Debates of Feb. 14th, 2013

Veterans Affairs

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, of course we are a fair and reasonable government. If there is a way to avoid expensive legal proceedings, we would seek to do that. The matter is before the courts.

I would ask that the hon. member ponder that, if he is so in favour of veterans and disabled RCMP officers, maybe he should disown the $21 billion carbon tax his party is—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Ottawa—Orléans.

Aerospace Industry

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has earned its reputation as a leader in space exploration.

In a report commissioned by our government, the Hon. David Emerson confirmed that the Canadian industry is well positioned to take advantage of emerging opportunities, succeed commercially and contribute to the public good. Our government plays a crucial role in the Canadian space sector, of which all Canadians are immensely proud.

Could the Minister of Industry update the House on the latest developments in the aerospace industry?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question and for his involvement in this file over the past 30 years.

I am proud to inform the House that we are bringing back a piece of Canada's technological history, the first Canadarm, which was part of the Endeavour mission.

It is now on its way to the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, where it will soon be on display for all Canadians to see. Canada's highly competitive aerospace and space industries are major contributors to our economy, and the Canadarm is just one example of our world-class Canadian companies' capabilities.

The Environment

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Environment Commissioner stated last week that the Conservative government does not know if securities placed on deposit are enough to cover the final decommissioning and reclamation costs of mines north of 60. Not knowing if they have money to pay what they owe and having taxpayers bear the risks is not sound economic management.

When will this incompetence end, and will the Conservatives follow the foundation of their environmental liability regime, the polluter pay principle?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes that the current liability limits for accidents in offshore oil and gas developments need to be reviewed. In Canada, the fundamental principle of our government today is that the polluter pay. Our government is committed to periodically assessing financial liability to make certain that Canada's polluter pay system remains among the strongest in the world, and that is exactly what we are doing.

Pensions

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, I met with the National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation. It is calling on the Conservatives to reverse their plan to increase the eligibility age for old age security from 65 to 67. It also wants the government to create a national pharmacare plan. And it is urging the government to better protect pensions, combat poverty and invest in affordable housing.

The NDP supports these demands.

Will the minister follow up on these demands?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, our government is doing a lot to help Canada's seniors, because they are the ones who built this country.

We have done many things.

We have increased the GIS eligibility and raised the deduction by $3,500. We have brought in the age exemption, increased that by twice. We have also brought in pension income sharing and a whole lot of other things, including expanding the new horizons for seniors program. Sadly, the NDP voted against every one of those things for our seniors.

Justice

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, since this government was first elected, we passed more than 30 measures to improve the confidence of Canadians in our justice system. In order for Canadians to have confidence in the justice system, they must know that police officers are who they say they are. Personating a peace officer is a serious offence, which must be condemned by this House and all members.

Can the Minister of Justice please inform this House about the government's position regarding my private member's bill, Bill C-444, on personating a police officer or public officers?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I think I can, but first I want to thank the hon. member for Red Deer for introducing this important legislation.

The bill addresses a crime that has serious negative consequences for the public. There have been a number of incidents over the years where Canadians were victimized because offenders were personating a police officer. The bill sends a message that criminals should not be allowed to exploit the public's trust.

I am pleased to inform the House that the government is in fact going to completely support this. For once, I would like the opposition to do the same.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, in Saguenay, the needs of the Canada summer jobs program increase every year, but the budget has been frozen since 2009. This has a very negative impact on the organizations, small municipalities and young people who depend on this program every summer.

What is more, I have found out that applications will no longer be processed in Saguenay, but rather, they will be processed hundreds of kilometres away, near Montreal, by public servants who are not familiar with Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean's reality.

I demand that this government stop centralizing our resources in major centres and give the responsibility for processing applications for the Canada summer jobs program back to a Service Canada employee in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of the Canada summer jobs program because it creates over 36,000 jobs for our students. This program provides them with the opportunity to earn money, while acquiring skills that will help them in their future jobs.

We are very proud to have provided an additional $50 million in funding for the Young Canada Works program, which helps young people overcome the challenge of finding a job. Of course, the NDP voted against this.

Employment Insurance

[Jean-François Fortin, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister says that she has analyses of the impact of labour shortages, but there is nothing available to the public.

However, the public is aware of the many consequences of the EI reform and its adverse effects including making workers poorer, breaking up families, weakening communities in the regions, and the rigamarole that workers and pregnant women have to go through, at the behest of Service Canada, when filling out their declarations in order to avoid being deemed to have “refused employment”.

Ignoring these consequences shows a lack of compassion. Could the minister show some love and cancel the reform?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, we want to help Canadians find other jobs. It is better for them, their families, employees and their communities.

We have helped them by enhancing the job alert and the job bank systems. We are teaching them how to apply for jobs. We are there for Canadians because we love them.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

That concludes question period for today. I understand that the hon. opposition House leader has the usual Thursday question.

Business of the House

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise here today to ask the hon. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons what his government plans to debate for the rest of the week and when we return after the constituency week.

Although we continue to debate a variety of bills that the government has included on the calendar and we continue to debate opposition motions, it is not always easy to really understand what the government is planning—unless of course it does not have a clear plan.

One thing that is clear from dealing with the government is that it does not seem to be much about action but all about talk.

I remember their introduction, with great fanfare, of Bill C-12, An Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which would be quite useful to those who have potentially had their identity exposed to theft. It was introduced September 29, 2011, 493 days ago and has yet to be debated.

Then there is the infamous Bill C-7, Senate Reform Act, which the government claims to all who will listen that it cannot get it through Parliament. It has been 358 days since we have had an opportunity to debate that.

Who cannot forget Bill C-32, Civil Marriage of Non-residents Act, which the government refuses to bring forward for debate and a free and fair democratic vote in the House.

I wonder if all of these are going the way of the infamous Bill C-30, the Internet snooping bill, which the Minister of Public Safety so infamously torpedoed with his comments. It was left to die on the order paper.

Can the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons tell me what his plans are for the remainder of this week as well as the next? Does the government have anything representing an agenda whatsoever?

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

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the implicit offer of assistance from the House Leader of the Official Opposition.

I look forward to discussions with him later on the possibility of moving forward both Senate reform and Bill C-12 on a unanimous consent basis straight to committee. I would be happy to do that with him.

This afternoon we will continue debating the Liberal opposition day motion. Tomorrow we will hopefully finish second reading of Bill C-48, the Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012, a measure supported by all three parties. After that we will turn to third reading of Bill C-42, the Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act; third reading of Bill S-7, the Combating Terrorism Act; and second reading of Bill S-12, the Incorporation by Reference in Regulations Act.

When we return from our constituency week on Monday, February 25, we will start second reading of Bill C-55, the Response to the Supreme Court of Canada Decision in R. v. Tse Act. This bill needs to be passed by mid-April before the Supreme Court ruling takes effect, which would render the important powers available to police ineffective.

After Bill C-55, we will consider Friday's unfinished business.

Tuesday, February 26, shall be the fifth allotted day, which will go to the Official Opposition, and it will therefore choose the subject of debate.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we will continue debating the bills I have already listed.

Additionally, Bill C-47, Northern Jobs and Growth Act, was reported back from committee yesterday, and I anticipate Bill S-9, Nuclear Terrorism Act, will be reported back soon. So we could also call these bills at report stage and third reading, if we have extra time next week.

Finally, on Friday, March 1, the House will start the second reading debate on Bill C-54, Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act. The Prime Minister announced this bill last week as part of our efforts to ensure we have a justice system that puts the rights of victims first.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion--Missing Aboriginal Women

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Resuming debate. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary for Status of Women has 13 minutes left for her speech.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I would first reiterate my earlier statement that I do support the motion.

We have provided great support for projects to help eliminate violence against women and girls. Our government is addressing the large number of missing and murdered aboriginal women. The strategy's wide scope includes improving and better integrating law enforcement and police tools that will help to solve cases and track missing persons, and to support better victims' services and awareness programs for aboriginal communities.

Sue O'Sullivan, Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, commended these actions, saying:

—what we need is more government action of this breadth and initiatives that address all aspects of the issue, from prevention and prosecution to victim support. These are the kinds of initiatives that have the most impact and that we can all support.

Our government also remains steadfast in moving forward its legislation to give aboriginal women equal property rights. Our government continues to strive to pass Bill S-2, legislation that the parties opposite have consistently opposed. If the opposition is so concerned about protecting the rights and safety of aboriginal women and children, they should join us and support this legislation.

The murder and abduction of women in this country is completely unacceptable. We will continue to move forward with a vigorous criminal justice agenda to address these issues. We encourage the opposition to support our efforts. Our government has taken several key steps to date. We have established the new National Centre for Missing Persons; improved law enforcement databases to investigate missing and murdered aboriginal women; created a national website to help identify and find missing persons; supported the development and adaptation of victims' services so they are culturally appropriate for aboriginal people; supported the development of school and community pilot projects aimed at reducing the vulnerability of young aboriginal women to violence; worked alongside aboriginal communities to develop community safety plans and developed a comprehensive list of best practices to help communities, law enforcement and justice partners in future work; and supported the development of public awareness materials to help end cycles of violence affecting aboriginal people.

All of these actions, plus many more, demonstrate that over the past seven years our Conservative government has been taking concrete steps to help all women in Canada. Through our government's actions we are striving to ensure that one day soon, violence against aboriginal women and girls, and all women and girls, is a thing of the past.

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

Mr. Speaker, as someone who represents an area right along the corridor and highway often referred to as the Highway of Tears, I find the sources of this tragedy often complex and multi-tiered, and the solutions equally so. One of the struggles we have with the Conservatives' approach to this point is that while they have established commissions and inquiries into other things, in particular the missing salmon inquiry in British Columbia on what happened on the Fraser River, there is an inordinate reluctance on their part to get at the truth of the situation here. That is what is needed before progress can be made. They make great fanfare about spending some $10 million or $11 million over four or five years on programs addressing violence against aboriginal women, and they know full well that is a drop in the bucket, considering the needs of 650 aboriginal reserves across the country, to just name one group.

I find it confusing and somewhat perplexing that the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice were all present for the debate earlier today, yet the aboriginal affairs minister in particular chose not to speak at all. The responsibility would at least fall to him to make some comment to the families of these missing women and girls, and yet he sat in the House and listened to a few things and left.

I do not think it is too much to say that the pattern of the government's language is that silence will be met with more silence. It should simply address the issue, face to face, with those communities and those families. The government cannot simply say that a crime and order agenda is enough. It needs to do more, and a full public inquiry would be what families are calling for.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government attaches great importance to the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women and has put forward a plan to address this issue. We have invested $25 million over five years to give new tools to law enforcement agencies and to improve the justice system and victims' services. Funding is being provided directly to aboriginal communities and organizations for awareness programs, community safety plans and to better support victims and their families.

As well, during this year's federal-provincial-territorial meeting on justice and public safety in Regina, the ministers directed officials to develop a justice framework to coordinate federal, provincial and territorial actions across the law enforcement and justice spectrum to address violence against aboriginal women and girls and to report back to ministers.

Some of the projects that we have funded are already producing results. For example, the Thunderchild First Nation's missing and murdered aboriginal women awareness project is delivering workshops and information sessions in aboriginal communities in Saskatchewan that will help aboriginal women be more aware of factors that can lead to victimization, including the migration of women to urban centres and the challenges they are likely to face there.

Moreover, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations and the RCMP, is raising awareness about programs available for first nation and aboriginal families in their search for missing children through missingkids.ca.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, the Liberal Party is actually pleased with the degree to which the government intends to support the motion or at least tells us it is going to be voting in favour of the motion. This is something that the Liberal Party has been advocating for a number of years in terms of the importance of the issue. In fact we called for a public inquiry. We want to get as much detail as possible on this issue. As much as we would have loved the government to have made that sort of an announcement, we recognize that it is supporting the motion.

Going into the committee meetings that the government is committing to if the motion passes, there is going to be a need to gather information. Other provincial jurisdictions have had everything from task forces to their own inquiries. Has the government compiled other works that have been done at the provincial level in order to facilitate these parliamentary committee discussions?

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the missing and murdered aboriginal women, as I said, the total investment was $25 million over five years for 2010 to 2015. Fulfilling this commitment so far included investments in establishing a new National Centre for Missing Persons; enhancing the Canadian Police Information Centre database; creating a national website to help match older missing persons cases and unidentified human remains; supporting the development of school and community pilot projects in reducing vulnerability to violence among young aboriginal women; supporting the development and adaptation of victim services so that they are culturally appropriate for aboriginal people; developing a comprehensive list of best practices to help communities, law enforcement and justice partner in future work; working with aboriginal communities to develop community safety plans; and supporting the development of public awareness materials to help end cycles of violence affecting aboriginal people.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague's comments and certainly appreciate the work she is doing and the work that our government is doing to address violence against women. When I first arrived here on the Hill, I had the privilege of serving on the aboriginal affairs committee and I was aware of the government working with a number of aboriginal groups in addressing violence against women. However, I have not been on that committee for a number of years, so I have lost track of some of the examples of our government's work on that.

I wonder if my colleague could give us some examples of the work that is being done that shows the commitment of our government to address those who would perpetrate violence against women.