House of Commons Hansard #152 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was public.

Topics

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Order, order. The hon. minister has the floor now.

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Bernard Valcourt Conservative Madawaska—Restigouche, NB

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that they like to listen to the sound of their own voice, but they do not like to listen to others.

The results are clear: through the nutrition north program, which will be improved by—

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The minister is out of time now.

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

Mr. Speaker, the community of Rankin Inlet deserves more than lawsuit threats from their own member of Parliament. They need to see action to fix the badly broken nutrition north program. The Auditor General showed that there is no assurance that the subsidy is not just ending up with retailers. The numbers the government is quoting cannot be verified.

Why not replace this ill-designed program with something that actually matches the needs of northerners?

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Madawaska—Restigouche New Brunswick

Conservative

Bernard Valcourt ConservativeMinister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Mr. Speaker, it is this Conservative government that introduced nutrition north with the objective of increasing access to healthy food for people in isolated and remote communities.

The Auditor General made recommendations, which the department has agreed it will implement. This will build on the success of this program, which has already seen nutritious food being increased, in the volume of shipments, by close to 25%. The food basket for an average family of four has gone down by $110 a month.

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like we are reading different Auditor General's reports. Food prices in the north are not going down. Ask any northerner who has to purchase fresh produce, often at 10 times the price we pay here. Ask the Auditor General, who has questioned the numbers used by the Conservatives, because:

...the Department did not systematically verify the accuracy of prices reported.

Can the minister tell us how the government plans to make sure that every northerner has better access to food?

Northern DevelopmentOral Questions

December 1st, 2014 / 2:35 p.m.

Madawaska—Restigouche New Brunswick

Conservative

Bernard Valcourt ConservativeMinister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development

Mr. Speaker, the government will continue implementing the nutrition north program and will build on its success by implementing the recommendations of the Auditor General. What more can we do to ensure the effectiveness of a program?

The fact of the matter is that notwithstanding what the Auditor General has pointed to, the program has been successful in increasing the shipments of nutritious food to northern communities and in reducing the cost of the food basket.

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

NDP

Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON

Mr. Speaker, we now know what the Conservative plan is for the Wheat Board and what it is really all about. The board has assets. It has railcars. It has real estate. It has freighters, but the minister came to the agriculture committee and said that it did not have any assets but is just over-leveraged and in fact is almost bankrupt and does not have any money at all. Then of course, his assistant deputy minister, in the next hour of testimony, said, “Well, not really”. What really is going on is that it is not over-leveraged, and it is actually paying out of its own financials on an ongoing basis.

Clearly, the government has some sort of hidden agenda for the Wheat Board. It intends to sell it off to the lowest bidder, which would give no money back to the public treasury, and worst of all, no money—

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Agriculture.

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Battlefords—Lloydminster Saskatchewan

Conservative

Gerry Ritz ConservativeMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

Mr. Speaker, I said no such thing at committee. What I said was that the so-called assets are heavily leveraged. It has a building in Winnipeg worth some $10 million, according to the real estate appraisals, which is on the books at $14 million, because there have been some renovations done. It had a $75 million computer system that is not needed anymore. It had over $200 million worth of pension payouts that were required. All of these things start to add up. On the boats the member talked about, there was a deposit of $20 million against a $150-million loan.

There is a lot of money that has needed to be paid out. There was some contingency money, which has never been farmers' money. In fact, under the old Liberals, the board went to court to prove that its raison d'être was orderly marketing, not price premiums.

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

NDP

Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON

Mr. Speaker, we witnessed last fall what really happened when it came to the rail companies and this government. The government stood tall and said it would be tough with the rail companies. The reality? Grain really did not move. The government said that the fines would be daily, and now they are going to be weekly, so $300,000 a day has became maybe $300,000 a week. Now we find out that they have not fined anyone yet; not one rail company has been fined.

CN did not meet its targets. The government did not hold it to account.

When will the minister stand on her feet and say that the fines have been levied, the fines have been collected, and the government will stand for farmers, because right now it does not?

Agriculture and Agri-FoodOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Essex Ontario

Conservative

Jeff Watson ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the member knows that the enforcement process is under way, but what this government has continued to do is stand with farmers. An order in council has been extended. That is more action and more grain that is guaranteed to be moved by the rail companies. If they do not, they will face the full force of the law.

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

NDP

Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' old benefactor in Quebec is in trouble again. Apparently, in 2009, $25,000 from SNC-Lavalin executives wound up in the coffers of the Minister of International Development's riding association.

Given that the Charbonneau commission and the Marteau squad have clearly shown that SNC-Lavalin used false names, is the Minister of State for Democratic Reform not concerned?

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

Oak Ridges—Markham Ontario

Conservative

Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, when we were brought into office, we brought into place the Accountability Act. That was in response to the Liberal sponsorship scandal. We took the influence of big money and big unions out of the political process. We expect all those who donate to all political parties to follow the law.

EthicsOral Questions

2:35 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is part of the administrative responsibility of government to ensure a strong Canada Elections Act. When we learned that SNC-Lavalin set up a scheme of illegal donations aimed at putting corporate money into certain political hands, I hoped the Minister of International Development would reassure the House. When he saw thousands of dollars being transferred from SNC-Lavalin's executives, did this not raise an eyebrow?

Will the minister explain if he has had any relationship with SNC-Lavalin? Has his staff met with it? What has been the nature of his relationship since the transfer of that money?

EthicsOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Oak Ridges—Markham Ontario

Conservative

Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, we banned corporate and union donations from the political process. We expect any individual who makes donations to political parties to follow the law. That is why we were so disappointed on this side of the House when we learned that the NDP accepted $300,000 worth of illegal union donations and were forced by Elections Canada to return that money. Of course, they still owe the Canadian taxpayers over $1.5 million for illegal satellite offices in provinces where they have no members of Parliament. I am sure Canadians are as anxious as we are to have that money returned.

EthicsOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Mr. Speaker, I always appreciate my hon. colleague's travels up in the upper sphere. I would like to remind him that under section 404 of the Canada Elections Act, one is not allowed to hide the identity of a contributor, particularly if it is a political donation, so we have the minister's riding association receiving $30,000 in transfers, $25,000 of which comes from SNC-Lavalin executives.

Here is the kicker: illegal political financing was actually included in the job description of several SNC managers. Surely my hon. colleague shares my concern about this. Will he join us in calling for an investigation?

EthicsOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Oak Ridges—Markham Ontario

Conservative

Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs

Mr. Speaker, again it was this party that actually took the influence of big money and big unions out of the political process when we banned those donations. It was one of the first things that we did when we came into office in 2006.

Unfortunately, the NDP broke that rule when it accepted $300,000 worth of illegal union donations. This House has also found the New Democrats guilty of taking some $1.5 million worth of funds allocated for non-partisan purposes from the taxpayers of this country and using it for partisan political purposes in areas of the country where they actually have no members of Parliament. They have yet to pay that money back to Canadian taxpayers. I hope they will do so very soon.

National DefenceOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC

Mr. Speaker, like veterans, serving Canadian Forces members are also being denied adequate help for their mental health needs. The department's top doctors have pleaded for action, but today dozens of positions at military bases such as Shilo and Petawawa are still vacant. An access to information request has revealed this ongoing shortage exists because the Conservatives are simply refusing to pay the going rate. It is unbelievable.

Why are the Conservatives short-changing our injured soldiers and making them wait for urgent mental health support?

National DefenceOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Niagara Falls Ontario

Conservative

Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, unlike under the previous government, we have doubled the number of mental health workers who are employed by the Canadian Armed Forces. In fact, we have six uniformed psychiatrists, two who are enrolled in a four-year training program, as well as 25 uniformed social workers, 13 mental health workers, and seven chaplains. Ninety-three per cent of the mental health positions are now filled by the Canadian Armed Forces. We are getting the job done to support our men and women in uniform, unlike the Liberals.

Government AccountabilityOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, at a time when Conservatives are slashing veterans' programs and old age security, Canadians rightly expect accountability for how taxpayers' money is spent. Despite this, the Auditor General has again confirmed that the current government is fiscally incompetent. Let us take the case of the 2009 auto bailout; we supported it, but we certainly did not expect a blank cheque with no conditions. Can the Prime Minister explain to Canadians how he spent $9 billion of taxpayers' money with no oversight?

Government AccountabilityOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, the steps that were taken by the government helped to save literally thousands of jobs in the auto industry, and of course tens of thousands of dollars in the broader economy.

I understand that the Liberals do not share the same focus on the economy and the same focus on ensuring that Ontario's manufacturing sector is healthy. However, we are very proud of the accomplishments we delivered in order to ensure that our auto sector and our manufacturing sector are strong in the face of a very challenging changing global economy. It reflects the strength of the Canadian economy overall.

Government PrioritiesOral Questions

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Adam Vaughan Liberal Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, a report released in Winnipeg indicates that close to 5,000 seniors will lose their housing due to the current government's inability to renew the co-op housing agreements. Where is the junior minister on this file? He is missing in action.

However, it does not stop there. Across Canada, mayors and premiers are on the same page when it comes to issue after issue. In Ontario today, new mayor John Tory met with the premier. Where is the Prime Minister on this file? He is missing in action.

The Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs is not just missing in action; the funds are actually missing. There has been a 90% cut to infrastructure funding. They are missing in action.

When will the Prime Minister meet with the premier and get down to business?

Government PrioritiesOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

Portage—Lisgar Manitoba

Conservative

Candice Bergen ConservativeMinister of State (Social Development)

Mr. Speaker, here is what we are doing. We have signed our investment in affordable housing with the provinces. We trust the provinces and their ability to address their housing needs.

Here is who we do not trust: the member for Trinity—Spadina. When he was a councillor in Toronto, there was a shelter that was supposed to cost $5 million. Under his watch, it ballooned to $12 million. Is that a very good use of taxpayer dollars in building shelters? Absolutely not. That is why we are not going to count on the Liberals.

PrivacyOral Questions

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government's instinct for secrecy has reached new and absurd heights. A newly revealed memo released under an ATIP request shows that when telecom companies decided to tell the public how often they share subscriber information with the police and intelligence officials, it was flagged as a security concern, and the minister's officials scrambled to figure out how to limit what information the telecom companies could disclose.

Why does the minister continue working against data disclosure transparency rather than for it?