Debates of March 22nd, 2013

Taxation

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is just a big shell game with them. In another shocking reversal of policy, Conservatives killed a four-decade-old policy and added a brand new tax on Canada's credit unions. They did it without consultation and without warning.

Credit unions are vital participants in their communities. They are owned by Canadians, not by Bay Street, and they provide invaluable banking options for Canadians. Why are they attacking Canada's credit unions with new taxes?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the NDP is really out of touch on this one. The credit unions will continue to have access to the small business tax rate on the same basis as every other small business in Canada. The additional deduction is an outdated tax preference and is no longer necessary, due to changes in the small business tax rate.

So out of touch is the NDP that it did not even realize that Quebec eliminated special access for credit unions to its reduced provincial tax rate in 2003.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what people will remember is that this government has given us its seventh deficit budget.

The best idea the Minister of Finance could come up with was to impose a $10-million tax on Canadian members of credit unions. That is indefensible. No wonder he ran off to Malaysia. Desjardins alone will have to pay $75 million, or 6% of its profits. That means members will get less back from their credit unions.

The Conservatives did their worst with workers' money, and now they are targeting a successful economic model that got its start in Quebec—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, first, as we have always said, we are on track for a balanced budget by 2015.

Credit unions will still have access to the small business tax rate, like all other small businesses in Canada. The additional deduction is an outdated tax preference and is no longer necessary given the benefits of our new tax rates. That is why Quebec eliminated its reduced rate in 2003.

Human Resources and Skills Development

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget was a triumph for small businesses, for workers and for Canadians, including those in the beautiful riding of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country.

The minister announced a Canada job grant that will better align skills with that which employers need and with the jobs that are readily available. Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of HRSDC give us some indication of what responses the minister has had to the Canada job grant?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country for his huge contributions to the budget.

The minister has informed me that she has spoken with her provincial counterparts and looks forward to working with all of them on the new Canada job grant.

As the National Association of Career Colleges has said:

Thanks to the reforms proposed in this budget, including the new Canada Jobs Grant, an increased number of unemployed and underemployed Canadians will be able to obtain the training that they need to access jobs that in demand now, and will be in the future.

I could go on, Mr. Speaker, but we are doing a great—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order.

The hon. member for Pontiac.

The Environment

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we hoped that the Conservatives would learn from their mistakes. Apparently, that is too much to ask.

As a reminder, the last budget axed environmental assessments, killed the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, and put an end to protection measures for our lakes and rivers. Yesterday's budget is so inadequate that it does not even mention climate change.

Why do the Conservatives continue to reduce investment and refuse to tackle environmental issues?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my colleague opposite to actually read through the budget and to vote for measures that are included in there, including funding for the Sustainable Development Technology Canada, which helps to develop and accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies, and things like additional funding for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which protects ecologically sensitive areas.

Our track record speaks for itself. I ask him to please vote for the budget.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we would vote for something we could believe in. This budget shows the Conservatives' complete disregard for protecting Canada's fisheries and environment, slashing hundreds of millions from DFO and hinting at more consolidation, while putting aside a pittance for community groups to do fisheries habitat protection. If only we had a law that protected fish habitat.

Does the minister not realize that his attacks on the environment will leave Canadians and our fisheries high and dry?

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and for the Asia-Pacific Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, the department is making operations more efficient by simplifying its management and organizational structure. This means reducing administrative expenses for management and overhead, reducing duplication and improving our decision-making processes. I wonder which of these the member is opposed to doing.

This will not put our front-line staff or our services to Canadians in any worse condition.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians could not disagree more with the government's response.

This year, the Conservatives may not want to boast about gutting environmental protections, but at one time, they were quite proud of that fact. They were quite proud of their irresponsible measures that kept communities from participating in the consultation process and gutted environmental reviews.

Will the minister now admit that the Conservative agenda is not in the interests of Canadians, that it fails the environment and that it is harming our good jobs that depend on the environment?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleague opposite that in economic action plan 2012, we actually increased funding for consultations for environmental assessments. Also, the Commissioner of the Environment stated that reducing the amount of small assessments, for projects such as installing a park bench in a national park, would actually see us spending better resources on larger projects with greater environmental impact.

The real question, the real failure, is the NDP's ideological opposition to the development of our energy sector when the science says that this creates jobs and economic growth in an environmentally responsible way.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the environment commissioner actually denounced the fact that you had eliminated 99% of environmental assessments.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member knows that he has to address his comments through the Chair and not directly at his colleagues. I hope that he remembers that.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources held a photo op on Monday to talk about accidents, but it actually caused a shipwreck, which is a real metaphor for the government. It is shipwrecking the environment, and it is sinking the jobs that depend on a clean environment, with deeper cuts to DFO, after it already cut fish habitat protection, and failure to reverse the devastating cuts to environmental reviews. Climate change does not even merit a single mention.

The question is clear: Why do they not stop wrecking the environment and start protecting it?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I always relish the opportunity to correct the record.

The Commissioner of the Environment actually said that the majority of screenings are for very small projects for which there are no significant environmental impacts. The agency has estimated that 94% of screenings would not pose significant adverse environmental impacts.

What would pose adverse economic impacts is the NDP's constant denigration of our country's major energy sector, one of the major sectors of economic growth and job creation. When will the member opposite get on board with the sector that is actually creating jobs and growth for this country?

Aboriginal Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, budget 2013 is an uneconomic inaction plan for aboriginal people.

Only one third of aboriginal children are finishing high school, yet budget 2013 fails to provide one new dollar for first nations' K to 12 education. One cannot benefit from skills training without basic math and reading skills.

Will the government remove the funding cap and close the funding gap for first nations education, or will it continue to deprive the fastest growing part of our population from fully participating in Canada's economy?

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, not only did our government reaffirm our commitment to consult with first nations across Canada on the development of a first nations education act to improve outcomes for aboriginal children in K to 12, we also committed new resources for scholarships, bursaries and training for aboriginal students. These investments build on last year's investments and new resources for new schools, literacy programming and administration of aboriginal education on reserve.

That member, her party and the official opposition voted against it all.

Infrastructure

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative's spin machine, of course, is in high gear after the announcement of their economic inaction plan yesterday.

The Conservatives slashed infrastructure to wipe away red ink, hoping that no one would notice, but believe me, Canadians are not going to be fooled. Communities had been promised over $5 billion for infrastructure, and the government has now slashed that to $3 billion. Conservatives have again failed to deliver on promises, so now they say, nudge nudge, wink wink, “just wait, trust me”.

How can Canadians possibly trust a government that clearly makes lots of talk, lots of hot air, and delivers very little?

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

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about what the Liberals delivered. When we took office, the average piece of infrastructure in the country was 17 years old, a historic high. Now, it is 14 years old. Our infrastructure has not been this renewed in three decades. That is because we have been rebuilding, replacing and reconstructing our infrastructure and getting the results on the ground.

We now have a long-term plan to build even further. Let us keep building.

The Budget

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

Mr. Speaker, Labrador has been all over the national news lately. Unfortunately for Labradorians, none of it has been good. Back home, they are saying one can either do it the right way or the Penashue.

To make matters worse, Labradorians were also stiffed in yesterday's budget. Labrador was only mentioned once, and that was for an old jobs program. For Conservatives, Labrador is just a place to pull puppet strings.

Why was the big land forgotten in yesterday's budget?

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

Mr. Speaker, the people of Labrador have taken the Penashue all the way to results. That is exactly what we expect them to do in the next election. He delivered for the Muskrat Falls project, which has created jobs. The long-gun registry is gone. The seal hunt and the polar bear hunt are here to stay.

He is delivering results on the ground, and the people of his community will have a chance to celebrate those results and send him back to Ottawa to deliver more.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, the seal hunt, the biggest collapse of the world's seal market, has happened under the Conservative government's watch.

The fact of the matter is that this man, Penashue, broke the law. He cheated. As his time as an MP was coming to an end, Conservatives used his ministerial position to make a government announcement and gain an unfair advantage. He started a website and took out a full page ad, all before he resigned.

Why is the Prime Minister standing with a man who cheated, who broke the law and who abandoned any pretence?