Debates of April 25th, 2013

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, this is all rich coming from a minister who opposed a $2 million upgrade to CFB Goose Bay and voted against $49 million to combat terrorism.

Regardless of the minister's antics, the sad truth is he still refuses to answer a very clear question that our troops and their families deserve a clear answer to. Why has he refused to intervene to make sure our soldiers who are serving in Mazar-e-Sharif get the same danger pay as those serving 450 kilometres down the road in Kabul, or even those serving in Haiti?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, the member is either not listening or being deliberately blind to the facts, but that is not new. We have seen that throughout his career here, his continued misrepresentation of facts.

We have followed through in our support for the military. We have consistently and substantially increased our support for the military. On this side of the House, we stand up for the men and women in uniform. On this side of the House, we walk the walk. On that side of the House, they sit and squawk and block when it comes to our military.

Employment

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, compared to when the current government took power, we have 200,000 fewer youth jobs and student unemployment is at record highs.

The youth employment strategy is supposed to help young Canadians get the skills and experience they need to get good jobs. However, since 2006, the number of young people being helped by the youth employment strategy has decreased by 48%.

No matter what the government's strategy is, should we not be helping more students get into the workforce rather than less?

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

Mr. Speaker, job creation and skills training are the cornerstones of budget 2013. There are numerous programs and initiatives in there to develop the skills that are needed for in-demand jobs. That applies to all Canadians, including young Canadians, to ensure they have the skills that are required by business.

If the opposition, if the Liberals truly want to help young Canadians get into the workforce, get into good jobs, then they should support our budget.

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

Mr. Speaker, as students finish their exams and begin to look for work, they remember last summer when their employment rate was the worst ever recorded by Statistics Canada.

In Newfoundland and Labrador the Conservatives cut the number of student jobs by 40% compared to the jobs supported by the previous Liberal government.

When will the Conservatives stop ignoring our young Canadians and take action to help them find summer jobs so they can pay for their education and put that education to work?

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

Mr. Speaker, there are numerous programs in budget 2013 that will help young people get jobs, not just for the summer but good paying jobs in high demand once they graduate.

There are also programs to help them get that education, including enhanced work with the provinces to develop and streamline the apprenticeship program. There is a tremendous shortage of skilled trades professionals in our country. There is support in that program to help young people get the skills they need for those good jobs that will support them and their family for years to come.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the minister, there are 400,000 unemployed young Canadians out there who do not care if she can read her laundry list or recite the Conservative phone book. Her programs are not effective. Her programs are hollow. They do not work. The parrot is dead.

On behalf of the young Canadians who are out there and cannot find work, will she stop these wrong-minded cuts and put money back into the program so we can get the kids back to work?

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

Mr. Speaker, our goal is job creation and also to provide the skills training and the development of the skills that are required to fill those jobs. That is why we support young Canadians in their education, whether it be getting an education at college or university or going into apprenticeships.

We have introduced programs for incentive and completion of apprenticeships. Over 400,000 of those supports have been distributed to young Canadians to help them get jobs that will last them a lifetime.

If the Liberals truly want to support young people, they should support this budget.

Parliamentary Budget Officer

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister showed he either did not understand the Federal Court ruling on the Parliamentary Budget Officer or maybe he had only read the first two lines.

Justice Harrington wrote, “In my view, the purpose of the statute is to shield any given member...from the will of the majority”. Justice Harrington said that the government must give the information to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Even the Conservatives' hand-picked interim budget officer understands this.

Will the government now comply with this ruling, yes or no?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, the court rejected the partisan stunt by the leader of the NDP and Mr. Page. We will continue to report to Parliament through the normal means, through the estimates, the quarterly financial reports and the public accounts.

We look forward to appointing a new Parliamentary Budget Officer who is a non-partisan, credible source of analysis for financial information.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians get it, the courts get it and the Parliamentary Budget Officer gets it. Only the Conservatives do not get it.

As Justice Harrington said:

...the Parliamentary Budget Officer [must] be answerable to [Parliament] and to its committees, but also to every backbencher irrespective of political stripe.

The government cannot simply ignore its own laws and the decisions of the courts. The court ruled that it could intervene if the government refuses to give the Parliamentary Budget Officer the information that she is entitled to.

Will the government commit here and now to abide by the court's decision and its own law?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, the Federal Court dismissed the latest partisan stunt of the leader of the NDP and Kevin Page by throwing out their court case. We are pleased that the Federal Court has recognized that the PBO is a resource for all parliamentarians, not just members of the opposition. The previous PBO would routinely ignore requests from Conservative MPs to estimate the financial cost of private members' bills that were before Parliament.

We look forward to appointing a new Parliamentary Budget Officer who is non-partisan and a credible source of financial information.

Privacy

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, those kinds of answers are not reassuring.

Under the Conservatives' watch, the Department of Human Resources lost the personal information of more than 600,000 Canadians. In 2007, a data breach affected 28,000 Canadians and was never reported to the Privacy Commissioner. This year, another data breach made half a million Canadians susceptible to identity theft.

Why are the Conservatives so complacent, and when will steps be taken to address their repeated failures?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, we believe that any loss of Canadians' personal information is unacceptable. That is why we took steps to strengthen the protection of privacy. The President of the Treasury Board will be asking the Privacy Commissioner to attend a meeting to discuss the progress we have made.

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives take protecting information about their cuts very seriously, in fact to the point of hiding it. Just ask Kevin Page. However, when it comes to protecting the private information of Canadians, totally different standards apply. We have now learned that at least a million Canadians have been affected by data breaches, at least 885 different breaches at HRSDC alone.

Why is a government that is so obsessed with secrecy so careless when it comes to the personal information of Canadians?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, any loss of Canadians' personal information is unacceptable, which is why we have taken action to strengthen privacy protections. Our government has taken strong action, including implementing the veterans privacy action plan, made it mandatory to report breaches to the Privacy Commissioner and introduced new guidelines to prevent and stop privacy breaches.

Justice

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to keeping our streets and communities safe. That is why I introduced the respecting families of murdered and brutalized persons act. My bill would empower the courts when sentencing the most sadistic murderers. Bill C-478 would enable judges to increase the 25-year parole ineligibility period to up to 40 years in cases where a murdered victim was also brutalized through abduction and sexual assault. These depraved murderers are never released, yet the families are re-victimized every time they attend these unnecessary parole hearings.

Could the Minister of Justice please inform the House about the government's position on my legislation?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank the hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake for bringing forward this important legislation. I can say categorically that the government supports the bill. Too often, families and loved ones of murder victims continue to be re-traumatized by repeated parole applications by convicted murderers. The bill would complement our previous legislation to repeal the faint hope clause and the discount for multiple murderers.

Unfortunately, the NDP members voted against all our efforts in this area. Now they have another chance to do the right thing. Let us see them get behind the bill and stand up for the rights of victims for a change.

Employment

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the Conservatives' total lack of interest in this issue, youth unemployment is a real time bomb. Statistics Canada's latest labour force survey is clear. The current employment crisis has hit youth harder than any other group of workers. Since the recession, youth unemployment has been twice as high as the national average.

When will the Conservatives stop encouraging employers to hire foreign workers, and when will they give jobs to our own young people?

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

Mr. Speaker, we want to connect all Canadians to available jobs. That is why budget 2013 focuses on job creation as well as on developing the skills people need for these jobs.

If the NDP really wants to help people, even young people, find jobs, it should support our budget.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we will help young people by voting against a budget that is clearly not doing the job for them.

The Conservatives are letting the youth employment crisis get even worse. They say that young people will have to pay for programs that they do not even have access to.

The Conservatives can pretend that everything is just fine, but the reality is altogether different. Youth unemployment is much lower in Germany and the Netherlands, which have been through the same economic crisis.

Why deny the evidence? Why not do something to reduce the worrisome level of youth unemployment and income loss?

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

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that Canadian youth unemployment is among the lowest in the world. Nevertheless, budget 2013 contains measures to improve the situation, including improvements to Canada's apprenticeship system.

Our government introduced apprenticeship grants, grants that have helped 400 people access professional development in specialized trades. Unfortunately, the NDP voted against this initiative that has helped so many people.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is not much of an improvement when the youth unemployment rate is double the national average. It is not just youth; our whole economy is suffering because Conservatives are failing to act on job creation.

TD Bank estimates our country's youth will face lower potential earnings to the tune of 1.3% of the GDP. This is an enormous hit for future generations.

When will Conservatives finally act? Where is the job plan for today's youth?

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact, our government has helped, through the economic action plan, create over 900,000 net new jobs for Canadians, including our young people.

We have a ways to go yet. That is why budget 2013 includes measures to help connect young people with the jobs that are in demand today, jobs like in the skilled trades professions.

We introduced the apprenticeship incentive and completion grants. Over 400,000 of those grants have been distributed already to help connect young people with jobs that truly are in demand today and will be tomorrow.

There is more to help with that in the budget. If the NDP members are sincere in helping young people get the jobs, they should support it.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

With respect, Mr. Speaker, I am not sure blaming the opposition is a wise recovery plan for the government. These are real problems that will cost millions of Canadians and billions to our Canadian economy.

In 2006, Canadian youth were unemployed for an average of seven weeks. Today, it is 14 weeks, nearly 2 more months of unemployment for our youth and the Conservatives twiddle their thumbs.

Could the minister cut her rhetoric and explain to my generation how the Conservatives will fix the damage they have caused?