44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 9, 2023 10:00AM
- May/9/23 2:37:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the Century Initiative. Many Quebeckers and French Canadians are concerned about the federal government potentially tripling the population to 100 million by 2100 without any public debate. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship says his plan has nothing to do with the Century Initiative and he makes his own choices. Coincidence or not, his 2023-25 immigration targets are remarkably similar to those proposed by the Century Initiative.
Will he at least confirm the fact that his target, 500,000 newcomers in 2025, lines up with the proposal and actually goes a bit further?
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- May/9/23 2:39:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister brags about 4% of immigrants outside Quebec being francophone, but according to francophone and Acadian communities, they need 12% next year and 20% in the future just to slow the decline of French.
Quebec's Minister of the French Language calls it the most hare-brained idea of the century. He says it is not good for Quebec or for the Canadian francophonie.
Will the minister commit to not tripling the Canadian population to 100 million by 2100?
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- May/9/23 10:14:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Elgin—Middlesex—London for her speech. I truly appreciate this member. I think she is a sincere person who comes to work here for the right reasons, to represent the people in her riding.
She mentioned a gentleman whom I greatly respect, Kenny Chiu. I worked with him in the last Parliament. I have the impression that what happened to my friend Kenny is not being taken seriously on the government side, which is rather unfortunate. I think it is sad that the government is taking something like what happened to Kenny so lightly.
I think an independent public inquiry is absolutely essential, precisely so that these things are taken seriously. This will shed light on a few things, including what happened to Kenny Chiu, a very respectable former member of the House, a very sincere man who was here for the right reasons.
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- May/9/23 10:32:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I look around, I have to wonder how seriously the government is taking Chinese interference here in Parliament. I think it is a serious issue. I wonder how seriously the government is taking it.
I have a question for my hon. colleague. How seriously does he think the Liberal caucus is taking what is going on with Chinese interference in our Parliament?
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- May/9/23 10:37:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to point out that the speeches in the House today are excellent. I want to congratulate my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue for the overview he just provided.
What happened is serious. I will try to summarize what happened recently, but also what happened in the years that we have been talking about interference here in the House.
Yesterday, in the late afternoon, diplomat Zhao Wei was declared persona non grata in Canada by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We believe that was a very wise decision. We applaud the government's decision, even though it was made two years too late. Now that it has been made, we must say that it was the right thing to do. I believe that is what all opposition parties were asking for. The Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois were asking for it and, I believe that the NDP also supported this decision, which we applaud.
Now we are talking about a member of Parliament who is being threatened with retaliation. Honestly, there is reason to be concerned about more parliamentarians and about democracy in Quebec and Canada. The article in The Globe and Mail referred to a number of MPs in connection with the motion on the Uyghur genocide. I had the honour and privilege of making an amendment to that motion in 2021. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills allowed me to do that. That amendment was adopted and then the motion was unanimously adopted, even though all of the government members just happened to abstain from voting. Perhaps they had a stomach ache that day.
Let us review the facts. It seems as though the main person involved, the member for Wellington—Halton Hills, has been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party since he sponsored that motion in 2021. Let us recall that the motion described the treatment of Uyghurs in China by the Chinese Communist Party in power as a genocide. As I said, an overwhelming majority supported that motion. Once again, it is important to point out that the government members showed a complete lack of courage by choosing to abstain from the vote.
I have the good fortune of representing my political party on international human rights. I am a member of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. I had the opportunity to be invited by my Uyghur friends to attend various panels abroad, including in Europe twice. I can say that the government's lack of courage has reverberated around the world. The people I talk to on these panels come from different parliaments around the world, including in the United States, but also many parliaments in Europe and even in Asia and in Africa. These are people who come together to discuss the situation of the Uyghurs in China. They are very aware that when the motion was moved in the House, the Liberal government ensured that its executive, or the ministers, the Prime Minister and the parliamentary secretaries, abstained from voting. That was noted around the world.
That is Canada's international reputation, now. It has a reputation as a government that lacks courage when the time comes to stand up to torturers and dictators who violate human rights, as the Chinese regime in power is currently doing against Uyghur minorities. I want to note that it is also committing these acts against other Turkic peoples in Xinjiang, which my Uyghur friends call East Turkestan. Simply put, this government lacks courage in every regard and on many files.
I could talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, we are not here to talk about that, we are here to talk about Chinese interference. This shows that the government lacks courage. However, back in 2015, when talking about Canada's international reputation, this Prime Minister said loud and clear, “Canada is back”. Some people believed him. Let me share a little secret: I believed him, too. The Conservative government's nearly 10-year reign had just ended, and that government had failed to distinguish itself internationally or in terms of human rights. After years of the Harper government, we thought that Canada would finally regain its place on the international stage and restore its historic reputation in the area of international human rights. This is coming from a Quebec sovereignist.
We know that Canada is not considered a military power. We know that it is not considered an economic power. However, Canada, and therefore Quebec, does have a history of leadership in the area of human rights when we had to stand up to state criminals.
I will give an example. Lester B. Pearson was a Liberal. The idea for peacekeepers came from Canada. As a kindness to my Conservative friends, I will cite the example of Brian Mulroney, who took a stand when the time came to condemn the odious apartheid system in South Africa.
The first person to take a stand was a Quebecker. It was the mayor of Montreal, Jean Doré. He was the first to stand up against apartheid in South Africa. Brian Mulroney took up the cause and amplified it around the world. He convinced the United States and Great Britain. At the time, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were not exactly keen on opposing apartheid, but Brian Mulroney finally convinced them. Then history took its course. After Nelson Mandela was released, the first trip he took was to Canada. Believe it or not, his plane was scheduled to land in Ottawa, but while he was en route, he asked to land in Montreal so he could meet Jean Doré, the mayor of Montreal, the person who got the ball rolling.
It might seem like I am getting off topic, but this is in my speech, and it is related. I am making a link with what is happening right now in terms of Chinese interference. What happened to my good friend from Wellington—Halton Hills is awful. Imagine being in his shoes. I think that is the problem. The Liberals are good at lecturing anyone who will listen, but they are not so good at putting themselves in the shoes of anyone who is suffering.
I have to wonder about something. When they heard about the CSIS reports aimed directly at my colleague from Wellington—Halton Hills two years ago, I wonder whether things would have been different if it had been a Liberal member. I will say it again, but not too loudly: I doubt it. I have a feeling that if a CSIS report had found that a Liberal MP and his family in Hong Kong were being targeted by the Chinese authorities, we would not be here today, because the government would have acted much more quickly. I am sure of that.
It makes us think. It shows that the government is simply not serious about dealing with Chinese interference and that it does not concern the Liberal Party. It is pretty shocking. When the Liberals found out that a Liberal candidate might have been funded by the Chinese Communist regime, they did nothing and said nothing. They let him get elected. When a Conservative candidate like my friend Kenny Chiu was defeated in the election, presumably because the Chinese Communist regime financed his defeat, they did nothing either. It all worked out for them because he is no longer in the House to defend himself.
Then, when it happens to our Wellington—Halton Hills friend, no one says anything, even though his family was allegedly targeted. Frankly, that is not acceptable. The member for Wellington—Halton Hills is a sincere and respected individual. He and I are at odds over only one thing: My friend voted against the motion that recognized the Quebec nation. We will not go down that road. He and I still have to have a conversation on that.
Let us remember one thing. We were elected. We were trusted. One of the first things we were elected to do is to uphold democracy and institutions in our country, and to defend democracy, freedom and our democratic institutions. Right now, we need an independent public inquiry because this government is not getting the job done.
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- May/9/23 10:48:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his question. I work with him on a lot of files. I know that he does meaningful work on those files. He is very organized and easy to work with.
He makes an excellent suggestion. Unfortunately, I have to tell my colleague that we have already seen how the government reacts when we ask it to stand up and act courageously on human rights issues.
I agree with my colleague that this would be a good time. It is time for the government to show that it is capable of doing something. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for my colleague. It is not going to happen. The government is not going to just suddenly find some courage hidden away in its backpack today.
I am sorry. We can ask the government, but it is not going to happen.
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- May/9/23 10:50:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is another excellent question. We are fortunate this evening.
I think that the Bloc Québécois shares the same position as the NDP. We like working hand in hand with our NDP friends. There needs to be an independent public inquiry. This would completely depoliticize the debate since this inquiry would be independent.
Appointing someone who was a director of the PM's father's foundation is not going to make the public believe in what we are doing. I think it is a mistake. There needs to be an independent public inquiry.
I have had discussions with my Tibetan friends, with my Uyghur friends, with my Hong Kong friends, and they all tell me that they want this inquiry.
Can we listen to the minorities who are the primary victims of this Chinese Communist regime and ensure that this inquiry is launched?
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- May/9/23 10:52:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker. I love my colleague. I understand his question. He just demonstrated why we need an independent public inquiry.
Yes, he might be a good guy, but Kenny Chiu was also a good guy, and we do not know what happened because we are unable to shed light on the situation.
My hon. colleague's question comes back to what we have been saying from the outset along with the Conservatives and the NDP. We need to have an independent public inquiry to clear the names of several people, but also to understand what happened so it never happens again.
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- May/9/23 11:44:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, indeed, it is late, but it is never too late to talk about issues as serious as this. What I have wanted to know since the start of this whole thing is how seriously is the Liberal government in power taking this issue. If we look at the measures this government has taken from the start, they coincided with the release of new information in the media every time.
The Liberals have known things for years, but, as long it does not end up in the papers, they do nothing. To me, that is not taking things seriously. It may even be an attempt to cover things up.
My question is simple. Does my colleague not believe that an independent public inquiry would shed light on all of this and that this issue will finally be taken seriously?
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