Debates of Nov. 7th, 2012

Intergovernmental Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister was clear: he is working with all his counterparts in Canada to foster Canadian unity.

He believes in a united Canada and in fact all of us believe in a united Canada. Why do you not help all of us do the work of uniting our country by standing now in your place, after 29 donations to the separatists in Quebec, and declare that you support federalism. I ask him to please do so.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I will once again remind colleagues to address their comments to the Chair and not directly at one another.

The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

Ethics

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, sorry to burst the bubble of the bard of the backbench, but there is nothing patriotic about defending illegal spending and ministers who do not show up to do their job, which brings us to the member for Labrador.

Yesterday we learned that as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs he had only been west of Toronto once. In fact, almost all his ministerial travel is so he can fly home. I do not know if he knows that he works for the Canadian taxpayers and they expect results, but would he stand in the House and tell us when he will come clean with Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government has a strong relationship with provincial and territorial governments. I meet with counterparts regularly and focus on the strength of the provinces in growing Canada's economy.

New exploration and investments are occurring across Canada and especially in Labrador. In my role as the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, I get to share these success stories with people from coast to coast to coast, and I work hard to ensure that all Canadians benefit.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, he has not quite earned his limo and driver yet because if he were going to share these stories from coast to coast to coast, he would actually have to go there. Let us now see if he can answer these other questions.

We have one convicted minister, one parliamentary secretary on ice, we have eight in and out charges, we have four convictions. We have a $52,000 conviction. We have the largest voter fraud investigation scandal in Canadian history. We have the minister from Labrador who is being investigated for buying an election. I would like to ask him now to stand again and explain his role.

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

Mr. Speaker, his role is to continue to work for a strong and united Canada, and he does that every single day. I cannot believe that the NDP would attack him for spending too much time in the beautiful province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has served the people from that province with distinction.

The member should not be throwing stones when he lives in a glass house. It is his party that took illegal union money. It is his party that used the tax credit to illegally direct funds to the hard-left Broadbent Institute. Why does he not stand up and explain the conduct of the NDP instead of throwing stones at this hon. member?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Labrador said he is finally ready to explain, next Tuesday, the long list of irregularities in a campaign that he won by only 79 votes. How will he explain $20,000 in overspending, an interest-free loan from a company run by his brother-in-law, a corporate donation of free air travel, anonymous donations and a corporate gift from a construction company that does business with the government?

Why wait? If he cannot explain to Canadians why his—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. There needs to be a bit more order during today's question period.

The hon. parliamentary secretary to the minister of transport.

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

Mr. Speaker, that kind of nasty vitriolic attack is not welcome on the floor of this House.

This is a member who would never dare walk out of the House of Commons and repeat all of the allegations he has just made without evidence. None of those things are proven. In fact, what we can say is proven with regard to that hon. member and his party is that there are $400,000 in outstanding illegal loans that leadership candidates from six years ago have still not paid back and that they have someone sitting on their bench that has been found guilty of illegal robocalls. They are the ones that—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Charlottetown.

Veterans Affairs

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, over the past several days, in response to public outrage over support for the burial of our veterans, the minister bragged that his department did not make any cuts. The blame game is cold comfort for a grieving family struggling to cover the costs of burying our war heroes.

When will the minister act on the two-year old recommendation of his own department and increase funding for funeral and burial costs of our veterans?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the funeral and burial program is provided to veterans in need who are injured, and to their families. Since 2006, we have provided this program to more than 10,000 persons. When we cover the costs of a funeral and burial, it can go up to $10,000.

We are always looking at ways to improve the service we are providing to veterans, just as we did last week with the Royal Canadian Legion, helping our veterans with mental health. We are proud to work with veterans to provide a better life for them.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, we know all good comedians have what they call a shtick. Yesterday's performance by the human resources minister was a huge laugher, though.

In 2004, when she was first elected, HRDC's annual report showed that 80% of the time people were receiving their EI cheque in 21 days, compared to today, when even after she stretched the standard to 28 days she is still only successful 30% of the time.

Obviously, the minister remains short on facts but chock full of shtick.

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

Mr. Speaker, the facts are the facts. It was 20% of the time that they were not meeting the standard. That standard was not being met in my riding. The Service Canada people on the ground were telling my constituents that in those days, on average, it was taking at least 10 weeks for residents to get their first EI cheques.

We are improving on that. We have improved it dramatically. Yes, we have a ways to go. That is why we are investing in the modernization of our systems. We are helping people and employers file online because that improves accuracy, improves processing and it will improve the service we provide to Canadians.

Foreign Investment

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Conservatives seemed to have trouble understanding their new investment agreement with China, and maybe they should actually read it. Under this agreement, if the CNOOC-Nexen takeover is approved, CNOOC will have the same rights as any Canadian company to buy up new oil leases and expand operations. Let us look at article 6, which states that Chinese state-owned companies will receive national treatment for “expansion, management, conduct, operation and sale..”. That is nice and simple.

Have the Conservatives read their own agreement, and do they deny it would give Chinese state-owned companies the same rights as Canadian companies to buy up new oil leases and a whole lot more?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to follow the hon. member's logic. I am having a lot of difficulty with that, I suspect because the question is not logical.

Here is the issue. The issue is this simple. The FIPA will establish rules. Those rules will protect Canadian investors in China. Those rules will treat Chinese investors in Canada the same way as Canadian investors. What is wrong with rules?

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

Mr. Speaker, the problem with rules is that the Conservatives do not seem to be able to manage them effectively, and they have badly mismanaged this file from the start.

Breaking news: now we learn from Canadian Press that the Conservatives have missed a key deadline to examine the impact that the CNOOC-Nexen takeover will have on Canadian national security. How could Conservatives stand up in the House day after day and tell Canadians they are evaluating the CNOOC takeover on the basis of national security, when they dropped the ball and missed the deadline? They broke the rules. This is amateur hour. How could they drop the ball--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. Minister of Industry.

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

Mr. Speaker, our government will always act in the best interests of Canadians. What we have to do with this transaction is to see if it will provide a net benefit for Canada.

What matters is to come here and to advocate for national security provisions. When we put them in back in 2009, the NDP voted against that. We also put in guidelines for the SOEs. We have tools to fully scrutinize this transaction, and we will do that very closely.

National Defence

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while the government is slow to release KPMG's study on the real cost of the F-35s, Australia's auditor general estimates that these fighter jets will cost more than $131 million each and that after 2019, the cost will increase by $2 million a year.

I want to remind the Conservatives that the report on the cost estimates was due in July. This is November.

I have a simple question. Will the Conservatives abide by their own seven-point plan and issue an update on the cost of the F-35s?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we are focused on what the Canadian Auditor General has to say. What he asked for was for that Department of National Defence table updated cost estimates for the F-35. We have gone a step further. We would like those to be independently validated, so we have hired a firm to do that. It is working on that. The work is progressing very well, and those numbers will be tabled in the House of Commons and made public.

[Matthew Kellway, NDP, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the whole world knows that the latest estimate is $130 million each, and rising. Like the Australians, the Conservatives have had this data since last May.

We may now know why the F-35 is so expensive. These planes are magic. We are being told that they will get stealthier as they get older. We thought they were being built by engineers in Texas, but apparently it is wizards in hogwarts. Is that why they will not consider other options, because the Conservatives' secret requirements include magic?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's attitude, but the reality is that the advice given to the government on issues and operational requirements does come from the air force. I do respect their advice, and I do think they are the experts on this matter. We will take their advice under consideration.

In terms of options, the member knows full well that the government will be examining all options to replace the CF-18.

Transport

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, by defeating proposal 6 yesterday, Michigan voters have cleared the way for construction of the Detroit River international crossing. This is good news for travellers, good news for workers and good news for industry, on both sides of the border. Everyone supports this project, except the NDP.

The mayor of Windsor came to our committee yesterday to show his support. Could the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities update the House on the latest victory for a new public bridge over the Detroit River?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank the member for Essex for his hard work on this important file. If only the members opposite did the same and supported this vital project.

We are very pleased to see the support of the people of Michigan for the bridge between Detroit and Windsor, which is very important for the economies of our two countries.

This project is top priority for our government, and we will continue to work with our partners to make it happen as soon as possible.