Debates of Oct. 29th, 2010

The Economy

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the difference between our Conservative government and the Liberal-Bloc-NDP coalition is stark.

While we are focused on the economy and jobs, the coalition is focused on reckless new spending and tax hikes. We have seen more than 420,000 jobs created since July 2009. The IMF and the OECD project Canada will lead the G7 in growth over 2010-11.

Yesterday, the IMF praised “...Canada's standing as the strongest position in the G7”.

Today, Statistics Canada reported Canada's economy grew again in August for the 11th time in the last 12 months. Clearly, we are getting the job done.

On the other hand, the coalition's reckless spending and tax hikes would put Canada in a permanent deficit and destroy Canada's economic advantage. Indeed, according to experts, its tax hikes would kill almost 400,000 jobs.

Tax hikes on families and killing Canadian jobs is the coalition plan, and it is the wrong plan.

Diabetes Awareness

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, November is Diabetes Awareness Month and November 14 is World Diabetes Day.

We must take this opportunity to remind ourselves that the financial pressure faced by those living with diabetes is tremendous and that the costs are a huge burden on both household budgets and our national economy.

The Canadian Diabetes Association suggests that the federal government undertake four specific policies that would alleviate these substantial costs: expand the disability tax credit to include Canadians living with diabetes; increase federal funding to support diabetes programs and services; increase funding for diabetes-related research; and increase the charitable tax credit.

These small changes would make a big difference in the lives of people living with diabetes. I hope the government will join me and my New Democrat colleagues in commemorating national Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day and will implement these simple, effective and worthwhile initiatives.

Canada's Economic Action Plan

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the report released recently by the Auditor General, she confirmed that we have accomplished our goal and that our government acted quickly and effectively by developing and implementing our economic action plan.

In order to better protect Canadian families and workers from the effects of the worst global recession in generations, the Conservative government implemented the economic action plan. Investing money and getting shovels in the ground as quickly and efficiently as possible was crucial in order to create jobs and stimulate economic growth as soon as possible.

We welcome this positive report on our government's performance. We must bear in mind, however, that the economic recovery remains fragile. That is why we will continue to focus on creating jobs and helping families, as we continue to deliver on Canada's economic action plan.

Sexual Violence Against Women in Armed Conflict

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, we are marking the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for an end to sexual violence against women in armed conflict and for a decision-making role for women in peace processes.

Despite efforts by the international community, 10 years later, women are still victims of sexual violence in armed conflict. Rape is a destructive weapon of war that ruins the lives of thousands of women. Unfortunately, those responsible for rape often are not brought to justice.

It is important to promote and support the active, meaningful participation of women at all levels of decision-making. The Canadian government must support NGOs and encourage them to promote women's rights, as resolution 1325 calls for.

In closing, I would like to commend the courage of the Congolese women, headed by Olive Lembe Kabila, the President's wife, who demonstrated on October 17 in eastern Congo to denounce the sexual violence committed against them.

Unison Health and Community Services

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in York South—Weston, York Community Services, now called Unison Health and Community Services, has been serving citizens for decades and once again has expanded its outreach to our most vulnerable residents.

A brand new satellite community health centre and hub of agencies will be offering health counselling and employment and community programs for youth, young families, seniors, unemployed and newcomers to Canada.

The hub will also include a community kitchen and rooms available to local organizations, residents associations and self-help groups. It will also provide doctors, nurse practitioners, health promoters and social workers offering a full range of health care.

The hub is looking forward to working closely with community residents to address the pressing needs in the Mount Dennis, Weston and Trethewey neighbourhoods.

I know that members of the House will join with me in saluting Unison, with the support of all three levels of government, for providing community-based and holistic services to our community.

Sponsorship Program

[Colin Mayes, Conservative, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, out of respect for Canadian taxpayers, our government is committed to spending tax dollars wisely. After years of Liberal corruption, scandal and waste, Canadians elected us to do better, and better we have done.

We told Canadians we would rid Ottawa of the culture of scandal and entitlement and replace it with the Conservative culture of accountability. Our first act in office was passing the most comprehensive anti-corruption legislation in Canadian history, the Federal Accountability Act.

Sadly, we were reminded just yesterday about the legacy of Liberal scandal, as the public accounts showed that Public Works recovered just over $233,000 last year from the dark days of the Liberal sponsorship scandal. Unfortunately, millions in outstanding money is owed to Canadian taxpayers from the Liberal Party coffers and remains unpaid.

My constituents of Okanagan--Shuswap are asking when the Liberals will return the full amount owing.

Office of the Prime Minister

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are finding it tough just to make ends meet. The only Canadian who is showing no interest in restraint is the Prime Minister. The budget of his personal office has ballooned to $10 million a year. That is a 30% increase in the last two years.

When will those borrow and spend Conservatives show some respect for taxpayers and stop this Conservative gravy train?

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and our entire government believe we have an important responsibility to communicate with Canadians. This requires some fair and reasonable resources, and that is one of the reasons we have seen an increase in spending in this regard.

Also, last year was an extraordinary year for Canada. The Prime Minister made visits to Afghanistan to support our troops and made important trade visits to China and India to create jobs for Canadians right here in Canada.

National Defence

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Too bad he could not get a seat on the Security Council, Mr. Speaker.

The fact is defence procurement expert Alan Williams says that Canadian taxpayers will spend at least 20% more for the F-35, wasting over $3 billion, because the Conservatives refused to have an open competition.

Why will the Prime Minister not listen to Alan Williams? Why will he not listen to the Auditor General? Why will he not listen to today's National Post, which said, “press pause on the largest military purchase in Canadian history”?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, Liberals would know a lot about pressing pause on military procurements. In fact, they have the worst record in the country's history on military procurement going back to 1993 when the Liberal Party spent $1 billion to cancel the EH-101 maritime helicopters. Canadians will recall that with the stroke of a pen a Liberal prime minister said “zero helicopters”. Seventeen years later we still have zero maritime helicopters.

Let the member opposite explain that to the pilots who have to fly 40-year-old Sea Kings.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Reform Party was opposed to those purchases.

Furthermore, by having an open competition we will show respect for the military and will show respect for the taxpayer at the same time.

An ordinary Canadian would not walk into a car dealership and give the salesman a blank cheque. Ordinary Canadians would not buy a car without checking out the competition first. So why would their government spend $16 billion, their tax dollars, without checking out the competition first?

Why will those borrow and spend Conservatives not show some respect for the Canadian taxpayer?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, let us again set the record straight. There was in fact a competition begun in 1997 when the Liberal Party was in office. It was the Liberal Party that began the purchase and the process for the F-35. We have now exercised the option.

What I am finding very curious is that by once again ripping a page from Liberal playbooks past of cancelling and caving in military projects, what we are seeing now are members opposite, none from Montreal I might add, getting up and putting in jeopardy an important contract for the military that will cost thousands of jobs to the Canadian aerospace industry and billions of dollars to our economy.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, expert Alan Williams said that in order to maximize the number of jobs in Canada, there should have been a request for proposal. He said there needed to be a request for proposal if we wanted regional economic spinoffs.

Request for proposal: more jobs; Conservative plan: fewer jobs and planes that cost up to 20% more. Why is the government refusing to seek economic spinoffs and guaranteed jobs for Canadian taxpayers?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the opportunity for Canadian aerospace companies to bid on $12 billion will create thousands of jobs in this country.

With respect to the competition, yes there could be another competition, but let us listen to what the current assistant deputy minister for materiel at the Department of National Defence said. Dan Ross said, “Let's state the obvious”--and I know the obvious goes over the heads of the Liberals here--“you must have more than one viable supplier to have a competition, and there is only one fifth-generation fighter available”.

That is what Dan Ross said. I will take his word over that of the member opposite.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that just does not make sense. It is the largest military purchase in the history of Canada, and yet they want to go ahead without a competitive bidding process and guaranteed economic spinoffs. They should wake up.

Another example of waste is the explosion in the Prime Minister's spending. Why have the Prime Minister's communications expenditures ballooned when he never meets with citizens or journalists? Does it cost that much to muzzle journalists?

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. The Prime Minister and the government have an important responsibility to communicate with Canadians. The Prime Minister takes that responsibility incredibly seriously and obviously there are fair and reasonable costs associated with that.

The Prime Minister also has an important responsibility to get off Parliament Hill and travel the country and listen to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. That is something he does and it is something that is tremendously important. He does a lot of listening and he is able to communicate the important projects contained in the economic action plan. That is good news for Canada.

Government Priorities

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while hundreds of thousands of people were losing their jobs or facing economic insecurity, the number of staff in the Prime Minister's Office rose by 30% in two years. This bureaucratic spending explosion contrasts with the lack of assistance provided to the unemployed and the regions that are victims of the economic crisis.

Given that the Conservatives have asked Canadians to tighten their belts, is this not further evidence of the bad decisions made by the Conservatives?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary. I would have thought that the opposition would congratulate us for our economic growth. In fact, the opposition had a good opportunity to tell us that Canada is continuing to prove that we are on the right track with our economic action plan. The opposition chose not to mention that we created 420,000 new jobs in the last 11 months. That is a performance worth mentioning.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, rather than conjuring up political fantasies, the minister should take a look at Conservative waste. There are other examples of the government's misplaced priorities. The spending explosion in the Prime Minister's office is due primarily to the increase in communications expenses. In other words, rather than helping the people and the regions of Quebec that are having problems, they prefer to invest in propaganda and information control.

Is that not further proof that, for the Prime Minister, the government must put the interests of the Conservative Party first, rather than meeting the needs of citizens?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister takes communicating with Canadians very seriously. In today's media-saturated world, there are more media organizations to accommodate and air time to fill. In addition, 2009 and 2010 were exceptional years. No matter, the Bloc Québécois always opposes any action taken by this government to foster the economic recovery of our country and continually refuses to vote with—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we in the Bloc Québécois rise every day to defend the interests of Quebeckers. Although the Conservatives say they do not have enough money to improve the guaranteed income supplement for our seniors or to help workers in the forestry industry, they managed to find the money to increase the budget for the Prime Minister's Office.

How can the government preach fiscal restraint when the Prime Minister gets to have an open bar?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this year has been exceptional. The Prime Minister committed to meeting with his colleagues at the G8, which he chaired. He travelled to China. There was also the G20. The government has taken some specific action, which is now producing results. The latest statistics on our gross domestic product prove this. Some 420,000 jobs have been created in the last 11 months. Now those are real results.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, those jobs have definitely not been in the forestry sector.

With the government about to make budget cuts to eliminate the record $56 billion deficit, now would be a good time for it to sort out its priorities. In addition to sparing the Prime Minister's Office, the government continues to protect the wealthy and big oil companies by maintaining their tax breaks and undue subsidies.

Before asking people to tighten their belts any further, is it not time the Prime Minister and the wealthy did their part?

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the statistics, the facts and the numbers all show that Canada has outperformed the rest of the G7. Of course the Bloc Québécois does not want to point this out, because it does not support our government. At every opportunity, it always votes against budgets that will help stimulate Canada's economy.