44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 29, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/29/24 2:26:42 p.m.
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I will say it again, Mr. Speaker: Quebec knows what is good for Quebec.
We know that French is not only our official language, but it is also our common language and we need to protect it. We know that gender equality is non-negotiable, just like we know that the best way to protect religion is for the state not to have any. That is what Bill 21 is all about. There is a general consensus on that in Quebec.
Will the Liberals, who say they do not like to bicker, commit to not going against the will of Quebeckers on Bill 21?
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- Feb/29/24 2:27:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister and our government have always said, we will be there to defend the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The charter protects freedom of expression, but also freedom of religion and the right to equality.
That being said, if this ruling ends up at the Supreme Court of Canada, we will be there to intervene.
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- Feb/29/24 2:27:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the ArriveCAN drama never stops. When we told the Liberals they could ask the public service to do the work that was required, they said it was not possible. It turns out that the ArriveCAN contract was awarded to a DND employee, so a public servant actually did do the work.
Under the Liberals, public money going to private consultants has tripled. Why are they trying to give Conservatives a run for their money on how much money they can waste on private consulting?
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- Feb/29/24 2:28:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the question is an important one.
As soon as we were made aware that the CEO of Dalian was a DND employee, we took immediate action to suspend all contracts with Dalian, and I can confirm for the House that all active contracts with Dalian have been suspended. I can also confirm for the House that the person in question has also been suspended.
The matter will be thoroughly investigated.
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- Feb/29/24 2:28:58 p.m.
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Colleagues, once again I ask that you please be respectful of the questions that are asked and, of course, of the answers given, for many reasons. One reason is that members who require the use of translation cannot hear if members are shouting.
The hon. member for Burnaby South.
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- Feb/29/24 2:29:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a family of six, including a pregnant woman, is living under an overpass in Montreal. The family has been evicted from their apartment and they cannot find affordable housing. This is the result of the Liberals and Conservatives losing over a million affordable housing units.
Are the Liberals ashamed of their record or are they too out of touch?
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- Feb/29/24 2:29:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that every person in Canada has the right to a roof over their head. That is a fundamental human right.
We have doubled funding to communities in order to fight homelessness and ensure everyone has a place to call home. We know there is a lot of work to be done. However, unlike the Conservatives, we are not going to insult municipalities to get that work done. We have to make sure we work with everyone to find a lasting solution to homelessness in Canada.
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- Feb/29/24 2:30:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, the crime, the corruption or the cover-ups. After the Liberals hid the Winnipeg lab documents from Canadians for over three years, we finally know why they blocked Parliament. We know Dr. Qiu had “close and clandestine relationships with...entities of the People's Republic of China” and collaborated with military scientists.
The People's Liberation Army is a known security threat to Canada, so why did the Prime Minister cover up the breach of national security instead of arresting the spies?
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- Feb/29/24 2:31:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will answer the first part of the answer, as I suspect we are going to have other questions on the second element.
On the first order, the first offer was to have all parliamentarians to look at the documents through NSICOP. That was an immediate offer. Some opposition members said that was not a good answer, because they wanted to make sure that if there was a need for redactions to be released, there would be a process.
I, as House leader at that point in time, suggested an ad hoc process that would ensure that an independent arbiter would make the decision about releasing the documents. I would remind the member again that it is an independent decision of the Public Health Agency to make redactions. I am sure he is not suggesting that anything other than that should happen.
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- Feb/29/24 2:31:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the House leader actually sued the Speaker.
Dr. Qiu maliciously shared technology materials from the Winnipeg labs with Major General Chen, one of Beijing's top commanders at the Academy of Military Medical Science. The academy is described in the CSIS documents as “the highest medical research institution of the People's Liberation Army of the PRC” and as having offensive biological weapons capabilities. One of its objectives is “transforming the results of basic civilian research into military applications” and “development of military biotechnologies”. The Chinese military can now make more biological weapons and potentially use them against Canadians and our allies.
Why did the Prime Minister cover up this national security threat?
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- Feb/29/24 2:32:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have already said that the documents first were released, and then the additional redactions were actually commenced by us.
The second point is that the member says “maliciously”, but we do not know what the intention was. That is the purpose of an RCMP investigation. These are individuals whom I am deeply concerned about, like the member opposite is. In having followed due process, we understand what they did.
With respect to the Chinese government, the military itself, the government, academia and scientists are all part of its military. That means that any connection they had whatsoever would have touched that, and so I think it is careful—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/29/24 2:33:01 p.m.
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Colleagues, it is hard for the Chair to hear the response. If members are not satisfied with the response, sometimes the best opportunity is just to listen to it in silence and let it stand on its own.
The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman has the floor.
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- Feb/29/24 2:33:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the health minister should actually read the CSIS document that describes all the breaches that were made and the espionage that was carried out.
At the Prime Minister's top public health lab in Canada, Beijing military scientist Dr. Yan was given unfettered access to all the labs and the computer systems at the Winnipeg lab, which were covertly shared by Dr. Qiu with Beijing. Instead of stopping this espionage, the Prime Minister decided to cover it up.
Why did the Prime Minister put his admiration for the basic dictatorship of the Communist Party in Beijing ahead of the public safety of Canadians?
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- Feb/29/24 2:34:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to step back and really consider what the Conservative Party is saying here.
At the time they were hired, these two Canadian citizens were eminent scientists who were well published and well regarded throughout North America. The fact that they lied and misrepresented themselves is reprehensible—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Feb/29/24 2:34:24 p.m.
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I will ask the member for Miramichi—Grand Lake to please keep his comments to himself. He will have the floor when he asks a question.
The hon. Minister of Health.
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- Feb/29/24 2:34:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would hope they are not suggesting that, if they had been in power, they would have interfered politically, and been able, through clairvoyance, to know that these eminent scientists, who at that point in time we had no reason to believe were anything other than Canadian scientists who were doing good research, and gotten rid of them before this happened.
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- Feb/29/24 2:35:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we read the documents concerning Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory, and the worst is confirmed: There was indeed infiltration by the Chinese Communist Party.
Based on its own assessment, the Liberal government allowed a person who is “a very serious danger and a realistic and credible threat to Canada's economic security” to access and compromise the level 4 lab.
Will the Prime Minister admit that he is trying to protect himself instead of Canadians?
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- Feb/29/24 2:35:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when China, Russia or any other country threatens Canada, it is an attack on our democracy, on the House of Commons and on every member here. That worries me a great deal.
That is why we have put in place policies to further strengthen public safety and to ensure that national security is not compromised.
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- Feb/29/24 2:36:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, does the minister know that the Prime Minister has said that he admires China's basic dictatorship?
Does he also know that the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is working on some of the most dangerous viruses in the world and that the scientist who was fired shared sensitive intellectual property and dangerous pathogens, such as the Ebola genetic sequence, with the Chinese Communist Party?
Does the Prime Minister understand that he put our national and economic security in jeopardy?
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- Feb/29/24 2:36:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what Canadians watching at home are seeing today is deplorable. National security should not be a partisan issue.
We have no lessons to learn from the Conservatives when it comes to protecting national security in research and science in Canada. Our government has done more than any other to protect science, to protect intellectual property, to help our universities and our research centres by identifying security risks.
In January, we published a list that tells research institutes not to do business with entities that might act to the detriment of the Government of Canada.
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