House of Commons Hansard #91 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was jobs.

Topics

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The hon. member for Vancouver East.

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, copping out and blaming the provinces and the territories just does not cut it. Why did the government not step in sooner if it understood what was going on? They should not be relying on sole suppliers and hoping for the best. What we need is mandatory reporting and timely follow-up, something the government has not done.

The minister is sitting on her hands and leaving Canadians in critical need. Regrettably, this is another example of the minister siding with industry rather than with patients. Why will the minister not take responsibility? Will she act now to ensure mandatory reporting and call an investigation into the shortages?

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health and Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure Canadians that we are working on this 24/7. When it comes to the approval, it is in our collective interest to resolve this shortage. Industry and professional health care associations must be responsible and continue to work on measures beyond information sharing so that they can create stability in their supply chain and prevent drug shortages.

My department is helping the provinces and the territories by fast-tracking approvals without compromising our high standards of safety and efficacy.

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC

Mr. Speaker, shifting the blame to others is the only thing this government is capable of.

The Conservatives claim that everything is under control, that they are going to expedite the process for importing drugs. The problem is that they have not even identified alternative drugs. They are making things up as they go along. At best, the process will take weeks.

In the meantime, in the Outaouais alone, more than 60 surgeries have been cancelled. Patients are paying the price for the Conservatives' inaction. This is completely unacceptable.

Where is the plan to guarantee the quality of the drugs manufactured here and to avoid future shortfalls?

HealthOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health and Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency

Mr. Speaker, we are very disappointed with Sandoz. It should not have withheld information from the provinces and the territories for as long as it did, which has made the situation worse. It is responsible for managing the safe supply of its products in Canada and for taking steps to prevent supply interruptions that could lead to shortages.

Again I will say that we are doing everything we can to assist the provinces and the territories in addressing this matter.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON

Mr. Speaker, the member for Saskatoon—Wanuskewin disclosed that the Conservative Party manages voter lists centrally, meaning perpetrators of this election fraud needed more than local access in order to misdirect voters to the wrong polls in ridings across the country.

We have said all along there is no way a rogue Conservative partisan could have managed such a sophisticated task on his own. This implies some form of central coordination of information and locations.

Will the Conservative Party drop its victimized pretence and give Elections Canada its voter software, which will disclose who, when and how these calls were made right across Canada?

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has indicated many times in this House, which is why this question surprises me, we are assisting Elections Canada and we will continue to do so.

The exaggerated allegations made by the member opposite demean the millions of voters who cast legitimate votes in the last election. The opposition has paid millions to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls. Before those members continue these baseless smears, they should prove their own callers are not in fact behind these reports.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

Mr. Speaker, the evidence is starting to come in in Lac-Saint-Louis. Last week I was contacted by a voter who told me she received two calls during the election campaign. The first call was a live call asking her if she was going to vote Conservative. She replied she would not. Then close to election day she received a robocall telling her that her polling station had changed.

I would like to know how the Prime Minister would explain this strange coincidence. Also, how would he explain it given the fact that there were no Liberal robocalls in Lac-Saint-Louis during the election campaign?

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, again in this regard we are fully assisting Elections Canada. We will provide Elections Canada with any documents that it would like to see in this regard.

What we do know, and we have no evidence on this at all as the opposition has not been forthcoming, is that they have paid millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of calls. Before those members continue these baseless smears, they should prove that their own callers were in fact not behind these reports.

These--

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK

You have no evidence.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON

You just said you had no evidence.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Order. The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON

Mr. Speaker, I can hear them as well.

Let us be clear. The exaggerated allegations coming from the members opposite demean the millions of voters who cast legitimate votes in the last election.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL

Mr. Speaker, according to media reports, Peggy Walsh Craig of Nipissing received a phone call during the 2011 election campaign asking her if she intended to vote Conservative, to which she said no. She received a second call just prior to election day claiming to be from Elections Canada to tell her that her polling station had moved.

The Conservative MP from Nipissing won only by 18 votes.

Can the Prime Minister categorically tell Ms. Walsh Craig and other voters in her riding that no one associated with his party had anything to do--

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

41st General ElectionOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, that is right. We do have an outstanding new member of Parliament for Nipissing—Timiskaming who was democratically elected by the voters of that riding.

What I can say categorically is that the exaggerated allegations by the member opposite and her party demean the millions of voters who cast legitimate votes in the last election, including those in Nipissing—Timiskaming.

The opposition paid millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls. Before those members continue these baseless smears, they should prove their own callers are in fact not behind these reports.

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

Mr. Speaker, a budget is all about choices.

For the NDP, the choice is clear: we must choose to help families. The Conservatives would rather deceive families by hiding their intentions. As the Premier of Ontario said, they are playing a shell game with taxpayers' money and making the provinces shoulder the burden of the federal deficit.

Why are the Conservatives making the provinces pay the price for their irresponsible cuts? Why must families always pay for the Conservatives' mistakes?

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Macleod Alberta

Conservative

Ted Menzies ConservativeMinister of State (Finance)

Mr. Speaker, the only irresponsible choices in this House have been that the NDP has voted against every policy we put forward to reduce taxes for Canadians.

It is rather ludicrous that the member would stand up and suggest that Ontario is not getting its fair share. In fact, it is getting 77% more federal transfers than it did under the old Liberal government.

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

That was a nice try by the minister, Mr. Speaker. The government was forced to do that with agreements with the previous government.

Since May 2, the government has been making reckless cuts. The plans include cutting $33 million from food inspectors, $29 million from transportation safety, a 43% cut to the Environmental Assessment Agency. The Conservatives gut programs that protect Canadians to spend billions on flawed F-35s and their expensive prison agenda.

Why are the Conservatives so irresponsible? Why will they not put families first for a change?

FinanceOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Macleod Alberta

Conservative

Ted Menzies ConservativeMinister of State (Finance)

Speaking of irresponsible, Mr. Speaker, it was very irresponsible of the NDP to vote against the last two budgets when we put in place policies that reduced costs for families, that increased transfers to provinces.

The average family of four has $3,100 more dollars in its pocket than it did when this party came to government. That is important to Canadians. So is the fact that more than 610,000 Canadians are working now who were not working at the end of the recession.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

NDP

Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON

Mr. Speaker, and you voted against veterans. Last month—

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

I never voted against veterans. I have had to remind several members to address comments through the Chair. I hope they will take my urging seriously.

The hon. member for London—Fanshawe has the floor and I would ask her to address her comments through the Chair.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

NDP

Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON

Mr. Speaker, those members voted against veterans.

Last month, EDM closed up shop and drove hundreds of good Canadian jobs to Indiana. Those workers still have not received their records of employment and they cannot apply for EI. They were promised three weeks ago and still absolutely nothing. Of course, because of cuts to Service Canada, it could be months before they and their families ever see a penny from EI.

Why did the Conservatives raise billions on corporate tax giveaways instead of supporting out-of-work Canadians and the services that they need?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Haldimand—Norfolk Ontario

Conservative

Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development

Mr. Speaker, Service Canada is working to ensure that those who have been laid off through no fault of their own do get access to the benefits to which they are entitled just as quickly as possible.

When it comes to supporting workers, our government has delivered. Through our economic action plan, we offered a wide range of supports, such as extending the targeted initiative for older workers. The NDP voted against it. We also provided unprecedented funding for training through the provinces and territories to help those who had lost their jobs to get skills for the new jobs of today and tomorrow. What did the NDP do? Those members voted against it. Why do they keep voting against workers?