Debates of Nov. 28th, 2013

Government Contracts

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important question, which was already raised this morning during a senate committee meeting. It seems as though a key witness was prevented from testifying.

However, as he knows, he is free to raise this question with a motion during a parliamentary committee meeting if he wants.

As chair of the committee, I work for the committee and I will examine whether the motion is in order and is in line with the Standing Orders of the House of Commons and the committee's mandate.

He is free to raise that question in committee. That is when I will decide whether it is in order. Then, it will be up to the committee to decide what to do with it, as usual. I work for the committee.

Ethics

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Natural Resources stated, “I do not question the conduct of my chief of staff”. Chris Woodcock's misconduct includes: not disclosing his knowledge that Nigel Wright gave Senator Duffy $90,000, an action the RCMP considers criminal; taking part in the whitewash of a Senate report; and taking part in a cover-up.

Let us give the minister a mulligan. Does he really not question the conduct of his chief of staff, Chris Woodcock?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP documents quite clearly state that Mr. Woodcock is not the subject of an investigation.

I would ask the hon. member if he could turn behind him and ask the member for Kings—Hants if the behaviour he showed during the income trust was acceptable. The member for Wascana does not seem to think it was, so by that same standard, I wonder if he will be looking for the resignations of the member for Kings—Hants and the member for Wascana.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP states that Patrick Rogers directed Senator Duffy not to co-operate with the Deloitte audit, worked with Senator Gerstein to get him to call Deloitte and seek to obstruct the audit, and ordered Senator Stewart Olsen to whitewash a Senate report.

How does the Minister of Canadian Heritage, a former police officer, keep Mr. Rogers as her policy director, given the appalling evidence released by the RCMP?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, unlike a number of the members in the Liberal caucus, Mr. Rogers is not under investigation. The RCMP quite clearly state that they are investigating Nigel Wright and Senator Duffy, Senator Duffy for accepting payments that he did not incur, and Nigel Wright for repaying those expenses.

That was inappropriate. It was also inappropriate how hard the Liberals fought against the repayment of that and against accountability for these three senators, constantly fighting for the status quo, which includes the status quo in their caucus.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today it was confirmed in the Senate that what the RCMP has been saying is true. Senator Gerstein had secret conversations with Mike Runia, in order to stand in the way of justice in the Duffy affair. That is a very serious accusation.

Why did the government order Conservative senators to prevent Runia and Gerstein from giving an explanation?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what Deloitte confirmed was that in the process of doing this audit, the utmost in confidentiality was maintained at all times. When faced with the result of the audit, of course we know that the Liberals fought very hard to maintain the status quo in the Senate.

In contrast, the Conservatives in the Senate brought forward accountability measures in June, which Liberals were not in favour of, and when it came to expelling these three senators without pay, we know how hard the Liberals fought against that. They are always entitled to their entitlements, but they never seem to want to stand up for Canadian taxpayers.

Access to Information

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance submitted receipts that were redacted before they were submitted. The minister might have thought crossing off personal items from his expenses was a good idea, but he should have known better. He should have known that hiding information violates the federal information law.

Why did the minister go out of his way to alter these receipts? Why will Conservatives not respect our access to information laws?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would really like to thank my colleague from across the floor for asking this question today.

No rules have been broken. The redacted lines are personal items for which the minister does not seek reimbursement from taxpayers. I would like to be clear. Those expenses were not charged to taxpayers.

I thank the member opposite for raising this, because the article points out how conscious the greatest finance minister in the world is of respecting taxpayers money.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance handles his money the same way he handles the budget. He says what he wants when he wants. If this keeps up, we will need a parliamentary officer to oversee the Minister of Finance's expenses.

I understand that after the Bev Oda incident, he is wary of disclosing all of his expenses. However, we have a right to know what is behind those blacked-out lines. We have a right to know how this money was spent.

Will someone tell him to comply with the law, or is he another Conservative who thinks he is exempt from being accountable?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

We need to have a little more order. It is getting increasingly difficult for the Chair to listen to the questions and the answers.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague again. I repeat that no rules have been broken.

The redacted lines are personal items for which the minister does not seek reimbursement from taxpayers. I would like to be absolutely clear. Those expenses were not charged to taxpayers.

I would like to thank the member opposite again for raising this because the article points out how conscious the greatest finance minister in the world is of respecting taxpayers' dollars.

Public Safety

[Rosane Doré Lefebvre, NDP, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives could not care less about the problems in our corrections system.

A recent report by the Correctional Investigator identified major problems with the programs targeting visible minority and aboriginal prisoners. Offenders leave prison without having accessed programs or having received the rehabilitation they need. Rehabilitation is one of the two main objectives of incarceration.

Does the minister understand why a lack of adequate correctional programming increases the risk of reoffending?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question.

It gives me an opportunity to highlight the outstanding and exemplary work being done by our correctional officers in our correctional services, which help rehabilitate criminals.

We have a stupendous variety of programs that can be used to address minority issues in prisons. I have a list here that I would be pleased to table because it demonstrates just how committed we are to ensuring that prisoners can return to civil society and to protecting society.

I will talk more about that later.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, one wonders whether the minister has actually read the Correctional Investigator's report. He is ignoring the fact that our institutions have failed to keep pace with the huge increases in aboriginal and visible minority populations in custody. This is not tough on crime. It is a recipe for making our prisons more violent and putting Canadians at risk when our offenders come back into our communities.

When will the minister accept these recommendations and work with the Correctional Investigator instead of attacking him?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, there is the ethnocultural services section, stakeholders and outreach, CSC's approach to aboriginal corrections, the continuum of care model, the aboriginal program, pathways initiatives and healing lodges. He should read the report of the correctional services officer. That will tell him all the great stories of what we are doing for our inmates to make sure that criminals remain behind bars, but once they are out they are in for a great life contributing to this society and to the prosperity of our society.

Public Service of Canada

[Jim Hillyer, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, next week is the first week of December. Christmas is coming. The spirit of Christmas carries an almost tangible feeling of hope and goodwill. Many Canadians mark this spirit with festivities and decorations, something that the President of the Treasury Board has recently encouraged public service employees to do. Could the President of the Treasury Board please tell us more about this and share the government's position on the spirit of the holidays?

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

Mr. Speaker, I can do that.

'Tis a month before Christmas
But I'll stand in this House
To say Happy Holidays
Not to bicker or grouse.
I told the public service
They could deck the halls
Their offices, their desks
And even the walls.
Let's make sure public servants can show their cheer
With garland, minoras or a red proboscis reindeer.
'Tis the season of cheer
Not partisan fights.
So Merry Christmas to all
And Happy Festival of Lights.

Health

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, sadly, today we have learned that the Minister of Health has approved another addictive, easy to abuse form of oxycodone. Canadians all know that oxycodone abuse has destroyed families. There is a safer version, one that cannot be abused by addicts. Yet, despite pleas from Americans, who are trying to get oxycodone off the market and out of circulation, Canada's Minister of Health continues to approve the unsafe version.

Would the minister not relent and reconsider her approval for oxycodone?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, under the Food and Drugs Act, drug approval decisions are made by Health Canada experts, following the department's independent scientific review process.

The Speech from the Throne was also very clear. Our government will expand the national anti-drug strategy to address prescription drug abuse.

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

That is nonsense, Mr. Speaker. Under the Conservative government in 2010, Canada became the leading country for opioid use per capita. Do not get me started on their anti-drug policy.

For months, American representatives have been putting pressure on the Minister of Health to ban certain slow-release products that contain oxycodone.

By allowing certain addictive products to stay on the market, the minister is hampering the Americans' efforts to keep that drug out of at-risk communities.

I know that pharmaceutical companies are lobbying the minister. However, by giving in to that pressure, she is endangering public health in both Canada and the United States.

Will the minister listen to public health experts instead of lobbyists?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to take the opposition members seriously when it is the same party that is in favour of injection sites.

Those members do not believe in consulting communities about whether or not a safe injection site should go into a neighbour or down the street from families, children and schools.

It is our government that has taken serious and concrete action. If fact, we have time controls on companies that produce drugs like OxyContin. We have implemented strict controls in the public drug plan run by Health Canada, including maximum monthly and daily drug limits, monitoring the usage of certain drugs and real time warning messages to pharmacists at point of sale.

National Defense

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in the middle of the night, there was another tragic suicide in the Canadian Armed Forces. It happened in Petawawa this time.

There have now been three suicides in the past 48 hours. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families.

There are currently 50 boards of inquiry under way into this type of death, some dating back to five years ago.

What is the government doing to prevent further tragedies if it is still investigating what happened five years ago?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to do more of what we have been doing. We created the joint personnel support units to allow our ill and injured members to work with medical personnel, social workers, occupational therapists and others to assist them. We have increased the annual health care expenditures by over $100 million.

That being said, any time there is a tragedy, of course, it is one too many.

I look forward to the report from the Canadian Armed Forces.