Debates of Feb. 14th, 2013

Ethics

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in two years, Senator Wallin, an unelected senator who is not accountable to anyone, racked up over $350,000 in travel expenses. She criss-crossed the country, mostly doing partisan work for the Conservatives. Your taxes, ladies and gentlemen, are being used to fill the Conservative Party coffers.

In the hall of shame that is the Senate, Wallin ranks fourth on the spending charts. That is hardly the kind of housecleaning the Prime Minister promised seven years ago.

Do the Conservatives condone the use of public money for partisan purposes, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of the question.

Conservative Senator Wallin spent 168 days in Saskatchewan last year. She spent as much on travel between Ottawa and Saskatchewan as an average MP from the region, including NDP MPs.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives did not defend Senator Duffy the way they are now defending Senator Wallin. If I were him, I would be worried. Sooner or later, they will have to stop taking us for fools.

For the quarter in which the 2011 federal election was held, Senator Wallin spent over $25,000 on “other” taxpayer-funded travel during which she campaigned with Conservative candidates. She is the guest of honour at party fundraising dinners and makes the rounds of TV studios to spin the Prime Minister's message.

Do the Conservatives think it is okay to spend taxpayers' money spreading the word about their campaign platform?

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

Mr. Speaker, I do not think it is surprising that Pamela Wallin supports the Conservative Party. I think most members of our caucus do. That is certainly not an unusual thing to do.

However, senators are expected to maintain residences in both Ottawa and their home region. Senator Wallin spent 168 days in the past year in Saskatchewan proudly supporting our government, proudly supporting our party and advancing the causes that Canadians believe in: jobs, growth and a stronger economy, which is something she fights for every day as do all of us on this side.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives are defending the entitlements of the senators, the New Democrats will be defending the taxpayer.

The Prime Minister claims that he examined Pamela Wallin's expenses and said that he approved, but a senior Conservative senator said otherwise. They say that they are investigating her because her expenses were very unusual.

Senator Wallin had the highest unexplained other travel expenses of any senator, but the Senate tried to keep this investigation secret. Where is the accountability to the taxpayer?

Will the government stop defending its cronies in the Senate and start standing up for the taxpayer and ensure these investigations are made fully public?

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

Mr. Speaker, as has been indicated, Senator Wallin's spending on travel is comparable to that of other parliamentarians from the same region, including western NDP parliamentarians. Apparently it is all right for them to spend that money, but when a Conservative senator spends it, travels and represents her community and is there for 168 days for the people of Saskatchewan, it is somehow inappropriate.

The NDP members' real concern is that Conservatives are representing their communities. Their problem is that they do not have anyone in Saskatchewan to represent the NDP.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is fascinating. Her expenses go to her riding in the West Annex and not to western Canada, which is the question. She is unelected, unaccountable and she is under investigation.

Let us bring a few more things forward.

During the last election, she was charging $25,000 to the taxpayer for other travel. She was showing up at party fundraisers in places like Moose Jaw and Collingwood.

We had all these Conservative bagmen and party guys travelling the country stumping for the election machine. Why were they charging that money to the Senate and what are you going to do to get our money back?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The member knows he needs to address his question through the Chair and not directly at other members.

The hon. government House leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, again, Senator Wallin's expenses are comparable to those of parliamentarians from that region. There is nothing out of the ordinary and those expenses do relate to her travel from Ottawa to Saskatchewan, where she was 168 days last year.

Employment Insurance

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives defend the Senate, the NDP defends taxpayers.

Last October, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development launched made-up attacks on a fictional 45-day work year, bombastically chiding this as “unacceptable”. Yet, now she and her party are actually defending senators who work only three days a week, while collecting over $130,000 in salary plus perks.

How can Conservatives be so judgemental about out-of-work Canadians, while defending such largesse for their unelected, unaccountable senators?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is entirely true. Just a few years ago a lot of work was done because both the NDP and the Liberals were saying that Canadians should only have to work for 45 days a year before they qualified for employment insurance, a 360-hour entry limit.

We have a shortage of workers and skills right across our great country. That is why our government is helping those people identify the jobs in their areas so they can be working and earning money to help their families and their communities.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today Parliament is debating the Liberal motion to create a special parliamentary committee to address the terrible tragedy of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls. For years, the Liberal Party has been calling for a full national public inquiry on this issue and the Conservatives have steadfastly refused. A parliamentary committee, as proposed today, is a small first step until the government is replaced.

Will the Conservatives commit in the House to the creation of a special committee and allow it to do its serious work, without the interference and sabotage of the PMO?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, I rose in a speech before the House earlier today and said that we welcomed a special committee to deal with the policy issues on this. The hon. member was in the House when I said that. Her question belies her presence.

Successful projects that this government has funded include: the Thunderchild First Nation awareness project, delivering workshops and information sessions; the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations and the RCMP; the Treaty 8 awareness campaign; the Canadian Red Cross that has successful prevention programs; the Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc. Medicine Bear Counselling, Support and Elder Services in Winnipeg; the tree of life program for youth—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for York West.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for more than five years, we have called for an independent inquiry to examine cases involving hundreds of missing aboriginal women and for five years the Conservatives have sat on their hands. Despite their empty talk about their so-called support for victims agenda, the Conservatives have yet to show an ounce of compassion for these victims and their families. It is time to give aboriginal women the respect they deserve without worry of re-victimization.

Will the government provide a safe and secure way for these victims to tell their stories and finally get justice at last?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, our hearts go out to the grieving families of these missing and murdered aboriginal women. This is a tragic and compelling issue and one that we have been on the front lines trying to address.

The Aboriginal Friendship Centres of Saskatchewan supports families of missing and murdered aboriginal women. Justice Canada is collaborating with the Manitoba justice to enhance victims' services. The Saskatchewan ministry of justice has created three specialized missing persons liaison positions.

We have federal project funding on an ongoing basis. We are working collaboratively with aboriginals and non-aboriginals.

National Defence

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister appears not to understand the enormity of her $14 billion cost overrun on ships because of inflation compared with the phoney $16 billion total cost estimate for the F-35s.

With a 56% cost overrun, does the minister understand that she can now build only 10 destroyers and frigates rather than the original 15? Will she come back to Canadians with a new and financially credible plan on the number of ships and their cost?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, the government has allocated a budget of $33 billion for the procurement of new ships to be built in Halifax and Vancouver.

In terms of cost estimates, those come from military planners with the involvement of auditors, cost estimators, oversight by the shipbuilding secretariat, the treasury board secretariat and the chief financial officer of the Department of National Defence.

Industry analysts say that this will create 15,000 jobs across the country and $2 billion in additional economic spinoff in the next 30 years.

Transportation

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, traffic congestion is a problem that can no longer be ignored. Every day in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and many other cities, people have trouble getting to work, which means billions of dollars' worth of lost productivity. To help our economy, we must invest in effective solutions, and the best solution, hands down, is public transit.

Has the minister included funding for public transit in the next infrastructure program in order to reduce traffic congestion?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, never in the history of this country has a government invested so much in public transit across the country.

We did it by respecting something that the NDP does not understand: provincial and municipal jurisdictions. The NDP wants every decision to be made in Ottawa. We respect the cities' jurisdictions. No one is in a better position to make such decisions than the mayor and the city council.

We will see whether or not there will be other mayors in the House in the future. That said, we work very hard to respect jurisdictions and to find money for public transit.

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

Mr. Speaker, Torontonians are fed up with gridlock and the $6 billion it is costing the economy. Thousands of commuters are speaking out in public forums, demanding federal public funding for transit.

The minister does not seem to understand how bad the situation is, so I am formally inviting him to join with me during rush hour to ride the overcrowded subway in Toronto. Will he come?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, since 2006, we have invested $5 billion in public transit. The government has done the job. We will continue to respect provincial and municipal jurisdictions and we will continue to support them. Never has a government invested so much as ours.

Canada Post Corporation

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are at it again. Post offices around the country have been closed. Now we have learned there are even more cutbacks on the way. They are talking about reducing the number of home deliveries per week and closing more post offices. These types of closures hit people in rural and remote areas even harder because they are farther away from service centres of all types. People rely upon our postal services to get their pay and their benefits.

Why are the Conservatives continuing with their reckless Canada Post cuts?

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Minister of State (Transport)]

Mr. Speaker, I reject everything that member just said. It is this government that brought in the rural moratorium on post office closures.

It is known that there has been a decline by up to 20% in mail volume since 2007. There have been losses in the past year of $253 million between Canada Post and its subsidiaries.

However, our government will work with Canada Post to ensure that it will be able to continue to provide services to Canadians in a way that is sustainable in the long term.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' lack of consistency has reached new heights.

In June 2011, the Conservatives said that our economy would be devastated if we did not force Canada Post employees back to work. They said that businesses and Canadians would pay dearly for the reduced services.

Yesterday CTV news was reporting that the Conservatives might reduce mail delivery from five to three days a week.

If a simple rotating strike presented such a serious threat to our economy, what sort of impact would a permanent reduction have? Would it be the apocalypse?