Debates of Sept. 30th, 2010

Employment Insurance

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives can say what they want, but a job-killing tax hike is still a hike, even if it is a little smaller.

The Conservatives, with their friends from the big red tent, have taken more than $57 billion in EI funds from hard-working Canadians. Their priorities are all out of whack. They chose to give billions of dollars away to big corporations, while raising the payroll tax on businesses.

With the recovery stalled, how many more job losses are acceptable to the government: 10,000, 20,000, 60,000?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is just the contrary. We are interested in supporting job creation by the private sector in Canada. We have seen the creation of about 430,000 net new jobs since the end of the recession in July 2009. That is greater than the number of jobs that were lost during the recession. In fact, it is the best record in the G7.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals stole $57 billion from the employment insurance fund with the support of the Conservatives, who made it legal. In his announcement this morning, the Minister of Finance said:

This will support job creation by leaving more money in the hands of businesses and their employees...

He deserves some applause; that is quite a calculation. The premiums paid by workers and employers are increasing, and that will leave more money in their pockets. This is unbelievable.

Do they realize that what they are saying is nonsense? That is what they are doing. This is a Conservative-Liberal coalition.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the announcement this morning actually means that there will be about $1.2 billion back in the pockets of workers and job creators in the next year, in 2011.

The economic recovery is fragile. This will help create more jobs in the country and help Canada continue to exit from the recession in good form.

Census

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Industry is deluded when it comes to the census. His latest brainwave: census takers recruited from respondents' neighbourhoods could gain access to confidential information. According to Statistics Canada, the majority of people fill out the census online or by mail.

Do these shocking explanations not prove that the minister is unable to justify doing away with the long form census?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, as I have already pointed out, the Bloc has another solution to all this. The leader of the Bloc said, and I quote, “Well, if you refuse [to fill out the form], certain government services won't be provided to you for as long as you refuse. A passport, for instance, employment insurance, for instance.”

Those are the words of the leader of the Bloc, that is not the position of the Government of Canada.

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

Mr. Speaker, instead of sticking to his absurd spy theory, why does the minister not listen to the National Assembly of Quebec, Acfas, an interuniversity coalition, the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, and the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université, who are saying that the Conservatives' decision will prevent society as a whole from getting information needed for making informed decisions?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to Canadians and they want a fair and reasonable approach. We want to find the best approach and strike the right balance between getting the necessary data and protecting Canadians' privacy. That is a reasonable and clear position for Canadians.

G8 and G20 Summits

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while Canadians struggle to make ends meet under the weight of a recession, the Conservatives struggle to hide receipts on $1 billion of G8 waste. We now learn that the RCMP command centre cost $27 million for 72 hours. That includes $1.5 million in weekend rent and $2 million to tear it all down and toss it in the dump. They could have bought it for $3 million, but they did not get to the biggest deficit in Canadian history by protecting taxpayer dollars.

Will the minister stop the spin, put the receipts on the table and let the facts speak for themselves?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I could advise the hon. member that the lease was for $2.2 million. It was for a 24-month lease. It was in fact a competitive bid.

We are proud of the accomplishments of the G8 and G20 summits. Canada is leading the global economic recovery, as well as international efforts to aid developing countries.

There were approximately 20,000 security personnel present. They did a great job.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is very simple: put the receipts on the table and let us see the truth.

While we know about the gazebos, fiddlers, dancers, hotel snacks, and steamship, it does not stop there. To get to the most expensive 72 hours of meetings in history, one has to waste even harder.

We now learn that while they were building a fake lake, they were draining another. They spent $4 million to rent land dominated by a water-filled quarry they had to drain.

I ask the minister, why did 72 hours of meetings on fiscal restraint require him to build and drain lakes?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the record.

Our government has been upfront on the real need and cost of summit security from the beginning. In fact, as the head of the integrated security unit, Ward Elcock, stated:

I think Canada is one of the rare countries that has actually been transparent about the security costs.

We have invited the Auditor General to examine those costs, and indeed she will do that. I look forward to hearing from her as opposed to the rantings of the member opposite.

Justice

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Richard Colvin told us the truth. The Conservatives attacked him. The government said that he had no proof. But their own figures support Mr. Colvin's testimony. In 2006, Canada transferred 129 detainees, and Great Britain transferred only 17. Mr. Colvin was right. The Conservatives were wrong. What is the government going to do after deceiving Canadians so badly?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is good to see the NDP back on message here.

That said, we have heard these allegations before. We put in place a process this summer that was transparent, with judicial review. I understand now the NDP is in a bit of a snit about that since they did not participate. They have no one to blame but themselves.

Afghanistan

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative-Liberal-Bloc committee set up to review the Afghan detainee documents has provided neither the information nor the accountability called for by your historic ruling last spring.

With the help of their partners in the big red tent, the Conservatives have put the cone of silence over investigations of their handling of Afghan detainees.

This is about accountability. They are not getting the job done. It is time to face the music. Canadians have a right to know.

Will the government stop hiding the truth with this faulty process, get rid of the cone of silence, and finally call for a public inquiry?

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

Mr. Speaker, the last time the NDP asked for a process, we put it in place and then they refused to participate.

There has been an ongoing process all summer. The members have worked very hard. Thousands of documents have been examined.

I have to ask the NDP members: this whole process was good enough for their coalition partners; why was it not good enough for the them? Could they answer that?

Employment Insurance

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last night, Liberal MPs, with their coalition partners, voted to endorse the fiscally irresponsible BillC-308 and its 45-day work year plan. If implemented, it would cost Canadians $7 billion and increase EI premiums permanently by 35%.

Our Conservative government was the only party to unanimously oppose this irresponsible coalition plan. These irresponsible coalition schemes will harm jobs and job creators.

Could the Minister of Finance please inform the House what--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The Hon. Minister of Finance.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, today we announced three things: first, we are limiting a maximum rate increase to 5¢ for 2011 for EI; second, 10¢ for subsequent years; and third, we will consult on how we can further improve the EI rate-setting mechanism.

This is supported broadly by the small-business community in Canada. As the CFIB said, it:

applauds the news that government will limit the 2011 EI premiums increases...saving employers and employees more than $1 billion in 2011.... [W]e are pleased to see the government take a major step on this critically important issue

The Environment

[Gerard Kennedy, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned there is a new minister of the environment for Canada: Hollywood director James Cameron. It is only after his intervention in visiting the oil sands in Alberta this week that the Conservative government finally made an announcement to study the problem of monitoring water and air pollutants in the Athabasca River. We now have the avatar sands to go with the titanic wreck of the environment minister under these guys.

Would the Prime Minister tell us, will his government start protecting the environment, or do we have to bring back Mr. Cameron to change the Conservatives' do-nothing agenda when it comes to protecting Canadians on the environment?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with that member on the environment committee so he actually can learn the facts of what is happening on the environment.

It was his own leader who said that party made a mess on the environment. It is this government that takes the environment seriously and is getting things done.

We have established an independent review panel of some of Canada's most revered scientists. It is a critical step in ensuring we find out what is happening on the oil sands.

When it comes to cleaning up the environment, it is this government that gets it done.

Employment Insurance

[Josée Beaudin, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup misled the House when he said that the Bloc Québécois' proposed employment insurance reform would allow people who worked for 45 days to receive benefits for a year. That is not true. For example, a tourism industry worker in Rivière-du-Loup who worked 360 hours would be entitled to 26 weeks, not 50.

Is the Prime Minister aware that his MP, who abandoned Bombardier workers, just betrayed unemployed workers in the Lower St. Lawrence region?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that for the past two years, all the opposition members have been trying to make 360 hours the threshold for employment insurance benefit eligibility.

Yesterday evening, they voted for other proposals that would cost Canadians $7 billion per year. Today, they are saying that a five-cent increase in premiums is too high, but they are the ones who suggested 60 cents.

Product Safety

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, today's recall of 11 million toys by Mattel is another reminder of the Conservatives' failure on product safety. Twice they killed their own legislation and now it is nowhere on the legislative radar.

Parents have to rely on companies' cost-benefit analyses to see dangerous products taken off the shelves. It is totally unacceptable.

Would the health minister tell us when her government will move forward product safety legislation?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians should have confidence in the consumer products they buy. That is why we reintroduced the Canada consumer products safety legislation, Bill C-36. This bill would not only provide the tools needed to act quickly and effectively to protect Canadians, but it would be good for our economy and it would put industry on an even playing field.