Debates of April 29th, 2013

War of 1812

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, 200 years ago during the War of 1812, British, Canadian and first nations defenders fought in the Battle of York, which helped shape the Canada we know today. Their sacrifice deserves to be remembered.

On April 27, 1813, American invaders attacked from across Lake Ontario, outnumbering and out-powering our forces. American soldiers set fire to the Parliament, Government House, several public buildings and the shipyard.

Despite this setback, however, our soldiers were able to rebuild these fortifications. The fight for Canada was far from over.

With a combined effort, English and French militia, first nations and Metis allies, and British military forces were able to defend our borders. Together, they were able to repel the invasion.

Without the War of 1812, Canada as we know it would not exist. Let us remember the sacrifices that were made in the past so that we can celebrate the Canada we all know and love today.

Winners of the CBC Searchlight Competition

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the musical band, Sherman Downey and the Ambiguous Case, winner of the CBC Searchlight music contest. Lead singer Sherman Downey is originally from the Codroy Valley, in my riding of Random—Burin—St. George's.

Sherman, along with fellow band members, Andrew Ross, Paul Lockyer, Bill Allan and Neil Targett, recently won the national competition over 3,000 other Canadian musical acts. During the voting process, no one was more involved in actively seeking votes for the band than Sherman's 85-year-old grandmother, Margaret Aucoin, who lives in South Branch in the Codroy Valley.

As winners, they will perform at the CBC music festival in Toronto on May 25, and be featured in a video, as well as receive $20,000 in musical equipment.

The music business is highly competitive, and those who succeed do so through talent, hard work and determination. Clearly this group has all three in abundance.

I ask all members to join me in wishing Sherman Downey and the Ambiguous Case success in the music industry forever.

Victims' Families

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Omar Ahmed Khadr is a known supporter of al Qaeda and a convicted terrorist.

He pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism, spying, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, and the murder in violation of the law of war of Sergeant Christopher Speer, an American army medic.

While this individual attempts to take back his own words and recant his guilty plea, he is simply re-victimizing the family of Sergeant Speer. This individual was even transferred to Canada based on his acceptance of the charges and of his own sentence.

I call on this individual to show some remorse and to allow the family of Sergeant Speer to grieve their loss without reopening old wounds.

Conservative Party of Canada

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the big partisan circus that is the Conservative caucus, all members, whether they are ministers or backbenchers, are forced to repeat the PMO's favourite line: “You voted against it.”

These free-thinking Conservatives did not speak out against omnibus bills, gag orders or in camera meetings. No, they are concerned only about their own privileges.

They will continue to spout whatever is on the cheat sheet Ottawa has provided, and they will blame the opposition for voting against the budget.

Thanks to this ridiculous, simplistic logic, we now know that the Minister of National Defence is against veterans, because he voted against $17 million for St. Anne's Hospital.

The Minister of Human Resources is against affordable housing, because she voted against $1.6 billion in funding for affordable housing in 2005.

Canadians deserve better. They deserve an honest government and, in 2015, they can count on the NDP.

The Economy

[Brad Butt, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, during a troubled global economy, our government is standing tall for Canadians and remains focused on creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity.

Since the depths of the recession, our government has helped create more than 900,000 net new jobs. In fact, Canada is the only G7 country with a top credit rating and stable outlook from all major agencies. The OECD projects that Canada will lead the G7 in economic growth over the next 50 years, and KPMG ranked Canada the most tax-competitive economy among mature markets.

Now is not the time to raise taxes or travel to Washington to argue against Canadian jobs. It is not the time to implement a $20 billion job-killing carbon tax. It is not the time for $56 billion in reckless spending.

On this side of the House, we urge the Leader of the Opposition and his party to come clean on their shameful tax hikes and—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. Oral questions.

Employment

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, a year ago the Conservatives created a new accelerated approval process for hiring temporary foreign workers. They allowed them to be paid 15% less than Canadian workers doing the same job. That is an incentive to hire temporary foreign workers instead of Canadians.

Today, Conservatives are begging Canadians to believe that this time they are really going to crack down, but Conservatives have not removed the incentive to hire temporary foreign workers. Why have they not changed the 15% rule? Their message is still, “Work for less or you'll be replaced”.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

As always on this matter, Mr. Speaker, the NDP is wrong. I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition has been improperly briefed or whether he knows he is wrong when he says that the rules allow for foreign workers to be underpaid. That is not true. People cannot come into our country to work on work permits unless they are paid at the prevailing regional wage rate. However, of course, in every occupation there is a range and this allows for some people to be paid as long as Canadians are paid within that range at the same wage level.

The bottom line is the NDP members keep asking for more foreign workers and we are doing what we can to fix the problems in—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Ah, yes, Mr. Speaker.

This morning, the Parliamentary Budget Officer indicated that 14,000 Canadians will lose their jobs as a result of the Conservatives' budget. If these workers do not agree to a 15% wage cut, the Conservatives will replace them with temporary foreign workers. If they do not agree to a 30% wage cut, the Conservatives will take away their employment insurance.

The message the Conservatives are sending to 14,000 Canadians is that they must agree to a pay cut or lose everything. Why?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Leader of the Opposition has it all wrong.

We are overhauling the employment insurance system to help unemployed Canadians find jobs in their region that correspond to their skills.

We find it odd that some employers are unable to find local workers, even in regions with high unemployment. That is a problem and we must fix it. We must encourage unemployed workers to accept jobs that are available in their region.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, 55,000 jobs were lost last month. That is the Conservative record.

If Canadian workers will not accept a 15% pay cut, and that is what is written in the rules, Conservatives will allow them to be replaced by temporary foreign workers. If the unemployed will not accept a 30% pay cut, Conservatives will kick them off EI. Now Conservatives are allowing U.S. Steel to lock out 1,000 workers in Nanticoke, Ontario, despite their solemn promise to keep those jobs in Canada.

Is this the Conservatives' latest message to Canadians, “If you don't work for less, we'll ship your jobs south to the U.S.?”

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

The fact is that the leader of the NDP is reinforcing his reputation for demagoguery, Mr. Speaker. He knows perfectly well that there is a labour dispute at that steel operation. He knows perfectly well that this government insisted on undertakings when U.S. Steel acquired Stelco and that we sought to enforce those undertakings, which resulted in an agreement where U.S. Steel agreed to keep producing steel at those operations for four years and to make major capital investments.

There is a labour dispute that is regulated by provincial labour law, and the Leader of the Opposition should know better than that.

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that answer is cold comfort to the hundreds of locked-out workers at U.S. Steel.

The Conservatives completely lost control of the temporary foreign workers program. Originally, it brought in a small number of workers. Now it is massive, pays them less, displaces Canadians and drives down wages for everyone. Even Mark Carney agrees the current program is good for neither workers nor our economy.

Now that the minister has finally acknowledged we have been right all along, will he reverse the changes that drive down wages by 15%? Will he put jobs for Canadians first?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

I think I am pretty clear now, Mr. Speaker. The NDP knows it is making this up. It must know that no employer can invite someone from abroad to work for less than what Canadians are paid in the same job, at the same workplace. To suggest otherwise is absolutely, categorically false.

What is interesting is I have this stack of letters from NDP members of Parliament asking for more temporary foreign workers in their constituencies. The members opposite know who they are. They come up to me all the time. While they are seeking to increase the number of foreign workers in their constituencies, we are working to ensure the program works for the Canadian economy.

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, no New Democrat has asked the minister to displace Canadian jobs.

The Conservatives have twice claimed to fix the program, but each time they have only made matters worse. No one trusts the Conservatives to clean up the mess that they have created.

Whistleblowers have recently come forward to expose that thousands of unqualified foreign workers are being brought in to replace Canadians through a loophole known as the intra-company transfer. Like with so many other problems, the minister has known about this abuse for years. Therefore, why have the Conservatives failed to act?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. The NDP is suggesting that the temporary foreign worker program always displaces Canadians and yet it wants more temporary foreign workers to come into Canada. I went to a heritage committee hearing a couple of months ago where the NDP members were attacking the government for not making it easier to bring in people more quickly to work in the computer gaming programming business in Montreal. They said that the government was being far too rigid in the way that it applied the rules, seeking to ensure the employers offered the jobs to Canadians first.

The NDP policy is to say one thing but do another.

Employment Insurance

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, since 2010, the government has increased EI premiums by 8.7% on Canadians. That is equivalent to about $1.8 billion in new taxes on Canadians.

With 1.4 million Canadians unemployed, an EI premium is a payroll tax that will discourage job creation and will take more money out of the pockets of hard-working Canadians. It is simply bad fiscal management.

When the economy is so fragile, why is the government increasing EI premiums?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, the EI program has to be balanced over the long run.

Let us be clear about this. The Liberals want to increase premiums far more significantly because they support the NDP plan to substantially increase EI benefits. Guess who pays for that? Workers and employers through higher premiums.

Why are the Liberals criticizing the balanced approach that we are taking when they would seek billions of dollars of additional premiums, when they would repeal our two points off the GST and tens of billions of other dollars in tax relief provided by this government?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer told us today that the next seven hikes in EI premiums will result in approximately $4.5 billion in new taxes.

What is more, without these new taxes, the government will be unable to balance its budget in 2015. This would be the Conservative government's eighth consecutive deficit.

Why do Canadians have to pay for this government's fiscal incompetence?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer found that the measures contained in the 2013 economic action plan's economic and fiscal update will have a positive impact on real GDP and employment in 2013.

It therefore said the opposite. We have cut taxes by $200 million. Taxes are the lowest they have been since 1965. The Liberals want to raise Canadians' taxes, which will kill jobs in Canada. That is not a responsible approach.

Employment

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's youth unemployment rate is at 14.2% at a time when many young Canadians are working this summer without getting paid or they are not even working, yet the government is decreasing young people's employment services in our country.

Do the Conservatives not realize that they are literally creating a new generation of young Canadians who cannot acquire the necessary skills to work independently and productively for our country?

Why does the government not realize it? Why is it not creating youth—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. minister of citizenship and immigration.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, no modern Canadian government has done more than this to help create employment, particularly for new Canadians and young Canadians: over 900,000 net new jobs have been created since the global economic downturn, the best economic and job-creation record in the G7; the Canada job grant; incentives for apprenticeships and skills training; the hiring credit for small business; and various targeted measures to help young Canadians find their way into the workforce.

What is the record of the Liberal leader on youth employment? When he was running Katimavik, it was costing $28,000 per participant with a one-third dropout rate. That is a record of failure.

The Environment

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, one thing about the Minister of Natural Resources, he sure is consistent. He will always say things that are embarrassing to Canadians. After making up bogus science, claiming that a 2° rise in global temperatures somehow is not a real problem, he has now attacked a respected former NASA scientist. Now, this is a real rocket scientist, which the minister clearly is not.

When is the minister going to start listening to the science and to the experts who spent their lives fighting this major threat? When is he going to stop taking his orders from oil industry lobbyists?