Debates of Sept. 15th, 2009

Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are watching with interest the blooming romance between the Prime Minister and the leader of the NDP. Like many relationships, things started out a bit rocky.

For a long time, the Prime Minister was quite derisive of the NDP leader, calling him a “left-wing ideologue”, and his party “the Bloc anglais”. It might have had something to do with the fact that the NDP tried to kill the government 79 times, but it is all behind them now and the romance is in full bloom.

In retrospect, we all should have suspected something was afoot when the NDP changed its website to blue, featured its leader wearing a sweater vest, and talked about changing the name of the party. But I must say, I have a sad feeling this romance will only end up in heartache for all Canadians.

Leader of the Opposition

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a statement made yesterday morning by a member of the House: “A fourth election in six years...is not something Canadians want, and I agree with them. These constant elections are awful”.

Those words were spoken by none other than the same member who criticized the Liberal leader for his lack of clarity and wisdom, the Liberal member for Papineau. Canadians do not want an election. The member for Papineau does not want an election. It turns out that the only person in Canada who wants an election is the Leader of the Opposition.

How foolish! How egocentric!

Canada-U.S. Relations

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, seven months ago, the Prime Minister met with President Obama. Seven months ago buy American was threatening Canadian jobs, country of origin labelling was hurting our pork and beef exporters and a thickening border was damaging trade and tourism. Seven months later, these things have only gotten worse.

For seven months, the Prime Minister has ceased to have any credibility in advancing the Canadian cause in the United States. How will the 42 minutes tomorrow be any different?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I anticipate, not just with President Obama but with congressional leaders, discussing things like environment and energy security, discussing peace and international security and, of course, discussing the economy, which all governments of the G20 are focused on primarily now and which I would encourage the Leader of the Opposition to focus on instead of trying to force a needless and wasteful election.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just said that he wants to talk about clean energy, which is an important subject, but he does not have any credibility on the subject. He has had three environment ministers in as many years. We have the worst climate change record in the G8. We have no plan to create the green jobs of tomorrow.

How can we trust the Prime Minister to advance the cause of the environment in 42 minutes tomorrow when he has failed for four years?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this summer, for example, I announced the Mayo B hydro project in the Yukon, which is an important project, not just for the economy but for the environment as well.

We have a clean energy dialogue going on with the United States administration. Both of our governments are putting a lot of money into both green and clean energy technology.

In fact, I do recall a time not too many weeks ago where the Leader of the Opposition actually supported those initiatives. I would encourage him to go back to supporting positive initiatives instead of trying to force the country into a wasteful election for his own purposes.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this dialogue on climate and the environment is a dialogue of the deaf. Seven months ago, the Prime Minister met with President Obama. Buy American was threatening our jobs at the time. That threat is still there.

How can we trust that the Prime Minister can advance Canada's cause in 42 minutes tomorrow when he has yet to accomplish anything in four years?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, Canada-U.S. relations have greatly improved since we came to power in 2006. Tomorrow, I will have important discussions with the Americans, with the President and congressional leaders, about issues such as the environment, energy, peace and international security, and especially the economy.

Our government and President Obama's government are focused on the economy, and I encourage the Leader of the Opposition to do the same, instead of triggering a needless and opportunistic election.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the only climate change we have witnessed today is the change in the colour of the Prime Minister's tie. It has changed from blue to orange.

Although the NDP leader and the Conservative Prime Minister are trying to invent a new dance, known as the SOCO or socialist-conservative dance, Quebeckers are no fools. They have no faith in this government. Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will be in Washington. Will this be another Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

We would like to know who will be the real Prime Minister? Will it be the friend of the reformist dinosaurs, who we heard speaking in Sault Ste. Marie, or the smiling Conservative charlatan?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, could my colleague ask a question rather than blathering?

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what I find interesting about this minister's tie is that now that it is almost blue, it is turning orange.

At the meeting of the three amigos this summer, President Obama pushed aside, even trivialized, the issue of the “Buy American” clause. He even said that it was not that serious and not to worry. At the time, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to protect the interests of Quebeckers and Canadians, yet he did nothing. Tomorrow marks one month of silence. It has been seven months since he said anything. He will have another opportunity to assert our interests.

How can we have confidence in this Prime Minister when he is rendered speechless by President Obama?

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, protectionism poses a serious problem for us in our dealings with the representatives in the U.S. Congress. That is why we presented a counter proposal. A few days ago I met with representatives in Washington to present our solution. Our trade negotiators are working on a document and we are continuing to work on a solution.

Employment Insurance

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the government announced new employment insurance measures, but many questions remain unanswered. For example, will this measure help workers in the forestry industry, which has been going through a very hard time for years, particularly in Quebec? Will this measure help workers in the pulp and paper industry, where several mills have been going through intermittent closures?

In other words, the Conservative government may have good intentions, but will its conditions not deny lots of what it calls long-tenured workers access to additional weeks of benefits?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is perfectly clear that the measures the minister announced yesterday are good measures for Canadian workers in all sectors, for long-tenured workers who need their benefit period extended during the recession.

I encourage the Bloc Québécois to support these measures for Canadian workers and the unemployed.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us consider older workers, those 55 and over. These are people who have been working for the same company for 25 or 30 years—that is what I call long-tenured. But every year, they go through a period of unemployment. According to the criteria, they will not be entitled to the new benefits, but Ontario auto workers will.

Will the conditions that apply to Ontario auto workers also apply to Quebec forestry workers? That is my question and I would like an answer.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, these improvements to employment insurance will be good for all unemployed workers in all industries in Canada. This is not a policy for a single industry or province. It is for everyone.

It is time for the Bloc to support positive measures for workers and the unemployed in Quebec.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what we just heard is inaccurate, given that, despite yesterday's announcement, the ongoing problem is access to the employment insurance system. According to the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development website, approximately 50% of unemployed workers do not have access to the EI system.

How can the minister claim to be helping workers, when half of all unemployed workers are being left to fend for themselves at a time when jobs are so scarce?

[Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois member should check his numbers, given that, in 2008, 82% of those who paid into EI were eligible. Furthermore, I would also remind the member that all employees, all long-tenured workers in the manufacturing, auto, mining and forestry sectors—all sectors hard hit by the economic crisis—are eligible for our program based on the criteria mentioned yesterday.

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it will take more than piecemeal measures to fix an employment insurance system that is full of holes. The system needs to be completely overhauled if it is to meet the needs of workers. For example, the two-week waiting period must be eliminated immediately, the wage replacement rate must be increased from 55% to 60%, and the eligibility threshold must be reduced to 360 hours.

Why is the government refusing to act immediately?

[Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, we have introduced several measures to help workers who lose their jobs.

First of all, we have added five weeks. We added them at the end so people will receive more EI benefits during that difficult time. Second, we amended job sharing to allow more employees to take advantage of it and to help more employers. In addition, yesterday we introduced a measure for long-tenured workers and for those looking for retraining. Overall, the four measures I just mentioned will help over 750,000 workers who have lost their jobs.

Canada-U.S. Relations

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know the Prime Minister will meet with President Obama tomorrow and we assume the issue of climate change will be on that short agenda. It is vitally important.

We know the Prime Minister favours the increased production of tar sands oil and its export. He is supported in that by the leader of the Liberal Party.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Would it not be better to raise with President Obama the kinds of solutions that really will deal with climate change instead of proposing more export of dirty oil from the tar sands? What about the solutions instead of the more pollution?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment has been pursuing a clean energy dialogue with the United States for some time now. We are focused, as it is, not just on climate change particularly, but on those areas that need special attention, like the oil sands and coal-fired electricity in the United States, which is about 40 times bigger than the oil sands.

I would point out that we are committed to clean development of the oil sands, upon which many Canadians' jobs depend, including a number of NDP voters, or at least people who work there who used to be NDP voters.

Afghanistan

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if nothing changes, Canada will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in 2011. We know that President Obama is looking for more long-term commitments and support. The American President will bring up this topic. Can the Prime Minister assure Canadians that he will not make any commitments to keep troops in Afghanistan past 2011? Will he support calls by European leaders for a UN conference on Afghanistan to find a new direction?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government's position is clear. The military mission will end in 2011. We are training the Afghan forces so that they can better defend their own country and work with our allies, including the Americans, on security and development in Afghanistan. President Obama is very committed to the mission in Afghanistan.

Canada-U.S. Relations

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on August 27, the United States imposed a fishing moratorium on a 21,000 square kilometre area of the Beaufort Sea that falls well within Canadian boundaries. This is the largest encroachment on Canadian territory in our history as a country.

The Prime Minister had a photo op on a frigate in the Arctic, but will he really protect Canadian sovereignty by asking President Obama tomorrow to withdraw the fishing moratorium the United States has imposed on Canadian territory?