44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 6, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/6/24 2:42:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we are seeing is a marked tendency to extinguish the francophone presence in Canada. It is happening in the justice system, as my colleague demonstrated. It is also happening with appointments, such as that of Governor General Mary Simon, and in major events, such as the all-star hockey game and the Grey Cup.
I am appealing to my colleagues in the national parties. If they choose to do nothing to stop the extinction of francophones, if they tolerate it or come up with excuses to abandon the French language, what choice are Quebeckers left with?
Our only choice is independence.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/6/24 2:42:53 p.m.
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Order, please.
The hon. Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.
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- Feb/6/24 2:43:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that, on this Tuesday in the House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois is trying to pick a fight over language.
I want everyone to know that I am a redeemed francophone. When I first landed at Campus Saint-Jean in Alberta in 1998, I could not speak French, but I learned French and now I am the Minister of Official Languages. I am proof that bilingualism is working in Canada.
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- Feb/6/24 2:44:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of soft-on-crime policies, this Prime Minister has created the auto theft crisis. According to the Liberal government's own news release in New Brunswick, car theft has spiked by 120%.
It is time to stop the crime. Will the Prime Minister reverse his soft-on-crime, catch-and-release policies that have caused the auto theft crisis?
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- Feb/6/24 2:44:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government obviously takes the increase in auto theft extremely seriously, which is why we have invested in a very significant way in the Border Services Agency and the RCMP to work on organized crime.
When we formed government, we found out that Conservatives had cut 1,000 officers from border services and half of the border services officers who work on criminal intelligence to interdict the export of, for example, stolen vehicles. Good news, we reversed those cuts, we have invested more and we are going to continue to do more to deal with this issue.
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- Feb/6/24 2:45:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the results are in after eight years. There were five agents working at one port; five people.
This Liberal government has let organized crime run rampant in Canada. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost or the crime. His reckless policies have caused an explosion in car thefts. He is responsible for the ports. He is responsible for the RCMP and the Criminal Code. These are federal responsibilities.
Car thefts have spiked 190% in Moncton and 93% in Saint John. Will this Prime Minister finally reverse his soft-on-crime, catch-and-release policies?
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- Feb/6/24 2:45:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can assure my colleague from Miramichi that this government will continue to crack down on auto theft and organized crime. They like fancy slogans where they make up things like “catch and-release”. He is from Miramichi, New Brunswick, and he knows that applies to salmon angling and not serious criminals, so just because he repeats the silly phrase does not make it true. Our government will do what is necessary with provincial partners and local police to crack down on this. We have invested in the CBSA and the RCMP and will continue to do more.
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- Feb/6/24 2:46:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years under this Prime Minister and this government, auto theft has doubled in Montreal.
Furthermore, the Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for controlling our borders, including ports. The Port of Montreal, however, has only five Canada Border Services Agency officers on duty to inspect the huge volume of containers transiting through the port on their way to foreign destinations. This morning, our leader proposed to significantly increase that number to 75 officers.
Will the Prime Minister take the Conservative leader's proposals into account during discussions at his summit on Thursday?
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- Feb/6/24 2:47:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what are we going to do at Thursday's discussion?
For one thing, we are going to discuss exactly what we can do to combat auto theft with the chief of the Montreal police service and other partners.
I was also at the port of Montreal two weeks ago with my colleague, the Minister of Transport. The good news is that we saw a lot more than five border services officers working on this troubling situation.
We will continue to increase the number of Canada Border Services Agency staff, which the Conservatives drastically reduced.
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- Feb/6/24 2:47:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday our leader proposed other measures to fix this government's mistakes, like fixing the Criminal Code by bringing back tougher sentences. Three auto thefts would get a minimum of three years in prison. It is pretty simple.
Also, by finding savings elsewhere—yes, we can save money; our leader has found savings—we can purchase 24 scanners that would be installed at the ports to check containers.
Will the government listen to the Leader of the Opposition's proposals and bring them to the summit on Thursday so that we can finally solve the problem of auto theft in Canada?
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- Feb/6/24 2:48:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see my colleague's interest in our summit on Thursday. His leader had downplayed the meeting, describing it as a bunch of bigwigs nattering at a meeting in Ottawa.
Personally, I would never say such a thing about the chiefs of municipal and provincial police forces and provincial ministers who want to partner with the federal government in the fight against auto theft.
On Thursday, we will be discussing concrete ideas to help reduce this major scourge facing Canadians. We will continue to increase investments.
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- Feb/6/24 2:49:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, yet Canadians living with a disability have been deplaned on a catering cart or forced to get on their hands and knees to crawl off a plane. Some of these dehumanizing experiences happened under the watch of Air Canada's CEO, and the Liberal government is doing nothing about it. It continues to give CEOs a free ride, even handing them billions of taxpayers' dollars.
Will the Liberals stop protecting rich CEOs and start protecting people with disabilities?
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- Feb/6/24 2:49:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, airlines can do better and have to do better. That is why I convened the team from Air Canada, the CEO and others, to come here and meet me and my colleague a couple of weeks ago. That is fundamental. What we have seen in the papers and through media is totally unacceptable, and not only with Air Canada but other companies also. Once again, they have to do better and they will do better.
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- Feb/6/24 2:50:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Palestinian Canadian families are desperate to bring their loved ones to safety in Canada. The rollout of the special immigration measure for Gaza is riddled with problems. People have been rejected without any explanation. Some are rejected then later approved with exactly the same application. Now officials are saying the 1,000 cap has almost been reached, yet many have not received the code from IRCC to move on to the next stage.
What action is the minister taking to clean up this mess, and will he remove the arbitrary cap without further delay to save lives?
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- Feb/6/24 2:50:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is precisely what this measure is about. It is about saving lives in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe. We have said time and time again that we will be flexible about the 1,000-person cap. Right now, the challenge is actually getting an initial list of people out who are pre-approved to cross Rafah gates. I am extremely disappointed with local authorities that we have not been able to get this through, but that will not prevent us from trying.
It is very difficult to extend these programs when we cannot even get people out. I am frustrated by it. We are in the House and I would use stronger words outside it, but we need to get those people out and into safety.
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- Feb/6/24 2:51:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we started debate on the first nations clean water act, an important piece of legislation that I look forward to studying at committee in due course. However, it seems like every time we want to move forward on reconciliation, the Conservatives want to keep us in our colonial past. The very first time a Conservative MP rose on this bill, the member accused first nations of burning down their own water systems.
For the Minister of Indigenous Services, how would this legislation make long-term drinking water advisories in first nations communities a thing of the past?
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- Feb/6/24 2:52:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Cloverdale—Langley City for caring so much about access to clean water for first nations, something about which we should all care.
It was very disappointing yesterday, on the first day of the second reading of the bill, that the Conservative member blamed first nations for their lack of drinking water. I guess it is easier to do that than to look in the mirror. In 2015, when we took office, there were 105 long-term boil-water advisories. Now, 96% of first nations communities have access to clean water. We will not rest until we get it done, and this bill would help.
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- Feb/6/24 2:52:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal-NDP government, auto theft is up over 200% in the GTA. Canadians are waking up to their cars being stolen from their driveway, and they are watching them being shipped out to Africa and Dubai. Even the former Liberal justice minister had his own government cars stolen. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost, the crime or the chaos.
Will the Prime Minister reverse his soft-on-crime, catch-and-release bail policies that have caused this auto theft crisis?
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- Feb/6/24 2:53:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very strange that the party opposite only started talking about auto theft after we announced the fact that we were having a national summit to study auto theft, to bring together all affected parties, and after we realized that it was actually under Prime Minister Harper that boots on the ground were cut. We added 1,000 more to CBSA to staff the border. We are bringing together auto insurers, local law enforcement and industry, and we will reach—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/6/24 2:54:00 p.m.
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I want to encourage all members to only take the microphone when they are recognized by the Speaker. I know some members will even be asking questions later on and I am certain they will want to have that same respect returned to them.
The hon. member for Oxford.
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