Debates of March 6th, 2013

Democratic Reform

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

Mr. Speaker, the member says that he is going to school other people on the matter of ethics. According to the Ontario Electoral Boundaries Commission, it looks as though he is the one who needs to head back into the classroom. If he did, and if he took advantage of some new high-tech learning techniques, such as perhaps downloading lectures on his iPod or MP3 player, he might be stuck paying the tax that he wants to impose on all other Canadians.

On this side of the House, we do not want new taxes. We do not have to go to school to learn that.

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague should stop being so disparaging.

When it comes to the Senate, Indiana Jones said it best: “That belongs in a museum”.

The ethics counsellor and the Board of Internal Economy are passing the buck regarding the actions of certain senators. Ultimately, the entire system operates on an honour system that is as childish as saying “cross my heart and hope to die”. The Conservative Senate reform is falling to pieces.

It is time to put an end to all the funny business. That institution has become bogged down in so many scandals that the only way to fix it is to abolish it.

Will the Conservatives vote with the NDP this evening?

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

Mr. Speaker, our position on the Senate is clear. We want it elected.

However, back here in the House of Commons there is some exciting news. On March 22 there will be a beer and pizza party. According to lanouvelle.net, “[The NDP MP for Sherbrooke] will be present, among others, to explain the NDP's vision concerning the right of self-determination of the Quebec people”. That is the same member who said that “Sovereignty will be done in Quebec” and that the NDP will respect sovereignty.

Will the hon. member across the way be showing up for some beer and pizza?

Government Appointments

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

Mr. Speaker, it is always nice to see a Conservative member practising for the day when he will be on the opposition benches, when he can ask the questions.

Let us get back to the problem at hand, which is the appointment of the crook, Arthur Porter. The members across the floor are scrambling to come up with the lamest excuses. First they blamed the opposition. Then they said that it was not their problem, that he had simply stolen money from a hospital and that the matter did not fall under federal jurisdiction. Come on. They need to stop taking people for fools.

The Conservatives appointed Arthur Porter; they posed for photos with him and cashed his cheques. What a lapse in judgment.

Only the Prime Minister has the authority to remove him from the Queen's Privy Council. Will he fix his mistake?

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

Mr. Speaker, the individual in question resigned quite some time ago, and the allegations have nothing to do with his service to the government.

The member did not answer the question about the exciting party that his colleague in the NDP is hosting. This is the same colleague about whom a QMI article said, in a title, “Separatism not dead: rookie NDP MP”.

It will be beer, pizza and separatism at this Richmond event. It sounds like a real block party over there.

Employment Insurance

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador are going unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers.

The Conservative solution to the skills shortage is to cut all funding to the provinces for skills training.

This money helps Newfoundland and Labrador to partner with local businesses, provides incentives to hire EI recipients and support job searches and retraining.

Why are the Conservatives cutting this vital program when they themselves have claimed that “provinces and territories are best placed to determine” the employment programming that best meets local needs.

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly continue to consult with provinces and consult with Canadians from coast to coast to coast to make sure we put in place the right policies that will help create jobs.

Of course we will not speculate about what might be in the budget. I know opposition members are quite excited. Perhaps they could even bring themselves to consider voting for the budget. They have not done that for years. That would be novel.

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

Mr. Speaker, the provinces are being forced to speculate because the government did not consult them.

I will repeat the quote cited by my colleague,which is found on page 59 of HRSDC's 2012-13 Report on Plans and Priorities:

...provinces and territories are best placed to determine the mix of employment programming required to meet their local and regional labour market needs...

The provinces are best placed.

Then why is the government preparing to take back billions of dollars in transfers for employment benefits and support measures, which are praised in a report where the ink is not even dry?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, there is certainly a lot of speculation in this House today. I know everyone is excited, waiting with bated breath for this new budget, and we have consulted broadly on the budget. We have consulted more broadly than ever before.

The government has consulted broadly on this side of the House. I would hope the opposition has done this. We actually have not received any ideas from the opposition.

We are making sure the budget will include assistance for those who are still looking for work. It will help grow the economy, but most of all, it will get us back to balance in the medium term.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative plan for job training provides no new money, nothing incremental. The Conservatives will just claw back funds from the provinces, over $2 billion.

For Saskatchewan, that is a cut of more than $60 million per year, hitting the province's single most important priority.

Saskatchewan has that money at work, helping thousands of people in the job market: aboriginal people, immigrants, youth, the disabled and people with limited skills. Satisfaction rates are in the 90% range.

Why does the federal government want to screw that up?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Speaking of screwing things up, Mr. Speaker, I think we all remember when the transfers were slashed from the federal government to the provinces, and I think we all remember who did that.

That was an incredible burden on the provinces. We all know it was a Liberal government, and the hon. member was actually part of it. He has been there forever, so he had to be part of that government.

We will not reduce transfers to provinces.

National Defence

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, spending on external consultants and contractors at the Department of National Defence rose by $500 million to a staggering $3.2 billion and climbing. This comes after General Andrew Leslie's report called for a reduction of 30%.

The poor management by the minister has even prompted the Prime Minister to remind him that the goal is more teeth and less tail; but when it comes to defence contracting, it is beginning to look like the tail wagging the dog.

Why can the Minister of National Defence not bring external contracting in his department under control?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

The reality, Mr. Speaker, is that in fact contracting costs are coming down. In fact, the Department of National Defence is finding efficiencies as part of the government-wide spending reviews. We have seen examples of that, where we have reduced the number of contracts, contractors and resources extended on contracting, saving almost half a billion dollars.

The Department of National Defence continues to find ways to streamline and find efficiencies, but we all know that the defence of this country would have no teeth and no tail if this minister and his party had anything to say about it.

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, believe that the member for St. John's East would make an excellent Minister of National Defence.

The Minister of National Defence is doing nothing to stem the increase in the cost of his department's external contracts. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of contracts awarded to external contractors increased by more than $500 million. However, Lieutenant-General Leslie said in his report that this number could be cut by 30%.

Why are the Conservatives not implementing the recommendations of the report they commissioned?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as I just indicated, we are delivering savings approaching half a billion dollars by streamlining, simplifying and centralizing procedure processes, including the human resources process. Of course, the end of the Afghanistan mission will see more of those savings. The member and the member for St. John's East would have this department in a shambles, as did the Liberals, with their proposals for cuts across the board.

The Environment

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us continue on the subject of bad management.

Yesterday, in committee, the Minister of the Environment made some appalling comments. In his opinion, Canadians should be grateful for the tens of millions of dollars in cuts the government is making to Parks Canada because it seems that the other option was for the government to reduce transfers to provinces for health care and social programs. The Conservatives are therefore saying that Canadians have to choose between parks or health care. We are not impressed.

If asked to choose between parks and a useless Senate, I am sure that Canadians would choose parks. Why do the Conservatives not make cuts to the Senate instead?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

I thank my colleague, Mr. Speaker, for reminding us how the Liberals, in their day, addressed the deficit, but I can assure my colleague that Parks Canada will—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. Minister of the Environment has the floor.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

I can assure my colleague, Mr. Speaker, that Parks Canada will continue to provide world-class stewardship over the hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of national parklands, which this government has increased by 50% over the past six years.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it is not enough that the Conservatives are gutting the parks system or that they failed to introduce oil and gas regulations year after year, but now they are taking a panicked greenwashing road show down to the United States. Taking action on the environment and expanding our green economy expands our markets. Conservative inaction on the environment puts Canadian jobs and the economy at risk. We do not have a PR problem here. What we have is an environmental performance problem.

When will Conservatives realize that greenwashing is not the solution?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians remember well when my colleague took her road show to the United States to argue against our responsible resource development and Canadian jobs, as well as American jobs on the other side of the border. This government is the first Canadian government to actually reduce greenhouse gases. Our sector-by-sector program to meet our 2020 Copenhagen targets is working. That is in contrast to the NDP's proposed $21 billion plan to pick the pockets of Canadians without guaranteeing the reduction of a single megatonne of greenhouse gases.

Public Safety

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government has consistently taken action to give police the tools they need to do their jobs. That is why we brought forward the enhancing RCMP accountability act. Unfortunately, the NDP has raised ridiculous objections to this common sense piece of legislation, complaining about the title and other process issues. We believe this bill is a step toward an accountable police force, of which all Canadians can be proud.

Can the Minister of Public Safety update the House on the status of this important bill?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his question, for the great work he does to help keep Canadians safe and for the great work he did as an RCMP officer as well.

Our government is strengthening the review and complaints body for the RCMP, establishing a process for handling serious criminal issues involving RCMP officers and streamlining the management of RCMP human resources.

Rather than agreeing to disagree with ending harassment in the RCMP, like the NDP member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, I call on the NDP to drop its unreasonable opposition and stand up for law-abiding Canadians.

Border Services

[Rosane Doré Lefebvre, NDP, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, March break is approaching and many Canadians plan to take advantage of the opportunity to travel. However, the United States have hit a budgetary wall and announced close to $85 billion in cuts. Border services will be the first to be affected, which will increase wait times at the border and in airports.

What is the government's plan to ensure that travellers and our businesses and companies do not have to pay the price of the cuts being made on the other side of the border?