Debates of Nov. 6th, 2012

Fisheries and Oceans

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, even the Council of Canadian Academies agrees that Canada is sliding backwards on fisheries science compared to the rest of the world.

Despite evidence that staff are already stretched to the breaking point, the Conservatives are—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for New Westminster—Coquitlam has the floor.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, despite evidence that the staff are already stretched to the breaking point, the Conservatives are slashing habitat protection staff on the west coast, getting rid of capacity. Justice Cohen points to the DFO staffing levels as a problem.

I have a simple question. How does the minister expect these offices to properly investigate fish habitat violations with a third fewer staff?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, amendments to the Fisheries Act have been made to provide consistency, fairness and some common sense for proponents and stakeholders. To put our resources where they are needed the most makes the most sense.

As I said, there are 650 fishery officers in over 100 locations across Canada who will be available to conduct all kinds of investigations and to protect Canadian fish. In British Columbia alone there will be over 170 officers in over 30 locations because we take the management of Canadian fish very seriously.

The Environment

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a common goal behind the weakening of fish habitat protection and the gutting of the Navigable Waters Protection Act: the construction of more pipelines without environmental assessments.

When the transport minister naively said the other day that the Navigable Waters Protection Act and fish were not related, he clearly had not consulted the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website, which says that “[the Navigable Waters Protection] Act is administered by the Navigable Waters Protection Program (NWPP) / Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.”

How does he explain this contradiction?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, if anyone is naive here, it is not on this side of the House. When we talk about navigation, we are talking about the ships that are on the water, not the fish that are floating and swimming in the water. The members opposite want to cause confusion. On our side, we are going to do what needs to be done. Navigable waters are for navigation in Canada.

Once again, the members opposite were given all the answers to their questions today in committee. It is never enough for them. They are experts at confusing Canadians.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if there are fish floating on the water, then it is because they are dead, and the Conservatives have a problem.

The Conservatives did not keep the promise they made in 2009 when they said that they would hold public consultations before making changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

In my riding, we are lucky to have magnificent waterways that are appreciated by residents and tourists alike: Lac des Seize-Îles, Lac St-Joseph, Lac Simon, Rivière de la Petite-Nation, Rivière du Nord and others.

None of these waterways are on the list of protected lakes and rivers. Why not?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, municipal associations throughout the country—municipal associations in Quebec and in all the provinces and territories—were consulted before we went forward with this process. Representatives were consulted. We will not go into every place and every coffee shop to consult people, as the member is asking us to do. We consulted with all the representatives of municipal and other associations. They are the ones who have been asking us for years to get rid of all the red tape so that the economy can move forward.

Veterans Affairs

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Remembrance Day is a time for Canadians to pay unpoliticized tribute to the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform. It is also a time to pause and honour the loved ones they leave behind. Our government has consistently taken concrete and substantial action to support the men and women of Canada's military, veterans and their families.

Would the Minister of National Defence inform the House as to what our government is doing to recognize the personal loss and sacrifice of the close family and friends of Canada's fallen?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Edmonton Centre for the question and also for his 31 years of service with the Canadian Forces.

Today I was honoured to be with the Minister of Veterans Affairs to announce the creation of the Memorial Ribbon as part of our government's ongoing support to Canada's military and their families.

The Memorial Ribbon will recognize loved ones of our fallen heroes who have not been recognized by a Memorial Cross.

This demonstration of our continued care and concern for Canada's military families extends to our brave men and women who have served our country but also their families and loved ones who have sacrificed so much for us.

We honour those families. We will never forget their sacrifices. Lest we forget.

Intergovernmental Affairs

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs has 32 public servants working for him at the Privy Council Office, including eight senior policy advisors. He also employs 16 exempt staff, including a policy director and another senior policy advisor.

Since he has such a large team, could the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs give us an update on his strategic plan for the three parts of his mandate?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, what I can report on is the fact that the latest public accounts make it very clear that spending in ministers' offices has declined by 11.4%. This is the respect for the taxpayers that this government holds true to and will continue to do so in the future.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I guess eight senior policy advisors and sixteen ministerial staff are just not enough to help the minister get up and answer questions in QP.

His job is to provide policy advice and strategic planning; liaise and advise on relations with provinces and territories; and assist with communications and parliamentary affairs. The minister is also responsible for coordinating interprovincial meetings.

I wonder if the minister could give us a report on some of the positive outcomes in the last few interprovincial meetings that he has attended.

[Peter Penashue, Conservative, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that this job has given me a great opportunity to spend time with the premiers and intergovernmental affairs ministers right across the country. I have learned a lot, and I have learned a lot about our country. I am very proud of what we have accomplished as a country. I had a wonderful meeting with Premier Dunderdale and with the premiers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and I have been to Alberta as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is good to see the minister on his feet here in the House.

I understand the most recent national interprovincial meetings were with the National Aboriginal Women's Summit and the federal-provincial-territorial meeting of ministers responsible for justice and public safety.

The Privy Council Office says that he and his staff are responsible for “communications and parliamentary affairs support on issues and initiatives with important federal-provincial-territorial dimensions”.

Given the high profile of both these issues in Canada today, can the minister provide the House with a report on the results of his meetings about justice and public safety?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, among the initiatives that we have been taking with our provincial and territorial counterparts is showing leadership and taking action on the important issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

The ministers of justice and public safety met just last week with their provincial counterparts to further develop strategies, coordinate efforts and share expertise on this issue.

In January 2012, a comprehensive missing women report provided 52 recommendations. The provinces recently acknowledged that our government has implemented almost all of them.

We have invested $25 million over five years—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for St. John's South—Mount Pearl.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister fails to get on his feet to answer questions about his own portfolio. Let us talk about something else the minister is responsible for. His election returns suggest his campaign cashed a cheque for $5,500 from a construction company. He then tried to cover his tracks by coming up with after-the-fact personal receipts.

This matter could be cleared up right now if the minister would stand up and explain what happened. Will he do it now?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's eyes have obviously played a terrible trick on him. He said that the member did not stand up. We just saw him stand up and talk about the pride he has in working on behalf of all Canadians.

It seems that his speaking notes have likewise played a similar trick on him. He would have known, if he read them correctly, that it was in fact his party that accepted $340,000 in illegal union money and that it was his leader who attempted to cover it up over months and months.

Why does he not stand up and tell the rest of the House why it took so long for the NDP to be forced—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Malpeque.

Employment Insurance

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, seasonal industries contribute $78 billion to our economy, yet the government treats seasonal workers as second class citizens. The minister has now eliminated five weeks of EI payments to those workers. This change will affect tens of thousands of Canadians, reducing many to poverty; yet not a minute of study, no economic analysis, no consultation and no discussion at committee. Why is the government stealing five weeks of income from seasonal workers?

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

Mr. Speaker, as usual, the hon. member has his facts all wrong. This temporary additional five weeks was a pilot program. It was brought in in the past. It was reintroduced and extended during the worst of the recession in 2008. It was extended again in 2010 because we recognized it would take people longer than usual to find work.

Fortunately, we have seen a major resurgence in job creation in the country. Over 820,000 new jobs have been created. This program has come to its natural end. That was foretold two years ago because, frankly, we are creating jobs.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Mr. Speaker, she is not doing a very good job, as a matter of fact. Fourteen million times, Canadians phoned Service Canada to get an update on their EI and 14 million times they were hung up on. That is 14 million times Canadians were hung up on, not to mention the three-quarters of a million Canadians who waited almost six weeks to get their first EI cheques.

The only thing the Conservatives have been good at is taking the service out of Service Canada because they gutted the jobs of the people who provided the service. This is not a game. People are hurting. When is she going to fix this?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are monitoring the performance and delivery of our services at Service Canada very closely. That is why in the spring, when we encountered a seasonal surge in claims, we put additional resources there, so that Canadians would get the benefits they need and deserve in a timely manner.

I would point out that when I first came to the House and the Liberals were in power and they were in charge of EI, in my beautiful riding of Haldimand—Norfolk it was taking 10 weeks for people to get their cheques.