Debates of April 24th, 2013

Privacy

[Charmaine Borg, NDP, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's answer is cold comfort to the farmers, students, veterans and unemployed whose privacy was compromised. These are privacy problems on a massive scale and now we also learn that the tracking system for dealing with these problems has also failed.

A million Canadians had their privacy compromised on 3,000 separate occasions, yet the Conservatives failed to put a system in place to track this serious problem. Why is no one tracking these breaches of personal data?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, as I have already indicated, and as the Prime Minister has indicated, many of these breaches occurred many years ago, in some cases a decade ago.

We take these breaches very seriously. That is why we have created whole systems, including to protect the privacy of our veterans, for example, but we have made it mandatory across all government departments that they must report and must act to ensure that privacy breaches do not occur in the future.

Employment

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the facts speak for themselves. Last summer, the student employment rate was at its worst level in 40 years. There are 200,000 fewer jobs now than before the recession. It is absolutely deplorable to see that this government is funding fewer jobs for our young people, but has no problem spending millions of dollars more on partisan advertising.

Why partisan advertising instead of helping our young people find summer jobs? What measures will the Conservatives take? Will they abandon our youth once again?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there is no better country than Canada to be young and looking for a job.

Clearly, we can do more. That is why we have proposed many measures in our budget, such as keeping the pathways to education Canada program, establishing more internships for new graduates and providing more post-secondary education opportunities for aboriginal peoples.

It is time for the Liberal Party to vote in favour of measures for our young people, not against them.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

That is simply not good enough, Mr. Speaker. I am trying to find out why the government abandoned young, unemployed Canadians.

Could he explain why the number of young people getting help through the youth employment strategy has plunged from 113,000 in 2005 to 50,000 today and why the youth unemployment rate is double the national average?

Instead of talking points, could the Prime Minister please justify why the Conservatives are killing job opportunities for Canada's youth and punishing middle-class families, all while inflating their own partisan advertising budget?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the challenges that exist, there is no better country to be living in and for young people to be seeking work in than Canada.

That said, we have more work to do. That is why we have made a number of proposals in this budget and in the past.

What is peculiar about the Liberal members' talking points is why they continue to vote against these things. For instance, they voted against the apprenticeships grants that have gone to some 400,000 Canadians over the past few years.

The Liberals voted against the youth employment strategy and on a number of occasions against the apprenticeship incentive grant, against the textbook tax credit, against pathways to education tuition tax credit. It is time they joined with us and stood up for the young—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Toronto Centre.

Foreign Affairs

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in light of the appalling human rights record of the Sri Lankan government, including the impeachment of the chief justice, including the jailing and indeed murdering of several journalists, including human rights abuses which go right across the jurisdiction, would the Prime Minister consider this proposition? Why would Canada not invite the Commonwealth countries to come to Canada, for Canada to host the conference and for Canada to become the chairman of the Commonwealth for two years?

It is preposterous that the Rajapaksa government should be chairing the Commonwealth for the next two years.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and I and almost all members of the House are in one mind on this issue. We are deeply troubled by the direction in Sri Lanka and the fact that Sri Lanka is, at this point, the host of the next Commonwealth heads of government meeting.

Suggestions have been made of any number of countries that would be willing to host that. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor events there and do what we can to try to increase pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to make changes. However, given the current circumstances, as I have said before, it would be very difficult for this government to fully participate.

The Environment

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, we learned today that Ontario wants to work with Manitoba in order to save the Experimental Lakes Area.

This intervention is required because the Conservatives have abandoned this rich scientific resource. To ensure the long-term future of the experimental lakes, the Conservatives must stop their attacks on science and help the provinces that want to save these precious scientific tools.

What financial assistance will the Conservatives give the provinces?

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

Mr. Speaker, as has been made clear for several months now, the federal government has been leading negotiations with third parties in order to secure a new operator for the Experimental Lakes Area. The federal government has involved the province of Ontario as it owns the land on which the property sits.

Our government is continuing important freshwater research in other facilities across Canada, such as the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg and the Bayfield Institute in Burlington. We are also making important investments to clean up freshwater lakes like Lake Winnipeg and Lake Simcoe.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, someone did not update his talking points.

What Canadians expect from the government is a little leadership on the science file. However, when we have the Minister of Natural Resources down in Washington telling a retired NASA scientist that he should be ashamed of himself, well, I do not have a lot of hope.

Given that the Minister of Natural Resources has said that the Conservatives are washing their hands of the ELA, we are left with questions like these. Who pays the operating costs in the future? Who will take responsibility for these liabilities? Will the government take any responsibility for this fiasco?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for her questions from her speaking notes. The federal government has been involved for some time with the province of Ontario as we have tried to move this file forward. As indicated, the negotiations with IISD are ongoing and subject to a confidentiality agreement. We are hopeful that an agreement can be reached, and details will be shared at a suitable time.

National Defence

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk more about issues that showcase Conservative incompetence.

Yesterday, the Minister of National Defence blamed the army for cutting the danger pay of soldiers in Afghanistan. However, he is the minister. He is responsible, and he must have signed off on this directive. He could have opposed this directive as soon as it was suggested, but he did not do so.

If the minister does not know what is happening in his department and is not responsible for what happens, then what good is he?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, let me inform the member again of what occurred. We have an arm's-length committee, the departmental hardship and risk committee, that reviews annually. This work is done to examine the situation in every mission and every case. As a result of decisions taken, which we disagree with, we have asked it to re-examine them.

While I am on my feet, I would ask the member to demonstrate her support and perhaps explain to the House why she continually votes against things like pay increases, education funds for families of deceased members of the Canadian Forces and funding for our Commonwealth war graves.

We will take no lessons from members of the NDP who continually work and vote against the interests of the armed forces.

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

Mr. Speaker, we all know that when the Minister of National Defence starts making things up and accuses the opposition of not supporting the troops, it is because he simply has no answer to the question. Instead of trying to avoid embarrassment for himself because he mishandled the issue of danger pay, the minister should be thinking about the Canadian Forces soldiers stationed at Mazar-e-Sharif and their families.

Again, why will he not reverse the decision to reduce the danger pay for soldiers in Mazar-e-Sharif?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I think I have addressed this a number of times with respect to payments at Mazar-e-Sharif. We have in fact directed that measures be taken to ensure that personnel deployed there are not penalized for an administrative error. It was in fact an intervention on my part and the part of the government that prevented that from happening.

Again, I would ask the member to get on his feet and perhaps explain why his colleague, the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, mocked and belittled the efforts of the Vimy Ridge heroes. That is disgraceful. I have heard nothing but silence from the member.

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

Mr. Speaker, I will wager a little bet that if we check we would find the Minister of National Defence spent a lot of time in opposition voting against Liberal defence spending. Does that mean that he does not support the troops?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The minister will have a chance to answer the question. I do not think he needs help at this stage.

The hon. member for St. John's East has to finish putting the question.

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

Mr. Speaker, the fact is he is now the Minister of National Defence. He is supposed to be in charge of his department. He is the one who signs off on these recommendations. He is the one who makes the decisions. Therefore, why can he not tell us why he believes that Mazar-e-Sharif is so much safer than Kabul?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, again, to enlighten the member, I did not sign off on it.

I want to again come back to the member. Here is what we have. We have the defence critic for the NDP defending the abysmal record of the Liberal Party, a decade of darkness. He has his facts wrong on the history of the Liberal defence spending, just like his colleague from Quebec has the facts wrong on what happened at Vimy Ridge.

The NDP is a joke on defence.

Employment

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is always the same from that minister, insults, insults.

Criticism has flowed in about problems with the temporary foreign worker program, problems caused by Conservative mismanagement. Now the Governor of the Bank of Canada has testified that an overreliance on temporary foreign workers is a problem and drives down the wages of Canadians.

Mr. Carney gets it and Canadians get it. When will the minister stop the spin and just fix the problem?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government has been clear that we are fixing the temporary foreign worker program, despite the ongoing demands from members of the NDP to provide more temporary foreign workers for their own ridings.

Which do those members want? Do they want what they preach or do they want what they practice?

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there have been problems with the temporary foreign worker program for years.

Yet, it took Canadians speaking out about being ruthlessly replaced before the minister finally began to take the situation seriously.

Mark Carney has some good advice for the government: the program should be used to fill temporary gaps in the labour market.

The misuse of this program drives wages down.

Mr. Carney understands the urgency of finding a solution to this problem. Why does the minister not get it?