House of Commons Hansard #64 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was companies.

Topics

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Order, order. Several ministers seem to be very anxious to answer questions, and I would be happy to give them the floor when the member for Halifax is finished asking the question, but not until then.

The hon. member for Halifax.

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

NDP

Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the information was used to regressively attack wages and collective bargaining.

Why did the Conservatives try to trick Canadians by using data from Kijiji instead of data from their own Stats Canada?

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

North Vancouver B.C.

Conservative

Andrew Saxton ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, employers across Canada say that the biggest challenge they are facing is a lack of skilled workers.

This is particularly problematic in certain sectors and regions where thousands of jobs are going unfilled because not enough skilled workers are available to fill them.

That is why we are taking action, including with the Canada job grant, to ensure that skills training actually leads to permanent jobs and employers are investing more into equipping Canadians with the skills that the job market demands.

EmploymentOral Questions

March 28th, 2014 / 11:20 a.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Employment has gone on and on for months about the so-called labour shortage. The problem is that the minister has no credible facts to back his claims. There is no labour shortage in Canada, unless you would rather believe Kijiji than the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the Conference Board of Canada and Statistics Canada.

Will the minister go back to the drawing board and refrain from basing his responses on dubious information obtained from Kijiji?

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia

Conservative

Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, we understand that there is no general labour shortage across the country, but there are sectoral and geographic labour shortages and skills deficits we need to deal with as a government to make sure that Canadians can gain employment, get jobs, and raise their families.

That is why we are implementing the Canada job grant, so that we can bring more employer investment into training, like most other countries in the world.

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

NDP

Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government's stubborn defence of Kijiji data is quite simply absurd. In 2009, economist Don Raymond participated in a panel that made dozens of recommendations to improve labour market data. We need reliable data in order to effectively curb unemployment and maximize the use of public funds.

Why did the government not implement those recommendations?

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia

Conservative

Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, the PBO report is consistent with what we have been saying: “Aggregate numbers may obscure what is occurring in some regions and sectors across the country”. That is consistent with what employers are telling us across the country. For example, the construction sector says that we need 319,000 new workers in the next 10 years. The mining and industry sector says we will need 145,000 workers by 2020. The petroleum sector says we will need 130,000 workers by 2020.

We need to take steps, working with our provincial partners, to provide training so we can train the next generation of Canadian workers.

EmploymentOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

Mr. Speaker, as a result of its misleading research on Kijiji, the government seems to think that the Canadian economy's problem is a skills mismatch, whereas the real problem is simply a lack of jobs. In the last year, 95% of the jobs created have been part-time jobs. When will the Conservatives introduce a real plan for economic growth and job creation for the middle class?

EmploymentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia

Conservative

Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, in fact over 80% of new jobs created in Canada over the last year were full-time jobs. Over 80% are also in the private sector. We have the best job growth in the G7, over one million net new jobs since the pit of the economic recession in July 2009. Those are the facts.

EmploymentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

Mr. Speaker, those facts are all wrong. However, based on its misleading research on Kijiji, the government seems to think that Canada's economic challenge involves a mismatch of jobs, when the real problem is not enough jobs. We have 265,000 fewer jobs for young Canadians. Fully 95% of the jobs created over the past year were part-time. Both job quality and job quantity are down.

When will the Conservatives put forward a real plan for jobs and growth for middle-class Canadians?

EmploymentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia

Conservative

Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear when we talk to employers across the country. In round table after round table, they continuously tell us that there is a skills shortage in different sectors within different geographic regions and we need to deal with this. That is exactly what we are doing by implementing the Canada job grant. Here are some facts. Skills Canada tells us we are going to need one-million skilled trades workers in Canada by 2020. Those are the facts.

EmploymentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada keeps telling us that all their facts are wrong. The finance department's own research shows that the best way to grow the economy and create jobs is through infrastructure investment, yet the government plans a nearly 90% cut to infrastructure next Tuesday. Given our terrible youth employment rate and the so-called recovery that is 95% part-time jobs, how can the government justify crushing its single most effective job creation tool? Why does it do that?

EmploymentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Kitchener—Waterloo Ontario

Conservative

Peter Braid ConservativeParliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Liberal Party has it wrong. In fact, our government has made historic, unprecedented investments in infrastructure. That high-level investment in infrastructure will continue. Our application process opens this coming Monday, March 31. These infrastructure investments will enhance our quality of life, improve our productivity, and increase our economic competitiveness.

Agriculture and Agri-foodOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government's new grain transportation bill has so many flaws that there is even a Conservative member who does not support it. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs has already proposed some amendments less than 24 hours after the bill was introduced. This is consistent with the NDP's position regarding mandatory service level agreements.

Will the government finally listen to farmers, the NDP and even its own members and amend its bill, so that it serves the interests of the people involved?

Agriculture and Agri-foodOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Speaker, only two days ago, our government delivered important and decisive legislation on the side of farmers to move their grain to port: one million metric tonnes a week. It also establishes the minimum volume requirements for the transportation of grain. It strengthens contractual mechanisms between producers and shippers, and a lot more. I can assure the member across the floor that my colleague supports farmers and he supports this legislation.

My question is, will the member stand in her place and vote for farmers and vote for this legislation when it comes to a vote in the House?

Agriculture and Agri-foodOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC

Mr. Speaker, we are standing up to fight for farmers. Conservative members are now agreeing with the NDP about serious problems with this new grain transportation bill. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs said it must be amended. He warned that it could make a bad situation even worse. Saskatchewan called the legislation “deficient”.

I visited western grain farmers. Their grain is sitting, stranded across the country. They are frustrated with the current government that refuses to take decisive action.

Will the minister finally listen, do the right thing, and agree to amend the bill?

Agriculture and Agri-foodOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Speaker, I really do encourage the member to work more closely with farmers.

I have a quote from the Canadian Canola Growers Association:

The measures announced in yesterday's Bill, along with other efforts recently implemented demonstrate that Government is listening to farmers concerns.

The bill will be in front of the House this afternoon for debate. Then it will be moving to committee and we will be doing our work in committee.

However, when it comes back to the House, I would like to see the NDP stand on the side of farmers and support this move, support the bill that would move their grain to port.

Employment and Social DevelopmentOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is true that western grain farmers have been abandoned by these Conservatives, just like workers have been abandoned.

Governments should use sound data to develop sound labour market policies. Instead, the Conservatives use information from Kijiji. They ignored warnings that the data they used was not accurate.

We actually have factual data from Statistics Canada and the PBO, and it is paid for by taxpayers.

Would they acknowledge that their data does not show what they claim and does not justify their regressive labour market policies that are only backed up by Kijiji?

Employment and Social DevelopmentOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia

Conservative

Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, the PBO report is not inconsistent with what we have been saying. We agree that there is no general labour shortage across the country. If there were, wages would be rising faster than inflation, and that is simply not the case.

What is happening is that we have sectoral and geographic problems with our labour market. We need to make sure that we take steps so that employers can find skilled employees to fill those positions when they become open, and we need training programs in place, like the Canada job grant, so that people will be trained to take those jobs when they are needed.

Employment and Social DevelopmentOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that they have lost 500,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector since they came to power. The Minister of Employment and Social Development admitted that he had no idea about the state of the labour market in Canada.

We are right to have serious concerns about the Minister of Finance's report on the labour market that was tabled at the same time as the 2014 budget. What information did the Minister of Finance use for his report? If the government has no idea what is going on, why should we trust it?

Employment and Social DevelopmentOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley Nova Scotia

Conservative

Scott Armstrong ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, we have the best job growth of any country in the G7. Since July 2009, the pit of the economic recession, we have created over a million net new jobs.

I know the member is really concerned about manufacturing jobs in Ontario. Maybe he should have his NDP leader of the province stop supporting a Liberal leader who has the highest power rates in Ontario history.

Democratic ReformOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' only justification for their electoral reform has evaporated. The former British Columbia chief electoral officer, Harry Neufeld, who was being quoted indiscriminately, decided to set the record straight.

In 2011, 400,000 people used voter information cards to prove their address, and another 120,000 people had someone vouch for them so they could vote.

Does the minister agree that if he gets rid of vouching and voter information cards, 520,000 people could be disenfranchised?

Democratic ReformOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)

Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with that. The hon. member is taking it for granted that none of those people had one of the 39 forms of identification allowed by Elections Canada.

What we are proposing is that people be required to show ID with their name and address. That is reasonable. We are not saying that voters have to bring a photo, just one of the 39 forms of identification allowed.

Democratic ReformOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC

Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps going on about the irregularities Mr. Neufeld observed during the 2011 election. That is exactly why Mr. Neufeld got irritated and decided to set the record straight.

The irregularities identified in his report were the result of administrative errors. He never said that those irregularities had anything to do with electoral fraud or the voters themselves. Harry Neufeld made it abundantly clear that voters are not the problem. The minister has to stop misrepresenting what Mr. Neufeld said.

Instead of choosing not to trust voters, maybe the minister would be better off implementing the recommendations in the Neufeld report. When will he act on that?

Democratic ReformOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I do not agree with Mr. Neufeld's recommendations. Everyone knows that. Everyone knew that before yesterday, and my position has not changed. However, Mr. Neufeld's report was very detailed. I quoted those details and facts accurately, and I will continue to do so.