Debates of March 2nd, 2012

Pensions

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact what I said was that we have to start now to make sure that we are taking action before there is an absolute crisis. We want to make sure that Canadians have access to OAS today, but also for future generations. As the population of seniors grows dramatically over the next 20 years, the proportion of people who are in the workforce to pay for that is going to be cut roughly by half.

We need to take action. We need to start taking it now to make sure that everyone will have access to OAS.

Science and Technology

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last month when 6,000 scientists from around the world met in Vancouver, the minister for science could not be bothered to show up. Now the world's leading scientific journal, Nature, has condemned the government for muzzling its scientists.

We know that the Conservatives do not follow scientific advice, but it is indefensible to block others from hearing it. Will the minister issue a clear directive permitting scientists to speak to the public, or is he afraid that the evidence will not help his party's ideological agenda?

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Minister of State (Science and Technology) (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)]

Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear on who is standing up for scientists. On this side of the House we have delivered more funding investment to the science and technology community than any time in our nation's history. Every single time we have added more money for scientists to do more work and to discover more cures for various health issues, the NDP has voted no. We are standing up for scientists. The NDP is not.

41st General Election

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, on the Conservative robocall election fraud allegations, the Prime Minister continues to use the same tactics and the same lines the Conservatives used on the in-and-out scandal, where the Conservative Party eventually pleaded guilty to election fraud.

In this latest devious venture with allegations swirling around them, they are suggesting the Conservative Party should review all tapes before Elections Canada. For what reason? Why should Conservative operatives review the tapes first?

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

Mr. Speaker, there are too many mistakes in the statement made by the member for me to correct them all in the time I have.

What I can say is we know that the Liberals spent millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of calls during the election. We also hear that Liberal supporters claim to be irritated by calls claiming they were calling on behalf of the Liberal Party.

Surely the onus is on the Liberal Party to explain these complaints from their supporters on these calls. Is it not plausible to the member that these very calls were the calls that the Liberal Party paid millions of dollars for, and this is nothing but an unsubstantiated smear campaign from the Liberal Party?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last year the Conservatives pleaded guilty to election fraud for sketchy accounting practices. They just do not learn. The Guelph campaign filing reports no relationship with RackNine, but on the very day of the fraudulent Pierre Poutine robocalls, their campaign repeatedly called RackNine.

When are the Conservatives going to come clean with Elections Canada, with the RCMP, and with Canadians who deserve the truth?

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

Mr. Speaker, of course the Conservative Party did no such thing in the settlement with Elections Canada. The member knows this full well. He is misrepresenting it to the House.

I want to be clear on the issue of Guelph. What is alleged to have happened in Guelph is unacceptable. We want to get to the bottom of this. The Conservative Party is assisting Elections Canada in this regard.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that, in an act of despair, the Conservatives are reviewing all tapes of telephone calls made during the last election, even though they defended themselves by stating that they ran a clean campaign. The RCMP, not the party suspected of committing fraud, should be reviewing the tapes.

When will the Conservatives hand over all the documents to the RCMP?

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

Mr. Speaker, we need to recognize that the Liberals are saying that their supporters were irritated by calls from people who said they represented the Liberal Party. These calls originated in the United States. We have learned that the Liberals paid millions of dollars to call centres to make hundreds of thousands of calls. We have also learned that the Liberal candidate in Chilliwack admitted that he paid a call centre operating in the U.S. Perhaps the Liberals should explain the origin of these calls.

Veterans Affairs

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, last week we brought to the attention of the House 90-year-old World War II veteran, Ted Shiner from Bedford, who was denied VIP services.

This week on the minister's desk, he has the file of Mr. Louis Dionne and his wife, Muriel, from North Vancouver. Mr. Dionne is 97 years old and as of yesterday is hospitalized. He is about to be released to go home. His 89-year-old wife said she is unable to look after him. They applied for VIP services, but they were told it will take 16 weeks before they get an answer. Mr. Dionne is 97 years old. When is the government going to help the Dionne family?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, while I cannot comment on the specifics, I can assure the member that the people in my department are devoting their heart and soul to making the lives of our veterans better. This government is committed to that.

We are serving more than 200,000 veterans, families, spouses, widows and RCMP. We are delivering the VIP and other programs to them.

I have instructed my officials to give the best service to our veterans in a timely manner.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the minister just said that the department looks after only 200,000 people. There are 750,000 retired military and RCMP veterans and their spouses and many of them are being denied help by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The minister can speak about this file because he has it on his desk. We gave it to him two days ago. The Dionne's do not have 16 weeks to wait to get help. They need help as of yesterday.

I am asking a very straight-forward question. Will the minister now tell his officials to provide the help that this World War II hero and his wife so richly deserve?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, while I can appreciate the member's question, the real question is, why does the member vote against our budget initiatives?

We introduced the new veterans charter. We introduced enhancements to the new veterans charter. We created the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman. We introduced the helmets to hardhats program.

Why does the member vote against our initiatives? We will stand up for our veterans because they deserve the best.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, the plan for veterans is not the only thing that is missing the mark. When the associate minister went to see Lockheed Martin in Texas last year, it was not because everything was running smoothly. He went there to express his concern over the cost of the F-35s. While the Conservatives were swearing to Canadians that everything was going well, they were saying the opposite to Lockheed Martin.

We want to know: is everything still going well with the F-35 fiasco, or are the Conservatives going to admit that they need a plan B?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, that is not true. As always, the hon. member is speaking against the interests of the Canadian Forces, against the interests of our aerospace industry.

Our government is determined to obtain the best equipment for the Canadian Forces, at the best price for Canadians in order to provide the best benefits for businesses and workers in Canada.

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

Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that the minister says I am not concerned about the Canadian Forces when he knows full well that I served in the Canadian Forces for three years. If anyone is concerned about the Canadian Forces, it is me.

The Conservatives are in Washington today to attend an emergency meeting on the problems and delays in the F-35 program. The Conservatives have to provide clear answers now.

How many F-35s is Canada buying? How much will those planes cost? When will they be available and operational?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, it is again a rhetorical rant from the no defence party opposite that we have heard time and time again. Those members have no plan B. Their plan B is not to buy equipment for the Canadian Forces.

Our associate minister is showing leadership on the Canadian file. He is meeting with our partners in the joint strike fighter program. They are working together.

Having served in the Canadian Forces, she should support those men and women who need this equipment. She should support the Canadian aerospace industry that will get huge advantages, in the millions of dollars, from the joint strike fighter program.

The Economy

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the global economy remains uncertain, but Canada has been doing the right things.

While the NDP would ruin Canada with reckless and endless deficit spending, we are focused on jobs and economic growth with the right economic policies, and it is working. Over 610,000 new jobs were created since July 2009, the strongest job record in the G7.

Today, the latest evaluation of Canada's economy came with our GDP numbers. Would the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance please share details on Canada's performance?

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

Mr. Speaker, as everyone knows, we are focused on what matters to Canadian families, and that is creating a healthy economy and helping to create jobs on which families really depend.

We have taken the right and prudent steps to do that and we are getting results. Statistics Canada has announced that our economy grew 1.8% in the fourth quarter, among the strongest in the G7, and we are proud of that.

The economic action plan 2012 will keep on supporting jobs and growth and fight the NDP's job-killing agenda.

Public Safety

[Jasbir Sandhu, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the minister had given CSIS the go ahead to provide information to foreign intelligence agencies, even when doing so includes “substantial risk it will lead to torture”. The message the government is sending is that while Canada does not employ torture, it is okay to help others to do so.

This is a matter of right and wrong. Is it the minister's position that Canada now treats torture as a necessary evil?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is completely wrong. Our government does not condone and certainly does not engage in torture. The directives are very clear: CSIS will only share information in accordance with Canada's legal obligations.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government is running out of excuses to try to save face. The Conservatives seem to forget that international law is unambiguous. Torture is illegal, period.

What the Conservatives are proposing is tantamount to giving the green light to all the regimes that want to use torture, with information sent from this government to boot. Canadians expect their government to oppose torture unconditionally.

When will the minister reverse his decision and cancel this directive?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is being very misleading. We have very clear directives. We expect CSIS to comply and it does comply with those directives. There are Canadian laws that have to be upheld. We do not condone torture.

In all of our decisions regarding the safety of Canadians, that is our number one priority. Those directives are in line with that.

Government Priorities

[Laurin Liu, NDP, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the estimates provided this week indicate that the government will slash the budget of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency by 43%, even though the agency asked for more resources to better evaluate new oil sands projects.

The Conservatives say that there is no money and that cuts have to be made. However, they are spending millions of dollars on lobbying that will sabotage the environmental efforts of other countries.

Why are the profits of big oil companies being put ahead of the best interests of Canadians?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, the premise of the question is false.

Either the member does not understand or cannot read the main estimates, or is being somewhat disingenuous in her question.

The differences in funding in the estimates are a result of programs that are sunsetting, in other words, coming to a predetermined end. Some of these programs will be renewed, of course. Others will be reshaped to better serve Canadians in the future.

The government is committed to environmental protection and to protecting jobs and the economy.