Debates of March 6th, 2013

Border Services

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, obviously we have been working very closely with our counterparts in the United States to ensure the free flow of travel and of goods.

I can say the efforts and leadership shown by the Prime Minister with the beyond the border plan have already had a favourable impact on the Canadian economy. As the sequestration process goes forward, we are going to keep a close eye on it and will take the necessary actions.

I can say, having personal experience, having gone across the border, that there has been no unusual delay since it happened.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the delays are up.

First, the Conservatives were asleep at the wheel when Florida tried to impose new fees on Canadian drivers. Now with spring break around the corner, the U.S. sequestration spending cuts could mean the loss of 5,000 border patrol agents and almost 3,000 inspectors.

That is on top of the massive cuts the Conservatives have done to our Canada Border Services Agency. It is a reality. We cut first. Where is the government's plan to mitigate the economic and travel impacts of these cuts?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, why do the member opposite and his party always take the dim view when it comes to the leadership of President Barack Obama?

We have confidence that, as these challenges arise, we can tackle these challenges and we can ensure that the free flow of people and goods continue to go forward.

I have confidence in Barack Obama, and I am surprised that the official opposition is waging a war of words about the president's leadership.

Health

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is shocking to hear that a private company in Ontario can pay people for their blood.

Blood from profit-making brokers was one of the causes of the tainted blood scandal that left 20,000 Canadians infected with HIV and hepatitis C. The consequence was $5 billion in compensation.

Why is the minister allowing this to happen, given the increased risk to public health? Has the government learned nothing from the tainted blood scandal and the sound recommendations that were made by Justice Crever?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has one of the safest blood systems in the world.

Neither Canadian Blood Services nor Héma-Québec accepts payment for blood donations that would be used for the general public. It is legal for medical companies to purchase human plasma that is used in the development of drugs.

Companies that do this operate under the rules of the Food and Drugs Act and must meet strict guidelines. If companies do not meet these standards, they are subject to enforcement up to and including the loss of their licence.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, after paying $5 billion in compensation, the government still has not learned its lesson. Contaminated blood from private companies was one of the reasons 20,000 Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C. The fact that a company that buys blood can open its doors right next door to a homeless shelter without notifying provincial authorities is proof that we need better laws.

What does the minister intend to do to remedy the situation?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat my answer from the earlier question.

Canada has one of the safest blood systems in the world. Neither Canadian Blood Services nor Héma-Québec accepts payment for blood donations that would be used for the general public. It is legal for medical companies to purchase human plasma that is used for the development of drugs.

Companies that do this operate under the Food and Drugs Act. If companies do not comply, they are subject to enforcement actions up to and including the loss of their licence.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister is in a mathematical impossibility when she says that the government will build 15 frigates at a cost of $26 billion over 25 years, and when the navy says no assumption at all has been made about inflation. This matters. If inflation turns out to be the industry average of 8% rather than 0%, the government's number, she will end up buying five frigates instead of 15.

How could she display such incredible financial incompetence?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the member himself asked those very questions to military planners who make these decisions. My understanding is that he said to the military planners at committee that the shipbuilding cost estimates they used “make[s] sense”.

I also would like to point out to the member that, of course, all of the cost estimates go through a review from external experts, shipbuilding experts, we have brought in to actually review the process. Again, every step on every project will be reviewed before those estimates are done.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 2011, General Leslie wrote a pointed and timely report on the transformation of the military. It is clear that the Prime Minister likes it, as he has publicly stated that he wants more tooth and less tail for the money. Unfortunately, it is equally clear that the generals do not like it and have run up the budget on tail and reduced it on tooth.

General Leslie was sufficiently upset that he felt he had to take his concerns to the media. Is the minister with General Leslie and his Prime Minister, or will he continue to duck, weave and ignore the report?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I already spoke about the reductions in contracting and the savings that are found there. This is all being done in a very systematic, prudent fashion with the military, with all branches of the Canadian Forces, in a deliberate way. We are taking a centralizing approach when it comes to the training, when it comes to the services that are provided across the country.

What we do know is that when it comes to extraction of teeth, the member and his party presided over an unprecedented gutting of the Canadian armed forces. Now he is running around suggesting he has the solutions. This is like a pyromaniac who wants to join the fire department.

Taxation

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the first step to addressing tax evasion is to figure out just how much money we are losing, which is likely millions of dollars. That is what governments that are serious about tax evasion have already done—the United States, the U.K., Australia. However, the Conservatives refuse to follow suit, and when the Parliamentary Budget Officer is asked to run the numbers for Parliament, the Conservatives even refuse to release to him the data he needs to do his job.

What is the government trying to hide? Why will it not release the data we need to take action on tax evasion?

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

Mr. Speaker, in a recent appearance at the finance committee, even the OECD acknowledged that the tax gap is almost impossible to calculate. That is why the OECD says that all countries should have robust auditing, and that is exactly what we are doing. Our record speaks for itself.

Since 2006, we have audited thousands of cases and have identified over $4.5 billion of unpaid tax. This compares to a mere $174 million in the last year of the Liberal government.

Search and Rescue

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

Mr. Speaker, it has been less than three weeks since the Conservatives closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, and already there have been two accidents. For the first incident, Sea Island took over 30 minutes to respond, and this morning, they arrived after the fishing boats had already sunk and the fishermen were in the cold water. Now they are being treated for hypothermia.

This is totally unacceptable. When is the government going to take responsibility for marine safety and reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard station?

[Keith Ashfield, Conservative, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the member opposite has no understanding, completely no understanding, of SAR, search and rescue. The response time of the incident he mentioned was 11 minutes by the Royal Canadian Marine SAR auxiliary unit. They were there in 11 minutes. A previous incident had a 10-minute response time, and this morning, the response time, from the time we received the mayday, was 24 minutes.

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

Mr. Speaker, further to the minister's comments just now, we Canadians have great reason to be proud of our Coast Guard. In fact, our Coast Guard provides expert SAR services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to protect our fishermen, our sailors, shipping and recreational boaters.

Under our government, Canada has seen the first new large vessel built for the Coast Guard in over 30 years. With this significant investment in the Coast Guard, would the minister assure us that the future of our Coast Guard is in good hands under this government?

[Keith Ashfield, Conservative, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, yes, we are very proud to support our search and rescue experts within the Coast Guard. The government has made enormous investments in the Coast Guard fleet to ensure that we have the capabilities to adequately carry out search and rescue.

Just today, as I previously mentioned, two people were successfully rescued after their fishing boat sank off Point Grey, British Columbia, well within the international SAR response time standards.

While the opposition voted against our government's unprecedented investments to renew the Canadian Coast Guard's assets in 2009 and 2012, I do hope it will support them in the future.

Income Tax

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, tax season is here, and Conservatives are making it harder and harder for seniors to satisfy the taxman. Conservatives slashed CRA staff, stopped mailing paper forms, and told seniors to use the Internet when filing. While efficient within the Ottawa bubble, possibly, for seniors without Internet access, this is further proof that the Conservative vision for Canada excludes them.

Conservatives raised the retirement age, refused CPP changes, and are now forcing seniors to have to pay to file their taxes. Can the minister outline her future plans to continue marginalizing seniors?

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

Mr. Speaker, the way Canadians are filing their taxes is changing, and we are changing to meet those needs. We do encourage Canadians to file on line, but we do recognize that not everyone can file online. That is why, if seniors want to call the 1-800 number, they can have a form mailed directly to their house.

Last year, roughly 1.3 million packages that were mailed out were never used. We do not think that is the best use of resources.

Consumer Protection

[Mike Sullivan, NDP, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, cellphone theft is a serious problem in Toronto and across Canada. It is a growing and troublesome street crime, particularly when young people are mugged on their way home from school.

The industry is implementing a national database to log stolen cellphones to stop their reactivation. However, we need legislation to stop criminals from tampering with cellphone identifiers. Yesterday, I tabled a private member's bill to do just that. Will the government support this crime-fighting bill?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, I find it rich that the member for York South—Weston now pretends to stand with cellphone users after voting against cellphone unlocking by voting against Bill C-11. Our government has taken concrete actions to build a strong and competitive telecommunications sector. Once again, I would like to highlight the industry's effort to address the serious issue of cellphone theft. We will continue to work with industry to protect Canadian consumers and deliver more choice through greater competition.

Natural Resources

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Speaker, while our government is supporting jobs and economic growth in all sectors of the Canadian economy, the NDP calls Canadian jobs in the energy sector a disease. The NDP leader continues to dismiss the facts.

Would the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources update the house on how our government is protecting Canadian jobs?

[David Anderson, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP continues to use fiction to attack Canadian jobs. Just yesterday, the school of public policy released a paper, which further dispels the myth of Dutch disease. On this side of the House, our government understands the importance of all sectors of the Canadian economy. We support Canadian jobs. Our government will continue to rely on science and facts when making policy decisions.

The NDP leader's Dutch disease fantasy is just one more reason Canadians cannot trust the NDP.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

All sectors, Mr. Speaker? Last week, the Conservatives rebuffed concerns about the impact of cuts on seasonal EI on Canadian farmers and farm workers. However, it is the government that is out of touch with our farmers.

New Democrats agree with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture resolution raising grave concerns about the impact of the cuts to EI on their sector. Farmers are clear. They must retain these trained seasonal workers for their very survival. Is the government going to act on the farmers' concerns or continue to dismiss them?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development]

Mr. Speaker, EI is to be there to support people when they have been laid off from their jobs while they are looking for other jobs. EI will continue to be there for those people.

Our government, better than any other, recognizes the importance of the contributions of workers on farms, and indeed farms, to our country. That is why we are preserving the seasonal agricultural worker program so that our producers can get the support they need when they need it.