House of Commons Hansard #156 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was families.

Topics

Veterans AffairsOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS

Mr. Speaker, the government members should be appalled, not applauding, especially in light of the scathing Auditor General's report that showed some veterans waited months, if not years, for access to mental health services.

There is the lapsing of well over $1 billion promised for veterans services and now the rewarding of officials for denying services to our brave veterans.

Are they still prepared to clap for a minister whose sole legacy is the shafting of Canadian veterans? When will the Prime Minister take action and punt the minister?

Veterans AffairsOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Brampton—Springdale Ontario

Conservative

Parm Gill ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs

Mr. Speaker, we are making investments to help support Canada's veterans when it comes to mental health issues and challenges.

Our recent announcement helps Canada's veterans, and here are some of the initiatives we have introduced: the road to mental health program; the mental health first aid program; and the new operational stress injury clinic in Halifax, with satellite offices across the country, including in St. John's, Chicoutimi , Pembroke, Brockville, Kelowna,Victoria, Montreal, and the greater Toronto area. We are also expanding the military family resource program for medically released Canadian veterans and their families.

Who will continue to stand up for Canada's veterans? This side of the House.

Access to InformationOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

NDP

Mathieu Ravignat NDP Pontiac, QC

Mr. Speaker, while the Information Commissioner is scrounging around for money to balance her books, the Conservatives are throwing the door wide open to raising fees. Some are even talking about $200 per media request. That will do nothing to increase access to information.

This government has the audacity to brag about its open data policy. Instead of fleecing the public even more, why do the Conservatives not meet deadlines and give the Information Commissioner the resources she needs?

Access to InformationOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board

Mr. Speaker, every agent of Parliament is responsible for managing the funds that are allocated to them by Parliament. That is part of their role and responsibility. If any particular agent of Parliament has a problem with that, he or she can make a submission to the Treasury Board, and we would be happy to consider it.

If the hon. member wants to litigate this publicly, that is fine, but there is a process by which these budgets are considered and ultimately passed or not passed by Parliament.

Access to InformationOral Questions

11:40 a.m.

NDP

Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative MPs on the House access to information committee think that the best solution to fix our ever-shrinking right to know in Canada would be to charge journalists and other Canadians hundreds of dollars just to file a request for information that should be public. That is on the record.

Why should Canadians be stuck with giant fees to ask for information that by law belongs to them? Does the President of the Treasury Board agree with his Conservative colleagues that jacking up fees is a good way to fix our broken access to information law?

Access to InformationOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Parry Sound—Muskoka Ontario

Conservative

Tony Clement ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member raised the more general issue. Let me cite some statistics.

In fact, the responses to access to information requests have gone up by around 40%. There were six million pages released last year alone, which is an increase of two million pages. I would say to the hon. members that the access to information law is there for the public, for members, and for the media of course. If the agent of Parliament, the Information Commissioner, has a problem with her budget, she knows where to go.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

NDP

Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, Canada committed to taking in 1,300 Syrian refugees by the end of 2014, but only 457 Syrian refugees have landed in Canada. The minister failed to deliver on his commitment and repeatedly misled Canadians and the House. These are not just numbers. They are actual human beings in the worst war zone in the world, left behind by this minister. How can he justify such a pathetic track record on behalf of those who are so vulnerable?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Richmond Hill Ontario

Conservative

Costas Menegakis ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. More than 1,100 refugees from Syria have been approved to come to Canada. In fact, more than 1,150 have been approved to come to Canada and will be here in short order. They will join the more than 1,900 Syrian refugees who are here and have been granted protection in Canada since the start of the Syrian civil war. We can and will do more, and I think the member opposite knows that.

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

NDP

Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Mr. Speaker, that is not all. The UN has asked developed countries to take in 100,000 additional Syrian refugees. What has Canada committed? A big fat nothing. Nada. Zilch.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is holding a ministerial meeting next Tuesday in Geneva, to talk about the relocation of Syrian refugees.

Will the minister bring anything to this meeting other than his indifference to the humanitarian crisis facing Syrian refugees?

Citizenship and ImmigrationOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Richmond Hill Ontario

Conservative

Costas Menegakis ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Mr. Speaker, we welcome one in ten of the world's resettled refugees. In fact, we work very closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres. We continue to work very closely with him and look forward to meeting him next week in Geneva. We will be there at the table.

The member opposite needs to stop playing partisan politics at this time, using the plight of people who really need help as an excuse to stand up in the House with misinformation like that.

National DefenceOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Ted Opitz Conservative Etobicoke Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Canadian Armed Forces provided yet another technical briefing on Operation Impact and Canada's ongoing mission against ISIL. This is just further proof of the government's commitment to keep Canadians informed regarding the activities of our brave men and women in uniform serving in Iraq.

I would like to ask if the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence will please provide a further update to the House on Operation Impact.

National DefenceOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Selkirk—Interlake Manitoba

Conservative

James Bezan ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Etobicoke Centre for his question and his service as a proud veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Early this morning, two CF-18s, in a pre-planned mission, conducted air strikes against two ISIL fighting positions as well as two ISIL machine-gun positions in the area north of Mosul, Iraq. These positions represented a clear threat to Kurdish peshmerga forces on the ground.

Our men and women in uniform have conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism in this ongoing fight against ISIL. I want to again thank them for their great efforts. Canada will continue to do its part in the international efforts to confront ISIL.

VeteransOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

NDP

Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that in recent years, the Conservatives have paid more than a half million dollars in bonuses to executives at Veterans Affairs.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 employees lost their jobs in that department, which has resulted in cuts to services. Furthermore, $1 billion, which should have gone to help veterans, was put back into the treasury.

Why are the Conservatives rewarding executives, the ones who laid off staff and who talk about saving money on the backs of veterans?

VeteransOral Questions

11:45 a.m.

Brampton—Springdale Ontario

Conservative

Parm Gill ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs

Mr. Speaker, we make no apologies for reducing bureaucratic expenses at Veterans Affairs Canada. The opposition wants to increase government bureaucracy.

We are increasing the front-line support for Canada's veterans. We recently announced eight new front-line mental health clinics for Canada's veterans.

While the NDP defends unions, we are defending Canadian veterans, and we will continue to stand up for Canada's veterans on this side of the House.

VeteransOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

NDP

John Rafferty NDP Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives said they needed to cut jobs at Veterans Affairs Canada, even while we hear from the Auditor General that the system is failing. Yet, the Conservatives have fired almost one-quarter of all Veterans Affairs staff.

The parliamentary secretary just a moment ago said that it is important to reduce bureaucratic expenses. Now the Conservatives want us to believe that their top 60 bureaucrats actually needed half a million dollars in bonuses. I guess that is not a bureaucratic expense.

It is nonsense. Why did they not use that money to actually help veterans?

VeteransOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Brampton—Springdale Ontario

Conservative

Parm Gill ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs

Mr. Speaker, as I just mentioned, our government is standing up for Canada's veterans, and we make absolutely no apologies for reducing the bureaucratic expenses at Veterans Affairs Canada. The opposition wants to increase government bureaucracy.

We are increasing front-line support to help Canada's veterans. We recently announced that we are adding eight additional operational stress injury clinics across the country, with the main one in Halifax and the others in cities across this country.

We will continue to stand up for Canada's veterans when it comes to providing them with benefits and services. They deserve it.

Canadian Wheat BoardOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

NDP

Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Wheat Board is now owned by Canadians. It is a public company and its financial statements actually should be made public. Is it losing money? Is it making money? Well, we do not know, because no one on that side will tell anyone.

In addition to keeping the documents secret, the minister will not even confirm or deny that he is going to give this public asset away to a private company.

I have a really simple question for the minister. Will the government make the Wheat Board's financial documents public before it literally gives it away?

Canadian Wheat BoardOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Speaker, the motivation behind this question is that the member and his party are ideologically opposed to offering western Canadian grain farmers the marketing freedom they deserve.

We promised western Canadian grain farmers marketing freedom. We delivered on that promise, and with great success. There is renewed optimism in grain farming, and farmers are prospering.

The CWB will assess all serious bidders and then submit a plan for commercialization to the government in accordance with the legislation passed in December 2011.

Canadian Wheat BoardOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

NDP

Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we are actually ideologically in favour of transparency, and we want to see some transparency from the government for a change.

Are the Conservatives going to give the assets away, yes or not?

Why is are the Conservatives giving out cushy patronage jobs? We would like to know why exactly the Conservatives' friends are actually getting these jobs in the first place, when there really are people out there who could do the job and who are not just simply patronage additions. There is actually no end in sight to the grey and black log, and my friend across the way knows that.

Will the minister for once give the rhetoric a rest and tell Canadians and farmers how much money the Wheat Board actually owes, how much it makes, and will the minister give the board away, or is he going to sell it and make money for Canadian farmers?

Canadian Wheat BoardOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Speaker, the NDP want the public to know what is going on except when it comes to their NDP offices, which were run illegally.

However, back to the CWB, the NDP's first alarmist concern regarding the CWB was that ending the CWB monopoly would somehow cause the destruction of wheat farming in Canada, which is obviously not true. The NDP's second alarmist concern was that a voluntary wheat board would not be viable, which is obviously not true as well.

As I just mentioned, the CWB will assess all serious bidders and then submit a plan for commercialization to the government, as stated in legislation passed in December 2011.

Foreign AffairsOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Mr. Speaker, we must all help fight violence against women and girls here in Canada and all around the world.

It has been almost seven months since Nigeria asked Canada for help to find and rescue more than 200 young girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, a known terrorist group.

Can the government tell us where things stand in our efforts to rescue these young girls, who are victims of extreme violence, before it is too late, if it is not too late already?

Foreign AffairsOral Questions

11:50 a.m.

Calgary East Alberta

Conservative

Deepak Obhrai ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and for International Human Rights

Mr. Speaker, we are extremely concerned about the transfers by Boko Haram to the Nigerian nation and the nations around there.

I attended the security conference this past summer to help Nigeria fight this terrorist organization. We will continue to give it the capacity-building needed to fight this terrorist organization that has created havoc and kidnapped those 200 girls. We are hoping that this terrorist organization will be brought to heel and brought to justice.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Liberal

Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have hurt Canada's international standing. Now we hear that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scolding us. He says that Canada needs to stop stalling on climate change and that we need to start thinking about others.

Even if the Conservatives do not believe in climate change science, do they not know that their failure to act on climate change is hurting our economy and risking Canadian jobs? Do they not understand that their hostility to the environment is the reason that important projects like Keystone XL have not been approved?

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:55 a.m.

Oshawa Ontario

Conservative

Colin Carrie ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment

Mr. Speaker, that is ridiculous. Our government wants to reach a fair agreement in Paris that includes all emitters and all economies. It is important that this agreement be durable, flexible, and effective. Meanwhile, Canada will continue to take concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping the economy strong.

It is important that Canadians know that Canada emits less than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions globally and that Canada's per capita emissions are now at their lowest level since we started recording them in 1990. Let us compare that with the Liberal record, when greenhouse gases went up by 30%. That is unacceptable. We are committed to getting results.

Rail TransportationOral Questions

December 5th, 2014 / 11:55 a.m.

NDP

Mike Sullivan NDP York South—Weston, ON

Mr. Speaker, more than 100,000 carloads of oil were shipped by rail last year, but citizens do not know when, where, or how risky it is because the Conservatives refuse to stand up for transparency when it comes to the shipment of dangerous goods. Now we learn that the risk assessments ordered by the minister of hazardous shipments through Toronto will be kept away from local residents and even from municipal officials.

Why does the minister think that railway companies' interests come before Toronto residents' right to know?