House of Commons Hansard #76 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was sentencing.
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the NDP is talking about an election in Quebec.
I want to remind the Leader of the NDP that, in the history of the Confederation, the New Democratic Party has only ever won a single seat in Quebec.
We are proud of what we are currently doing and proud of keeping our word to Quebeckers and Canadians. We will continue to do the same when it comes to justice, reducing taxes and helping families. This is a government that keeps its word.
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, emails and phone calls are flooding the offices of members of Parliament. Citizens are furious. The voters in London North Centre know that the broken promise of the Conservative Party is costing Canadians their savings.
Could the parliamentary secretary tell the House if the Conservative candidate in London North Centre is knocking on doors to apologize to Canadians for this broken promise, or like the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, does she tell them just to take a Valium?
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the member what that candidate will be saying, as well as all members of the government.
We believe, unlike the Liberals, that big companies have to pay their fair share of taxes. We do not believe in big tax holidays for major corporations.
We do believe in tax fairness for seniors, which is precisely why the finance minister has announced measures to provide income splitting for pension income, to raise the age amount in the tax system and also to promote productivity by cutting the general corporate amount and the taxation on dividends.
We stand for the interests of all Canadians, not just big corporations.
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, constituents in London North Centre are sending emails and calling to say that they feel betrayed. The government broke its campaign promise, wiping out their savings.
One constituent, Ken Fast, wrote, “It appears that all my work for the Conservative Party was in vain”. Then he went on to describe that party in what is, quite frankly, very unparliamentary language.
Why will the government not apologize to all Canadians, especially to voters in London North Centre, before they sell them another stack of broken promises in this byelection?
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
In fact, Mr. Speaker, this is a government that keeps its promises. One of our promises was to protect seniors in terms of the taxation system, which is precisely what we did by allowing pensioned seniors to split their pension income. This means a couple with a $40,000 pension income will save $2,200 in taxes under these changes.
It is true that the phone companies, the big banks and the big oil and gas companies will have to pay their fair share of taxes. That is what Canadians expect. That is what the government believes in: fairness for all.
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, immediately after this government reneged on its promise to Canadians that there would be no new tax on income trusts, Michael Fortier, an unelected minister, told small investors, who were losing their shirts, to take a Valium.
Yesterday, Canadians again lost nearly $5 billion. They have now lost a total of nearly $30 billion since the beginning of this week.
When will the Prime Minister order his Minister of Public Works and Government Services to apologize for his callous and offensive remarks?
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, let us be reasonable. Clearly, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services was simply saying that there is no need for panic during a short period of market instability.
And he was right. The financial markets have since stabilized and we saw a rise in the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday. Today, very good numbers were reported with respect to unemployment rates. The Canadian economy is strong and our financial markets are strong.
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, immediately after the Conservatives broke their promise not to tax income trusts, the unelected minister, Michael Fortier, told devastated Canadians to take a Valium. Again yesterday, Canadians lost another $5 billion after the market plunged, putting the losses at more than $30 billion this week.
Will the Public Works minister apologize for his callous and insensitive remarks?
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the minister was simply suggesting that people not panic in the midst of short term market fluidity. Perhaps the member of the Liberal Party would like to provide opposite advice and encourage investors to panic. I do not think that is responsible.
People who are vested in the stock markets or in any form of investment need to take a long view, with balanced, diversified portfolios. What we have done this week is to create a more balanced taxation framework that creates neutrality and not reverse incentives for companies to structure themselves in a way that is unproductive for our economy and which allows them not to pay their fair--
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government does not like the figure of $3.9 billion, which is the amount needed to correct the fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and Quebec. Not only the Bloc Québécois says so, but Quebec's finance minister does as well.
In fact, based on the study by the Council of the Federation, on April 12, Michel Audet concluded that the fiscal imbalance totalled $3.8 billion in round figures. He stated in the National Assembly that, “That is what we have asked for”.
Does the government intend to respond favourably to Quebec's request by making a commitment in the budget to pay $3.9 billion a year, and not a penny less, to correct the fiscal imbalance?
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Mr. Gagné, the director of the institute of applied economics at the HEC, said, “I feel that the statements by [Mr.] Boisclair and [the leader of the Bloc Québécois] are not the result of a different interpretation of our conclusions, but of a highly dubious manipulation of some of the data in our report”.
To come up with this erroneous figure, the leader of the Bloc Québécois is using a fictional amount that the committee does not even recommend. The Bloc Québécois is living in a dreamworld, but we are living in the real world, and we are going to—
Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would do well to listen Quebec's finance minister. The reason why the Conservatives do not like the figure of $3.9 billion is that the Prime Minister is looking for an excuse to renege on his promise to Quebeckers to correct the fiscal imbalance.
Will the Prime Minister keep his solemn promise to include in the next budget the payment of $3.9 billion a year, and not a penny less, to correct the fiscal imbalance?
Jason Kenney ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the government will honour the commitment it made to correct the fiscal imbalance through talks with the provinces.
However, we will not accept just any figure that comes from anyone and is suggested by the Bloc Québécois, a completely powerless party that cannot deliver the goods for Quebeckers. Today, they are talking about $4 billion. Why not $10 billion or even $20 billion? The Bloc Québécois is pulling figures out of the air.
We are working closely with the Government of Quebec to correct this fiscal imbalance, which was created by the previous Liberal government.
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, if another Arar incident should occur, if another Canadian citizen were to languish somewhere in an appalling prison of a dictatorial regime, where he could potentially be tortured because of an RCMP mistake, would the minister think that he should be given this information so that he could advise cabinet on the action to be taken?
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, now that he knows this information was concealed from the ministers responsible for the RCMP, and that an RCMP sergeant got away with only losing a day of leave for having sexually assaulted several female members of the force, that there was a total lack of cooperation with the commission for public complaints against the RCMP, that there were irregularities in the management of the pension fund, and that the inquiry went on for so long that it was not possible to bring forward any charges, does the minister still have full confidence in RCMP Commissioner Zaccardelli? What is he waiting for to ask for his resignation?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, we will accept Justice O'Connor's 23 recommendations because we believe they are good ones that will strengthen our system and make it more effective.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, for the fourth time this week, I am asking the Prime Minister—not his Parliamentary Secretary or his Minister of Public Safety—to answer Hayder Kadhim's question. That ought to be clear after four times.
Hayder's question is simple: Why does the Prime Minister want to abolish a firearms registry that has proven its worth and saved lives, when it costs very little to maintain?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, what happened at Dawson College was a tragedy. We want to prevent other tragedies like it. That is why we will implement a system that requires a licence to own, purchase or possess any kind of firearm. People will have to go through a process to get that licence, and we want to eliminate the possibility of a mentally unstable individual possessing a firearm.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, that is just shameful. Mr. Kadhim's question is about the gun registry and the minister's answer is about gun licensing.
If the minister and his government want to play word games with this young man, they should have the courage to do it to his face.
For the fifth time, Mr. Kadhim's question for the Prime Minister is: Would the Prime Minister explain why he wants to dismantle the gun registry, which has proven to have saved many lives and which now costs next to nothing to maintain?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I and my office have put in some calls. I would sincerely like to meet with Mr. Kadhim. His press secretary has informed us that he is very busy. I will be in Montreal next week or the week after. However, I will meet with him any time he would like because we are on the same page. We want to see more effective gun control and crime reduced.
It would help the public debate if the Liberals would clarify that we are not eliminating the registry. We are taking away one portion of it, the portion that the Auditor General said was ineffective and very expensive. We want a system that reduces--
