Debates of April 26th, 2013

National Volunteer Week

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

Mr. Speaker, this being National Volunteer Week, I rise today in the House to salute the tremendous contribution that volunteers make in Canada. I cannot imagine the loss to society if we were deprived of the very generous gift of time. Volunteers devote a tremendous amount of time, in small increments of hard work worth its weight in gold, bringing comfort and hope to others.

I would like to acknowledge Centre d'action bénévole Bordeaux-Cartierville. This centre has been operating for 20 years and has just won the 2013 Hommage Bénévolat-Québec award, which is the highest distinction for volunteerism bestowed by the Government of Quebec.

Year after year, the 500-plus members of this team welcome people of all ages, especially newcomers from all over the world. They help these people's children in school, provide respite to mothers, offer courses in reading and knitting, and in short help each and every one of them to find their place in Canada.

Congratulations to the executive director, Marilena Huluban, and the past, present and future members of her team.

George Beverly Shea

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's beloved gospel singer passed away last week at the age of 104. George Beverly Shea was born in Winchester, Ontario, 30 minutes south of Ottawa.

George Beverly Shea holds the world record for singing to the most people ever, over 22 million. Mr. Shea sang to more people than Elvis, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and the Rolling Stones combined.

George Beverly Shea was a great storyteller. A favourite story recounted how his mother left the words of a poem on the piano, where she knew her son would see it. The words of the poem, which have now become his signature song, I'd rather have Jesus, had a life-changing impact on that young man and he set the words to music and he sang them before millions of people.

This legacy song spoke of George Beverly Shea's desire to have Jesus rather than riches, power, men's applause, or worldwide fame. Those words have shaped my life as well.

George Beverly Shea had a deep passion that all would come to know his personal saviour, Jesus Christ, in whose presence he is now, singing his praises for all of eternity.

The Environment

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs has finally admitted it misled Canadians when it said the cost of dealing with the over 270,000 tonnes of arsenic at Giant Mine was only $449 million. The new figure is nearly $1 billion and could go higher. Canada only received a little over $400 million in 2002 dollars in royalties over the 60-year life of the mine, meaning Canadians are on the hook for around $600 million.

While the Conservatives were hiding the massive cost to Canadians to clean up the environmental disaster at Giant, they were slashing environmental protections, particularly for the oil sands and the oil industry in general.

Considering the massive cost to Canadians for cleaning up one single mine, I have to wonder just how many billions of dollars our children and grandchildren will be paying because of the Conservatives' and the Liberals' failure to ensure the environment is protected in their rush to exploit the oil sands.

The cost of cleaning up the oil sands tailings ponds alone will be gigantic.

Foreign Affairs

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Mr. Speaker, we are getting troubling reports that the United States is considering imposing a fee on anybody who crosses its border by land. This is an appalling proposal. It would be a tax on trade and a tax on tourism between our two countries. We have a free trade deal with the United States to increase trade and tourism because we know this is good for the economies of both nations.

For some communities this fee would be devastating. Consider Campobello Island: anybody living on this Canadian island cannot drive anywhere in the rest of Canada without first driving one hour through the state of Maine.

Earlier this week I was in Washington, D.C. with the foreign affairs committee. I used the opportunity to raise this issue and to let our American friends know what a bad idea this is. Our Canadian ambassador assured me that we will oppose this border crossing tax.

Because enacting this new fee would be so detrimental to Canadians, I have no doubt that all of my colleagues in the House will provide a unified voice in opposing this proposed tax.

Chernobyl

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, April 26 marks the 27th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress will be holding a Chernobyl memorial service this evening at 6 p.m. at St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church on Lakeshore Road in St. Catharines. I encourage those who can attend to be there to help remember the events of that tragic day.

The costs of the Chernobyl disaster went far beyond the immediate impact it had on the people who were there on that day in 1986. From first responders, like the firefighters who were exposed to life-threatening levels of radiation, to mere bystanders who lived in nearby towns, several thousand people lost their lives because of the accident.

Latent radiation has also caused abnormally high levels of cancer and birth defects in humans and animals for decades.

Our Canadian government has allocated resources and assistance to help finally contain the Chernobyl site by 2015. I am proud that we are taking much needed action. Ukrainian families have lived with the effects of Chernobyl for far too long.

The lessons of Chernobyl must not be forgotten, and our hearts go out to the families who are still affected by this disaster nearly three decades later.

Shell Eco-marathon and National Volunteer Week

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the mechanical engineering team at Laval University on winning the Shell Eco-marathon Americas, held in Houston from April 4 to 7. The team beat its own fuel efficiency record with 1,525 kilometres per litre.

I also want to talk about National Volunteer Week. Every year, 13.3 million Canadian volunteers give 2.1 billion hours. This year's theme is “Everywhere for everyone”. In Quebec, there are 2.4 million volunteers who give 310 million hours. Fifty-four percent of people between the ages of 15 to 24 volunteer their time. On the evening of Saturday, April 6, at Laval University, in the middle of their exam period, I dropped the puck at a hockey-a-thon organized by medical students. Twelve teams played all night long, and one brought home the ultimate prize. The following morning, these young people gave the money raised to the Fondation de l'autisme de Québec. We can only imagine what our community would be like if not for this generosity.

Victims of Crime

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am particularly moved by this year's theme for National Victims of Crime Awareness Week: “We All Have a Role”.

We are taking responsible, concrete action to support victims of crime.

That is why we support the private member's bill introduced by the hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake, Bill C-478, Respecting Families of Murdered and Brutalized Persons Act.

As part of the awareness week, a symposium dedicated to victims of crime against the person will begin today in Quebec.

A number of guest speakers will join over a hundred victims who can draw on their personal experiences to help come up with solutions during the various workshops planned over the course of the weekend.

Canadians know they can count on our Conservative government to ensure their safety and peace of mind.

The Environment

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' environmental rollbacks are not only putting our fisheries and waterways at risk, they are also impacting Canada's trade relations, its reputation, and its export markets.

Is there not a law against that? In fact, there is. NAFTA and newer trade deals forbid Canada to weaken its environmental laws for an economic advantage.

In exchange for expanded markets for Canada's goods and services, including oil sands crude, NAFTA commits us to improving levels of environmental protection. NAFTA's environmental side agreement commits Canada to "strengthen the development and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations" and strive to improve them through public engagement. However, NAFTA's investment chapter goes even further, declaring "...it is inappropriate to encourage investment by relaxing domestic health, safety or environmental measures".

Make no mistake. This streamlining is about ending public scrutiny and redress of environmental harms from resource projects. It is about attracting and protecting foreign investments, a clear contravention of trade obligations to prevent backsliding. It offends commitments to public participation, due process, and effective environmental enforcement.

As the U.S. raises concerns about failed Canadian action to reduce oil sands carbon emissions, our export markets are put at risk.

If the government would commit--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Fort McMurray—Athabasca.

Retiring Radio Talk Show Host

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to honour one of Alberta's own. Yesterday, Dave Rutherford announced that he was signing off radio for the very last time. For over 20 years, Dave Rutherford has been the voice of Albertan people, speaking to the people directly on the issues that matter to them the most.

I know we are unlikely to see another radio show like his any time soon. Whether he was hosting the Prime Minister of Canada or taking questions from listeners, Rutherford always had an uncanny tendency to know exactly what Albertans were thinking.

Hundreds of thousands of regular listeners will miss the pointed questions he asked and the information that he provided. The uniqueness of his talk show, which focused on issues instead of the long political rants that sometimes take place, can solely be credited to the thoughtfulness of this great man.

Even though he is gone from radio, we hope to continue to hear from him in one way or another for many years. We will miss him.

Equality of Opportunity

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, today, for the first time, a majority of Canadians believe that their children will be worse off than them.

Last June, the House passed my motion directing the finance committee to study the issue of income inequality and to recommend policies to improve equality of opportunity. This month, that study began, and a consensus is emerging about what governments can do.

So far, experts are telling us to strengthen the working income tax benefit and break down the welfare wall by reducing government clawbacks for low-income Canadians who are working; to make tax credits refundable so that low-income Canadians are not perversely excluded from programs like the family caregiver tax credit; and to invest in affordable early learning and child care so that children can get a good start, and the parents who want to work can afford proper early learning opportunities for their children.

Canadians work hard so that they and their children can get ahead. As parliamentarians, let us do more to strengthen the equality of opportunity in Canada. After all, it is the cornerstone on which all just societies are built.

Boston Marathon Bombings

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday a small army of Liberal pseudo-intellectuals had a collective spasm after I said that terrorists are the cause of terrorism. The Liberal leader had touched off the debate when he said that the Boston bombings happened because someone “feels completely excluded”.

However, were the Tsarnaev brothers excluded? The United States included them by sheltering their family with formal asylum from war-torn Dagestan. The younger terrorist was included in a quality education at a state-of-the-art school, which boasts an amazing 11:1 student-to-teacher ratio, after which, the city gave him a $2,500 scholarship. America also included the older terrorist, Tamerlan, with a taxpayer-funded welfare benefit that continued even after the main U.S. counterterrorism agency had added him to its watch list.

Excluding these facts is not the mark of a nuanced intellectual, but of an ideologue who is in over his head. Let us follow the facts, not Liberal ideology, and let us target the root cause of terrorism. They are called terrorists.

The Conservative and Liberal Parties of Canada

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday, we witnessed a sad spectacle in the House. Once again, the Liberals and the Conservatives joined forces to recycle an old, ineffective Liberal bill that attacks people's basic rights. Bill S-7 will not keep Canadians safer. It uses fear as an excuse to impose excessive measures, such as detention without charge and secret interrogations.

These measures conflict with Canadian values and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is strange. Many members of the old parties like to go on about the merits of the charter, but when the time comes to stand up for it, they just sit around doing nothing, and that is when they have the nerve to show up in the House to vote.

Blue or red, they are all one and the same. They vote the same way on Bill S-7 and the trade agreement with China, and they will soon vote the same way on climate change. Canadians deserve better. The only progressive alternative for 2015 is the NDP.

New Democratic Party of Canada

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, over the past few years the leader of the NDP and his troglodytes have had one consistent message: the NDP will raise taxes.

In fact, the NDP's 2011 election platform planned to raise taxes by $20 billion alone from their sneaky carbon scheme.

The NDP carbon tax grab would raise the price of everything, including gas, food and electricity, something northern Ontarians and Canadians alike reject.

It gets worse. On top of this job-killing carbon tax, the leader of the NDP wants to impose an additional $56 billion in reckless spending.

I have heard loud and clear from my constituents in the great Kenora riding. They have asked me and this government to continue to fight against this $20 billion job-killing carbon tax and oppose the $56 billion reckless, unaccounted for, and numberless spending plan.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, according to Department of Public Safety emails, the Conservatives have implemented a policy requiring all meetings between MPs and members of the RCMP to be approved by the Minister of Public Safety.

These meetings “have to first be approved by the minister's office.”

Why is the Minister of Public Safety imposing this policy on the RCMP?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, that is not the case. The hon. member is mistaken.

The RCMP decides how it interacts with parliamentarians and the general public. It is up to the RCMP commissioner to decide how these communications will occur.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' interventionism and excessive control can be added to a long list of actions that serve only to undermine the public's trust in our political institutions.

After muzzling scientists and public servants and directly interfering with financial institutions, now the Conservatives are going after the police because they are concerned that there will be a negative impact on the government.

Will the Conservatives put an end to the political control over the RCMP's activities?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the hon. member is mistaken. There is no political interference in RCMP business.

Clearly, the RCMP is a police agency that is managed at arm's length from the government. The Minister of Public Safety is ultimately accountable to Parliament. These decisions are made by the RCMP commissioner.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. These leaked documents state that if RCMP officials are meeting or even having lunch with parliamentarians that these meetings “have to first be approved by the minister's office”.

This is not an internal matter for the RCMP; this is a question of political interference into the work of police. This is about the office of the Minister of Public Safety directing members of the RCMP.

Therefore, will the minister now ask the RCMP officials to reissue that memo but remove any mention of protecting the government?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. The member does not want the government interfering with the RCMP, but now she wants the government directing the Commissioner of the RCMP to do something. That is again why no one really takes the NDP seriously on matters of public safety or policing.

The New Democratic Party, let us be clear, has been consistently against every single legislative reform proposed by this government to strengthen public security, to keep criminals behind bars and to empower our police forces to do their job to keep Canadians safe.

Ethics

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, how about if the government takes this one seriously?

Disturbing information has come to light about developers giving substantial payments to the Manning Centre to support their pro-development candidates. Mayor Nenshi has blown the whistle. He said:

So it’s very hard for [Manning Centre director] Chuck Strahl to say, “We had no idea the donors thought that’s what they were doing...”.

As Mr. Strahl is also chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee and therefore banned from political activity, can the government confirm it is investigating this matter?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, if the member for Edmonton—Strathcona has concerns about municipal affairs in Calgary, she should raise those concerns with the appropriate Calgary authorities.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what we are concerned about is the activities of the Security Intelligence Review Committee. If the Conservatives are actually committed to this being non-partisan, they must take this seriously and not crack jokes. Chuck Strahl is obligated to remove himself from political activity, regardless of what it is.

Regarding the Manning Centre, Mayor Nenshi also said, “I’m sure that the Canada Revenue Agency is going to have a lot to say about this”. With these revelations, will the Conservatives agree to look into the political activities of the Manning Centre?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, just a moment ago the New Democrats were asking the government to interfere in management decisions of the RCMP, and now the New Democrats are asking the government to interfere directly and instruct the Canada Revenue Agency to do particular investigations.

The New Democrats are trying to ask the government to launch witch hunts against particular organizations. That would be unlawful. It would be inappropriate. It is bizarre that the New Democrats would suggest it.

Employment

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian students are out there looking for summer work, and they cannot find it. The youth employment rate today is six points worse than it was five years ago. In fact, last year's summer job numbers were the worst since Stats Canada started tracking the data in the 1970s. With so many more young Canadians desperately looking for work this summer, why have the Conservatives cut by half the Canada summer jobs program?