Parliamentary Speeches

It is an honour for me to stand before dear colleagues today to address my candidacy for Speaker of the House of Commons in this 44th Parliament. First, let me take a moment to sincerely congratulate each and every member for being elected or re-elected to represent their constituents in the House of Commons. It will truly be an honour and a privilege to serve with all members. I want to thank my fellow West Nova citizens for once again placing their trust in me to represent them in Ottawa. It is an honour and a privilege to represent them here in the House. To those colleagues who do not know me personally, I am a proud Acadian from Par-en-Bas, or Argyle, the oldest Nova Scotian region that is still Acadian. My family has lived there since 1653. My father was a fisherman his whole life, and my mother took care of my two younger brothers and me. I married Anne, my high-school sweetheart, and we have two sons, André and Alec, of whom we are very proud. Today, I am running to be Speaker because I strongly believe that I have the ability and experience to assist members in the discharge of their responsibilities to Canadians. Before being elected as the member of Parliament for West Nova in 2019, I was an MLA in Nova Scotia for 16 years, where I served as minister of agriculture and fisheries, minister of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie, minister of health, and then opposition House leader for close to 10 years. Since arriving in the House of Commons, I have had the opportunity to meet many colleagues from all parties. I have enjoyed working with you on House committees and all-party committees. That is why I am sure I would be able to carry out my duties as Speaker to uphold the powers and privileges of the House and also to advance and ensure respect for every member's opinion and right to speak. Those who know me know that I have a very calm French Acadian demeanour and that I work well with others. In fact, these are traits that are strongly tied to my Acadian roots. We, as Nova Scotian Acadians, learned, once we returned home from exile, to remain calm and non-confrontational and to continuously strive for consensus, no matter the situation we have found ourselves in. As an elected official, I continue to embody these traits of being a good listener and peacekeeper in my daily work, and I know they guide me in how I treat my constituents, my colleagues and my staff. The last Parliament was undoubtedly a difficult one, given the unprecedented health crisis we have been travelling through, but also due to the many revelations of a difficult work environment that were emerging at the centre of our democratic system. For me, it was becoming clearer, day by day, that our institution may be in trouble, and for this reason, I do not want to sit on the sidelines. These issues concern all of us and should in no way be tinged with partisanship. I believe I can lead an all-party approach and put my skill, ability and experience to work to prevent these issues from escalating and, more important, to turn the tide by seriously reviewing and resolving the issues before us. As elected members of the House, we have a duty to ensure that the health of our democracy is maintained and respected at all times. We must also ensure that we elect a Speaker who will serve as a protector and will not yield to partisan influence. The Speaker has the responsibility and the privilege of setting an example at all times, and it is a task that I am committed to carrying out in order to ensure that our institution works properly. Canadians made a clear choice in the past election to elect another minority government, and they are expecting all of us to work together. As a member of Parliament, I respect that, and I will continue to do so. I will strongly collaborate with all of my colleagues to make sure that this 44th Parliament is focused on the needs of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. To my hon. colleagues, I pledge to be a servant of the House, to enable them to navigate the House of Commons in the safest and most effective way possible and to ensure their rights and privileges as members of the House of Commons are protected at all times. I want to ensure that the work and values of this chamber reflect the expectations Canadians have for the institution that is at the centre of our democracy. Above all, I want to ensure that at the end of this parliamentary session each one of my hon. colleagues will be able to confidently look back and proudly say that it was productive and positive. Canadians have sacrificed a lot during the last two years. They want and deserve an efficient Parliament, and I know that all members want that too. I humbly ask my colleagues for their vote today, and I thank them for their attention and trust.

Madam Speaker, minority Parliaments are not easy. I spent six years in two minority parliaments in Nova Scotia. We had to actually work with the opposition to ensure we could get the things we needed for our constituents. We went out of our way to ensure that opposition MPs, or MLAs at the time, got what they needed to help their constituents. What I hear from the member is bellyaching about the opposition members and what they do not want to do. The management comes from the Liberal side. The management comes from the House leader and the management team. How much has that member reached out? How much have those ministers reached out to us? I have been waiting for weeks for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to reach, and that has not happened. Has there been some introspective that maybe some of these things the member bellyaches about are because of the Liberals mismanagement of many of these files?

Mr. Speaker, patient groups across the country have been calling on the government to delay the implementation of the PMPRB guidelines, which are set to come into force on July 1. Most of the witnesses we have heard at health committee on the subject were unanimous in their position that they want less pandemic distraction and more time for a transparent discussion, to ensure that the new regulations will do more good than harm. The implementation of the new regs has already been postponed twice. Will the minister postpone the regs again, as requested by patients?

Mr. Speaker, Lyme disease is a huge concern in Nova Scotia. People can suffer undiagnosed for years, pleading with their health care professionals to be tested and referred. In 2018, Nova Scotian residents reported the second-highest number of Lyme disease cases in Canada, with 451 people. With these high numbers in such a small province, one would think we would have the best Lyme treatment program in Canada, but sadly, residents continue to travel outside our country for treatment. While this is unacceptable in regular times, it is almost impossible during this pandemic. Bill C-442 was unanimously passed in 2014. This bill was supposed to identify and implement new diagnostic treatments or protocols for tick-borne illnesses, changes that have been painfully slow. I recently read the story about Hailey Kane from the Annapolis Valley, a 17-year-old girl who lost her life to Lyme disease. Hailey's family can never escape the nightmare that is a result of this undiagnosed, untreated Lyme disease. We need to do better. We need to call on all levels of government to do better for these patients, who have had their quality of life taken from them or, worse, pass away before ever getting the help that they need.

Mr. Speaker, talking about the weather is truly Nova Scotian, and the weather radar is an important tool for farmers and fishers alike, allowing them to plan and make sure they and their workers are safe. Currently, a big chunk of southwest Nova Scotia, the most lucrative fishing grounds in Canada, is not covered by weather radar. As of tomorrow, the existing radar in mainland Nova Scotia will be offline for months, creating more uncertainty in the forecast. Can the minister commit to not only the quick replacement of the Gore facility, but an expansion that will finally cover all Nova Scotians to make sure that our citizens are safe on land and on sea?

Madam Speaker, the residents along the Avon River in Nova Scotia are looking for the Minister of Fisheries’ final decision on the Windsor causeway. Her interim decision a few months ago has created chaos along the river. Lake Pisiquid is now a dusty, dry basin, apparently causing respiratory problems for residents of the town of Windsor. There are reports of fish and turtle kills upstream, where fresh water and salt water are now mixing. The new unpredictable water flow is causing bank erosion, causing nightmares for families and farmers. What decision will the minister make, aboiteau or no aboiteau?

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks back, I sent a letter to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans asking for details on the possible indigenous fishery beginning June 1 and how she and her department would respond. The minister's statement about regulations and seasons in March was what coastal communities had been waiting for since tensions blew up back in September. Nobody wants a repeat of that. Will the minister allow tensions to blow up once again, or have there been meaningful negotiations with all sides to avoid another fisheries crisis in St. Marys Bay?

Mr. Speaker, budget 2021 proposes to provide $300 million on a cash basis over the next two years to Fisheries and Oceans Canada to repair, renew and replace small craft harbours. This amount is ridiculous, as we know that in western Nova Scotia almost $500 million is needed to address deferred maintenance and safety upgrades. Fishers across our country have worked and continue to work tirelessly to contribute directly to their communities. They deserve wharves that are safe and that respond to their modern needs. Can the minister tell me how much will be allocated to the ports that need it in West Nova?

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Calgary Centre for sharing his time with me today to speak to Bill S-3. On December 31, 2020, our offshore oil and gas workers were instantly stripped of their health and safety protections. This date saw the expiry of a transitional, or what we could call temporary, safety regulations that had been in place for the previous six years. They came with the 2014 version of the Offshore Health and Safety Act. Since then, for almost four months, there have been no codified regulations protecting offshore workers’ rights to health and safety, despite the fact that our workers, day in and day out, are still engaging in challenging and sometimes risky work. In Canada in 2021, no worker who puts their safety at risk in their workplace should ever have to do so without being protected by health and safety rights. Bill S-3 seeks to extend these same transitional regulations for two extra years to the end of 2022 in order to provide time for the government to finally implement the long-awaited permanent regulations. During the study of this bill, many witnesses were heard from, including the minister and his senior officials, from industry, the unions, and individuals. To indicate to everyone how important this bill is and how seriously it has been studied, I will tell of Mr. Robert Decker. He has been mentioned a few times here today, and he was the sole survivor of the helicopter crash in 2009. He does not often speak publicly about it, but he shared a brief on his experience. For him to reach out and send the committee such a note, as he did, not only speaks to the importance of safety, which we all know and we have all heard about, but it also speaks to the necessity of getting this done and getting it done quickly. Offshore health and safety requires our attention and speaks to the fundamental role of government, which is the protection of its citizens. Unfortunately, on this side of the House, we too often need to remind the government of its responsibility, and that is a shame. Whether it is concerning the protection of our communities or the security of women regarding domestic violence, or the protection of our women in uniform, the victims of sexual misconduct in our armed forces, we still have to remind the government of its responsibilities and fight for that. Why is it so hard for the government to take responsibility for protecting its hard-working citizens? Offshore workers should be able to arrive for their shift every day knowing that the government have implemented the proper regulations to ensure that they will be as safe as possible and that they will be able to return home to their families. For so many in our Atlantic provinces, just like in my beautiful province of Nova Scotia, these issues are not just a matter of legislation. They are personal, affecting their lives and their loved ones' lives. In recent decades, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has had to face devastating offshore tragedies, some that have been mentioned a couple of times today. There was the Ocean Ranger disaster on Valentine’s Day of 1982. The Ocean Ranger was a semi-submersible drilling rig, and it was described as indestructible. I would like to share a short but important and meaningful summary of this tragedy. On February 14, 1982, there was a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, which capsized the rig, resulting in the tragic deaths of all 84 people on board. There were no survivors. This was Canada’s worst tragedy at sea since the Second World War. A very good friend of Senator Wells, who supports this bill and has spoken passionately to it as well, Mr. Darryl Reid was one of the 84 who lost their lives. Gerald Keddy, a retired colleague from this House of Commons, also served on the Ocean Ranger. He lost a number of his friends that day. In Newfoundland and Labrador, as in Nova Scotia, these tragedies hit directly because they are small, tight communities. Everyone is within two or three degrees of separation. I can certainly understand the feeling. Nova Scotia has had its share of tragedies during the last year, and everyone has been affected by them. Everyone knows someone who has been affected by one of them. Later on, almost 30 years later, on March 12, 2009, Cougar helicopter flight 491 crashed into the North Atlantic after experiencing mechanical trouble. The helicopter was ferrying 18 offshore workers to oil platforms off the coast of Newfoundland. Tragically, 17 lost their lives and the only survivor was Mr. Robert Decker. I completely understand and deeply share Senator Wells' frustration regarding the fact that the minister in charge of getting this done, and who has not done it, is also a Newfoundland and Labradorian. Once again, I find it sad that we have to speak out to ensure the protection and rights of the courageous workers who have more dangerous occupations than others. Catastrophes, like the ones mentioned earlier, have brought so much devastation to Newfoundlanders. They are deeply rooted. Like the Portapique tragedy in Nova Scotia, no one ever forgets, even several years later. The victims of any tragedy should never be forgotten. Health and safety legislation and regulations affect so many. Bolstering offshore health and safety means decreasing the likelihood that these devastating events will happen and the likelihood that more parents, spouses and children will spend their lifetime grieving. In Canada, prioritizing the health and safety of our workers should never be part of any debate; it should be a given. Many Canadian industries are investing time and money in implementing a safety culture and are working tirelessly to ensure that workers stay safe. Offshore workers deserve to know that we care about their safety. Offshore petroleum boards, the one in Newfoundland and Labrador, the other in Nova Scotia, play critical roles in meeting our health and safety goals. However, these boards cannot do it alone; they require the co-operation of government to prioritize these issues and to push forward necessary legislation and regulations. The 2014 Offshore Health and Safety Act was a promising step forward. Bill S-3 simply asks for the extension of two years. The government's legislative summary states that it is necessary because of the complexity of the regulations and the need to secure agreement from Newfoundland and Labrador, and from Nova Scotia, which I am sure are ready to go. The 2014 Offshore Health and Safety Act outlines a path toward permanent health and safety regulations for our Atlantic offshore. However, I understand that the act of putting permanent OHS regulations into place is one that requires study and coordination, so transitional regulations were put in place when the Offshore Health and Safety Act was enacted, giving the government a five-year period of time to conduct the necessary analysis and to determine permanent regulations. These transitional regulations were necessary at the time, but critical elements were still delayed awaiting this five-year window, including the establishment of an occupational health and safety advisory council. What few people know is that an extension was already given in the second budget in 2018. That was a one-year extension tucked into the 884-page omnibus bill. Offshore workers have been waiting for too long. Bill S-3 should represent the final extension of the deadline to adopt permanent health and safety regulations. Furthermore, the Department of Natural Resources must submit an implementation progress report to the House before the end of the parliamentary session, including the implementation schedule to the expiry of the transitional regulations. The government has failed our workers. I ask again: What is more important to the government than bringing safety to some of our most at-risk workers? In the past six years, the government could not find the time to develop permanent regulations, ones that are simple and clearly based on existing provincial and federal regulations, and the practices of the board, including the provisions of conditions of licence. Why has it taken so long and why are we scrambling for an extension mere weeks from the expiry of the transitional regulations and mere days from Parliament adjourning, back in December, until 2021? The safety of citizens is a fundamental responsibility of government. Of course, we want to see this bill pass quickly in this House of Commons so workers can be protected. Again, the largest question that continues to go through my mind is this. Why has it taken six years for us to get here? With those short comments, I am looking forward to a few questions before I have to get off to the health committee, which has already started.

Mr. Speaker, Wednesday was of course the National Day of Mourning, and I am sure many of us know people who were lost during the exercise of their dangerous job, or even not so dangerous job, because of lack of regulation or safety requirements in their workplace. Unions should be consulted. Unions have a really good feeling of their membership, and they speak every day for their membership for a variety of reasons. The consultation should happen with them and it should be people they suggest sitting on that advisory council.

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. It is my pleasure to stand and speak for a few moments today, not only about the situation here in Nova Scotia, but also to the motion we have before us from my hon. colleague from Calgary Nose Hill and, of course, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. It is hard to figure out where to start with this one. Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada has been put up as the poster child of what should be done because of our relatively low numbers, yet it seems that all the provinces are experiencing their third waves of COVID-19. Looking back, we have a year of data now to see when and how COVID entered our communities. Our first wave had its maximum number of COVID instances back on April 23 of last year, when Nova Scotia had 55 citizens with COVID-19. I know that does not sound like a whole lot, but that is a big number for the folks here in Nova Scotia. Our second wave happened close to six months later. On November 24, 2020, there were 37 cases here in Nova Scotia, which pales in consideration to what we are seeing during our third wave, which hit 96 cases on April 27. I think there were 75 cases yesterday, and there are 70 cases today. This may be an indication of cases starting to wane a little bit, but we do not know what will happen over the next number of days. We have a maximum right now of 489 active cases here in Nova Scotia, with 2,290 total cases since the beginning of COVID-19 and, unfortunately, 80 deaths, and we all offer our condolences to those families that have been affected by it. In comparison, the issue of vaccinations here in Nova Scotia has been average compared to what we have seen across Canada, although maybe not to the level of what we see in Quebec. Ultimately, 3.7% of Nova Scotians have received the second dose, so only 3.7% of Nova Scotians are actually fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Just to give colleagues an idea, we have 345,000 vaccines received, and 293,000 administered, which comes into that false number the government tends to provide to us, where it looks as though 22%, or a quarter, of our population has received some kind of a vaccine. I think the real number that is important to us is that of the fully vaccinated, which is only 3.7%. We need to make sure that we are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to stop the variants or, at least, the production of variants in our province. We really need to do a better job of getting vaccines to Nova Scotians and to Canadians, so we can at least stop these extra waves. Quite honestly, I am very worried. I am sure other Nova Scotians are worried as well. We are worried that we are going to see a fourth and a fifth wave as we are waiting for vaccines to totally roll out here in this province. I know our premier has said that hopefully by July we will have everybody done, but quite honestly, does that mean one vaccination or two? I know that my mum and dad had their first Pfizer vaccinations, and it looks like it will be toward the end of July, maybe into August, before they will be able to get their second doses. As far as being a sort of poster child, we do have concerns here in Atlantic Canada with this third wave of COVID-19. We need to do better. The government has to do better in its procurement. It could have done better in its production here in Canada, yet it did not. We had a number of presentations at the health committee, and what concerned me the most were the researchers who came to us and said they have a process that, had the government truly invested in a Canadian vaccine, we would have had in production by now. We would not have needed to go to all these other companies to receive vaccines. It goes counter to what the government continues to say. It says we have the largest portfolio of any country, with 10 or 15 contracts with different producers of vaccine, yet we are still working on three, with Johnson & Johnson coming. We have very little local production of vaccine. In fact, there is no production of vaccine happening here in Canada. We do have researchers right across the country who have had great success in coming up with technologies to be able to provide vaccines to Canadians, but there is little to no interest from the government in trying to come up with a Canadian solution to this. I would like to speak to something the previous couple of speakers spoke to as well, and it is the hands-off way of providing vaccines to Canadians. The Minister of Public Services and Procurement said in her presentation earlier today that, if we do not like the vaccination plan, to take it up with the premiers. Yes, okay, but she is responsible for providing vaccines to all Canadians. As much as the premiers have cried and talked and tried to get a reasonable response from the government, they continue to wane and are unable to provide vaccines to their populations. They are trying to find methods. Quite honestly, when it comes to travel, from one end of Canada to the other, this third wave here in Atlantic Canada is happening because of differing and varying responsibilities or regulations in different provinces. I do not know if this is substantiated or not, but the story here is that people have been moving here from different provinces. People from Ontario and Quebec are buying properties here in Atlantic Canada, in Nova Scotia, and, by the sound of it, they brought this third wave when we had extremely low numbers. I believe it is mostly the U.K. variant being found here. That is coupled with the whole reversal of having an Atlantic bubble. One minute we had it, then premiers were talking together, and the next minute our premier decided that people from New Brunswick and P.E.I. could visit, even though we could not go there. There was a whole bunch of miscommunications and messes because there is no leadership from the federal government on how any of this should be rolling down. There are definitely politics involved in this. The Prime Minister and the current government really want, if it does go south and things do not work out, to be able to just hold up their hands and say, “Well, that is the province's problem and responsibility. It is not ours.” Ultimately, it is always the leadership of the federal government, with the partnership of the provinces, that gets things done here in Canada. The Liberals need to take a leadership role in this to make sure that we get through this third wave, beyond the third wave and do not have a fourth wave. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this motion. Let us hope that everybody, sooner than later, can get a vaccine in their arm.

Madam Speaker, quite honestly, we need a plan. There is no plan. We continually hear the government talking about its portfolio. It is not talking about a real vaccination plan, saying that is the problem of the provinces. How can we truly judge whether the Liberal government is doing a good job when it does not let us know what it is actually going to do? It needs to provide us with a date and let us know when that is actually going to be. If it fails, we will oppose. If the government does it right, I will congratulate it. My constituents want the vaccine.

Madam Speaker, the government has failed on every corner it has taken on this issue. It has not provided Canadians with a plan for how we are going to be able to solve it. They have not told us how we are solving the first wave, let alone the third wave we find ourselves in today. We need to be able to get vaccines into the arms of Canadians. The government needs to give us something inspirational to tell our constituents. My constituents continually go online to find there are no spots available for them to get vaccines. This is because the federal government is not providing the vaccines required. It has to stop. The government has to tell us what it is actually going to do.

Mr. Speaker, last week was National Volunteer Week. I would like to take a moment today to sincerely thank all of the incredible volunteers throughout West Nova. They have contributed their time, energy and talent over the past year to give back to those in need. Rain or shine, our local volunteers have always been very generous with their time. Whether it is lending a helping hand to seniors, at food banks, to people living with a disability or even to single parents, volunteers have always had their backs, no matter what. As a public servant, it is important to me to recognize and honour the many volunteers in our communities, as they are essential and make a difference in our lives. I send a special congratulations to the provincial recipients in our riding: Daryl Crosby in Argyle; Mike Randall in Yarmouth; Tim MacKinnon in the town of Yarmouth; Joseanne Deveau in Clare; Megan Robinson in Digby; Al Dupuis in the town of Digby; Gini Proulx in Annapolis County; Sara White in the town of Berwick; and Heather Morris in Kings County. While this is only a short list of volunteers honoured by our towns and municipalities, there are hundreds of folks who deserve our great admiration.

Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to join the House from beautiful southwest Nova Scotia, where it is a little rainy. We do not have a whole lot of COVID-19 floating around, but it seems that here in Nova Scotia we are having a resurgence of variants. Due to a lack of vaccines, we are going to see a bit of the third wave the rest of Canada has seen over the last number of weeks and months. Because it has been a year and a half since many of us were elected, and we have not had the opportunity to speak to a budget, I would like to start my first response to it as a new MP with something a little more Nova Scotian. I will talk about something that is a bit more positive in the budget, which is important to my area and extremely important to me and my family. It is the national framework for diabetes. This is something in the budget that I support. This year is the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin here in Canada, something Banting and Best were able to do at the University of Toronto. We as Canadians continue to celebrate being a part of this historic change in the lives of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The budget provides $25 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, to Health Canada for additional investments into research in diabetes, including juvenile diabetes, and surveillance and prevention, to work toward the development of that national framework. That is extremely important to me and my family because I am the dad of a type 1 diabetic. My son just recently, for lack of a better description, celebrated his fifth anniversary of being a diabetic. I can see from what he has had to go through, and what other diabetics across this country have had to go through, that there is no real standard of care for those individuals. It is good to see Canadians get together. We need to work with our provinces to make sure that is going to happen. These are very positive developments for JDRF and Diabetes Canada. I hope this continues and that more emphasis will be put on some of the chronic diseases that Canadians continue to suffer from. I wish the rest of the budget were as positive, but unfortunately, it is not. On the health care side of things, this budget is very lax in how it is going to help with COVID-19 and respond to the needs of the provinces for extra help, especially when it comes to the deferred health care that has happened over the last number of months. I am a member of the health committee, and a couple of weeks ago we had radiologists in to present before the committee. They estimated that 380,000 Canadians have had their tests delayed, whether it was a test for cancer, a colonoscopy, or the like. If we start to delay health care, greater issues might happen. For people who are diagnosed with cancer, it might be a different level of cancer. They could be at stage 3 or 4, which is much more difficult to treat. The provinces have been asking for a top-up in their health transfers over the last number of years. That does not show up in this budget, yet we saw the Prime Minister go out the next day and say the government was going to do that after the pandemic is done. The way things are going right now, the pandemic is going to be with us for quite some time. I wonder when that extra investment is going to be in the Canada health transfers. I believe they are asking for about $4 billion. In the scope of the $100 billion of extra, I would call, election funding the government has put forward, the $4 billion they are asking for seems like quite a bargain. Let us move on from health care and talk about something that is important for the coastal communities here in southwest Nova Scotia. Quite honestly, this area is based on the fishery and access to that fishery. I want to talk about small craft harbours. Small craft harbours might not be important to many people across Canada. However, those of us who use them, and people who have their families in the fishing industry, want to see investments in wharves. They are part of our highway system. They are part of our business park, so to speak. We see an investment of $300 million over two years in small craft harbours. That is a drop in the bucket of what is required to improve the safety of our ports and wharves and to adjust to the changes in vessel sizes and vessel safety over the last number of years. There is not enough room in a lot of these ports. I was on beautiful Brier Island the other day meeting with the port authority of Westport. They have a fabled wharf in the Bay of Fundy that sees some of the highest tides in the world, but they have not had an expansion or an adjustment to their port in well over 50 years. They have had little projects along the way. There has been a bit of a breakwater and maybe a change to one of the wharves, but nothing has actually happened for them in that amount of time. The $300 million is going to be very difficult to sell, because we could spend way more than that just on the 27 wharves that require it here in West Nova. A number of wharves on our list are condemned. Fishers are still using them, but they have been condemned by small craft harbours because they do not have the dollars to do the work. While I am on the topic of the fishery, I want to talk about the safety of our fishers and a couple of experiences we have had in the last few months. The Chief William Saulis, a scallop dragger out of Digby, basically out of Yarmouth, was lost and seven men were lost with it. It took a lot of time to find. There was not enough money in the budget for the Coast Guard to go out to recover the bodies of the men who were lost. We need to do more to make sure that our vessels are safe and that we have the systems to go out and actually help them. In another example, the scallop dragger Atlantic Destiny went down off of Georges Bank and 32 souls were saved, but we learned a number of things that I do not see in this budget. The fuel for search and rescue is not available at the airport that is closest to the port. The great people at CFB Greenwood need to change a few of their processes to adjust to these kinds of situations, sending helicopters 100 kilometres offshore. The nearest airport needs to have the capability to do it. I will present a quick personal issue from southwest Nova Scotia. A young gentleman who is a fisher just had a terrible accident: 24-year-old Andrew Saulnier was caught up in the engine room. He lost one leg and could possibly lose the other. He is a young guy with a few children. I am going to share this on my Facebook page, not that we should be presenting Facebook page issues here in the House of Commons, but if people want to help out families, a family like Andrew Saulnier's is one that we all should be supporting, and this budget does not.

Madam Speaker, if that was the way the budget was structured then, yes, we should find things that we could work on together. However, what we find is a document that has not been presented in two years, so the pent-up demand from government departments created a 700-page tome of information with a whole bunch of things in it that are, in our case, unsupportable. We supported the bill for a diabetes framework as it came down, and I am happy to be one of the co-chairs of the interparliamentary group on JDRF. There are other ways for us to support it rather than supporting an unsupportable budget.

Madam Speaker, not only are we seeing the same thing here, but we do not have access to those kinds of products. Another issue here in southwest Nova Scotia is that the housing market has gone up as a lot of people have decided to move here. A young couple trying to buy their first home and get into the workforce cannot afford to, because of mismanagement and how this pandemic continues to go on. Everybody has moved here. It is positive for the people selling their homes, and positive for the real estate agents, but where are people, who have modest means and want to move here, ever going to be able to get into a house or build their own because of the access to those kinds of products?

Mr. Speaker, I take the floor today in the beautiful province of Nova Scotia to recognize the one-year anniversary of one of the darkest chapters in its history: the death of 22 people in Portapique. One year ago, Nova Scotia RCMP struggled for 13 hours to try to stop Canada's deadliest rampage. The deaths of innocent victims were senseless, unnecessary and totally heinous. Ever since this tragic event occurred, Nova Scotians across the province came together to mourn and to support the victims' families. They continue to stand in solidarity with them one year later to help folks understand how something so awful can happen in one of our beautiful and sleepy communities. Yesterday, it was heartwarming to see so many COVID-friendly gatherings, church services and a provincial moment of silence at 3 p.m. to honour the memory of the victims. No matter what we face, Nova Scotians unite and rise in the times of grief and sorrow. I ask all my colleagues in the House of Commons to work together to help the victims' families and loved ones to get answers they need and deserve to help them heal. This kind of atrocity should never happen again.

Mr. Speaker, 12 months have passed since the innocent victims lost their lives in the worst killing rampage in this country. The scars of the victims' loved ones are still very difficult to heal. One of the reasons is that the investigation has been slow since day one, revealing little information and keeping the victims' families in the dark. We know that the final report is due November 2022, but details continue to trickle out to the media. When will the minister put the victims' families first and respect their right to information as guaranteed by the Canadian victims bill of rights?

Mr. Speaker, let me be sure that Canadians understand this. The Liberal MP for Sydney—Victoria was correct when he said that the minister's pronouncement was only an interim measure. Clarity is extremely important here. Is the minister telling us that flexible, moderate livelihood plans will be established by each first nation outside existing lobster seasons and will not be enforced by DFO after this interim plan is done?

Madam Speaker, on February 23rd, I wrote the minister of DFO and the CRA regarding the new fisheries regulations that go into force on April 1, just a few days away. There are conflicting rules between DFO and the CRA that need to be addressed. Many fishing enterprises utilize spousal income splitting to help spread the tax burden, which is allowed under CRA rules, but now disallowed under DFO's new owner-operator policy. This situation is another example of how this government is not taking the fisheries seriously. Will the minister fix it before the April 1 deadline?

Madam Speaker, on March 3, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard issued a statement that was supposedly meant to bring clarity and certainty ahead of the spring lobster fishery. This 180° change in direction has failed to set a path that would bring back peace, security and fairness for all participants in the lobster fishery. We did not get an answer for the member for Tobique—Mactaquac. However, could the minister confirm today in the House when the details of her so-called interim plan will be finally disclosed?

Mr. Speaker, last spring the federal government faced a PPE shortage and desperately needed to respond to Canada’s demand due to COVID-19. Last month, the Liberal member for Cumberland—Colchester stated on social media that her government had invested $27.9 million to enable Stanfield’s in Truro, Nova Scotia, to manufacture PPE for frontline workers. The fact is that no such investment exists. Can the minister elaborate on what the member for Cumberland—Colchester falsely conveyed to Stanfield's and her constituents?

Mr. Speaker, not a cent went to Stanfield's, but it stepped up and made sure there was domestic production of PPE. It invested in itself and upgraded its facility to participate in making sure Canadians were not caught off guard again. It was assured by the local MP and others that procurement was interested in a more collaborative approach to domestic production of PPE. This also turned out to be false, as no contract was awarded to an Atlantic Canadian company. Could the minister tell us why Atlantic Canada was left out of the most recent procurement of PPE?

Mr. Speaker, Nova Scotia has been so fortunate during the second wave of COVID-19. In our province of almost a million souls, we only have 14 active cases and only one patient in hospital as of this morning. That is quite a contrast compared with other provinces and territories in our great country. However, our economy continues to take a huge hit due to the Liberal government's failed vaccine rollout plan. Delays in a vaccine directly correlate with delays in our economy, and with Canada currently ranked 52nd in the world in terms of immunization, it will be impossible for us to foresee a strong economic recovery in the near future. From the start of the pandemic, the constituents in West Nova took an all-hands-on-deck approach to help slow the spread of the virus, but we are getting tired of the isolation and would like to get back to normal. People want to get back to work or visit their grandchildren in other provinces. The only way to do this is through a strong vaccination program, which the Liberal government has yet to produce. We need to get the vaccine rollout right in order to secure jobs and secure our economic future. Let us get all Canadians and Nova Scotians back to work.

Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since I first raised concerns about the fisheries crisis in West Nova with the Minister of Fisheries, and we all know how bad events played out due to her inaction. Spring fishing is just around the corner, and although the minister says that she has been holding discussions with stakeholders, no official agreements have yet been made. Will the Prime Minister ask the Minister of Fisheries to take on her responsibility and assure indigenous and non-indigenous fishers in Nova Scotia that they will not have to relive another season of insecurity, fear and violence?

Mr. Speaker, I was very sad to hear last Saturday that my friend Father Maurice Leblanc had passed away at age 96. Born in West Pubnico, in the Par-en-Bas region, this great Acadian was very involved in our community throughout his life. He was well loved because he was close to everyone, and I had the privilege of knowing him my entire life. He was a proud Acadian activist who generously shared his deep affection for our culture both at home in Nova Scotia and far beyond our borders. Father Leblanc was considered a wise man, but to the community he loved so deeply and was so close to, he will always be Father Maurice. Thanks to his many talents as a painter and musician, he shared his passions by conducting marching bands and choirs and teaching art and history as artistic director at Université Sainte-Anne. Father Maurice cared about preserving and sharing his heritage, and he served as president of the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse and the Conseil des arts d'Argyle. He remained an active pastor until 2019. I offer my sincere condolences to Father Maurice's family and loved ones. I would like to thank Father Maurice for everything. May he rest in peace.

Madam Speaker, ultimately, there has to be some clear definition on what these would constitute. When we look at the small community radio stations, and in our particular case in Nova Scotia, there are only a few Francophone radio stations beyond the CBC, they can be in direct conflict or in competition with some of these smaller groups that have no regulations at all. They can say and do anything they want. We want to ensure we keep those small community radio stations available and not have them in competition with these smaller groups. However, what does it constitute, what does it mean? I hope the minister will clarify some of those things.

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise virtually today to speak to Bill C-10. Like many of my colleagues, I appreciate this opportunity to speak to this bill. I am an Acadian, and this bill will have a profound effect on the survival of our wonderful Acadian culture and community, which is very important to me. It deserves being promoted and protected. Digital media is bigger than ever, and the 28-year-old Broadcasting Act is in urgent need of modernization to address the evolution of the Internet and the overwhelming emergence of social networks and online services like Facebook, Google, Netflix, Crave and Spotify, among others. Modernizing the act does not necessarily mean erasing the past, forgetting how it has shaped our history to this day or failing to take it into account in the future. We need to ensure the continuity of our past and our Acadian culture and preserve them for always. In its brief to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission during the CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewal process, the Société nationale de l'Acadie, the SNA, noted that it has had to intervene repeatedly to get Radio-Canada to support Acadian culture and to remind the broadcaster about the obligations in its mandate. As a proud Acadian, and on behalf of all Acadians, I want to point out that all Acadians, just like all Canadians, help fund CBC/Radio-Canada. That funding, together with the broadcaster's mandate, are all that guarantee these services, which must be not only preserved at all costs but also respected. To make that happen, we need effective enforcement measures to be very clearly indicated in Bill C-10, which is not the case. The SNA is the official representative of all Acadian people. It promotes the rights and interests of Atlantic Acadians. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the SNA for its hard work and its efforts to preserve our magnificent Acadian culture. The bill seeks to amend the Broadcasting Act in several ways, such as by adding websites that broadcast or rebroadcast programs as a separate category of broadcasting undertaking. It also seeks to update Canada's broadcasting policy set out in section 3 to, for example, provide indigenous-language programming for indigenous people that reflects their culture. I believe that Bill C-10 needs to go even further to ensure the presence and preservation of certain cultures, such as Acadian culture. I absolutely agree that the act needs to be modernized, just as the Official Languages Act needs to be modernized. On this side of the House, we want to be able to vote on a bill that will be fair for Canadian producers and broadcasters. For several years now, Canadians have been expressing concerns about how unfair it is that Netflix does not pay any taxes in Canada. The goal is to find a balance between conventional media and digital media, as well as with content. I completely agree with that goal. The francophone population of Nova Scotia, which listens to the Radio-Canada station out of Halifax, is upset about the fact that they hear more updates on traffic jams in Montreal and on the Samuel de Champlain Bridge than they do content from Nova Scotia artists. It is important to point out that the case of the Atlantic provinces is unique. There is only one television production centre, supported by three radio production centres, to serve the four provinces. We want more local content to reflect the unique nature of Acadia and to promote and protect Acadian culture. Unfortunately, when the CBC does not keep its commitments, even when complaints are filed with the CRTC, it is generally not penalized because it is not subject to the same rules as other Canadian broadcasters. In 2021, it is unacceptable that this exemption still exists. It needs to be removed through Bill C-10. It is vital that the percentage of Canadian content is respected to the letter and that each region of Canada can enforce its local cultural content quotas. The Conservatives want an equitable regulatory framework for digital media and conventional broadcasters. My Conservative colleagues and I will only be able to support the modernization of the Broadcasting Act if it includes additional, clear, non-negotiable francophone content requirements. During the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's licence renewal process, the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse noted in its brief presented on January 13 to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that Acadians in Nova Scotia did not get access to a French-language elementary school education until 1981. It took a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada for them to finally, in 2003, get access to a French-language education in a system of homogenous secondary schools. Without that education in French, Acadians in Nova Scotia became assimilated at an alarming rate. Between 1981 and 1996, the number of French-speaking Acadians in Nova Scotia went from 80,000 to 42,000, In the spring and fall of 2019, the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse consulted extensively throughout the province on linguistic insecurity. Participants all reported experiencing language insecurity, discomfort or reluctance to express themselves in French, or even a feeling of inadequacy in French. I am quite saddened by these results. The lack of familiarity on the part of the broader Canadian public when it comes to Nova Scotia's Acadian community contributes to this linguistic insecurity. Local content must be created so people can see themselves reflected in the media. The one and only measure to improve the place of French is to replace the reference in section 3 that weakens it further. This step backwards is completely unacceptable. It represents a much more vague and, more importantly, a much weaker approach than the act provides for indigenous content, for example. This is another example of the Liberal government's contradictions. The government is further weakening an essential piece of legislation that is already weak, while making francophone communities across Canada believe that it will introduce a bill to modernize the Official Languages Act, which would focus on the promotion and protection of the French language for all minority francophone communities. That is nonsense. In light of all these points, there is no way I can vote in favour of this bill without a firm commitment from the government to thoroughly review all the amendments needed to improve it in order to ensure that Acadian and francophone Canadian content has the kind of future it deserves.

Madam Speaker, quite honestly, we need an indication from the government that changes can be made to the bill. As I said in my remarks, there needs to be a representation of francophone communities outside of Quebec, especially Acadian representation. We need to have a better idea of how the CRTC will work with or charge the CBC to provide the services needed for our community. As I said, in 1981, 80,000 Acadians said they spoke French, which was down to 42,000 in 1996. It is unacceptable, and the CBC and CRTC have a lot to do with this.

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. We really want to encourage this with a positive approach. There is not much francophone or Acadian content. We really need to see Acadians, francophones and indigenous people not only on our social media, but also in our traditional media, such as CBC and others. I believe that it is possible to find ways to get these media to agree to come to the regions.

Mr. Speaker, in a few weeks, a year will have passed since Canada's worst mass murder occurred in Portapique, Nova Scotia. After severe public pressure from family and opposition intervention, the government finally did the right thing and called for a public inquiry. However, the families of the victims are still in the dark and are still battling with the Liberal government for answers. Federal institutions must respect the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, which includes the right to information. When will the minister provide families with the information for which they have been calling?

Mr. Speaker, I find myself once again talking about a tragedy in West Nova and commemorating lives lost. On December 15, the Chief William Saulis, a scallop dragger out of Yarmouth, sank in the Bay of Fundy. Lost were Captain Charles Roberts and fishermen Michael Drake, Daniel Forbes, Geno Francis and Leonard Gabriel. There is always a danger of losing lives at sea. Sadly, these six hard-working men lost their lives providing for their families. While the RCMP and Coast Guard have found the sunken vessel in 60 metres of water, only one body has been returned for burial. Less than a month later, on January 10, search and rescue was called to the small community of Morris Island, where Kenneth Surette and his wife Noreen disappeared while visiting their camp on a neighbouring island. Searchers found Noreen's body, but it took fishers a few days to find Kenneth's. We need to thank the Canadian Forces search and rescue ground search and rescue teams, the Coast Guard, the RCMP and the hundreds of volunteers who supported the efforts and the families during this difficult time. We need to remain Nova Scotia strong. May they all rest in peace.

With regard to the ongoing issues related to the Indigenous Nova Scotia lobster fishery, since November 20, 2019: (a) how many briefings has the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans had from the departmental scientists in charge of Lobster Fishing Areas (LFA) 33, LFA 34 and LFA 35 regarding the state of the lobster fisheries; (b) what are the details of the briefings in (a), including (i) the date, (ii) subjects of the briefings, (iii) whether the briefing was requested by the minister or recommended by the department; (c) how many meetings has the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans had with stakeholders regarding the state of the lobster fisheries; and (d) what are the details of all meetings in (c), including the (i) date, (ii) meeting summary (iii) stakeholder groups in attendance, (iv) location?