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Mr. Luc Desilets (Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, BQ)

Oct/4/22 7:23:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am personally very happy that the Liberal Party is very much in favour of Taiwan joining the WHO. I am pleasantly surprised, but I also remain cautious about the Liberal government's position, because, in other areas, it has been so fearful of offending the Chinese because of its attitude towards Taiwan. The government therefore has been reluctant to act and has not behaved as we would have liked. What are my colleague's thoughts on that? On this matter relating to the WHO, why should we be so quick to accept this position?

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Mrs. Rechie Valdez

Oct/4/22 7:24:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the main purpose and reason for standing up with this speech was to say that Taiwan has remarkable experience in the field of health care as well as preventing the spread of various contagious diseases. We are going to continue to work with our colleagues in Taiwan and with the WHO, and we are going to take what we have learned from the COVID-19 virus and emerge from that point to ensure we are able to address all these issues going forward and prevent disease from spreading going forward.

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

Oct/4/22 7:25:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague has done an admirable job of outlining and explaining the importance of multilateral forums and institutions in dealing with global health threats. Is there anything about Canada's leadership on these forums that really stands out to my hon. colleague as she has looked at Canada's role for example in co-operating with Taiwan and Canada's role on the WHO itself?

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Mrs. Rechie Valdez

Oct/4/22 7:26:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, we will continue to support Taiwan's participation in the global health network to enable Taiwan to contribute even more in the postpandemic era. Taiwan is a widely acclaimed leader in health and development, and it has a lot to offer the WHO and the world.

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Mr. Robert Kitchen (Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC)

Oct/4/22 7:26:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member spoke many times and very eloquently about how Taiwan has so much to offer to the world and, in particular, when we talk about antimicrobials, etc. However, as a doctor in my previous career, the reality is that being an observer at a meeting gives Taiwan no opportunity to interact and get that onto the table. I am wondering why the member is okay with Taiwan being an observer as opposed to being a full participant so it can get their information to the table to help the world.

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Mrs. Rechie Valdez

Oct/4/22 7:27:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we fully support Taiwan's full participation in the global health network, and I will continue to have Taiwan engaged at the table when we are making decisions, especially with respect to addressing COVID–19 and how we are going to go forward from that disease.

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull (Whitby, Lib.)

Oct/4/22 7:27:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak about Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations. My views on this matter are straightforward. Taiwan should participate meaningfully in international organizations whenever there is a practical imperative to do so and whenever its absence is detrimental to global interests. Consider, for instance, the question of Taiwan's ongoing exclusion from the World Health Assembly, the WHA. The exclusion of Taiwan from the WHA has been detrimental to the global efforts to track and combat COVID–19. The responses to the pandemic, future pandemics and global public health concerns in general provide a practical imperative, I think we can all agree, for Taiwan's inclusion as an observer. This position aligns fully with Canada's one China policy. Under this policy, Canada recognizes the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China, while taking note of neither challenging nor endorsing the Government of China's position on Taiwan. Canada maintains diplomatic relations with the PRC, while continuing to develop and maintain unofficial economic people-to-people and cultural ties with Taiwan. The connections between Canada and Taiwan are very deep and strong. Our two societies share a commitment to democratic values, a respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. Our people-to-people ties are also very strong. The approximately 50,000 Canadians who live in Taiwan today comprise the fourth-largest Canadian diaspora community in the world. Daily direct flights between Vancouver and Taipei have helped to deepen these people-to-people ties. When the COVID–19 pandemic struck, Taiwan was among the first to donate masks to Canada. The economic relationship between Canada and Taiwan is also thriving. Canada's two-way merchandise trade with Taiwan totalled $10.2 billion in 2021, up 38.1% from $7.4 billion in the year 2020. In 2021, Taiwan was Canada's 11th-largest merchandise trading partner and fifth-largest trading partner in Asia. Taiwan is a critical link in global supply chains, particularly for chip manufacturing and international shipping. To strengthen trade, Canada and Taiwan co-operate through select multilateral organizations, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the WTO. To advance economic people-to-people and cultural co-operation, senior representatives from both sides participate in the annual Canada-Taiwan economic consultations. During the most-recent meeting, held virtually in December, our representatives discussed a broad range of topics related to trade and investments, such as the green economy, supply chain security, intellectual property, access to agricultural markets and greater collaboration on science, technology and innovation. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan recently negotiated the Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement. The arrangement establishes a framework to identify and remove barriers that hinder the economic empowerment of indigenous peoples. Earlier this year, Canada and Taiwan announced their intention to hold an exploratory discussion toward a possible foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement, FIPA, to use the acronym. A FIPA aims to protect and promote foreign investment by negotiating a common framework that provides a stable, rules-based investment environment for Canadian businesses investing abroad and for foreign businesses investing in Canada. Canada is keen to pursue trade in innovation and investment relations with Taiwan, consistent with our long-standing policy. When it comes to Taiwan's meaningful participation in global discussions, perhaps the best way to summarize my position on this is to rework an old maxim. It is good for Taiwan, good for Canada and good for the rest of the world. Taiwan's rise during the preceding decades is widely recognized as a democratic and economic success story. Many refer to it as the “Taiwan miracle”. Starting about 40 years ago, the island transitioned from a one-party authoritarian system to a multi-party democracy. Today, Taiwan's export-oriented industrial economy ranks 21st in the world by nominal GDP and 15th by GDP per capita. The island also ranks highly in measures of political and civil liberties, education, health care and human development. Over the past two decades, Taiwan was able to participate in select UN specialized agencies as an observer or as a guest. More recently, however, Taiwan has been actively excluded from key international agencies and events. This exclusion has negative impacts, not only on the 24 million people of Taiwan, but also on the global community. For instance, Taiwan continues to be excluded from the World Health Assembly, even though the island has much to contribute to global pandemic efforts. Indeed, the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex issues, from climate change to public health to environmental degradation and more. Collaboration among all partners offers our best hope for resolving these issues. Where a technical imperative exists, we must enable meaningful contributions from all stakeholders. It is on this basis that Canada supports Taiwan's meaningful participation in relevant global discussions. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from the pandemic. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, international collaboration has been front and centre. The most effective way, in fact the only way to end the pandemic is to engage as many stakeholders as possible in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. International organizations such as the World Health Organization facilitate these efforts. Throughout the pandemic, the WHO has served as a trusted conduit of authoritative information about everything from infection rates and transmission patterns to the effectiveness of vaccines and vaccination campaigns. Although each jurisdiction is and must be responsible for the health of its population, the WHO enables a coherent global response to the pandemic. Now more than ever, the world needs a transparent, inclusive and accountable World Health Organization. Canada continues to work alongside other international partners to realize this goal. An illustration of Canada's support for the WHO is the government's investment of $865 million in the access to COVID-19 tools accelerator. The accelerator is a global collaboration that aims to speed up the development, production and equitable availability of effective diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Part of the accelerator is the health systems and response connector, the HSRC for short, which is a partnership of diverse organizations. It is co-led by the WHO, UNICEF, the Global Fund and the World Bank, with support from the Global Financing Facility. HSRC coordinates the efforts of individual countries in three working streams: financing, planning and tracking; technical and operational support; and health system and workforce protection. This coordination helps countries to identify and address health system bottlenecks and ensures that COVID-19 tools are deployed most effectively. Taiwan is a progressive democracy. As a society, it has championed the protection of individual rights and freedoms, including those of women, the LGBTQ2+ community and indigenous people. The island has much to contribute on the world stage. At the same time, Taiwan's strengths in semiconductors, biotechnology and information technology have supported its dynamic, export-driven economy and contributed to global growth. Taiwan will continue to be the forefront of semiconductor innovation well into the future, and will continue to play a central role in global technology supply chains. Taiwan's better integration into the global economy supports global growth and development. There is a strength in an inclusive architecture that is supportive of the participation of all stakeholders, which is why Canada will continue to pursue Taiwan's meaningful participation where its presence provides important contributions to the public good.

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Ms. Sylvie Bérubé (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, BQ)

Oct/4/22 7:37:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his fine speech. He talked about the need for Taiwan to participate in international organizations and its observer status. He mentioned the need to strengthen commercial ties between Canada and Taiwan, including within the World Trade Organization. He also talked about the work that has been done with respect to indigenous self-government. It is an excellent model that could be used in Canada. I have a question for my colleague. We know that Taiwan was a role model in the fight against COVID‑19. What models would the government follow if another pandemic hit Canada?

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull

Oct/4/22 7:37:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what model we should use for future pandemics is a great question to reflect on. I certainly see learnings that could be integrated into Canada's future pandemic preparedness. We can take lessons from many countries around the world. Taiwan is one of many that have done well. I am sure there are some we can take lessons from on what not to do as well, and there are many examples. The point here is that Taiwan needs to have meaningful input and have an opportunity to participate in discussions to share the lessons it has learned. As an observer or a guest in some of these international organizations, it is able to do that, which achieves the objective we are looking for.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Oct/4/22 7:38:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the midst of this important discussion about including Taiwan in international organizations, we are seeing an increasing belligerence and aggression from the Xi Jinping regime. Many observers have noted that there is some risk of an outright invasion attempt by the Xi Jinping regime, and it is my view that Canada needs to contemplate that possibility, be prepared with a strong response and work with the community of democratic nations to send strong deterrent messages to try to avoid that from happening. I would appreciate the member's comment on what Canada should be doing to, in particular, support Taiwan and deter an invasion.

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Mr. Ryan Turnbull

Oct/4/22 7:39:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member is right that Canada needs to be prepared to respond strongly to whatever eventuality manifests. That is not to say that we can predict the future, but it is to say that we need to be prepared. Whether it is pandemic preparedness or a response to the potential aggression the member suggested from China in the future, we need to prepare for all eventualities.

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The Deputy Speaker

Oct/4/22 7:40:26 p.m.
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It being 7:40 p.m., pursuant to order made earlier today, the question is deemed put and a recorded division deemed requested and deferred until Wednesday, October 5, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Oct/4/22 7:41:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, many of our constituency offices were inundated over the summer and in fact we are still dealing with the impacts of an overwhelming volume of complaints about the government's mishandling of passport applications. It is ironic that the government, which wants to expand its influence in more areas of Canadians' lives, has shown itself completely unable to manage its basic responsibilities when it comes to providing Canadians with timely access to passports, something that clearly falls squarely within the responsibility of the federal government. Again, it is typical for these Liberals. They are unable to manage the basic responsibilities of the federal government and at the same time they are telling us how the federal government should be doing more and more to limit people's freedoms and interfere in their lives. Every member of the House knows, and I am sure the parliamentary secretary charged with parroting the government line tonight is fully aware as well of the problems in his own constituency and has heard the frustration, has seen the tears and has dealt with cases of people needing to cancel vacations and of people missing important family events as a result of their being unable to access passports. The challenges continue to come into my office from constituents. We continue to get, in my office, over a dozen passport cases every week for those who are travelling and are not able to get their passports. We are dealing with an inquiry right now from a constituent who applied in February and who has still not gotten her passport. What a ridiculous processing time for such a simple and basic government service. The inability of Service Canada to perform its basic functions is simply unacceptable. The excuse that we have gotten from the minister was to say that there is a large volume post-COVID, as if the government could not have contemplated that travel was going to, in some proportion, come back, at some point, as the pandemic tapered off. We have heard from many constituents who have had to cancel trips and who have waited in long lines, at times in lines that they felt were unsafe. We are still hearing from constituents who are making status requests online and being told by Service Canada that they are aiming to respond within three days, and then not hearing back for weeks and weeks. Again, this is fundamentally unacceptable. The federal government, rather than trying to expand itself into all other areas of people's lives, should focus on doing its core job and providing the basic services to Canadians that it clearly has the responsibility to provide. I would invite the parliamentary secretary, in his response to me tonight, to acknowledge the reality that his government has failed on passports, and rather than trying to bury the conversation in fog and bureaucratic talking points, to acknowledge the pain of my constituents and his, to acknowledge their frustration and to recognize that the government desperately needs to do better, better than it did this summer and better than it is doing now at providing Canadians with this basic service of access to their passports.

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

Oct/4/22 7:45:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for his advocacy on behalf of his constituents. I think everyone in this place can agree that a passport is an important and critical document. We know that Canadians are enthusiastic about travelling again, whether for business or personal reasons, and that passports are critical, so we can imagine the demand. Let me just say that it has been exponential. I will share some numbers for some important context. Service Canada has been issuing passports as quickly as possible, and since April 1, over one million passports have been issued. As of September 25, 94% of passports applied for at specialized passport offices have been issued within 10 business days. The wait time at the passport call centre went from a peak of 108 minutes in April to 30 minutes last week. Service Canada has been working throughout the summer to meet this demand. Staff at Service Canada have been working overtime and on weekends, and here are some of the steps that we have taken. We have hired more than 800 new employees since July 2021, specifically to support the processing of passport applications, and we are continuing to scale-up. We have an online appointment booking tool. We are serving priority clients on Saturdays and extending service hours. We improved client experience in our offices by thoroughly assessing client needs while in line, providing clients with appointments at a nearby location and expanding hours and weekend availability in some locations. As a result, lineups at specialized passport offices are now more manageable and more predictable. Canadians can visit any of over 300 Service Canada centres to request the transfer of their passport applications if they need it for urgent and upcoming travel. This summer, Service Canada has implemented a triage system in 17 of our passport offices. The 10-day passport pickup service is also available in 12 Service Canada centres across the country. We have expanded the simplified renewal process. Canadians can now renew an expired passport as long as it was issued in the last 15 years, even if it was lost, stolen or damaged. We are continuing to hire employees and add processing capacity. This remains a challenging period with high demand, but we continue to work hard to give Canadians the high-quality service they deserve.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis

Oct/4/22 7:47:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, rather than acknowledge the significant and ongoing failures, the member is trying to congratulate his government for maybe now doing marginally better than the disastrous situation we dealt with in the summer and the spring. I may have low expectations of the government when it comes to delivering basic services, but Canadians should be able to expect more in terms of the response. We continue to deal with a reality in our office, for instance, where we are not able to do basic status checks and get information unless people have travel booked. The response times continue to be unacceptable. Again, as I mentioned, I continue to have a constituent with an outstanding passport issue who made their application back in February. I heard this summer from Canadians who had to cancel trips and miss important family events and who experienced a huge amount of stress and anxiety as a result. Rather than congratulating themselves, are the Liberals prepared to apologize to the Canadians who were hurt by their failures?

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Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk

Oct/4/22 7:48:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Service Canada has been travelling throughout the country visiting passport centres and talking with staff. The Government of Canada is taking this situation very seriously and we are taking the necessary steps to remedy it. The hard work of Service Canada employees is paying off. Almost everyone who applies in person at a specialized passport office will get their passport in under 10 business days. I would like to again thank the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for his advocacy.

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Mr. Kevin Vuong (Spadina—Fort York, Ind.)

Oct/4/22 7:49:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in 2021 the Liberals promised to permanently eliminate interest on federal student loans. Let us be clear. On page 17 of the Liberal Party's 2021 election platform document, entitled “Forward. For Everyone”, it states that a re-elected Liberal government will: Permanently eliminate the federal interest on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans to support young Canadians who choose to invest in post-secondary education. This will benefit over 1 million student loan borrowers and save an average borrower more than $3,000 over the lifetime of their loan. This promise seems fairly straightforward. However, it now seems that Forward. For Everyone” should read “Backward. For Students”. On February 17, I asked the minister responsible whether the re-elected governing party would keep its election campaign promise to students. Of course, amnesia had clearly set in, even though the government claimed to have the backs of Canada's students. Yes, it was roll out the smoke-and-mirrors approach again, and no pesky election promise was going to be allowed to get in the way. On September 17, an assistant deputy minister at the Department of Employment and Social Development gave notice in the Canada Gazette that the interest moratorium on Canada student loans and Canada apprentice loans would expire on March 31, 2023. Clearly, this must have been a mistake, so one week later, on September 23, I asked whether the Liberals would honour their promise. Again, the House was treated to obfuscation and platitudes. At a time when Canadians are struggling to make ends meet and students are taking on debt to afford an education, broken promises and empty platitudes will not cut it. The average federal student debt held by someone with a bachelor's degree is $23,000. I myself graduated with $25,000 in student debt. Moreover, to combat rampant inflation eating away at Canadians' paycheques, interest rates have nearly doubled to 4.7%. Are we to understand now that on April 1, 2023, the government will hand young Canadians and their parents a very cruel April fool's joke of a nearly $600 increase to student loan payments? Should that occur, I cannot fathom the backtracking on this campaign promise, because there are few better investments than to invest in education. On average, someone with a bachelor's degree will pay almost $15,000 a year in annual taxes, nearly double what someone with a high school diploma pays. This is annually, not just one time. It is a recurring benefit to our country, not only in the tax dollars that fund the services that Canadians rely on, but also in a more educated and upskilled workforce. The societal and fiscal benefits are clear. There is also, however, the honouring of a promise to students, along with the business case for investing in our country's next generation. In conclusion, can the government educate students and Canadians on what will happen on April 1? Can it shed light on the path forward for all by letting us know on what date interest rates will be permanently eliminated from Canada student and apprentice loans?

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

Oct/4/22 7:53:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said in the House many times, young Canadians and students are the future of Canada. More than 673,000 students each year rely on federal grants and loans to help them cover the cost of their tuition, school supplies and living expenses. That is why we are making historic investments to ensure that students continue to have the supports and opportunities they need to build a better future for themselves and their families. With budget 2022, we are helping doctors and nurses in rural and remote communities who have student loans. We are investing $26 million over four years so that nurses in these communities will have up to $30,000 in loan forgiveness and doctors will have up to $60,000, respectively. We are also enhancing the repayment assistance plan as of November 1, and that means people with an income of $40,000 or less will not have to make payments on their students loans. This measure is expected to help an additional 121,000 Canadians each year who have student and apprentice loan debt. Additionally, the cap on what is considered the monthly affordable payment is being lowered from 20% to 10% of a borrower's household income. What is more is that these new thresholds will be indexed to inflation to ensure that people's eligibility for repayment assistance keeps pace with the cost of living. There is more. With budget 2021, we provided $4.5 billion in funding to support expanded access to post-secondary education. Thanks to the Canada student financial assistance program, students and recent graduates will have more access to direct financial support, making it easier for them to pay off their student debt. In the summer of 2021, we extended the doubling of Canada student grants for an additional two years. We also changed the requirement so that students can use their current income when applying for a grant. That means people in financial need will not have their previous workforce experience count against them. New measures under the Canada student financial assistance program ensure that post-secondary financial supports are more accessible. Through these remarkable initiatives, I hope it is clear that we are committed to supporting Canada's students and recent graduates, and that we are committed to building the workforce of tomorrow.

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Mr. Kevin Vuong

Oct/4/22 7:55:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the parliamentary secretary is not getting. People are struggling to make ends meet. Is the government backtracking on its promise or is it because the government has overspent and now needs to recoup as much money as possible off the backs of students and parents? The parliamentary secretary has refused to answer when Liberals will honour their promise to permanently eliminate interest on federal student loans. That is fine. I will make it simpler. Will the government honour its promise and eliminate interest on federal student loans, yes or no?

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Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk

Oct/4/22 7:56:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, by investing in our young people today, we are securing Canada's growth and economic prosperity for future generations. We remain committed to permanently eliminating the federal interest on Canada student loans and Canada apprentice loans. In the meantime, the waiver of interest accrual on student apprentice loans has been extended to March 31, 2023. This will mean savings for approximately 1.2 million Canadians repaying student and apprentice loans, the majority of whom are women. We will help young Canadians transition into the workforce. This is our commitment.

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