Debates of April 30th, 2009

Automotive Industry

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Industry have provided great leadership on this file, doing their part to preserve Canada's share of the production of Chrysler manufacturing and auto assembly.

The member opposite did say that he did not get an answer to a question. Here is the answer that Canadians want to know. They heard the Liberal leader say on April 14, “We will have to raise taxes”. I would like this member to stand in this place and tell us what taxes the Liberal Party will raise, when will it raise them and which middle-class Canadians will be targeted for special punishment from this new Liberal tax grab?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the minister may impress 100-and-some members across the way, but they will not be there very long.

It appears that there will be a newly-structured Chrysler Corporation that will own and operate Chrysler Canada as a branch plant subsidiary. Canada will be a minority shareholder in the holding company. For our $3 billion, we will get one director out of nine. That is not much stroke to defend and promote the business in Canada.

Fiat and the U.S. government will run this show. Is there or will there be a shareholders agreement in place to safeguard the Canadian operation?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the one remarkable thing that has happened over the last four or five months is that the Prime Minister has put aside partisan politics and is working in partnership with the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty. The announcement being made at this hour is between the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario, and I do not think he would appreciate the characterizations made by the Liberal Party opposite.

What would be terrible for the auto sector would be for the Liberal Party to try to raise taxes on new cars. It voted against the GST tax reduction and now we have to ask, is that one of the first things it will do: bring in a new tax on Canadian-built automobiles?

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday the finance minister refused to assure Canadians that the promised credit facility for the auto sector was on schedule.

The facility was announced five months ago. By the minister's admission, the whole thing remains at discussion stage, nowhere near operational. Industry analysts say the BDC is not equipped to deploy the facility. The industry is desperate for credit so people can buy and lease cars.

Yes or no, will the auto credit facility be open for business on May 1? Why all these delays when the minister has known for months that only credit will stimulate sales and leasing?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has trouble with dates, obviously. The budget was in January, not five months ago.

The Canadian automotive dealers had this to say today:

Ottawa must tread carefully as it wades into this area for the first time...there's no mechanism in place in Canada at this stage--

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

You were late. You said you were late.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Relax, Ralph, I will get to you.

--to accommodate this...so they've basically got to start from a clean piece of paper with [BDC]--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. I know the Minister of Finance and the opposition House leader are on very friendly terms, but the hon. minister also knows that it is out of order to refer to other hon. members by name. I would request that he refrain from that kind of thing.

The hon. member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the promise was made by the Minister of Finance last December. Anyone who can count knows that was five months ago.

It is inconceivable that this government continues to delay creating the secured credit facility for the automotive sector.

The minister does not seem to understand that dealers need credit to sell vehicles and that consumers need credit to purchase or lease vehicles.

Will the secured credit facility be in place on May 1 as promised by the minister?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, here is what the Liberals know about cars. Here is what their finance critic said. He was asked by the Windsor Star if he owned a Canadian-built car. He said, “I drive a North American-made car”. He was asked to be specific. He said, “I drive a General Motors car”. He was asked to be more specific. He said, “I drive a Chevrolet”.

An hour later, he told the reporter, “I said the wrong thing without thinking. The fact of the matter is I do not own a North American car”.

It is no wonder that the Liberals will not let the finance critic ask any questions. He does not understand the auto system. In fact, he does not even know what car he drives. He can come to Oshawa—

Goods and Services Tax

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House of Commons voted unanimously in favour of a Bloc Québécois motion calling for Quebec to be compensated in the amount of $2.6 billion for harmonizing its sales tax with the GST while continuing to be responsible for collecting and administering those taxes.

And yet immediately after the vote, the Minister of Finance went out and told the media that say he supported the principle of harmonization, but not the $2.6 billion compensation.

Voting for one thing and saying the opposite 10 minutes later is called hypocrisy. Will the minister admit that his attitude is totally contrary to the principles—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and to the Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, our government and the Minister of Finance are going to work with Quebec’s Minister of Finance on this issue. They will certainly not be working with the leader of the Bloc Québécois on this issue.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have just heard a brainwave.

That being said, how can the Minister of Finance say he is negotiating with Quebec in good faith when a unanimous motion was passed here in the House of Commons, not somewhere else? We are entitled to ask them questions about their attitude. There was also a unanimous motion by the National Assembly.

How can they say they are acting in good faith when 10 minutes after voting he turns to the journalists and says he does not agree with what he just voted for? How can that be called anything other than hypocrisy?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec has said that it wants to have discussions about harmonization. Since our first budget in 2006, we have supported the challenge of harmonization with the provinces, including Quebec. So, yesterday, we began discussions and negotiations with the Government of Quebec concerning harmonization.

Employment Insurance

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House of Commons completed second reading of our bill to abolish the waiting period for employment insurance, a measure that the Bloc Québécois has been proposing for months; a measure that has the unanimous support of the Quebec National Assembly; a measure that is also being urged by all of the labour movement.

Given that consensus, what is the Conservative government waiting for to abolish the waiting period now, a simple measure that would help all those receiving EI benefits?

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

Mr. Speaker, in difficult economic times, it is important to act on a number of fronts to help people keep their jobs as well as to stimulate economic activity.

That is what we did in our action plan, for instance, the planned infrastructure investments of $33 billion, including $1,350 in tax credits to encourage people to renovate their homes and thereby help out the forestry and manufacturing sectors. We also added five weeks to employment insurance to provide people with more available funds.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is regrettable to see the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development contradicting her own department's figures on the proportion of unemployed people who have access to employment insurance. It is appalling to see her digging in her heels out of ideological principle against abolishing the waiting period, when this is a measure that would help all recipients right at the start.

Is the minister aware that she has no reason whatsoever to refuse to abolish the waiting period, and that she must do so right away?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, at the time we implemented our economic action plan, we consulted Canadians and the people in the regions in order to learn what we could do to help them out. People prefer five extra weeks of employment insurance benefits at the end to two weeks at the start.

It is far more useful, at a time when we are coping with economic difficulties, to have five weeks more at the end, at a time when people may take longer to find new jobs.

Canada Pension Plan

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

Mr. Speaker, caution is the watchword when managing people's money and pensions. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lost $20 billion in 2009, but that did not stop its five top executives from awarding themselves a generous $11 million in bonuses.

Does the Minister of Finance think that Canadians are getting value for their money?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

There is no doubt, Mr. Speaker, that the markets have been depressed in the past year.

The fact of the matter is that the Canada pension plan is one of the most successful pension plans in the world. The reason it has been so successful for Canadians over a long period of time, despite the crowing and complaining of the member for Wascana while I am trying to answer a serious question about the pension plan and he insists on interrupting, is that we are not going to let politicians like the member for Wascana interfere with the operation of the Canada pension plan.

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

Mr. Speaker, these people are managing the retirement savings of Canadians, and Canadians are expecting that their pensions are going to be there when they retire.

Why are the Conservatives allowing the CPP executives to get $11 million in bonuses when they just lost $20 billion of Canadian savings? It makes no sense.

Where is the fiscal prudence? Where is the accountability? Why are these people getting away with it?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Is the member opposite so unaware of what is going on in the economy and in the markets, Mr. Speaker, that he is not aware of the very substantial market losses during the course of the past year? Is he not aware that the performance of the Canada pension plan is relatively good? Is he in favour of politicians interfering with the management and the investment policies of the Canada pension plan? We are opposed to that.

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

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you what Canadians do not accept. They do not accept that a group of people who go out and lose $20 billion of the savings of Canadians get rewarded with millions of dollars in their pockets.

The CEO of the CPP Investment Board, David F. Denison, made $475,000 as a base salary last year. To reward him for losing $20 billion, he received an extra $3.6 million, a 750% bonus.

Try to justify that to anybody. Is the government kidding me? How can this be allowed to happen?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, what the member opposite is asking the provincial governments, the territorial governments and the Government of Canada to do is to interfere in the day-to-day operations of the Canada pension plan and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

I gather some of the Liberals, like the member from Ottawa, want the same thing to happen.

We do not believe in that. Pensions are too important for Canadians. The Canada pension plan has been successful over the years--