Debates of Sept. 25th, 2012

Privacy

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville has the floor. Order.

The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville.

[Charmaine Borg, NDP, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yes, I do know what an eight-track tape is.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville.

[Charmaine Borg, NDP, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Privacy Commissioner just released new research raising concerns about popular websites disclosing personal information to third parties without consent. If government members need help understanding Facebook, I am happy to lend a hand.

We need a modern approach to digital issues. When will the government take serious steps to address the serious privacy concerns of Canadians?

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the hon. member has a grandmother or grandfather who shared information about eight-track tapes with her. I could tell her a thing or two about LPs, which is something from my time.

Canadians have given our government a strong mandate to stay focused on what matters, creating jobs and economic growth. Ensuring trust and confidence through the protection of personal information is essential to the growth of the digital economy. Our government will continue to help protect consumers and businesses from misuse of their personal information. We urge the opposition to join us in that.

Government Accountability

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a fundamental principle of democratic accountability is protecting the privacy of the individual while ensuring the transparency of the state. Unfortunately, the Conservatives have flipped that principle upside down.

Since signing the Federal Accountability Act, Canada has fallen to 51st in the world when it comes to access to information. Citizens in Niger and Angola have better rights for access to information.

Here is a simple question. What is the government afraid of? Why did it sign the Federal Accountability Act? Why did it turn its back on the rights of Canadians to transparent government?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I have some good statistics for the hon. member and for the House.

The Government of Canada, in 2010-11, for that year measured, received 41,641 new access to information requests. That is over 15% more than the previous year. The volume has increased by almost 50% since 2005. More than 90% of the requests are processed within the government's 120-day standard.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, then why is the Parliamentary Budget Officer taking the hon. member to court for basic information for parliamentarians?

The Conservatives ran on a promise of accountability and they broke that promise. There is no greater example than the hon. member himself, who ran a $50 million slush fund through his office and buried the documents. I am sorry, but his talk about open government has all the credibility of a flim-flam salesman at some country carnival.

The Conservatives ran on a promise of making government more accountable. Why did they break that promise?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the hon. member is actually talking about.

I can say that when it comes to open data, there are over 272,000 data sets online right now at data.gc.ca, where all citizens can access that data, can use it to create new apps for mobile phones, can use it to help their business or their personal lives.

That is what we do. We give data to the people of Canada because it is their data.

National Defence

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week the military ombudsman presented a thoughtful, balanced report on the mental health of our men and women in uniform. Even this, however, was too much for the Minister of National Defence, who slapped down the ombudsman for his “advocacy”.

It is clear that any officer of Parliament, be it the PBO or the Auditor General, and now the military ombudsman, who crosses the Conservative propaganda machine will be destroyed. If the ombudsman cannot, and if the minister will not, who will stand up for our troops?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, you are looking at him.

I will tell the House, I am so proud of the support our government has provided for our men and women in uniform, $1 billion annually to address all the needs across the Canada first defence strategy.

With respect to the ombudsman, he was very supportive in his remarks that he made about our changes. He said, “we're very, very pleased to see that there's a strong commitment from the minister and the senior leadership, and as a matter of fact, to address this shortfall and to bring more care providers on the front line”.

That is a glowing endorsement from the ombudsman, whom the hon. member seems to be trying to defend.

Census

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

Mr. Speaker, Liberals repeatedly warned the government that the cancellation of the mandatory long form census would cause the participation rate to plummet.

Now we know that it has fallen by over 25% and that 1 in 10 communities will not reach the 50% level necessary for them to have data that they can use to plan their communities. Most of these are the small and rural communities.

Why does the government continue to form policy based on ideology instead of evidence?

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member refers to ideology, and again I will say that this government does not hold the ideology that people should be threatened with jail time because they do not want to tell the government what their religion is.

We do not believe that people should be threatened with jail time because they do not want to say how many hours of housework they did or how much time they spent with their kids.

As I said before, Statistics Canada is continuing its data quality assessment of the data from the national household survey and will make the results available as this work is completed.

Sport

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, young Canadians are increasingly sedentary and have significant health problems. According to Statistics Canada, almost 1.6 million young people are obese.

Instead of looking for solutions, the minister is content to congratulate his government in this House for its dismal record and to be photographed while learning to curl.

When will Canadians have a real sports policy that will help them adopt an active lifestyle?

[Bal Gosal, Conservative, Minister of State (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, keeping Canadians active and involved in sports leads to healthier, happier lifestyles.

That is why our government is working hard to provide families and children with opportunities to take part in physical activity. We created a children's fitness tax credit and continue to work closely with partners like ParticipACTION, le Grand défi and the provinces and territories to make sure Canadians stay active and healthy.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, no matter how hard the minister sweeps, this problem is not going away. Tax credits are nothing but burned stones to those who cannot even afford sports for their kids in the first place.

The fact is that young Canadians are less and less active and are suffering the consequences of obesity and being overweight.

Will the minister hurry hard and commit to working with provinces and municipalities to improve access to sports and the necessary infrastructure?

[Bal Gosal, Conservative, Minister of State (Sport)]

Mr. Speaker, despite the opinion of the opposition, our government's support towards increasing physical activity among Canadians is welcomed and working.

As stated by Kelly Murumets, CEO of ParticipACTION, “We are delighted with the Government of Canada's commitment to ParticipACTION and we applaud their support for the promotion of physical activity and healthy living”.

For example, sport in Canada saw 900,000 Canadians taking part in sport and recreation events in 425 different communities across the country.

Public Safety

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today a lawsuit is being filed by a former prisoner claiming that the Government of Canada violated his human rights by not providing him with clean needles to inject illegal substances while he is in prison.

My constituents are concerned not only that convicted violent prisoners are doing drugs but that they want to have their needles paid for by the Canadian taxpayers.

Can the Minister of Public Safety please comment on whether he will establish a needle exchange program for prisoners and what he is doing to stop illegal drugs in our prisons?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, while I cannot comment on a specific case before the courts, I can say that our government is committed to developing a correctional system that actually corrects criminal behaviour.

Our government has a zero tolerance policy for drugs in our institutions. That is why we made a commitment during the last election to develop drug-free prisons. Drug use among prisoners dramatically reduces their chances of successful rehabilitation.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, just last night Conservatives were celebrating cuts to CFIA and hundreds of staff affected by their budget.

It turns out our food safety agency waited two weeks to issue a notice about beef contaminated with E. coli from XL Foods, and only finally issued it after American inspectors caught it.

We warned that Conservative cuts to food inspection would leave us dangerously exposed. Clearly it was not just backroom administrative cuts.

I ask the minister this. Who is responsible for our food safety now that his cuts have removed vital inspectors? Is it the Americans, or XL Foods?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, as I said in reply to the ill-informed NDP member, the CFIA captured the affected food the day the E. coli was found, on September 4. They did that; they put a rope around it and held onto it.

To build on that, they had an enhanced recall, a voluntary recall with XL Foods in mid-September to get any type of cross-contamination from other lines that went through the plant. They did that voluntarily. They did that to ensure the Canadian food supply is safe.

They are able to do that because we put hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of inspectors back on the front line after the decade adrift under that party.

Social Housing

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, everything is a matter of economic effectiveness for the Conservatives. But when it comes to social housing, they are doing everything to be ineffective.

The various levels of government spend at least $4.5 billion for homelessness-related health care, police and prison services. According to a recent study, the federal government could save 54% of that money by helping the homeless have better housing. The facts are clear: investing these savings could help fight poverty and homelessness.

Will the minister finally admit it and commit to providing stable funding for social housing?

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

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what we are doing. We have signed five-year agreements with the provinces and territories for very substantial sums to fight homelessness in Canada. We are responsible for creating 600,000 affordable housing units.

Unfortunately, the NDP voted against helping all of those Canadians in need.