Debates of March 5th, 2013

Opposition Motion--Senate

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is contained in the motion itself that we are debating. The whole point of this is to begin and initiate a discussion with the provinces, because they are equal partners in our Constitution.

Therefore, before we get into all these kinds of academic games that the member wants to get into, let us first start with a basic premise that his party was not very good at and that the current government does not do at all, which is to sit down and ask the provinces what they think and what role they want to play. Let us start with that kind of confederation.

[Jim Hillyer, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, is the member suggesting that we cannot have sober or independent thought just because there is a caucus? Does that mean that no members of the NDP in this House have sober or second thought because they are part of a caucus? Our party is allowed to be sober and thoughtful.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there are days I dream of being offered this opportunity.

However, the point is not whether we individually bring independent notions. Of course we all do. I say to my colleague through you, Mr. Speaker, that yes, we all do in our caucuses.

However, when we structurally put together a chamber that is supposed to be non-aligned—that is what the “sober second thought” means—it does not matter what the parties have done, it does not matter when the next election is and it does not matter who the prime minister is; what matters is the law in front of me and whether I think it is good or bad.

I submit through you, Mr. Speaker, to the hon. member that in that place, that is not what happens in most cases. They have whips, they have party leaders and they attend caucuses because in large part they follow the partisanship of this place, and the rest of it is a scam.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my excellent colleague, the member for Hamilton Centre, for his passionate speech. It is always a pleasure to listen to him speak. We can see how passionate he is and that he is motivated to change our country for the better. When we share our time and work with people like him, we can see that it is possible to make this kind of reform.

My question for him is about the Senate and the answer we often hear from the government. The government tells us that its proposed reform in Bill C-7 is the best and that we should adopt it.

The government's proposal does not make any changes to the age of eligibility for being a senator. If their bill were adopted, senators would be nominated and someone who is 28 years old, like me, could not run. Since I am not yet 30, I could not be a senator.

I would like to hear what my colleague thinks about that. What kind of problems could that cause with respect to representation?

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question and for the fantastic work she is doing on this file.

Quite frankly, it is a bad bill the government has in front of the House in terms of reforming the Senate. It is made worse by the fact that the government did not even bother to take care of what is clearly unacceptable policy and unacceptable legislation in this country in this year—that is, that there is an age limit. People can come here as long as they are the age of majority, but they cannot go to the other place until they are 30. It is completely unacceptable and undemocratic. It points to how little a democratic lens the government put the bill through. Not only did the government not consult with Canadians, it did not even take into account basic values, meaning that if people are old enough to serve in the House of Commons, they ought to be old enough to serve in any other chamber in this country.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that the hon. member for Hamilton Centre is a hard act to follow, given the quality of his speech and his enthusiasm. Yet, I am nevertheless pleased to speak today in the House to support the motion presented by the hon. member for Toronto—Danforth.

This motions calls on the government, in consultation with the provinces and territories, to take immediate and necessary steps towards abolishing the Senate.

The Senate is a costly, outdated and unaccountable institution made up of unelected members.

Today, Canadians have lost confidence in this institution. They know that the Liberals and the Conservatives have used the Senate to reward their friends. They also know that the Senate rarely makes things better. From the time Canada was founded in 1867 until 1992, the Senate passed 99% of the bills that were submitted without any amendments in 95% of the cases.

Things have not changed much since then, except perhaps with regard to opposition bills, which rarely receive support from senators.

When he was in opposition, the current Prime Minister swore, with his hand on his heart, that he would clean up the Senate and that he would not appoint any senators.

After seven years in office, the Prime Minister has appointed over half of the senators—58 of the 105—currently in the Senate.

Many failed Conservative candidates and Conservative party fundraisers now sit in the upper chamber. A good example of this is when the Prime Minister appointed Josée Verner and Larry Smith to the Senate after they were defeated in the 2011 election. Everyone remembers that.

Canadians are tired of friends of the government being given preferential treatment. They are tired of paying while the government tables one austerity budget after another and keeps saying that there is no money. They are tired of making sacrifices and tightening their belts.

Canadians' belts are so tight that hundreds of thousands of them are having trouble making ends meet, despite the fact that they are working full time. That is unacceptable in a country such as ours.

Ask those people who get up early each day and work hard if they think it is normal that Senator Wallin ran up $350,000 in travel expenses. That would be enough to pay 57 seniors their old age security benefits for a year. For anyone wondering, Ms. Wallin has cost taxpayers $1,285,000 over the past three years.

Do you think Canadians think it is fair that Senator Duffy, who claimed housing expenses that he was not entitled to, simply has to apologize and reimburse the fees in order to be cleared and not worry anymore? The answer is absolutely not. Canadians find it scandalous, and we understand them.

If someone who is unemployed makes a fraudulent claim, their benefits are cut off. If a senator does the same thing, he is simply asked to apologize and pay back the amount. Canadians want to get rid of this double standard.

I remind the members of the House that Senator Duffy, an unelected, unaccountable official, like all his senator colleagues, has cost taxpayers more than $1,165,000 over the past three years.

What would our constituents say if we asked them whether they agree with paying up to $7 million so that Patrick Brazeau could be a senator until he retires? Mr. Brazeau is currently facing very serious criminal charges. He was appointed by the Prime Minister for life in 2009. If he sits until age 75, Canadians will have to pay $7 million.

Keep in mind that before the Conservatives decided to kick him out of their caucus, Mr. Brazeau was one of the Senate's champion absentee members. He missed 25% of meetings between June 2011 and April 2012. He also missed 65% of meetings of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, of which he is a member, and 31% of meetings of the Standing Committee on Human Rights, of which he was the deputy-chair. During that time, taxpayers continued to pay 100% of his salary, and the Prime Minister continued to tolerate the repeated absences of a member of his caucus.

But Mr. Brazeau was not the only one to attend the Senate sparingly. Nineteen senators missed more than one-quarter of the sitting days in 2011-12. The average number of days worked by a senator in 2011-12 was 56 days. That means a great deal of money has been spent while many people are suffering.

The Senate will now cost $92.5 million a year. I say "now" because the Conservatives have just increased the budget allotted to Senators. Over the next 10 years, Canadian taxpayers will spend some $92.5 million on the Senate. Over 10 years, that amount could be much better invested. For instance, it could be invested in health, through transfer payments to the provinces that the Conservatives have slashed. It could be invested in building social housing to support people who do not even have a roof over their head in a wintry country like Canada. It could be invested in small and medium-sized businesses, to improve their growth and their ability to hire more people. It could also be invested in ways to fight food insecurity, which is seen in a number of aboriginal communities. It could be invested to help our regions that the government is emptying and abandoning with its employment insurance reform. There are dozens of better ways to spend public money than the government's plan to spend it on the Senate.

Parties that continue to defend the Senate will have to explain to Canadians why the operating costs associated with this relic of the 19th century are justified. I hope that the Liberals, who have lately started to side with the Conservatives, will be voting with us. The hon. member for Toronto-Centre, interim leader of the Liberal Party, has already spoken in favour of abolishing the Senate. I hope he will have the courage of his convictions and vote in favour of this motion.

Today, the parties represented in this House have the opportunity to send a clear signal to the Canadian public. By voting in favour of our motion, they will demonstrate that they are serious in their intentions to avoid waste in public spending.

At least one Conservative agrees with us, and we commend him. Michael Fortier, a former Conservative minister, fundraiser and senator, recently spoke in favour of abolishing the Senate. Mr. Fortier was able to see the operations of that institution from the inside and his comments are not flattering. Among other things, he said he simply did not see the usefulness of the Senate and he felt that the practice of appointing friends of the regime is clearly not optimal: a mild way of saying that it makes the Senate dysfunctional.

It is time to move ahead and reform this country to make it better, and one necessary step is to abolish the Senate.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her remarks.

Our esteemed colleague, the hon. member for Toronto—Danforth, said earlier today that if the Constitution requires unanimity in order to abolish the Senate, it would be difficult, but if it is 7/50 it might be possible. I hope the hon. member will give me a straight answer, because up to now I have not had any reply from the NDP.

Would the NDP be willing to abolish the Senate against the wishes of Quebec?

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it very clear in our speeches and our motion that the discussions about abolishing the Senate must be held in co-operation with all the provinces. That is our position and we will maintain it. The Conservatives have had seven years to begin discussions with the provinces. That has not been done and it must be done, for the good of all Canadians.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the official opposition is playing with constitutional fire. This is not a real proposal to abolish the Senate. The Senate exists as an institution in Canada's Constitution.

It exists in the Constitution Act and requires a unanimous adoption of motions across 10 provincial legislatures and the Parliament of Canada. I am certain the province of Quebec would make its demands made in Meech Lake in advance of any abolition proposal.

We are looking at an official opposition that is proposing to play with constitutional fire, reopen the divisive debates of the 1980s and 1990s. I do not think that is what any part of the country wants or that it reflects a responsible proposal from the official opposition.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party's solution is to send the issue to the Supreme Court rather than having a real debate

For every problem, there is a solution. If discussions had been held, perhaps we would not be debating the abolition of the Senate here today in the House. We would be talking about the real problems that affect Canadians, such as poverty, for one. We would also be talking about the economy in general and not about abolishing the Senate. If the discussion of a problem gets held back, this is what results.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what our friends in the other parties do not realize is that this is a fundamental issue that has to do with the democracy and legitimacy of the parliamentary system. We are talking about $90 million in spending and a lack of accountability. Something simply must be done. I do not agree that Quebeckers do not see the lack of democracy in the parliamentary system as a problem. They are just as concerned as other Canadians.

I would like to hear what the hon. member for Hull—Aylmer has to say about democracy and renewal.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, the system we have now is not necessarily a democracy, which is sad. As we have already said, if we had discussions and talked about the situation, the real problems and Senate spending, as well as its cost and value, I think it would answer all the questions about the present problem. They are talking a lot about value for money and productivity. Speaking of value for money, I mentioned the average number of days senators were at work in their chamber. For the sake of democracy and people's well-being, we must discuss the problem in order to solve it.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, sometimes people who perform at a concert will stand up and dedicate a song to somebody. I thought I might dedicate this intervention today to the memory of the Hon. Stan Waters, Canada's first elected senator, a man who demonstrated that having elected senators was definitely a step up from having a fully appointed Senate and who demonstrated as well, I think very clearly, that having an elected Senate was superior to having no Senate at all, no sober second thought at all.

I want to divide my remarks today. I only have 10 minutes, but I will to try to divide them into three sections. First, I want to talk about the idea of bicameralism. Second, I want to talk about why the reference questions are being presented as they are to complex form. Three, I want to talk a bit about the way in which the Supreme Court should address this issue.

Let me start with the issue of bicameralism. The New Democratic Party proposes to cause Canada to become a unicameral federation, a federation in which the federal Parliament has one house only. This would make us unique among the federations of the world. Australia, our good friends whose country is marginally smaller than ours, has a bicameral Parliament. Then there are the United States, the Austrians, the Belgians. Germany, which is also a federation, has a bicameral Parliament. Switzerland has a bicameral Parliament. There are some countries that are not federations, but they also have bicameral assemblies.

The point I am making is, we would be venturing out in a direction that is very distinct from the pattern that has been engaged in by other countries. It is very distinct from the vision the Fathers of Confederation had. They spent more time discussing in the 1864 Confederation debate the issue of what to do with the upper chamber than they did on anything else, very nearly more than everything else put together. It was a widely discussed issue in all the newspapers at the time.

While we may feel the current Senate does not accurately reflect what their intentions were, having no Senate definitely would not achieve what they were after.

In all fairness, to amend the constitution, we could say that their vision was out of date and that we were amending it to reflect a more modern understanding, and that would be legitimate. However, let us be aware of the fact that this is a major departure. That was the first point I wanted to make.

The second point is to talk about the nature of the reference question. Canada has a constitution that is unique in one other respect. We do not have a single amending formula in our constitution. To amend the Canadian constitution, depending on the part that is being amended, it could take place by means of a unilateral amendment passed here or in the Senate; or a unilateral amendment passed in a single provincial legislature; or it can require an amendment passed both in the provincial legislature and here; or it can involve the approval of seven provinces with half of the population, the famous 7/50 formula; or, in certain cases, unanimity is required.

There are aspects of the constitution on which it is not clear which amending formula ought to be used. This has been a considerable source of frustration as we try to work our way through the Senate, where it seems likely, although not certain, that more than one amending formula must be used, depending on the kind of amendment that is made and on the part of the Senate that is being altered.

If, for example, we want to eliminate the requirement that senators must own $4,000 of real estate in the province they represent, can we do that through a unilateral amendment, or is some other amending formula required?

If we want to deal with the question of independence of senators, whether they are going to be independent, what formula must we use?

If we are going to consider abolishing the Senate, as the New Democrats propose, what is required? On that one we know, at the very least it is the 7/50 formula. It is conceivable that it might be the unanimity formula. This is the source of several of the questions that are being placed before the Supreme Court in the package of reference questions as I would describe it.

The questions are broken up, dealing with Senate term limits, the Senate appointment consultation, property qualifications, Senate abolition. On the one dealing with Senate abolition, I will read what it says in the question:

Can an amendment to the Constitution of Canada to abolish the Senate be accomplished by the general amending procedure set out in section 38 of the Constitution Act, 1982, by one of the following methods:

Then three different ways of potentially amending the Constitution to abolish the Senate are contemplated. Would any of these work? The attempt here is to determine whether or not we can actually use the 7/50 formula at all, or whether we have to resort to the unanimity formula.

It should be clear that either of these formulae would involve a very considerable amount of work trying to achieve the consent of the provinces. I am certain we would find very quickly that opening up the Constitution in this manner would lead to many requests for other things. It might well lead to requests from the provinces for some form of constitutional amendment and change to the Senate other than abolition. That is certainly a likelihood.

However, as a starting point, there really is no point in going to the provinces until we know what the legalities are. Does Prince Edward Island hold a veto, as does every other province if unanimity is required, or can we achieve agreement if only three provinces are holding out and we have provinces representing half the population? We had better figure that out before we proceed forward on a particular strategy. We certainly should not shut down the other options, which might indeed be the kinds of things that the various provincial legislatures would like to see and indeed the people of Canada would like to see.

The last topic is the issue of the tools that are available to the Supreme Court as it goes forward in dealing with these questions. We ask questions like what it means for senators to be independent. Does that mean that having some form of election process is a compromise? Does it mean that the potential for re-election compromises their independence? Does having a term that is eight or ten years long, one or the other, allow them to be genuinely independent?

To determine that, one has to go back and examine what was meant by independence in the minds of those who were discussing what would become the British North America Act, when they were debating it in the 1860s; and not only that, but those who were discussing similar issues for the prior institution that was replaced by the Senate. I refer to the legislative council of the united Province of Canada, which was implemented under the Act of Union of 1840 and then was changed from an appointed to an elected institution in 1856. There are records of debates dating back to these times. They are not readily available, but they need to be consulted to ensure a fulsome presentation of the facts to the members of the Supreme Court on this and other similar questions that are highly technical in nature.

I mention all of this because of the fact that I am involved in an effort to try to take many of these documents—many of which are available only in limited numbers, frequently in documentary form, in various archives—scan them, make them available and put them online through a website that will be called originaldocuments.ca. Our intention is to have as close to an exhaustive compilation of these documents as possible in time for the Supreme Court's hearings, for those who are advocating on both sides of each of the questions involved and also those who are going to ultimately be ruling on these questions.

Letting the process continue as the government has laid things out in Senate reform—which is to say allowing for the Supreme Court to consider these options, to provide thoughtful, thorough responses to these questions, as it did on a previous ruling that dealt with Senate reform about 30 or 32 years ago—will allow us to move forward in whatever direction seems best to the people and the provinces of Canada. That is preferable to moving in the direction the NDP is proposing today through this motion.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

When the Chair gave the floor to the hon. member for Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, it was noted there were 10 minutes before question period; however, the hon. member will have 10 minutes remaining for presentation, to be followed by 10 minutes of questions and comments following question period as well.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

[Brent Rathgeber, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, private member's bill, Bill C-461, the CBC and public service disclosure and transparency act, would correct a well-documented deficiency in the Access to Information Act, which allows the CBC to refuse to disclose documents if, in its discretion, it believes the documents affect its creative, journalistic or programming activities. This blanket exclusion would be replaced with a discretionary injury-based exemption.

The bill would also amend the definition of “exempt personal information” in the Privacy Act to allow specific salary and responsibility access requests for the senior levels of the federal service.

However, there is much misunderstanding and confusion regarding this bill. Some opposition members have called the bill an attack on the CBC. It is not. CBC is in no way being singled out. In fact, the prejudice test would provide enhanced protection to recognize the unique position a public broadcaster is in vis-à-vis the state.

Transparency and sunlight are fundamental to open democracy and indispensable in holding government to account, so I encourage all hon. members to support this private member's bill, unamended, at all stages.

Food Banks

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a UN report released yesterday showed us that the Conservative government is failing Canadians, failing to reduce poverty and failing to help Canadians thrive. Everywhere in Canada, more and more families are going to food banks. According to HungerCount 2012, there is a 31% increase in demand for food banks since 2008. I see this in my riding. The NDG Food Depot fights to feed the community. Up to 800 people come to this food bank per week. Thirty-five per cent of its clients are children, and this is going up. Fifty-five per cent are on welfare, and fourteen per cent have no income because of bureaucratic obstacles. Canadians have a right to food security.

Where the Conservative government is failing, community organizations try to help. I thank the following organizations for the work they do to do feed my community: the Meals on Wheels program at Volunteer West Island; Dorval Community Aid; Saint-Vincent-de Paul Society in Lachine and Ville Saint-Pierre; Extended Hands in Lachine; and the NDG Food Depot.

Blanket BC

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my constituent, Gregory Ould, the founder of Blanket BC, a charity that collects blankets and distributes them to those in need in our local communities. Recently, Blanket BC reached the milestone of having distributed 100,000 blankets to those who find themselves out in the cold.

I also applaud Ben Ould, one of the unofficial co-founders of Blanket BC and its most active volunteer. As a warm-hearted blanketeer, Ben works several hours every week to help those in need. When he is not volunteering for Blanket BC, he might be found every day out picking up garbage on his Adopt-A-Block route, or this remarkable young man might be found at elementary school, because he is just nine years old. Ben and his five-year-old sister, Emma, who also volunteers, are setting a good example for us all to follow.

I invite all members of the House to join me in thanking members of the Ould family for their compassionate leadership with Blanket BC. They are making Canada stronger and better.

Millennium Development Goals

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, notable progress has been made toward achieving the millennium development goals, or MDGs. Child deaths have dropped; more children than ever before are attending primary school; global poverty continues to decline; access to safe drinking water has been expanded; and investments in fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis have saved millions. There is widespread feeling among policy makers and civil society that the MDGs have played an important part in securing progress and that globally agreed goals should continue beyond 2015.

There is also widespread understanding that the world is undergoing dangerous climate change and other serious environmental problems and that worldwide environmental objectives need a higher profile. As described by Bill Gates, the MDGs became a type of global report card; they generated incentives to improve performance. Canada must play a role in supporting ambitious globally shared economic, environmental and social goals beyond 2015.

Bowl for Kids Sake

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to highlight an event that took place in my riding of Oxford last month: Bowl for Kids Sake. This event was organized by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Woodstock in support of its youth mentorship program. This three-day event brought together various companies and individuals from across our community and saw 68 teams dressed up in costumes from their favourite decade. The goal this year was to raise $40,000, and I am happy to announce it reached its goal. Members of our community really stepped up and enthusiastically displayed their support. I congratulate the members of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Woodstock for organizing this successful event and for all their hard work and dedication to the youth in our community. I also congratulate all the teams and community partners involved, for their time and support.

The fun continues with Curl for Kids Sake happening in Ingersoll on May 2-4, and in Tillsonburg on May 10 and 11.

Order of Military Merit

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today I had the honour of attending the Governor General's ceremony to award the Order of Military Merit at Rideau Hall.

The Order of Military Merit recognizes distinctive merit and exceptional service displayed by the men and women of the Canadian Forces, both regular and reserve, who have demonstrated dedication and devotion beyond the call of duty.

Today this service medal was awarded to Master Warrant Officer François Vidal, originally from Châteauguay. Master Warrant Officer Vidal joined the Canadian Forces in 1989 as an air defence artilleryman. He has taken part in four Canadian missions: one in the Persian Gulf, one in Israel and two in Afghanistan. I am very proud of Master Warrant Officer Vidal's dedication and achievements, and I was pleased to be able to congratulate him personally.

Canadian Forces personnel exemplify honour and sacrifice, and all Canadians have a duty to recognize the contribution they make to creating a safer, more democratic world.

Congratulations to all the recipients of the order, and especially to Master Warrant Officer François Vidal.

Korean War Veteran

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of the Korean war armistice and the year of the Korean veteran. Therefore, it is fitting that I rise to share the story of Private Robert Clark from Brantford, a soldier described as a keen and conscientious man who was not afraid of work and exhibited leadership qualities. He lost his life in Korea.

Ben Clark, his brother, recently learned a great deal about Robert, so when a friend visited South Korea, Ben asked him to take a picture of his brother's gravesite. However, the photograph showed an error in the age displayed on the tombstone. The thought of his brother's tombstone being wrong for so long just did not seem right, and Ben was determined to do something about it.

Thankfully, working with my staff, the tombstone has been corrected and a small piece of justice for the memory of Private Clark has been achieved.

Across Canada, there are untold stories to be heard, fleeting memories to preserve and opportunities to pay tribute. We thank the Clarks for doing just that and for helping to ensure that another piece of our national history is never forgotten.

Canadian Citizenship Challenge

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Speaker, new Canadians must learn about Canada to become citizens, and it follows that all Canadians should be able to answer the same questions about their home and native land.

The Historica-Dominion Institute challenged youth from grade 7 to 12 to put their national knowledge to the test by studying for and writing a mock citizenship exam. Yesterday, I had the honour of meeting two winners of the 2012 edition of the Canadian Citizenship Challenge. Carly Firth, from my riding of Palliser, and Jason Losier, from my colleague's riding of Acadie—Bathurst, have shown their pride in Canada by working through and learning about our history and the people who made Canada what it is today.

I congratulate Carly, Jason and all the 44,000 students who discovered Canada through this challenge.

Wage Earner Protection

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when a hundred people lost their jobs at Vertis Communications in Stevensville they did not think they would be left fighting to get $2.7 million in severance packages and termination pay, which they deserve and the company owes them. Unfortunately, this is the position they find themselves in after U.S.-based Vertis filed for bankruptcy in the United States, not Canada, and then closed its doors in Canada.

The workers have turned to the federal government to fight on their behalf under the wage earner protection program, a program designed to compensate eligible workers for unpaid severance and termination pay when their employer declares bankruptcy and goes into receivership. Just like countless times before, however, the government has turned its back on the workers in Niagara and ignored their pleas for help, and once again it is hard-working Canadians who are left out in the cold.

American companies enjoy millions of dollars of corporate tax breaks in our country.

We would like to say this is an exceptional case, but under the Conservative government's watch, we are seeing more and more U.S.-based companies shut down facilities in Canada, declare bankruptcy in the United States and deny workers what is owed.

Workers and their families are sick and tired. They deserve to get paid. I hope the government will find that—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Kenora.

Public Safety

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know they can count on this government to give police the tools they need to do their job. This is true in all communities across Canada, including aboriginal communities.

Our government has stood up for matrimonial real property rights on reserve, tougher sentences for dangerous criminals and funding to keep young people out of gangs.

Shockingly, the NDP has opposed our government on each and every one of these initiatives. Actually, I am not that surprised.

Yesterday the Minister of Public Safety announced that our government will continue to support existing first nations policing agreements. This is an important part of our plan, which will help keep our streets and communities safe.

This initiative has received wide support from first nation chiefs, including those from the great Kenora riding, who concur with National Chief Atleo, who said, “[S]ecurity is of paramount importance to our people...so I think it's important” that this is a long-term signal, as the Minister of Public Safety had confirmed yesterday.