Debates of Sept. 23rd, 2010

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not understand the real economy. People are losing their jobs at a rate that is vitally affecting their families. Unemployment is rising. The jobs that are being created are part time and temporary. People cannot pay their bills with those kinds of jobs. That is not a real recovery.

More than a million and a half Canadians are out of work and what do the Conservatives do? They give $20 billion in tax breaks to the most profitable corporations.

Why does the Prime Minister not understand that he should work with us, use the New Democratic approach of targeted investments to create good, real--

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The hon. government House leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, I remember the New Democratic approach in the province of Ontario. Everything that was supposed to go down was going up and everything that was going up was supposed to be going down.

We have seen the creation of 430,000 net new jobs. That is nothing more than a good start. We must remain focused on the economy, focused on job creation.

That is why this fall we have the opportunity to debate more trade deals so we can have more jobs in the export sector. That is why we will be working hard this fall on the economy.

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

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada reported today that more and more unemployed workers are losing their benefits. In Quebec, there has been an increase of 11%. What is the Prime Minister's solution? He is lowering taxes for big business and forcing people to turn to social assistance. That is his solution.

When will the government work with us to create real jobs through a national infrastructure program and stop passing the fiscal burden for social programs on to the provinces?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development has done an outstanding job, travelling across the country, listening to those who are unemployed, listening to what our government could do better to support them. That is why we have come forward with some pretty comprehensive reforms to the employment insurance system.

Through our economic action plan with respect to infrastructure, we have seen more than 12,000 projects supported in every corner of the country.

We are working hard. We have always been fair and reasonable with our friends in the provinces and territories and we will continue to do so.

Pensions

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

Mr. Speaker, if that were true, why is the unemployment rate going up? The government is not taking any action for heaven's sake.

Let us turn to another group in our society. What about seniors? They are now discovering that their pension cheques are going to go up by less than 1%, just pennies a month. Just like the unemployed, it turns out that seniors are not a priority for the government and yet many of them are living in poverty.

Who is getting the benefits? Who is the priority? The banks are getting $600 million this year in additional tax breaks alone. For that amount of money, every senior could be lifted out of poverty.

Why does the Prime Minister not do it?

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

Mr. Speaker, with respect to federal pensions, by a statute of this House they go up by the rate of inflation.

We have provided great support to Canadian seniors for the great contributions they have made to our country. They deserve it. That is why this government has provided unprecedented support to them.

We have to see a growing economy, and that is why Canada has become a magnet for jobs, investment and opportunity. That is why we have seen the creation of 430,000 net new jobs. That is good news. The job is not done. We remain focused on creating even more.

Government Programs

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in communities like Lachute, there has been an escalating bidding war for labour and materials, all because of the Conservatives' arbitrary deadline.

Will the minister finally make amends, help out struggling communities and announce, today, that he will extend the deadline by at least six months?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, our government has had a great relationship with the provinces, with municipalities, with proponents across the country.

My predecessor announced some 12,000 projects from coast to coast to coast. Thousands upon thousands of jobs are being created. The vast majority of those projects are well under way; I think it is over 93% or 94%. I think we should give the previous minister an A-plus for the number of projects that are getting done.

We continue to be reasonable in working with the provinces. We continue to work with them to scope projects and to see if there are problems. They will be reporting back to me shortly with an updated list.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we are not calling for a penny of new stimulus, only that the government extend its arbitrary deadline and honour existing commitments to communities.

Right now Conservatives are shifting the burden to hard-pressed property taxpayers. When all municipalities across the land are subject to the same arbitrary deadline, we get a senseless bidding war for labour and materials that further raises the cost to taxpayers.

Will the minister announce today that he is extending his dumb deadline?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure stimulus fund was a targeted, timely and temporary program. I can imagine how the Liberals would just like this to drift on and on. They never saw a program they did not want to spend more money on.

The key is this. We have signed agreements with municipalities and provinces that talk about how this money will roll out. We are working closely with the provinces. They are all in the midst of giving reports back to me. I talked to my Quebec counterpart today, for example. Reports will be coming back in the next week or two to give us the lastest status.

We have been fair and reasonable on this throughout and we will continue to be that way in the future.

Census

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' fear of data has real consequences for Canadian small business. These businesses rely on census data to help build and expand their markets.

The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, representing over 33,000 members, says that the long form census is not research that should be gambled with.

Why is the Minister of Industry gambling with the livelihood of Canada's one million restaurant workers?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, as has been stated by me and by the Chief Statistician, there will be useful and usable data for most users with the long form questionnaire that is replacing the mandatory census.

What I find shocking is how willing the Liberal Party and their coalition partners are to force, to coerce, to use jail time and fines to get this information out of their fellow Canadians. That is what I find shocking.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is fearmongering and it is unacceptable. No one has ever been jailed for the census.

Let me give an example. A Mississauga-based small business, Pickard and Laws, says that the government's plan to replace the long form census will be more costly, more time consuming and will result in poorer information.

Even worse, the Conservatives' $13 billion job-killing payroll tax is predicted to kill 220,000 jobs.

Taxing jobs and taking away essential tools, how is this good for business?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are not taking away essential tools at all.

We are working in a fair and reasonable way to have a balance between the need for data and the idea that we should not coerce or force our citizens who may conscientiously object to giving very private information to government officials. That is the balance we have struck.

The hon. member is wrong. We are not doing something that is unreasonable. We are doing the reasonable thing. Why do they cling to the unreasonable position?

Aboriginal Communities

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is trying to get a seat on the United Nations Security Council. In his speech to the UN, the Prime Minister presented himself as a leader in the fight against poverty. However, under his government, aboriginal communities live in what often resemble third world conditions.

How can the Prime Minister be taken seriously at the UN when he refuses to make the effort to improve living conditions for aboriginal people here at home?

[John Duncan, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, there have been great new investments since this government came into power in 2006.

I might add that the throne speech this year made a strong commitment that we would endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We will be doing that very soon.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

When, Mr. Speaker?

Canada can hardly take a seat on the United Nations Security Council when it is one of only two countries that have not ratified the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

How can the Prime Minister hope to have a seat on the UN Security Council when he refuses to sign this essential declaration for improving living conditions for aboriginal people here and elsewhere?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to announce to the House that the Prime Minister has just finished his speech to the United Nations where he highlighted very strongly Canada' s commitment on the international stage and where Canada stands.

We know that with Canada's excellent record on the international stage, we will be successful in the UN Security Council bid.

Infrastructure

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

Mr. Speaker, according to the experts, Canada's growth is expected to be less than 1% in the next few months, slower than that of the United States, which is already anemic. A good way to shore up the economy is to ensure that the infrastructure projects move forward. The March 31, 2011, deadline jeopardizes projects such as those in the municipalities of Saint-François-de-Sales, Saint-Félicien and Roberval, which have received exorbitant bids or none at all.

Why penalize the regions and hurt their economies by refusing to extend the March 31, 2011, deadline?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I did get a quick update, and 99% of all the projects are under way. There are still six months to go until the deadline.

What is clear is that we have been working with the provinces. For example, I talked this morning with Monsieur Lessard, my provincial counterpart. He and I, of course, have a good working relationship. We talk about the projects that are in progress. We talk about the updated information that he is receiving from the municipalities, and in turn when that information is compiled, we will talk about whether there are other steps we need to take.

We work co-operatively. It is a strange concept to the Bloc but co-operation actually does work.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the March 31, 2011, deadline will prevent Saint-Eustache, where the work has been delayed by federal red tape, from rebuilding the Corbeil and Joseph-Lacombe bridges, which would qualify for almost $6.5 million in assistance.

Why is the government refusing, against all logic, to extend the March 31, 2011, deadline, which would make it possible for Saint-Eustache to rebuild its two bridges and have proper, safe access to Îles Corbeil?

[Chuck Strahl, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is talking about the fact that so many projects, thousands upon thousands of projects, good projects, are providing much needed infrastructure across the country, providing jobs, providing opportunity and are helping to bind our country together in a common cause called hope and opportunity.

What we do not want to do is listen too closely to the Bloc, because those members voted against this project. They said they did not want the economic action plan to go ahead. In fact, if it were up to them, this project would not only not be finished, it would never have been started.

Food Safety

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture admitted that he does not know how many meat inspectors he has at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Canada went through a listeriosis crisis. Twenty-two people died. Yet here we are, two years later, and the minister is still not taking food safety seriously.

In March he promised to hire upward of 170 additional inspectors. Why did the minister fail so miserably in honouring that commitment? If he cannot tell us how many inspectors he has, how can he protect Canadians?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Of course, Mr. Speaker, that number is liquid, as the duties change from day to day. What I can assure the member opposite is that we continue to build the strength and efficacy of the CFIA.

Since we formed government, we have increased the inspection staff by 538 net new inspectors. They are on the job getting the work done.