Debates of March 1st, 2013

The Economy

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives like to boast that getting Canada’s economy back on track is their priority.

However, the people of the riding of Pontiac are wondering what concrete steps the Conservatives intend to take to make that happen. The Conservatives are choosing to ignore the many requests for assistance from the SOS Vallée-de-la-Gatineau committee. For two months now, it has been asking the government for help to recover from the devastating snowstorm that struck the area last December 21. None of the ministers contacted has bothered to respond, even though the local economy is suffering. It is ridiculous.

And what is the Conservative government doing to help the workers who toiled their whole life at the White Birch pulp and paper mill in Masson-Angers and who have seen their pensions slashed by more than 50% because their employer is going bankrupt? Again the government is conspicuous by its absence.

Instead of passing legislation to protect Canadian workers and those in my riding, the Conservatives would rather see foreign investors steal our workers’ pensions. Something needs to be done. The government needs to take action.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, under the leadership of our Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Canada has become a leader in a very troubled global economy. Today Statistics Canada revealed our economic growth in the last quarter has led all G7 countries. Under our government, Canada has also led the entire G7 in job creation, with over 900,000 net new jobs created since July 2009.

While our government is creating jobs, the NDP is proposing a $21 billion job-killing carbon tax that would increase the cost of gas, electricity and everything, but that is not all: the NDP is also proposing over $50 billion to implement an array of social programs, from a 45-day work year to state-run child care.

Canadians simply cannot afford the NDP.

Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame Inductee

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, within the press gallery we are fortunate to have so many talented individuals. A shining example of dedication not only to Parliament and Canadian politics but also to the agricultural sector is Barry Wilson.

Among the press gallery's longest-serving, Barry has reported on Ottawa politics and agriculture for over 30 years, a career he began after catching the politics bug while growing up on a farm in Gatineau, in the shadow of the Peace Tower. He began collecting political memorabilia, impressively including the autographs of all 22 prime ministers. These memorabilia are now proudly displayed at Carleton University.

Through 13 federal elections, Barry ensured that agricultural policies and the politicians involved were both held to account and given a fair hearing. His achievements were rightly honoured in November, when he was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. He is only the second journalist to be so honoured, after trailblazer and Manitoba Free Press correspondent Cora Hind.

I think it only appropriate that we here assembled in the House of Commons, a place close to his heart, join the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in honouring Barry Wilson for years of service. We look forward to many more to come.

The Economy

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, day after day, week after week, our Conservative government continues to work hard for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. As a matter of fact, this weekend I and other members of our caucus will be heading home to our ridings to continue our work for Canadians.

While we are focused on the economy and keeping taxes in the pockets of hard-working Canadians as much as possible, the opposition has a different plan in store. It would like to bring in a brand-new carbon tax. As listed on page 4 of his party platform in black in white, the Leader of the Opposition and his party want to impose a sneaky $20 billion job-killing carbon tax. This would increase the price of everything, from gas to groceries to electricity. I do not know about other members, but I certainly think we pay too much for gasoline already.

We call on the Leader of the Opposition to come clean on the New Democrats' job-killing carbon tax with Canadians.

The Senate

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we knew the Conservatives were prepared to do anything to defend the lowliest actions on the part of senators. Now the reason why is clearer to us.

In addition to using their fundraisers to campaign with public funds, they are using their majority in the Senate to strong-arm anyone who dares speak the truth.

Senators now have in their crosshairs the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the person responsible for disclosing to Canadians the true cost of the Conservatives’ bungles. Once he is out of the picture, will the senators start to attack employees who blow the whistle on abuses within their departments?

The Conservative let them lie about where they reside if in exchange they attack those they have issues with. Not a bad system, if you ask me.

The NDP believes the Parliamentary Budget Officer plays a critically important role. We refuse to support an undemocratic, unaccountable relic like the Senate.

The so-called upper chamber must be abolished. That is all there is to it.

New Democratic Party of Canada

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, since the last election, Canadians have wondered how many of the NDP caucus are actually committed to Canada. Yesterday, Canadians got their answer.

Today in the National Post we read, “NDP defection leaves [the NDP leader] facing a mess of his own making”.

The Toronto Star says, “When federalist political parties play footsie with separatists, bad things can happen”.

Tasha Kheiriddin warns “the NDP can forget about 58 seats in la belle province, forget about being a government-in-waiting – and backbenchers...can forget about even holding their seats”.

Elizabeth Thompson says the defection exposes the NDP's Achilles heel and “all the finesse of a knife sliding between shoulder blades”.

Joan Bryden of Canadian Press says the defection “raised doubts about the NDP's ability to hang on to its new-found base in Quebec”.

The leader of the NDP needs to step up. If he will not separate the separatists from his party, Canadians will separate his party from Parliament.

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, once again Conservative economic projections are proving dead wrong. GDP numbers are worse than what the Minister of Finance is banking on. Scotiabank confirms, “Momentum in the Canadian economy has thoroughly waned”. In the U.S. today, potentially disastrous budget cuts are kicking in.

In the face of so many threats to our economy, are the Conservatives really planning another austerity budget that would further weaken our economy? Plan A is looking pretty weak right now. Does he even have a plan B?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, the NDP members show that they do not really grasp economics. If they saw the numbers today, they tell a pretty good story, that Canada is actually leading the G7 in economic growth. What is more, five of the other six countries are experiencing an economic shrinkage. The next best country is the one that is facing a fiscal crisis right now.

If people want to see an example of what happens when NDP spending plans are adopted, including this week's proposal for a $5.5 billion housing plan, they can just look south of the border and see what happens when a country is in debt up to its ears.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, the only shrinkage Canadians will see will be from the Conservative government's cuts to services and infrastructure spending that our economy actually needs.

Conservative mismanagement has put the joint support ship program into disarray. The New Democrats and Canadians support this program because it is good for our navy, good for our economy and creates real jobs. Why are the Conservatives continuing to ignore the advice and evidence of the Parliamentary Budget Officer? When will they stop shooting the messenger long enough to actually listen to the message?

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

Mr. Speaker, the NDP leader has been getting a message and I hear he will be in Sherbrooke today, which is quite timely because he will be with his NDP candidate there, his own hand-picked candidate since he chose them all, and that is the candidate who is now an MP who said, “In my campaign, I said sovereignty will be done in Quebec”. He went on to say, “we will respect sovereignty in the NDP”.

I guess the reason the NDP leader is in Sherbrooke today is to try to prevent a repeat of what we saw yesterday.

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

Mr. Speaker, now we have the unelected, unaccountable and under investigation Senate now doing the Conservative government's dirty work going after the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Senator Anne Cools said this: “...the mistaken and false notion that Kevin Page is a watchdog of Parliament, with a mandate to oversee...the government’s activities in the realm of the public finance. He is not”. This is pretty rich coming from a Senate that does not have the ethical capacity to look after its own public finances.

When will the government call off its Senate attack dogs and let Kevin Page do his work for Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, I know the member is critical of independence, but it seems not everybody who belonged to the NDP caucus is so critical of independence, at least for Quebec. In fact, yesterday the Bloc Québécois leader was asked if there were more NDP MPs who might follow the path of the one that went yesterday to show his true colours and join the Bloc Québécois. What did he say? He said, “we know that they have sovereignists in the NDP”. Stay tuned.

Parliamentary Budget Officer

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, have they no shame? They get the Senate to do their dirty work, even though the Senate is embroiled in a spending scandal of never before seen proportions. The Parliamentary Budget Officer, who exposed just how amateur the Conservatives are in a number of areas, had to drag the Conservatives to court just to access documents so he could do his job.

Someone ordered the submissive Senate to put an end to all that. Which member of the Conservatives gave that order?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to have decided to build ships in Canada. The only ship that is sinking in Canada is the NDP. One of its caucus members jumped ship yesterday.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Kevin Page's economic analyses have always been more credible than those of the Minister of Finance because, unlike the Conservatives, Mr. Page does not hide information.

In 2012, economic growth was less than 2%, which is lower than 2011. The economy shrank in December. What are the Conservatives doing? They are slashing programs and services even more. Introducing austerity measures during an economic downturn is a recipe for disaster.

Will they use the budget to fix this?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the former member of the Bloc Québécois for her question on the economy. It is a question that I am surprised to hear coming from NDP members, this concern about the fiscal situation, as they propose spending proposal after spending proposal that would put Canada billions of dollars deeper in debt. It was at $56 billion in spending before last week. Last week they added another $5.5 billion in a social housing program, which Canadian taxpayers cannot afford. They want to know where we go when we hit that black hole of debt. Just look south of the border to see real crisis.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, this government cannot do basic math. Fortunately, Kevin Page was there to point out the government's financial incompetence in the shipbuilding budget.

How can Canadians trust the government to deliver its projects on time and on budget and to provide our forces with the equipment needed to protect our country?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government decided to build these ships in Canada, and we are proud of that. We will take the time needed to do this procurement right.

When the Liberal Party was in power, the only procurement it made in 13 years was the purchase of submarines that do not even work.

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

Mr. Speaker, with the government, we get bad budgeting, bad management, jobs at risk and less equipment for our armed forces. This is not the first time we have had these problems: helicopters, trucks, ships, oh my.

Perhaps the government can answer this simple question. Will it let its continued mistakes leave the Canadian Forces ill-equipped to handle future challenges and cost Canadian jobs at a time when, just today, we hear that Canada's economic growth remains anemic?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is entertaining getting questions like this from a Liberal Party whose own chief of defence staff described its purchases and approach to the military as a decade of darkness. The only purchase the Liberals made when they were on the watch was four used, leaky, unworkable submarines from the British. That is their idea of re-equipping the Canadian Forces.

We have taken real steps to really deliver, including a program to purchase ships that will deliver thousands of jobs all across Canada. I am not surprised the Liberals are against that.

Employment Insurance

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I hope that the government will not spout such nonsense in response to my question, which is very clear and simple.

While the Conservatives are engaging in petty politics, seasonal workers are losing their jobs and are now in the spring gap. They may have to apply for social assistance.

The Minister of Veterans Affairs said that this reform was based on research. However, the minister said yesterday that such was not the case. What we do know, however, is that the government has to find $330 million.

My question is for the Quebec lieutenant, since this issue affects Quebec, particularly the eastern part of the province. Is he prepared to take practical measures—by implementing a pilot project, for example—if the Conservatives do not want to talk about a moratorium?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, our government made changes that are meant to help connect unemployed Canadian workers with jobs available in their region and in their field.

This initiative clarifies but does not change the responsibilities of Canadians who claim employment insurance benefits. Those who are unable to find work will be able to count on the employment insurance program, as always.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have so blurred the line between politics and public services that they do not even know where it is anymore. A month ago, they posted partisan attacks on CIDA's website, breaking Treasury Board rules. Now they are at it again. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation commented publicly on opposition bills.

Will the government stop using public officials as Conservative Party agents? Will they let public servants work in peace?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to CMHC and this issue with regard to website postings, it is entirely appropriate for a crown corporation to post its costing of a legislative item before the House of Commons. We see that regularly here. In fact, opposition members often ask for these items in order to make sure they know what is occurring. That is exactly what CMHC is doing.

What we have put forward is a plan to make sure that Canadians have opportunities for housing, have opportunities to deal with homelessness, all of which are things that the NDP vote against.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, these partisan attacks on government websites make it clear that the Conservatives are running scared. Why else would they waste taxpayers' money and government resources attacking a New Democratic bill instead of answering Canadians' calls for a national housing strategy? It is a private member's bill. It costs nothing. People are hurting. The government is breaking its own rules and hiding behind partisan attacks.

When will the Conservatives stop using the public service for political cheap shots?