House of Commons Hansard #37 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was public.
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, we are improving the services that Service Canada provides to Canadians, including access to the guaranteed income supplement and pensions. We have improved services for seniors. Unfortunately, the NDP voted against these improvements.
Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe NDP Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are saying that they are doing better than previous governments, but this is not the sort of attitude that really helps people.
Canadians are still not getting any answers from Service Canada and they are getting even fewer answers from the Conservatives in the House of Commons. The Conservatives are telling Service Canada and its employees to do more with less. However, statistics show that the services currently being provided are already inadequate.
When will this government understand that overburdening Service Canada workers will not result in better service to the Canadian public? It is a simple question, and the answer should be simple as well. What impact will the new cuts to services have on the public?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility to taxpayers: to put their money to good use. That means that Service Canada must operate effectively. That is why we are improving and modernizing our systems so that they are more effective, efficient and affordable. This will allow us to provide better service to Canadians.
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
Mr. Speaker, as RCMP contract talks resume this week, Conservatives continue to bring more threats than ideas to the negotiating table. The province and municipalities have said they are ready to negotiate in good faith in order to keep B.C. families safe. They are asking the government to be serious and constructive.
When will the minister stop using the public safety of British Columbians as a bargaining chip?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the solicitor general of British Columbia forwarded some of her concerns that she indicated that she would provide to me in September. I understand officials are sitting down and working together with British Columbia officials.
I understand, at the same time, that some of the municipalities that are looking at moving from municipal police forces to the RCMP would like this settled. I would urge the British Columbia government to look at the proposals that we have on the table. We will look at what it presented and come to a fair conclusion.
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
Mr. Speaker, with weeks left it shows how out of touch Conservatives are with reality. Conservatives are asking British Columbians to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the federal government for rejecting its unfair HST and now Conservatives are threatening to pull the police off our streets.
The province and municipalities are ready and willing to talk, so when will the government stop playing games with our public safety and start listening to British Columbians?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the member did not hear the answer. Officials are sitting down to look over the proposals that the solicitor general from British Columbia finally forwarded to the federal officials. I thank her for sending those proposals to us. I would urge the officials to work out the bugs that remain in this contract and get to ensuring that we have an appropriate RCMP contract in place.
Sylvain Chicoine NDP Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Mr. Speaker, the government is constantly bragging about its law and order agenda, but it is threatening to pull the RCMP off British Columbia streets if it does not agree to a new labour contract by the end of November. Fortunately, negotiations will resume this week.
British Columbia families are wondering whether the Conservatives will start working in their best interests and in the interests of their safety, or if the Conservatives will continue to threaten to pull police officers off the streets.
British Columbia is prepared to negotiate in good faith. Are the Conservatives prepared to do the same?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I provided the answer and I do not know if the individual heard me. I would like to quote the Canadian Police Association, which members opposite should take to heart. It said:
We're quite satisfied with the efforts this government has made to work on behalf of front-line police officers, specifically with respect to the comprehensive justice legislation that has been a priority since the last election.
We would ask the NDP members to get off of their high horse and actually do things that make a difference to front line police officers and the citizens they serve.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, as the world teeters on the cusp of another downturn, with the turmoil and risk today in Europe, especially, will the government take three sensible steps to help make Canadians less vulnerable: cancel $1.2 billion in job killing EI payroll tax increases, give seniors flexibility in managing their RRSPs and RRIFs, and make tax credits equally available to low-income kids, caregivers and volunteer firefighters, not just the more wealthy?
Would the government do these three sensible things?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I did meet with the private sector economists, as I usually do before the fall economic update and of course before the budget each spring. We are on track for modest economic growth in Canada. We are certainly relatively better off than other industrialized countries.
We did the economic action plan when it was required. The Liberals did not support the economic action plan when it was needed a couple of years ago. It has helped create 650,000 net new jobs in this country.
I am pleased that we have taken steps in this budget that is before the House to increase--
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, let us be very specific. There are about 25 million Canadians who file tax returns. About 15 million report taxable income, but close to 10 million do not, because their incomes are not high enough.
However, they do have children who want to be in arts programs. They do volunteer to be firefighters. They do provide home care to sick or elderly family members.
Why are these 10 million lower-income Canadians less worthy than those who are better off? To include them would cost something less than $80 million. Why will the government not simply do this?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, when we have taken steps like the member suggests, like the arts credit for children and the economic action plan, he voted against them, as did the Liberal Party.
I am very pleased that Moody's recently confirmed Canada's top credit rating, a triple-A credit rating, and yesterday Standard and Poor's did the same thing, saying, “Canadian authorities have a strong track record in managing past economic and fiscal crises and delivering economic growth”.
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Mr. Speaker, Canada's police want to continue to access the data in the long gun registry. The Province of Quebec would like to use the data to create its own gun control system.
This is no more a matter of privacy than car registration. Why is the government so intent on destroying a database that could be so useful to the provinces? Why does the government think it can destroy the past and control the future?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, the registry has nothing to do with keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
In order to protect the privacy of law-abiding long gun owners, those whom that member and his party subjected to gross violations of their privacy, records held by the Canadian firearms program on currently registered long guns will be destroyed.
Let us be clear. The only reason the NDP and the Liberals want those records maintained is in order to reinstate the long gun registry, should they ever form a coalition to do so.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that cuts to the public service could prevent qualified young workers from getting good quality jobs. Furthermore, the government's newly lowered growth projections do not predict anything good for our young workers.
We have an unacceptable unemployment rate of over 14%. What is the minister doing to stop wasting the talent of our young people?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, both the IMF and the OECD anticipate that Canada will have the strongest economic growth in the G7. We have the best job creation record in the G7, 650,000 jobs since the end of the recession in July 2009.
We have the strongest banking system in the world, the strongest fiscal system in the world, and the best net debt to GDP ratio in the G7. As I said, we are on track for modest growth this year and next.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives love to present misleading job creation numbers. The truth is that we have lost 220,000 jobs for young people since the recession began. Unemployment is up, economic indicators are down and, according to the Bank of Canada, our economy is slowing to a crawl. Conservatives want Canadians to believe that corporate tax giveaways to profitable companies are the answer. They are not.
When will the minister have something more than empty talking points to offer jobless Canadians?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I invite the member opposite to tell the 650,000 Canadians who are working now as result of the economic action plan that their jobs do not matter to them and that the government's policy has not mattered to them.
This is the policy that the NDP voted against. This is the job creation policy that NDP members talk about, but every time we bring a measure to the House, they vote against the measure, depriving Canadians of jobs. Now they have the nerve to suggest job creation programs.
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has proven that he is good at misdirection, rhetoric and personal insults. What he is not so good at is giving straight answers. The minister hurls accusations of fearmongering, but the biggest source of fearmongering is the minister's refusal to clear the air on base closures.
The minister is the only who can put military families and their communities at ease. Will he please stand in his place and assure military base communities that they have nothing to fear?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, methinks he doth protest too much. When it comes to fearmongering, he is referring to a report that was late. The October 2011 departmental directive, which he is referring to, does not speak of base closures. What it does reference in an accompanying news article is a Liberal senator musing about base closures.
The only person who is causing alarm in the military community, their families and the country, and misleading Canadians about base closures, is the member opposite.
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have a copy of the directive to which the minister refers. It says:
We will also reduce portfolio size, footprint and associated overhead costs by consolidating Defence operations and programs to fewer operational sites.
Again, does this mean base closures, yes or no?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, that is sound and fury signifying nothing. Let me be clear about what the NDP members are up to, and we have seen this before. It is an old opposition tactic: create a crisis, panic people, put fearmongering out there among military families, and then, when it does not happen, claim credit. That is what they are up to.
The member opposite is simply trying to create a crisis that does not exist. The NDP does not support the military, it does not support the investments and that is unfortunate.
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Mr. Speaker, we know that economic development and greater self-sufficiency can lead to a better quality of life for first nations across Canada and contribute to a strong Canadian economy. Once more, when first nations are full participants in the Canadian economy, all Canadians benefit.
Could the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development tell the House how our government is working with first nations to achieve these important steps?
