Debates of April 20th, 2009

Employment

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the government is presiding over the worst collapse in employment on record, with 300,000 jobs lost in the first three months of 2009. Mayors and municipal councillors I spoke to in southwestern Ontario last week were promised federal help months ago to create jobs. It has not arrived. When will help arrive?

What additional measures will the minister offer to protect jobs in a recession that the Minister of Finance has finally acknowledged is serious?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, at the outset of question period, let me say, and I believe I speak on behalf of all members of this place, how pleased we were to see a peaceful resolution in Montego Bay this morning. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the passengers and crew who went through this horrifying incident. I want to commend the crew for their actions, and to express the appreciation of all Canadians and the Government of Canada to Jamaican authorities who helped bring this terrible situation to a safe conclusion.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, in town hall meetings across southwestern Ontario last week, people told me they are frightened by the cascade of job losses—ClosetMaid in Cambridge, 3M in London, Sterling Truck in St. Thomas, Navistar in Chatham, Ingersoll Fasteners in Ingersoll—300,000 jobs in every region, in every province, in every sector in the country.

What is the government prepared to do to help Canadians face the tsunami of job loss sweeping across the country?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, this government is the one that brought forward a massive stimulus package to help stimulate growth in the economy. The leader of the Liberal Party talked about his trip to southwestern Ontario. The Liberal leader said, on that trip to southwestern Ontario, on April 14, just last week, “We will have to raise taxes”.

We thank him for honestly finally revealing the Liberal plan. Now the questions for the member are, which taxes will he raise, when will he raise them, and by how much? He owes Canadians an answer.

[Michael Ignatieff, Liberal, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I will not take lectures from the Conservatives on fighting deficits. This side of the House cleaned up one deficit, and we will clean up the next one.

Back to employment. Some 7,500 jobs are in danger at AbitibiBowater. The government's response? A committee. What an insult.

Will the federal government offer loan guarantees to protect jobs in the forestry sector—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order.

The Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Liberal Party talks about deficits. This is an unfortunate international economic time. The leader of the Liberal Party and his entire caucus voted for this budget, I would remind him.

Let us look at Tax Freedom Day. In 2005, the last year the Liberals were in power, it took place on June 26. In 2008, just last year, after three years of Conservative government, it went to June 14. That is real leadership.

I ask that the leader of the Liberal Party stand in his place, tell us where and when he will raise these taxes, and how much suffering working families in Canada will have to pay for his reckless—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I regret that I must interrupt the hon. Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

The hon. member for Brossard—La Prairie.

Forestry Industry

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have abandoned the forestry industry. Since they came to power, $1.6 billion set aside by the former Liberal government for the industry has disappeared because of their grandstanding.

When will the government take action in the interest of the thousands of people who have lost their jobs? When will it do something for the hundreds of communities that are losing their primary industry?

[David Anderson, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, our economic action plan addresses exactly those issues. It includes support for both the short- and the long-term problems facing the industry. It includes the $1 billion community adjustment fund, and if the member was listening today, the minister was in Quebec setting out the terms of a task force to work with Quebec on the forestry industry.

We are getting the job done for Canadians.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that answer is appalling. The government has abandoned workers and regions that depend on the forestry industry. Now the government is planning to set up a special committee. Recently in Quebec City, the Minister of National Revenue told us that there are to be no loan guarantees, and now the committee is supposed to discuss access to credit.

Is the Prime Minister ready to change his mind if the committee says that there should be loan guarantees to help forestry workers?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have a softwood lumber agreement with the United States. The agreement stipulates that we cannot give any benefits to Canadian companies unless similar benefits are offered in the American market. That being said, on Friday in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, socio-economic stakeholders and elected representatives met and agreed that they wanted access to credit and financing, but within the bounds of the softwood lumber agreement.

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

Mr. Speaker, all the government has done to address the forestry crisis is set up a task team. Yet just a few days ago, the Government of Quebec gave AbitibiBowater a total of $100 million in loan guarantees. Meanwhile, lawyers for the federal government are arguing before the tribunal in London that loan guarantees are legal.

If its own lawyers are saying that, then they must be legal. What is the government waiting for to give the forestry industry loan guarantees, as it has done for the automotive industry? The forestry industry needs them now.

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

Mr. Speaker, the creation of the Canada-Quebec special team is good news, because things are moving forward. The team will focus on the following areas: forest management and silviculture, supporting forest workers, access to credit, technology and innovation, value-added manufacturing and market development. This is a Canada-Quebec partnership. We want to move things forward, and we are taking action. It is shameful that some people are trying to downplay the significance of this wonderful initiative that was announced this morning.

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

Mr. Speaker, it does not take much to make the minister happy. He needs to be more aware of what is happening in his riding.

The forestry industry is short of cash and facing a serious crisis. One solution to the industry's problems is loan guarantees. The Government of Quebec, the unions, the Quebec Forest Industry Council and the federal government's own lawyers agree that loan guarantees are legal. If they are not legal, then the government needs to tell us why Ottawa's lawyers are arguing that they are.

Is the government paying lawyers who are contradicting the ministers, or do the ministers not understand their own lawyers? We want to know.

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

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, it takes a great deal to make us happy. The Canada-Quebec partnership announced today is a wonderful initiative. We will work together to tackle this extremely serious problem. It is too bad some members are trying to make political hay out of this. Members need to look at the areas that are targeted. The industry asked for this. We are not making this up.

They are proving again today that they have never delivered. We are delivering, and we are going to solve the problem.

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

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the elected officials of my riding reached a consensus on what to do to help the forestry sector. The two Conservative ministers were mandated to obtain loan guarantees, as the government did for the auto sector.

Did the government receive the message and will it now commit to offering loan guarantees to the forestry sector, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, I attended that meeting of all the socio-economic stakeholders. The hon. member forgot to mention that. That is what he tried to do. They tried all afternoon to get the government to grant loan guarantees without any concern about respecting the softwood lumber agreement.

At the end of the meeting, all the stakeholders concluded that the government must try to help the forestry sector while respecting the softwood lumber agreement.

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

Mr. Speaker, in a press conference, a minister from my region finally admitted that time is running out and forestry workers are being left with nothing. In the automobile sector, the government recognized the seriousness of the situation in four weeks. For the forestry sector, it has taken four years so far.

Will the government take another four years to recognize that the solution lies in loan guarantees, or will it finally come to its senses and act immediately?

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

Mr. Speaker, Export Development Canada has granted over $14 billion in various loan guarantees over the past year. Again this year we are adding $5 billion to support all stakeholders.

What can we do in terms of loan guarantees? Yes, we can grant loan guarantees, but it must not give Canadian industries an advantage, since that would compromise the agreement. We must try to find other avenues of assistance. However, we must not compromise the agreement, which the industry is asking us to protect at all costs.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, since the last election, over one third of a million Canadians have been thrown out of work. That amounts of 2,380 per day, about 100 per hour. The point is that we are now reaching a level of unemployment higher than we have seen in seven years, at 8%. Now we have General Motors saying it is going to be laying off another 1,600 workers.

Forty days ago in the House, solutions for the employment insurance program to get these workers the help they need were adopted. When is the government going to fix the EI system for the people who need the help?

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

Mr. Speaker, we do recognize that these are very difficult times for all too many Canadians who are losing their jobs. That is why, in the earliest budget that a Canadian government has ever presented, we presented extensions to the EI system, an additional five weeks of regular benefits. We froze the EI premium rates to conserve jobs. We expanded dramatically the work-sharing program.

All these things are there to help vulnerable Canadians at the time they need it most, but the leader of the NDP and his entire party voted against every single one of those efforts to help Canadians.

Infrastructure

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

Mr. Speaker, that is a facile reply. The reality is that the Conservatives are not taking the economy very seriously. Take infrastructure, for example. They said that money would be available quickly, but government documents indicate that 90% of the funds have not yet been allocated. Conservatives require the municipalities to match the contributions but they cannot.

Why does the government not make these funds available quickly—immediately—without all these ridiculous conditions?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we have been cutting red tape and we have been doing it as quickly as we possibly can. We have been working constructively with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. We have been working with various provincial associations. We have good partnerships in the provinces, where we are able to turn $1 into $2 or $3 so we can create two or three times as many jobs, two or three times as much hope, two or three times as much job creation across the province. We are committed to doing it.

Step by step, we are getting the job done.

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

Mr. Speaker, the mayors I am talking to are saying that the program is not working because they do not have the funds to match the federal dollars. So instead of fixing the program the way we suggested, using the gas tax model that works, the government is going to try to force municipalities to borrow money from the federal government in order to come up with their share. That is no way to build a country.

When is the government going to eliminate this ridiculous condition that is going to mean that we will simply not be creating jobs in construction this construction season? The policy is not working.