Thomas Mulcair

[Intergovernmental Affairs, November 21st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister recently expressed his frustration with the weak economic growth in the United States. However, the International Monetary Fund is reporting that Canada's economic growth is now weaker than that of the U.S.

The Prime Minister needs to realize this and work with the other levels of government here in Canada. In fact, the premiers will be meeting in Halifax this week to discuss Canada's economic problems.

Why is the Prime Minister of Canada refusing to attend the premiers' economic summit in Halifax?

[Finance, November 21st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in his economic update, the Minister of Finance had to admit that he will not be able to eliminate the Conservative deficit by the time he promised. The minister's plan was to balance the budget in 2015, but he will still be in the red to the tune of $8.6 billion. Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister immediately contradicted his minister by stating, despite the evidence, that the budget would definitely be balanced on schedule.

If the Minister of Finance was telling us the truth, why did the Prime Minister contradict him? If he is wrong, how can the Prime Minister explain the fact that his Minister of Finance made an $8.6 billion calculation error?

[Government Accountability, November 21st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are withholding information from Canadians about cuts to their vital public services. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, 85% of Conservative cuts are aimed directly at front-line services, but the PBO cannot measure the full impact of these cuts because Conservative ministers are hiding key financial data. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has now been forced to take the extraordinary step of asking the Federal Court to intervene.

Why are Conservatives obstructing the very office they created to provide objective financial information to Parliament? What do they have to hide?

[Foreign Affairs, November 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives simply do not have the right to sacrifice Canada’s historic democratic values in order to make short-term economic gains.

This is what the Prime Minister said in 2006: “I don't think Canadians want us to sell out important Canadian values, our belief in democracy, freedom, human rights. They don't want to sell that out to the almighty dollar.“

Now his foreign policy statement says exactly the opposite. Why is the Prime Minister trading away our fundamental values for a fistful of dollars?

[Foreign Affairs, November 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts. Today in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the city of Goma, tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing violence. Sexual assault has become a weapon of war. Yet the Canada of the Conservatives is not showing any leadership in Africa.

According to the Prime Minister’s new foreign policy, as obtained by the CBC, economic considerations will take precedence over our Canadian values of peace, democracy and human rights.

What are their priorities? Profiting financially from the emerging markets in Africa, despite unspeakable suffering, or promoting democracy and security as prerequisites?

[Foreign Affairs, November 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, for generations Canada has been a voice for peace and democracy in the world, but the Prime Minister is abandoning that proud legacy. The Conservatives' new foreign policy plan, crafted in secret, includes no vision for human rights, no vision for peace and security, no vision for aid and international development, no vision for Canada as an even-handed leader on the world stage.

The Prime Minister once said, “I don't think Canadians want us to sell out...our belief in democracy, freedom, human rights....to the almighty dollar”.

Why are Conservatives doing exactly that now?

[Intergovernmental Affairs, November 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, he has been getting his talking points from the Beauce.

The European economy is now officially back in recession. The U.S. is facing a fiscal cliff that could land the American economy back in recession by the end of year.

Canadian premiers are working to meet these serious threats head on. They are meeting this week in Halifax to do just that. However, once again, just as in 2008, the Conservatives here in Ottawa are asleep at the wheel.

Will the Conservatives finally wake up, acknowledge the real risks facing our economy, and agree to join the Canadian premiers for the summit talk this week in Halifax?

[Finance, November 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, a $50 billion trade deficit and 350,000 more unemployed today than when the recession hit in 2008, that is the truth.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance are openly contradicting one another. The Minister of Finance admits that his plan to balance the budget is two years behind schedule. The Minister of Finance also claims there will be no more significant spending cuts. Yet the Prime Minister insists that the Minister of Finance's numbers are wrong and that everything is going according to plan.

How can the Minister of Finance expect Canadians to believe his budget numbers when his own Prime Minister rejects them?

[Finance, November 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Minister of Finance informed Canadians that once again, the deficit was larger than predicted, and that his plan to balance the budget was two years behind schedule.

A few days later, the Prime Minister contradicted his Minister of Finance, saying that the budget will be balanced on schedule.

Who is telling the truth? Is it the Minister of Finance who says that the budget will not be balanced until 2017, or his boss, the Prime Minister, who claims that it will happen by 2015?

[The Economy, November 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, here is what the International Monetary Fund had to say today. It predicts that next year, with the exception of the European countries saddled with debt, Canada's economic growth will be the slowest of all developed countries. This is not the NDP saying that; it is the IMF.

In 2008, the Conservatives denied that an economic crisis was looming. Did they learn their lesson? Not at all. Will they continue to believe that they are on an island of stability, when in reality, they are on a sinking ship?