House of Commons Hansard #238 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was s-7.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, with 280,000 young people losing their jobs and only 40,000 recovered, Conservatives should be hanging their heads in shame and not applauding.
That is how the Conservatives deal with economic instability. They bring in austerity measures, increase taxes on consumer goods and watch the Americans propose a new tax to cross the border, which will devastate the economy on both sides of the border.
Why did the Conservatives not tell the Americans that this new tax was unacceptable?
Maxime Bernier ConservativeMinister of State (Small Business and Tourism)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my colleague that this government will do everything it can to make sure this proposal does not go through.
International trade is important to both countries. More than 8 million American jobs rely on trade with Canada. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this proposal does not go through.
Peggy Nash NDP Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Speaker, the fact is Conservatives are not getting the job done. Conservatives still refuse to admit they broke their promise and are raising taxes. Instead we witness the daily spectacle of Conservative ministers claiming that raising taxes is not raising taxes.
Will the Minister of Finance admit he made a mistake when he imposed new taxes on iPods and fishing rods, like he did when he admitted that he imposed, by mistake, new taxes on helmets for children?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Just to be clear, Mr. Speaker, there is no tax on iPods, even your iPod.
For seven years we have been reducing taxes on Canadians more than 150 times and every time the NDP opposition has opposed reducing taxes for Canadians. Now the NDP is fighting for special breaks for companies from China and a $21-billion carbon—
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, in these tough economic times, young Canadians need more support, not less.
Yesterday, I asked why the government had reduced the number of summer jobs available to young people. Today, I want to know why the number of young Canadians getting help through the youth employment strategy dropped from 113,000 in 2005, to 59,000 recently.
Can the government tell us how it is going to address this situation and help our young people?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the real question is why does the Liberal Party keep voting against measures to help people?
For example, the Liberal Party voted against the youth employment strategy, the apprenticeship incentive grant, the textbook tax credit, the child tax credit, the pathways to education program, the broadening of the tuition tax credit, and so on.
There is only one party working for our youth and for young Canadians, and that is the Conservative Party.
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, that is precisely the problem: those government programs got us nowhere.
We are talking about a 48% drop in the number of young people getting help through this federal program. There is obviously a significant trend of disinvestment in our youth.
Why did the number of young people getting help through the youth employment strategy drop so drastically, when their needs are increasing exponentially?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, there is a party, this government, which is investing in youth, and there is another party, the Liberal Party, which votes against these investments.
For example, let me just repeat the various things the Liberal Party has voted against to help young Canadians: against the youth employment strategy, against the apprenticeship incentive grant, against the textbook tax credit, against expanded RESPs, against the pathways to education program, against the tools tax credit, against helmets to hard hats, against expanded tuition tax credits, and I could go on and on. It is this party that is investing in--
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, this is exactly what I am concerned about: the fact that the government continues to talk a good game about all its investments, while at the same time it is cutting the number of young Canadians served. This is of real concern to many middle-class parents with kids in their twenties who cannot afford to move out and for all too many young people struggling to make their way into an increasingly tough job market. It underlines just how out of touch the government has become that in the midst of rising youth unemployment, it has cut in half the number of young Canadians served by its youth employment strategy. Why?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, in fact, what is readily apparent is that the leader of the Liberal Party has no idea what his party's own record is on a number of programs that support young people, but that is not surprising. As head of Katimavik, the Liberal leader drove an organization to a one-third dropout rate, while wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars, spending $28,000 for every young person. We can do better. We are doing better and hope the Liberal Party will start to vote for the things that are assisting young people.
Glenn Thibeault NDP Sudbury, ON
Mr. Speaker, after the NDP pointed it out, Conservatives acknowledged—
TaxationOral Questions
The Speaker Andrew Scheer
Order, please. I recognized the hon. member for Sudbury, and he now has the floor.
The hon. member for Sudbury.
Glenn Thibeault NDP Sudbury, ON
Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, after the NDP pointed it out, Conservatives acknowledged they made a mistake on hockey helmets, but budget 2013 is full of mistakes. There is $333 million in new tax hikes, raising the cost of thousands of sporting goods from bikes to fishing reels, even to diving suits. Why are Conservatives making life more expensive in the middle of a shaky economic recovery?
Will they now give middle-class and all families a break and remove other sporting goods like bicycles from their tax grab?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, we are removing the tariff on hockey helmets and other sporting equipment, hockey sticks, and other items. This is a benefit for Canadian consumers. We want to watch and see how these prices are translated into retail prices and we will watch that carefully over the next several months.
Annick Papillon NDP Québec, QC
Mr. Speaker, the minister wants the NDP to vote in favour of a $333 million tax increase on everyday consumer products, but we will not do that.
Too many Canadian families are struggling to make ends meet and pay their bills at the end of the month, not to mention the fact that household debt is reaching record highs.
The Conservatives finally admitted that they were wrong to increase tariffs on hockey helmets. When will they also admit that this increase is a tax on thousands of other consumer products?
Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, the general preferential tariff was a foreign aid program designed in the 1970s to help developing countries. Now we have still have on the list, up to the budget, South Korea, Thailand, and China, all of which are developed economies. I do not know why the members opposite want to hurt Canadian workers and Canadian jobs by maintaining preferential tariffs for developed economies.
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are inconsistent on more than just taxes. The Minister of National Defence is obviously overwhelmed by what is happening in his department. He is once again trying to blame others for the danger pay fiasco involving Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. The minister still cannot explain why some 30 Canadian soldiers in Mazar-e-Sharif are receiving less danger pay than those in Kabul.
When will the minister take responsibility and give all soldiers posted to Afghanistan the same danger pay?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, as I have explained a number of times now, this government will always put the interests of the Canadian soldiers first. We will always treat them fairly. We will always give them the equipment, support, and programs that they need.
With respect to Mazar-e-Sharif, I have directed the department to take measures to ensure that personnel deployed there are not penalized for an administrative error. We have also asked that this arm's-length administrative committee that put these changes forward re-examine this.
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Mr. Speaker, the minister can try to duck and cover up for his decisions, blame it on administrative errors, claim to be re-examining the decision, but the facts are clear. The minister is reducing danger pay for our soldiers in Mazar-e-Sharif.
All of the women and men of the Canadian Forces are facing dangers every day in Afghanistan, yet the minister is failing to treat the troops fairly. Why will he not take responsibility and actually reverse the decision?
Peter MacKay ConservativeMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, what we constantly get from the member is deliberate misinformation with respect to this file and others. What we saw was an administrative error with respect to this designation. There has now been an intervention made to ensure that this effort to claw back funding not occur.
With respect to the other issue, again, it was as a result of a recommendation, a direction not taken by me, not taken by the government, but taken upon the recommendation made, including members of the armed forces themselves. The member knows that. What we know is that his party and he himself constantly vote against the improvements and investments that we have made in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Speaker, here is another example of the Conservatives' amateurism.
There is a huge difference between good and bad trade agreements with emerging countries. However, the Conservatives do not understand that. The Canada-China agreement will tie the hands of provincial and municipal governments for 30 years. It will allow Chinese corporations to challenge our environmental laws and drag Canada before secret tribunals.
When will the Conservatives, who are supported by the Liberals, start defending the interests of Canadians instead of encouraging foreign interests to take control of our natural resources?