House of Commons Hansard #234 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was rights.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Order. Whoever asked the question, the parliamentary secretary is answering the question and he has the right to do so and he has the floor. The hon. parliamentary secretary can continue.
Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS
Mr. Speaker, we all ask ourselves the question: Why does the NDP consistently oppose every trade agreement that this government negotiates? Members can check the record. They can check individual members' statements. That party is anti-trade and anti—
Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON
Mr. Speaker, Bill S-11, the safe food for Canadians act, brought in major changes to food inspection. Thousands of new import licences will be required and that is going to require more resources, not less. The minister promised that Bill S-11 would give the CFIA more tools and more resources. The minister oversaw two of the largest recalls in Canadian history and now he is planning to cut CFIA's budget and fire hundreds of employees.
Why is the minister telling Canadians one thing and doing the exact opposite?
Gerry Ritz ConservativeMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board
Mr. Speaker, we are in the consultation phase on Bill S-11. We are working with a number of groups both domestically and abroad that would import food into this country. We have to have an idea of what is coming so that we know what is there when a traceability situation is asked for.
We will have these consultations and then we will plan our course of action and put monies to that course once that plan is in place.
Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister was unable to manage the two latest crises and his only solution is to make more cuts within his department.
Bill S-11 made a simple promise: more resources for food inspection. Unfortunately, the minister is doing the opposite: he is allocating fewer resources and asking the employees to do more. That is a recipe for disaster. Three hundred food safety employees will be let go.
My question is simple: why is the minister making cuts to food safety?
Gerry Ritz ConservativeMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the NDP members continue to do faulty research. They have their numbers wrong. We as a government continue to build the capacity of CFIA. We have put some $150 million into its budget over the last two budgets in this cycle. We have also added 20% to its capacity at the front line.
We continue to do that while we are looking for efficiencies in the agency, and in every other department across the government, to make sure we are spending money properly on behalf of Canadian taxpayers and making sure their food is safe at the same time.
We will continue to do that. NDP members will continue to vote against all that.
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, for decades, women on reserves have been without the legal protections that are available to all other Canadians. In situations of family violence women have been victimized and kicked out of their homes with nowhere to go.
Aboriginal women, international associations and the NDP government in Manitoba all agree that something must change now. Could the Minister for the Status of Women please update the House on what our government is doing to protect women in aboriginal communities?
Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, I am so proud that our government is committed to giving aboriginal women the same protection and rights as all Canadian women. For over a quarter of a century, aboriginal women living on reserve have been without access to the legal protection they need when it comes to domestic violence. Our bill will protect thousands of aboriginal women and children. In situations of family violence, it will allow judges to enforce emergency protection orders and remove a violent partner from the home.
How the NDP and Liberals can continue to oppose this is incomprehensible to me. Our government will make sure aboriginal women have equal rights.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative mismanagement of EI just keeps getting worse. For years HRSDC was sensitive to regional economies by allowing companies like the fish processing plant in Matane, Quebec, to help workers become eligible for EI. Suddenly there is an about-face.
To add insult to injury, the Conservatives are forcing the workers to repay the government for benefits they collected under their old policy. If there really was a long-standing problem, why did it take so long for the Conservatives to act, and why are they making the workers pay for their incompetence?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, there is an ongoing investigation involving potentially false declarations and misrepresentations, which could have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Any individuals who have been deemed ineligible for claims have the right to appeal the decision, but it is unfair to those who pay into unemployment insurance if we do nothing to try to uncover those who would abuse the system.
Anne-Marie Day NDP Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Mr. Speaker, there is no truth to what the minister is saying. If the Conservatives truly wanted to improve the system, they would have consulted the provinces, seasonal industries and workers. They did not even conduct an impact study on the changes they are making. What a bunch of incompetent administrators.
At a time when they are protecting their friends in the Senate and cutting the number of inspectors who fight tax evasion, they are sending investigators into the homes of the unemployed, who can barely make ends meet.
Why are the Conservatives going after the unemployed instead of fraudsters?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, we are trying to help the unemployed find new work. That is why we have enhanced the job alert system. Unemployed Canadians are notified of positions available in their region more quickly and more frequently than before so that they can find a good job at home.
However, if there are no jobs in their field in their region, employment insurance will be there for them, as always.
Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Speaker, the quotas imposed by the Conservatives in their employment insurance reform continue to produce adverse effects.
Service Canada is forcing 80 workers at the Eastern Quebec Seafoods plant to repay the government for benefits they have received since 2011 under a Service Canada work-unemployment program. Plant employees might have to repay as much as $14,000 in benefits that the plant, the employees, but most of all Service Canada deemed to be legitimate.
Will the minister step in and ensure that Service Canada honours its agreements with the plant and the workers in Matane?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, it is very important to recognize that a very serious investigation is under way involving potentially false declarations and misrepresentations, which have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to Canadians who contribute to the employment insurance system.
Anyone whose claim for employment insurance has been deemed ineligible can always appeal the decision.
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, in my riding, the Conservatives are ordering a former machinist at Aveos, a father of six, to pay back $9,000 in employment insurance benefits.
He and 1,500 other Aveos workers are in the government's crosshairs, all because Aveos shut down when the Conservative government refused to enforce the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
Why are the Conservatives so determined to make employment insurance claimants pay the price for the government's bad decisions? Will they get off the backs of Aveos workers?
Diane Finley ConservativeMinister of Human Resources and Skills Development
Mr. Speaker, we are concerned about the Aveos workers.
However, there are always rules that apply in certain situations. I cannot talk about specific situations, but I can say that we are working with the company and the employees to check that the rules were followed.
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Mr. Speaker, health care groups are alarmed over the government's decision to dismantle the Health Council of Canada, which was set up in 2003 by Prime Minister Chrétien and the premiers in order to ensure accountability and equality of access to health care across the country by all Canadians. This, plus its decision unilaterally to cut 50% off health transfers, signals clearly that the government wants to walk away from medicare.
Did the Minister of Health actually know that these decisions would lead to the dismantling of medicare, or was that always part of her government's master plan anyway?
Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, it was that party that cut health transfers in Canada.
The Health Council of Canada's 10-year mandate expires in 2014, meaning there is no need to continue federal funding. Our government announced long-term stable funding transfers to the provinces and territories to help them achieve their health care priorities.
Federal health transfers have grown from $19 billion in 2005-06 to $27 billion in 2011-12 and will reach $40 billion by the end of the decade.
Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC
Mr. Speaker, those increases and transfers were put in place by a Liberal government.
Recently, diluted chemotherapy endangered the lives of about 1,200 Canadians, yet the Minister of Health shrugs it off and blames the provinces when she knows full well that the provinces only have responsibility for pharmacies and that it is the federal government that has responsibility for drug safety.
Canadians have lost confidence in their medications. Hospitals cannot trust drug labels and the instructions on them.
When will the minister stop blaming the provinces—
Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, I was the finance minister for Nunavut dealing with the Liberal health care cuts.
Patient care in a hospital, the practice of pharmacy and admixing all fall under the provincial jurisdiction. The Ontario government has said it would be regulating these sites.
I have instructed Health Canada's officials to co-operate fully with the investigation that the Wynne government has been leading. If the review determines that there is a federal role, we will seriously consider any changes that are recommended.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, let us give the Minister of Natural Resources one more chance to try to explain himself.
He let slip that this unintelligible form that he created exists to stop the public from “gaming the system”.
In reality, these are obstacles to regular people trying to raise their voices about important issues. Under these new rules, the 4,000 Canadians who testified about the northern gateway pipeline would never have made it through the door.
Will he now agree to open up this process and allow Canadians to speak, even the ones he happens to disagree with?
Joe Oliver ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for the member opposite to get his facts right. Some 4,400 people signed up for the hearings, but only about 1,400 actually showed up, which indicated what the purpose of those registrations were. They were there to repeat the same canned message. They were there to undermine the process.
Everyone who has a direct interest has every right to appear, and they will be heard by the National Energy Board.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, this is coming from a minister who knows nothing but canned messages. It is an insult to the Canadians who came forward to defend their interests and raise their voices in defence of their communities and homes.
However, this is only the latest minister from a long line of incompetents, from Bev Oda to Peter Penashue to the former minister of aboriginal affairs. Under the current Prime Minister, shocking incompetence seems to be the fast track to cabinet, and now we have a minister who denies the science of climate change.
Is there not anyone over there who will stand up and denounce this bogus claim, or do the Conservatives still believe that all scientists are not actually worried about a two-degree rise in this planet's temperature?