Debates of May 10th, 2013

Aboriginal Affairs

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the member does not know what she is talking about. If she looked at the investments that are being made, it is obvious that this government is concerned about the health and safety of aboriginal children on reserve and in urban settings. That is why we have a host of programs, in partnership with first nations. We have programs in place to improve the situation and hopefully eliminate the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal kids.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government handed out upwards of 600 pink slips to scientists, researchers and other vital staff at Ag Canada's farms and labs yesterday, showing once again that it takes farmers for granted.

Having already pillaged the National Research Council, Conservatives are now stripping the innovative ability of the second-largest research department. They cut business risk management, allegedly to make farmers more innovative. Now they cannot even rely on the department for science.

Why is this minister vandalizing the department, crippling its research ability and again leaving farmers out in the cold?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. The member for Guelph constantly leaves farmers in the cold himself. They did that for years, in their 13 years, in a decade of darkness.

Of course, what we are looking for is the effective, efficient use of Canadian taxpayers' dollars. Farmers are taxpayers as well. They expect us at Agriculture Canada, and across the government, for that matter, to make efficient use of those tax dollars. We continue to analyze our programming and put the right foot forward to build a strong farm gate in this country.

Housing

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in Mauricie, over 1,200 people are grappling with pyrrhotite attacking the foundations of their homes and businesses. Even the local sportsplex, which the federal government invested in, has to be repaired.

A coalition of municipal, provincial and federal elected officials in my region are calling on the federal government to set up an assistance fund for victims. The federal government helped the victims of pyrite damage in the past and is the only one responsible for standards for the aggregates in concrete that is causing the problem.

Can the minister responsible for the CMHC assure this House that she will seriously consider this request from the coalition and that she will help a region that is in crisis?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Quebec announced that it plans to introduce a program to provide financial assistance to property owners dealing with problems related to pyrrhotite. These problems will be examined and overseen by the Société d'habitation du Québec.

All requests for information regarding that provincial program should be addressed to the SHQ.

Labour

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been nasty with science and statistical evidence. Now it is mistreating the people collecting the evidence.

I have 200 statistical survey operations staff in Sturgeon Falls, part of 1,500 across Canada who have been without a contract for over a year. These workers are important to our local economics. Their hours are cut. They lose their jobs, and they lose income, benefits and pensions. Why is the government so dug in and so unfair to these workers?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government bargains in good faith. We will continue to respect the confidentiality and legal obligations of the collective bargaining process.

Employment

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government stands up for manufacturing workers in southern Ontario and across Canada with tax breaks to buy new equipment, support for the automotive and aerospace industries, and much more.

While we are standing up for manufacturing, the NDP is selling them out, voting against those new tax breaks and support. Instead, the NDP defends special breaks for Chinese companies competing with Canadian manufacturers. Can the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons please inform the House about manufacturing jobs in Canada?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the New Democratic Party wants to saddle our manufacturers with a carbon tax and hike their income taxes to drive them and the jobs in manufacturing out of Canada. In contrast, our Conservative government is supporting Canada's manufacturing sector, particularly important to the hard-working people of southern Ontario.

Our strong record of tax relief and support is getting results. Today Stats Canada reported that over 20,000 net new jobs were created in the manufacturing sector in April. That is 20,000 more reasons not to vote for NDP job-killing taxes, 20,000 more reasons to support this government.

Infrastructure

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, now that the build Canada fund's true infrastructure numbers have been crunched, municipalities are concerned, because $1.5 billion has been cut. The Cape Breton Regional Municipality is faced with a huge obligation for waste water and other infrastructure needs.

Mayor Clarke and council have come up with their money on the table. The province is on side with its portion. When will the Conservatives come to the table with their share of infrastructure money for CBRM?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberal Party was in office, the average piece of infrastructure in this country had reached a record age of 17 years. It was older and more decrepit than ever. Under us, that has come down to 14 years, which means it is newer than it has been in three decades.

We have now provided a plan that will allow Canada to build up its infrastructure with private sector investment and deliver more infrastructure for existing dollars. This is about results and delivering for the Canadian people, not just fattened union contracts, as the opposition would wish.

The Environment

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, people have been shaking their heads in disbelief at the news that the source of an ongoing oil spill off Newfoundland's northeast coast was a ship that sank in the 1980s. For decades, successive federal governments knew this ship was below the waves, a potential environmental hazard, and they did nothing to clean up the oil. Now slicks are appearing as the ship's tanks begin to leak. What a surprise.

Where is the government's plan to clean up this environmental hazard permanently?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to protecting the environment from ships or spills. The Canadian Coast Guard continues to work closely with its federal partners to address the threat of marine pollution from this wreck. The Coast Guard has been working with its partners to respond to this spill since it was reported on March 31. The government has conducted several overflights and deployed several vessels and a remote-operated vehicle, and we will remediate the situation as soon as possible.

Labour

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, when our government brought common sense reforms to public sector benefits to align them with the private sector, the NDP chose to stand with their big union bosses against the interests of Canadian taxpayers. Now that our government is looking at ways to protect taxpayers' investments in crown corporations, the NDP is once again taking its orders from its union bosses.

Can the parliamentary secretary please tell this House what our government is doing to protect their interests?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, when there is a negotiation that benefits crown corporations, the union bosses sit on one side of the table, make demands, and take. We would expect that on the other side of the table, taxpayers, who have to pay the bills, would be represented.

The NDP and the Liberals suggest that taxpayers should be removed from the bargaining room and that government bureaucrats should be in a position to negotiate away billions of dollars in losses and liabilities to big union bosses. This is arm's length, they say, but the arms are long enough to reach into taxpayers' pockets. Not with us.

Health

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives did not renew funding to Canada Health Infoway this year.

This is despite the fact that electronic health records are one of the best ways to improve our health care system and reduce costs. A new study found that Canada Health Infoway has helped save over $1.3 billion since 2006.

Many provinces cannot afford to make the transition to electronic health records.

Will the government provide some financial support?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this government has supported Infoway, and we plan to continue to support Infoway in the important work it is carrying out with the provinces and territories.

Passport Canada

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois has obtained a copy of an internal memorandum in which the government informs Passport Canada employees that Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Service Canada will be responsible for issuing passports effective July 2. More and more responsibilities are being handed over to Service Canada, which, because of the cuts, is already unable to adequately meet the needs of the unemployed and seniors, and which, in some cases, only provides a voice mail message as support.

How can the government ensure that access to passport services and the quality of those services will be maintained if it gives Service Canada more work to do?

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, this is all about improving services for Canadians and making them more convenient and more accessible. In fact, the ministry already determines and issues citizenships, so it only makes sense that the passport program would actually come under the same portfolio.

Over time, we are actually going to be able to improve the service. At service kiosks across this country, Canadians will be able to apply for their passports in a much more timely and broader manner.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the facts contradict the parliamentary secretary. A meeting was held yesterday for employees of the Jonquière passport office. The reorganization and possible closure of their office was on the agenda. That is a far cry from the promised improvement that the parliamentary secretary spoke about.

I imagine that employees at the Quebec City, Montreal and Gatineau offices were told the same thing. Publicly, the government talks about increasing the number of passport offices, but in its internal memorandum, it talks about administrative savings, attrition and job cuts. Canadians and employees are entitled to the truth.

Does the government plan on closing the Jonquière, Quebec City, Montreal and Gatineau passport offices?

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it very clear that Canadians are not going to experience any service interruptions whatsoever during this time frame. They will continue to have access to passport services at all of the same locations currently available in the country, and as I indicated, we are actually going to be able to expand those services in the near future.

Public Safety

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2012 annual report on the RCMP's use of the law enforcement justifications provisions.

This report addresses the RCMP's use of specified provisions within the law enforcement justification regime, which is set out in sections 25.1 to 25.4 of the Criminal Code. The report also documents the nature of the investigations in which these provisions were used.

A message from His Excellency the Governor General transmitting supplementary estimates (A) of sums required to defray expenses of the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2014, was presented by the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and read by the Speaker to the House.

Supplementary Estimates (A), 2013-14

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

In accordance with section 54 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the message recommends those estimates to the House of Commons. It is dated May 2, 2013, and it is executed by the Hon. Richard Wagner, Deputy of the Governor General.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to table the estimates and I look forward to their consideration.