Charmaine Borg

[Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act, February 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for her question. I am confused as well. The government says it wants to abolish the firearms registry because it does not want to treat hunters and those own firearms for recreation as criminals. However, it is prepared to treat law-abiding Internet users as criminals. I am confused and I think the Canadian public is confused too.

[Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act, February 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I said in my speech that it is clear that this government is trying to be divisive. We proposed a solution in 2010 in order to unite Canadians and to have a discourse that could allay our public safety fears, while protecting the rights and interests of aboriginal people and those living in remote regions. We want to unite people and we made a proposal, but it was rejected. The Conservatives should be asking themselves why they reject our proposals that aim to unite Canadians.

[Ending The Long-Gun Registry Act, February 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform the House that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to add my voice to those of many Quebeckers, Canadians, police officers and victims who strongly condemn abolishing the long gun registry and its data. This irresponsible choice shows once again the take-it-or-leave-it Conservative rhetoric that has prevailed in the House of Commons since the last election.

Under the Liberal government, the initial implementation phase of this registry cost Canadians a lot more than expected, while also being plagued by significant delays and registration costs. The lack of leadership and the poor estimate of the actual costs were indeed disturbing. However, the current cost of maintaining the registry is $4 million annually, while the total budget for the Canadian firearms program is $76.5 million. Let us do some quick calculations. The registry accounts for 5.23% of the program's annual budget. Hon. members will agree that this is a relatively small amount and that the significant investments that had to be made to create the registry are now behind us. Therefore, destroying these records would waste the public funds already invested.

With their taxes, Quebeckers have paid close to one-quarter of the cost of the registry, and they want a registry. Quebec was even prepared to take over this registry, but the Conservative government flatly refused. Destroying the data would waste the large investment made by Quebeckers and Canadians.

Since the destruction of those records is part of the Conservative plan, I find it unacceptable that the provinces, which have invested a lot of money, were not consulted before making this decision. The Conservative government refuses yet again to listen to the provinces, just as it did with Bill C-10. That shows a total lack of respect.

I also want to point out that the speeches made by the Conservatives in recent months are very inconsistent. The Conservatives partly justify abolishing the long gun registry by suggesting that citizens should be treated like adults and that the government should not interfere in their private lives. The government also says that it is wrong to treat law-abiding hunters as if they were criminals.

I find it very ironic that, under the lawful access legislation, all Canadians using the Internet will be treated like criminals, without any regard for their right to privacy. After all, one of the main goals of the Conservatives with Bill C-19 is to destroy data in order to protect privacy. These two positions are rather controversial and inconsistent.

I want to point out that those same hunters whose privacy the government wants to protect also have computers at home. They will probably use the Internet. I am having a very hard time understanding the government's position. I do not understand why we are legally required to disclose details about our private lives by registering our animals, our children and our cars, but registering a firearm that could be used to kill someone, whether intentionally or accidentally, is an invasion of privacy. That makes no sense.

Simply put, the government is against data that interfere with their rhetoric. They are underestimating the intelligence of Canadians.

As of September 30, 2011, the registry was being accessed 17,000 times a day. A survey showed that nearly all general duty police officers use the system, and that in 74% of cases, the information they obtain assists their operations. The registry enables police officers to better prepare their intervention strategies, which is crucial to protecting those who bear the weighty responsibility of keeping us safe.

That is why William Blair, Toronto police chief and president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, and Daniel Parkinson, president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, expressed concern about the safety of police officers and Canadians should the data be destroyed.

In Quebec, Yves Francoeur, president of the Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal, said, “To keep people safe, we need a registry, no matter what the cost”.

Marc Parent, chief of the Montreal city police, said, “This is a tool we use every day. The need is there".

The RCMP and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have also spoken in favour of maintaining the registry.

The government is bragging about making the work of police officers easier, but Bill C-19 does not make any sense to police officers across the country.

There is absolutely no question that the registry gives police officers essential strategic planning tools that they use for their interventions. However, I am very concerned about victims and future victims of criminal acts committed with guns. I am thinking in particular of the victims at the Polytechnique in 1989 and at Dawson College in 2006, of police officer Valérie Gignac, and of the RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe in 2005, who were all killed by guns. In 2010, the RCMP said that in the previous 10 years, 10 out of 13 police officers were killed by long guns.

Victims' groups have condemned Bill C-19. It is grotesque, insensitive and cruel to all these victims to abolish a registry whose records can save lives. This government says it protects victims, but its position on Bill C-19 shows the exact opposite. Rather than presenting Canadians with a take-it-or-leave-it choice so as to divide them, the NDP wants to unite them. Our party seeks a compromise between the public safety issues that could result from the abolition and destruction of this registry and aboriginal treaty rights. We believe it is possible to find a solution for all Canadians.

In 2010, we proposed the following: decriminalizing the failure to register a firearm for first-time offenders and issuing a ticket instead; indicating in the legislation that long gun owners would not have to pay registration costs; prohibiting the disclosure of information about firearms owners, except for the purpose of protecting the public or when ordered by a court or by law; and creating a legal guarantee to protect aboriginal treaty rights.

Our point of view has not changed. We support a constructive dialogue between the stakeholders, so that no one is left out and we all work together. Recent governments have divided us enough. The time has come to take measures that will foster reconciliation between all Canadians. There are solutions that will improve public safety while also respecting aboriginal people and everyone who lives in rural areas.

It is time the Conservative government listened to Canadians and acted like a responsible government towards them and towards all those who risk their lives to maintain the peace.

[Public Safety, February 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' last bill on lawful access treated all Canadians like criminals. The personal information of any Internet user could be obtained without a warrant. The Canadian Privacy Commissioner and experts are already worried: this violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Will the minister correct his legislation, or will he continue to treat law-abiding Canadians like criminals?

[Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in Terrebonne—Blainville, February 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge the essential role that the small and medium-sized businesses of Terrebonne, Blainville and Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines are playing in my riding's economic recovery. These businesses share our Quebec values and are deeply rooted in my community. They have worked hard since 2008 to provide more jobs for families in the region.

I would like to thank a number of business associations, including AGAB, CCITB, SODET, the Terrebonne chamber of commerce, CORDEV SADP, CLDEM, and the businesswomen's association. These organizations create a vital network of small and medium-sized businesses. Through them, I have had the opportunity to speak with the people who are helping my community flourish despite tough economic times.

I know that the owners of small and medium-sized businesses support the NDP's pro-small business platform. They agree that it is important to cut small business taxes, and they know that the Conservatives' poorly conceived plan, which helps only large corporations, undermines their competitiveness and fails to recognize their critical role in the economic recovery.

[Business of Supply, February 9th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the question. I want to point out that we cannot give tax cuts to corporations and then allow them to slam the door and put workers out onto the street. That is not allowed. We must review how we allow foreign corporations to operate in Canada. We must reassess the situation.

[Business of Supply, February 9th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am fortunate today to rise in the House and talk about how the strategies of the Conservative Party are not working.

The Conservatives’ economic vision is centred around big business, and only big business. This vision falls short in the eyes of both those who voted for the Conservative Party and those who did not.

Canadians rely on their elected representatives to protect what they have, to promote a responsible environment in the long term, to stimulate the economy and to improve their future. The recent case of Caterpillar, in London, Ontario, is but one example of the many debacles that have affected Canadian workers. The workers are the ones who end up footing the bill when the law does not protect their jobs. The situation of Caterpillar in London is very simple: the US company came to take advantage of the Canadian government investments made possible by the Investment Canada Act. The company developed its technologies and patents, and when it had an opportunity to return to the United States, to a state where employees do not have to be unionized and are not as well paid, it closed its doors and thumbed its nose at its workers and the union.

But the worst part of all this is that the Canadian government did not deem it necessary to take a closer look at the investments made in this company. Today, I realize that Caterpillar used Canadian laws to finance its research before simply throwing families out into the streets, like garbage, families that count on this income to survive. Caterpillar in London, White Birch Paper in Quebec City, AstraZeneca and Mabe in Montreal all demonstrate this clearly: businesses can close their doors without respecting either the unions or workers.

I am disgusted to see that our workers and jobs are not better protected by a government that boasts about creating employment. Keeping jobs should be our greatest badge of pride. The residents in my riding are not fooled, and yet they have to bear the consequences of this government's choices. They suffered after the closing of GM and Electrolux, which are close to my riding. A lot of jobs were created when these businesses were established, but the companies were able to close their doors and leave their employees jobless. This kind of thing occurs despite the Conservatives' tax cuts, which do nothing to protect decent jobs that allow families to live in dignity.

What the Conservatives have to offer as proof of their accomplishments is a steady rise in the unemployment rate and a 6% tax cut for large corporations, even though it is estimated that the government loses $2 billion for every percentage point cut. I cannot think of a single country that can afford to throw away $12 billion a year, billions of dollars that would really improve the services provided to Canadians and that would create jobs in health care and other social services.

The Conservatives can bombard Canadians with a ton of numbers and try to confuse them, but the reality is very simple: increased unemployment, plants shutting down and families facing huge losses of income. Clearly, lowering taxes is not the way to create jobs.

Canadian taxpayers are fed up with paying for the subsidies given to businesses that can shut down whenever they like. Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of good, high-paying jobs—which Canadian families relied on to survive—have been lost. Those jobs allowed people to invest in the local economy and support their fellow citizens. Our entire social structure depends on this economic health, and entire communities suffer and die when the government acts irresponsibly. The NDP recognized the weakness of the Conservative economic vision a long time ago. We said no to the Conservatives' tax cuts and yes to an Investment Canada Act that would ensure that businesses that benefit from our market invest in long-term Canadian jobs.

In the last election, we made it clear that we recognize and support real job creators. Small and medium-sized businesses support the development of communities and stay in those communities. When large corporations like Electrolux and GM closed, small and medium-sized businesses were the ones that supported the regional economy in Terrebonne—Blainville. My constituents know this. Since they were elected, the Conservatives have made life difficult for small and medium-sized businesses. They benefit from a lower tax rate based on the size of the business, in order to compete with large corporations.

Small and medium-sized businesses used to enjoy a lower tax rate, but since coming to power, the Conservatives have chipped away at that advantage, hindering their ability to grow, to compete with larger companies and to create the local jobs that our economy needs.

I understand that foreign investment is important to our economy. However, as the member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques said, the act requires companies to show that their plan will have a net benefit for Canada and the local economy, but does not define exactly what that is.

When the legislation is not clear and precise, it opens the door to all manner of abuse, as we have seen over the past few years. The NDP has developed a pro-small business platform because it understands that small businesses are responsible for nearly half of all new jobs in Canada. That is why we have been fighting for them since the election.

Our platform includes a commitment to reduce the small and medium-sized business tax rate from 11% to 9%. We want to reinstate the job creation tax credit of up to $4,500 for each new job. This initiative would help create 200,000 jobs every year and would enable families to live with dignity. We want to strengthen the Investment Canada Act by reducing the threshold for investments subject to review to $100,000. We want public hearings that allow for community input into decisions on both the assessment of net benefit and conditions to apply to the investment.

The NDP is committed to supporting the real job creators: small and medium-sized businesses. We know that too many families are suffering because of the Conservatives' bad fiscal decisions. We want to support our local businesses so that they can create jobs for local workers and reflect our values.

In closing, I would like to share what Electro-Motive Diesel employee Ralf Zapke had to say about the social cost of gifts for big business. He said that many people with a family, children, a mortgage and a car loan are simply terrified at the prospect of losing everything, and that nobody knows what will happen.

The Conservative government claims to be managing our economy sensibly and reasonably, yet what it has clearly demonstrated is that its policies do not protect families and their future. It is therefore incapable of governing the country.

[Business of Supply, February 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to the thank the hon. member for the question. They are crying wolf because they prefer to spend money on other things. To govern is to make choices. The government can choose to spend money on jets or to spend money on our seniors.

I will speak on behalf of my generation. As the member opposite said, we have to protect this system. I want my children, my peers and myself to benefit from this system so that we too can retire with dignity in 50 years.

[Business of Supply, February 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his question. I know one way to save money: get rid of the Senate.

[Business of Supply, February 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have voted against the Conservative budget because it included big gifts for the Conservatives' friends, billions of dollars for people who do not need money, such as oil companies and big business. I would rather have seen that money go to programs like the Canada pension plan.