Debates of March 2nd, 2012

41st General Election

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives won their razor-thin majority by cheating using American style dirty tricks, their mandate has no legitimacy.

This week we passed a unanimous motion in the House of Commons that all parties would bring forward all of their information to Elections Canada. That motion did not say anything about editing, sanitizing or even scrutinizing the material before it got handed over.

Why have the Conservatives dispatched the Rose Mary Woods brigade to Thunder Bay? If they have nothing to hide, why is it that I hear shredders going in the background?

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot speak to that. Perhaps it is the cappuccino machine in the opposition lobby. I have no idea what the hon. member is hearing.

What I can say unequivocally is that everything that the member just indicated is an unsubstantiated smear. He has absolutely no evidence. In fact, on part of the evidence that the NDP has provided, one of its own members has come out and said that it is just not true. It is not us saying it. It is an NDP riding association president who is saying that it is just not true. The NDP should answer for that.

Foreign Affairs

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I know this will come as a shock but I actually want to ask him a question about the visit here of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

I want to ask him a very direct question concerning exactly what the position of the Government of Canada will be with respect the situation vis-à-vis Iran. Both the government of the United States and the government of the United Kingdom have made it clear that they view with a great deal of concern the notion that there would be some kind of unilateral effort on the part of any government to attack directly the state of Iran.

Is it the position of the Government of Canada that we are with our NATO allies and the United Nations in terms of insisting on a unilateral--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

The hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the leader of the Liberal Party, and I am surprised that is his question.

We obviously do not want to see any military action, which is why we are working hard with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others to take every diplomatic effort necessary to ensure that Iran does not achieve nuclear weapon status. We are working hard to ensure that we address its abysmal human rights record and to address its support for international terrorism.

We believe that the best course to take right now is every diplomatic action, and that is exactly what Canada is doing.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister's response, but I would like to ask a question on other aspects of the discussions between the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Since 1967, the Government of Canada has always considered the Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal, since the West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority.

We still believe that a two state solution is possible, with both states living side by side in peace, and we maintain that position. I want to ascertain whether this position will be taken—

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

The hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, Canada supports a two state solution where we can have a young Israeli child and a young Palestinian child growing up in peace and security, living side by side. That is exactly the same Canadian policy, and we will continue to pursue it.

I think all parties agree that this issue is best settled at the negotiating table where both parties can come together without precondition. We will continue to strongly support that initiative.

41st General Election

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to give the government an opportunity to use its speaking notes for today.

Earlier in the week, the speaking notes were particularly clear saying that there was no evidence. Then it was an unsubstantiated smear. Then, yesterday, it was all the fault of the Liberal Party, which, apparently, had some sort of spoof number in North Dakota.

I want to give the government a chance, whatever, 30 seconds or a minute, to tell us what its speaking notes are, its robopoints that it wants to make today.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, my recollection of the week is somewhat different from that of the member opposite. I remember early in the week when the leader of the Liberal Party had to stand in his place and apologize for a dirty, sleazy, underhanded attack on the Minister of Public Safety. That is part of my recollection from this week.

What I can say to the member opposite is the Liberals have known all along that the Liberal Party spent millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of calls to people right across this country. Those callers called on behalf of the Liberal Party and Liberal candidates. Is it not plausible to the member that those are the source of the calls the Liberals are complaining about?

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, certainly from our perspective, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs is having a very bad week. On Monday, he told us that there was no evidence of election fraud. On Tuesday, he told us that there was no such riding as Edmonton East. Yesterday, he was unable to differentiate between the company involved in the fraudulent calls and another American company.

When will he stop taking Canadians for fools and tell the truth? Elections Canada is investigating 31,000 complaints. Are the Conservatives now ready to recognize that the investigation goes beyond the borders of Guelph?

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

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Liberals spent millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of calls during the election campaign. We have also learned that Liberal supporters were annoyed by calls from people who said that they represented the Liberal Party. So surely it is up to the Liberals to explain the complaints from their supporters about the calls made by Liberals.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Elections Canada is investigating over 31,000 complaints. Within an hour, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs appeared on television to say that the Conservatives were conducting an investigation and then contradicted himself by saying that no investigation was under way. The Conservatives must stop trying to create diversions.

The question is very simple: are the Conservatives conducting their own investigation or not?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party already gave the documents to Elections Canada. We submitted them after the election. We have always shared the information we have with Elections Canada because we ran an ethical and honest campaign. We are fully prepared to co-operate with Elections Canada in all of its work.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, another scandal, another Conservative excuse. I am not impressed. Of all the far-fetched excuses we have heard this week, the best was when they accused us of having no evidence.

Let us consider the facts. RackNine made robocalls pretending to be Elections Canada. The Conservatives were the only party that hired the firm. RMG called voters to confuse them about their polling station. The Conservatives paid RMG $1.3 million. Canadians have filed 31,000 complaints with Elections Canada.

Are the Conservatives conducting an internal investigation or not?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered the question. After the election, we turned all of the information and documents over to the agency in question. We have always been open and transparent with Elections Canada. We will answer all of Elections Canada's questions now and in the future. The opposition is making baseless accusations. I encourage them to come up with some evidence before accusing others.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, sure the Conservatives are open. In in 2011, and out in 2015.

For the past week, the Conservatives have been questioning the word of 31,000 Canadians while waging a fear-mongering campaign against them. The truth is that thousands of Canadians who believed Elections Canada made a mistake now know that they were victims of fraud. This morning, Elections Canada confirmed that it is conducting a sweeping investigation. The Conservatives' election spending reports prove that they had contracts with RMG and RackNine.

Are they conducting their own investigation? Are they co-operating with the Elections Canada investigation? Will they turn over all of the documents, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have already turned the documents over to Elections Canada.

Budget

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, not only did the Conservatives resort to electoral fraud, but they are also abusing taxpayers' money. The government has spent $12 million to promote the upcoming budget. That means $12 million taken right out of Canadians' pockets. I repeat, $12 million. Then the Conservatives turn around and tell families to get ready for $8 billion in cuts to services.

How can the Conservatives ask families to tighten their belts, when the Conservatives cannot lead by example?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as we know, our economic action plan has benefited Canadians from coast to coast to coast. When taking measures to move our economy forward and to create jobs, it is crucial that we keep Canadians informed. We will continue to inform Canadians because our plan is on track to succeed.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as usual from the government, it just does not pass the smell test. The only thing these ads tell Canadians is how little credibility the Conservatives have left. We are talking about billions of dollars in cuts and more than 100,000 jobs under the Conservative axe. Yet the government goes around blowing $12 million on vanity ads. Talk about being out of touch.

How can the government tout a so-called jobs and growth budget when it is about to kill jobs and slash services that Canadian families need?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, this gives me a perfect opportunity to report some good news to the House. I hope that the NDP member will celebrate this good news.

We have received information that Statistics Canada reported just today that the economy has grown by 1.8% here in Canada.

I would insist that the NDP member vote with us on the upcoming budget because it will focus once again on a low-tax agenda that will help to create jobs and bring our economy more success than it has ever seen. I ask the NDP to please vote with us on the next budget.

Pensions

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what is really growing is this government's propensity to make up stories.

In four years, the cost of the old age security program was overstated three times by the Conservatives. This is indicative of their credibility and their ability to count.

Now, they are crying wolf and scaring Canadians, young and old alike, by announcing the imminent failure of the pension system.

Will the minister put an end to the suspense and tell us exactly what awaits current and future retirees?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should understand that OAS is the single largest transfer the federal government makes to Canadians. In the supplementary estimates, yes, there was an indication that there was a difference. What happened was our forecasters came within 1% of what the actual expenditures would be. Any business would say that was pretty remarkable.

In fact, expenditures on OAS last year were 5% higher than the year before. That is tracking and it is growing. We are going to see that trend. That is why we have to take action now to protect OAS for the future.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, taking action now also means using available data. After inventing a false OAS crisis, the Conservatives are now backpedalling.

The minister is now saying that there is no need to rush to increase the retirement age. Once again, the government will say anything, depending on the mood of the day and the polls.

Will the minister finally confirm that the retirement age will remain 65 for eternity?