House of Commons Hansard #159 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was criminals.

Topics

Employment InsuranceAdjournment Proceedings

6:40 p.m.

Simcoe—Grey Ontario

Conservative

Kellie Leitch ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles on the subject of employment insurance. Our government's top priority remains job creation and economic growth.

The approach taken by our government to connect Canadians with the jobs that are available in their communities is fair and reasonable.

It involves providing Canadians with the tools they need to successfully reintegrate into the labour market.

Let me be clear. For those who are unable to find employment, employment insurance will be there for them as it always has been. In addition, unemployed Canadians will not be required to relocate to another part of the country for fear of losing their EI benefits. The government will provide targeted enhanced labour market information to help unemployed Canadians make informed decisions about the future. We will also better coordinate the EI program and the temporary foreign worker program to ensure that Canadians have access to all jobs in their communities first.

Let me talk more about the labour market information. Right now, through job alerts, EI claimants receive up to three job postings when they apply and complete their online report every two weeks. This is not enough. In fact, many claimants do not receive any listings at all because the job bank carries only one in five jobs that is advertised online in Canada. Under the changes, job alerts will be improved to send claimants daily job postings for their chosen occupations and communities or regions from a broader range of sources, including those from the private sector job boards. The alerts will also include information on wages and demand for selected occupations.

Having access to this information will allow claimants to make informed decisions about how best conduct and expand their job searches. As for the factors that will determine suitable employment, these include personal circumstances. For example, people receiving EI will not have to accept work if they have a health problem that prevents them from taking a particular job, if they have a family obligation that prevents them from working certain times of day, if they have limited transportation or they are not physically capable of performing the work.

Vacant positions must not be directly related to strikes, lockouts or other labour disputes and the driving time must be within a one hour commute, perhaps higher, taking into account the claimant's previous commuting history and the community's average commuting time. Suitable will also be determined by hours worked and the type of work to be done, responsibilities, tasks, wages and experience. As time spent on EI claims increases, claimants will be required to expand what is considered suitable in terms of work type and hourly wages.

As we face unprecedented labour and skills shortages, it is important that the employment insurance program is working effectively for Canada and Canadians. These changes will strengthen EI's core insurance principles, making it more efficient and fair for everyone.

Employment InsuranceAdjournment Proceedings

6:45 p.m.

NDP

Anne-Marie Day NDP Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC

Mr. Speaker, this reform will diminish the salaries and downgrade the working conditions of all workers. It will impoverish the unemployed.

Will a worker be forced to take a job at 70% of 70% of his original salary if he loses his second job? How can the salary of a new employee be set properly without undermining his true skills, if employers are relying on the previous salary and that was already reduced to 70%?

This reform will further stigmatize the unemployed by continually suggesting that they are lazy and must take responsibility.

One might wonder whether this reform that the Conservatives are trying to force on the unemployed is not a violation of fundamental human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that “everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, and to protection against unemployment”. I remind hon. members that we are part of the International Labour Organization.

What is the government waiting for to protect our workers and provide them with a real job creation plan?

Employment InsuranceAdjournment Proceedings

6:45 p.m.

Conservative

Kellie Leitch Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned before, our government's top priority is creating jobs, promoting economic growth and getting Canadians back to work in their communities. The government will make that connection easier by providing targeted enhanced labour market information, linking unemployed Canadians with available jobs in their communities. In return, EI claimants will have a defined set of criteria that will help them in their search for suitable employment.

Providing claimants with better tools to help them look for jobs, while clearly specifying that they are responsible for conducting a reasonable search to find suitable employment, is just a matter of common sense.

We are acting in the best interests of Canadians to better connect them with available jobs in their local areas that are appropriate for their qualifications. These are common sense and reasonable changes that are in the best interests of Canadians and the economy.

EthicsAdjournment Proceedings

6:45 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, on May 2, I asked the following question to the ethically challenged government:

Mr. Speaker, a year in, the government is showing how tired and corrupt it really is: the CIDA minister who believes taxpayers are there only to support her lavish lifestyle; the Minister of Industry who believes industrial development is keeping the Ethics Commissioner's office at work, investigating himself three times; a Treasury Board minister, of gazebo fame; and the Minister of National Defence who has helicopters as his personal limousine, and of course the $9-billion fib.

How can the Prime Minister condone such a crew of tainted ministers?

At the time I pointed to a troubling trend of the government, namely that Conservative ministers from the President of the Treasury Board to the Minister of National Defence to the former minister of CIDA, all seemed to regard government assets and taxpayers' dollars as their own personal property to be used whenever it suited them. This is a crew that somehow believes that they simply say things like transparency and accountability and they mean something. The obligation on ministers is to represent the ethical standard by which the government is gauged, and they have failed sadly in that standard of accountability. It would appear any standard of expectations is something Conservative ministers have difficulty with.

That was last May. It is now October. Now we have to add to the list of ethically challenged ministers, the Minister of Health, who has gone missing in action on the E. coli outbreak, and that repeat offender, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Through her offices and that of the Public Health Agency, the Minister of Health has a duty, an obligation, to engage the Canadian public when it comes to a health care issue. Either the minister has no understanding of her duties or she is being instructed to sit in her place and ignore what is happening across this country. This is the biggest recall in Canadian history and there are Canadians who have become ill as a direct result of the meat that has reached store shelves. Consumers want assurance and the Minister of Health has a responsibility to give them that assurance and lay out the plan of how government is dealing with this crisis.

Then there is the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. His latest performance with respect to the E. coli outbreak has resulted in the largest recall of beef in Canadian history, in which we witnessed the spectacle of the minister telling the House that none of the infected meat reached store shelves. We know differently. We know it reached store shelves.

Yesterday we had the spectacle of the minister calling a press conference not too far from the XL plant. We saw the minister practically run from the media. Not only did he run from the media and go into hiding, but his staff then hauled the president of CFIA, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, off the podium when that man, who is responsible for food inspection in Canada, was trying to answer a question.

Today we saw the minister shamed into another press conference and at least he answered a few questions, but he only gave excuses.

Time and time again on issues large and small, the government has shown a contempt for Canadians. Therefore, I ask again the question I posed last May. How can the Prime Minister condone such a crew of tainted ministers?

EthicsAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

Simcoe—Grey Ontario

Conservative

Kellie Leitch ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to respond to the hon. member for Malpeque, though I must say that I find it quite ironic. The hon. member seems to have completely forgotten the days of the sponsorship scandal, which his party and Liberal government allowed under its watch. It was a scandal that saw millions of tax dollars wasted on egregious kickbacks and party favours to Liberal donors and friends.

On this side of the House, we respect the hard-earned tax dollars of Canadians. That is why our government has maintained the highest level of accountability when spending tax dollars.

Since taking office, our government has reduced the cost of travel by 15% and accommodations by nearly 8% for ministers from the high levels that were the norm under the Liberal Party when it was government.

We are a government that respects the Canadian taxpayer and has delivered results. Whether it be helping young Canadians with access to labour markets through our youth employment strategy or stimulating small business growth through the extension of the hiring credit for small businesses, our government is committed to ensuring that Canadians get value for their money. We respect their hard-earned tax dollars.

With respect to the comments regarding the ministers of the House, I will to reiterate what I said last evening: This government acts to protect Canadians. The health of Canadians is the government's first priority. We have increased the number of food inspectors by over 700 persons, by over 170 meat inspectors in fact. This is something that we have acted and moved forward on to protect Canadians and their health. The opposition members have voted against all of these increases.

Suffice it to say, the member has it wrong. I encourage the member to remember the sponsorship scandal, the reason why we are in government, because we are accountable and take account of Canadian taxpayers' dollars. The Liberals seem to have forgotten how to do that.

EthicsAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, clearly the parliamentary secretary has not addressed the question as she goes back through history and tries to mount an attack, but it does not hold water any more. There was a public inquiry. That was settled. There was not a Liberal elected person charged under that inquiry, but she wants to talk about scandal.

The fact of the matter is that this member is using the kind of doublespeak that we have seen all along. She tries to slough away the current E. coli crisis, when in fact we all know that the biggest beef recall in Canadian history is under way.

Something went wrong. What are those 700 inspectors doing? Are any of them in a primary slaughter beef plant? Were new people really added there?

What is really needed is for the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to come together and give some assurances to Canadians so that consumers can have confidence in all the good beef coming from--

EthicsAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

EthicsAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

Kellie Leitch Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite certainly has a lot of courage to stand up in this House and make those remarks about the Liberal Party, which totally disregarded Canadian taxpayers' hard-earned dollars during the sponsorship scandal.

On this side of the House we respect Canadian taxpayers and maintain a high standard in the use of taxpayers' dollars.

With respect to the specific plant he refers to, we have augmented the number of inspectors and veterinarians at that site. I encourage him to look at those facts when he makes comments, as he did in this House.

We will continue to stay focused on the creation of good paying, full-time jobs, continued economic growth and the things that Canadians are focused on, as well as making sure that food in this country is safe. That is why we augmented the number of inspectors and veterinarians at this plant. That is why we augmented the numbers overall. I encourage him to take a look at the facts.

EthicsAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:58 p.m.)