44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 2, 2022 11:00AM
- May/2/22 2:17:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, early Friday morning, four cadets at the Royal Military College died in a tragic accident when the vehicle they were in entered the water off Point Frederick. Fourth-year officer cadets Jack Hogarth, Andrei Honciu, Broden Murphy and Andrés Salek all voluntarily joined the Canadian Armed Forces understanding that they may be required to make the ultimate sacrifice in service to Canada.
Losing a member of the Canadian Armed Forces is never easy to accept for family and friends, but losing someone in an accident just a few short weeks before graduation is that much harder. I do not know the personal details of all the families, although Officer Cadet Broden Murphy was the son of a fellow class of 1997 classmate of mine, Major Dave Murphy, and his wife, Stephanie. I cannot imagine the pain and loss they and all the families are currently feeling.
On behalf of all members of the House, I offer Dave, Stephanie, and all the families and friends of Jack, Andrei, Broden and Andrés, my deepest condolences and sympathy. I ask all members and all Canadians to keep them all in their thoughts and prayers.
“Truth. Duty. Valour.” Lest we forget.
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- May/2/22 2:19:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 20th anniversary of Asian Heritage Month in Canada. It is a time to recognize the achievements and contributions of Asian Canadians.
This weekend, I attended an event honouring Dr. Vivian Poy, the first Canadian of Asian descent appointed to the Senate. Dr. Poy's story is one of passion, creativity and achievement, and it was she who originally moved to designate May as Asian Heritage Month. This year's theme, continuing the legacy of greatness, reminds us of the generations of Asian Canadians who helped build this country in the face of adversity and discrimination.
Anti-Asian racism has seen a sharp rise recently. To help combat it, I encourage Canadians from coast to coast to coast to learn about multi-Asian diversity, which includes Canadians who trace their roots to over 40 countries; challenge stereotypes; call out acts of racism and unconscious bias; and support local Asian businesses and organizations.
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- May/2/22 2:20:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government bought itself a majority to protect its leader until 2025. The NDP sold its soul to ensure the Liberal government's survival.
Today, the NDP is preparing to compromise its very principles by officially renouncing its opposition role. There is still time for the members of the NDP to save a little of their dignity by saying no to the Liberal whip and voting against Motion No. 11.
Will the Liberal whip at least let the NDP members vote freely?
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- May/2/22 2:21:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Motion No. 11 is all about extending the hours to enable members of Parliament to debate more. That is an open invitation for all members, whether New Democrat, Conservative, members of the Bloc or even of the government. It provides each member an opportunity to speak past 6:30 in the evening. Millions of other Canadians work past 6:30 p.m., too.
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- May/2/22 2:21:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister was the first federal leader in office to be found guilty of breaking the law.
The Prime Minister fired his justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, because she did not follow his instructions with respect to SNC-Lavalin. He bought off NDP members so that he would not have to answer for his actions in the Winnipeg lab scandal. RCMP documents now show that he just narrowly avoided being accused of fraud in the matter of the illegal gift worth $215,000.
Who in this government will stand up and say that enough is enough?
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- May/2/22 2:22:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, nothing has changed in the past six years. We have seen the Conservative Party, the official opposition, make personal attacks against the Prime Minister or other ministers. While the Conservative Party remains focused on personal attacks, I can assure the House that the ministries of this government will continue to work day in and day out for the betterment of all Canadians.
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- May/2/22 2:22:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is a pathetic excuse that does not hold water. This is a specific situation where the Prime Minister has admitted that neither he nor anyone else authorized him to accept an illegal gift.
Time does not erase the horrors of the past. We only have to ask the victims of crime who wait years to report their attacker.
Is this MP leader actually telling victims to keep quiet and not report these crimes? Why does the Minister of Justice not initiate an investigation into the matter currently involving the Prime Minister and ask the RCMP to reopen its investigation?
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- May/2/22 2:23:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that the government remains focused on the job at hand. As the Conservatives want to continue to have personal attacks against different ministers of the government, as I said, we will continue to remain focused on the economy and on making life better for all Canadians.
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- May/2/22 2:23:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary can sit here and be part of a government cover-up. That is why, this morning, I again wrote to the RCMP commissioner regarding the RCMP's criminal brief on the investigation into the Prime Minister's $215,000 private island vacation. The criminal brief says that the RCMP deferred to the Ethics Commissioner's interpretation that the Prime Minister's actions were not criminal in nature. However, we now know, from the news, that former commissioner Mary Dawson was unfamiliar with the Criminal Code offence of fraud against the government. She had no interpretation to give.
Has the Prime Minister spoken to the RCMP in the past week about his criminal behaviour?
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- May/2/22 2:24:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to recognize that, even before the Prime Minister was the Prime Minister, even before he was the leader of the Liberal Party, Conservative members always had personal attacks against the Prime Minister. Ever since we have been in the government, their focus has been on character assassination.
While they want to focus on that, we will continue to focus on programs that matter, and an excellent example of that is the national child care program. It is a program that is serving Canadians in every region of our nation today.
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- May/2/22 2:25:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should really answer his questions. He can run, but he cannot hide from the law. The RCMP's deference to the retired commissioner Dawson was asserted as one of the justifications for why it was not in the public interest to pursue a criminal investigation, but all the public interest arguments by the RCMP for not pursuing charges have been undone in the past week. It is in the public interest for Canadians to know that the Prime Minister is not above the law.
Will the Prime Minister and his staff co-operate with the RCMP in this investigation of fraud on the government by the Prime Minister?
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- May/2/22 2:25:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we are witnessing is an ongoing continuation of political theatrics from the Conservative Party.
Three leaders ago, the Conservatives were talking about this. At the end of the day, as I have pointed out in previous questions, they can continue. They can do what they want with their focus. I can assure Canadians that this government, whether it is the Prime Minister, other cabinet ministers or the Liberal caucus as a whole, will continue to focus our attention on making life better for all Canadians in every region of this nation.
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- May/2/22 2:26:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this weekend saw the return of the convoy protesting health measures. This time, the Ottawa police, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Parliamentary Protective Service worked together, from the get‑go.
When people tried to get their vehicles into the security perimeter to again block the downtown core, they were immediately stopped. There were no blunders, businesses stayed open. In short, three days later, it was already over, because everyone had done their job well.
Miraculously, the Emergencies Act was not needed. Here is the thousand-dollar question: In the end, what was the purpose of invoking the Emergencies Act this winter?
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- May/2/22 2:27:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, we are relieved because of the good work of the police forces on the ground, including the RCMP, which added resources to assure everyone that public safety would be maintained.
In response to my colleague, we invoked the Emergencies Act at the time because we needed it.
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- May/2/22 2:27:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is the proof that the Emergencies Act was not needed in the first place. There just needed to be some coordination of the work being done by each level of government and the police, the same fine work that put an end to the siege this winter.
That is exactly what this government refused to do during the blockade. Do not forget that the government spent days blaming the City of Ottawa and called the occupiers a bunch of complainers. It took many long weeks before there was any coordination. Much like Pontius Pilate, the government first washed its hands of the situation and then made the whole thing worse. All we needed was for the government to do its job.
Why was the Emergencies Act invoked?
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- May/2/22 2:28:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect for my colleague, there was a lot of disruption in January and February with people gathering at the borders in British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario and on the Ambassador Bridge. It was a public safety threat.
At the recommendation of police, we invoked the Emergencies Act to protect Canadians, because keeping Canadians safe will always be this government's priority.
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- May/2/22 2:29:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, two important benefits that make it possible for parents to stay home with their young children and for workers to stay home when they are sick expire next Saturday, May 7.
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for employment insurance reform and paid sick leave, which are long overdue. Canada is going through the sixth wave of the pandemic.
Can the Minister of Finance explain why her government is once again leaving workers out in the cold? Will she renew these extremely important matters?
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- May/2/22 2:30:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect and deserve an EI system that is responsive to their needs. EI sickness benefits are an important support for Canadians who need to leave work because of illness or injury.
Workers receiving important treatments, or requiring a longer period to recover from an illness or injury, face a stressful income gap between the time they exhaust their benefits and when they are healthy enough to return to work. That is why we extended EI sickness benefits from 15 to 26 weeks, providing approximately 169,000 Canadians every year with additional time and flexibility to recover and return to work.
There is more to do, to be sure, and we will keep working so that EI is there for Canadians when they need it most.
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- May/2/22 2:30:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister is right: Canadians do deserve an employment insurance system that is there for them and that works. In fact, they should have had that in place before the Liberals ended pandemic benefits that allowed them to stay home with their children when they were sick, and that allowed them to stay home from work when they were sick to not put their colleagues in danger.
Instead, what we have is a situation where the government is allowing these benefits to end without having put the 10 paid sick days in place and without having put the employment insurance reforms in place.
Will the government either present these reforms immediately or extend the benefits until it reforms EI and puts the 10 paid sick days in place?
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- May/2/22 2:31:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows, we have brought forward legislation that has passed through this place with regard to 10 paid sick days. We have also worked hard to modernize the EI program so that it responds to the needs of all Canadians and is fair and equal. That includes giving parents the choice of taking either 12 or 18 months for parental leave and introducing the new parental sharing benefit so they can share the joy and work of raising their children more equally.
We are following through on our promise to modernize the system with targeted consultations with Canadians. That will bring forward a vision for a new and modern EI system. We know there is more work to do and we are getting to it.
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