Thomas Mulcair

[The Economy, December 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday Canadians learned that economic growth in our country has slowed to a rate of six-tenths of 1%. That is well below the projections made by the Minister of Finance just a couple of weeks ago in his economic update.

The Prime Minister knows all too well that the Canadian economy would have to grow at a rate of over 4% in the next quarter to meet his minister's most recent projection. We all know that will not happen.

Will the Prime Minister be straight with Canadians and provide a plausible forecast to replace the numbers put forward by his Minister of Finance just three weeks ago?

[Employment, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cannot replace high-quality manufacturing sector jobs with part-time McJobs and call it a win. Give me a break.

A CIBC study showed that disparities in Canada's labour market are making the country's economic situation worse. There are too many jobs without workers and too many workers without jobs. Those are not the NDP's facts. That comes from one of Canada's biggest banks.

When will the Conservatives realize that they have to focus on training unemployed Canadians rather than plug the gaps with temporary foreign workers?

[Employment, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that there are now 350,000 more unemployed Canadians than there were before the recession.

These people spend an average of 16 weeks looking for work. Over the past six months, the private sector has not created one single net new job. Not a single net new job. That is the Conservative record.

In light of these facts, how can the Conservatives keep telling us that everything is fine and dandy?

[The Economy, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, last quarter, Canadian economic growth slowed to a rate of just six-tenths of one per cent. Conservatives have now missed their own economic growth targets three quarters in a row. They have had to downgrade their economic growth forecast for 2012 by nearly a third and it is now widely expected that the Bank of Canada will have to downgrade its own economic forecast as well.

The Minister of Finance announced new economic numbers just three weeks ago. Does the minister still stand by those numbers today, or will we have to downgrade his economic projections yet again?

[The Economy, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Europe is experiencing another recession, the American economy is about to hit a budgetary wall and the IMF is saying that Canada's economic growth is already below that of the United States. Canadians have the right to know what is really going on instead of just getting idiotic answers like the one we just heard.

What this government has is a Prime Minister and a Minister of Finance who are contradicting each other, a deficit elimination target that changes twice a week, and a contingency plan that is there one week and gone the next. When will the Conservatives realize that improvising is bad for the economy?

[The Economy, November 28th, 2012]

Here is the problem, Mr. Speaker. First thefinance minister claims that he has a contingency plan and then the same finance minister says that he does not need a contingency plan. Now the Conservatives are saying that maybe they do have a contingency plan after all, but they pretend to know something different from the finance minister who claims that he does not need a contingency plan. Canadians deserve better than this. The Prime Minister and his Minister of Finance cannot get their stories straight.

If the contingency plan exists, will they stand up and table it in the House, instead of doing like that minister and trying to avoid the issue?

[The Economy, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the finance minister said that Canada was “not in need of a contingency plan” to deal with the threats facing our economy. That was quite a surprise because, just two weeks ago, the same finance minister said, “we have contingency plans not only with respect to the fiscal cliff, but with respect to the European situation”. Which is it?

Facing the real threat of another recession, do the Conservatives have a contingency plan or not? Canadians deserve a straight answer.

[Government Accountability, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there are 350,000 more people unemployed today than when the recession hit in 2008, and we are running a $50 billion a year economic deficit in our trade. Forget about the boasts on those ones.

His attitude should come as no surprise. Working with others is a foreign concept to him. He even refuses to work with the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page, whom he himself appointed. Mr. Page is being forced to drag him to court to get the financial information that he is entitled to.

Will the Prime Minster change his mind on this? Will he put an end to the legal proceedings by giving the Parliamentary Budget Officer the budget information he needs?

[The Economy, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, a few five-minute consultations per month on the phone is not consulting with the premiers.

Leaders from across the country are meeting in Halifax today to work together to come up with solutions to Canada's economic problems—all but one, the Prime Minister of Canada. He still has time to change his mind, show some leadership and prove to Canadians that he is capable of working with his colleagues, the provincial premiers.

If the Prime Minister can fly his limousines to India, surely he can catch a plane to Halifax.

[The Economy, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, leaders from across Canada are gathering in Halifax to discuss the serious threats facing our economy.

Last week when the Minister of Finance delivered his economic update, he tried to reassure Canadians. He claimed that Conservatives have “contingency plans” in the event that Canada falls back into recession.

If Conservatives do indeed have a plan to deal with the threat of another recession, why are they not sharing it with Canadian premiers? If the Prime Minister takes the threat of another recession seriously, why will he not work with the premiers in Halifax to tackle that threat head on?