Debates of Feb. 5th, 2009

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the House who is impatient, it is the 7,000 people who have lost their jobs in the nine days since the government tabled its budget in the House.

Today, the Toronto Dominion Bank estimates that upwards of 325,000 people will be losing their jobs in Canada over the next year. Despite this, the Prime Minister has refused to ensure that access to employment insurance is going to be increased to these people, no lifting of the two week waiting period, and no changes to eligibility at a time when we need it with unemployment soaring.

Why will the Prime Minister not help those thousands of people who were looking for help from EI right now instead of leaving them behind?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the measures contained in the budget include a wide range of measures to assist those who are unemployed and those who will be looking for work, including an unprecedented extension of employment insurance benefits. Those 7,000 people and all of their families deserve an opposition in the House that will actually take the time to read the budget before deciding on its position.

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

Mr. Speaker, the measures in the budget will not add one additional person who was previously excluded from EI to those who will be able to get some help even though they have paid for it for years.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer delivered another blow to the budget today. He suggested that the jobs that are going to be contained in the stimulus are 20% less than the government reported just last week. That means that the jobs he is promising to create in his budget will total less than half of the jobs that are going to be lost in this country over the next year.

Why is the Prime Minister leaving people behind instead of taking action to get them--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, this government went across the country, consulted people on the measures that are necessary in this budget and took those measures. The leader of the NDP has absolutely no credibility when he criticizes measures that everyone knew he had no intention of supporting in the first place.

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

Mr. Speaker, one thing is clear: the Conservatives' economic policies are a failure. They led Canada into a recession. They led Canada into a deficit. They led to 100,000 lost jobs in November and December, and things are only going to get worse.

Thanks to the Conservatives' destructive policies, the Toronto Dominion Bank is forecasting that 325,000 jobs will be lost in Canada this year.

What will the Prime Minister do to prevent this disaster and help people who are hurting now?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the budget contains very important measures for workers and the unemployed. These people and their families need an opposition, the NDP. Even though the NDP does not accept the election results, people have the right to expect the opposition to read the budget before deciding on its position.

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

Mr. Speaker, nearly every day, we hear news about hundreds and thousands of people in Canada who are losing their jobs. Yesterday, it was the Hudson Bay Company; this morning, it was Bombardier. With each passing day, the minister's forecasts seem less and less likely to come true.

How is the minister going to reach his job creation targets by March 26, when he makes his first report to Parliament?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is always difficult when people lose their jobs. That is why we are taking significant steps to help people. We are helping them keep their jobs. We are expanding the work sharing program. We are helping them retrain when they lose their jobs. We are extending the benefits, so they can take care of their families while they are looking for those new jobs. We are particularly focusing on those who have worked in a job for a very long time and need new skills, so that they can transfer into the jobs of tomorrow.

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

Mr. Speaker, TD Bank forecasts 325,000 jobs lost this year and an increase by one-third in the unemployment rate to 8.8%. At the same time, the Parliamentary Budget Officer says the government is exaggerating the employment impact of its budget.

I have a very specific question for the finance minister. If the employment numbers continue to slide over coming months, will he commit to implement further actions before Parliament adjourns for the summer?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I guess this reflects once more that some people actually have not read the budget because that is in the budget. We will be working with the opposition that is going to help us get this budget bill through.

This is all dependent on getting this through Parliament. We recognize that there are two opposition parties that will not help us get this through. They do not care about Canadians losing jobs. We are going to work together in this House to make sure that we get this budget bill passed and we can actually help Canadians.

The Environment

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in announcing the public transit tax credit, the Conservatives promised 220,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Will the Minister of the Environment please confirm that after $635 million the results have been in fact negligible?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to work on this. We continue to focus on emissions. We continue to ensure that we achieve the environmental objectives that we have spoken about in the House.

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we all know what happens in baseball when we strike out three times. The government has broken another promise, has failed again our environment, and has wasted Canadian taxpayers' money. Today, the Auditor General confirmed that $635 million has led to results that are “negligible”.

Does the minister disagree with the Auditor General?

[Jim Prentice, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is clear from what has been said in the House over the last several years that every time the government takes specific action with respect to the environment, every time we bring forward choices for Canadians to make individual decisions to reduce energy, improve energy efficiency, tax credits that help Canadians, the Liberal Party is opposed to those individual responsibilities. They are different from us in that respect.

We will continue to take action on the environment through choices by individual Canadians.

Forestry Industry

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is ducking the issue and refuses to rein in his Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec) who is spreading falsehoods by saying that granting loan guarantees to forestry companies would violate the softwood lumber agreement.

Can the Prime Minister set his minister straight concerning this economic matter and confirm that loan guarantees are completely legal under the softwood lumber agreement?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government, as always, will continue to implement measures to address this forestry crisis, which has been going on for many years, as we know. It is a matter of supply and demand. Our government has brought forward a number of measures to make some headway on this file, including $170 million that will allow the industry to do as much as possible, to diversify our markets and to develop new products. Once again, as always, the Bloc Québécois is looking for ways to undermine others. When will the Bloc work to move Quebec's files forward?

Aerospace Industry

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, forestry is not the only sector in trouble. Bombardier, the aerospace giant, has announced 710 layoffs in Montreal alone. Once again, Quebec is taking the hit.

Does the Prime Minister not believe that refundable research and development tax credits would be more advantageous to businesses than more lax regulations for tax havens?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, that announcement today by Bombardier is very sad. I can also say that this sector is not immune to global economic challenges. Today, however, Bombardier also announced the creation of 230 new permanent jobs for new aircraft programs in Montreal. That was part of the same announcement.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, re-opening WTO negotiations would endanger the supply management system. Agriculture-related provisions proposed in July, provisions that would be very bad for supply management, are still on the table. In Davos, the Minister of International Trade stated that he wanted to ask Pascal Lamy, the WTO director-general, to put negotiations back on the agenda. If that happens, producers subject to supply management could lose a billion dollars in revenues.

Does the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food realize that, and will he make sure that the provisions include protection for supply management and sensitive products?

[Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, in 2005, this House passed a unanimous resolution asking the government to protect supply management. Our government has taken a clear position in favour of our agricultural producers and members of the GO5 coalition.

We are staying the course. We want the WTO to respect supply management and we will continue to stand up for our people on that issue.

Public Works and Government Services

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General harshly criticized the government's lack of transparency when it comes to managing professional services contracts. She revealed that half of the contracts she examined cannot be found on the website responsible for disclosing this kind of information to the public.

When will this government put an end to the culture of secrecy?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, considering that this department that awards over $1 million in service contracts, I would remind the hon. member that if she had read the report properly, she would have noted that 96% of contracts produced positive results. This sort of thing has never before been seen at Public Works. With results like that, no one should resort to such fearmongering. The member should read the Auditor General's report.

Child Care

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is a shameful anniversary. It marks three years to the day since the Conservative government cancelled the Liberal child care agreements. The City of Toronto has just announced it will have to cut 6,000 child care spaces, almost a quarter of all its subsidized spaces. The budget is silent on child care.

Jody Dallaire of the Child Care Coalition said, “But government refuses to meet the economic needs of women by investing in child care”.

Is the government so out of touch with working Canadians that it cannot hear the families and child care organizations across this country crying out for quality affordable child care?

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

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member were in touch with Canadians, he would hear how very pleased they are with the universal child care program that we brought in three years ago.

That program gives parents across Canada the choice in the child care that they get for their children. We have also increased funding to the provinces so that they can create daycare spaces. That funding will increase by 3% next year to help them create even more spaces.