Thomas Mulcair

[Labour, May 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, over the last two years, the Conservatives have attacked collective bargaining rights: back-to-work legislation, bad faith bargaining, burying unions in red tape. Now the Conservatives want to give the Treasury Board the power to cut the salaries of non-union employees at crown corporations as well.

The Bank of Canada is one of those crown corporations. Does the Prime Minister really trust his friend from the Muskokas to tell the Governor of the Bank of Canada how much he can pay his staff?

[Government Expenditures, May 8th, 2013]

There are blue flags all over the field, Mr. Speaker.

If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, will he support the NDP motion calling for the release of all documents related to this spending? Will he support us or not?

If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, as he claims, will he support our motion to give Canadians all the documents about the missing $3.1 billion?

[Government Expenditures, May 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board has said that losing track of $3.1 billion in taxpayer money is just an “internal” matter. The Prime Minister has said it is a “categorization” error. The question is this: Is the money just in the wrong filing cabinet? Is it hidden in the minister's gazebo, or is the money in the banana stand?

This program has become such a mess that according to the Auditor General, the Treasury Board has simply stopped tracking public safety spending altogether and will not even have a new system in place until 2014. Is this how the Prime Minister deals with losing over $3 billion of taxpayer money—just stop accounting for it altogether?

[Employment, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not even care what is happening in his own province.

To quote from the same memo from the deputy minister:

...in January 2012,

—a single month—

Albertan employers received positive confirmation for 1,261 TFW (Temporary Foreign Worker) positions for food counter attendants. At the same time, nearly 350 people made a claim for EI who had cited significant experience in the same occupation and province.

Why did the immigration minister, the human resources minister and the Prime Minister all do nothing to help these unemployed Albertans?

[Employment, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure what the Prime Minister meant, when he was talking about just the opposite being true, was the 15% rule that at 2 o'clock the government denied the existence of and that at 4 o'clock it announced the elimination of.

It has been revealed that the Conservatives knew what was going on all along. The minister was warned by her own deputy minister, and I quote again:

...employers are hiring temporary foreign workers in the same occupation and location as Canadians who are collecting EI....

Is the Prime Minister telling us that his minister hid the information from him, or did he choose to hide that information from Canadians?

[Employment, May 7th, 2013]

Right, Mr. Speaker, so let me get it straight. When the Liberals lose $1 billion, for them it is a boondoggle. When the Conservatives lose $3 billion, for them it is business as usual.

A year ago the Minister of Human Resources was warned that temporary foreign workers were being used to fill jobs in the same fields as unemployed Canadians.

Let me try another simple question. If the Minister of Human Resources knew about all of this a year ago, why did the Prime Minister deny that there was a problem until just last week?

[Government Expenditures, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, there are blue flags.

I guess the Prime Minister did not catch question period yesterday, so let me read him the full quote from the Auditor General, not just the part Conservatives like to repeat,

...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.

We all know the President of the Treasury Board is full of excuses. Yesterday he called losing track of over $3 billion an “internal” matter.

The question for the Prime Minister is quite simple. Does the Prime Minister agree with his minister that losing track of $3 billion of public money is none of the public's business?

[Government Expenditures, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the President of the Treasury Board gave us a new series of excuses to try to justify how he lost track of just $3.1 billion. He even tried to blame the NDP, which is absolutely ridiculous. It is true that the Liberals are partly to blame for the chaotic management from 2001 to 2005 and that they were experts at losing taxpayers' money, but blame the NDP? No way.

Since the Conservatives are the ones in power for the moment, does the Prime Minister accept that his minister cannot say where the $3.1 billion went?

[Labour, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting because the very quote that the member just gave about being informed proves our point, that in Quebec there is no way Treasury Board sits at the negotiating table with crown corporations.

That is how far the Conservatives have taken this. They are the ones who will be seated at the negotiating table and who will dictate the conditions. Every time we asked questions about the post offices, their Minister of Transport told us that had nothing to do with them, that Canada Post was at arm's length from the government and free to do what it wanted.

Which is it? You cannot blow hot and cold at the same time.

[Labour, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, back in 2002, the Conservatives talked about the fact that a billion dollars missing by the Liberals was trying to be swept under the rug. The only change now is that the rug is blue.

Now, another little surprise for everyone who likes freedom of the press, who likes the CBC, is to find out that there is now going to be somebody from the Conservatives sitting at the negotiating table. Our only question is this: Is the President of the Treasury Board now responsible for determining whether Peter Mansbridge is allowed to be paid more than Ezra Levant?