House of Commons Hansard #81 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was guns.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the cuts that Fitch and Moody's are talking about are much deeper than the savings this government is looking for. We are aiming for gradual deficit reduction during this Parliament's mandate. This approach has received the approval of independent authorities, not only in Canada but around the world.
Nycole Turmel NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, today is a sad day for victims of violence. It is a day that exposes the Conservatives' hypocrisy when it comes to justice. On one hand, they say they want to destroy the firearms registry because it is an invasion of privacy; on the other hand, they give themselves the right to pry into everyone's computers. It makes no sense. It is illogical. It is hypocritical.
How does the Prime Minister justify this?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, our bills, by nature, aim to protect victims in our society, not to blame farmers and hunters for crimes committed in cities.
For the other measure that the Leader of the NDP mentioned, we have been very clear. We are working with provinces and with police to attack problems of online child pornography, but we will ensure that Parliament fully studies this bill and that private lives are also protected is this regard.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, what is clear is Canadians cannot trust the government with protecting their privacy rights.
Let us try out this quote, “We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg...The greatest threat to privacy is coming from within, from our federal government”. Who said that? It was Ann Cavoukian, the privacy commissioner of Ontario. According to the minister, she is on the side of child pornographers. He is wrong. She is on the side of average, law-abiding Canadians who play by the rules.
Why is he on the side of intrusion, snooping and treating Canadians like criminals?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, that member has never said anything accurate about the bill in the House or outside the House. In fact, the issue is this. Where does that member stand tonight? He has told his constituents that he will vote against the long gun registry. I trust he will in fact carry out his word to his constituents.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, that is a minister who today hides behind guns. Yesterday he hid behind children. At 10 a.m. yesterday, the name of the bill he brought in was called “lawful access”. By 11 a.m., he was being hammered in the media. Therefore, by 11:17 a.m., he changed the name of the bill to “protecting children from Internet predators”. It is about using child victims as political cover so the minister can treat average Canadians like criminals.
Why this abuse of public trust and why this abuse of our child victims?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, that is rich coming from a party that never stands up for victims.
Canada's laws do not adequately protect children from online exploitation. Everyone understands that. I think there is widespread agreement by Canadians that there is a problem. We want to fix our laws while striking the right balance when it comes to privacy.
We will send this legislation directly to committee for a full and wide-ranging examination of the best way to do what is right for our children.
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am sure that the people who come forward with reasoned amendments will not be called Adolf Hitler, will not be called terrorists, and will not be called friends of pedophilia by the minister.
My question is for the Prime Minister. It has to do with the double standard on the issue of sustainability. The Prime Minister very clearly singled out old age security as an issue of sustainability in his famous speech in Davos. I wonder how he now feels about the F-35 situation, where literally every single one of our allies is saying that the current plan for the plane is not sustainable according to their situations.
When is the Government of Canada going to finally come to grips with the sustainability—
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Once again, Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada, this government and the previous Liberal government for that matter, has been planning to replace the CF-18 when it reaches the useful end of its life in this decade. That is why we have been part of a long-term partnership to plan and to build the new aircraft. In that regard we are operating within a budget, and we will respect that budget.
Marc Garneau Liberal Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC
Mr. Speaker, this week, the government has created a new registry: a registry of our private communications. This registry could contain the following information about each of us: who we call, when we call them, who we send emails to and when we send them. And all this without a warrant. Of course we want to protect our children and the other people of this country, but we must also protect a fundamental right: Canadians' privacy.
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, in fact the legislation that we are bringing forward is legislation which the member's party brought forward. We have refined it in order to deal with some privacy issues.
I think everyone recognizes there is a problem with respect to the proliferation of child pornography online, and we intend to do something about it. I might emphasize there will be no private information shared with the police without a warrant.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, the government said the anonymous long form census which never had a security breach was too intrusive, but now, without due process, it wants every Internet transaction recorded. It wants access to every BlackBerry and cellphone. However, it denies access to the secret machinations of Conservative MPs behind closed doors in parliamentary committees.
The Prime Minister implied a few moments ago that he would entertain amendments to Bill C-30. Do we have his guarantee that amendments will in fact be welcomed in the parliamentary committee?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister indicated that in fact would be the case, that we will entertain amendments. I think the amendments have to be focused on the fact that we have a problem in respect of the proliferation of pedophilia and child pornography online.
We want our laws fixed while striking the right balance when it comes to protecting privacy. It is surprising that the member, when his party was in charge of this very same legislation, felt it was adequate, and yet we had to improve it before we brought it to this House.
Françoise Boivin NDP Gatineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, I remain skeptical. To date, this government has not proved to be open-minded and has not even considered letting the opposition introduce amendments.
This bill was quickly renamed to give it a title that will allow the minister of public insecurity to constantly give his petty little answers. I have serious doubts. Under this bill, personal information will be provided to the authorities without a warrant for any reason, when service providers already provide the police with the information they request in 94% of cases.
Will the Conservatives scrap this bill—
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, let me emphasize that this legislation in fact brings Canada to the standard where European countries accept exactly the same kind of standard.
It is a legal protection that not only requires a warrant when intrusive information is sought, but also there is an accountability mechanism every time a police officer requests identifying information.
Françoise Boivin NDP Gatineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, shame on this government, which is making things up as it goes along. It is shameful. Canadians are not foolish enough to believe the minister of insecurity's doublespeak. This bill is useless and endangers the rights and freedoms that are especially important to Canadians. This bill is going to create an unbelievable surveillance machine. Service providers will have to collect and divulge information about all of their clients. Who is going to pay for the government's spy work? Canadians will have to pay for it when their service providers send them the bill.
Do the Conservatives know how much their Big Brother bill is going to cost Canadians?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, the member, by trying to over-emphasize her point, discredits herself. In fact, the legislation does nothing of the account.
What the legislation in fact does is require a warrant every time there is any need for intrusive evidence, either in emails or web surfing, that is required for the purposes of a criminal charge or an investigation. There is an accountability mechanism. There is no free access to information by police.
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Mr. Speaker, this bill has erased any credibility the minister may have had in relation to this issue.
Ratings agencies Fitch and Moody's say that the Conservatives' planned budget cuts are “a risk to growth”. Moody's key analyst on Canada says that “doing it [cutting] too rapidly has negative effects”. This government wants to slow economic growth even further by cutting tens of thousands of jobs and services as Canadians lose their jobs.
Why do the Conservatives always choose ideology over families? Why do they have such a hard time with common sense? Why are they against common sense?
Shelly Glover ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the NDP is calling for massive tax hikes and irresponsible spending, but we are once again focusing on job creation and economic growth. What the Fitch ratings agency really said was, “Achieving fiscal consolidation and the balanced budget targets are important to maintain credibility”.
Speaking of credibility, the NDP certainly does not have any when it comes to jobs and economic growth.
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Mr. Speaker, we take no lessons on common sense and credibility from the current government because we know that budgets are about choices, and we see the kind of choices the Conservatives are about to make: more than $30 billion for the flawed F-35s, and the price keeps climbing; $19 billion for the prison agenda at a time when the crime rate is falling; $3 billion in corporate tax cuts for this year alone that would pay the annual OAS for 462,000 Canadian seniors.
We believe families should come first. Are the Conservatives going to choose planes, prisons and tax gifts over families? Why do they not put Canadian families first for a change?
Shelly Glover ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, what Canadian families really want are jobs. That is why we are focused on job creation.
Let us ask the NDP, if it really cares about jobs and economic growth, why is it pushing a $10 billion tax hike on employers that would kill Canadian jobs? Why is it pushing a massive CPP tax hike that would kill jobs? Why is the NDP anti-trade? Why does the NDP not explain why it continues to be anti-trade, anti-job, anti-Canada, in fact?
Christine Moore NDP Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Mr. Speaker, let us stay on the topic of misplaced priorities. The government is beginning to panic regarding the F-35s. Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon have confirmed what everyone has known for some time, and what this government continues to ignore: the F-35s are going to cost more. Italy is the latest country to err on the side of caution.
We are running out of time. When will we see a plan B?
Julian Fantino ConservativeAssociate Minister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, the Royal Canadian Air Force plays an important role in protecting our sovereignty and defending our interests at home and abroad. Canada's CF-18s are nearing the end of their usable lives. We have set a budget for replacement aircraft and we have been clear that we will operate within that budget. We will ensure that our air force has the aircraft necessary to do the job we ask of it.
