Thomas Mulcair

[Justice, April 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, today I had the honour of meeting with the parents of Rehtaeh Parsons. I understand that the Prime Minister has met with them as well.

Canadians have heard about the tragic circumstances of how Rehtaeh recently took her own life. Her name is added to that of Amanda Todd and too many others.

Our Criminal Code dates from another era. There are realities in today's society that it simply does not address. We are committed to working with the government to make changes to the Criminal Code to deal with cases like Rehtaeh's before the House rises for the summer.

What action will the Prime Minister take, and what timeline will he commit to?

[The Economy, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a “measure to modify the tendency” to get his Minister of Finance to call banks and insurance companies asking them to raise mortgage rates. That does not help Canadian families deal with their debt.

Let us put it into perspective. The Bank of Canada and the IMF have already downgraded their economic growth projections for Canada. That will translate to a $9 billion loss for our economy and roughly 150,000 jobs. Apparently, like his Minister of Finance, he does not understand that asking them to raise mortgage rates is not a plan to deal with household debt. Will the Prime Minister start taking real action to deal with the real issue of household debt in Canada?

[The Economy, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for that update. Under the circumstances, I understand that he cannot tell us more.

Yesterday, representatives from the Bank of Canada confirmed to members of the Standing Committee on Finance that they could do nothing more to stimulate the Canadian economy until we do something to reverse the growing trend of household debt soaring to record highs. Household debt in Canada represents a real threat to our economy.

Instead of sending his Minister of Finance out to talk mortgage lenders into increasing rates, why does he not deal with household debt?

[Public Safety, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking law enforcement officials, as well as the brave religious leader from the Toronto Muslim community who, as we learned yesterday, helped to prevent a potentially devastating attack on Canadian soil.

Could the Prime Minister provide an update on the arrests that were made yesterday and give us the most recent information on the investigation into this terrorist plot?

[National Defence, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, let us recap the situation. The Conservatives decided to cut the danger pay of soldiers posted in Kabul. However, once this came out in the media, they were forced to reverse their decision.

Next, they required soldiers posted in northern Afghanistan to pay back their danger pay. Once again, it was only when the story went public and appeared in the media that the Conservatives decided to reverse their decision, as the Prime Minister just demonstrated.

The Conservatives can blame others as much as they like, but these decisions are the Minister of National Defence's responsibility. Is he finally going to take responsibility for his blunders or is he going to admit that he has lost control of his department?

[National Defence, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on another topic, today we learned that the Department of National Defence was planning to claw back the danger pay of soldiers currently on duty in northern Afghanistan. The department notified the soldiers that they were taking back the money “as soon as practicable”.

After demanding soldiers pay up, the Department of National Defence explained to them as follows in pure bureaucratese, “It was therefore not a reduction in level, but rather that the established rate was never properly implemented and personnel had been overpaid.” This is the second incident in two weeks where the Conservatives have tried to shortchange soldiers who were placed in harm's way.

Why are the Conservatives once again going after our soldiers' danger pay?

[The Environment, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians cannot wait any longer for the Conservative government to wake up to these issues. They have stripped protection from 99% of rivers and 99% of lakes in Canada. They have even left Canada's heritage rivers without protection, ignoring their economic, ecological, and historic significance.

Will the Prime Minister commit to reinstating protection for all Canadian waterways that used to exist under a 100-year old piece of legislation admired around the world called the Navigable Waters Protection Act?

[The Environment, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, actually here are the facts. They were put before the United Nations last week by the Conservative government.

The only reason that the Conservatives can talk about a slight dip after 2000 is that they have completely destroyed the manufacturing sector in Canada. That is what they wrote word for word to the United Nations.

In fact, we have increased by one million tonnes from last year to this year the amount of greenhouse gases that we are producing in Canada.

I again quote the Prime Minister, who wrote, “Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations.”

Is the problem not that is what he still fundamentally believes, as his backbenchers applaud it?

[The Environment, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are piling an insurmountable environmental debt on the backs of future generations.

Under the successive Liberal and Conservative governments, Canada has failed miserably in terms of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. The Conservatives made Canada the one and only country to withdraw from the Kyoto accord. Also for the first time, unlike any other country in the world, the Conservatives withdrew from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. They have gutted our environmental laws.

Is this because the Prime Minister still believes that international measures to combat climate change are a socialist plot and a hoax?

[Employment, April 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the IMF downgraded Canada's economic outlook for 2013, and today the Bank of Canada has done the same. Nevertheless, the Conservatives have decided to cut $6 billion from investments in infrastructure, killing tens of thousands of good jobs.

Canadians are concerned because the economic instability that the Conservatives are causing seems to be getting worse, and the only plan the Conservatives have to create jobs in Canada is to hire temporary foreign workers.

Why are the Conservatives doing everything possible to kill jobs in Canada?