Debates of Oct. 24th, 2013

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I have the honour to lay upon the table the audit report of the Privacy Commissioner concerning the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

Offshore Health and Safety Act

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Halton, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Elimination of Partisan Government Advertising Act

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-544, An Act to amend the Auditor General Act (government advertising).

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to introduce my private member's bill, the elimination of partisan government advertising act. It would amend the Auditor General Act to appoint an advertising commissioner to oversee government spending on advertising. It is time to bring Canada's advertising rules into the 21st century. The appointment of an advertising commissioner would provide accountability for all Canadians.

I call on my colleagues from all sides of the House to support this bill and work with me to eliminate partisan government advertising.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to move the following motion: That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, clauses 471 and 472 related to the appointment of Supreme Court justices be withdrawn from Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures, and do compose Bill C-6; that Bill C-6 be deemed read a first time and be printed; that the order for second reading of the said bill provide for the referral to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights; that Bill C-4 retain the status on the order paper that it had prior to the adoption of this order; that Bill C-4 be reprinted as amended; and that the law clerk and parliamentary counsel be authorized to make any technical changes and corrections as may be necessary to give effect to this motion.

You understand, Mr. Speaker, that it is important that this motion be adopted unanimously. The government has found itself in a predicament over the appointment of Justice Nadon. What is more, yesterday we found out that the Government of Quebec is challenging the reference to the Supreme Court of Canada, the government's assumption that it can proceed in such a way and the two provisions included in the mammoth bill. I think that this is an important debate, one that cannot simply be relegated to a footnote at the end of a budget bill.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

The Environment

[Mike Sullivan, NDP, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table petitions signed by my constituents calling on the government to protect Canada's lakes and rivers, including the Humber River in my riding.

CBC/Radio-Canada

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to rise today to present two petitions. The first is from residents in my riding, Brentwood Bay, Saanich and throughout Saanich to the Gulf Islands. The petitioners are calling for full and stable funding and protection for our national broadcaster, the CBC.

I am also presenting a similar petition from residents throughout other areas of British Columbia as well as Saskatchewan.

VIA Rail

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition signed by nearly 2,000 people for the government's consideration regarding the cuts announced by VIA Rail. These cuts will have a negative impact on users of the train stations in Haut-Saint-Maurice, in terms of both passenger services to remote communities and services to our communities.

It is also important to consider the consequences in terms of job losses and reduced services offered in the train stations in Haut-Saint-Maurice.

Visitor Visas

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow I am going to the funeral of a very good family friend of many years. This petition highlights what I believe is a concern all members of Parliament have. It calls upon the House of Commons to recognize the importance of families and to take the action needed to ensure that those who want to visit family in Canada be given extra consideration when applying for visitor visas. The petition makes reference to allowances for things such as funerals.

The funeral I am going to tomorrow is a good example. The brother of the deceased has been denied the opportunity to come to Canada. The petition deals with allowing family members to come to Canada to participate in funerals, weddings, and other types of celebrations.

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 Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Bill C-4—Time Allocation Motion

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

moved:

That, in relation to Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures, not more than four further sitting days shall be allotted to the consideration at second reading stage of this Bill; and

That, 15 minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the fourth day allotted to the consideration at second reading stage of the said Bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and, in turn, every question necessary for the disposal of the said stage of the Bill shall be put forthwith and successfully, without further debate or amendment.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Pursuant to Standing Order 67(1), there will now be a 30-minute question period. We will try to keep questions to a minute and responses to a similar length. That way we can accommodate as many members as possible.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, here we are again in a question period allocated once the government has invoked shutting down debate, closure. This is, I believe, the 50th time. The government likes these round numbers.

Here is the interesting moment when it is using the guillotine on debate on this particular bill. The government does not seem to comprehend the idea of what yes means.

The government comes to the opposition and asks how many days we would like to debate this bill. We say about this, and it says okay, and the very next thing it does is shut down debate. It is absolutely confusing and confounding to anybody who studies parliaments and how they are meant to work. There are some terms of negotiation and going back and forth on how many speakers are needed.

This is a 300-page bill with many hundreds of amendments. However, we agreed with the government. We said that about this many days would be fine, but it cannot take yes for an answer. It says that it is going to shut down debate anyway, and here it is, and this is when it is going to be.

Never mind when we get into the details of the bill, as my colleague from Gatineau attempted to do previously, to take out a section. This is supposed to be a bill on the budget. What is in there? It includes how we nominate Supreme Court justices. That makes perfect sense to the economy. That is a crucial economic factor, how a judge gets nominated from one bench or another to the Supreme Court.

This morning we suggested taking out that entirely separate question so that MPs from all sides could ask questions about it and then have a free and fair vote on it. “No, no, no”, says the government. “It has to be an omnibus motion”.

The confusion for the opposition and for Canadians is the intransigence of the government, their taking what was the exception, which is to shut down debate in an undemocratic way, which Conservatives used to hate, by the way, when they were in opposition, and making it the norm for everything.

It does not matter the topic. It does not matter the willingness of the opposition to try to work with the government to get something done for Canadians. That does not matter. The complexity of the bill does not matter. The intention of the bill does not matter.

All the government has in its toolbox is a hammer, and then everything starts to look like a nail. Again and again, it shuts down the House of Commons. Again and again, it prorogues Parliament. Again and again, it has stuffed the Senate with its friends and buddies. All of these shortcuts are a pattern language, and the pattern language is a government that finds democracy inconvenient and that finds debate quarrelsome and a hassle for their agenda.

The fact of the matter is that we live in a free and fair democratic society, and that means that we have conversations. We have debate. Canadians want this place opened up, not shut down. Time and again, the Conservative government has not spoken to those values. It has spoken completely counter to those values for the convenience of this Prime Minister. Well, it is all catching up to him.

Specifically to the government, why the need to simply say no, when we said yes? Why the need to shut down debate we had already agreed to? Why the need to continue to invoke these closure motions, these guillotines on debate, when there simply is not a call for it? That is a simple question I am sure the government is able to understand and answer this morning.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, there were not a lot of questions in the member's minute or two. He used language like “guillotine” and other things that are really not anywhere close to what is happening.

The member would have the public believe that these are extraordinary measures. We had the budget in the spring. This budget implementation bill is the second part of it. It is very important that we move this through the House. We give ample time to debate it in the House. The member did not argue that we were not giving ample time. He argued that we were closing it down after an agreement with the NDP. I have seen agreements with New Democratic Party before.

We are doing this to move the bill to committee. We all need to understand the importance of the fragility of this economy. Certainly this budget debate is going to allow this to be passed. That is what Canadians are looking for.

Canada's economic action plan 2013 is the next step to helping create an environment in which jobs can be created, very simply. The member is asking why we are pushing this through. Far too many people across this country today still do not have work, although we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the industrialized world. We watched it drop from 7.1% to 6.9%. Still, security and the confidence of the economy in passing this bill is an important step.

Canadians are waiting for things that are in this bill. They are waiting for the different measures that will be brought forward in the second part of the economic action plan. We are here today. We want to move as quickly as possible into debate and then get this to committee.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I did allow extra time for that first exchange, but I would again draw to the attention of the House the comments from the Speaker that each question should be for one minute and the response for one minute.

Resuming questions, the hon. member for Winnipeg North.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we have a Prime Minister who has a different style: bringing in huge, massive budget implementation bills. This is unprecedented. No other prime minister in the history of Canada has attempted to bring in so much legislation through the back door of budget legislation. Not only does he have the tenacity to continue to bring this stuff forward, but today we again have closure on a budget bill that does a lot more than implement budget measures, all done through the back door.

On this particular time allocation, it is important to note that the briefing for Bill C-4 took place last night, while the government House leader introduced time allocation in the afternoon. He brought in time allocation prior to the briefing on the bill.

For the government House leader, why would he bring in time allocation even before the briefing on this massive, backdoor budget legislation that has been introduced to the House?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the fact remains that time allocation is generally moved many times. Debate is cut short, very short, in minority governments. In this debate that could go on forever, we are allowing more time than Liberal governments allowed when they were in a majority government. We have had one day of debate already, and another four days of debate will give ample opportunity for members from all parties to stand and debate the issues in this bill. There are many very good points in the bill.

Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of Canada said that growth is not as robust as initially expected; so there are many different measures brought forward in the bill that will help create jobs; many measures in the bill that are exactly what job creators are asking for. It is important to realize that we have created over a million net new jobs, but there are many more who still need to be working. Let us put these things into the budget, pass it and move on.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, my question is in terms of what Canadians want and what the minister has heard Canadians say around the budget implementation. The minister was in my riding in the Yukon territory recently, and he has referred to some of the budgetary measures that are important to Canadian groups and organizations that are waiting across Canada to deploy the services they provide that are valuable to Canadians. They are waiting for these investments to be rolled out so they can do the great work that we expect of them and that they want to do on behalf of all Canadians.

The five days of debate that has been allotted—in fact, record levels—is reasonable, and I take umbrage with the comment made by the Liberal member who said the legislation is being passed through the back door. In fact, our government has passed a record level of private members' bills, more than any other government in history. That is a great record.

Could the minister comment on some of the things he heard from our groups and organizations in the Yukon territory and in his riding about what they want to deploy for Canadians?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this summer I was very pleased to travel to the member's riding and into the Yukon and Whitehorse to meet with the chamber of commerce and business folks from there. I was encouraged with the level of optimism there. They understood that the economic action plan was working not only for the Government of Canada; it was working for them, for Canadians and for families. The infrastructure programs were not just helping to put people to work, although that was a mandate and a priority for the government; they saw that infrastructure programs were leading to increased commerce and growth in the economy.

The level of optimism is not only in the Yukon; it is across the country. That is because Canadians realize that this government has a plan. Part of the opposition's concern is that we are trying to implement the plan. Yes, we want this plan to go forward because it affects Canadians.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since Parliament returned, only four days ago, we keep hearing the same old story.

Yesterday I was at the presentation on this bill and we stayed until 11 p.m., and even later. The day before, there was a problem, because the presentation had not been translated and given in both languages.

It is important to realize that we do not have the time—and I will use these terms as a metaphor coloured by my professional training—to swallow or digest everything that is contained in this omnibus bill, which is becoming the Conservatives' typical way of doing things.

My question is to my colleague on the other side of the House. How does he think he can do his job? Is he working for all Canadians? We are the opposition, especially in the NDP, and we represent our constituents because they trusted us to stand up for them and put forward their suggestions and wishes.

However, given the usual practices of the Conservative government, we cannot do anything. This is undemocratic. I hope he will learn a few lessons from the first session of this Parliament.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the member's question, which really was not a question. However, the New Democratic Party is the party of filibustering.

We have sat through a number of minority governments. I have had the privilege of chairing the foreign affairs, Afghanistan, public safety and national security committees. Except in the last Parliament—working together, things had been working better—the filibuster party across the way has made every step almost impossible in those minority governments.

This is not that type of thing. This is a measure to implement the budget, to implement the plan. It is a plan that, again, extends and expands the hiring credit for small business.

I was asked earlier what I heard in the Yukon. Well, I heard in the Yukon what I heard all across the country. Measures like the hiring credit are imperative for us to create other positions in our businesses. It is imperative for us to expand our businesses. This budget allows for that type of legislation to be implemented.

The passage of this budget, BIA 2, that we are discussing right now would allow it to move to committee where it could be discussed, debated and studied, and then return here and be passed. There are many more good measures in this budget that Canadians, their families and small and medium sized businesses are requesting out of this government. It is very important that we move on this quickly, that we finish the debate, that we pass this very important legislation and implement the good measures that are in it.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am a little stunned to hear my hon. colleague from Alberta across the way, who ran on a platform to rid Parliament of the Liberals, a platform of open, transparent and participatory government, while every move the Conservatives have made has removed those promises from the way they govern.

I am a little stunned to hear the hon. parliamentary secretary say that debate in Parliament is a filibuster. We simply want the opportunity to debate a budget bill. That is our primary responsibility. It is to hold the government accountable on spending. That is why people elect us to come to the House of Commons.

We have to remember that only 38% of citizens elected the current government. The remainder elected us, the opposition, to hold the government accountable on spending. We are simply doing our due diligence.

I guess it has gone from bad to worse. I find it absolutely stunning that not only are the Conservatives now invoking closure so early in this very important debate, which frankly is a lot about law and policy and not just monetary measures, but in fact they did not even have a briefing because they did not have interpretation on the first day.

So here we are doing our best to have a cogent debate on a bill, and the Conservatives are not assisting members of Parliament whatsoever.