Debates of March 21st, 2013

The Environment

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, it was not our side of the floor that denounced a 2,000 page independent, objective, scientific evaluation performed by the State Department of the United States.

Canada already has a strong tanker safety system. We made it mandatory for ships in Canadian waters to have double hulled tankers, to have pilots onboard, to be accompanied by tugboats, to have advanced navigation equipment, and we will do more.

Ethics

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Penashue received his letter from Elections Canada outlining the illegal donations and the overspending, a letter that was sent on February 12. That would mean the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office would have been aware of that letter shortly thereafter. It took over four weeks for the minister to resign. Then he had several trips paid for by taxpayers, several messages that were paid for by taxpayers, several meetings paid for by taxpayers.

How could the Prime Minister have allowed this to go on for so long without asking for his resignation?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I know the position of the Liberal Party on Labrador is that it is against the seal hunt, for the long gun registry and against the Lower Churchill hydro project. These are things that Peter Penashue has taken the opposite position on, positions that he and we feel more strongly and better represent the people of Labrador and the positions of the people of Labrador. Obviously we are encouraged by his fight for those things.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as usual, more whoppers than are served at Burger King in a week.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister to simply deal with the facts of this situation. If there is a slur campaign that is being run, it is being run by Elections Canada because it is Elections Canada that has talked about illegal contributions. It is Elections Canada that has talked about overspending. It is Mr. Penashue who has paid back nearly $50,000. It is Mr. Penashue who has resigned.

However, the point is that before he resigned, he and the Prime Minister took part in a systematic campaign to have the Government of Canada pay for the election expenses of Mr. Penashue. That is exactly—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think anybody on this side of the House makes any apologies for working hard for the interests of the people of Labrador.

These are important matters, as I have said before, ranging from the Goose Bay military base to the seal hunt to the Lower Churchill project to the ending of the long gun registry, all things that matter to people in that part of the country. We are very proud of our record on those things.

Financial Institutions

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know very well that being a Tory means never having to say sorry. That is exactly what has happened.

The Prime Minister never said sorry, not even for—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order.

The hon. member for Toronto Centre has the floor.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister never said sorry, not even when the Minister of Finance meddled in the mortgage market.

A consumer with a $400,000 mortgage will have to pay over $10,000 for the Minister of Finance's interference.

How can the Prime Minister justify such interference in the country's markets?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, mortgage rates are currently at their lowest in the history of Canada because of sound economic management. The government regularly takes action to ensure that the market remains affordable and stable in the long term.

I should also point out that recent actions taken by the government would lower interest payments on the average mortgage over the life of that mortgage by $150,000 for a Canadian family.

Employment Insurance

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

Mr. Speaker, as if it were not enough that the Conservatives are making the lives of unemployed workers very difficult, now they have started a witch hunt against public servants who criticize government policies.

Instead of trying to get their critics out of the way, they should listen to the message and change their bad policies. Why are they still treating Canadians like criminals when they themselves are the ones who contravened the Canada Elections Act?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has already mentioned today, the purpose of EI is to support those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Service Canada has the responsibility to find and stop inappropriate claims so Canadians who have paid into the system can access the benefits when they actually need them. For those who are unable to find employment, as we have mentioned in the House many times before, employment insurance will continue to be there for them when they need it.

[Philip Toone, NDP, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, do you see how ridiculous this situation is? The Conservatives are asking public servants to investigate and blow the whistle on other public servants who blow the whistle on ridiculous policies. They have already sicced their secret police on unemployed workers and now they are targeting public servants. Who will they target next?

Instead of wasting time and energy on their secret police, why do they not offer better service to unemployed workers? If they have enough resources for a witch hunt, why are they cutting Service Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have just mentioned, the purpose of employment insurance is to support those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Service Canada will continue to take on the responsibility to find and stop inappropriate claims for Canadians who have paid into this system to access these benefits as they actually deserve them.

Unlike the NDP we are here to support Canadians and create jobs, in fact, 950,000 net new jobs since the downturn of the recession. I encourage the NDP today to please support all the initiatives in our budget that will help create new jobs.

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

Mr. Speaker, it seems like the secret police for EI were simply not enough for the Conservatives. In another underhanded attempt to infringe on the rights of Canadians, the Conservatives have imposed secret police on their secret police. Public servants who dare speak out or question will be sought out and questioned.

How much is this new bigger brother scheme going to cost?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, the purpose of employment insurance is to support those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Employment insurance will continue to be there for individuals who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own as it always has been in the past.

As I just mentioned, we have created 950,000 net new jobs since the downturn of the recession. We encourage the NDP to support today those initiatives that we will be doing to create jobs, grow our economy and have long-term prosperity, unlike the opposition, who likes to travel abroad and destroy jobs by making decisions that—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Hochelaga.

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

Mr. Speaker, there is a law to protect people who blow the whistle on financial fraud. There is also a law to protect people who blow the whistle in the public service.

Now it looks like we need a law to protect public servants against the excesses of the Conservatives' secret police.

Instead of wasting their time investigating people who blow the whistle on their bad policies, maybe the Conservatives should investigate electoral fraud in Labrador.

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

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of employment insurance is to support those who are temporarily unemployed through no fault of their own. Our government will continue to support them by providing employment insurance to those individuals.

As the member opposite has mentioned, our government brought forward the whistleblower protection act 13 years ago under the scandal-plagued Liberals. If public servants know of some wrongdoing, we encourage them to bring that forward.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives still do not have the first clue when it comes to employment insurance. They are unaware of the negative consequences of their reform.

While they rest on their laurels, one Canadian, New Brunswick's Maurice Martin, has been on a hunger strike for 16 days. Sixteen days! This is Canada. This situation is unacceptable.

When will they do something good for honest workers who lose their jobs instead of attacking them? Our Prime Minister should be ashamed of this.

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

Mr. Speaker, our government has created 950,000 net new jobs since the downturn of the recession. That is why we are putting in place policies and initiatives, such as the youth employment strategy, and making sure that apprenticeships are provided support through grants such as the completion grant and the initiation grants.

I encourage the NDP opposite to support those job creation programs and the long-term prosperity of the country that will be put forward in the budget today. Employment insurance, as we have mentioned before, will continue to be there for those who need it.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, they conduct a witch hunt against the unemployed and public servants, yet they can turn a blind eye to the illegal financial dealings of Peter Penashue in Labrador.

The Conservatives would have everyone believe that a campaign volunteer is to blame for violating the Canada Elections Act, except that right after the campaign, the Conservatives appointed that incompetent volunteer to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board.

Will the Conservatives assure this House that they will stop using that office to hide their scapegoat?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know why they are so negative over there all the time.

Yesterday was March 20 and it is springtime in Labrador. Thousands of people are working on natural resources projects. Hunters are free to hunt. Workers are free to work. School children are free to reach the world through high speed Internet. Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay is cleaned up and built up, and everywhere things are looking up.

It is springtime in Labrador and with Peter Penashue the future is looking bright.

Natural Resources

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

Mr. Speaker, it is fall for the Conservatives.

As of last week, there is a vacancy on the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board—