44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 24, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/24/23 12:07:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, also on the subject of corrections, on a recent visit to Joyceville Institution, I was informed that personnel at Correctional Service Canada had been trying to introduce red seal apprenticeship programs so inmates can re-enter the workforce with real job training.
After eight years of a Liberal government and of the Liberals' running Correctional Service, how many federal inmates are enrolled in red seal programs? Which programs are they enrolled in, and how many are enrolled per program? How many have graduated, and from which trades? Finally, is there a plan to assist inmates to finish their respective programs upon release?
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- Nov/24/23 12:08:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be very happy to get those exact details and provide them to the member.
I can tell him that, as the member of Parliament for Beauséjour, when I visited the medium-security prison Dorchester Penitentiary, I met inmates and CORCAN staff who work on exactly those programs. I share his view that if we can give inmates the skills and ensure that, for example, they complete their high school education or a trade, it will make them much more likely to successfully reintegrate into society when they finish their sentence. That keeps Canadians safe as well.
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- Nov/24/23 12:09:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, climate change costs the Canadian economy and Canadians' pocketbooks every day. If there is no plan for the environment, there is no plan for the economy.
Despite Conservatives' denying climate change, the government understands the need to act now with an economic plan that supports the middle class and creates good jobs, all while protecting the planet.
Could the parliamentary secretary to the minister of industry please share with Canadians more about the government's work in building a clean economy?
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- Nov/24/23 12:09:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his advocacy.
Canadian workers need an economic plan that will deliver good jobs that last for generations as the global economy shifts toward net zero. We have already seen over 90 clean-growth projects choose Canada in the last three years alone, valued at over $40 billion. More and more companies are choosing Canada thanks to our plan and our workers. The fall economic statement lays out clear timelines for the delivery and implementation of a clean economy investment tax credit regime, all with labour requirements to ensure good jobs for Canadians.
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- Nov/24/23 12:10:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, the UN voted to create a historic global tax convention, but instead of voting with most of the world for tax fairness, Canada voted no. The government chose to stand with billionaire corporations committed to hiding their money. If the Liberals really wanted to take on corporate greed and tax evasion during a period of record profits, they should have supported this resolution. Canadians struggling with sky-high grocery prices and rent deserve an explanation.
Why are Liberals opposing the world's efforts for tax fairness and choosing to stand with billionaires instead of with hard-working Canadians?
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- Nov/24/23 12:11:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member asked about tax fairness. Since 2015, the government has invested no less than a billion dollars to ensure that the CRA has the resources it needs, resources that the opposite side, the Conservatives, cut when they were in office. Tax fairness is a principle we take very seriously.
I would just point to the outcome of the Panama papers, for example, where, as a result of investments we have made, we have seen investigations on tax avoidance and tax evasion go up. Convictions are up as well. We will continue this good work.
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- Nov/24/23 12:11:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, access to clean drinking water is a human right.
Could the Minister of Indigenous Services inform the House as to when the government will provide appropriate funding and technical resources to train and certify first nations people to become water infrastructure operators in their home communities? Can the minister also indicate whether indigenous operators will be paid at a level that eliminates the wage gap with operators in non-indigenous communities? It is 2023. First nations should be empowered with the skills and the jobs to provide clean water. The government clearly has not been able to do it.
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- Nov/24/23 12:12:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a concern that I deeply share as well. Everyone deserves access to clean and safe drinking water. We are fully committed to lifting all of our remaining long-term drinking water advisories in first nations communities. In partnership with communities, we have already lifted 143 long-term advisories since 2015. There is now clean water in more than 96% of first nations communities, and we are committed to finishing the work of the remaining 4%. For each of these remaining advisories, there is a project team and a fully funded plan in place.
We will not stop until we get the job done and make clean water a reality for every community.
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- Nov/24/23 12:13:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, two reports of the Standing Committee on National Defence: the sixth report, entitled “Canadian Armed Forces Health Care and Transition Services”, and the seventh report, entitled “Public Procurement of the CP-140 Aurora Replacement”.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to each of these two reports.
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- Nov/24/23 12:14:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present petition e-4603 today, signed by 868 petitioners. It calls attention to the grave human rights abuses happening in Eritrea and the surveillance by the Eritrean regime of pro-democracy Eritrean newcomers in Canada.
The petition calls for an investigation into the targeting of Eritrean Canadians, asks us to deny visas to those who promote hate or violence, asks for protection for Eritrean newcomers, asks us to ensure settlement agencies use impartial interpreters and asks the Canadian government to impose Magnitsky sanctions on Eritrean regime officials.
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- Nov/24/23 12:15:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today.
The first is the 17th petition I have presented on this particular topic. It is signed by Canadians across the country who are calling to the government's attention the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's most recent report warning that rising temperatures over the next two decades will bring widespread devastation. In particular in Canada, we will continue to see flooding, wildfires and extreme temperatures.
The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to move forward immediately with bold emissions caps for the oil and gas sector that are comprehensive in scope and realistic in achieving the necessary targets that Canada has set to reduce emissions by 2030.
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- Nov/24/23 12:16:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am starting to receive several petitions, from various different school communities in the Kingston area, bringing to the government's attention the incredible need now more than ever for healthy food programs within schools.
The petitioners bring to the government's attention that Canada is the only G7 country without a national school food program. They also draw to the government's attention that new data from Statistics Canada indicates that one in four children in Canada lives in a food insecure household.
The petitioners, among them members of the Loyola community learning centre's open book campus community and the residents of the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington region, call upon the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to prioritize funding for a national school food program through budget 2024 for implementation in schools by the fall of 2024.
I thank members of the Loyola community learning centre for bringing this matter to my attention so I could deliver it to the House.
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- Nov/24/23 12:17:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
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- Nov/24/23 12:17:36 p.m.
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Is that agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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- Nov/24/23 12:18:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I trade barbs back and forth, in good nature, with the member for Winnipeg North all the time. I will point out to him, though, that in his speech he talked about how replacement workers were a cause of the 1919 strike. The Canadian Labour Congress website has no mention of replacement workers. What it does state is that a big cause of the strike was inflation.
I am wondering if the member could tell the House how much the Liberal-induced inflation right now is causing the need for the legislation he is promoting.
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- Nov/24/23 12:19:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I suspect that if the member were to peruse Hansard to see exactly what I said, I said “in good part” replacement workers were the reason for the 1919 strike, especially the conclusion of it. A number of factors led to it, and in good part, it was about employers and a sense of exploitation at a time when there was inflation.
The member tries to compare it to today. It is important that we put things into proper perspective in the sense that, around the world, Canada's inflation rate is doing quite well in comparison. Having said that, we are moving in the right direction. In June 2022, it was over 8%. Now we are getting closer to 3%. We are moving in the right direction and we will continue to have Canadians' backs.
The other thing I would emphasize, based on the question the member asked, is in regard to Canada's middle class. Canada's middle class has been supported, whether through this legislation or middle-class tax breaks from the very beginning. People in the middle class know that this government has their backs in all ways.
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- Nov/24/23 12:20:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to ask my colleague some questions instead of listening to him talk for another four minutes. I am just keeping our colleague's joke going.
I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on the 18 months it is going to take before the bill comes into force after receiving royal assent. That is not the usual practice. Normally a bill comes into force upon receiving royal assent. Given that we have been waiting years for anti-scab legislation and there are people who are suffering because there is no such measure in the Canada Labour Code, I would like him to explain why we should wait 18 months. I see no justification for more delays.
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- Nov/24/23 12:21:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the sensitivity of the question. I believe that once we get the bill into committee, there will be a more detailed, fulsome answer to that specific question. I suspect it has a lot to do with the making of the legislation and the people who were engaged in consultations. There may be some time-related issues.
I would encourage the member to go to the standing committee and put forward that question, or even approach the minister directly.
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- Nov/24/23 12:21:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when Labour Day comes every year, I am part of the millions of Canadians who really think about what it means and what the hard-fought labour rights represent. How can this legislation further protect the sacred right to strike in this nation?
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- Nov/24/23 12:22:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I believe it is in recognition of the importance of the free collective bargaining system and the importance of the bargaining table.
At the end of the day, when we think of labour rights, ultimately labour harmony is good for all of us. One of the things I would like to emphasize, as this is my last answer, is for us to think of the social impact that labour has had here in Canada from coast to coast to coast, which has been tremendously positive.
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