Debates of Nov. 21st, 2012

Oil and Gas Industry

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in the 1980s, the Trudeau Liberals brought in the national energy program that absolutely destroyed the economy and cost my constituents and Alberta families their jobs, their homes and billions of dollars.

Comments yesterday by the senior Liberal spokesperson for natural resources show that the Liberals have not changed much since then. When will the Liberals understand that Alberta's energy industry brings incredible prosperity and jobs right across the country?

Can the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism update the House on our government's commitment to Canada's energy industry?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, this government was elected to work for the jobs, growth and long-term prosperity of all Canadians. We recognize that one of the real engines of growth in our economy is the energy industry, and that Albertans and people across the country, hundreds of thousands of them, work very hard in that industry. They expect to have MPs who represent them and the interests of our national economy.

We have a question for the leader of the Liberal Party. When is he going to fire his critic for natural resources for having attacked the members of Parliament from Alberta for simply representing their constituents, as they are expected to do?

Employment Insurance

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have no concern for the unemployed. Service Canada is now forcing seasonal workers to prove that they are looking for work by asking potential employers to sign a declaration stating that they are not hiring. Because of the administration involved, some employers are charging fees as high as $30. When you have no job, you have no money to pay for a job search form.

How does the minister justify making unemployed Canadians pay to get access to their benefits?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable for employers to ask for a fee for a letter of that kind. That is not the way we want things to be done. The unemployed are responsible for showing that they are looking for work, it is true, but there are a number of other ways of doing that.

They do not have to provide a letter from employers and, certainly, employers must not charge fees for such a letter.

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

Mr. Speaker, employment insurance reform is so messed up that even Conservative members, who are usually heartless, are now asking the minister for changes.

The hon. member for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe has just realized that his constituents are not happy.

It is about time. We have been saying for six months that the reform does not reflect regional economic realities.

If the Conservatives had held consultations, this would not have happened.

Is the minister going to listen to her colleague from the back benches and support the NDP position now? The government's reform makes no sense.

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

Mr. Speaker, the NDP position is to have a 45-day work year. That is not acceptable for the employers in this country who are looking for skilled and talented workers. Our government is helping Canadians without jobs to develop their skills and is providing them with the training they need to get those positions.

There are employers who need their talent. We are helping the unemployed to get those jobs.

[Philip Toone, NDP, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after having their way with employment insurance all over Canada, the Conservatives are continuing to wreak havoc on the Gaspé.

They have decided to eliminate winter maintenance and security services in the magnificent Forillon Park.

No more cross-country skiing, no more snowshoeing, no more winter activities, and no more tourist revenue.

The song says “my country is the winter”, not “my country is shutting down for the winter”, as the Conservatives would like.

Why do the Conservatives want to make the Gaspé shut down for the winter?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, that is not true. Forillon National Park will remain accessible during the winter.

Some parking lots will continue to be plowed and be maintained, allowing visitors to enjoy wildlife, to ski and snowshoe.

However, my colleague has to remember that to meet our deficit reduction obligations in Parks Canada, as across all agencies and departments, Parks Canada is aligning its seasonal hours of operation to better reflect patterns of visitation.

Infrastructure

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, mayors and councillors from across the country are here on Parliament Hill asking for help to fix our crumbling infrastructure, and what did they get? They got fabricated stories about the NDP. It is a sad day for thousands of cities and communities when the Conservatives choose to ignore the calls for partnership.

Instead of gazebos and insider deals, will the minister take the politics out of infrastructure projects and say yes to the FCM's demand for long-term predictable infrastructure funding?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the member and her party have ideas like a carbon tax of $21.5 billion, which would increase the cost of every single item for municipalities across the country. They have other ideas like imposing a new tax that would increase the GST by $6 billion a year.

Clearly, the party opposite only has one priority, getting deeper and deeper into the pockets of hard-working Canadians.

41st General Election

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Mr. Speaker, during the 2011 election campaign, Elections Canada told the Conservatives that fraudulent calls claiming that polling stations had been moved were traced back to the Conservatives' national toll-free number.

Why did the Conservatives not take immediate action and take the steps necessary to investigate? Why is there no evidence that anyone in their party tried to work with Elections Canada to shut that down? Are the Elections Act penalties too low?

Will the government vote to pass a Liberal bill today that adds strenuous fines to the Elections Act to stop criminal fraud like this from happening in the future?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, they did not just ask about criminal fraud. My ears must deceive me.

The Liberal Party of Canada rose today to talk about criminal fraud, the same day that a former Liberal minister was charged with three counts in connection with using federal funds to pay for his son's wedding. I am almost speechless—and that never happens as all members know.

As Talleyrand said of the Bourbon dynasty, “They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing”.

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Mr. Speaker, on the question of robocalls the new parliamentary secretary is finding himself getting sucked into the same ethical hole as his predecessor. His company, 3D Contact Inc., made big bucks making robocalls for the Conservatives, securing some 96 contracts and 49 grand in the 2008 election, and none of those robocalls had address tag lines as required by the CRTC.

When will the government take the issue seriously and reveal to Canadians all the information it has on the robocall scam, or will we get another robocall answer from Pierre Poutine?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. I will let the hon. parliamentary secretary answer that, but I do not think it is helpful to the House to use terms like that, especially given the rules about using proper names.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is incredible to see the Liberal Party stand in the House of Commons and falsely accuse others of things for which its members have themselves already been found guilty and fined by the regulatory agencies for. I guess we should not be surprised. After all, that is the Liberal way. They forget nothing but they learn nothing, and not just in this area. They also want to revive the same sentiments that led to the disastrous national energy program in Alberta.

We will never stand by and support the kind of arrogant and nasty comments that we saw from the Liberals just yesterday.

Foreign Affairs

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, because of the Conservatives' incompetence, Canada signed a lease in 2008 for a building in which our diplomats posted to Moscow will not be able to work until 2016. This means that, for eight years, taxpayers' money will be spent on an empty building, while Canadian staff are being forced to work in another building that offers no protection against terrorist attacks or espionage.

Calling on the RCMP to investigate leaked documents is not a solution. Is the minister aware of this solution? If so, why has he not rectified the situation?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, no memo was sent to my office on this issue.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, maybe I will refresh the minister's memory about the following. We have an embassy building in Moscow that does not meet security standards, that is vulnerable to terrorist attacks and opens the door to foreign spies. Instead of calling in authorities to protect our diplomats, Conservatives are calling on the RCMP to investigate the leak.

What is the priority for these guys? Is it protecting our diplomats from terrorism or is it about protecting themselves from transparency?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is passing strange by this member, who just last month was criticizing the government for moving too quickly to ensure the safety and security of our employees. He criticized this government for taking the necessary step of closing down our embassy in Tehran to ensure the safety and security of our employees. The member wants us to have robust diplomacy with Iran and somehow break off ties with Great Britain. That is something this government will not do.

Human Resources and Skills Development

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, last night the House unanimously voted in favour of the helping families in need act. This important legislation would help families by providing assistance when they need it the most, when caring for a critically ill child or when a child is murdered or goes missing because of a Criminal Code offence.

Can the minister please tell the House why swift passage of this legislation is needed?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Selkirk—Interlake for his longstanding efforts on this file.

I was very pleased to see the unanimous support of the House for this government bill to support families when they need it most. This new law would demonstrate our support for parents who need time to care for critically ill children or to hold their families together once their child has been subject to a crime.

We are ready to start implementing this legislation in January. I only hope that the other place will expedite the passage of this bill so we can do that.

Ethics

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister from Labrador has had every opportunity to provide an innocent explanation for his messy campaign finances, including anonymous and corporate donations, interest-free loans, illegally discounted air travel and campaign spending way over the legal cap. Now Reg Bowers, his former official agent, claims everything was right when he signed off on the paperwork.

If that is so, will the sitting minister stand and tell the House who changed the paperwork? Was it Bev Oda's autopen or was it the people who changed the invoices for the in and out scheme?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, it is not just that the Liberals accuse other people of things for which they have already been found guilty themselves; it is not just that they had the biggest criminal conspiracy in Canadian history, the sponsorship scandal; it is not just that today a former minister of theirs was charged with using public funds to pay for his son's wedding, but that they are prepared to stand and throw rocks and are not even embarrassed about it. One really has to admire the astonishing degree of arrogance over there.

Tourism Industry

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the tourism industry generates 10% of jobs in Canada and brings in billions of dollars in revenues.

However, over the past decade, Canada has dropped from 7th to 15th place when it comes to the number of international visitors. It therefore makes absolutely no sense that the Conservatives have once again reduced the Canadian Tourism Commission's budget.

The Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism knows full well that underfunding the CTC will only hurt our tourism industry.

Will he do something about this, or is he so busy recounting fictitious tales that he has no time to stand up for the tourism industry?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, just today, I had the honour of meeting with some entrepreneurs from the Canadian tourism industry.

I can assure this House that these people are very proud to work in that industry. They are creating jobs and wealth in Canada. This $78 billion industry has enjoyed steady growth for the past three years in a row.

Our tourism industry is doing fine, and I am proud to represent it.