House of Commons Hansard #132 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was animals.

Topics

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Lévis—Bellechasse Québec

Conservative

Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, we will be introducing the bill today. This is a balanced bill that will protect Canadians while respecting all laws and individual rights. The important thing is for our national security agency to properly protect Canadians. That is why it is important to clarify its mandate.

I hope that we can benefit from the opposition's co-operation. We have already had discussions on the matter and want to get on with an open debate to move this legislation forward so that it becomes the law of the land and an effective tool for protecting the Canadian people.

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, the government put out calls for research on the role of the Internet in radicalization and on ways to prevent or intervene when Canadians are being radicalized. This research will provide important context for an appropriate response from government to radicalization.

Will the results of this research be considered before any new legislation is brought forward by the government?

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Lévis—Bellechasse Québec

Conservative

Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, twice this week there have been brutal attacks on our soil, targeting Canadian Armed Forces members, perpetrated by radical Islamic terrorists. We are unwavering in our determination to degrade and destroy the threat posed by violent extremists, both abroad and right here at home.

In the coming days and weeks, we will be working with our security agencies and taking all necessary actions to ensure that law-abiding Canadians are kept safe from those who wish to harm us.

EmploymentOral Questions

October 27th, 2014 / 2:25 p.m.

NDP

Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are like a broken record on the temporary foreign worker program. Time and again they made half-hearted reforms in response to public outcries, yet nothing really changed.

In 2013 the Conservatives promised to crack down and ensure the program would be only a last resort for employers. Now we have learned that over the next two years, the number of low-skilled foreign workers in Canada actually increased.

How could the Conservatives let this program get so out of hand?

EmploymentOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Calgary Southeast Alberta

Conservative

Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism

Mr. Speaker, regrettably, the preamble to the hon. member's question is completely inaccurate.

The member will no doubt be interested to know that for the first six months of this year, the number of labour market impact assessment applications made by employers to have authorization to employ temporary foreign workers decreased by 75% compared to the number received in the first six months of 2012.

With tougher penalties, much stronger inspections, a higher fee, better labour market information, and an absolute ban on low-skilled workers in regions of unemployment of over 6%, we are doing what Canadians expect.

EmploymentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to temporary foreign workers, the government has failed across the board.

In 2013, its reform was supposed to restrict the number of unskilled workers coming into Canada. The latest data show that the number of unskilled temporary foreign workers has gone up again, even near reserves, where the unemployment rate is high. That makes no sense.

Will the minister acknowledge his deplorable error and take the time to thoroughly reconsider his reform?

EmploymentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Calgary Southeast Alberta

Conservative

Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the NDP members because they make the same mistakes in both official languages. How wonderful.

Compared to the first six months of 2012, the number of employer applications for temporary foreign workers in the first six months of this year dropped by three-quarters. That is a 75% reduction.

We have enhanced the integrity of the system. There are harsher penalties for employers who abuse the program, and we are making sure that Canadians come first in the job market.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

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

Mr. Speaker, after making cuts to the employment insurance program, now the Conservatives are dipping into the fund and using the budget implementation bill to set up a so-called hiring credit that is ineffective and ill-conceived.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, this credit would create only about 800 jobs over two years. Each job would cost $550,000. It makes no sense.

How can the Conservatives justify using workers' contributions to fund a program that will create practically no jobs?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Conservative

Joe Oliver ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, our hiring credit for small businesses will reduce employment insurance payroll costs by 15% and will help businesses save more than $550 million.

The CFIB says that the credit will create 25,000 person-jobs. We are reducing payroll costs for 90% of businesses. This will certainly help small businesses.

The BudgetOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' budget implementation bill is a 400-page monstrosity with 450 clauses. Several dozen statutes will be amended, on topics ranging from beekeeping to cable, employment insurance and refugee care. It is a real mixed bag.

What is more, a number of measures in the bill are there simply to correct mistakes made in previous omnibus bills.

Why is the government insisting yet again on passing a mammoth bill at top speed? What is it trying to hide?

The BudgetOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Conservative

Joe Oliver ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, our government's priorities are to create jobs and promote economic growth and long-term prosperity.

The government is taking measures to create jobs. For example, this bill will help create jobs and opportunities in Canada thanks to the new small business tax credit. I ask the opposition members to support this bill.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Dennis Bevington NDP Northwest Territories, NT

Mr. Speaker, the latest omnibus budget bill combines the Polar Commission with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, creating a new bureaucracy with a weaker reporting relationship with Parliament. Meanwhile there are numerous federal government Canadian Arctic science programs, such as the Polar continental shelf program at Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Ice Service, and the NRC Arctic program.

Climate change is a crisis in the Arctic. Why has the Conservative government not created an organization that provides complete overall coordination of Arctic science, one that reports yearly to this Parliament?

The EnvironmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, this amalgamation is an exciting opportunity to coordinate Arctic research. We have invested a significant amount of resources in creating Canada's High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay. That project will be concluded by 2017, again bringing together researchers. The approach that we are taking is that research shall actually be conducted in the Arctic, and we are providing the avenues to do that.

The BudgetOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, gutting science in the Arctic is just one of dozens of measures in the bill, most of which have nothing whatsoever to do with the budget at all.

The Conservatives have tabled another massive 458-page omnibus bill that would change dozens of laws with a single stroke of the pen, from airports to temporary foreign workers to federal judges. In fact, this omnibus bill attempts to fix mistakes from the last omnibus bill, which fixed mistakes from the omnibus bill before that.

Will the Conservatives agree to stop using this Trojan horse strategy? How about a budget bill that actually deals with the budget?

The BudgetOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Conservative

Joe Oliver ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, our government's top priority, as I said, is creating jobs, economic growth, and long-term prosperity. The budget implementation bill would make life more affordable for Canadian families by doubling the children's fitness credit to $1,000 and making it refundable, ending pay-to-pay billing practices by telecommunications companies, strengthening Canada's intellectual property regime to promote job creation, and improving conditions for business investment and access to international markets by reducing costs and red tape, and there is a lot more.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives usually bury their worst possible ideas somewhere deep in the omnibus bill, but this time around they decided to highlight this terrible job-credit scheme that has been criticized by economists, experts, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

This scheme would spend hundreds of millions of dollars from the EI fund to create just 800 jobs. Now, maybe for Conservatives, spending more than half a million dollars to create one single job adds up, but it does not for the employers and employees who actually pay into the employment insurance fund, and it may even encourage some employers to fire employees.

Will the Conservatives now reconsider their expensive and ill-considered scheme?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Eglinton—Lawrence Ontario

Conservative

Joe Oliver ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, this plan will create 25,000 person-jobs, and that is why the CFIB is so supportive. It said:

It's a big, big deal for small business. It's good news for people looking for jobs. ...small businesses in Canada should be thrilled with this announcement...because they told us time and time again that payroll taxes like EI are the biggest disincentive to hiring. So, any relief the government can provide will encourage them to be hiring more Canadians.

We are very proud of this important initiative.

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness seem able to explain why the government has failed to implement the laws currently on the books to protect Canadians.

When passports were revoked on the basis of those holding them being a threat to public safety, the government failed to charge anyone, nor have charges been laid against any of the 80 returnees from terrorist acts abroad under the Combating Terrorism Act.

In the minister's words, isn't that under-reacting?

Why?

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Lévis—Bellechasse Québec

Conservative

Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, the top national security priority of this country is terrorism. That is why we have brought forward the Combating Terrorism Act. We are taking this threat very seriously. The decisions to use the powers that are provided to our law enforcement agencies are made by police authorities, not by politicians. We will make sure that they have sufficient power, and we are working on that.

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, let us turn to Friday's annual report of the Security Intelligence Review Committee. Regarding the activities of CSIS, it raised serious questions about the lack of communication within the agency, specifically that its regional surveillance teams “operate in total isolation from one another” and from headquarters.

Will the minister answer for this serious concern raised by SIRC and explain what he is doing to overcome that lack of communication within the national security agency?

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Lévis—Bellechasse Québec

Conservative

Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, let me say up front that I have full trust in the capacity of CSIS to protect Canadians from any threat. That is why we need to bring CSIS the tools so that it can better protect us.

I would like to thank the Security Intelligence Review Committee for its report. It is a strong and robust oversight body. I understand that CSIS is working on implementing its recommendations. We believe that SIRC provides excellent oversight. Other measures would only serve to be duplicative. I am looking to CSIS to work on those recommendations.

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE

Mr. Speaker, beyond tools, let us talk about resources. The deputy director of CSIS, when before a Senate committee, raised concerns about the agency's ability to effectively monitor the 90 people currently identified as potential threats to Canadians. In addition, the RCMP commissioner raised concerns about the challenge to resources caused by national security investigations.

Can the minister assure us that our national security agencies have the resources they need to effectively do their job and keep Canadians safe?

Public SafetyOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Lévis—Bellechasse Québec

Conservative

Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, not only can our national security agency and law enforcement count on our government to provide them with the resources that are needed, as we have done in the past by increasing their budget by more than one-third, but they can count on us to give them the tools needed to protect Canadians.

I hope we will have the support of my fellow Liberal colleague to not only improve their resources when we are adopting the budget but also to give them the tools that are so necessary to keep Canadians safe.

The BudgetOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe NDP Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives are using a budget implementation bill to sneak in some contentious measures.

This time they are attacking asylum seekers. Surreptitiously and without any debate, the Conservatives are proposing to allow the provinces to restrict access to social assistance.

A number of local and national organizations are already speaking out against this inhumane and degrading measure. Will the minister remove it from the omnibus bill?

The BudgetOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Ajax—Pickering Ontario

Conservative

Chris Alexander ConservativeMinister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, these measures do not in any way change access to social programs for asylum seekers, refugees or anyone else. This bill proposes giving the provinces and territories the authority to establish their own timeframes and deadlines for when the various categories of individuals can access social programs.

On this side of the House, we respect provincial jurisdictions, and we will leave it up to the provinces and territories to set the ground rules for their social programs.