SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 67 - May/9/22

Ms. Yvonne Jones (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Northern Affairs, Lib.)

May/9/22 6:51:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the ongoing tragedy unfolding before our eyes in Europe is one that I know everyone is concerned about. Regardless of political persuasion, we are all sickened by what Russia is doing to its neighbour, so it is no surprise that this is one of those issues before Parliament where opposing parties sometimes will largely agree. For one thing, we share the view that this war represents a defining challenge for the democratic world. We also agree that Canada must work with allies to provide equipment to help Ukraine's brave soldiers fight off this unprovoked aggression. All parties support the democratic world's punishment sanctions: a package that includes a Canadian ban on imports of oil, gas and other petroleum products from Russia. Furthermore, we are united in doing everything we can to deal with this humanitarian disaster. We also share the member opposite's belief in the critical importance of energy security, and the need for Europe and the world to reduce and eventually eliminate its dependency on Russian oil and gas. There is nothing here that he needs to convince us of. It is clear that the world must stand up to Russian aggression, and that is what we are doing. We are taking all the measures I have just cited, and are working closely with our allies to help Europe wean itself off of this dependency. I would invite the member to consider our government's work with industry and provincial governments. The Government of Canada has identified Canadian industry capacity that can increase production by up to 200,000 barrels of oil and the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of natural gas. These exports will give America, now the world's largest LNG exporter, more leeway to export its petroleum products to Europe and other markets. I would agree that this alone is a relatively small proportion of the amount of Russian oil and gas that we have to displace, but solidarity matters. The U.S., Brazil and other nations are also stepping up. We would once again urge members opposite to consider the International Energy Agency's 10-point plan to end its dependency on Russian gas. It includes moving Europe more aggressively toward alternatives, such as increased imports of LNG, renewables and hydrogen, and that is exactly what we are doing with our climate plan. It is one that includes a strategy to build a Canadian hydrogen industry that could help fill this void. On that note, I am pleased to say that Germany's ambassador recently referred to Canada as a potential hydrogen superpower. What I just outlined really illustrates why it would be the worst time to abandon Canada's clean energy transition. We all have a job to do here. We all need to step up to protect the interests of Canadians, but also the interests of allies around the world.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis

May/9/22 6:55:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, respectfully, the parliamentary secretary framed her comments as if there was sort of wide agreement in the House on this issue. Certainly there is wide agreement on some aspects of our response to the horrific invasion of Ukraine, but there are clear differences in that the government does not seem to support the development of the critical infrastructure that is necessary to actually achieve the objective that the parliamentary secretary is talking about; that is, to end Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas. This is particularly clear in the fact that on March 3 in this place, my colleague for Wellington—Halton Hills put forward a motion that was about the invasion. It had a number of points that I think members all agreed on, but then it said: ...call on the Government of Canada to undertake measures to ensure new natural gas pipelines can be approved and built to Atlantic tidewater, recognizing energy as vital to Canadian and European defence and security, allowing Canadian natural gas to displace Russian natural gas in Europe, and being consistent with environmental goals in the transition to non-emitting sources of energy. That motion was opposed by the government. Conservatives put forward a motion supporting Ukraine with that specific language around energy, and the government opposed that motion. Why?

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Ms. Yvonne Jones

May/9/22 6:56:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our government recognized our role in global energy security long before this tragedy started to unfold and long before the member opposite stood in the House of Commons. In fact, energy security was front and centre for the Prime Minister and President Biden back when they met in February of last year. It was put forward in writing in the accord that was struck, called the “Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership”. The member opposite knows this. The member also knows that our government has endorsed projects that advance security, including the Line 3 replacement, LNG Canada and the TMX pipeline expansion. We are the government that has been moving these projects forward because we know they are critically important. We are also—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/9/22 6:57:44 p.m.
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The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

May/9/22 6:57:49 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise virtually in this place to raise issues I originally put forward in a question that was responded to by the same parliamentary secretary on the subject of the Baffinland mine in Nunavut. I want to start by thanking the hon. member of Parliament for Nunavut for her leadership and guidance on this issue. I reflect, as I look at issues relating to the Arctic, that is Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon, on how out of it southern Canadians are and how easy it is to ignore the leadership of the Inuit on issues in Nunavut. Canadians probably know more about the Amazon than we know about the Arctic, and it is ironic that the concentrated urban populations of Brazil, such as Rio de Janeiro, are as far from the Amazon, and as unlikely to ever visit it, as Canadians in Toronto are to visit Nunavut. In both cases, it is a 3,000-kilometre distance, but I think Canadians are unaware of how critical our Arctic is to our global climate system. In the same way, the Amazon and the Arctic are both major global influencers on climate while they are also major victims of the climate crisis. The context in which I asked the question about the Baffinland mine was this. It is a mine that has been operating in sending iron ore to Europe. It ships the ore out from the Milne Inlet port. It is called a Canadian mining company if we look it up online, but it is owned by a European company based in Luxembourg, ArcelorMittal, and by a Texas-based company from Houston. It is now applying to double production to 12 million tonnes a year and build a 110-kilometre railway from the mine site to the port site. This is a major expansion. The hon. parliamentary secretary, when she answered my question, seemed to think I was asking for a prejudgment of the decision of the Nunavut Impact Review Board. I was not. I was pointing out in my question that satellite imagery, plus eyewitness accounts from Inuit hunters on the ground, show that the company has already started its expansion before it received a permit, which raises really large issues, and this is quite typical of projects right across Canada. Who is watching to make sure that conditions attached to permits are actually observed? What do Inuit hunters, in particular, do when they think a large transnational corporation is deciding to jump the gun and not waiting to see if its project actually gets approved? We know from CBC News that in 2017 the Baffinland mine had already signed contracts with contractors to assist in the building of the railway, not waiting for approvals. The iron ore mining company has already influenced and contaminated food supplies, including Arctic char and throughout the food chain. There are deep concerns. As a matter of fact, that is how I first learned about this project. There was a brave blockade in mid-winter, in the land of no sun whatsoever and deep frigid temperatures. In February 2021, the blockade by Inuit hunters from Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay is what made me wonder what on earth was going on that people would be so brave as to sit down and block the Mary River airstrip in protest against what they saw happening, the contamination and the increased shipping threatened by phase 2 of this project, and what it would mean for the narwhals. When we look at it, and the more I ask this, the more I am deeply concerned that the Inuit leadership—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/9/22 7:01:52 p.m.
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The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources.

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Ms. Yvonne Jones (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Northern Affairs, Lib.)

May/9/22 7:01:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands for raising the issue. I want to say, from the outset, that I understand her question completely but I also know that she understands that there is a process. During that process that the government is taking with Baffinland, she knows that we should not be interfering politically. I want to be clear from the outset that our government supports a strong resource development sector in the north, one that is sustainable and that creates opportunities for indigenous and all northerners but respects the environment and respects the interests of the people who live there. I want to assure members, from the outset, that the review of this proposed development has been led by northerners from day one. It has followed the environmental review process that is outlined in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, and this process is guided by the Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act. Through this process, the Nunavut Impact Review Board, or NIRB, has been ensuring that Inuit and other indigenous partners have been consulted. NIRB has also worked very hard to balance public health during COVID-19 and other issues throughout the review while also ensuring that the Inuit voices have been heard. As part of the review process, members of potentially impacted communities in the Baffin region, some of whom I have talked to myself, have had the opportunity to make their views known. Public hearings that have been held by NIRB began in November 2019. The process has been ongoing since that time. While the pandemic delayed the process and some meetings had to be rescheduled, NIRB completed its hearings in January of this year. The board is now preparing its final recommendations, which will be presented to the minister and the department very shortly. Throughout that whole process, however, residents have been able to both learn about the proposed project and give their feedback and input into the project, and NIRB has gone to great lengths to ensure that Nunavummiut have had the chance to participate in or watch the proceedings. In addition to that, many federal officials have participated in every step of the review, including the final public hearings and a community round table, which was completed last fall. Once the NIRB report and the final report's recommendations are presented to the government, the responsible ministers will make the decisions that they are requested to make using due diligence and a very comprehensive decision framework. The member knows that the process is very clear, very defined and very transparent. We will not prejudge the outcome or the process and we look forward to receiving the board's report.

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Ms. Elizabeth May

May/9/22 7:05:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am not asking about prejudging the process. I am asking, is anyone going to hold this foreign multinational to account for proceeding to begin building a project before it has a permit? That is illegal. Someone should step up. The double standard here is one that really worries me and bothers me. Do members think that an indigenous person, an Inuit person, under court orders in a criminal justice proceeding could avoid the restrictions in the way a foreign corporation can avoid restrictions on its activities until it has a permit? This is a double standard and it should bother the parliamentary secretary as much as it bothers me. What is available to hold Baffinland to account for building and contracting for a second phase, and even thinking about a third phase, when it does not have a permit?

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Ms. Yvonne Jones

May/9/22 7:06:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member knows that this is an active mine. It is an ongoing mine. If she has particular information, that should be provided to the minister and to the government. If Inuit in that area have particular concerns and documentation of something that is being done outside of the process, then they should make us aware of that. What I do know at this stage is that it is an ongoing process with NIRB. They have made an application. They are following the regulations. Government is being responsible in the work that we do in allowing a fair, open and transparent process for that application. Until the recommendations are presented to the appropriate ministers, no decision will be made with regard to the future expansion of the mine.

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Mr. Larry Brock (Brantford—Brant, CPC)

May/9/22 7:07:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, earlier this year I asked the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship about the unprecedented backlog of immigration applications. The system is struggling to recover from two years of the pandemic due to a lack of planning and crisis management, as well as poor leadership. If the approach is not changed, it will take years to catch up on the millions of applications in the queue. Shockingly, according to data from the IRCC, the backlogs have increased to more than two million applications across all categories. For over two years, the department has closed almost all in-person interviews. Interviews, tests, citizenship ceremonies and other appointments have been cancelled and offices shifted to working on a rotating basis. While most Canadians transitioned to online work with minimal trouble, that is not the case with the IRCC and the government. Instead of identifying the problem that we, as Conservatives, have been flagging along the way and fixing it at the very beginning, the government ignored it. It had more than a year to do so, but then the first crisis hit. In September 2021, the Afghan government collapsed. Canada introduced special programs to resettle the refugees, but with the government's broken immigration system, during the most pressuring six months, the government was able to help only 4,000 Afghans, or 10% of its campaign commitment. Then the second crisis hit. In February of this year, the Russian Federation launched an unprovoked attack and genocide against the Ukrainian people. Instead of implementing visa-free travel from Ukraine to Canada, which Conservatives called for from day one, the government introduced the authorization for emergency travel, allowing Ukrainians to arrive in Canada on temporary resident visas. Ukrainian passport holders can travel visa-free to the European Union, the U.K., Switzerland, Israel and many other countries. None of them have any concerns about the made-up excuses by the Liberal minister. The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration voted in favour of visa-free travel for Ukrainians; the Liberals voted against it. The members of this House also voted and passed a similar motion, but again, the members voted against it. To give colleagues a perspective on why this is important, the minister of immigration claimed that that sort of change would require 12 to 14 weeks of work to implement, because the department's IT systems would need certain renovations. Here we are, almost 11 weeks since the beginning of the war, and the system could have been already working, but the government failed to listen and act accordingly. To date, we have heard that more than 140,000 applications have been submitted by Ukrainians. That is how many fewer applications there might have been in the queue if the Liberals had followed our advice and eliminated all visa requirements. If that was not enough, we now have a third crisis across this country. Canadians are desperately trying to renew their passports, and while improvements were supposed to have come in to alleviate the backlog, little change has occurred. Nearly 500,000 applications were received in March and April of this year. Streams of constituents are calling, writing to me and coming into my office about the issue. The government had years to plan ahead to tackle the passport issue before it began. The government should have had that in mind before the pandemic hit, that the 10th anniversary of the 10-year passport was coming. We literally have a trifecta of burning issues in our immigration and citizenship systems, all of which were avoidable and all of which were preventable.

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Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Lib.)

May/9/22 7:11:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member opposite presents a picture that is entirely out of step with reality. As the hon. member is fully aware, the world has been in a global pandemic for two years. Borders were forced to close worldwide and, for obvious reasons, this resulted in some processing delays in our immigration system. In spite of the pandemic's many challenges, Canada admitted a record 405,000 permanent residents last year. This surpasses the previous record from 1913, making it the most newcomers admitted to Canada in a single year in our entire history. Since the start of the pandemic, IRCC has worked to improve processing for all permanent residence applications, and our work to date has produced results. As part of the 2021 economic and fiscal update, our government announced an investment of $85 million to further build on our progress to date. This will enable us to further reduce processing times and process more permanent and temporary resident applications. Most importantly, we will get back to our processing service standards in various programs by the end of this year, including study permits, work permits and permanent resident card renewals. We are also working to reduce processing times for visitor visas and proof of citizenship. As the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced on January 31, the government has implemented a number of additional measures to further improve the client experience and modernize the immigration system. These measures are part of a broader process to address key challenges faced by our clients and to achieve the more predictable processing times that our clients expect and deserve. Canadian businesses are in need of support, and our government knows that we have a role to play in increasing the available workforce. On April 22, the minister addressed the decision made last fall to temporarily pause invitations to apply under the federal high-skilled stream, including the Canadian experience class, federal skilled worker class and federal skilled trades class. He announced, in July of this year, that we will end this temporary pause and resume inviting qualified candidates to apply for permanent residence. We anticipate that the vast majority of new applicants will be processed within the six-month service standard. At the same time, the miinister announced that beginning in mid-June, Canada will extend post-graduation work permits for recent international graduates. Those whose permits have already expired or will expire this year will be eligible for an additional open work permit of 18 months. In addition, as of April 25, nearly 35,000 agricultural workers have already arrived in Canada for the 2022 season, and this represents a 10% increase over the number of agricultural workers that had arrived by this time last year. As members can see, we are doing our utmost to ensure that employers have the workers they need. Moving forward, we are going to continue to support those who wish to live in Canada. I was pleased to learn that IRCC has surpassed its goal to make 147,000 permanent residence final decisions in the first quarter of 2022. From January 1 to March 31, 2022, there have been over 156,000 final decisions on permanent resident applications. This is a doubling of the number of final decisions in the same time period in 2021. This is an encouraging example of progress, but our work is not yet finished. We are moving forward to ensure that Canada's proud history of immigration is matched by a modern immigration system that supports our economic recovery, improves client experience and strengthens our communities.

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Mr. Larry Brock

May/9/22 7:15:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we have just listened to a great collection of talking points that Canadians and parliamentarians are hearing over and over again. Will the parliamentary secretary acknowledge this failure and all the problems that his government caused to Canadians and other nationals who will become future Canadians? Is the government willing to consider any compensation for the delays, cancelled trips, personal traumas and lost opportunities of those nationals? When will this immigration system be reformed, transformed and upgraded and start working efficiently? These are the questions that must be answered by the parliamentary secretary on behalf of his Liberal government. Enough with the talking points.

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Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk

May/9/22 7:16:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his questions and comments, but as he is fully aware, the world has been in a global pandemic for two years. In spite of this, we landed over 405,000 immigrants last year, which is an all-time record, to help with our economic recovery. As the Minister of Immigration announced on January 31, the government has implemented a number of measures to further improve client experience and modernize the immigration system. We have also committed an investment of $85 million to further reduce processing times and build on our progress to date. Most importantly, we will get back to our processing service standards in various programs by the end of this year. We are taking a whole-of-government approach to address labour shortages across our country. We have taken major steps toward this by processing more than 100,000 work permit applications in the first quarter of 2022, nearly doubling the number processed over the same period in 2021. As I mentioned—

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès)

May/9/22 7:17:17 p.m.
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Order. The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1). (The House adjourned at 7:17 p.m.)

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