Debates of Oct. 24th, 2013

Bill C-4—Time Allocation Motion

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this budget will help small and medium-size business. We have helped create over a million jobs. Granted they were created by small and medium-size business, but we have put measures in place to help build jobs.

The NDP, the no development party, across the way does not understand that. Its members seem to believe that jobs just come and go. When we sit and listen to them, it seems they are almost as satisfied if the jobs go. Therefore, we want to put in place measures that will help small and medium-size businesses create jobs. They are doing a pretty good job of it. Out of all the industrialized countries in the G7 and G8, the most optimism is with respect to this country. That is because we have put measures in place. We have come forward with the budget, half of it in the spring and the other in the fall, which includes measures such as the lifetime capital gains exemption. People are even contacting those MPs about the importance of this legislation.

Let us move this to debate. A filibuster is not debate. I never said that. I said that what happened in committee was filibuster. This is not anywhere on the same level. We want four or five days of debate on this budget. Anyone across the way who wants to speak will have ample opportunity.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, apart from the habit of calling for time allocation, and this is about the 50th time since the Conservatives have had the majority government, there is another undemocratic process that occurs every time one of these budget implementation bills comes forward. The last two both exceeded 400 pages. This one has about 308 pages and involves much more than budget-related issues. It talks about labour relations with the public service. It talks about procedures for deciding whether a lawyer from Quebec is qualified to be on the Supreme Court. These are all issues that should be dealt with but should be treated as separate bills to allow democracy to flourish in the House of Commons. That way we can treat each of these very separate issues separately instead of bundling them all into one single vote wherein, if we disagree with one aspect of it, we still have very little choice in terms of being squeezed because, unless we vote for it, the government will say we are against the entire bill, which is patently ludicrous.

Why is the government continuing this process of having these mammoth omnibus bills?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member is talking about the scope of this bill.

It has been common practice in the House to include various measures in a budget and the subsequent budget implementation act. That is nothing new, nor was it new in past parliaments and past governments. It is not groundbreaking. It simply reflects the essential and important role of a budget to a government's agenda.

What constitutes a budgetary item is traditionally very broad. In 2005, the former Liberal government brought in Bill C-43, one of three budgets it brought in that year. Bill C-43, which was introduced in the 38th Parliament, amended dozens of different pieces of legislation. Part of what the Liberals legislated in Bill C-43 was the Auditor General Act, the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada Act, the Broadcasting Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. There were 15 or 20 different acts.

It is common. The Liberal government has done it. Other governments do it. In some of these cases, it is to shepherd or move certain pieces of legislation through in an expedited fashion.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, the minister said in his comments that our government has created many jobs in this country through our economic action plan. We know that job creation will create long-term prosperity in Canada for all Canadians.

In Newmarket—Aurora, I have chambers of commerce that are very active, and they are made up of a multitude of small and medium-sized businesses.

We put in place the hiring credit for small business. I wonder if the minister could speak to that and what that means for job generation across this country, in Newmarket—Aurora, and in his own riding.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, two and a half years ago Canadians elected this Conservative government. They elected it because they wanted the government to help put in place policies that would guide the Canadian economy through some very turbulent waters.

The government came forward with a number of plans, including Canada's economic action plan and infrastructure plans. We came forward with plan after plan. According to every international group, it succeeded. The level of optimism here in Canada is high.

Around the world, people recognize that Canada is one of the best places to do business, so what is this plan? Is it simply to spend money on infrastructure? No. The member brought forward the hiring credit and some other very good policy we have put in place. We saw unemployment rise far too high, so we came forward with a number of different measures, including the job grant and before that the hiring credit, that would give small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to use a credit if they created another position on EI.

That is part of the plan. It is not “the” plan for the economy; it is a very small part of the plan. However, it allows small businesses to move forward, and if they need that extra little nudge, that extra little push into expanding their businesses in this tough time, they have to take some risk, but at least there is a measure that will be a little bit of an incentive to hire another person.

When that individual is hired, it is a job, it means food on the table at home, and it means that the economy expands and grows.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has stifled debate over 50 times. The prorogation of Parliament was an all-out attack on democracy. What is more, at the last minute, the Conservatives added clause 471 to Division 19. According to this clause, “a person may be appointed a judge if, at any time, they were a barrister or advocate of at least 10 years standing at the bar of [the Province of Quebec]”.

The Conservatives have one person in mind and are including this clause in an omnibus bill so that they can appoint that person. My question is this: is this what the government calls standing up for all Canadians, all 35 million of them? The law clearly states that three positions are reserved for Quebeckers. Quebec judges are competent enough that we can find some there to appoint.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member from Quebec brings out one very small part and asks why it is in the budget implementation act.

We believe this matter needs to be resolved quickly, and this is probably one of the best ways to move it through the House quickly. If we could pass this measure unanimously right now, I would certainly be in favour, but I do not think it is possible for that to happen in the House right now. That is why the budget implementation act was the earliest and quickest way to resolve the matter. The member asked about that one part, and that is the answer.

However, let me say that it is a very small line in a 308-page document. In the past budget implementation, we delivered on our commitment. That is why Canada is positioned the way it is. That is why it is recognized around the world that we have the best Minister of Finance in the world sitting right here, the member for Whitby—Oshawa. We have a Prime Minister who understands the economy and is keeping a steady hand on the wheel.

I am pleased to say that we have been making the right choices for Canadians, for families, for employees, for employers, and for communities. Much more of that legislation is found right here within the budget implementation act no. 2.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it was not a question of whether the government was going to move another time allocation motion but when it would do so. The Conservatives likely would have moved these time allocation motions sooner had they not shut down Parliament for four weeks—four weeks when Parliament should have been in session, four weeks that we could have used to discuss various issues that many of my colleagues have listed one by one. Obviously, we are wondering why these issues are being addressed in the budget implementation bill.

For example, the bill takes away public servants' right to strike. The Conservatives put this measure in a massive, omnibus bill that is over 300 pages long. The Conservatives are finally eliminating the tax credit for labour-sponsored funds, a measure that they were so proud to announce and something that constitutes a direct attack on Quebec's economy. The hon. member just spoke about the appointment of Justice Nadon, even though her own party was part of a committee that supported that appointment. They now realize that they made a mistake. A Supreme Court justice was appointed in an unlawful and unfair way and now the Conservatives are trying to remedy that by slipping three or four lines into a megabill. What is more, the Conservatives are following the Liberals' example by continuing to pillage the employment insurance fund. This time, they will be taking $2 billion. That is also in the omnibus bill.

What do the Conservatives have to hide? Why are they hiding these measures in this bill and why do they not want to debate it? After debate, we could vote on these measures democratically.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member talked about a number of measures there, and he asked a lot of questions.

Although this bill has been talked about in the House in earlier debate, I am not certain if freezing the EI rates for three years, which is part of what this bill would do, was in the throne speech or not. That measure would give certainty and take away risk. Knowing what it is going to do would give certainty to employers across the country.

They like to call it payroll taxes. We have said that we are not going to raise those. There are those who have suggested raising this payroll tax and that payroll tax and raising taxes in general; we have said that the climate of the economy right now is not one in which we want to raise taxes.

When I travel around my constituency and across Canada, I do not meet any Canadians who say that they would love to send Ottawa more money. They do not believe in the tax, whether it is through income tax, corporate tax, or their $21 billion carbon tax. Canadians are saying that we need to build the economy. It is not going to be built by clobbering them with another tax.

The member talked about some labour issues. There is the labour code and there are labour relations issues. Some of those are included as well. They are a big part of the economy and they are going to be in the budget. You will have the opportunity to debate those issues at that time.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I would request all members to direct their comments to the Chair and not to individual members.

We will have the hon. member for Malpeque with a very short question, please. We are almost out of time.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the minister said that the budget is important to the government agenda. Yes, we agree with that. Of course it is important.

However, it is important for democracy and for Canadians to debate and analyze various issues separately and apart from others. I could take the last point the minister raised on EI. He claimed that they are going to freeze EI rates under this particular bill. Will there be enough time to analyze that issue on its own?

We know the reason rates have been frozen: it is because there ended up being a bigger return on EI than the Minister of Finance originally figured there would be. The reason for that is that the attacks the Conservatives made on seasonal industries in the last budget have driven people off employment insurance, so the program is not available to them as it should be. That issue needs a full debate, and the Conservative government, with its omnibus bill, is denying those kinds of debate.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think the former Liberal cabinet minister understands the situation.

He talks about not having enough time to debate. There is more time for debate on this budget bill than there has been in the last 20 years. It is longer than any debate on a Liberal budget under their majority governments. Those are the facts.

There are five days of debate on a budget in the fall. This minister makes it sound as though we are cutting this thing very short, but it is longer than they allowed the Parliament of Canada in their majority government.

The aim of today's motion is to provide certainty to the House and to the finance committee so that they can move forward with their plans. In terms of debate, it moves from being debated here to being studied and debated in the finance committee. Then it comes back and then it goes forward again. There will be ample debate on this bill.

I encourage the member to read it and to stand in the House and debate it when the debate is fully under way.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

It is now my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith the question necessary to dispose of the motion now before the House.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

[Some hon. members]

Yea.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

All those opposed will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #5

Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I declare the motion carried.

I wish to inform the House that because of the proceedings on the time allocation motion, government orders will be extended by 30 minutes.

The House resumed from October 23 consideration of the motion that Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures, and of the amendment, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Second Reading

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for York Centre has the floor, and he has 17 minutes left to conclude his remarks.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying yesterday, Canada's fiscal fundamentals are strong, and they are sustainable. However, to truly understand the strength behind this performance, one has to consider the hard work that took place long before through actions our government took to pay down debt, lower taxes, reduce red tape, and promote free trade and innovation. Most importantly, our government paid down significant amounts of debt when times were good and has kept our debt-to-GDP ratio well below that of our G7 counterparts. As a result, when the recession hit, we had the fiscal room necessary to respond, unlike other nations that were forced to pile vast amounts of unaffordable new debt onto old. We kept our promises to the Canadian people.

We took action to keep taxes low for Canadian families and businesses. For example, our government cut the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%. We created tax free savings accounts, which now benefit more than eight million Canadians. We established a $5,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers. We reduced the lowest personal income tax rate and increased the basic personal exemption. We introduced income splitting for seniors and brought in arts and fitness tax credits for our children. We lowered the small business tax rate to 11%, and more.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

Order. The member is about 10 feet away from me, and I cannot hear him because of the noise in this House. If members want to carry on a conversation, leave the chamber. Take it outside.

Resuming debate.