Ted Menzies

[Government Expenditures, May 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, fiscal accountability is what this government is all about. We have put forward a budget implementation bill that we are looking forward to the opposition members actually reading, understanding and supporting. It would provide measures for Canadians that would follow on our long-term plan of creating more jobs and helping businesses by reducing their costs so that they can create the jobs. That is what is important to Canadians, and I would encourage the hon. members to get on with their work at committee and get the budget passed.

[Pensions, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, discussions continue between the provinces and the federal government, because it is shared jurisdiction with the Canada pension plan. Any changes made to that require consensus with the provinces. The opposition does not seem to be able to understand that.

In the meantime, we had consensus amongst all of the finance ministers to move forward with the pooled registered pension plan, and that is what we have done. Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia have all tabled their own legislation. We encourage the opposition to actually get on board and support retirement income for Canadians.

[Pensions, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would refer the hon. member to three provinces that have just recently tabled their own legislation on pooled registered pension plans, no thanks to the opposition in the House. This is another option for Canadians to help save for their retirement. Sixty per cent of Canadians in the workforce do not now have a retirement pension plan; we think it is important to provide that option.

We would encourage the opposition, instead of fighting against that, to actually support it. Canadians want that.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I feel obliged after listening to this hon. member's speech to clarify a few inaccuracies.

First, at the tail end of her speech she talked about the bail-in clause that is in the budget. I would like anyone who is listening to this to totally disregard that statement. Obviously there is a misunderstanding. I would be happy to explain to the hon. member that there is no way on earth that the banks can touch the assets of Canadian depositors. I would think she knows that. There is $100,000 that is guaranteed by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation. I would like to reassure Canadians that does not happen. The bail-in we are talking about would use our own contingency capital.

However, I would like to ask the hon. member if she feels she has a better understanding of economics than the top 15 economists who have continually agreed with our budget projections?

[Pensions, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I might remind the hon. member that the NDP actually voted against a new pension plan that is now being accepted across the country, province by province. The NDP could not even see its way clear to support that.

Over 60% of Canadians in the workforce today do not have a registered pension plan that they can contribute to. The NDP thought, “That is not what we want to do. We do not want to help people save for their own pension and retirement”.

We think that is very important. It is one more option that Canadians can use. The NDP apparently does not think it is fair to Canadians.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is pretty obvious. The tradition of this House is, in a budget, to lay out the plan of the government for that year. It is the same as a business, and the board of directors in any business actually has the opportunity to say yea or nay on the budget.

It is the fundamental, go-forward plan for our government. It is making sure we continue on the path of growing jobs. We have 900,000 net new jobs since the end of the recession. That is pretty incredible. That is the best job growth record in all the G7 countries.

Obviously what we are doing is working. We need to stay on that plan and make sure we support families directly in a number of the measures that are in the budget. There is a piece in here to help caregivers stay home and look after their disabled family members.

These are important things to Canadians. However, the most important thing to Canadians is to make sure we continue with this plan, continue to grow the economy, and make this the best country on earth to live in.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as the question was being put, I was reminded by the chair of the finance committee that not only is that where most of the work is done but that it is done clause by clause, not just in the finance committee but at all committees.

Everyone can substitute in on those committees, and I would encourage the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands to do the same thing, to sub in on a committee so she actually has an opportunity to hear the witnesses who appear on different clauses.

Hon. members in this House, and especially at committee, have ample time to debate all of these and to hear witnesses come forward. They have more time than they have had in the past, I would suggest, except for our last budget bill, for which we had an incredible amount of time. I would encourage them to get on with this process.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, ridiculous is a pretty harsh word, but since I am not the first one to use it, what would be ridiculous is to see the opposition vote against $30 million for housing in Nunavut.

That would be ridiculous. The people of Nunavut need new housing. With the issues up there with property ownership, with fee simple, it is necessary that the Government of Canada step forward to help those individuals.

It would also be ridiculous to see palliative care deprived of $3 million to help develop a palliative care plan that would help end-of-life patients all across this country.

I certainly hope the NDP members would take a second look at those sorts of pieces that are in this budget, which are important to Canadians, and I hope they would actually support them.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, with no disrespect meant to my hon. colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands, she had 30 seconds or perhaps a minute—I was not timing it—to ask me a substantive question about this, to follow the debate, instead of asking what I hear so often from the NDP, a process question. There are a lot of things in this piece of legislation that could be discussed, a lot of positive things that Canadians are waiting for. They are urgently asking us to get this done. I refer to the funding for Genome Canada. Also, the mandate of the Nature Conservancy of Canada will soon expire, and it is looking for the replenishment that we have set out in the bill to help preserve natural lands all across this country. The Nature Conservancy is hoping we get this done as soon as possible.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I actually thought I was going to get a question about motorcycle helmets, not hockey helmets, but that is fair enough.

We made certain that hockey helmets are exempt protective headgear. Protective headgear was a definitional issue, so we made sure that hockey helmets were part of that. I hope the hon. member did not actually have a copy of the budget implementation bill last week, because it only tabled in the House recently.

There has been plenty of time, and this points out something very important. The hon. member was able to stand in his place and ask questions on that. I would encourage other members to do the same in the four days after today. The best use of their time would be to ask questions about what is actually in budget implementation act 1.