Debates of Sept. 16th, 2009

Canada-U.S. Relations

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of International Trade.

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

Mr. Speaker, I had hoped that my friend might ask a better question when he spoke the second time, after the disturbance, but he did not.

In fact, it was the President of the United States, Mr. Obama, who said today that our Prime Minister Harper has made the situation created by the Buy American Act a priority. Furthermore, it was the President who agreed that we may have a solution. We will continue to work on a solution.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. Minister of International Trade is well aware that he cannot name a member in either an answer or a question. I hope he will not make that mistake again.

The hon. member for Beauséjour.

Employment

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, today the OECD announced that Canada's unemployment rate is expected to rise to 10% next year. The Royal Bank is making the same prediction.

Now, more than ever, Canada needs a government that believes it must take a positive active role to dig out of the recession and to build for the future. The government does not believe it is its responsibility to protect Canadian workers, women and minorities.

How can Canadians trust a government that worries more about protecting its own jobs than those of Canadian workers?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite quotes selectively from the OECD report. The OECD said that the Canadian unemployment rate would remain much better than that in the United States. That is the first time that has happened in a generation.

The OECD also said that Canada's fiscal stimulus package should have a relatively large effect in stemming job losses.

The question the opposition Liberals need to ask themselves is why they are voting against the economic stimulus package. Why are they doing that when Canadians need it and when Canadians need the job help? Why are the Liberals voting against those things?

[Gerard Kennedy, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the budget, the Minister of Finance announced to Canadians that jobs would be created by May 27.

In June, the Prime Minister announced to Canadians that 80% of the stimulus programs had created jobs.

Is the minister able to tell the House and Canadians today how many jobs have really been created by the infrastructure stimulus fund?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to Canadians in the process of preparing our third economic report to Canadians which will be ready soon.

I can say that the job creation and the job maintenance figures are even better than we had in the economic action plan.

Infrastructure

[Gerard Kennedy, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know the minister and his fellow cabinet ministers have been too busy dividing up the pork to keep track but we have examined hundreds of announced projects across the country. As of the beginning of September, only 12% of the main infrastructure fund is creating any jobs at all. That is an 88% failure rate.

The Prime Minister misled Canadians. The Minister of Finance misled Canadians. The infrastructure minister responsible has failed them.

Would anyone over there care to explain why they are letting down hundreds of thousands of unemployed Canadians and the Canadian economy so badly?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, this government is working hard. We have put politics aside.

We are working hard with Dalton McGuinty's Liberal Government of Ontario. We are working with Danny Williams in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are working with Jean Charest's Liberals in Quebec. In every part of this country we are working in partnership with 3,700 different municipalities. We are working hard with the 13 provincial and territorial governments.

We are getting the job done, and all the carping from the member opposite will not change the jobs, hope and opportunities that are being created in every part of this country.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has introduced a bill to abolish parole after one-sixth of the sentence has been served, including for white-collar criminals. This bill could have been passed in a single day, but for crassly partisan reasons, the Conservative government decided otherwise. If our bill were passed, it would apply immediately to Earl Jones and Vincent Lacroix, if they are found guilty.

How does the Conservative government explain its refusal to proceed with a bill that would have actual, immediate effects on the fight against white-collar crime?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, if the Bloc has decided to add justice to its agenda, that is all to the good. It is better late than never because the Bloc has constantly blocked our initiatives. Now it emerges, senses the simmering public discontent, and shows up with bills it has quickly cobbled together. The parole system cannot be reformed in two days, and the Bloc knows it.

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

Mr. Speaker, if someone should sense the simmering public discontent, it is the party opposite. We have been proposing this since 2007. The minister found the bill complex. A bill with two clauses is too complex for the minister. It is unbelievable.

What is he waiting for to give the go-ahead to a bill that would have an immediate impact, when they have no plans for abolishing parole after one-sixth of the sentence has been served? What are the Conservatives waiting for? The Liberals and the NDP are in favour. Now—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Public Works.

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the parole system needs to be reformed. Our government is working on it. They have this magical way of thinking across the aisle and cannot even understand that this comes under Public Safety. The excellent announcement we made yesterday, which is in line with what victims want, was to establish minimum sentences to deal firmly with sordid crimes and not allow people to serve their sentences in the comfort of their homes. In these cases, they do not even serve one-sixth of their sentence. It is a disgrace. This is grandstanding.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, those who commit white collar fraud are manipulative and commit fraud on a grand scale because they think they can get away with it by making use of tax havens to shelter the proceeds of their fraud. Rather than put forward specific solutions, the government tells us that it is going to study the problem.

Does the government realize that by signing free trade agreements with tax havens such as Panama that it is having a direct hand in protecting those who commit fraud?

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

Mr. Speaker, allow me to point out that this government is making real progress in attempting to eliminate these very tax havens. It is not illegal to have a bank account in a foreign country. What is not right is the failure to declare amounts earned on this money for taxation in Canada. We are continuing to work on this. I would just point out that, recently, in the case of UBS among others, the matter has become so public that people know they will be found out and have begun making voluntary disclosures.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on the subject of progress, we will see how quickly progress is made. The Minister of National Revenue claims that the voluntary disclosure program is effective against the tax havens as it has made it possible to recover $4.5 million. That is nothing compared with what the five major banks in Canada themselves report having saved thanks to tax havens--$2.4 billion in 2007 alone.

Does the minister realize that, by refusing to take action against tax havens, he is an accomplice to fraud?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, as previous governments did not act, we feel that we must make progress on the matter of the tax havens in order to find these people who are evading taxation in Canada. We are working to expand our powers with legislation to enable us to better do our job. In addition, with UBS, in 36 cases people have called to make a voluntary disclosure, and 12 of these cases have already been settled.

Taxation

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

Mr. Speaker, despite what the Prime Minister used to say about taxes, he has a finance minister who confirmed last week that he will be proposing a $19 billion payroll tax increase on workers and businesses.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has come out strongly against this job-killing initiative. Why would the finance minister want to bring forward a huge tax increase on the backs of Canadian families and Canadian businesses at this time, or any time for that matter?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I have been fortunate to be elected five times to the provincial legislature and here. I have served for 14.5 years and I never thought I would see a day in my life when the leader of the NDP would stand in his place and complain about high taxes. Where has he been? It is this government that has been cutting taxes. We cut the GST by two points, which the leader of the NDP and the NDP voted against it. This government cut income taxes. The leader of the NDP and the NDP voted against it.

Every time this government and the Conservative Party stands up to vote against taxes we are opposed by the NDP. I say shame on him and shame on his party.

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

Mr. Speaker, he did not deny the tax increase that the government is about to bring in.

Under the Liberal government, the surplus in the employment insurance fund reached $57 billion at the expense of unemployed workers. Both this government and the Liberal government that preceded it looted the employment insurance fund.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says that the $57 billion must be put back. Will the government do it? Will it put an end to this increase in its tax on employment?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Finance and this government sought to freeze these premiums, the NDP, each one of them, stood in their place and voted against those tax freezes, and the member opposite knows that.

What the member really needs to wonder is what the leader of the Liberal Party will do. On April 14, he said that federal taxes must go up, that we will have to raise taxes.

Can members believe that the leader of the NDP was going to join a government whose leader would say that?

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

Mr. Speaker, on top of the payroll tax increase, which the government today is refusing to deny that it is bringing in, the Conservatives are imposing a new tax. It is the HST on the citizens of Ontario and British Columbia.

The Prime Minister has united with the Liberal premiers of Ontario and British Columbia and with the Leader of the Opposition to impose a new tax on the families of these provinces. It is a raise the tax coalition; 7% more in B.C. and 8% more in Ontario on everything from vitamins to funerals.

Why would the government do this at this--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Transport.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP knows that decisions taken in the provinces by the governments of Ontario and British Columbia are just those. They are decisions taken in the provinces.

It is hypocrisy of the highest level for the leader of the NDP to stand and talk about high taxes. When the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and this government took major initiatives to cut the GST we could count on one thing day in and day out: for the NDP to stand in the way of middle class families from getting the real tax breaks. I say shame on them.

The good news is that the Minister of Finance and the government will keep working to reduce the tax burden on hard-working middle class families.