Debates of Nov. 27th, 2013

Food Safety

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's report is clear. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency does not appropriately manage the food recall system.

The agency does not have the means to verify whether companies affected by a recall of contaminated food have appropriately disposed of the recalled products.

How much money has been or will be allocated to ensure that the agency has the necessary resources to appropriately follow up on recalled food?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, what the Auditor General said is that the food recall system effectively removes unsafe food from the marketplace and quickly warns consumers so they are not purchasing unsafe food and taking it home to feed their families. That is what is most important for consumers.

In terms of the Auditor General's recommendations, we have already been working on all of them. Many of them are administrative including, in respect to the XL Foods recall, ensuring we have tough penalties on businesses that do not share the right information with CFIA inspectors when they need it, and we are acting on that.

Rail Transportation

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government's pitiful management of safety does not stop with food safety.

The Auditor General showed just how many problems there are with railway safety. We are not talking about an isolated problem. There are not enough inspectors and no follow-up when problems arise. What is more, the Conservatives are not taking into account how much risk is involved when it comes time to decide what needs to be inspected.

What practical measures is the minister going to take to immediately correct these problems?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, this is the government that actions itself very accordingly when it comes to rail safety. We have issued emergency directives and protective directives as well. We work very hard on rail safety. We have invested over $100 million. The Auditor General has made recommendations. Transport Canada has a plan to implement these, and we will be monitoring the implementation.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives should stop protecting their insider friends and start protecting Canadians on rail safety. The 2011 Auditor General's report found a long list of safety problems around the transportation of dangerous goods. These problems were flagged in 2006. It is now 2013, seven years later, and it is still all talk, all promises, and no delivery.

When will the government listen to the Auditor General and start protecting Canadians?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we have invested in rail safety in this government: over $100 million. We have increased the number of inspectors, and indeed last year the number of inspections was 30,000, the highest ever in this rail safety directorate. We are getting the job done.

More important, we are firmly on the side of Canadians. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities absolutely gets that, and I value its partnership.

Infrastructure

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives love to issue press releases singing their own praises rather than providing municipal partners with the tools they need to repair crumbling bridges, roads, and sewers. The building Canada program, announced with great fanfare, is still nothing more than a sound bite. Municipalities know this, and as they set their budget priorities, they need details, not another vague phantom Conservative program. Spin and rhetoric do not fill potholes, nor do they build transit.

When are the Conservatives going to start treating municipalities like real partners rather than the pawns that they continue to treat them as every day?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, the premise of that question is completely false.

Never in Canadian history have the municipalities had such a good partner as our government, which invested $30 billion in the building Canada fund. We have worked all along with municipalities, and we will continue to do so with the new building Canada plan.

Employment Insurance

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, information provided in the P.E.I. legislature yesterday showed P.E.I. had a net loss of 1,100 people to out-migration, the highest number in 30 years. Why? It is because of the Conservative government's changes to employment insurance, which are an attack on the seasonal industries and seasonal workers, yet the regional minister allowed that young people should move away for better lives.

Why does the minister think it is okay for P.E.I. to lose its youth and split families asunder, and why does the minister champion policies that force islanders to leave?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism]

Mr. Speaker, that demagoguery was complete unadulterated nonsense. Not one person has to leave P.E.I. in order to search for available work to qualify for EI, not one single person. In fact, our statistics show that fewer than 1% of applicants for EI have not qualified for benefits as a result of the changes this government has made. To the contrary, employers in Atlantic Canada are finding more people working in their communities so we do not have to bring in temporary foreign workers for the jobs that are available.

The member should apologize for this campaign of fear that he is—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for York South—Weston.

Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, as the Conservatives allow the long-term housing agreements to expire, up to $1.7 billion in annual funding for housing will be lost. Low-income Canadians will bear the brunt of these cuts. They will no longer be able to afford to pay their rents when the rent-geared-to-income programs end.

With housing costs at an all-time high, why is the minister allowing the funding to expire?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, this government has invested more in affordable housing than any other government. We are working together with our partners, the provinces and the municipalities. We are providing the funding, but working together with them, we are providing housing for over 880,000 individuals and families.

Do you know what else we are doing, Mr. Speaker? We are helping vulnerable Canadians to get out of the situation of vulnerability by creating jobs and opportunity, by giving them skills through our youth employment strategy, our aboriginal training programs and our opportunities funds to help people with disabilities, so they can afford housing in their regions.

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

Mr. Speaker, the last time that new funding was allocated to social housing, Jack Layton had to wrest it from the hands of the Liberals, and they are going to vote against it.

Housing advocates are here today with FRAPRU to ask the Conservatives to make sure that there is adequate funding for social housing.

My motion, Motion No. 450, calls for the renewal of social housing operating agreements.

Will the Conservatives support my motion and will they commit to providing adequate, long-term funding for social housing stock?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, that member knows what she said is completely false. We have renewed our investment in affordable housing; we provided $2 billion in previous investments for social housing, as well as our investment in our homelessness partnering strategy, with a focus on housing first, which is an evidence-based model. Experts across the country, programs across the country, and community groups are praising our efforts. The investments we made to actually produce results, to help those individuals who are vulnerable get into homes, to get help, whether it is for their addictions or mental health issues, so that they can get—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for York Centre.

International Co-operation

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as a Canadian, I am very proud of other Canadians and this government for quickly coming to the aid of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

In fact, our government first responded with $5 million in cash and quickly increased that to $20 million. We sent the DART team immediately and set up a first aid station in the Philippines. We have also included matching funds for those dollars that are committed by individuals.

Can the parliamentary secretary please update this House with respect to the minister's announcement this morning?

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister has seen the effects of the devastation in the Philippines. He has witnessed the resolve of the Filipino people and the work being done because of Canadian contributions.

The minister decided that Canada can do more. I am pleased to confirm that our government is extending the Typhoon Haiyan matching fund deadline to December 23. As we approach this season of giving, I encourage Canadians to continue to donate generously to registered Canadian charities.

Canadians are making a difference.

Government Communications

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are using $200,000 of taxpayers' money to erase the title of “Government of Canada” from the public domain and replace it with a term that the Speaker and this House would find offensive.

Sending out 2,600 government press releases that refer to the federal government in a manner that is in violation of Treasury Board policy is also something that is offensive.

Will Conservatives commit to stop using taxpayers' money to rename the Government of Canada with such an offensive term as “the Harper Government”?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. I see the hon. President of the Treasury Board is rising to answer the question, but I think the hon. member for Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte may find it difficult to get recognized in the House for a little while.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, this certainly is an interesting turn of events. I will answer the question.

The hon. member knows, or should know, that it is a long-standing practice across various governments to have such nomenclature. A simple check of online archives shows that the terms “Chrétien government”, “Martin government”, and similar variations appear in official government communications by various governments.

In fact, journalists, if I may be so bold as to reference them in this chamber, the public, and in fact the Liberal Party itself use these official terms, including on the Liberal Party website.

There is no harm done, no foul.

Government Accountability

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the Auditor General's repeated recommendations since 2011, the internal financial reporting in seven departments remains inadequate. Not only is it inadequate, but the Conservatives are so far behind that it will take years for the recommendations to be implemented, if they are ever implemented at all.

Why do the Conservatives flatly refuse to be transparent when it comes to financial reporting? What are they afraid of?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, that is completely false. The Treasury Board Secretariat and all departments that have been audited have accepted all of the Auditor General's recommendations.

This question refers to the audits of the financial controls in place in the departments. Under the Federal Accountability Act, our government created departmental audit committees, which provide objective advice about the quality and functioning of the departments' control and governance processes.