Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, what is happening in Gaza is absolutely catastrophic; it is one of the worst places on earth to live right now. We have been clear: The 400 Canadians stuck in Gaza need to leave. Time is running out. We will be putting pressure on all parties in terms of Israel, making sure that we do so, working with Egypt and working with Qatar, which is speaking to Hamas, and making sure that our C…
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Mr. Speaker, what happened in Gaza is absolutely devastating. Palestinian civilians and Israeli civilians are equal and must be protected. We heard the Prime Minister earlier today. Canada and its allies are working to determine exactly what happened, and Canadians deserve answers.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, the Prime Minister has spoken with the President of Israel and the President of Egypt. At every opportunity, we have called for humanitarian access to Gaza. Right now, Gaza is one of the worst places to live on Earth, which makes it all the more important for humanitarian aid to reach it. We will continue to engage with different countries in the region to make that happen.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure all members in this House of the importance for us to counter any form of foreign interference. That is why the Minister of Public Safety and I have been working on this over the past months. Of course, we all know that Justice Hogue has been appointed to be in charge of the inquiry. That being said, we will continue to work within our Indo-Pacific strategy, a…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate you. Congratulations, my dear friend. It is nice to see you in the chair. To answer my colleague's question, of course we will always abide by a strong arms-export treaty where we respect human rights. We will always make sure that is the case and that end users are also taken into account. I look forward to working with her on this very issue.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for raising this important issue, which is deeply impacting the security of the Caucasus and Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. We have heard from the Armenian community, which has members all across the country and certainly also in my own riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. My heart and my thoughts are with them. Of course, my heart and my tho…
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Mr. Speaker, of course, our colleague heard my speech, and we are calling for Azerbaijan to end its hostilities. At the same time, of course, we need to put pressure on the country to ensure the 2020 ceasefire agreement, which was based on three fundamental principles. The first one is the non-use of force, the second is territorial integrity and the third is making sure the principle of self-dete…
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Mr. Speaker, this is an important question. Concerning sanctions, we always try to act in co-operation with a number of other countries. Putting pressure on the country concerned is important. Everything is on the table, and sanctions are always a tool that can be highly effective.
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Mr. Speaker, of course, I value the opinion of my colleague, and of course I will be answering her letter, which I will read in the coming hours. That being said, on the question of sanctions, which is the same question our colleague from the Bloc Québécois just asked, as I mentioned, everything is on the table.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that more than ever, what is happening in the world has an impact on their day-to-day lives, and Canada is definitely stepping up on the world stage. Last week at the UN, I co-hosted, along with Secretary Blinken and Michael Kovrig, an arbitrary detention summit. At this point, the declaration on arbitrary detention has now been signed by 75 countries. We also launched …
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Mr. Speaker, these transactions were made under the Canada Account. The Canada Account is used to support export transactions which Export Development Canada is unable to support, but which are determined by the Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, in concurrence with the Minister of Finance, to be in Canada's national interest. This is usually due to a combi…
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Mr. Speaker, the following reflects a consolidated response approved on behalf of Global Affairs Canada ministers. With regard to part (a) of the question, as scheduled, the mission cultural fund, or MCF, sunsetted on March 31, 2023, and ceased activities. Regarding part (b), a departmental evaluation of the MCF was conducted in 2020 by the diplomacy, trade and corporate evaluation division of Glo…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an important question, and it gives me the opportunity to talk about two things. The first is what we are doing to make sure the Russian regime is held accountable. Canada is the first country in the world now able to seize and forfeit important assets of the Russian regime. Indeed, we seized the Antonov plane, which has been stranded at the Pearson airport. When it comes to Ira…
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Mr. Speaker, that was a great question. While in Kyiv, the Prime Minister announced $500 million more in military support, including that Canada will help train Ukrainian fighter pilots. We also announced the seizure of the Russian Antonov plane stranded at Pearson Airport. This is the first physical asset. With our new seizure powers, we will be the first of our allies to make sure that we are us…
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moved that Bill C-41, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, be read the third time and passed.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague asked an excellent question. I want to thank him for his work. I just came back from the NATO meeting in Norway. We know that climate change has an impact on our health, but it also has an impact on our security. The situation is just going to keep getting worse over time. It goes without saying that we need to understand the impact of climate change on defence in the Nor…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure the member and all of my colleagues in the House. It goes without saying that if any diplomats here in Canada fail to comply with the Vienna Convention, we will, of course, declare them persona non grata. That is exactly what we did with the former Chinese consul in Toronto, Zhao Wei. Under the circumstances, I would be happy to work with my colleague to ensur…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend from Mississauga—Streetsville for her important advocacy and her fantastic work. It was my first trip to the Philippines, and we know the country is extremely important in the context of our Indo-Pacific strategy. I had the chance to meet with government members, as well as civil society and business leaders. Of course, as we head into Fil…
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Mr. Speaker, of course we are taking the issue of foreign interference very seriously. Of course we will never accept any form of foreign interference in our democracy. That is why, after much reflection and evaluation of all the different potential consequences, we decided to take action based on principle and pragmatism. After summoning the ambassador, we decided to expel the Chinese diplomat in…
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Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague forgot to pay attention yesterday and listen to what was happening in committee. Jenni Byrne, Pierre Poilievre's chief strategist, his confidante, the person who thinks of everything necessary—
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Mr. Speaker, if my colleague has been following everything that has been done on this file over the past few weeks, then he knows very well that a special rapporteur has been appointed, former governor general David Johnston. He is doing his work and we are going to let him do that. He will make his recommendations shortly. The Minister of Public Safety is following this file very closely. Given t…
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Mr. Speaker, we will say it one more time and the Bloc needs to hear it. The Century Initiative is not a government policy. First of all, the Bloc Québécois needs to stop scaring people. Second, the Bloc Québécois knows very well that the federal government gives the most money to Quebec for the francization of immigrants. We are there with more than $700 million per year to work with the Quebec g…
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Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that the appointments are non-partisan and independent. It is very important because we are a country of rule of law. I think that everyone here agrees on that. It is also a priority of ours for the bench to be representative of the population. We will work with the justice system. We will also work with the different representatives in society. The current Mini…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for Pierrefonds—Dollard, a fantastic riding, for his important question. The recent images of the arrest of Imran Khan are deeply troubling. We are very preoccupied with the political crisis that is happening right now in Pakistan. We are monitoring the situation very closely, and I am receiving regular updates. Of course, Canada will always stand up…
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to repeat that. Jenni Byrne, the official opposition leader's chief strategist, his confidante, the person he trusts, told the committee yesterday that when the official opposition leader was minister of democratic institutions, he did nothing about foreign interference. We are not going to take any lessons from our Conservative colleagues, and we are going to be there to act…
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Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague well knows that we have a very important Indo-Pacific strategy that includes our China strategy. In there it is clear that we will put a national security lens on foreign investments. Therefore, of course we have the security of Canadians in mind, at stake, as a priority. Meanwhile, as my colleague mentioned in his question, we will never accept any form of foreig…
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, as the Bloc Québécois is well aware, because the minister has already said so, the initiative mentioned is not a policy of this government. That is the first point. My second point is that, to my knowledge, there were no Bloc Québécois members present with the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and the Minister of Health when they were negotiating an additional $8 bil…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, our policy is clear. We are a feminist government. That includes defending women's rights, including a woman's right to choose and a woman's right to access abortion. We will always be there to fund clinics, but also to fight the radical right that models itself on everything that comes out of the United States, south of our border, which certainly has reper…
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Mr. Speaker, if I could continue to speak without my colleague interrupting me, which we also said—
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Mr. Speaker, of course, when it comes to foreign interference, we will never tolerate it, and that is exactly what I said to my counterpart when I met with him a month ago. That is also why we summoned the Chinese ambassador a bit earlier today. Now, we are also, as a thoughtful government, assessing all the interests that are at stake, because we know, based on the two Michaels' experience, that …
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Mr. Speaker, I fully understand the frustration and fear that our colleague felt knowing that he and his family could be targeted by the government in Beijing. That is why we have always said and will always say that any form of foreign interference is unacceptable. That is why my deputy minister summoned the Chinese ambassador earlier today.
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Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of this crisis, we have been at it. At Global Affairs Canada, 130 people have been reaching out to every single Canadian who has been registered online on the Global Affairs website: 800 Canadians have raised their hand for support and 200 Canadians have left. We will continue to help. This morning two Canadian planes left Sudan. They are on their way to a safe thi…
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Mr. Speaker, I just want to set the record straight. It is important for Canadians to know that consular services helping on the crisis in Sudan right now are working 24-7. The strike is not affecting these services; there are 130 people right now at Global Affairs helping Canadians who are stranded in Sudan, and they will work until every single one of them is back.
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Mr. Speaker, getting Canadian residents and Canadians out of Sudan is absolutely our priority. Just a few days ago, the UN Secretary General called Sudan one of the most dangerous places in the world, so we are operating in a very volatile and very difficult environment. At this point, 200 Canadians have managed to leave the country. Two planes have left Sudan. The goal is to help all the Canadian…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure this House because my colleague mentioned the fact that people stuck in Sudan are not able to get out of Sudan. Canadians right now are being contacted 24-7 because consular services are emergency services. We are there to help them. We have had 550 of them who raised their hands saying they need help; 100 have gotten out of Sudan. We are on this and we will m…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased, on this wonderful evening and at this late hour, to rise to speak to this issue and answer my colleagues' questions. I will be sharing my time. I want to thank my colleague, the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for his work and his interest in this issue. I thank him for having initiated this debate on the very serious and difficult situation in Sudan. It …
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Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague is referring to the fact that the Minister of Immigration announced that Sudanese nationals could apply for an extension of their status in Canada, and move between temporary streams, allowing them to continue to study, work or visit family, free of charge. I know that there is more to be done, to the member's point. In that sense, of course we are looking at diff…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a very important document for the House, and for you. Pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), and in accordance with the requirements set out in the current policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Agreement between the Government of Canada on the one hand and the Government of the Kin…
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Mr. Speaker, this is a very important question. First and foremost, yesterday my colleague, the Minister of Immigration also announced very important measures regarding the Sudanese people in Canada who, of course, would not have to go back to Sudan because of what is going on right now. Of course we can provide the specifics of these measures to our colleagues. This is public information. Second,…
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Mr. Speaker, regarding what is happening in Sudan, it goes without saying that we will continue to support the Sudanese people. We have done so for years. We have invested in humanitarian assistance in Sudan, but of course the situation is such that we need to step up and provide additional assistance, not only to the Sudanese people, but also to the neighbouring countries that are going to be aff…
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Mr. Speaker, President Biden's visit last week provided an opportunity to make very important announcements: historic investments in our Great Lakes; expanding the safe third country agreement to cover the full border; additional commitments to NORAD to protect our skies; and creating good jobs, including union jobs, on both sides of the border. When it comes to our closest friend and ally, we can…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her important question. I share the concerns of Armenian Canadians, and Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. We continue to call on Azerbaijan authorities to reopen the Lachin corridor. We need to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis. Canada supports the 2020 ceasefire agreement, including the return of Armenian prisoners of war. It is impo…
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Mr. Speaker, let me be clear that bringing back the two Michaels, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, was the utmost priority of this government, of all members of the House, of all Canadians across the country. For two years, we have worked tirelessly to make sure that these two Michaels, who were arbitrarily detained by China, would be coming back home safe. That is what we did and that was the o…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians do indeed have a right to be informed. For two years, they were informed that it was this government's priority to bring home two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were arbitrarily detained in China. For two years, people across the country were clear. This was their priority, so it had to be the priority of the government and all members of the House too. We…
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Mr. Speaker, what my colleague opposite needs to understand is that bringing home both Michaels was a priority. It was a priority for this government. Any insinuations to the contrary are absolutely false. Thus, I am answering the question, or the premise of the question: Canada, the government and all Canadians worked extremely hard to bring home Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two people who …
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Mr. Speaker, as I have said a number of times in the House, bringing back the two Michaels was the utmost priority of this government. That was the priority of the Prime Minister, of several foreign affairs ministers and of all the members of the House. We worked with numerous counterparts around the world to ensure support for the two Michaels and to put pressure on China to achieve a positive ou…
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to making sure the two Michaels, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, would be coming home, it was this government's utmost priority. For two years, the Prime Minister and foreign affairs ministers were heavily involved. All members of cabinet were talking to counterparts from around the world. Implying that this was not the case is absolutely false. We hope that all membe…
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Mr. Speaker, I must reassure the House and, of course, my dear colleague that bringing the two Michaels, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, back to Canada was always a priority for this government. I believe it was also a priority for all members of the House and certainly for all Canadians. September 24, 2021, was a great day because they finally came home. Protecting Canadians around the world, …
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister knew very well what was happening to the two Michaels and made sure that his government would be standing up against China in the context of their arbitrary detention. In that sense, we will never accept any form of premise that this government and Canadians did not work enough to bring them back home. It was our priority, and members can be convinced that it will a…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank all the members of the House who were involved in making sure we could raise the case of the two Michaels for two years, because we worked with friends and allies, different states around the world, to make sure that we could advocate their case and that, on September 24, 2021, they would be coming back here to Canada. In that sense, we will stand up against any …
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