Debates of Feb. 25th, 2013

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Liberal Party is wrong. For example, in education, the funding that the government provides to aboriginal youth is at the same level as the funding offered to other young people pursuing an education in the provinces. Our priority is to create opportunities for aboriginal youth everywhere in Canada, in order to offer them a brighter future than in the past.

Foreign Affairs

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the light of increasing evidence with respect to the activities of the government of Sri Lanka, its failure to reconcile with the minority Tamil population in Sri Lanka, its failure to deal with the human rights crisis, which is seen as increasingly deep, there being groups and observers across the board including the UN Human Rights Council that are challenging what the government of Sri Lanka is saying, can the Government of Canada state what it is doing to make sure that the next meeting of the Commonwealth heads of states will not in fact take place in Colombo but will be located elsewhere and that the Government of Canada has a clear position with respect to which meetings it will attend and which it will not?

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has spoken out, loudly and clearly, on this very important issue of human rights. He voiced our concerns on the lack of accountability for the serious allegations of war crimes and the lack of reconciliation with the Tamil community, and said the events that have taken place since the end of the civil war are unacceptable.

We have relayed the Government of Canada's position both to the high commissioner and directly to the minister of foreign affairs for Sri Lanka. Canada will continue to speak loudly and clearly on behalf of human rights around the world, especially in Sri Lanka.

Public Safety

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

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives are clearly not listening when it comes to first nation public safety. They refuse to commit to maintaining the funding for 18 first nation police services serving more than 40 communities. This funding runs out in March, but the government has yet to respond to a three-year-old request from the chiefs just for a meeting.

Will the Minister of Public Safety finally commit to this meeting, and will he agree to negotiate a new agreement to provide stable, long-term funding to help keep these first nation communities safe?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know where the member is getting his information. I have been meeting with first nation communities on this very point. If the member wants an update on what meetings I have had and with whom, I am prepared to share that with him.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives promised in 2008 to move toward reconciliation. Instead, they are fighting at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal over funding discrimination of child welfare on reserves, and fighting to keep the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from accessing documents from Library and Archives.

Will the new minister stop these litigations by making documents available immediately to the TRC and providing equal funding for child welfare on reserves, and commit to real reconciliation?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, let me say, first of all, we believe that the best way to make sure first nation children and families get the support and services they need is to work together with first nations, provinces and territories. I want to remind the hon. member that it is our government that introduced a culturally sensitive enhanced protection approach to protect thousands of children on reserve, and we will continue to work with first nations to ensure children and families have the supports they need to have safe—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I hope that the applause across the aisle was a show of relief.

Tangible action is needed to restore a respectful nation-to-nation relationship with aboriginal peoples. We will not achieve that goal by wasting taxpayers' money on legal battles with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada over access to government documents or by refusing to meet with chiefs.

Can the new minister tell us how he intends to restore this relationship, starting with the proposed budget measures to improve the lives of aboriginal peoples?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, we believe that the best way to ensure that first nations children and families receive the support and services they need is to work together with first nations and the provinces and territories in order to improve the situation. These are tough challenges. We will continue to work together with our aboriginal partners across Canada and with the provinces and territories to improve the situation for aboriginal people across the country.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, on February 1, the Minister of Human Resources said, “There are no individual quotas for employees of HRSDC.”

And yet, documents obtained by Le Devoir prove precisely the opposite.

The truth is that the work of those employees is evaluated based on their ability to cut $485,000 in benefits from the unemployed. It is called “performance objectives”. That is the truth.

We can therefore only conclude that the minister misled the House. We want to know why the minister is not killing this bad policy.

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

Mr. Speaker, Service Canada is not imposing any quota that would have negative consequences for employees who do not reach their targets. Performance objectives are in place to help protect benefits meant for the unemployed from fraudsters.

The only people who lose if the opposition stops us from rooting out fraud are Canadians who follow the rules.

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, instead of going after unemployed Canadians, the government should be going after their unaccountable senators.

On February 1, the minister stood in the House and claimed, “Departmental employees do not have individual quotas”, yet today, the media are reporting that she cancelled those quotas.

Could she explain to the House how she can cancel something that did not exist?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, there were no quotas for individuals. There are objectives, targets, to be sure. There is a big difference between the two when it comes to motivating and managing staff.

If the opposition prevents us from rooting out the hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and ineligible claims that exist within the EI system, it is Canadians who play by the rules who will lose.

That being said, if jobs are not available for individuals in their area, EI will continue to be there for them as long as we maintain its integrity.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, it is a good thing that intellectual dishonesty does not hurt.

Two week ago, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons stood in this House and went on and on defending Senator Wallin.

According to him, the senator does indeed live in Saskatchewan. Yet today we learned that she has an Ontario health card.

What is one criterion for obtaining that card? One's primary residence must be in Ontario.

Either she lives primarily in Ontario or she lives primarily in Saskatchewan, but she cannot live in both places at once.

Were the Conservatives aware of her true place of residence when they appointed her to the Senate?

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

Mr. Speaker, Senator Wallin spent 168 days last year in the province of Saskatchewan. Her roots in Saskatchewan are deep and well known. She has a residence in Saskatchewan.

All Conservative senators are qualified to represent the provinces and territories they represent.

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

Mr. Speaker, Senator Wallin must have the power of ubiquity: she can be in several places at once.

If only Senator Wallin's case were an isolated incident, an accident or simple error in judgment, but no, Senator Duffy added to the intrigue on Friday.

After three months of secrecy, running away and evading the issue, he finally admitted that he does not really live in Prince Edward Island. But it is not his fault; he simply did not know how to fill out a form.

He does not know how to fill out a form, yet he examines government bills. This is a joke.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he had a lapse in judgment when he appointed Mr. Duffy to the Senate?

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

Mr. Speaker, the judgment that is missing is the judgment from a party that purports to want to see meaningful change to the Senate, yet opposes it every step of the way.

Our government has put forward a plan that will allow Canadians, for the first time, to actually have a say in who represents them in the Senate. In every case where Canadians have been asked in those provinces that have held elections, our Prime Minister has appointed the individuals selected to the Senate.

The difficulty is that the NDP opposes our legislation going forward. If the NDP members want to show they are serious about real Senate reform and real accountability in the Senate, they would support that legislation and support real democracy in the Senate.

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

Mr. Speaker, real accountability in the Senate is to stop defending entitlements and start defending the taxpayers, like the New Democrats do.

When Mike Duffy became a senator, he signed a form that said his primary residence was not in Ottawa but was a cottage in Prince Edward Island. Now that he has been forced to pay back $40,000 or $100,000 because he got caught out, he says the story is over.

This is what Conservatives tell unemployed Canadians: “If you misrepresent the facts to make a false claim, you are committing fraud and may be prosecuted”.

Will the government hold senators who break the rules to the same standards to which they are holding unemployed Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said several times, we have committed to ensuring that all expenses are appropriate and that the rules governing those expenses are appropriate.

In the case of Senator Duffy, he clearly maintains a residence in the province and has deep roots in that province.

The difficulty, though, with the NDP members is that they come here talking about changing the Senate in meaningful ways. We had a proposal to do it; they have none and they continue to have none. In fact, the member for Timmins—James Bay said, when asked what the NDP would do about the Senate last week, “I can't say what the NDP leader will do after the next election”.

The NDP members have no plan and they will not tell Canadians what they will do.

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

Oh, poor Canada, Mr. Speaker. The Conservatives promised Canadians one thing, that they would bring accountability to the Senate, and what did we get? We got Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau, thanks to the Prime Minister.

Article 23 of the BNA Act states, “A senator shall be a resident in the province for which they are appointed”. It does not say that they have a cottage there. Clearly, Mr. Duffy does not meet this requirement, but apparently neither does Senator Pam Wallin of Palmerston Boulevard.

We are talking about the Constitution Act. If these senators falsified their residency claims, what steps will the government take to hold them to account and get taxpayers their money back? That is real accountability. That is real Senate reform.

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

Mr. Speaker, clearly we are committed to ensuring all expenses are appropriate. However, when we talk about real accountability, real accountability goes further. Real accountability means we believe in our democracy. Real accountability means we will allow Canadians to choose who represents them in the Senate. That is the proposal from this government. That is the proposal opposed by the NDP, whose own ethics critic, when asked that question, said that he could not say what the New Democrats would do about the Senate after the next election. They have no plan.

We have a plan for real accountability and real democracy in the Senate. Let us all get behind it.

Employment Insurance

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, revelations by the media about mandatory savings that must be realized by Service Canada on employment insurance programs leave us perplexed about the minister's responsibility.

Can she explain how officials responsible for these investigations can remain objective if they must meet mandatory quotas? Does she presume that a fixed number of claimants are guilty?

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

Mr. Speaker, the department was able to stop half a billion dollars in ineligible payments last year. However, the employment insurance program still lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to fraud.

If the opposition stops us from rooting out EI fraud, the only people who will lose are Canadians who follow the rules.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Mr. Speaker, at last night's Academy Awards, the Oscar for best supporting actor went to Christoph Waltz for his portrayal as a ruthless bounty hunter. Of course, if the Hollywood gig does not work out for Mr. Waltz, I am sure the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development would love to hire him. He could bust down doors and hunt down those people the minister thinks are shiftless, lazy, dishonest seasonal workers, whose culture of defeat has become such a scourge on our country.

I have a very simple question pertaining to today's issues. What is the difference between a target and a quota?