Debates of Feb. 10th, 2009

Aerospace Industry

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is false, and not an answer to the question.

The aerospace industry was indeed supposed to benefit from the spinoffs of the military procurement contracts, but this is not the case. As for the C-130J, according to Claude Lajeunesse, president of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, so far all Lockheed Martin has made available is work packages that lack any substantial design, engineering support and development activities. That is the very reason for the existence of the aerospace industry in Canada.

So where are the positive spinoffs promised by the Conservative government?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows only too well that these kinds of relationships mean that there will be announcements by the contractor as it goes forward. That is certainly the case here. I am sure the hon. member will be the first hon. member to stand up in the House and applaud when those new jobs are announced.

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

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, when the Conservatives were proclaiming that there was no recession in sight, the Prime Minister promised to inject $200 million into the aerospace industry. Now, when the aerospace industry is in serious trouble and numerous jobs are being lost, the Prime Minister is refusing to pay the promised $200 million.

How does the Prime Minister explain this completely twisted logic, which the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada has roundly condemned?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the government has made commitments to this industry and we are going to keep our promise, as usual. The aerospace industry is a vital part of Canada's economy. The government has invested $350 million in the CSeries alone, and there are other investments to come.

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

Mr. Speaker, in its latest budget, the government has injected $2.7 billion into the automotive industry. Curiously, the Prime Minister cannot find the $200 million he promised the aerospace industry during the most recent election campaign. The aerospace industry is to Quebec what the automotive industry is to Ontario.

Is the Prime Minister not in the process of once again favouring Ontario at Quebec's expense?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that question is another example of the Bloc's sectarian strategy. Yesterday in Montreal, the Minister of Industry announced a major investment in the Canadian Space Agency. Other announcements will be made in the weeks to come. One thing is for sure: the Bloc will never be able to take real action to help Canada's aerospace industry.

Forestry Industry

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government is showing the same insensitivity when it comes to the difficulties faced by Quebec's forestry industry. The Prime Minister refuses to rein in his minister of state who maintains, against the entire industry's opinion, that granting loan guarantees would violate the softwood lumber agreement.

Could the Prime Minister identify the exact clause in the agreement that, in his opinion, would forbid loan guarantees?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, Avrim Lazar, the president of the Forest Products Association of Canada said that it is not perfect, but that anything the government does could risk new problems at the border. That is the industry talking. In his opinion, any direct aid would endanger the industry's access to the American market, which must be avoided at all costs.

Even the industry is saying it. I hope that the Bloc will understand.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is not what the people in Quebec's industry are saying to this minister. While closures are increasing in the forestry industry and layoffs have reached a record high, with more than 21,000 jobs lost, how can the Prime Minister be so unsympathetic towards the thousands of people who are out of work and their families and how can he refuse loan guarantees to the forestry industry, a legal measure that the Quebec industry is requesting?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)]

Mr. Speaker, while respecting our agreements, we have put in place a number of programs that allow workers to have a future: through training; through shared work—we will add 14 benefit weeks; through renovation grants—we will increase the sale of wood in this country; and through an additional five weeks at the end of employment insurance benefits. We have also implemented significant programs for social housing, a freeze on contribution rates and many others.

While the Bloc Québécois keeps on criticizing, we, the government, are taking action.

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, President Obama's economic recovery plan was passed by the U.S. Senate today. Obama's plan is equivalent to 3% of the American GDP. That is greater than the G20 recommendation. The Conservative government's plan is, proportionally, only one third of Obama's recovery plan.

Why is the Prime Minister refusing to do as much for Canadians as Obama is doing for his citizens?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, our situation and that of the United States, and consequently our respective plans, are different. For example, the Obama plan has lots of money for state and municipal governments. We solved the fiscal imbalance two years ago. That is one difference. We acted earlier than the United States.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's plan falls far short of what is needed.

The U.S. senate has adopted a stimulus package equal to 3% of the GDP of the U.S. and the G20 recommends 2%, something the Prime Minister said he supported, but now we learn from the government's own figures and the parliamentary budget officer that the total stimulus in the government's package is .7 of 1%. The fact is it does not go nearly far enough to deal with the crisis in our economy.

Will the Prime Minister finally admit that more has to be done? He has to get on the same train that we see the President of the United States taking to move our economy--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the House will know, the government began adopting stimulus measures in the fall of 2007. Those stimulus measures are certainly equal to what any other country in the world has done. They are one of the reasons, notwithstanding the difficulties we have, why our relative growth in employment rates have been positive compared to a lot of other countries. We certainly do not want to replicate the situation in the United States of 3.5 million job losses here in Canada.

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

Mr. Speaker, that plan in the fall really worked. We have lost a quarter of a million jobs in the last 90 days, and the ideas and funds they offered to General Motors are being turned down by the company.

Meanwhile, if we look south of the border, where there was a more sensible approach to help the auto industry move toward a green auto production future, the company took up the money and are creating jobs in the United States. Meanwhile, our industry is threatened here.

When is the Prime Minister going to bring forward a plan for the creation of a green car job strategy here in Canada that will put Canadians to work and match what is being done in the United States?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as the leader of the New Democratic Party should know, this government has made clear that it is working in close collaboration with our partners in the United States on the restructuring of the auto industry. That is a fact. What Canadians and Canadians in the auto sector want to know is that the New Democratic Party will actually support some of these initiatives instead of deciding it is against them before it even reads them.

[Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the recession is devastating British Columbia. There have been 68,000 full-time jobs lost, bankruptcies are soaring, and home sales are crashing. There is damage in every sector: construction, mining, forestry, financial services and tourism. Men and women are losing their livelihoods. They are losing their businesses. They are losing their homes.

Why is the Prime Minister so utterly incapable of giving them any hope?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, we are in the midst of a synchronized global recession, the likes of which has not been seen since the second world war. That is why two weeks ago, here, in order to help Canadians from coast to coast to coast, we introduced Canada's economic action plan; the ways and means motion in support, which the official opposition supported; and the budget implementation bill, which has been introduced.

What Liberals need to do is get this bill through the House so we can start flowing the money and helping Canadians.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like we have a new buzzword from across the aisle.

In December, while the Prime Minister was busy protecting his own job and insisting that this was just a “technical recession”, the people of B.C. were suffering. Bankruptcies jumped 42% from the previous December, home sales plunged 58%, and the 68,000 full-time jobs lost last month could be only the tip of the iceberg.

Could the Prime Minister tell workers laid off in B.C., did he not understand the depth of the problem or did he just not care?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I think the depth of the problem is clear. In fact, it is laid out clearly in Canada's economic action plan, a plan that the hon. member has supported.

She knows, as you do, Mr. Speaker, that we need the cooperation of the provinces to have the infrastructure stimulus we need. We need international cooperation for that stimulus. Let us get it done. Let us work for the people of Canada. Let us get the bill passed, so that Canadians can be helped to get back to work.

Forestry Industry

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, British Columbia has been hardest hit by this recession. Last month, B.C. lost 68,000 jobs, 600 of them in the central Okanagan. The forestry industry is heavily impacted by mill closures and towns like Mackenzie have been devastated.

The Conservative government promised $400 million in the 2006 and 2007 budgets to deal with the pine beetle problem. In three years, it has only delivered a quarter of that money. Could the minister assure British Columbians that she will keep more than 25% of her government's promises this time?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, this government undertook an unprecedented level of consultation from one part of the country to the other, including British Columbia. I attended many round tables, speaking to those involved with the forestry industry, the result of which was the president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada indicating the following on our economic action plan: “The Budget investments in innovation, market promotion and research and development signal to us the government gets it”.

Employment Insurance

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that kind of happy rhetoric is not helping anybody, particularly my province of British Columbia. In Victoria, there has been an 84% decline in construction in January alone. Thousands of people have lost their jobs. Yet, in the face of this, what we have seen is that, although British Columbians pay the same premiums as other Canadians, they have less ability to access and be eligible for EI.

My question is this: when will the government stop the discrimination against British Columbia?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, the rules for employment insurance are the same right across the country. What varies is the amount of benefits that go as situations change based on local conditions. As a local economy such as Oshawa deteriorates, its eligibility for benefits becomes easier and it gets benefits for longer.

I would point out to the hon. member that his Liberal premier supports our economic action plan.