Debates of March 19th, 2010

Employment Insurance

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the budget clearly states in both French and English that $19 billion will be taken from the employment insurance fund.

The government is also contradicting itself when it comes to transitional measures. On the one hand, the “tequila minister” is telling us that no decisions have been made in that regard. On the other hand, the hon. member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup is telling us that he has given up and that the government decided not to renew transitional measures that would close the black hole currently facing unemployed workers in eastern Quebec.

My question is simple: who is telling the truth?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are very familiar with the transitional measures and we are examining them. A decision will be made in the spring.

Rights & Democracy

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

Mr. Speaker, a majority of members of the foreign affairs committee want to hear from the widow of Rémy Beauregard, the president of Rights & Democracy before his untimely death. The government does not want to hear her speak, showing once again the government's contempt for the concept of discovering the truth.

It would also be beneficial to hear from the first president of Rights & Democracy, Ed Broadbent, once a member of course of this chamber, and also Joe Clark, who was the minister at the time that Rights & Democracy was created.

How can the government refuse to hear from these very important individuals, including the right hon. Joe Clark?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, let me say that our sympathies are with Madame Trépanier and her family on their loss.

I do hope that all members of the committee can put aside partisan politics and work together as to the number of witnesses who can be invited to be heard on this matter. We hope that these disagreements can be resolved so that witnesses like Madame Trépanier may be heard.

Pensions

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

Mr. Speaker, we will certainly work toward that goal.

On another matter, after years of pressure from the NDP, the government has finally made a commitment in the Speech from the Throne to protect the pensions of workers whose employer declares bankruptcy. We expect the government to take action on this.

Why not immediately pass the NDP bill, which would give workers' pensions precedence over other creditors and bonuses for managers of bankrupt companies?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, this government brought forward a throne speech and brought forward a budget that spoke to these issues. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance has had extensive consultations. We need to bring Canadians into this discussion. I know my colleague, the Minister of Industry has been reviewing this important issue. We obviously want to do two things. We want to ensure that the individual rights of pensioners are respected to the best possible extent, but also continue to have a growing economy that creates jobs and affords pensions to even more Canadians than already enjoy them today.

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

Mr. Speaker, the problem here is that the government has not introduced any action on the issue. It is just endless talk. Meanwhile we have workers, like the Nortel workers, who stand to lose the pension to which they have contributed. These are people who played by the rules. They made their contributions each year to their pension plan and now they stand to lose much of what they were counting on in retirement.

Why not simply take the NDP bill and get it into the process? Let us get it adopted in this House to protect the workers and put them ahead of some of those managers who give themselves bonuses—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Transport.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I share the view of the leader of the New Democratic Party. I think we are all alarmed when we see news reports of executives getting large bonuses when those people who worked so hard, over so many years, to build the company are left wanting. That is something that is deeply concerning, not just to all members of this House but to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

The Minister of Industry, working together with the Minister of Finance and his colleague, the parliamentary secretary, are reviewing this issue. This was spoken to with some detail in the budget, in the throne speech. We just launched this session of Parliament. I am sure we will be discussing it in greater detail as we go forward.

Afghanistan

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, at this very moment, the International Criminal Court is conducting a preliminary investigation into the conduct of the Canadian government, as it relates to torture.

Also at this very moment, our government continues to hand over prisoners in Afghanistan to a serious and real risk of torture, even though the U.K. has ceased transferring prisoners altogether because of this very risk.

With the possibility that Mr. Iacobucci's review could take months, if not years, why is the government leaving Canada exposed to the ICC investigation?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, we are certainly looking into the whole question with respect to documents. We all share the same common concerns about the protection of public safety and, in particular, the protection of the men and women who so ably serve us in Afghanistan.

With respect to the documents, nobody wants to jeopardize public security. This is why we have enlisted the support, the help of Justice Iacobucci.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite all the criticism, the Conservative government is still transferring detainees to Afghan prisons, where the risk of torture is well documented. The International Criminal Court is even reviewing the matter. Apparently Justice Iacobucci's mandate could take two years to complete. By then, Canada could be subject to an investigation or even brought before the International Criminal Court.

Will the Conservative government spare us that dishonour and finally call a public inquiry?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I have to say to the hon. member that his history with public inquiries certainly must be the same as mine. They take a great deal of time. We want to put in place a process that will work expeditiously at providing the answers available. So I say to the hon. member, let Justice Iacobucci do his work.

Post-Secondary Education

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

Mr. Speaker, budget 2010 increases taxes on post-doctoral students with scholarships. This means that while last year's students who earned an average of $32,000 in scholarships did not pay tax, this year's students, like Isabelle Thiffault, will now be taxed to the tune of $4,000.

Would the minister agree that not paying a tax last year but paying a tax this year on the same thing is a tax increase?

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

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member conveniently ignores is that we actually made scholarships and bursaries for post-secondary students non-taxable. Maybe he does not want to remember that because he voted against it.

What we have done to help students is quite remarkable, especially when we contrast it with the $25 million in cuts that the hon. member's Liberal government made in terms of social services, to cut transfers to the provinces, including post-secondary education.

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

Mr. Speaker, budget 2010 is a tax budget. We have new taxes on jobs, on health, on safety and on savings, and we have this tax on education and innovation.

It does not take a post-doctoral fellowship to figure out that if one did not pay tax last year but one has to pay tax this year, that is a punishing tax increase.

Why is the government increasing taxes on education?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like the hon. member to explain to Canadians why he and his party, since they pretend to support post-secondary education, voted against all of our initiatives: the initiative to make scholarships and bursaries tax-free, $2 billion in infrastructure investment for colleges and universities, expanding the RESP program and expanding RDSP program.

We are doing so much to help students. We even brought in a new grants program that helps low- and middle-income students access post-secondary education, and of course the hon. member voted against it.

International Cooperation

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are trying to export their right-wing ideology by denying women in developing countries access to contraception and abortion. Despite the Minister of Foreign Affairs' flip-flop on contraception, the issue of abortion remains unresolved.

Does this government not find it inappropriate to put its ideology above the needs of women's health in developing countries?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas)]

Mr. Speaker, as this government has said all along, we are open to any options that will save the lives of women and children. This includes contraception.

The G8 leaders will discuss and they will aim to agree on a way forward to tackle child and maternal health care issues at the upcoming summit.

We will not reopen the debate on abortion.

Rights & Democracy

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

Mr. Speaker, this Conservative government is so determined to shove its right-wing ideology down our throats that it is refusing, for no valid reason, to bring in Suzanne Trépanier, the wife of the former president of Rights & Democracy, to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, so that she can testify about the government's interference in this organization.

What is the government trying to hide by blocking her testimony?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the committee members do not agree on the number of witnesses to hear on this matter. We hope that the committee will resolve this issue so that we can hear from the witnesses, including Ms. Trépanier and others.

Government Appointments

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last month, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism appointed two former Conservative candidates, Marc Nadeau and George Khouri, as citizenship judges. This is in addition to the partisan appointments of the controversial Phares Pierre, the homophobic John Cryer, Darcy Tkachuk, Cheryl Walker and others.

Will the minister admit that, despite his fine words, and just like the Liberals before him, he is upholding the age-old tradition of partisan appointments?

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question because I know the member has stood in the House on a number of occasions and tried to address this issue. Every single time the response has been that all of the appointments we make in this ministry are done through a process that certainly bears all of the type of recognition that it deserves. It in fact is a system that we rebuilt from the previous government that actually used a system where it simply just appointed whoever it wanted.

Our system is one that is run through the ministry, through government officials, and is done properly.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

In addition to rewarding friends of the government, the minister's partisan appointments are part of a more far-reaching strategy to control organizations that are supposed to be autonomous. That was the case with Gérard Latulippe and Rights and Democracy, with a former Reform member and the Canadian Grain Commission, with the friends of Mr. Soudas and Mr. Housakos and the Federal Bridge Corporation, with Gwyn Morgan and the Public Appointments Commission, just to name a few.

When will the Prime Minister stop trying to run the whole show?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

All our appointments are merit-based. We only appoint candidates to positions for which they are qualified.