Business of Supply May 9th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, the quote my colleague cites is certainly an important one: “It's important for there to be a way for people to understand how this money was spent. And that summary reporting was not done”.

This is what the Auditor General has said. Clearly, what we are seeing here is a shocking, government-wide lack of monitoring on the progress of public security funding. This is at the same time the government is bringing in a variety of laws that infringe upon our civil liberties. If public security is so important to the Conservatives, they should be able to account for this money.

Under a New Democratic Party government, there will be accountability. There will be a greater sense of responsibility for the hard work Canadians put into earning their tax dollars. The Conservatives do not do the job. We will make sure that we are representing the interests of Canadians.

Business of Supply May 9th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question.

The problem is that we know that the Auditor General did not have all of the information from the Public Accounts of Canada.

Now we are asking the government to produce those public accounts so that the Auditor General can really verify if the money was spent, and if so, how it was spent. That is all we are asking.

Business of Supply May 9th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to the opposition day motion with really a sense of sadness, sadness because as the finance critic for the official opposition, I have sadly had a front row seat in watching the greater opacity, the greater lack of information by the government when it comes to financial matters. From its omnibus bills to its time allocations to its silencing of opposition testimony, it has become frankly a bit of a chill in Ottawa.

Now I think we get a sense of why some of that is. What we are debating now with this opposition day motion by our party, the NDP, is the misplacing of $3.1 billion contributed to the coffers of Ottawa by Canadians across the country. It is not just any amount of money. This money was put in the hands of the government in trust to be spent on public security and anti-terrorism measures. The fact that the government cannot account for this money, as witnessed by the Auditor General in his recent report, is frankly shocking, but it is in keeping with the general lack of reporting, the lack of transparency by the government.

It is a government that forced the Parliamentary Budget Officer, which was a position created in fact by the Conservatives and an officer who was put in place by them, Kevin Page, to go to court to try to get some of the information from budget 2012 in terms of how government was spending and which departments, programs and services were being cut by the government. Now we find that even the government does not seem to understand, or know, or be able to find monies that were put in its trust and for which it would be responsible.

Before I continue, I will be sharing my time with the member for Edmonton—Strathcona.

The motion we are debating today is really calling on the government to issue documents from 2001 to the present, to account for this money on natural security. That is when these funds were initially allocated and that this public security initiative was created. What we are calling for is all of the public security and anti-terrorism annual reports that were submitted to the Treasury Board Secretariat, all the Treasury Board submissions made as part of the anti-terrorism initiative, all the departmental evaluations of the initiative, all the Treasury Board database information established to monitor the funding, all of these records be public and made available to the House, in both official languages, by June 17.

That is all we are asking for, that this basic information about the dollars given to Ottawa by Canadians across the country for a very serious purpose, the anti-terrorism public safety initiative, that this money be made available and that the Auditor General be given the necessary resources to perform an in-depth forensic audit to find the $3.1 billion that is unaccounted for by the government.

At the same time as this money has gone astray, no one can find out where it is. Under budget 2012, the government has made significant cuts to public safety. A total of $687.9 million will be cut from public safety by 2015. To outline some of these cuts, $143 million to the Canada Border Services Agency, the CBSA, will mean the elimination of 626 full-time equivalents, including about 325 front line officers. A further 100 positions may be affected in the CBSA.

To put this into perspective, I come from the city of Toronto, the largest city in the country. Like other communities across the country, we have concerns about handguns that are illegally smuggled into our country and fall into the hands of youth, especially, as well as others. Far too many young people in our communities have died because of the illegal use of handguns that were smuggled into the country.

To think that the Conservative government would cut over 600 border security guards from patrolling our borders and at the same time it cannot account for if, whether or how it spent $3.1 billion is frankly shocking and I know it is unacceptable to the constituents in my riding of Parkdale—High Park and to Canadians right across the country.

The government is also cutting intelligence agents from the CBSA and sniffer dog units. Under budget 2012, it scrapped the Inspector General of CSIS, who was put in place to ensure accountability there. The government is also cutting almost $200 million from the RCMP. While it is making what I would call reckless cuts to public safety measures, at the same time it seems to have misplaced over $3 billion that was allocated to protect our public safety.

While we are hearing a lot of stonewalling from the other side on this issue, what we are calling for with this motion is for the government to stop playing politics with our public safety and our hard-earned tax dollars and just give the Auditor General the information that he needs to fully account for where this money has gone.

Was it properly spent or improperly spent? Let the Conservatives give us the documents so all Canadians can find out what happened to the money. That is all we are asking for. It is very simple and straightforward.

We are hearing a lot of stonewalling on the other side of the House. We are hearing that the Auditor General did not find that any money was misappropriated. He did not find that any money was misappropriated because there were no documents saying where the money was. There were no documents to tell if it had been spent, not been spent, if it had been turned back into a previous budget, put forward into a future budget or spent on public security. Did it go to the President of the Treasury Board's gazebo? Did it go to a fake lake in Toronto?

We do not know where this money went. It could be lost in loose change down sofas across the country. We have no idea. However, there are clearly some serious spending problems with the government and with the public safety and anti-terrorism initiative because the money was not monitored properly, may not have been spent properly and clearly has not been properly accounted for.

The Auditor General needs the documents to be able to track the money and to find out on behalf of hard-working Canadians. They do not get to say "I just lost a third of the money I was supposed to report" when it comes to tax time. They have to account for every penny. Therefore, the Auditor General has to get the documents he needs to properly account for $3.1 billion in missing funds.

We urge the government and all members in the House to support this New Democrat opposition day motion to give the Auditor General the information he needs and do the job we were elected to do on behalf of all Canadians.

Petitions May 3rd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, my final petition is from those who seek to have Canada join a growing number of U.S. states which are banning the practice of importing shark fins. This practice results in an estimated 73 million sharks being killed each year for their fins alone.

The petitioners therefore call on the Government of Canada to legislate a ban on the importation of shark fins to Canada.

Petitions May 3rd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, my second petitioner is from constituents who are concerned about the government's changes to the old age security program. They believe this is a direct attack on some of the poorest of seniors who rely on that money for their daily expenses.

The petitioners call for maintenance of funding for OAS benefits and that Canada make the required investments in the guarantee income supplement to lift every senior out of poverty.

Petitions May 3rd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present three petitions from constituents.

The first concerns the interim federal health program for refugees. Parkdale—High Park is a riding that has had the good fortune to welcome many newcomers, including refugees over the years. However, vulnerable refugee claimants are already being denied basic health services, such as medication, psychiatric treatment and hospitalization.

The petitioners call on the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism to reverse the cuts to the interim health program for refugees and maintain Canada's reputation as a compassionate and humanitarian country.

Labour May 3rd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, let us get back to the facts here. Conservatives have made it clear that they do not like the CBC. Today, on World Press Freedom Day, as we reflect on the importance of a free press, the Conservatives' latest move to take more control over our public broadcaster is unprecedented and troubling. This has nothing to do with defending taxpayers. It is about the Conservatives interfering with crown corporations.

Why will the minister not focus on getting his own finances in order and get his hands off our public broadcaster?

Labour May 3rd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, today is World Press Freedom Day. I would therefore like to ask the Conservatives why they are continuing to stick their noses into the CBC's affairs.

Once again, the Conservatives want to meddle in the crown corporation's management. That is a disturbing decision.

This idea comes from a minister who lost track of $3.1 billion.

Why does he not focus on managing his own financial affairs rather than going after the CBC?

Taxation May 2nd, 2013

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance from Ontario has asked the federal minister to delay the phase-out of the input tax credit regime in Ontario. He has asked that this be extended to 2018. This move by Ontario will have no impact on federal revenues. However, it is part of a new plan by the Ontario government that was requested by the Ontario NDP.

Will the Minister of Finance agree to this reasonable and practical request from the Province of Ontario?