House of Commons Hansard #81 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was countries.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, the territory question in the Beaufort Sea has been the subject of a territorial dispute between the United States and Canada for some time. Obviously we would like to find a resolution of that dispute, but in the meantime we will assert our right to enforce Canadian law in our territory.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Speaker, the protectionist measures in the Buy American Act are decimating Canadian jobs. Canadian exports to the U.S. have dropped by more than 35% this year. The Buy American Act has been in place for seven months and we are still waiting for Canada to be exempted.
Why are the Conservatives unable to obtain any concessions from the United States to protect Canadian workers?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway
Mr. Speaker, first of all, we came to an agreement with all the premiers in Canada. Now we can present this agreement to the Americans to show them that we will remain open to free trade and we will denounce protectionism.
I repeat that we now have people working with the Americans to find a solution based on the agreement that I presented to the American representatives last week.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Speaker, seven months and no results from the government.
A recent CIBC report confirms that buy American is smothering Canadian growth. Canadian exports to the U.S. have plummeted 35% this year. Canadians cannot trust the Conservatives to protect Canadian jobs. Trade is clearly an area of federal responsibility, but the only leadership in Canada has come from provinces and municipalities.
Why have the Conservatives failed so miserably to protect Canadian jobs from American protectionism?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway
Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister has shown leadership. We have shown leadership by bringing together premiers and territorial leaders from across the country.
In a somewhat unprecedented way and in a fairly short period of time, and we allowed them some months to do this, they came together with a procurement agreement, which I presented to the U.S. trade representative last week. He has appointed a chief negotiator and we have appointed a chief negotiator.
We are looking at this problem of buy American, which we frankly see as an element of protectionism. We want to see this turned around, and we are aggressively pursuing it in that direction.
Gerard Kennedy Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.
Yesterday the Prime Minister refused to answer why he allowed his ministers to abuse infrastructure funds they were responsible for simply to try and buy votes in their ridings and delay jobs for Canadians at the same time. While he sits silent, we find that more government ministers have had their hands into several cookie jars.
Would the Prime Minister care to explain today how the Minister of Finance managed to get for his university the highest per student grant in the province, eight times the per student share it ordinarily would have received?
Gary Goodyear ConservativeMinister of State (Science and Technology) (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)
Mr. Speaker, this government put an unprecedented amount of money into science and technology and it did include $2 billion into the knowledge infrastructure program. That $2 billion was matched by provinces and the private sector. That amounted to almost $5 billion into this economy, creating jobs right now in every community with a university or college.
Gerard Kennedy Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, I notice he did not say it was going fairly into every community with a university or college.
When the Minister of Finance said in his budget “measures that would target Canadians and communities most in need”, I guess what he forgot to tell Canadians was he really meant he would target those most in need of stimulus to vote Conservative.
Of the infrastructure fund for British Columbia, the Conservatives took eight times as much money as opposition ridings on average. In Nova Scotia, the building Canada fund, they took 50% more funding for themselves.
My question is for the Prime Minister. Why should we trust the Conservatives when they are so busy looking after themselves?
John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, it is another day and another outrageous allegation from the member opposite.
Let me tell him how it works. Let us take a look at how it works in the province of Ontario, his province and mine. We sit down with the provincial Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty. We get applications and we make decisions.
On behalf of Premier Dalton McGuinty, I resent the accusation that Dalton McGuinty is involved in some sort of a vote swinging regime to help the Conservative Party. We are working well with Dalton McGuinty. We are working well with the Government of Ontario.
How dare he attack my premier.
Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Mr. Speaker, over 3,000 people held a protest in Dolbeau-Mistassini to demand, among other things, that Ottawa take action to help them through the crisis in the forestry sector. The protest illustrates the discontent of Quebec's forestry regions, which are asking for assistance on a level similar to that provided to the auto industry, which is concentrated in Ontario.
Will the Conservative government implement our proposals, including loan guarantees and greater accessibility to employment insurance, as the CEP - FTQ is asking today?
Denis Lebel ConservativeMinister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec)
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region for a meeting with the rural university, and so I was able to attend that event. I did not at all feel what the member opposite just reported. The forestry issue in Quebec is a provincial jurisdiction and our government is doing more than what has been done in the past.
Thanks to all government stakeholders, we are investing over $100 million to regenerate our forests in terms of silviculture and forest management. However, again, the Bloc Québécois voted against our action plan.
Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Mr. Speaker, today, a Quebec coalition is calling for greater use of wood in public buildings. The Bloc Québécois introduced a bill to this effect for federal buildings.
How could the Minister of State (Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec), who claims to want to help regions such as the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, let his Conservative colleagues vote against this measure at the Standing Committee on Industry?
Christian Paradis ConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, as regards that same coalition in Quebec, many of its members benefited from the $170 million in assistance, over two years, for research and for developing new products, as has been requested. Therefore, we are once again talking about concrete measures and, as I said, with regard to federal buildings, $323 million will be invested over a two-year period to renovate these buildings. Obviously, this will result in an increase in the demand for wood. This is what we call concrete measures. We, on this side, are taking action.
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers want us to send a clear message to people who commit economic crimes. Well before the recent events involving Vincent Lacroix and Earl Jones, the Bloc Québécois proposed abolishing the provisions that allow white-collar criminals in particular to be released after serving one-sixth of their sentences. We have succeeded in the meantime in building a consensus around this initiative.
Will the government act in good faith and allow the Bloc’s bill—a simple bill with only two clauses—to pass today at all stages?
Christian Paradis ConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, we are certainly talking here about very serious crimes. The victims of white-collar criminals suffer terrible consequences. Even though these crimes may generally be seen as non-violent, the gravity of the effects can scarcely be imagined. Fortunately, the Minister of Justice announced today that he would introduce a bill imposing minimum sentences. We are taking action on this and hope the Bloc will support us because it is currently opposing our efforts to abolish suspended sentences that allow people to serve their time in the comfort of their homes after committing white-collar crimes. That is terrible.
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, before minimum sentences can be handed out, these people have to be caught and their crimes possibly prevented.
If we could quickly agree on abolishing release after one-sixth of the sentence, we could study other proposals for fighting economic crime. The Bloc Québécois has proposed establishing specialized squads that include professional accountants and financial experts to support the police officers who are responsible for finding white-collar criminals and getting them convicted.
Will the government set up these kinds of squads?
Christian Paradis ConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Speaker, two years later I hear my colleague talking about additional squads. That is reassuring. Back in 2007, $10 million were allocated to policing the markets. Last week the Bloc Québécois emerged and saw which way the wind was blowing, and it shows up now with a bill on parole. This bill has been quickly cobbled together and is incomplete.
I can assure the House that our government is working on reforms to release on parole, but there is no way we will put forward something that is improvised and incomplete. This is just political opportunism and it is shameful.
Bonnie Crombie Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
Mr. Speaker, three months ago the Minister of Transport said, “Canadians don’t want a job-killing payroll tax increase”. Now that unemployment is approaching double digits the same Conservatives seem to believe a payroll tax increase is a great idea.
Why do the Conservatives insist on burdening workers and businesses with this job-killing Conservative tax hike?
Ed Komarnicki ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, the member is complaining about EI premiums and yet the Liberals want to spend billions on the 45-day work year that would cost a lot of money. They cannot have it both ways.
We have frozen the EI premiums for two years and established an arm's-length transparent body to set the rates in the future.
Bonnie Crombie Liberal Mississauga—Streetsville, ON
Mr. Speaker, in an op-ed piece, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development wrote:
--a massive increase in job-killing payroll taxes that will hurt workers and small businesses alike.
The new tax burden the Conservatives are planning is $13 billion. If it was a job killer in May, why is it the right policy today?
Ed Komarnicki ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the member did not hear me, but we froze the EI rates for two years. We do not increase taxes. We cut taxes in the billions of dollars. It is the leader of the Liberal Party who said that he plans to raise taxes when he spoke a few months ago.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has violated the trust of Canadians about taxes.
First, Conservatives raised income taxes. They broke their word. Then, they slapped a brutal new Conservative tax on income trusts, ripping $25 billion from the savings of two million Canadians. Again, they broke their word. Now, they are going to slap this job-killing Conservative tax on employment through higher EI premiums.
The Prime Minister used to say that was a dumb idea. Why is he breaking his word again? How can Canadians possibly trust these people?
Ed Komarnicki ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, they can trust us to reduce taxes because we have done that. It is that party that has raised taxes and spent billions of dollars.
On the one hand, the Liberals say, “Spend $4 billion or more on EI”. On the other hand, they say, “Do not raise taxes”. They have to decide which way they are going on that.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, the issue here is trust. Canadians simply cannot trust a government that so often fails to tell the truth.
The Prime Minister said that increasing EI premiums was dumb. He promised that he would never raise taxes on anything. Conservatives also said, “There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept”.
Why are they slapping a new Conservative tax on jobs? Using the Conservatives' own words, would that be a fraud because it would be a promise unkept?
Ed Komarnicki ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, Canadians can trust us as the party that cuts taxes. What we have on the other side is a party that proposes carbon taxes when it is convenient for it. It is a party that spends billions and raises taxes. Then, it comes around and tries to change it the other way.
That party is trying to have an election simply for opportunistic purposes. It has nothing to do with the right interests of Canadians. We will stand behind Canadians.