House of Commons Hansard #86 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was product.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, there is no use getting worked up about this.
In May 2004, the Bloc sent about $30,000 worth of invoices to the candidate who is now the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue. A few months later, the Bloc wrote a cheque for about $30,000 to the member. And guess what? Ten days later, the member wrote a cheque for more than $30,000 to the Bloc.
It is clear why the Bloc does not want the committee to take a close look at its election spending.
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, I asked the parliamentary secretary about the comment he made yesterday, but instead of an answer, all we got was twaddle.
The Prime Minister had this to say about a lawsuit with Elections Canada concerning the 2005 Conservative convention: “All of the laws were obeyed”. Six months later, the Conservative Party admitted that it had failed to disclose several hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Chief Electoral Officer.
Does the Prime Minister understand that Elections Canada is the people's only guarantee that the Conservatives will obey the law?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, there is also the media.
In December 2003, the National Post's Andrew McIntosh said, and I quote, “Bloc brass then advised all Bloc candidates, organizers and volunteers to use a system called 'La Methode In & Out' to inflate campaign spending to meet targets.”
That is why the Bloc leader is known as the father of the in and out method.
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, today's families are worried about the onset of difficult times. For example, 55,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector since the start of the year. Experts have shown that there is an economic downturn in Canada. All signs point to a recession. Today, the census has proven what the NDP has been saying: inequality is on the rise and the middle class is under increasing pressure.
When will the Prime Minister choose the real world rather than his Bay Street and oil company friends?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, the statistics the member is citing from Statistics Canada come from the previous government.
We recognize the need to help the middle class and all Canadians economically and that is why we moved quickly with reductions in the GST from 7% to 6% to 5% that benefited every single Canadian. That is why we introduced the workers income tax benefit to help working Canadians. That is why we had the universal child care benefit that lifted 25,000 low income families above the poverty line and helped all families with children. We raised the basic personal exemption that helped all families.
We are going to continue--
The EconomyOral Questions
Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON
Mr. Speaker, here is how effective the policies that have just been listed off have been.
On Tuesday we learned the magnitude of the jobs crisis in this country. Yesterday we learned that the Canadian economy is now in official decline. Today's census report shows that there is a growing gap between those who have and those who are being left behind, and the middle class is having to work longer and harder, and having a tougher time of it.
The fact is the economic agenda of the government is unbalanced, unsustainable and it is leaving working families behind. Why will the Prime Minister not stop giving billions of dollars to his corporate friends and start helping the people of this country?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
On the contrary, Mr. Speaker. We are actually helping working families. As a result of our policies, there are now more Canadians with jobs than ever in Canadian history. In fact, since we formed government, there are now over 750,000 new jobs in this country.
We are delivering for all Canadians because the best social security policy is one that offers hope and opportunity to Canadians, and that is the promise of a job. We have given that to over 750,000 Canadians.
Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is often compared to George Bush. His role model, however, may be a different Republican.
Just like Richard Nixon, it is very clear that the Prime Minister has an enemies list: MPs who oppose him are kicked out, non-partisan organizations have their funding cut, hard-working loyal public servants are fired, journalists who irritate him do not make the A list, parliamentary committees are shut down, financial incentives are offered to candidates, anyone who challenges him gets sued, opposition is not tolerated, and opinions are not welcomed.
This is just like the Nixon White House. What is next? Secret tape recordings in the PMO?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, I will tell the member who we are standing up for and speaking for. We are speaking for ordinary Canadians, the Canadians who welcomed a reduction in the GST, the Canadians who welcomed the cut in their income taxes, and the Canadian families who welcomed $100 a month for each child.
Those members may speak for the elite and for big government. They may want more government spending. That is why their leader spent last week travelling around the country talking about his plan to help Canadians. What was it? It was punishingly high increases in gas taxes. That is how their leader wants to help Canadians. The only Canadians he wants to help are big government and big spending.
Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Mr. Speaker, he sounds like Spiro Agnew.
Here is an example of the enemies list of the Prime Minister: Bernard Shapiro, gone; Jean-Pierre Kingsley, gone; John Reid, gone; Jean-Guy Fleury, gone; Yves Côté, gone; Art Carty, gone; Linda Keen, gone; Adrian Measner, gone; Johanne Gélinas, gone; Mark Warner and Brent Barr, Conservative candidates, fired. The enemies list now includes Elections Canada.
We know the Prime Minister loves power. Can he tell us why he hates government so much?
Government PoliciesOral Questions
The Speaker Peter Milliken
Order, please. I do not know whether the government House leader could hear the question, I could not. We will have a little order. I want to be able to hear the response.
The hon. government House leader now has the floor. We will have a little order.
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
Mr. Speaker, the things that are gone after that party left office are dishonesty in government and unaccountability in government. That is what is gone.
Let us just take the first item on the Liberals' list. The hon. member got up and disparaged the reputation of Bernard Shapiro by saying he was fired as ethics commissioner. Guess what? His position was actually extended by this government until he retired.
Is it not unfair for them to besmirch his reputation like that? They do not care. That is what they do every day in this House, besmirch the reputation of--
Government PoliciesOral Questions
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, every day another former Conservative candidate comes out of the shadows.
Louise O'Sullivan, who ran in the riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie, has said that Conservative organizers never approached her, because she would have immediately seen right through the in and out scheme.
More and more Canadians and Conservative candidates are seeing that this scheme was reprehensible, so why will this government not acknowledge it?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, according to the member, we did not ask a candidate to participate in our transfer program. I do not see a problem there.
Conservative candidates have spent Conservative funds on Conservative ads. They got financial assistance from the national party to do so. Elections Canada found out about it because we told Elections Canada. Why would we not? It is legal and all parties do it.
Elections Canada singled us out. We took it to court. Elections Canada representatives showed up one day, before it was to be questioned, at our office with a Liberal cameraman. Elections Canada is the one with questions to answer.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, 10% of the candidates listed in the search warrant have now wisely peeled off and are pointing their fingers at the Prime Minister. In turn, that parliamentary secretary says they are not real Conservatives. This scheme was forced on these candidates so that his party goons could run additional ads to win marginal ridings they barely won in 2004, like Nepean—Carleton.
How is it legal for 67 candidates to be forced to commit fraud so that that parliamentary secretary could win his riding?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, I regret that she referred to my constituents as marginal. In fact, I did only squeak by with a 20,000 vote margin in the last election.
Conservative candidates did in fact spend Conservative funds on Conservative ads. They got financial assistance from the national party to do so. Elections Canada found out about it because we told Elections Canada. Why not? After all, it is legal and all parties do it.
Elections Canada singled us out, so we took it to court. One day, before Elections Canada was to be questioned, Elections Canada representatives marched in with Liberal cameramen following them.
Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Speaker, the manufacturing sector is in dire straits. Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a former Conservative minister, has said that the situation has deteriorated to the point that other tools must be considered in order to do more for this sector. Last fall, the Bloc Québécois presented a robust plan to resolve the crisis. However, the Conservatives preferred to indulge their obsession with the debt to the detriment of manufacturing jobs.
Will the Minister of Finance undertake to take concrete action quickly to deal with the crisis?
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, we disagree. Yesterday, I looked at the report by Mr. Drummond of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. This government has created more than 300,000 new jobs in Canada over the past 12 months. And the province with the best results is Quebec.
Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Speaker, besides Mr. Beatty, Mr. Myers, President of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, has brought to the attention of the Conservatives on several occasions, and to no avail, that tax cuts are of no help to companies that are losing money and that therefore do not pay taxes.
What are the Conservatives waiting for to implement the Bloc's plan that would provide refundable tax credits for research and development? Manufacturers are in dire need of such credits right now.
Manufacturing SectorOral Questions
Calgary Centre-North Alberta
Conservative
Jim Prentice ConservativeMinister of Industry
Mr. Speaker, we have to look at Quebec's economy. It is a very strong economy. We disagree with the Bloc. Industry in Quebec is solid, very solid. We have listened to the representatives of the manufacturing sector. This government has obtained results, unlike the Bloc, which can do nothing.
Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC
Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, before the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, the minister responsible admitted that $54 billion was diverted from the employment insurance fund and used for other purposes. When he was in opposition, his party joined the Bloc Québécois in calling for that money to be put back into the fund.
What is the minister waiting for to propose a repayment plan to the House, to start paying back the $54 billion to the fund, as the Conservatives had promised?
Monte Solberg ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, it is true that the previous government took over $50 billion and used it for things that had absolutely nothing to do with ensuring benefits for workers.
We put an end to that with the new CEIFB, the independent financing board. We will ensure that no government in the future will ever have the chance again to take money from workers and use it for something other than benefits, including giving money to their friends, like the Liberals did in the sponsorship scandal.