44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2024 10:00AM
- May/2/24 8:35:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have all been closely following the proceedings of the public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's democratic institutions. As members of the House will recall, in fact, our government convened the inquiry with the support of every party leader in this very House, and we all recognize how important it is to maintain the integrity of our democratic institutions.
This week we heard from the Prime Minister and his staff, as well as senior public servants and intelligence officials, as they outlined the various ways intelligence is shared and used within the government to keep Canadians safe.
The story here is quite simple. As the director of CSIS outlined on Friday, CSIS has been talking about foreign interference and foreign threats for many years, both inside and outside government, to officials, to ministers and to Canadians. It has always been clear that foreign interference is a serious threat to Canadian democracy. In response to those warnings, the government has taken several decisive actions, beginning with a plan to protect democracy before the 2019 election.
Over the course of the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, the security and intelligence threats to elections task force coordinated efforts against foreign interference by assessing threats, sharing intelligence and briefing the panel, the ministers and political parties.
Most recently, our government has been consulting Canadians on possible legislative amendments to ensure that we have the right tools and authorities to keep Canadians safe. To ensure that the measures we have taken are the right ones, we convened the public inquiry and asked Canada's national security review bodies, NSIRA and NSICOP, to look into the matter.
Our government has supported an unprecedented level of transparency about sensitive national security issues. As members know, however, the protection of classified information is of the utmost importance.
On Friday, the director of CSIS noted that an intelligence service must be able to protect the information it collects in order to succeed in protecting Canadians. Therefore, any leak of classified information is dangerous and something the government will never tolerate.
Members also know that it would be inappropriate to discuss national security investigations in the House. That is not how we will ensure the protection of sensitive information. The government has confidence in security services, and we must let them perform their work.
Foreign interference in Canada has not been a secret. The government and our intelligence officials have been telling Canadians about this for years, and we have taken decisive action to counter it and to continue to bolster our response. We are being as transparent as possible with Canadians about this challenge. The public inquiry and national security review bodies are ensuring our responses are appropriate.
All Canadians have to play a role in countering national security threats, such as foreign interference. That includes members of the House, and I look forward to continuing to work together accordingly.
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- May/2/24 8:38:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government has been anything but transparent. Indeed, since the Globe and Mail story broke, the Liberals have been in full cover-up mode. We know that a top Liberal leaked classified CSIS information, undermining an intelligence operation. It is a serious criminal offence to do so, punishable by up to 14 years behind bars. One of five Liberals likely leaked the classified information: Azam Ishmael, Braeden Caley, Mathieu Lafrance, Jeremy Broadhurst or the Prime Minister himself.
As such, which top Liberal is the criminal leaker? Is it the Prime Minister?
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- May/2/24 8:39:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate the seriousness with which the government is addressing the threat of foreign interference.
We have great confidence in the work of the government agencies and departments charged with protecting our democratic institutions. Their intelligence and the information they collect and share have enabled us to have a good understanding of the challenges foreign interference poses to Canadians.
I will also reiterate how important it is that CSIS and the security and intelligence community are able to protect that sensitive information. Our national security, the safety of sources, the advantage from our trade craft and the future of our partnerships depend on it.
At his previous appearance at the foreign interference inquiry, the director of CSIS spoke about how unauthorized releases of classified information are dangerous in several ways. Not only do they make it difficult for intelligence services to do their work, but the release of specific pieces of information does not paint a complete picture. This leads to misinterpretations or incorrect conclusions.
Members know it would be inappropriate to discuss media allegations and unsubstantiated information in the House, and I would urge them to keep this in mind.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have a bad habit of dodging serious questions, as we just saw. We will see whether that happens again with mine. At the very least, I am glad to have the opportunity to raise an important issue for indigenous communities.
The reality is that indigenous people are overlooked by the NDP-Liberal government. Regardless of all of the rhetoric and ideology behind the Liberals' so-called just transition that threatens to get rid of thousands of jobs for indigenous workers, that is what indigenous leaders are calling out. President Dale Swampy of the National Coalition of Chiefs believes that the so-called just transition picks winners and losers while driving away billions of dollars of potential investment in indigenous communities.
As indigenous communities have invested more and more into the oil sands region, rising by $9 million between 2017 and 2019, the government is doing its best to shut it all down. It is something important to keep in mind whenever the Liberal government brings forward policies against the energy sector. At the end of the day, we are talking about good-paying jobs and the benefit they bring to the workers and their communities, including indigenous communities.
The Liberals have talked a lot about Bill C-50, for example, but would their appointed counsels and useless secretariats really represent the voice of energy workers? They probably would not. Considering the track record of the government across the aisle, they would be filled with more of the same overpaid and underworked bureaucrats who do not understand the way of life outside their big city. In this case, they might even think that they know what is best for all indigenous people, even if there are indigenous groups that are telling a different story.
I want to take a moment to read what Dale Swampy told the natural resources committee when we were studying the so-called just transition:
I want to end by pointing out the high costs of a poorly planned energy transition and the crisis we now face in first nations. Many of our communities rely on diesel generation. People have to drive for hours to get to doctors appointments or a grocery store. A lot of people aren't on the grid, and even those who are don't have the electricity capacity to add charging stations in garages they don't have. You won't find any electric cars on the rez.
Most people in Canada do not have the luxury of living in a downtown condo, with a Tesla charging in their heated underground parking garage. However, that might be the lifestyle of someone working on one of these panels who wants to make decisions and enforce a just transition on an indigenous community that does not want it. The disproportionate impact that the Liberal government's unjust transition would have on indigenous communities would be devastating.
Indigenous people deserve more control of their resources, not less. Decisions are best made when those who will be most impacted by them have the greatest say. Consulting at the local level is the key to sustainability across all sectors, especially oil and gas. Otherwise, having high-and-mighty bureaucrats and politicians imposing their one-size-fits-all agenda on a country as large and diverse as Canada is sure to leave people behind. Time and time again, indigenous voices ask the government for a greater say and greater investment in the resource sector, but it falls on deaf ears in the current PMO.
I can say that Conservatives want to take a better approach. We supported an initiative like the first nations resource charge, which is an optional policy that would give more control over resource dollars for indigenous communities. It would offer them more input and would help to avoid the slow and painful process of negotiating with the federal government. As I said, we support it. Will the Liberal government ever support economic reconciliation for indigenous people?
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- May/2/24 8:43:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will note his original question with regard to working with first nations on accessing and developing economic opportunities in the resource and energy sector, addressing the systemic barriers that have excluded indigenous peoples, including first nations, from prosperity and decision-making for too long, must be addressed.
That is why budget 2024 announced the investment in the indigenous loan guarantee program. This program would provide up to $5 billion in loan guarantees to indigenous groups, unlocking access to affordable capital for indigenous communities and governments who want ownership stakes in natural resource and energy projects. The budget contains another $3.5 million to help indigenous communities undertake their own investment analysis and due diligence, so they can have the confidence that they are investing in viable projects. On top of that, there is another $2.4 billion in the budget for indigenous communities, which would go toward more safe and affordable housing and investments in education.
Unfortunately, the Conservatives are pledging to hold back these vital investments and initiatives, including the very same indigenous loan guarantee program that was widely endorsed by the First Nations Major Projects Coalition.
This is no surprise coming from the party led by a leader who is ideologically opposed to reconciliation. This is the same Conservative leader who voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and in favour of taking away indigenous peoples' rights to free, prior and informed consent. The leader of the Conservatives has also said that residential school survivors need a “stronger work ethic” and has cozied up to residential school denialists, even speaking at an event for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, which runs paid campaign ads that try to deny the impact of residential schools.
As a minister in the Harper Conservative government, the Conservative leader gutted environmental protections and failed to consult meaningfully with indigenous peoples on major projects, making it harder, not easier, for projects to get built. Frankly, these Conservatives have an awful track record and it is not a surprise they are trying to gut the vital mechanisms that are investing in indigenous-led projects, such as the Canada Infrastructure Bank. On this side of the aisle, we are always going to invest in indigenous-led solutions.
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Mr. Speaker, we found out at committee that, for Bill C-49, the Liberals did not even bother to consult first nations when they were pushing the Atlantic accord bill through. It is no surprise.
If we look at what Canadians think, 65% of Canadians think the government does a very poor or a poor job at developing a shared long-term vision for Canada's energy future. This is from a survey that was released just today.
Liberals are out of touch.
The Indian Act also takes control away from indigenous communities by giving reserve land and all dollars to the federal government, so they have to go begging to the federal government to get access to those funds from projects on their own land.
The first nations resource charge is something that can make a huge difference for communities who decide it works for them. Conservatives want to deliver this for indigenous people. Will the government?
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- May/2/24 8:47:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, continuing on the theme of indigenous-led project development, I would like to highlight some of the many exciting projects that are taking place across this country.
In Ontario, the Six Nations is developing one of the largest battery storage projects, called Oneida Energy Storage. In New Brunswick, the Tobique first nation is delivering the Burchill wind project near Saint John, one of the largest in my region of Atlantic Canada. In Northwest Territories, the indigenous-led Denendeh exploration and mining company received $5 million in support to transform an older silver mine into a critical minerals facility.
In the member's own province of Saskatchewan, we worked hand in hand with the Cowessess first nation to deliver the Awasis solar farm and the Bekevar wind project, which are creating hundreds of good construction jobs and ensuring long-term revenues go back to the first nations.
Unlike the Conservatives, our leader takes economic reconciliation very seriously.
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- May/2/24 8:48:06 p.m.
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The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 8:48 p.m.)
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