Debates of May 8th, 2013

Labour

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the taxpayers of Canada, the government has the final responsibility for crown corporations' finances. We intend to meet those obligations.

The leader of the NDP, if he wants, as his people have done, can stand with union bosses in press conferences promising to represent their interests around the bargaining table. That is precisely why the taxpayers of this country will never trust the NDP to handle the finances of this country and is one of the reasons—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. Leader of the Opposition.

Census

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, today we have begun to see the consequences of the Conservatives' backward decision to kill the mandatory long form census. Experts at StatsCan have confirmed that the data in the Conservatives' new survey is deeply flawed. It contains contradictory information, and 30% of Canadian families did not even bother filling it out. That is five times more than the last census.

The Prime Minister is not just satisfied to make public policy based on flawed information; that is his goal. We have been calling on the Conservatives to reinstate the mandatory long form census for over three years. Will the Prime Minister finally listen?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Statistics Canada on the success of its approach. It has had more responses to the long form than at any time in history. I will read what StatsCan said:

At the national, provincial level, all of this information is pretty solid. It's high quality.

In fact, the survey provides useful and usable data for communities representing 97% of the population. Obviously, going forward, we will look for ways to improve things, but always in a way that respects and balances the need for public data with the privacy rights of Canadians.

Employment

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, young people need our help to get job experience. The Prime Minister does not seem to realize that, and it does not appear that he will, since he did away with the census that could have provided reliable data.

As though that were not enough, people watching the hockey playoffs last night were subjected to the famous action plan ads. Hockey fans have to pay for these ads, which cost the equivalent of 32 summer jobs for our youth.

Will the Prime Minister pull these ads and invest the money in the Canada summer jobs program?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Liberal Party touched on a few topics.

I congratulate Statistics Canada on the work it does. It says that at the national and provincial levels, all of this information is solid and high quality. That includes useful data for communities that represent 97% of the population. We are always looking to balance the need for public data with the privacy of Canadians.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we will not have a prosperous middle class if our youth are not able to start their careers with good work experience.

Maybe if the Prime Minister were more of a people person and got out more, or failing that, if he had not cut the census, he would have seen that we cannot afford to waste a cent on budget ads when so many young Canadians need our help.

Will the Prime Minister do young people and hockey fans a favour and pull these action plan ads so we can invest in more jobs for young people this summer?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is obviously important to make sure Canadians understand the measures that have been developed by this Parliament that will benefit them.

This country, Canada, has one of the best job creation records in the developed world coming out of the recession. Canadians need to know about that, and more importantly, they need to know about the Canada jobs grant that is contained in this budget that attempts to make sure we engage the private sector, as well as the education system, in making sure Canadians can get jobs that are emerging which are begging for workers.

There is a great future for young Canadians, and we want to be sure we connect those workers, those young people and the private sector to make sure that Canadians have great opportunities.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister asked me for a positive proposal, so I am giving him one: pull these ads and invest in summer job programs for our youth.

What is worse, these ads become increasingly expensive as we get further into the playoffs. If a Canadian team makes it to the finals, every time hockey fans have to sit through this waste of ad space, they will know that it is costing the equivalent of 45 summer jobs for young Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister pull these ads and invest the money in this program for our youth?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's economic action plan is a huge success. That is clear when we compare ourselves to other developed countries, and Canadians are proud of that.

In the latest instalment of the economic action plan, we announced infrastructure investments to help build Canadian communities with the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. We have programs to support job creation for our young people. Furthermore, we are offering measures to encourage innovation in the manufacturing sector.

We will continue to invest in our economy.

Government Expenditures

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after dozens of NDP questions, it has become crystal clear that Conservatives cannot answer our questions about billions in security spending from 2001 to 2009. This is really about Conservative mismanagement of billions of dollars.

To make matters worse, they cannot even say what they are spending now on their anti-terrorism initiative. Why is that? They scrapped the system in 2010, and guess what? We will not have a new one until next year.

If the Conservatives lost $3.1 billion when they were trying to track it, now that they do not track it at all, how many more billions of dollars will they lose?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General was quite clear. He, in fact, said:

We didn’t find anything that gave us cause for concern that money was used in any way that it should not have been.

He confirmed that opposition characterizations of these funds as "lost" were inaccurate. He confirmed that he was reporting on an internal government reporting process but in fact there was a reporting process to Parliament each and every year.

In fact, the Auditor General said that departments “are responsible for accounting and reporting their spending through the Public Accounts of Canada”.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government refuses to give us an answer when we ask about the $3.1 billion. Yet it claims to manage public money so well. What a bunch of nonsense.

The Auditor General confirmed that his report on spending on the public safety and anti-terrorism initiative covered the period from 2001 to 2010. However, money has been spent since 2010, and the Auditor General does not know if this money is being properly accounted for.

The Conservatives have said that they will fix their mistakes in 2014. In the meantime, can we know how much money has been spent on this initiative since 2010?

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

Mr. Speaker, since the hon. member brought up the testimony at committee, I want to quote the Auditor General at committee just last week, where he said:

The spending within the departments would have undergone normal control procedures in those departments; so there are internal controls in departments about spending and they would go through all of those normal processes. We didn't identify anything that would cause us to say that we felt that anything was going on outside of those processes.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of lost money, I want to talk about tax evasion.

Today's announcement of $30 million to fight tax evasion does not even cover the cuts the Conservatives have made. There is talk of $68 million in cuts to a single investigations unit. The Conservatives are sitting on $29 billion in unpaid taxes and last year they wrote off $2.8 billion. What they announced will just not cut it.

Do the Conservatives realize how much damage they have done to our taxation system?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, last year alone, the Canada Revenue Agency recovered about $40 billion in tax debt.

The Auditor General was very clear when he said:

The improvements the Canada Revenue Agency has made have resulted in a significant increase in the amount of tax debt being collected.

Our economic action plan 2013 proposes a number of measures to close tax loopholes and crack down on international tax evasion. We look forward to the NDP supporting that budget.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today's last minute announcement does not change the fact that they cut $250 million from the CRA's budget and are getting rid of over 2,500 talented tax professionals.

The government wrote off $2.8 billion in tax debt last year alone. That is over $13 billion that they have written off since they took power. Meanwhile, they are cutting $68 million from the CRA's accounts receivable and returns compliance department.

When are they going to reverse those cuts? When are they going to show real action on tax cheats?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, since 2006, our government has introduced over 75 measures to improve the integrity of the tax system.

We have increased the size of our international audit program by roughly 40%. Since 2006, more than $4 billion in unpaid taxes have been identified. That is compared to just $174 million during the last year of the Liberals.

The efficiencies identified in budget 2013 apply only to internal operations and will not affect CRA's audit or enforcement capabilities.

Statistics Canada

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada released its national household survey today. The results should normally enable the different levels of government to use their resources effectively.

The quality of decisions depends on the quality of the data available. That quality is no longer there. Before the Conservatives got rid of the long form census, the non-response rate was 6%. Now that rate is 30%.

How can the Conservatives say that this information is as accurate as the information obtained using the long form?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, it was Statistics Canada that said that, at the national and provincial level, all of this information is pretty solid. It is high-quality information. That is what Statistics Canada said this morning.

Our government is still determined to find a balance between the privacy of Canadians and obtaining information. I want to remind my colleague that the survey provides useful and usable data for Canadians who make up 97% of the Canadian population. More Canadians responded to this survey than to the mandatory long form census. People should look at the facts before using scare tactics, the way the opposition does.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the non-response rate went from 6% to 30%.

Good data means governments can make the right decisions; data that determines where hospitals—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. If members are feeling ill, they should probably go to the lobby, but not disrupt the chamber.

The hon. member for Scarborough Southwest has the floor.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

They are sick with themselves, Mr. Speaker.

Data determines where hospitals and schools should go. Data helps provinces and cities deliver vital services. However, Conservatives do not care about good data.

Of course, researchers at Statistics Canada do, but they are not allowed to talk publicly about their work. No wonder the former head of Statistics Canada resigned in protest after the Conservatives gutted the census.

Will the Conservatives now admit that it was a mistake to drop the long form census?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, what this government is committed to is collecting statistical data while protecting Canadians' privacy.

That being said, Statistics Canada just said this morning, and I quote: “At the national, provincial level, all of this information is pretty solid. It's high quality.” That is what Statistics Canada said.

To repeat, the survey will provide useful and usable data. We have information for Canadians that represents 97% of the population. This time, with our voluntary approach, more Canadians responded than the last time with the mandatory census.