Debates of March 1st, 2007

Minister of Finance

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it seems that our finance minister, who was a central figure in the Mike Harris-Ernie Eves cabinet, is bringing back some of those old accounting gimmicks. I am talking about the alleged balance budget that turned out to be a $5.7 billion deficit.

Only a Conservative thinks a $5.7 billion deficit is a balanced budget. How do the Conservatives do it?

First, they promised to make program cuts, quickly spent the savings but then never cut anything at all. Today the government has done exactly the same thing to the tune of $2 billion.

Second, they announced the sale of crown assets, spent the money, but forgot to sell the assets. Today we hear that the government plans to sell $7 billion in federal buildings.

I hope this Mike Harris holdover will do a better job for the people of Canada than he did for the people of Ontario.

Employment Insurance

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities heard witnesses on Bill C-269, a Bloc Québécois bill that proposes significant and costly changes to Canada's employment insurance system.

This afternoon, the committee will do the clause by clause study.

When asked about the costs associated with specific clauses, the hon. member for Laurentides—Labelle, who is sponsoring the bill, could not provide any explanation. We asked her to explain the costs three times, and she dodged the question all three times.

Does the Bloc not understand? Perhaps it has so much trouble with public funds because it has never been in power, and never will be.

How can we support a bill if we cannot rely on the numbers put forward by the Bloc Québécois? The Bloc already introduced a similar bill during the previous Parliament. It was defeated. The Bloc has had over a year to do its homework, yet, it failed again. What a surprise.

Government Policies

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians wonder why the Prime Minister attacks the independence of our courts and imposes his ideological cuts on the most vulnerable Canadians. He gave the answer. He called Canada “a northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term”. He said that our courts were “biased”.

Will he admit that when he boasted that he would change Canada into a country that we would not recognize, what he had in mind was his right wing republican agenda?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that I am a monarchist not a republican.

I would point out that this is the government that dealt with the Chinese head tax apology and redress. This is the government that launched the Air-India inquiry after 20 some years. This is the government that settled the compensation for hepatitis C sufferers. This is the government that finally signed a residential schools agreement. This is the government that cut immigration landing fees. This is the government that does things on social justice.

He did not get the job done.

Immigration and Refugee Board

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives did nothing for aboriginals, nothing for child care, and nothing for social justice.

Now at the Immigration and Refugee Board the president and the five remaining members of the advisory council have resigned. They are saying that the government is manipulating the system, and many monitoring and immigration agencies support them.

When will this Prime Minister stop manipulating our public institutions? When will he realize that it is his duty to respect the rights and needs of all Canadians?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, our government promised to put an end to the Liberal culture of entitlement at the IRB.

We have a report drafted by a non partisan and highly respected civil servant. He made nine recommendations for accelerating the process in order to make it more open and more accountable. We are in the process of accepting all the recommendations.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, when so many agencies are telling the Prime Minister that he is politicizing their agencies, the least he could do is listen to them. But that does not interest him.

The Prime Minister has shown how intolerant he can be toward those who do not fit within his neo-conservative agenda, including now Senator Segal and Senator Meighen.

When will the Prime Minister explain to Canadians why he is manipulating independent public institutions to reflect his narrow minded political agenda?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, this is the government that is cleaning up the mess at the IRB. In fact, the minister has just named a respected individual to act as acting president of this organization.

We are putting in place a new selection system so we do not have what we had before like the member for Westmount—Ville-Marie appointing her former husband as a member of the board, like the husband of the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine as a member of the board, and a number of members who were under serious allegations and criminal charges.

That is the mess we are cleaning up. That is the Liberal culture of entitlement and we are getting rid of it.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if that is cleaning up the mess, then the Prime Minister will have to explain why six members of the immigration board, including a career civil servant, saw fit to resign rather than to serve further under this regime.

When the Prime Minister stacked the judicial appointment committees, the legal community rang the alarm bell, but he did not listen. Now members of the Immigration and Refugee Board have stepped down. Again, the Prime Minister will not listen.

This is not leadership. This is bullying. It is not governing. It is campaigning, campaigning to--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Fleury, the chairman of the board, stepped down after 42 years of distinguished public service so that he could retire. I think he is entitled to it and we should thank him for his service.

As for other members, all I can say is that we are putting in place a process highly recommended by a highly respected non-partisan civil service. That is what we are doing. All the Liberal Party cares about is making appointments from the grave and that is not going to happen.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will try again. The Immigration and Refugee Board is the last resort for those facing deportation. The qualifications of the members have to come before all political interests. This Prime Minister wants to control the board with his supporters.

Why does this Prime Minister not respect the independence of our institutions? Why is he trying to recreate them in his own image?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, under this government, the Immigration and Refugee Board will be presided over by a highly respected non partisan individual. Under the former government, the hon. member for Westmount—Ville-Marie appointed her ex-husband to the board. Furthermore, the husband of the hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine was appointed and a number of members were under serious allegations.

It is this party that is cleaning up the mess.

Aerospace Industry

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Sue Dabrowski, general manager of the Quebec Aerospace Association, had this to say about the contracts awarded to Boeing and Lockheed Martin: “Economic spinoffs like these come along once every 30 years...We have to take this opportunity to protect the industry in Quebec, just like the government has protected the automotive industry in Ontario...This is public money. It should be used wisely”.

Will the Prime Minister do his homework and use taxpayers' money responsibly by making sure Quebec gets its fair share, 60%?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are rebuilding the Canadian Forces. There will be many contracts with economic spinoffs for all the industries connected with National Defence across Canada.

Quebec will see many real benefits. This is completely different from the imaginary economic spinoff from the Bloc leader's high-speed train.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, unions and companies are demanding exactly the same thing: that Quebec's aerospace industry receive 60% of the spinoffs.

Why is the Prime Minister so determined to go his own way on this? What interests is he defending at Quebec's expense?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, we are defending the interests of Quebec and Canada. We are delivering 100% of the economic spinoffs, but the leader of the Bloc Québécois is unable to deliver economic spinoffs for Quebec.

The Bloc Québécois lost ground in Quebec during the last election campaign, and the leader of the Bloc Québécois has called that the “mystery of Quebec”. He should have called it his Quebec nightmare.

The Bloc Québécois has become the “Montreal Bloc”. Count on me in the next election campaign. We are going to be able to rename the Bloc Québécois the “Laurier—Sainte-Marie Bloc”.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the Journal de Montréal, on July 17, 2006, the Minister of Industry stated that, “If the Quebec industry accounts for over 50% of Canada's aerospace industry, it should get its fair share of contracts”.

Could the minister tell us what has changed since then to make him now refuse to get involved to ensure that Quebec does get its fair share?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I have always said that I am confident the aerospace industry in Quebec and Canada can position itself favourably following these military procurements.

In this House, which parties can get economic spinoffs for the aerospace industry? Certainly not the Bloc Québécois, because it will never be in office. Certainly not the Liberal Party, because it was in office for 13 years and it did not do anything. In fact, it cut the national defence budget. Certainly not the NDP, because it turns its back on our armed forces.

We are acting for our armed forces and for the aerospace industry.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the total spinoffs from aerospace military contracts represent billions of dollars and thousands of quality jobs.

With close to 60% of the aerospace industry located in Quebec, this means 37,000 person years of employment. However, Quebec may get only 30% of those spinoffs.

Does the minister realize that, by letting Boeing do as it pleases, it is depriving Quebec of 18,500 person years of employment? This is not political partisanship, it is about jobs in Quebec.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, what we require from Boeing under our industrial development policy is economic spinoffs in Canada, to the tune of one dollar for each dollar. We want quality economic spinoffs. This is what we demand, and this is what we are getting.

I am asking the Bloc Québécois member to tell me what his party could demand for the aerospace industry? The answer is nothing, zero, niet. It cannot demand anything, and it cannot deliver anything.

Prosperity Gap

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the gap between the rich and the poor is becoming larger and larger. The Conservative government, like the previous Liberal government, is doing nothing about it.

A report released today shows that the average person's income has remained the same. According to this report, the majority of Canadians are not benefiting from the booming economy they have helped build.

Will the Prime Minister realize that the measures he has put forward have in no way helped diminish this growing gap?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting answer. The Prime Minister apparently does not care that the prosperity gap in this country is growing and that it is growing under his watch. The idea that the rich are getting richer while middle class hard-working Canadians work longer hours and do not get any increased share of the economy that they are building is just fine by him.

Why will he not turn around and produce a budget that actually works for the hard-working middle class families of this country, that does something for their kids, for seniors, that delivers what communities need, instead of adopting a glib response like that in this House of Commons?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP asked us if we would do anything that would make the income gap worse in this country. The answer of course is that we would not do that, that we will continue to produce policies that will benefit most strongly working Canadians and their families. That is what the Minister of Finance did last year and that is what we fully expect him to do this year.