Thomas Mulcair

[Employment, April 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, 55,000 jobs were lost last month alone, and they are bragging about it and clapping.

In March, for every job available in Canada, there were seven Canadians looking for work. Meanwhile, the Minister of Immigration is allowing Canadian workers to be laid off and replaced, and the Minister of Human Resources is allowing the temporary foreign workers who replaced them to be paid 15% less. That is an incentive to fire Canadians.

Would either of these two ministers give Canadians some good news, like perhaps there will be a couple of jobs available in the Conservative cabinet in the next little while?

[Employment, April 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, a new Statistics Canada report shows that there has been another drop in the number of jobs available in Canada. Last month, only 200,000 jobs were available across the country. Meanwhile, 1.4 million Canadians are looking for work.

How is it possible that the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism is still allowing Canadian workers to be fired and replaced by temporary foreign workers when there are so few jobs available here in Canada?

[Employment, April 16th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last year the Conservatives missed their own economic growth targets by 35%. Last month, the Canadian economy lost nearly 55,000 jobs. Today, the IMF has downgraded Canada's economic outlook yet again.

Instead of taking action, Conservatives are slashing $6 billion in infrastructure funding and killing tens of thousands of jobs. Instead of investing in job creation, they are killing venture capital funds. That is in the budget the member just referred to.

The only job plan the Conservatives have is to bring in more temporary foreign workers. That is the problem.

[Employment, April 16th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government's new accelerated approval process, its term, for temporary foreign workers was supposed to specifically target highly skilled workers.

In fact, it has been used to hire workers at gas stations, convenience stores and fast food restaurants. The program has been used to hire workers at Tim Hortons, McDonald's, Subway and A&W. What special skill set was the minister looking for? Sandwich artists, servers on roller skates?

[Employment, April 16th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last year, based on a recommendation of a government committee stacked with Conservative members and lobbyists, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism launched a new fast-track approval process for temporary foreign workers. His process is being used to replace skilled Canadian workers with temporary foreign workers. It is no accident. This is what the Conservatives wanted.

Why did the Conservatives create a process that makes it easier to replace Canadian workers with temporary foreign workers? That is the question.

[Employment, April 16th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the government for its response.

Last week, Royal Bank apologized for the temporary foreign worker situation, but the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism—who approved this improper use of the program, which led to the dismissal of Canadian workers—still refuses to take responsibility.

What mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that the temporary foreign worker program can no longer be used to squeeze out Canadian workers?

[Canada-U.S. Relations, April 16th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians reacted with shock and sadness yesterday as we witnessed the horrific acts of violence committed in Boston.

Could the government update Canadians on its response to this tragedy and specifically the steps taken to provide assistance and consular services to the 2,000 Canadians and their families who were at yesterday's Boston Marathon?

Could the government provide an update on the steps taken to provide assistance to the 2,000 Canadians and their families who were at the Boston Marathon yesterday during the tragic attacks?

[Employment, April 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance will phone the banks to make them charge more for mortgages for Canadian families then allow Canadian workers in those same banks to be replaced. They have the answering to do.

Let us look at their record: attacking collective bargaining rights; forcing seniors to work an extra two years; kicking workers off EI unless they take a 30% pay cut. Now they are taking jobs away from Canadian workers and legislating lower pay for the foreign workers who replace them. It seems that the Prime Minister's message to Canadians is clear: work for less or you will be replaced.

[Employment, April 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, when we are talking about a Tim Hortons counter, we are not talking about highly skilled jobs that cannot be filled by Canadians. We have 1.4 million Canadians without work. They want to know why their jobs are being taken by temporary foreign workers. That is not the purpose of the program. Why has he allowed it to happen?

[Employment, April 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, 340,000 temporary foreign workers: That is 40% of the jobs created in Canada since the recession. Under the Conservative government, temporary foreign workers are not being used to fill a shortage of highly skilled labour; they are replacing clerical workers in Ontario, fish plant workers in Newfoundland and Labrador, food service workers in Alberta and miners in British Columbia.

There are still 1.4 million unemployed Canadians. Can the Prime Minister tell them what specific skills are required to work at a Tim Hortons counter that he thinks Canadian workers do not have?