Debates of Sept. 19th, 2012

Aboriginal Affairs

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, let us call this what it really is: the government is trying to silence anybody who speaks out against the government's agenda. It has targeted first nations and Métis organizations that speak out on behalf of aboriginal people. In Manitoba, the federal government has cut 80% of the budget of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, a leader in calling for action for something as critical as missing and murdered aboriginal women.

When will the government recognize that aboriginal Canadians will not be silenced? When will it reinstate funding to AMC, MKO, MMF, and other aboriginal organizations?

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, what is most unfortunate about the member's comments and the position of her party is that every time we have moved forward with allocations for resources to shared priorities with first nations leadership, that party has voted against them. Let us be clear on that.

Like all Canadians, the government has a responsibility to manage finances carefully. Savings realized will preserve our ability to make important investments in key shared priorities for and with first nations. We will continue to take that action to ensure strong and self-sustaining first nations communities.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, the Fynes family is in Ottawa today to attend hearings of the Military Police Complaints Commission concerning the death of their son, Corporal Stuart Langridge. The family deserves assurances that the minister is listening and will accept responsibility. The family even had to pay over $10,000 to correct an error made by DND in Corporal Langridge's death certificate and the minister is still withholding documents from the inquiry.

Will the minister apologize, hand over the documents and help the Langridge family with these expenses?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, there he goes again. The member continues, sadly, to want to argue this case, which is before the arm's-length Military Police Complaints Commission, on the floor of the House of Commons. He ignores legal precedent, even though he is a lawyer. He overlooks the fact that the Government of Canada, through the Department of National Defence, has paid now $2.5 million and has given additional funds for this hearing to continue.

This is a very tragic case. We continue to work with the commission. We continue to provide information. We continue to encourage the witnesses to give their testimony in an impartial way. The member wants to interfere with the process.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, I stand again today to hopefully have the minister lay down her talking points and answer this serious issue. The last three times she has responded, she said that anyone who worked two or three days while on EI would benefit.

The fact is that low wage earners actually lose money under the new rules. I know the minister feels no obligation to those people, but the math does not lie. I would encourage the minister to maybe lay off some communications people in her office and hire someone with grade 10 math to walk her through this. People are being hurt. They are losing money. Maybe somebody on the front bench might have a calculator. The minister—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Minister of Human Resources.

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

Mr. Speaker, I can assure members that under this new program the majority of people who work while they are on claim will benefit from this and be better off.

However, let us look at the hypocrisy of the member and the Liberal Party. They pretend that they care about hard-working Canadians and yet they voted against the youth employment strategy. They voted against the EI hiring credit, the apprenticeship incentive grant, targeted initiatives for older workers, tool tax credits and foreign credential recognition.

We are trying to help Canadians back to work. They are not.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives spent close to $800,000 to fight the veterans represented by Dennis Manuge. RCMP veterans are in the same position. They have also had to give up part of their pension.

Do the Conservatives intend to waste time and money dragging RCMP veterans before the courts, or are they going to do the right thing and include them in the discussions that are currently taking place on this issue?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear. As you know, over here we are maintaining all the veterans' benefits, and we support the decision by the Minister of National Defence to ensure that the individuals who have been penalized—both the men and women of the military and veterans—will no longer be. We are going to continue to ensure that our veterans are entitled to all the programs and services they need and fully deserve.

Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, last week we learned of a Winnipeg housing co-op wanting to refinance its 13.25% CMHC mortgage and being crippled by CMHC charges far higher than would be applied by a commercial bank.

Will the minister re-evaluate these mean-spirited policies and ensure that housing co-ops have the support they need? Or is this another Romney moment: proof the Conservatives think it is not their job to help those people?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government is very pleased to be supporting 605,000 affordable housing households across this country.

The case to which the member refers is where these housing co-operatives made a deal with CMHC to get below market rate interest rates for fixed, closed mortgages. That means that the rate does not change, and individuals agree to that because they get a benefit. Those are the terms that these individuals agreed to and those are the terms that we expect them to honour, just as we will honour those terms.

Public Transit

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are tired and frustrated with traffic jams, overcrowded buses or no bus at all. They want fast, reliable and accessible public transit. Gridlock is costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars. That is why mayors, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, CUTA, transit authorities, all want a national transit strategy.

Will the minister ditch his cozy limo, get on the bus and vote yes for the national transit strategy this afternoon?

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Minister of State (Transport)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like first of all to correct the member. I do not drive a limo. I think she can see that.

Our government has invested over $5 billion in transit infrastructure across Canada since 2006. We respect the jurisdictions of the provinces and the municipalities. We work with them. The NDP seems to vote against all our initiatives rather than support our initiatives. Why?

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is quite a difference between investing and having a long-term vision that supports those investments.

Quebec will mark “Car Free Day” this week. Each year, the number of participants goes up. In Montreal, it is estimated that congestion costs $1.4 billion a year and that 77 million working hours are lost. That is a serious blow to the economy.

Will the minister take this loss of productivity seriously and support a national public transit strategy?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me first say that we respect municipal and provincial jurisdictions.

Second, 20 years ago, municipalities operated without any federal investment in infrastructure. Over the past 10 years, the revenue of those municipalities has increased by 70% despite the fact that inflation and population have grown by 30%.

Finally, the NDP public transit plan is a carbon tax, which would make it impossible to pay for gas.

Gasoline Prices

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives make up facts they are silent about a real problem: high gas prices.

Under the Conservatives, prices at the pump have skyrocketed a whopping 36%. Record prices of $1.53 a litre have been spotted in some communities, yet Conservatives do nothing but rail against policies that do not exist. How high will prices have to climb?

Canadians deserve more than fake facts. How much gouging will they have to endure before Conservatives act?

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

Mr. Speaker, let us go with the facts. We reduced the GST by 2%, strengthened the powers of the Competition Bureau and brought in the Fairness at the Pumps Act.

In addition, when the Competition Bureau finds evidence of behaviour that violates the Competition Act, it does not hesitate to take law enforcement action to protect competition and consumers.

What about the $20 billion fact? What about the carbon tax that those guys over there are proposing? That is where the real question is.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are fooling themselves, and people are being scammed every time they pull up at the pump. The Conservatives are asleep at the wheel.

Under their government, the only thing rising faster than the national debt is the price of gas: we have seen a 36% increase since Stephen Harper took power. The NDP proposes—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I remind the hon. member to please use riding names or titles.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

Since the Prime Minister came to power, gas prices have risen by 36%.

The NDP proposes tightening up the regulations to put an end to collusion and creating an ombudsman position to oversee market prices.

Those are concrete solutions. What are the Conservatives' solutions?

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

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. If that party had been elected, we would have an additional $20 billion in taxes a year. That is what Canadians would pay through the carbon tax. Is that the scam?

Here are the facts: the Conservative government reduced the GST by 2%, strengthened the powers of the Competition Bureau and brought in the Fairness at the Pumps Act. These are concrete actions that ensure that gas prices are contained.

It would be really shocking if these people came in with their carbon tax and prices jumped 10¢ a litre. They should explain themselves and tell Canadians the truth for once.

International Trade

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP continue to mislead Canadians on trade. They forget that one in five Canadian jobs is generated through exports.

While the NDP snipes from the sidelines, our government is busy opening new markets for our exporters. We have signed free trade agreements with nine countries, investment protection agreements with eleven more, and are negotiating with some of the largest and most dynamic markets in the world.

Could the parliamentary secretary please share with the House how our government is standing up for Canadian exporters?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is no wonder that the NDP wants to hide from its anti-trade record. Its members opposed free trade with Norway. They opposed free trade with Liechtenstein. They opposed NAFTA. The NDP member for Burnaby—New Westminster even worked against Canadian exporters, calling Buy American a perfectly logical policy.

The NDP wants a Canada that hides from the world. Only our government's ambitious pro-trade plan is creating new opportunities for our workers and our exporters.

International Cooperation

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Minister of International Cooperation said that there had been no cuts in his department. However, CIDA's 2012 budget was cut by $320 million, and the percentage of GDP allocated to international aid is in free fall.

I know that this is a new portfolio for the minister, but did he take the time to get the right information? Will he continue the Conservative tradition of cutting aid to the poorest countries?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, again I find it shameful that the member from the NDP would focus on the desperate situations affecting so many people.

There have been no cuts to the humanitarian side of the CIDA budget. It is the exploitation of human tragedy that we are hearing here with no concern whatsoever. This is the party that voted against any increase to our budget, period.