Debates of Dec. 11th, 2012

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat has been set up to manage this process and ensure there is due diligence in the decisions leading up to replacing our CF-18s, and, as I said, that includes independent oversight from a former Canadian auditor general.

In terms of the options analysis, as we have stated, the statement of requirements will be set aside and a full options analysis will be done. Until the full evaluation of that work is done, the government will not take a decision.

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

Mr. Speaker, it was not so long ago that the Minister of National Defence was insisting that the total cost of the F-35s was going to be $9 billion. Anyone who said differently was simply making up numbers. The minister also said that we did not need a bidding process because the F-35 was the only alternative if we wanted to give our troops the best equipment possible.

If he still thinks that giving Lockheed Martin the contract without a bidding process is the right thing to do, he needs to stop hiding behind the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and stand up and explain himself.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have set up the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat, which is managing this process on behalf of the government. It includes independent oversight from two members, including a former Canadian auditor general.

At this point, the government has not spent any money on the acquisition of any aircraft. We will not be making a decision until a full options analysis is done and until we have updated cost estimates of the F-35.

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

Mr. Speaker, either the Minister of National Defence does not see fit to explain or the Prime Minister no longer trusts him and would prefer that he remain seated.

The Minister of National Defence fought tooth and nail to defend the decision to purchase the F-35, even going so far as making unfounded attacks on our support for our troops. At one point, the minister even said that, if we did not purchase the F-35s immediately, we would no longer be able to defend Canada or honour our NATO commitments.

The Minister of National Defence's F-35 fiasco has been disavowed, but he is still minister. Will he finally live up to his responsibilities?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have set up the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat to manage this process in response to the concerns that the Auditor General had.

At this point, no money has been spent in the purchase of any new aircraft and no money will be spent until our seven point plan is implemented, including updated cost estimates of the F-35 and a full options analysis to replace our CF-18s.

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

Mr. Speaker, I guess it is long past the time when the Minister of National Defence can stand up and defend his actions on the F-35 fiasco. That minister once said, “If this procurement is cancelled so another competition can be held, it will cost taxpayers a billion dollars and will create an operational gap for the air force in the future”.

In 2011, the Prime Minister even said that lives might be lost or at risk if the F-35 was not sole sourced.

Will the minister or the Prime Minister either defend these statements or else apologize to Canadians for these outrageous comments?

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

Mr. Speaker, after the concerns raised by the Auditor General, our government put in place a secretariat to manage the process of replacing our CF-18s and, in particular, to respond to his one recommendation. His one recommendation was that the Department of National Defence bring forward updated cost estimates for the F-35.

Until we have those updated numbers and until we do a full options analysis, the government will not move forward in a decision to replace our CF-18s.

Citizenship and Immigration

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

Mr. Speaker, in my riding, we are trying to help a 12-year-old girl from New Delhi. Both of her parents have died. She is being looked after by an ill grandmother in India. Her adoption by her Canadian aunt has been approved but we are told the wait to bring the little girl to Canada could be as long as five years.

Conservative financial incompetence has resulted in a system that lacks any compassion for this 12-year-old girl who now has to wait five years for a better life. Will the minister fix this now?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, I am not exactly sure what the question relates to. If it is to a particular immigration case, I would encourage the member to raise it with me privately, because, of course, she will know that I cannot discuss individual cases publicly without a privacy waiver.

Our government has streamlined the process for the adoption of children from abroad by allowing them to be naturalized from abroad. The process for approving foreign adoptions has sped up, in many cases, by as much as three years.

She should also know that we need to be very careful not to process foreign adoptions unless we are absolutely sure that all of the bases have been covered so that we can avoid bringing children over who do not have the consent of their parents to be adopted.

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has closed the citizenship and immigration office in Kingston and the Islands. If one wants assistance, now there is call centre, except only a fraction of the calls get through to the remaining agents because of the cuts. If one needs forms, one has go online—but not through the community access program, which has been cut. Families have to wait longer for service.

The Conservative government's incompetence has led to a debt of over $600 billion and now it is cutting services on the backs of immigrant families. Is that fair?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, it is actually to the contrary. The shameful legacy of the Liberal Party with respect to immigration was a backlog of nearly 900,000 people waiting for seven to eight years for a decision on their applications in all of our programs. Thanks to this government's action plan for faster immigration—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has the floor.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to this government's action plan for faster immigration, we have managed to substantially reduce the Liberal backlog and now many of our programs are moving toward processing new applications just in time.

I should also mention that we have tripled our investment in settlement services for newcomers and cut in half the Liberal right of landing fee for new permanent residents.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in my riding, voters often come to our office crying because they have to wait so long to be reunited with their families. It is because of the Conservatives' financial incompetence—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Markham—Unionville.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is because of the Conservatives' financial incompetence over the past five years that the processing time for family class immigration files has doubled from 12 to 23 months.

Why do my constituents have to endure such long wait times?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, if I were one of the member's constituents, I would cry too.

I must say that the hon. member is completely wrong. We decreased processing times for family sponsorship applications for parents and spouses. Under the Liberals, it took seven years to make a decision on parental sponsorship cases. Now, it takes three and a half years.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources is telling people to line up to file their claim for employment insurance benefits while at the same time, she is eliminating front-line services at Service Canada. She is also denying the unemployed the right to appeal decisions in person at the social security tribunal. This is shameful.

What is a person living in a remote area like the Mingan region where there is no ready access to the Internet supposed to do? Is this merely another way for the minister to deny EI benefits to persons who are entitled to them?

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

Mr. Speaker, what we are trying to do with the employment insurance system is to help people find a new job. We are offering them training to develop the skills that are needed in today’s job market as well as those that will be needed down the road. We inform them of job openings in their region in their particular field in order to help them find another job. This is good for them and for their families.

[Claude Patry, NDP, Jonquière—Alma, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the EI reforms introduced by the Conservatives will have a devastating effect on regional economies and seasonal employment. That is why the Union des municipalités du Québec is strongly opposed to these reforms.

My question is for the Minister of Transport. If he were still the mayor of Roberval, would he stand to see his community being targeted in this manner and unemployed persons being denied their fundamental rights?

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

Mr. Speaker, our priorities are job creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity. Along with employers, we have created almost 900,000 new jobs here in Canada. That is why we need to see these unemployed workers in the labour market, and that is why we are helping them to find jobs for which they are qualified in their own geographic region. We are helping them to find work.

[Jonathan Tremblay, NDP, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's reforms to employment insurance are making no one happy. Even some of her colleagues here in the House, like the hon. member for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, are not satisfied with this reform.

It was because of her botched reform that the minister had to do an about-face on the working while on claim pilot project. Now the minister is abandoning her war against the people of Cape Breton and reinstating the EI claims of hundreds of people who were victims of a witch hunt by Service Canada.

Instead of admitting her errors and backtracking all the time, will she consult the NDP and workers before making decisions?

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

Mr. Speaker, that is why we made the changes. During the consultations we held in all parts of the country, Canadians told us there was a need for changes in the employment insurance system because some parts of the system were saying no to people who wanted to work. Employers needed the talents and skills of Canadians, but the system was preventing them from working. We made these changes to help families, workers and the economy.