Debates of March 26th, 2013

Intergovernmental Relations

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, that is simply not true. As the Prime Minister said in the leaders' round in question period, our project is about working with provinces to ensure that Canadian jobs are available for Canadians, for those businesses as well, by the way, where we are seeing a growing gap between jobs that are available and Canadians' unwillingness to fill them, frankly, because they do not have the skills. We want to match the skills with the jobs, and this project is about that.

We will negotiate with the provinces, we will move forward and we will continue to invest in jobs and fight for Canadian jobs in a way that the NDP, frankly, simply does not understand.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, starting negotiations after decisions have been made amounts to coercion.

The minister has rejected outright the provinces' grievances concerning the shell game he is playing with worker training. It is simple: with one hand he is taking the money given to the provinces and, with the other, he is asking for additional money from the provinces for a program designed and managed by Ottawa. His predecessor did not hold consultations, and the current minister seems to be following his lead.

Is the minister holding discussions with Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia in order to find potential solutions for a problem that he created?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister said and as some members mentioned in their budget speeches, the budget indicates that we will be working with the provinces to ensure that the program creates jobs for Canadians. My colleague should know that we have created 950,000 new jobs in Canada, which is the best job statistic of all G7 countries. We will continue to go in that direction and to create jobs in every region of the country by working with the provinces.

Taxation

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

Mr. Speaker, centralizing job training without consulting the provinces is another foolish decision. The Conservatives can wreak havoc and attack worker solidarity, but the reality is that investments in labour-sponsored funds help put food on the table for tens of thousands of Quebeckers. The reality is that tens of thousands of Quebeckers enjoy a better retirement because of these investment funds. This is a model that works, and Quebec is very proud of it.

Why are the Conservatives attacking investment funds? Is it because they are related to unions?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to tell the hon. member that these investment funds will continue to exist and that small investors in Quebec and the rest of Canada will be able to invest in these funds through RRSPs.

We have also created other products for small investors, such as the tax-free savings account, which is useful to them. We stand with small investors because we know that when they have money, they can create wealth, and that jobs and wealth are important.

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

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives were really serious about helping investors, they would not do away with a winning formula that has been working in Quebec for years.

Rather than talk about the Conservatives' tall tales, I am going to talk about jobs and, more specifically, about the people employed by Manac, the truck trailer manufacturer located in the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism's backyard. Manac benefited from investments from the FTQ's Fonds de solidarité, and most of the 600 workers with good jobs in St-George-de-Beauce owe them to the FTQ's Fonds de solidarité. The economic spinoffs are felt throughout Beauce. Can the minister explain why he is attacking jobs in his own region?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, that is completely untrue. The Fonds de solidarité will continue to invest in companies. The fund has over $8.8 billion in investments and was given a tax break to allow it to capitalize. Today, this fund operates on capital markets like other funds, and the money will be available for investment in cost-effective companies such as Canam Group.

The Environment

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are having a hard time getting people to accept attacks on labour-sponsored funds. They are also having a hard time with the northern gateway project because they were incapable of responding to the concerns of Canadians about their unbalanced and unsustainable approach to developing our natural resources. That is why they spent millions of dollars on advertising to compensate for their inaction.

Does the Minister of the Environment understand that spending millions of dollars on propaganda cannot buy a good reputation?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, natural resources create jobs and economic growth in all regions of Canada. We want to improve Canadians' awareness of our responsible approach to developing our resources. Canada has one of the most stringent environmental protection regimes in the world, and we are strengthening it further with new security measures for pipelines and marine traffic.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, it is a great example of Conservative propaganda. The real issue here is how Conservatives are scrambling for a public relations response to what is a policy failure.

British Columbians do not trust the government on environmental protection or on pipeline safety. That is the truth. However, instead of addressing these legitimate concerns, Conservatives are spending millions to sell their unbalanced and unsustainable approach.

Taxpayer-funded Conservative propaganda is wrong. It is that simple. Why are the Conservatives using other people's money to promote these failed economic policies?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, it is common practice for governments of all stripes to use advertising for public information to communicate with Canadians. Providing Canadians with the facts helps them to make informed decisions.

This is a fact-based ad. All government policies and rules were followed in developing this campaign. We have every right to be proud of our responsible resource development policies.

Ethics

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Mr. Speaker, it is tax time and soon we will be bombarded by expensive ads about a taxpayer-funded tax cheat line.

With Mr. Penashue in mind, I am just wondering, if people call the snitch line to report tax cheats hiding almost half of their total income from authorities and claiming $50,000 in illegal receipts, can the Prime Minister decide that the tax cheats are immune from any consequences because he thinks they are hard workers who made the simple mistake of having an amateur chartered accountant help file their tax form? No? Well, why do cheaters like—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Minister of National Revenue.

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, we are keeping tax rates low for Canadians by closing tax loopholes and making the system fairer. We are going to launch the stop the international tax evasion program to improve identification of tax evasion and to protect Canadians.

Since 2006, our government has introduced over 75 measures to improve the integrity of the tax system. If the opposition is serious about cracking down on tax evasion, then it will support the budget and give the CRA the tools it needs.

Infrastructure

[Scott Andrews, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Mr. Speaker, it must be the Penashue loophole.

The Conservatives keep shovelling it into their latest EAP, extravagant advertising propaganda. They are spending tens of millions of dollars again this year on thinly veiled partisan advertising, paid for by Canadians from Labrador to Vancouver Island and supported by Peter the cheater.

Yet there is not a nickel in this year's budget for the long-sought-after regional airports in Nain and Port Hope Simpson, Labrador. Why not?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that the advertising budget which, of course, supports our obligation to communicate with the Canadian public on issues of national importance, including how the budget might affect them, is down by 46% since 2009-10. We are acting responsibly but still communicating with the public.

Of course, the last full year of the Liberal government, the Liberals spent over $20 million more than we did.

Ethics

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the whole Peter Penashue affair is quite funny. Indeed, he spends millions on self-promoting advertising. This is a gentleman who is a fraudster, self-admitted. He admitted to electoral fraud but at the same time, he blamed someone else. He might as well have just said, “Look. I smoked, but I didn't inhale”.

Here we have a situation where while he was here, he not only ignored search and rescue but ignored other major files pertaining to Labrador. In this particular situation, when will Peter Penashue be held to account before—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. Minister of National Defence.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, Peter Penashue is an honourable man. He has represented the people of Newfoundland and Labrador effectively—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. Minister of National Defence has the floor.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, he was a first nations leader through much of his professional career. He was a dedicated constituency man. I can tell members that he approached me a number of times with respect to the issue of search and rescue in his constituency.

It was because of those approaches that we made the decision—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The Minister of National Defence still has the floor. I do not want to waste a lot of time having to get up to call for order.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I was saying, Mr. Penashue approached me with respect to the issue of augmenting the search and rescue at the Goose Bay base. Because of those interventions, we increased the number of Griffin helicopters to be made available for search and rescue.

We also, as a result of his interventions, increased the way in which we communicate with the provinces to respond to important search and rescue needs.