Debates of April 18th, 2013

International Trade

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, that is clear, patent nonsense. The hon. member himself knows he is incorrect when he is making those statements in the House of Commons. What this agreement does is give Canadian investors in China the same protection that Chinese investors will have in Canada. There are equal rules for both parties; it is as simple as that.

Taxation

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last fall the Minister of Finance went into a bicycle shop to announce and promote measures related to his omnibus budget bill. However, this spring in his budget he announced increases to the bicycle import taxes that would affect that very same shop owner. The Conservatives say this is not a tax, but yesterday the shop owner said this is going to hurt his business.

Does the government accuse this hard-working shop owner of lying?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I know in the last couple of days the new Liberal leader has expressed an interest in getting to the root causes of things. The member opposite used the word “lying”. Well what is clearly not true is any attempt to suggest that this government has done anything other than lower taxes time and again for Canadians. We have lowered taxes on investment; we have lowered taxes on small business. We have raised the personal exemption for even paying taxes, taking thousands of low-income Canadians and seniors on fixed incomes off the tax rolls altogether. In every single one of our budgets, time and again, we have defended the interests of lowering taxes for Canadians.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives just increased taxes on Canadians by over $300 million a year. Let us be clear. The exporting countries will not be the ones paying these taxes. This money will come out of Canadians' pockets. For example, the cost of shampoo, dishwasher detergent and even deodorant will go up by 3.5%.

When will the government cancel these tax increases?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, our government is lowering taxes for Canadians. That is what we are doing. We have lowered the GST, the tax on small and medium-sized businesses and the taxes on seniors. In every single one of our budgets there are tax cuts. Even budget 2013 has lower taxes, which means more money in Canadians' pockets so they can decide how to live their lives.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative tax on baby cribs, tricycles, blankets and everything is affecting almost 1,300 household items that most Canadians need. Now, at a time of record debt level, high unemployment and stagnant wages, the worst possible thing one can do is increase taxes. When is the government going to realize it, and when is it going to cancel those tax increases on hard-working Canadians?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have never stood with us in lowering taxes on Canadians. They have never stood with us on every one of our budgets where we have lowered taxes, time and again. The average family in Canada pays $3,200 less in taxes because the Conservatives are in government in this country.

Again, the hypocrisy of the Liberals is really quite something. They come to this House and say we need to do something to support Canadian manufacturing, and then they beg the government to put in place a special deal for China to dump goods into this country. It is outrageous.

International Trade

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, from the beginning, the Conservatives have been mishandling the negotiations for the foreign investment promotion and protection agreement with China.

Not only does it lack reciprocity, but it protects the few existing Canadian investments in China while not providing the same protection to new investors. It says that Chinese enterprises have the right to be treated fairly and equitably, but does not define what that means. It gives China the right to sue the Canadian government before secret administrative tribunals.

Will the Conservatives finally admit their mistake and tell China that Canada will not ratify the agreement in its current form?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, what this investment treaty does is give equal rights to Chinese investors in Canada and to Canadian investors in China, no more and no less. The members opposite can try to spread whatever rumours they want. They need to back that up with facts. They do not have the facts.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Conservative incompetence on this file is breeding uncertainty and chaos in the foreign investment community. Today we have another report detailing how the Conservatives' failure to spell out clear rules on foreign takeovers is scaring off investment. Also, with the FIPA, Conservatives want to lock Canadians into a 31-year deal with China without even understanding its provisions.

Here is some news. FIPA is not just about protecting Canadians in China; it is about protecting Canadians in Canada.

Will Conservatives take the first step to restoring investor confidence and fix the serious deficiencies in FIPA before it is too late?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, number one, the hon. member knows that Canadians are protected in Canada. Number two, he also knows that Canadian exporters and Canadian investors in China need protection. That is what this FIPA does. That is why we are supporting it.

Government Appointments

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today's integrity commissioner's report on the former head of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is nothing short of shocking. The report states that Shirish Chotalia's behaviour as the former head constituted harassment and an abuse of her authority, that she mismanaged through intimidation and that she ordered employees of what should be an arm's-length organization to carry out government policy. It also stated that virtually no vetting occurred before the appointment of Ms. Chotalia.

Who on that side will take responsibility for this patronage debacle?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the individual no longer works for the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which is an arm's-length agency operating independently from the government, and the tribunal has now addressed this matter.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that perfectly illustrates this government's “laissez-faire, I don't care” attitude. The Conservatives are fully and completely responsible for the fiasco that resulted from that appointment.

In his report, Mario Dion said that proper procedures for verifying candidacies were not followed when Shirish Chotalia was appointed to chair the tribunal. This was their candidate, a candidate who “repeatedly harassed employees at all levels”.

When will the Conservatives apologize?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP always wants us to get involved and interfere with arm's-length organizations. That is exactly what the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is. It operates independently from the government. As he can see, the tribunal has now addressed this issue.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, with the Conservatives, it is one failure after another.

There has been a significant drop in the number of EI recipients in Sherbrooke, Quebec City and Vancouver. This drop is not the result of an increase in jobs. On the contrary, last month, Canada experienced the most significant loss of jobs in four years. There is only one job available per seven unemployed workers. Meanwhile, more and more people are being forced to repay employment insurance benefits.

Is the minister aware that her reform encourages economic instability?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, our government's primary objective is economic growth and job creation.

To achieve this, the labour force must have the required skills. That is why we have changed the EI system. It helps people acquire skills and find new jobs in their area of expertise in their region. If there are no jobs available in their region, employment insurance will continue to be there for them.

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is there are six and a half job seekers for every one vacancy, and EI is no longer there for those who need it. The minister has nothing to brag about.

The labour force survey shows that unemployment is on the rise at the same time that a Statistics Canada report shows that fewer Canadians are receiving EI benefits. Taken together, the two reports prove that the Conservatives' changes to EI mean fewer Canadians are getting the benefits they paid for.

When will the minister finally wake up to the problem and fix the mess she created?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly our government's number one priority, job creation and economic growth, because with more jobs there will be fewer people out of work. That is better for them and it is better for their families.

We will continue on the progress we have already made in helping create more than 900,000 net new jobs across this country. That is our priority. It is time the NDP supported that effort.

Employment

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, while nearly 1.4 million Canadians are out of work, the Conservative government has persisted in bringing in more temporary foreign workers than any government before. Even Canadian pilots are not safe from losing their jobs to imported labour.

From September to October last year, HRSDC issued 119 positive labour market opinions, which led to the hiring of pilots from abroad, all while Canadian pilots had to go overseas to find work. How could the minister allow this to happen?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, our goal is to ensure that Canadians always get first crack at every job. We are working with airline pilots and the airlines to ensure there are training opportunities so Canadians can get these jobs. In fact, the Air Line Pilots Association said:

ALPA has been working with your departments on several aspects of this issue as it relates to pilots. We are pleased with the progress that has been made.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, pilots want results and they do not have them.

The hypocrisy in this matter lies in the discrepancy between what the Conservatives say and what they do, or rather what they do not do.

They have managed this program so poorly that qualified professionals such as pilots are losing their jobs, while dozens of foreign pilots are being brought here to fly their planes.

How can they justify foreign pilots being hired by Canadian airlines while our pilots are forced to go abroad to find work?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

As I indicated, Mr. Speaker, the airline pilots and the airlines are working with us to ensure that there are Canadians who have the skills for those jobs, but we are going beyond that. In budget 2013, we have introduced the Canada job grant that will help industry, the provinces and the federal government work together to ensure that Canadians get the skills for the jobs that employers need filled. I would expect that the NDP would support that effort. Unfortunately, it is not.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know how the Conservatives expect the program to work considering they never consulted with the provinces before implementing it.

We are trying to defend Canadian jobs against this attack of bringing in foreign temporary workers when Canadians are out of work. Conservative mismanagement is encouraging more of this. When the Conservatives first weakened those rules in 2006, the then minister said, “When it starts to affect our ability to go to Tim Hortons and get a double-double, it's a serious issue”.

When will the minister finally step up and take responsibility for the mess the Conservatives created?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, we are trying to create jobs for Canadians, give Canadians first crack at those jobs and provide them with the training skills they need for those jobs. The NDP is voting against that. It is not supporting helping Canadians get new jobs.

Also, the hon. member talks about protecting Canadians and their jobs, except that several of his colleagues are in fact making special requests to this government to help them bring in foreign workers to fill those jobs that should be filled by Canadians. What is it: what they talk or what they do?