Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague has just repeated his previous question. I will give him the same answer. This government always takes the use of taxpayers' money extremely seriously. We have said that, if taxpayers' money has been misplaced or mishandled, of course, the government will ask for that money to be returned and take the appropriate steps to recuperate that money. My colleague may have …
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, the President of the Treasury Board and I, as the minister responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency, have already taken steps to reduce reliance on outside consultants. We have reviewed and changed the process for approving these kinds of contracts. We will continue to look at everything necessary to ensu…
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Mr. Speaker, again, our colleague's repeating something does not make it factual. She knows very well that the Auditor General has looked into these matters. We have welcomed parliamentary committee reviews. People have been available, including senior government officials, to go before a parliamentary committee—
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Mr. Speaker, again, my colleague can repeat a series of allegations. We do not think that this is particularly constructive, when a senior court of appeal justice is seized with this very matter. She is hearing evidence from witnesses, interviewing in camera all of the relevant officials, and receiving all of the most classified documents. Why does my hon. friend not allow her to do the work and n…
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Mr. Speaker, we worked collaboratively with all of the opposition parties last summer to set up an independent judicial inquiry into foreign interference. There have been a number of weeks of public testimony, including this week. We did not think that, in the terms of reference, we had to put a line that would say that we should have basic respect for the integrity and independence of the commiss…
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Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the Canada Border Services Agency is conducting internal reviews on the matter. The RCMP is also looking into the questions. We have said that anybody who has misused or abused taxpayers' funds will be held accountable, and we look forward to the processes' coming to their conclusion.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to salute my colleague's long service in the House on behalf of the people of northern Ontario. I share—
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Mr. Speaker, I have never had that much applause in the House before. I share our colleague's concern about the Conservative policy with respect to gun control. We have said from the beginning that law-abiding hunters and sportspersons are not the subject of these regulations. What we are doing is taking away guns that were designed to kill people on the battlefield, and we are also prepared to co…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows full well, our government is tackling foreign interference issues very effectively and robustly. It is widely known that the RCMP has confirmed that the specific issues raised by my colleague are the focus of a police investigation. That is the appropriate way to deal with issues like this, as they arise. We are obviously not going to comment on cases that are cu…
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Mr. Speaker, we have said for many years now that Iran is one of the most important state sponsors of terrorist activity around the world. The government has put in place a series of very robust sanctions and used immigration legislation to bar many of those people from visiting Canada. The security intelligence service and the Border Services Agency are obviously taking their responsibilities ver…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C‑65, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
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Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on protecting Canadians from crime. That is why we are working with police forces, municipal authorities and provincial governments to do exactly everything we need to do to crack down on this increasingly violent criminal activity. I have had conversations with the Premier of Ontario and with police chiefs across the country. The RCMP are working in c…
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows very well, there are internal investigations being conducted into all these matters. We welcome the report of the Auditor General. The RCMP is investigating some elements of this matter. If at any time people have misused taxpayers' money or contractors have claimed taxpayers' money for work they did not complete, of course the government will demand refunds as i…
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Mr. Speaker, from the very beginning, our government has been transparent with Canadians and with Parliament. We have had officials and ministers appear before parliamentary committees. We understand the concern that Canadians have around the appropriate use of taxpayers' money. In spite of my friend's pessimism, I do not share his view. This government will always continue to be transparent with …
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Mr. Speaker, not only will the government co-operate with the RCMP at every occasion, but it was also the government that referred a number of these cases to the RCMP. My friend has just realized what the RCMP confirmed some weeks ago, which is that it is looking into the issue of ArriveCAN. Our government thinks it is important that the Auditor General's report be followed carefully, and we think…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague learned something today that has been known in the public domain for a number of weeks. We have said from the beginning that the government's responsibility is to ensure that taxpayers' money is always managed well. In this case, the Auditor General identified a number of opportunities that needed to be investigated and where the government will follow all of the rec…
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I am glad that my colleague has noticed something that has been common knowledge for some weeks now. My colleague, the Minister of Procurement, clearly indicated that the Auditor General had investigated some troubling circumstances surrounding contracts awarded by the Canada Border Services Agency. Obviously, the government's responsibility is to ensure that measures are …
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Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, our government has said from the beginning that those who misused taxpayers' money will be held to account. Once the investigations that the CBSA, for example, ordered internally and the RCMP report is completed, if money was misappropriated, of course the government will take all the steps to recoup that money. We have said from the beginning that anybody who mishand…
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Mr. Speaker, just because my hon. friend asserts something with manufactured indignation does not make it true. What we have said from the beginning is that we take the responsibility to manage taxpayers' money very seriously. That is why, when the border services agency identified irregularities, it began an internal investigation and referred the matter, as is appropriate, to the Royal Canadian …
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Mr. Speaker, again, the Leader of the Opposition seems to be impressed with some information that has been known in the public space for many weeks. The RCMP have confirmed, previously, that they are looking into the circumstances around ArriveCAN. We have total confidence in the RCMP to do this important work. I will remind the Leader of the Opposition that the president of the Canada Border Serv…
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Mr. Speaker, we have been saying for several weeks that the RCMP is looking into ArriveCAN. This is largely because senior CBSA officials sent documents to the RCMP and asked the RCMP to look into the matter. There are several investigations under way. We will continue to be available and to give these authorities all the documents and information they need.
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Mr. Speaker, it may surprise my hon. friend, but the government does not actually direct the national police in terms of investigations. We have confidence that the RCMP will take the important responsibility it has seriously and do all of the work that is required. We have complete faith in the RCMP's independence and in its ability to look into all these matters. More importantly, the government…
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Mr. Speaker, it does not take a warrant for Canadians to see that the government has been transparent, both with the Auditor General and with parliamentary committees. The facts may bother my friend, but he knows very well that the Auditor General is empowered to do all of this important work. We have accepted the report of the Auditor General. We acted on a number of recommendations before receiv…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we thought that this level of exaggeration would be exclusive to the Leader of the Opposition. I cannot speak for Mr. Mulcair. What I can tell Canadians is that the government takes these circumstances extraordinarily seriously. We accept the recommendations of the Auditor General. We have at all times worked with parliamentary committees and senior official…
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows very well that the government is collaborating with parliamentary committees and the Office of the Auditor General. The Border Services Agency is doing an internal review, an investigation with respect to many of these matters, and officials have from the very beginning referred, to the RCMP, any and all information they think might be appropriate fo…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for the work he has done in his home province of Manitoba and the city of Winnipeg to collaborate with local law enforcement, police and border services to bring every attention to bear on what, as he noted in an earlier intervention, has been a problem there for a long time. The Canada Border Services Agency intercepted over 1,800 stolen vehicles…
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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 tr…
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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 gover…
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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 …
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Madam Speaker, obviously we share the view of my friend from Saanich—Gulf Islands on the importance of investigative journalism. It is a public broadcaster that is well financed and has the resources necessary to do the work in a democracy, which is essential for all of us. We saw that with programs such as Enquête, for example, Radio-Canada has done a really good job of drawing the attention of a…
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Madam Speaker, I was not aware of that comment by our former colleague in this place. I can tell the member that my interactions with frontline CBSA officers have been extraordinarily positive. I have had an opportunity, with senior officials in Ottawa, to visit a number of CBSA facilities in the short time I have been Minister of Public Safety, including at the Port of Montreal as recently as a f…
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Madam Speaker, obviously, I commend my colleague for his parliamentary service in the House of Commons and previously in the Quebec National Assembly. I am fully aware of the statistics that my colleague gave about the number of cars stolen in my province of New Brunswick and in Moncton. I do not disagree at all with the numbers that my colleague provided. That is why we are working to get those n…
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Madam Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the opposition and my colleague, the member for Edmonton Mill Woods, for presenting a motion with respect to auto theft, because it will give the government yet another opportunity to demonstrate our leadership on this important matter. Obviously, we share the concerns raised by members in the debate so far today about vehicle theft in Canada. In fact, it…
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Mr. Speaker, the good news is that on Thursday representatives of the insurance industry will participate with auto manufacturers, people responsible for rail transportation, the ports, federal border services agents, the RCMP and provincial ministers responsible. Their police chiefs will be here. We think that if we are going to do the work that Canadians expect us to do on this important issue o…
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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 t…
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Madam Speaker, I believe that on Thursday my colleague will take part in the summit with us. I will be very happy to work with her. One of the things we did when we came to power was restore the jobs that were lost as a result of the major cuts inflicted by Mr. Harper’s previous government, for instance at the Canada Border Services Agency, where 1,000 jobs were eliminated. Half the jobs of office…
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Mr. Speaker, I know the opposition leader likes coming up with reasons to blame everyone. I would like to set the record straight by saying that we are working with provincial partners in both Ontario and Quebec on this very important issue. We have invited provincial ministers, police forces, the manufacturing industry and insurance companies to meet with us next week. I myself had an excellent m…
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Mr. Speaker, our government takes the alarming issue of auto theft very seriously. That is precisely why we invested, for example, with the Government of Ontario and local and provincial police forces, and increased resources yesterday to ensure that we are collaboratively doing everything we can do. We are going to add resources for the Canada Border Services Agency. We are going to ensure that t…
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Again, Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition forgets one important thing that this government did in collaboration with the provinces from coast to coast. We strengthened bail conditions to ensure that precisely the circumstance that my hon. friend continues to repeat, inaccurately, is not the case. I was very pleased that Premier Ford thanked our government at the event yesterday for working …
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Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, senior officials of the Canada Border Services Agency who are responsible for ensuring that all the appropriate contracting practices are followed have appeared before the committee. My conversation in early January with the president of CBSA was to the effect that we should share with the committee looking into this information obtained by the internal audit. CBSA is…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in the House to pay tribute, on behalf of the Government of Canada and the Liberal caucus, to an eminent Canadian who sadly left us earlier this month, the Hon. Ed Broadbent. On January 11, Canada lost a man who for decades had been a fixture of our democratic life. For over half a century, he was one of Canada's most compassionate and respected voices. He was at the epic…
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Mr. Speaker, I have obviously had a number of discussions with senior RCMP officials about the importance of strengthening our position at the border. The integrity of our borders is obviously an issue that the government takes very seriously. I have discussed this with my American counterpart, Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas. I can assure my colleague that the number of RCMP officers, for…
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Mr. Speaker, we obviously share the concerns of all Canadians with respect to the integrity of our borders. My colleague is suggesting that we are going to cut RCMP staff in “C” Division in Quebec to fight organized crime and secure our borders, but that is not quite true. Since the closure of Roxham Road and the changes to the safe third country agreement, the RCMP has reallocated its resources t…
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Mr. Speaker, the RCMP, with its policing partners across the country, are very engaged with the Sikh community and other communities across the country, which understandably feel an increased threat level with respect to what the U.S. justice department filed in a court in the United States yesterday. It is obviously a source of concern. It is understandable in the Sikh community. The RCMP continu…
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Mr. Speaker, we are far from being silent. Our government has condemned all incitements to violence, all expressions of hate. I regularly talk to federal law enforcement authorities, such as the RCMP and CSIS, to understand what they are doing with provincial, territorial and municipal partners to keep all communities safe. Today, I announced enhancements to the security infrastructure program to …
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Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has been clear in this matter. There is no criminal investigation. It has closed the case. That is the independent decision taken by Canada's national police force, and the commissioner, in his public comments yesterday, said he was very comfortable with that decision.
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Mr. Speaker, as colleagues know very well, we expect public servants, at all times, to follow the appropriate Treasury Board contracting practices. My colleague would know that, in this case, the Canada Border Services Agency, as part of its internal audit, uncovered information that it subsequently referred to the appropriate police authorities. That is exactly what has to happen in these cases. …
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Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of his question, my hon. colleague pointed out the importance of protecting Canadians who are understandably worried about their safety and the safety of their community and meeting places. I agree with him on that. Last week, I had discussions with Minister Bonnardel from Quebec and with other provincial and territorial ministers. These discussions focused specifical…
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Mr. Speaker, as the RCMP have confirmed, there is no active investigation. The case is closed, and authorities did not pursue any charges. My hon. friend knows very well the RCMP operations are conducted independently from government. If he has operational questions for them, I would suggest he contact the RCMP.
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Mr. Speaker, it is well known that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. We share the understandable concern of many Canadians with regard to Iran's role in the state sponsorship of terrorism. As my colleague knows, decisions around listing terrorist entities are based on the advice of our security professionals. I have obviously asked them to update this advice for the government and we will take…
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