Debates of Feb. 26th, 2013

Steven Blaney Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister for La Francophonie

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Durham for the great question. He is a man who is serving in the House and who has proudly served in our Canadian armed forces.

Yesterday I was pleased to announce a new tool that is being piloted with veterans to help identify and treat post-traumatic stress disorder. This new self-assessment tool builds on our partnership with the University of British Columbia. It is a soldier-to-soldier, veteran-to-veteran approach. It is happening here, now, in Ottawa.

PTSD Coach Canada is one more step forward in our veterans transition action plan that continues to deliver concrete results for our great Canadian veterans.

Dennis Bevington Western Arctic, NT

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada's latest report shows that consumer costs in the north have risen twice as fast as elsewhere in the country. The report shows that the major factor increasing the price of food is the Conservative's own nutrition north program. This flawed program has stuck northerners with overpriced, over-packaged, poor-quality food. Clearly, the government has to take action to reduce the high cost of living in the north.

The NDP has long called for a 50% increase to the northern residence tax deduction. Will the government include such a measure in its upcoming budget?

Bernard Valcourt Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that there is no government in the history of this country—

Bernard Valcourt Madawaska—Restigouche, NB

Yes, in the whole world, that has done as much for northern Canadians.

Let us just look at the example of the northern jobs and growth act, which is geared especially to trying to improve the situation of people living in northern Canada. Instead of opposing that legislation, the opposition should support us.

Stephen Harper Prime Minister

Mr. Speaker, of course, this is the first government in Canadian history to actually reduce emissions of greenhouse gas.

The Minister of the Environment, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and my colleagues have taken a number of important actions, including the announcement on truck harmonization standards, just recently. We will continue to look at ways to move forward on this important file.

The Speaker Andrew Scheer

I would like to draw the attention of hon. members to the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Elaine Taylor, Deputy Premier, Minister of Community Services and Minister Responsible for the Public Service Commission, the Women's Directorate, and the French Language Services Directorate for the Yukon.

Scott Brison Kings—Hants, NS

Mr. Speaker, during question period, the President of the Treasury Board overstated the advertising spending of the last Liberal government during its last year in office by 125%. He has done that repeatedly. In fact, it was—

The Speaker Andrew Scheer

Order, please. All I heard there was a continuation of debate. Perhaps the hon. member can wait until a future question period to make that point, but question period is over for today.

Denis Lebel Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight our Conservative government's unprecedented support for infrastructure initiatives across the country. No federal government in Canadian history has invested as much in infrastructure as we have. The provinces, territories and municipalities have never had a better partner than our government.

The same cannot be said of the opposition. For seven years, the NDP have voted on ideology alone. They have voted against all of our government's measures to support our partners. I would like to remind the House that it was our government that, despite the NDP's opposition, implemented the first long-term infrastructure plan in 2007. The building Canada fund has an envelope of $33 billion over seven years. Our government also—