Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, NATO members are unanimous: We have to move forward through diplomatic channels. That is why there are three channels in place, whether it is the Americans talking with the Russians, NATO with Russia or even talks within the OSCE. That is how we ease tensions. However, we agree that there needs to be deterrence. I hope that my colleague recognizes that the government is doing a great …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. When it comes to ensuring that there is not another Russian invasion of Ukraine, of course we believe in diplomacy and deterrence. On the diplomatic front, just yesterday I spoke with officials in the Netherlands, Denmark and Latvia, and this morning I spoke with officials in Estonia. Basically, we are continuing to work with our allies to mainta…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for this very important question because on sanctions, we are really ready to impose severe economic sanctions should Russia further invade Ukraine. We are working closely with our allies: the U.S., the EU and of course the U.K. Sanctions are most effective when we all act in lockstep. Canada is ready.
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Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservative Party, especially since it made massive cuts to all missions abroad when it was in power. In the circumstances, we are showing leadership on this issue. I went to Ukraine just this week, my colleague, the Minister of National Defence, is there now, and we are working with the Ukrainian government. We are also there to tell the Russian gove…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously we take the threat of a further Russian invasion very seriously. That is why there are two tacks to stop Russia from further invading Ukraine. The first is the diplomatic one. That is why we are working with NATO and the U.S., and with France and Germany in the Normandy format. Also, we are working on deterrence. That is why we extended and expanded Operation Unifier. We hav…
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Mr. Speaker, as mentioned before, we have already answered the call on the part of the Ukrainian government by expanding and extending Operation Unifier. I was there a week ago and met with the Canadian Armed Forces members on site, who right now come from Valcartier, in Quebec City. I saw on the ground how thankful the national guard is to Canadians for making sure that we are providing the right…
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Mr. Speaker, we take the allegations of genocide against the Uighur people in China very seriously. That is why we have always expressed these concerns, that is why we are not sending political representatives to the Beijing Olympics, which begin on Friday, and that is also why we have asked the UN human rights committee to investigate the matter. I would therefore like to correct my colleague, wh…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I do not agree on everything. We agree on the fact that we need to make sure that there is no further invasion of Ukraine. However, right now the most important thing we need to do is make sure that we invest in diplomacy and deterrence, and that is exactly what we are doing. Right now, we are really the country that is bridging all the other countries of the alliance…
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Madam Chair, is a pleasure to see you in that seat. I am pleased to be in the House this evening to talk about an issue that is a priority for this administration, but also one that is rallying every foreign minister in the western world. The facts are simple. As we speak, there are 100,000 Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine, troops equipped with tanks and missiles, armed troops that are rea…
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Mr. Speaker, what is fundamental and what I want to reiterate to my colleague is that Russia is the aggressor right now. There is no form of aggression on the part of Ukraine or any member of NATO at this time. I think we need to agree on this issue here in the House, because it is fundamental to our understanding of the conflict at the moment. I would like to point out something else. My colleagu…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not because my colleague, the Leader of the Opposition, states facts that they are necessarily true. In that sense, our actions have been clear. First, we gave $120 million in a sovereign loan. Second, we doubled the troops in Operation Unifier in Ukraine. Does he know that we have the biggest foreign military training presence in Ukraine as of now? Does he know that Canadians r…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned dialogue, and I agree. I would like to remind him of the three diplomatic channels all allies are currently using. The first is direct dialogue between the U.S. and Russia, and we are, of course, in touch with the Americans on this. The second is between NATO and Russia. As a NATO member, we are actively participating in NATO's dialogue with Russia. The third is…
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Mr. Speaker, when I was in Ukraine a week ago, President Zelenskyy had one ask. It was to make sure that we would help by offering a sovereign loan to the Ukraine government to deal with economic instability. Three days later, we provided $120 million in sovereign loans. What I heard from the national guard on site in Ukraine was that they needed more support in terms of military training. A week …
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Mr. Speaker, we are steadfast in supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Let me quote NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg. He said, “Canada is one of the lead countries in NATO when it comes to providing support for Ukraine.” He also said, “There are not many other countries at the equal level of efforts, doing as much as Canada.” We will continue to work with our NATO allies an…
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Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives. On the contrary, we hope to have the support of all members of the House regarding what is happening right now in Ukraine. We need to send Russia a strong message. Russia is currently the aggressor, and we stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. That is why we are putting an enormous amount of energy into the various diplomatic ch…
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Madam Chair, we know that workers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and across Canada will have our support when it comes to our natural resources sector, including the oil and gas sector, and it is always a priority for the government when talking with our friends, the Americans.
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Mr. Speaker, of course we want to learn what happened in Afghanistan. We also want to make sure the future Afghanistan is better than it is right now, and that is why we are continuing to follow the situation in Afghanistan very closely. We are very preoccupied with the situation of Afghans, particularly women and girls who are right now in Afghanistan. It is why I have raised the issue with all m…
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Mr. Speaker, I have no lessons to learn from my colleague when it comes to playing partisan politics, because that is exactly what the Conservatives are doing right now. That being said, we definitely need to learn from what happened in Afghanistan. As a government, we must do that. We are prepared to work with the opposition, but other countries have to do this as well. We are also working within…
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Mr. Speaker, the Afghanistan issue is indeed very important. Of course, Canada served alongside many of our NATO allies in Afghanistan, and we were supported by many Afghans on the ground, which is why we decided to honour that Afghan commitment to Canada by bringing 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. We have now taken in almost 5,000, and we are one of the countries that has received the most Afgh…
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Of course, we can also be proud that we will be resettling many of the NATO-linked refugees. Flights are arriving as we speak.
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Mr. Speaker, of course the question of Afghanistan is important. It is important to our government, and it is important to all Canadians. I just came back from NATO and the OSCE, where I had the chance to meet with many of my counterparts to look at the lessons learned regarding what happened in Afghanistan. We can be extremely proud of being one of the countries that will be resettling the most A…
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Madam Chair, people watching us right now must know that the government is there for the softwood lumber jobs and we will continue to fight for them.
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Madam Chair, my colleague should also remember what her leader said during the CUSMA negotiations. They wanted to capitulate. We were able to have a strong view and that is why we are able to fight for the jobs right now.
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Madam Chair, of course it is important that we fight for the jobs in the softwood lumber industry. That is exactly what we are doing. We are doing it in a very—
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Madam Chair, to make sure that we make things work in this democracy and—
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Madam Chair, my colleague has been asking the same question and, of course, I have answered all of these questions.
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I have answered the question, Madam Chair.
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Madam Chair, I do not know whether my colleague at this point is doing theatre or actual parliamentary work.
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Madam Chair, my colleague should work with the government because we will make sure that we put into place chapter 10 of CUSMA and also we will put this before the—
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Madam Chair, I will not take any lessons from my colleague, any form of posturing on the part of my colleague and, of course—
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Madam Chair, softwood lumber is under CUSMA as well and she should know that as the natural resources critic.
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Madam Chair, we have won every dispute on softwood lumber since then, and we will continue to fight and win.
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Madam Chair, I will take no lessons from my colleague or from Conservatives, who wanted us to capitulate in CUSMA.
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Madam Chair, I would remind my colleague that when she does media in Canada, it does not necessarily go to the U.S. That is why what we do is raise it in the—
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Madam Chair, rather than working to be on the front page of newspapers, we are really working for the softwood lumber sector.
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Madam Chair, as I said, the Minister of International Trade will be working on this and I will be supporting her very closely.
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Madam Chair, first and foremost, we took a diplomatic approach. We went to Washington. We will ensure that we abide by chapter 10 and the WTO. We will do everything—
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Madam Chair, the Minister of International Trade will be able to follow up with my colleague.
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Madam Chair, we will work with the industry, with workers and with unions, because it is important that we defend the jobs in the softwood lumber sector.
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Madam Chair, we need to have a team Canada approach. I hope my colleague from Calgary Nose Hill will support us.
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Madam Chair, my colleague must know that we will raise it under chapter 10 of CUSMA and also through the WTO.
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Madam Chair, we will vigorously defend the interests of Canada when it comes to softwood lumber. Coming from Quebec, I am very much aware that it is important to defend these jobs in this very important sector, and that is why we also—
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Madam Chair, my colleague, the Minister of International Trade, went to Washington last week for an important mission. There were colleagues from the other side of the aisle present with her.
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Madam Chair, for sure I will be going to the Arctic. I look forward to it. Harper did, indeed, go to the Arctic, but our Prime Minister did also. It is a long-standing policy that we recognize Arctic sovereignty. This is our part of the world and we will—
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Madam Chair, first and foremost, we will ensure that we assert our sovereignty in different ways by engaging with our partners, by raising it with multilateral organizations and by ensuring also that we have—
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Madam Chair, my colleague should celebrate that it is in the Speech from the Throne. It will be part of my mandate. We will be working to ensure that we assert our sovereignty. We also recently bought six ice breakers—
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Madam Chair, it is not because my colleague continues to read his lines that he necessarily is following what I am saying. I said we would be developing an Arctic strategy. I said we would be asserting Arctic sovereignty. As for NORAD, yes, we will proceed with NORAD modernization, and we have increased the budget.
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