Syrian Refugees

MP Michelle Rempel (Conservative) stated that soon Syrian refugees will see their one year of government-funded support terminate and most of these refugees still don’t have access to training to learn French or English. The Minister of Immigration, John McCallum responded by saying that the government is working hard through settlement agencies to provide funding to support language training for refugees. The Minister of Immigration added that in seven months the government has admitted 46,000 refugees and ninety-nine per cent of all the refugees are now in permanent housing.

MP Jenny Kwan (NDP) said certain Syrian refugees in Saskatoon are receiving their monthly assistance payments nearly three weeks late. MP Arif Virani (Liberal) responded that he will endeavour to work with MP Jenny Kwan going forward to find out about average wait times to deliver income supports to refugees.

National Defense – Iraq, ISIL

The Leader of the Opposition, MP Rona Ambrose stated the Prime Minister naively pulled our fighter jets out of the fight against ISIS and cut billions of dollars from national defense spending. The Prime Minister responded that the Conservatives were unable to deliver the kinds of planes and equipment that the Canadian Forces needed, and now the Liberals have to make a decision.

Sale of Arms to Saudi Arabia

MP Hélène Laverdière (NDP) said that the Prime Minister told Canadians that the Saudi Arabia arms deal was a done deal that happened under the previous government. Nonetheless, we learned in April 2016 that the Minister of Foreign Affairs in fact signed the export permits for the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. MP Hélène Laverdière added that the government did an assessment for the arms deal but it was a weak assessment that did not consider the  human rights abuses perpetrated by Saudi Arabia. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, responded by stating that the deal was done by the previous government. The current government is honouring this deal because it takes its duty to protect 3,000 jobs in Canada seriously, and a cancellation of the deal would result in financial penalties for Canadian taxpayers. Do we agree with Saudi Arabia's human rights record? Not in the least, she stated.

Recently Active Bills

• C-14 - Amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying)
• S-225 - Amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (substances used in the production of fentanyl)
• C-210 - Amend the National Anthem Act (gender)
• S-1001 - Authorize La Capitale Financial Security Insurance Company to apply to be continued as a body corporate under the laws of the Province of Quebec
• C-15 - Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1.
• C-18 - Amend the Rouge National Urban Park Act, the Parks Canada Agency Act and the Canada National Parks
• C-226 - Impaired Driving
• C-233 - National Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
• C-17 - Amend the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act and to make a consequential amendment to another
• C-11 - Amend the Copyright Act (access to copyrighted works or other subject-matter for persons with perceptual disabilities)
• S-224 - Canada Prompt Payment