Eve Adams

[Business of Supply, October 2nd, 2012]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For the record, this debate is about the economy. It is about creating Canadian jobs and protecting jobs and about encouraging investment in our Canadian businesses and in our Canadian families.

Just as a point of clarification, it was the NDP's platform proposal, I believe on page 4, that listed $21 billion of new revenue that the government would generate through a carbon tax.

The Leader of the Opposition went further during his debate and—

[Business of Supply, October 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism.

Our Conservative government has a strong record of standing up for the Canadian economy at home and abroad and for Canadian values and interests on the international stage.

Investment from our international trading partners plays an important role in the Canadian economy. Indeed, investment is critical to our economy. It helps Canadian companies find new capital and enables them to expand, innovate and create jobs for Canadians for our neighbours. That is why we have a broad framework in place to promote trade and investment, while protecting Canadian interests.

The Investment Canada Act provides a sound and tested process to review significant acquisitions of Canadian enterprises by non-Canadian companies to determine if they are likely to be of net benefit to Canada. While a company files an application for review under the Investment Canada Act, the Minister of Industry will conduct a thorough review of the proposed investment. Under the act, where any investment, including the one the hon. members opposite mentioned, is subject to review, the Minister of Industry must approve an investor's application for review before an investor can implement an acquisition. An application for review is only approved where the Minister of Industry is satisfied, based on the plans, undertakings and other representations of the investor, that the investment is likely to give net benefit to Canada.

In making that determination of net benefit, the minister considers the factors listed in section 20 of the act.

Among these factors is the effect of the investment on the level and nature of economic activity in Canada, including the effect on employment, on resource processing, on the utilization of parts, components and services produced in Canada and on exports from Canada. Another factor is the degree and significance of participation by Canadians and Canadian business, or new Canadian business, and in any industry or industries in Canada of which the Canadian business or new Canadian business forms or would form a part. Another factor is the effect of the investment on productivity, industrial efficiency, technological development, product innovation and product variety in Canada. Another is the effect of the investment on competition within any industry or industries in Canada. There is also the compatibility of the investment with national, industrial, economic and cultural policies, taking into consideration industrial, economic and cultural policy objectives stated by the government or legislature of any province likely to be significantly affected by the investment. Also there is the contribution of the investment to Canada's ability to compete in world markets.

The review process under the act is clearly rigorous. As part of the process, the minister must, and does, consider the view of a variety of stakeholders and consult affected provinces or territories, as well as other government departments. In addition, as noted by the opposition, any member or group that has a view on any specific investment proposal may express its views, which will be welcomed during the review process.

Also, for every investment by an SOE, regardless of its source, as part of the assessment of the factors in the act, the Minister of Industry considers the extent to which a company is controlled by a state and whether it operates on a commercial basis.

During the review process, investors generally provide plans and undertakings to support their view that their investments are likely to be of net benefit to Canada.

The act sets out protections for the information obtained from an investor or Canadian business. This protection enables us to obtain the information we need from the business involved in the transaction. This data is essential to conducting a thorough review, while preventing the harm to the investor and Canadian businesses and jobs that could come from disclosure.

We are pleased by the interest of Canadians in this process and endeavour to provide information whenever possible. The minister will take the time necessary to conduct a thorough and careful review of CNOOC's proposed acquisition of Nexen and will not approve it unless satisfied that it is likely to be of net benefit to Canada.

Our Conservative government has a clear track record of listening to Canadians on what matters most of all to us: jobs, economic stability and safe communities. That is why we have demonstrated such strong economic growth, job creation and prosperity in Canada.

In contrast, the NDP still clearly favours reckless economic policies, such as the carbon tax, that would deter investments, kill jobs, raise the price of gasoline by 10¢ a litre and hurt—

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that is an outstanding question and one that my residents also want to hear about.

Unlike the NDP, which wants to bring in a new tax to take money out of hard-working Canadian families' pockets, to have civil servants in Ottawa spend more, and to increase the cost of groceries and every single aspect of their daily lives, our Conservative government continues to cut taxes. One of the most obvious ones is the GST. We have cut that from 7% to 6% to 5%. That helps every Canadian family every single day every time they make a purchase.

We continue to provide all sorts of additional tax benefits. We have lowered the tax burden on Canadian families to the lowest levels in Canadian history.

That is the Conservative track record and we will continue on that track.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I lived in Ontario at the time of the Martin majority government and he balanced the budget by dramatically cutting transfers to the province of Ontario and other provinces. During that time, a slew of hospitals crumbled and had to close. Nurses had to be fired. That is the Liberal track record. Every Canadian, certainly every Ontario resident and those who lived in the Toronto area, recalls those times.

Our Conservative government has maintained transfers to hospitals and each and every year has continued to increase them, which is something I campaigned for and it is something that every Conservative budget has delivered. We actually keep our word.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for the opportunity to clarify the record. I certainly spoke to it during my remarks. The fact is that, under our Conservative government, transfers to the provinces for health care, universities, colleges and hospitals have not decreased but have actually increased.

I think the hon. member was probably thinking about the Liberal majority government that dramatically slashed transfers to hospitals. That was when all those hospitals in the Toronto area closed, as they did across the country.

The Conservative government has a very strong track record in maintaining transfers to our provinces for our needed social programs.

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

I am pleased to speak to the motion from the interim leader of the third party.

When addressing the topic of income inequality, I had hoped he had researched what has happened to the level of poverty in Canada under our Conservative government.

Under our Conservative government, poverty has decreased to an all-time low. In fact, it was in 1996, under the previous Liberal government, that Canada's poverty rate reached its highest level in more than 40 years. What an abysmal record.

Under the Liberals, Canada's poverty rate hit 15.2%. In 2010, as the world economy continued to struggle and Canada continued to show leadership on the world stage under our Prime Minister, with a strong, stable, national majority Conservative government, 9% of Canada's population lived in poverty. This number was still too high so we have continued to act to reduce it. This number represents the lowest percentage in Canadian history. In fact, it is 32% lower than under the Liberals. To put it in context, 1.3 million Canadians under the Conservative government have escaped poverty.

In 1996, under the Liberals, the peak of poverty in the last 40 years, 16.2% of women were considered to be low income. In 2010, I am pleased to report that poverty among women dropped to an all-time low of 9%, which is a 57% decrease in poverty.

Another hard truth for the Liberals is that, before 2006, children experienced a higher rate of poverty than adults in Canada. In 2006, after we Conservatives formed government, for the first time in history children had a lower poverty rate than adults in Canada. That is something all of us can be proud of.

In 1996, under the previous Liberal government, 18% of children lived in poverty, which is 3% higher than working aged Canadians. As a mother of a young son myself, I find it appalling that the Liberals not only tolerated but continued to contribute to the increase in child poverty through their mean-spirited and poorly thought out cuts to transfer payments to the provinces.

However, under our Conservative leadership, by 2010 this number had been cut in half, with 8.2% of children considered to be living in poverty, a rate that is 1.9% lower than working aged Canadians.

To be fair, any amount of child or adult poverty in Canada is too much.

There is, however, a pattern here: under the Liberals, we get more child poverty; under the Conservatives, we get less child poverty.

For 13 years, the Liberals, who are so sanctimonious today, held a majority government. When they had the votes to pass any piece of legislation to enact any program whatsoever what did they do? These self-proclaimed mighty defenders of those Canadians in need did the following. They launched an attack on the poor, the sick and the needy like no government before or since has ever done. They gutted transfers to the provinces and territories with staggering unprecedented cuts totalling tens of billions of dollars each and every year.

When they cut money to the provinces for health care, hospitals in my community closed, nurses were fired and doctors saw their working conditions deteriorate like never before. When they cut money for social services and for transfers to schools, colleges and universities, those buildings crumbled and community services were scaled back like never before.

This is not rhetoric. I am not exaggerating for effect. This is what happened. This is the Liberal record.

The statistics speak for themselves. Under the Liberals, the increase to the highest rates of poverty in 40 years happened in tandem with the cuts to provincial transfers.

Unlike the Liberals, our Conservative government made a commitment and cemented in law that those transfers will never be cut and that they will always continue to grow each and every year. That is exactly what we have done.

Let us think about our approach to transfers to the provinces for things like hospitals and schools. These transfers are the most significant means by which provinces help those in need. The transfers have been called more than generous by all sorts of third party observers. Why have the Liberals voted against these transfers at every opportunity?

We have taken many crucial steps as a government to ensure that vulnerable Canadians can fully participate in our economy. In 2007, we introduced the working income tax benefit to help ensure that more low and modest income Canadians are financially better off as a result of getting a job. In budget 2009, this tax benefit was enhanced by $580 million, effectively doubling the initial investment to provide further support to working Canadians and their families.

We believe the family is a very important building block of society and it is one of the most important investments we can make as a society. Our government is committed to the family's well-being. We gave Canadian parents the choice to decide what kind of child care they needed for their families by providing parents with $100 each month for each child under six years of age, a benefit that I certainly received for my son. The universal child care benefit enables parents to choose the care that best suits the needs of their children.

In budget 2010, we made changes to the universal child care benefit to ensure that single parent families and parents with joint custody are treated fairly. Our government provides annual financial support under the universal child care benefit to about 1.5 million Canadian families. This is one program alone and it is responsible for lifting 55,000 children out of poverty. We provide over $800 million to parents through the child care expense deduction, as well as about $1.5 billion per year in tax support for families through the child tax credit. This money amounts to the largest investment in early childhood development and child care in Canadian history.

Our government recognized that it may be difficult for people who have full-time jobs to care for family members with serious illness or disabilities. Our government introduced improvements to the EI program to help parents balance work and family responsibilities during financially difficult and emotionally devastating times. For example, we expanded the list of family members and others considered as family under the compassionate care benefits so that eligible workers can take a temporary absence from their work to provide care for a gravely ill individual who faces a significant risk of death.

For the first time ever, our government created a program so that self-employed Canadians could opt into the EI program to receive maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits. Foster parents who have a child placed with them for the purposes of adoption can now take parental leave earlier instead of having to wait until the legal proceedings conclude.

We have also expanded access to parental benefits for military families. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, I have the privilege of serving the brave men and women who stand up for our nation. It was our government that made the changes to ensure that military members who returned from deployment could take their parental leave over a longer period of time, ensuring they have a very important opportunity to bond with their new babies.

Most recently, our government introduced the helping families in need act, which was tabled last week. It is a bill that introduces necessary legislative changes to help hard-working Canadian families when they need it the most. As a mom, I was thrilled that the government introduced the helping families in need act to provide supports to families in their times of need. The bill provides for an EI benefit for parents and guardians of critically ill children. It also provides an EI benefit of $350 a week for 35 weeks for parents of children who have been kidnapped or murdered. I cannot imagine the devastation and anxiety of family members as they struggle with a kidnapped child or critically ill child. In these types of circumstances, I think Canadians can understand why we would want to support these families. We want to ensure that their prime concern and focus remains on their children and that they do not need to worry about their jobs, paying the mortgage or putting food on the table. Sadly, the NDP voted against the ways and means motion required to introduce this new law.

I would hope that the opposition parties could stand and support our measures to help Canadian families. We have been very strong, very solid and our track record speaks for itself.

Very succinctly, child poverty, adult poverty and poverty among women has been dramatically reduced in Canada under Conservatives. Members will recall that under the Liberals it was dramatically higher, an all-time 40-year high.

[Veterans Affairs, September 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, our government has enormous respect for the veterans who have served and sacrificed for our country. We agreed with the court decision and we are acting expeditiously to ensure that the veterans and the current members who need this benefit receive it as soon as possible. Our government has significantly improved benefits for veterans, including the benefits for disabled veterans, while the NDP and the Liberals consistently vote against these benefits.

[New Democratic Party of Canada, September 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP's motivation for its carbon tax is clear: billions and billions in new revenue for the government taken from hard-working Canadian families. However, do not take the Conservatives' word for it. The NDP members for Burnaby—New Westminster, Edmonton—Strathcona and Skeena—Bulkley Valley have all confirmed it.

Page 4 of the New Democrat platform 2011 costing document also confirms in black and white its plan to raise $21 billion in revenue, and during the NDP leadership campaign, the current leader of the NDP actually issued a backgrounder, which lists as one of his goals to implement a comprehensive cap and trade system to generate billions of dollars in new revenue. Those are enough warning signs for Conservatives and it is enough of a warning sign for Canadians.

The NDP can try to hide its carbon tax. On this side of the House, we will not let them do it.

[The Economy, September 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it has been a busy summer in Mississauga. I spent it attending community events, meeting with residents and veterans and continuing to work hard on their behalf. It was especially wonderful to host over 2000 of my neighbours at my annual community barbecue. I would like to thank all of the wonderful volunteers who pitched in on a hot and sunny day to make it such a success.

My community is hard working and it was wonderful to hear my neighbours speak of their continued support for our Conservative government's economic action plan to create jobs and keep taxes low. I am not the only one proud of our government's work and our Prime Minister. The World Economic Forum has recognized the work of our government and has ranked Canada's banking system as the soundest in the world for the fifth year running.

It is not just our economy that is capturing international accolades. Former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and retired General Colin Powell have honoured our Prime Minister with the World Statesman of the Year award for his international leadership, which will put him in the company of renowned leaders like former PM Margaret Thatcher.

Congratulations to the Prime Minister.

[Petitions, June 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of residents and business owners across Canada who ask that August 21 be declared drive change day, a nationally recognized day when people show their support for positive change across Canada.

Inasmuch as Earth Day has become a global phenomenon where individuals come together to plant trees and conduct cleanups, these signatories are asking that August 21 be a day for social change.