Debates of Sept. 28th, 2012

House of Commons Calendar

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Does the chief government whip have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

(Motion agreed to)

Lord's Resistance Army

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition signed by several hundred people from the Ottawa area who are calling for the government to intervene in the deplorable situation in Africa related to Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, who keeps abducting children to turn them into soldiers and stirring up trouble throughout East Africa. What is more, this movement is spreading.

Canadian citizens are calling for the government to intervene in an appropriate manner to put an end to this reign of terror led by Joseph Kony.

Pensions

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today.

The first petition is about changing the age of eligibility for OAS, which will disproportionately impact middle-income seniors by approximately $12,000 over two years. The petitioners call on Parliament to reject the changes in the age of eligibility and to increase the OAS and the GIS to end seniors' poverty and ensure it is indexed to the cost of living.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition concerns a call to reinstate funding to first nations health organizations. It points out that these funding cuts will create devastating health outcomes for first nations people and will increase health care spending in the long term.

Canada Consumer Product Safety Act

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have hundreds of petitions here. I would like to thank the dedicated volunteers who have shown so much commitment in collecting petitions over the last year.

The petitioners point out that every year, in a number of Asian regions, hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats are brutally slaughtered for their fur. Canada should join the U.S., Australia and the EU in banning the import of cat and dog fur. They call on Parliament to support legislation such as Bill C-296, which would amend the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act and the Textile Labelling Act.

Air Transportation

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege for me to present this petition from many of my constituents, as well as other people in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. They point out in the petition that a high percentage of the lives lost in aircraft accidents are due to preventable post-impact fires. They point out to the government and to the Minister of Transport that the minister should be aware of current inexpensive technologies such as G switches and that he should require the use of these technologies by regulation and enforcement to reduce the cost of approvals and certificates for upgraders and manufacturers, and then allocate the necessary resources to this end to prevent the loss of life in otherwise survivable accidents.

Pensions

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present.

The first petition is calling on the House of Commons to protect OAS or old age security. They mention the NDP moved an opposition day motion calling on the House to reject the proposal by the Prime Minister to increase the age of eligibility for old age security, while also calling on the government to take the necessary measures to eliminate poverty among seniors. They call on the government to maintain funding for OAS and make the requisite investments in the guaranteed income supplement to lift every senior out of poverty.

The Environment

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is calling on the government to remove its support for the development of the northern gateway pipeline, assume a neutral position on the outcome awaiting the evidence, and ensure a full, fair and impartial process under the National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. In this petition, they mention the government has a constitutional responsibility to first nations to ensure their inherent rights are respected.

Food and Drugs Act

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the final petition is one I have presented a number of times in the House. The petitioners indicate that Canadians have a right to make informed choices about the food they eat by having adequate information provided on food labels. Therefore, the petitioners call upon the House of Commons to support An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (mandatory labelling for genetically modified foods).

Questions on the Order Paper

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-21, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (accountability with respect to political loans), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Political Loans Accountability Act

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville has two and a half minutes to complete her speech, and then there will be five minutes for questions and comments.

The hon. member for Terrebonne—Blainville.

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

Mr. Speaker, I will pick up where I left off earlier.

Bill C-21 states that political entities must report loans in their financial statements. They must specify the amount of the loan, the interest rate, the lender’s name and address, the dates and amounts of repayments of principal and payments of interest, as well as any guarantor’s name and address and the amount guaranteed. The financial agent must report any amendment to the Chief Electoral Officer.

I would like to talk about this measure because I think that it will make transactions more transparent in terms of the lenders and the political entities receiving the loans.

This measure will also help the public find out where the money is coming from, when and how much. This is extremely important. Unfortunately, some entities are still not behaving ethically. We have seen the Conservative Party's questionable practices. In Quebec, the Charbonneau commission is looking into allegations of fraud. People are very concerned about this issue.

Many of my constituents are asking me what is going on and whether they can trust their representatives. These people watch the news and read the papers, so they are informed citizens. However, when they see things like this, they wonder whether democracy really exists in Canada and to whom their representatives are accountable.

I think that such measures will help boost public confidence in our democracy. People will certainly have more confidence that their representatives are following the rules and funding their campaigns appropriately.

Bill C-21 must move forward. I expressed some concerns about financial institutions. We will have to take a closer look at that issue. In general, we all agree that this bill should go to committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, this morning, before question period, my colleague from Terrebonne—Blainville said something I felt was very important.

She talked about the need to limit the influence that large lobby groups have on democracy. I would like her to comment further on that.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her wonderful question.

It is a cause for extreme concern when a political party receives a large loan from a group with money in its coffers, because that group might be pushing certain ideas. Will the candidate feel inclined to promote these ideas because he received a large loan from the group?

Smaller groups with limited financial resources may not be able to give loans, which really puts some groups at a disadvantage. But this practice is still allowed, even though it is unethical and the House should not be using or promoting it.

I am happy to see that some measures are being put forward aimed at restricting and eliminating the possibility that entities will give loans to political parties or candidates.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I commend my dear colleague for the views she expressed.

In keeping with the legacy of our former leader, Jack Layton, should we also mention how important it is to be optimistic about our parliamentary work and to strive to restore politics' noble reputation, especially among young people?

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

Mr. Speaker, indeed, it is very important to get young people involved in politics in general. We need to give them the assurance that their voice counts and encourage them to vote.

As I explained earlier, given all the negative events and the fraud that is happening left and right, young people are clearly not inclined to go and vote, as they wonder whether these people really represent them.

As parliamentarians and elected representatives of our ridings, we have a responsibility to put forward initiatives like these to combat the existing cynicism.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, this is a complex issue. As my colleague said, we support the bill at second reading and want to see it go to committee.

There is one issue that we will have to examine closely, and that is whether there will still be loopholes that would allow people to get around the rules, even though the bill indicates that it would tighten up the issue around loans.

Would the member comment on that and the important work that probably needs to be done on the legislation? The committee will need to look at it very carefully.

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe this deserves a thorough study in committee, partly because of the issue with financial institutions. Will some institutions be more likely to give loans to some parties rather than others depending on how the party's position favours financial institutions? That issue deserves an indepth study.

As we have seen, there have been accusations, and that fact does bother some people. Without a doubt, if the manager of a business with 10 staff members asks each of them to donate the maximum amount to a specific political party, it would be extremely alarming.

We need to examine such behaviours and find ways to address them. I believe that if we were to study this bill and look for ways to go even further, it would be the ideal approach for citizens and for a better representation.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-21, which would amend the provisions of the Canada Elections Act that affects loans and guarantees to political entities, whether registered parties, registered associations, candidates, leadership contestants or nomination contestants.

I am splitting my time with the member for Québec.

It is an important bill and, as I said earlier, it is a complex issue. We should recognize that when people run for leadership for a political party, it is a huge undertaking financially and in terms of a political commitment to their family, community, party and the country. It is easy to focus on some of the problems that occur, and there are problems, and that is why the bill has come forward. We should also remember the enormous sacrifice that people make, no matter what party, when they decide to run for the leadership.

The NDP just went through a leadership race. It was an incredible democratic process. We had hundreds of thousands of Canadians engaged in that process, culminating in the election of our new leader from Outremont.

When we went to the candidate meetings or had interaction with the candidates, our party could see how incredibly hard-working they were and the time and energy everybody put into their campaign teams.

We need to recognize that because politics gets such a bad name. People feel cynical and it is partly because of financial issues. Bills like this one tend to reinforce the negative side. Therefore, let us also be positive and celebrate the fact that individuals make this commitment to give that kind of public service. I wanted to begin my remarks with that because it needs to be said.

We support the bill at second reading. There will be a general rule that loans and guarantees to political entities are prohibited. There are exceptions to that. Financial institutions can give loans to political entities at a market interest rate and in writing, so that is a very clear, transparent thing. Individuals can as well, as long as they respect the limit under the act, which, as of January, was I believe $1,200, and as long as the loans are repaid, a very key point, within the calendar year or guarantees for which an individual is no longer liable in the calendar year will not be taken into consideration for an individual's contribution, loan and guarantee limit.

Finally, one of the three exceptions is that political parties or associations can make loans or stand surety for loans to a candidate or an association as long as it is in writing. There are some very clear rules.

Just by way of background, I was in Parliament in 2003 when the original bill, and I do not remember the name of it but it was under the Jean Chrétien government, came forward and reformed political financing. It sought to limit the donations to political entities from private individuals and legal persons, but at that time it did not limit political loans.

That was very important legislation and it did create a benchmark to ensure that Canadian political process and running in an election and so on was fair. It was a very historic.

I would compare us with the United States where there is virtually no rules. An individual has to raise millions and millions of dollars. Most of us could never run in the U.S. We simply would be unable to raise the kind of money as progressive people taking strong stands. We would never get all the lobbyists and so on. I always think about the situation in the U.S. where it is so much controlled by big lobbyists and big financial contributions. Therefore, the bill introduced in 2003 was very important.

In 2006 the Federal Accountability Act was the first legislation introduced by the Conservative government, and the NDP was very instrumental. I remember the member for Winnipeg Centre worked very hard with the minister at the time. That also was an important act, which lowered the maximum annual limit from $5,000 to $1,000, but it did not address the issue of political loans.

It is curious that in both 2003 and 2006, neither of those pieces of legislation from two different governments and two different political parties dealt with the question of political loans. I would like to put on the record that the NDP has always been in favour of limiting what we would characterize as the influence of third parties, both on political parties and during leadership contests.

It seems to me that the principle here is to ensure that there is transparency, that there are clear rules, that there are not ways to get around the rules and make oneself a loan or have someone make a loan that we know would never be repayable. Our party has always had an understanding, support, and advocacy for this kind of principle in favour of limiting the influence of third parties. This is why we are supporting the bill.

I would go further and say that Ed Broadbent, the former member for Ottawa Centre, former leader of the NDP, and a very well-known member of Parliament, made an enormous contribution in his time serving the House. He put forward a platform that called for transparency, clear rules, cleaning up politics for stronger accountability, and financing rules for leadership contests. That is what we are also talking about today. Sometimes we forget these things, so it is good to put on the record the work of a former colleague who really did make a difference and who espoused these principles of fairness, transparency, and accountability. I want to give kudos to Mr. Ed Broadbent for doing that.

When we debated the accountability act in 2006, we were very clear that it should have included provisions on political loans. We deplored the fact that it was silent on this matter. Again, the member for Winnipeg Centre did an enormous amount of work. We ended up agreeing as far as the bill went that we would support it, but we always believed that it should go further.

Here we are today in 2012. The bill before us has had quite a history and has already been hanging around for almost a year. It was previously Bill C-19 and C-29. It has had various versions, and here it is being debated today. I think it was the government House leader who said earlier that the government would push and convince all the opposition parties to deal with the bill. Quite clearly, for us in the NDP, we have always supported these kinds of measures and we will support the bill in principle.

I want to end on this note. This is a very complex issue. One has to really go through this stuff with a fine-tooth comb and see whether or not there are loopholes. I hope that when it gets to the committee, its members will almost look at it from a negative point of view, from the point of view of how someone can get around it. We need to ask ourselves that question to ensure that the bill is sufficient and adequate and covers the principles that it espouses. I am glad that we are supporting the bill and look forward to it being at committee.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I first want to tell my colleague that I really enjoyed her insightful speech. It is also interesting to hear a member who has been in the House for some time and who still talks about how people feel when they witness a certain cynicism about politics. They sometimes feel like no one is listening to them.

I would like the member to comment on what an expert, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, had to say. Obviously, this is someone who knows what he is talking about. Marc Mayrand said it was impossible to enforce the law on political loans at this time, because it is overly complex, incoherent and ineffective.

I think there is a link between his comments and my colleague's speech. I would like her comments on this, namely on the importance of listening to what people in the field have to say about this.