transition.” There is a very simple reason why I do not like using “just transition” and it is because workers hate the phrase “just transition”.
I do recognize that the International Labour Organization created it. I understand that it did come from the labour movement. However, it does not speak to the people who I represent, and it does not speak to the people who work in the oil and gas industry or the energy industry as a whole. It does not speak to them.
We need these workers onside. We need them to lower emissions in the oil and gas industry because they are the only ones who know how to do it. We need them to build the renewables because they are the only ones who know how to do it. There may be certain phrases that get in the way of them doing that work or continuing to work in that industry, and building those things and doing those things is way more important to me than complying with the conjecture or the phraseology of Geneva.
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