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Ms. Rachel Bendayan (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Lib.)

May/12/22 10:22:54 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree with the hon. member that the relationship between Canada and China is of critical importance. In fact, I have said that many times at our foreign affairs committee. The hon. member and I have the pleasure of sitting on our parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, and I would submit to him that that is the appropriate place for us to have these extremely important conversations. Indeed, later today during our foreign affairs committee meeting we will be discussing and studying Taiwan. We have the ability to address our relationship with China within this standing committee. I would further submit that it would be inappropriate, and perhaps my colleague could comment on this, to remove this critical aspect of Canada's foreign affairs policy from our discussions at the foreign affairs committee.

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Context: House Hansard - 70 - May/12/22

The Deputy Speaker

May/12/22 3:16:08 p.m.
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I am already hearing some members say no. I still want to ensure that there were discussions among the parties.

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Context: House Hansard - 70 - May/12/22

Mr. Larry Maguire (Brandon—Souris, CPC)

May/12/22 4:44:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his speech. He is very articulate and knows a lot about this issue. I appreciate his support for this motion to have a China-Canada committee set up again. I think that is what he said in his closing remarks, and if not, he can correct me on that. I am looking at all of the things the member said were important to be dealt with, and I know the other committees are so busy. I am on the natural resources committee myself. There are a lot of issues around natural resources today, as well. China has control of a greater chunk of those in the world than any other nation. We do as well, and it may impact us in regard to being able to get the critical minerals we need for some of the EV situations we are looking at. What are the member's feelings in regard to having discussions there, because we are already tied up in natural resources committee on the transition issues?

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Context: House Hansard - 70 - May/12/22

Mr. Larry Maguire (Brandon—Souris, CPC)

May/12/22 5:26:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is my privilege to stand in the House today to discuss this opposition day motion that has been put forward on the issue of re-establishing a Canada-China committee in the House of Commons. I believe there is a great need for it. I was asking questions earlier in the debate today around some of the issues that I felt strongly about. They are not all to do with defence and those areas, but I believe there are many issues that can be discussed in the committee if it is re-established. When the committee was established before, there were many things for which answers still need to be given. They were not fully reported. Some of them were fully discussed, perhaps, but the reports never came out. We could even go back and discuss some of those issues, but there are many other areas. First of all, I want to comment on the relationship that I have had with Chinese citizens or people of Chinese descent. I say I am of Irish descent, but my family came here in about 1850. Many of them were here long before that. They are in all of our communities across Canada. They have been great Canadians citizens, and have contributed greatly to their families and the Canadian economy, but that is not what we are here to talk about. This is about some of the differences we have had with the communist regime in China, not the people on the ground in China. It is not their fault we are seeing some interference and involvement in Canadian elections and some of the discussions that have taken place around human rights in their own country. We talked a lot about the pandemic in the past. We have talked about the Uighur people in China, as well. They are being oppressed, which may be a mild word for how they are being treated within their country. There is the labour they are being forced to do, as well as other denigrations we have talked about here in the House. China is an authoritarian state, and the people are probably trying to look after their families, just as we are here in Canada, but they are under great duress sometimes to do that. Many of them may know of the freedoms they have, but they are being suppressed. I had the experience of seeing what happened in Russia before the wall came down in Germany, as I had the opportunity to be in Leningrad before Russia even opened up. That is, somewhat, what the whole fight in Ukraine is about with President Putin today. He just did not want his people to continue to have the freedom that they saw from world communications that took place in that time. When the world opened up and people in Russia could get a hold of things called televisions and other media, their attitudes changed. I think we could do the same in other areas of the world and try to create more discussion and greater freedom for some of those folks as well.

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