Debates of Nov. 27th, 2012

National Defence

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have more faith in the ombudsman than in the minister when it comes to judging progress on the implementation of the recommendations.

In September, the Minister of National Defence shamefully said that the ombudsman should not be defending Canadian Forces members, but rather should simply act as a mediator. I know from experience just how crucial it is for our military personnel to have adequate support.

The Conservatives have failed miserably when it comes to implementing the ombudsman's recommendations. Why? The answer to that can be found in the documents that the minister wants to keep secret. Why is he hiding them?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, 10 out of 12 does not seem like a spectacular failure to me, and as I indicated, we will be acting on the remaining recommendations. I would point out that I have spoken to departmental officials about urgently acting on those recommendations. I have informed Canadians, as well as all members of the Canadian Forces, that reservists will be treated fairly. In the final analysis, that is what we are striving to achieve. We are committed to ensuring that progress is made toward fair and equitable treatment of reservists, acknowledging the enormous contribution that they have made in Afghanistan and throughout their service to the Canadian armed forces.

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

Mr. Speaker, acting on recommendations is the same as partially implementing. That is what the ombudsman said.

We have the minister's colourful responses to our questions and we then have the facts. The fact is the minister has not co-operated with the ombudsman. He tried to warn the ombudsman in September, saying he should not advocate for Canadian Forces members. That is also a fact. Just as with the veterans ombudsman, Conservatives are stonewalling, claiming a whole variety of documents are somehow magically cabinet records, even though they have nothing to do with ministers.

We are talking about ensuring benefits for injured soldiers. Will the minister now relent and let the ombudsman find the truth?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat again for the edification of the member opposite, we are acting on these recommendations. We will fulfill our obligation to reservists. We are going to continue to work with the ombudsman in a fair, open and transparent fashion, as we always have, within the mandate of the ombudsman. That is what we intend to do, within the mandate and within the law.

It is interesting, coming from the member opposite. I know what he is not, and that is an advocate for the Canadian Forces. He is not a person who gets up here every day and supports our efforts to give our men and women in uniform the support they need.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

We all know that the minister has a very shameful bias against refugees. In fact, when it comes to health care cuts, premiers like Brad Wall have recognized just how bad the minister really is.

Doctors have reported that children are suffering because of these cuts. A child with a fever and vomiting is only able to access care at a free clinic, due to the confusion around the minister's cuts. Two children with severe asthma cannot get required medications because of the confusion.

When is the shameful minister going to re-establish—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, the only confusion seems to be coming from that very excitable member.

As I have pointed out to that member repeatedly, this government is increasing by 20% the number of resettled refugees that we admit. It will be the highest per capita level of resettled refugees in the world. We are increasing by 20% our support for their integration. We are introducing the refugee appeal division, a full fact-based appeal for failed asylum claimants, which the Liberal government refused to introduce.

With respect to the IFH changes, I suspect the member is talking about rejected asylum claimants who are delaying their removal from Canada.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, unbelievably, the Minister of Health has decided to make the current prescription drug addiction crisis worse. Hours after the patent expired, she gave six drug companies the green light to sell cheap truckloads of generic OxyContin. She ignored the advice of health ministers, police, doctors, addiction experts and aboriginal leaders. If—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for St. Paul's has the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, if the minister refuses to reverse her terrible decision, will she tell these companies that the government will not pay for one pill of this highly addictive drug, by ensuring it will not be on any government formulary?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the prescribing of drugs is provincial jurisdiction, so provincial health ministers—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. Now the hon. Minister of Health has the floor.

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Nunavut, NU]

Again, Mr. Speaker, the prescribing of drugs is provincial jurisdiction, so provincial health ministers and doctors have a major role in limiting abuse. Decisions on whether to approve a drug are made by scientists based on their expert assessment of the science and safety.

The opposition wants us to politically interfere in the scientific safety process. Why does the member think the opposition knows more about science than doctors?

National Defence

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if a reserve forces member loses a limb in Afghanistan, for example, he or she gets a much less generous scale of compensation than a regular forces member losing exactly the same limb at exactly the same time in exactly the same place. The minister has apparently been urgently promising that he could fix this, for the last four years now. The ombudsman has repeatedly demanded action and been repeatedly stonewalled.

Why does the minister hide behind the cloak of cabinet confidentiality? Does the minister really believe that one soldier's arm is less valuable than another's?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, that member's righteous indignation would seem a little more sincere if he had fixed it on his watch. However, we know that is not the case.

The reality is that we have every intention of treating reservists the same way we treat regular force members. We will be acting on the recommendations put forward by the ombudsman. We will follow the law and the legislation with respect to our interaction and relationship with the Canadian Forces ombudsman.

Foreign Investment

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, for months the Conservatives have been planning to auction off Nexen behind closed doors.

They know that Albertans do not want a Chinese state-owned corporation to own a portion of our oil industry. They tried to downplay it during the Calgary-Centre byelection because they were afraid of losing.

They do not want to introduce new criteria for foreign investment and, as usual, their decision will be 100% political.

Will they admit that they plan to approve the takeover and to hell with the details?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, that is completely false. After coming to power, in 2007, we clarified guidelines for foreign state-owned corporations. In 2009, we established national security provisions.

On the one hand, we have the radical NDP who would block virtually any kind of transaction in this country; on the other hand, we have the Liberals who would blindly approve anything, as we heard last week.

Canadians can count on a responsible government that will study the merits of proposed transactions on a case-by-case basis, and make decisions that are in the best interests of Canadians.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Sadly, the good citizens of Calgary may join other communities that have been sold out by the government. These are places such as Sudbury where they sold out Falconbridge and hundreds of jobs were lost, places such as Thompson where they sold out Inco and hundreds of jobs were lost, places such as Hamilton where they sold out Stelco and hundreds of jobs were lost, and places such as Montreal and Shawinigan where they sold out Alcan and hundreds of jobs were lost.

Now it is CNOOC and Nexen. The Conservatives are doing it all again. When will they stop selling out and start standing up for Canadian jobs?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, Canada welcomes foreign investment. It gets our enterprises in the global value chain. There are huge opportunities. If we follow their radical agenda, everything would be lost from the outset. It is not a responsible approach to try to impose a $21.5 billion carbon tax on the shoulders of Canadians and to have a plan to tax everything. Everything would be lost. The economy would be lost and families would lose.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, when the provinces were forced to pick up the tab for refugee health care, Premier Brad Wall decided to call a friend, but the minister’s final answer was, in his words, “un-Canadian”. The minister is shirking his responsibility and refusing to provide health care to the most vulnerable people in Canada.

When will the Conservatives start listening to the premiers, stop downloading federal responsibility and reverse these cuts?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I actually disagree with the member's suggestion that asylum claimants coming from, for example, the United States or the European Union are among the most vulnerable people. They have come here from developed countries, in some cases, because we offer much more generous benefits than they could get in their countries of origin. That is why we have sought to have a more rational policy, which indicates that we will provide the basic package of hospital and physician medical services to asylum claimants, but not levels that are more generous than what a Canadian can typically get.

If provinces want to provide prescription and pharmaceutical coverage, for example, to certain asylum claimants who are not otherwise covered by the IFHP, they are welcome to do so.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, will the minister finally realize that we are talking about human beings?

His answers are inconsistent and misleading. Here are the facts: more and more provinces are criticizing the irresponsible cuts to health care for refugees. Quebec, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan have all spoken out against these cuts.

Cash-strapped provinces will send the bill to Ottawa, because people need health care and the provinces have hearts, unlike the Conservatives.

Since the minister will end up stuck with the bill anyway, why not cancel these irresponsible and cruel cuts?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, the government will continue to provide the same medicare or the same services offered to the vast majority of Canadians.

If, for humanitarian reasons, the provinces want to provide health care to illegal immigrants or to people avoiding deportation, visitors and foreign students, then they have the right to do so. They may, in that case, use transfers from the federal government, which are increasing by 6% a year.