Debates of June 12th, 2013

Health

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we respect the provinces' and the territories' jurisdiction in the area of health care. To help the provinces and territories, we have issued funding of $6.5 billion. Our government also invested $30 million for research in community-based primary care that will help improve access to care and reduce costs for the provinces and territories. We are also providing long-term stable funding arrangements that will see transfers increase up to $40 billion.

Under the previous government, we all saw cuts to health care in the provinces and territories. Our government will continue to work with the provinces and territories in addressing this issue.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, apparently the minister is completely ignoring this report. The fact is, Conservatives came to power on a promise to reduce wait times for medical care. Now, seven years later, Canadians are waiting just as long, if not longer. Lack of long-term care, home care and affordable prescriptions are all contributing factors, as noted in the report.

Can the minister explain why the Conservatives have failed to reduce wait times, and what are they going to do now to fix this broken promise they made to Canadians?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our government is making record investments in health care, including new e-health initiatives I announced some time ago.

It is Canadians who pay those taxes. When members of the NDP caucus do not pay their taxes, it takes money away from services Canadians value, like health care. It is bad enough that they vote against health care investments, but now we know that some members of their caucus are not even paying their fair share of taxes.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, in a remote aboriginal community, when it is the middle of the night and it is 30 degrees below zero, and a woman has been violently assaulted, it is absolutely necessary that she receive the same protection as all other Canadians. That is exactly why our government introduced Bill S-2, which will allow enforcement emergency protection orders, but yesterday, the Liberal leader shamefully whipped his caucus to vote against it.

Can the Minister for Status of Women please update this House on the difference between our government's position and the Liberals'?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that women in the Liberal Party and the NDP would never give up these rights themselves that in the same breath they are denying to aboriginal women.

My question is this: Why are they entitled to these rights and aboriginal women are not?

On this side of the House, we stand with aboriginal women, and we will make sure that they receive the same rights and same protections as all other Canadians.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is desperate for good news so that people will stop talking about the scandals that are plaguing the Conservative government. He believes that signing a trade agreement with Europe would be welcome news. He is starting to make concessions to achieve that end. Yesterday, we learned that he has given in on the issue of the threshold for reviewing investments leading to foreign takeovers of Canadian companies. Negotiating when desperate is never a good idea.

What other concessions is the Prime Minister willing to make in the trade deal with Europe?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, any suggestion that the free trade negotiations are over is patently false. The reality is that we continue to get closer, both the European Union in their demands and Canada in our demands. We continue to get closer to negotiating an agreement, but we are not there yet.

We are after an agreement that will be high quality. We will judge this agreement on the quality of the agreement, not on a timetable.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we will judge that deal based on competence. All we are seeing from the government is incompetence on the trade file.

We want to see a trade deal with Europe, but in any negotiations, desperation is a bad adviser, and the Conservatives' bargaining stance reeks of it. We are hearing reports from the Prime Minister in Europe, right now, that he is offering concessions left, right and centre.

Is the Prime Minister bargaining to get a good deal for Canada, or is he offering the EU whatever it wants, just so we can get a deal?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, it is always great to welcome the NDP back to the trade file. We know it is anti-trade. Its position has been pretty consistent in that. It seldom veers from that. However, we welcome the NDP back.

The reality is that we are negotiating a high-quality, 21st-century agreement. We are only going to settle an agreement if it is in the best interests of Canada.

Library and Archives Canada

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this week, Canadians learned of the Conservative plan to contract out the digitization of content at Library and Archives Canada. This follows layoffs of employees who were responsible for digitizing content. Then there is the online portal, where Canadians will now have to pay to access the archives.

The archives belong to all Canadians. Will the minister now confirm whether or not Canadians will be charged to access our national archives?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that individual Canadians should have to pay to access our archives. I agree with the member opposite in that regard.

What is interesting is that the member opposite is against the digitization of the library and archives, because frankly, it may mean that the union of employees at Library and Archives might actually get smaller.

Our job is to ensure that Canadians have access to Library and Archives, when and where they live and in the digital format they want it to be in. It is about serving Canadians, not serving the unions. The digitization of our archives is important for all Canadians so Canadians can better understand their personal and our collective history.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Well, Mr. Speaker, he certainly skated around that question.

There is a project in the works that will result in double-billing for access to the archives, and all the minister can say is that he will wait until the new chief archivist is appointed before taking action. It would have been fun had he done this as a history lesson.

The Conservatives told us that the solution for Library and Archives Canada was to digitize its contents. However, half of the employees laid off recently were assigned to digitization. Now that there are not enough employees, the Conservatives suddenly want to contract out the creation of a paid portal to Canadiana.

Will Canadians have to pay in order to access content that already belongs to them, yes or no?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

I have already answered the question in English, and the answer is the same in French.

We are very proud of our approach, our policies, our commitments and our investments that will protect and promote Canada's history. Yesterday, I announced nine steps and nine specific investments to celebrate, promote and protect Canada's history. We must continually move forward in that direction with Library and Archives Canada and the new Canadian museum of history because Canada's 150th anniversary is fast approaching. We have a great deal to celebrate as Canadians.

Privacy

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

Mr. Speaker, the fact that the CSE has been monitoring Canadians' personal communications raises a lot of questions. How much monitoring is acceptable? Who has access to that information within Canada and abroad? When should that information be automatically destroyed? Who is watching the watchers?

Canadians' privacy is at risk. When will Parliament examine this important issue?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, let me answer the hon. member's question on who is watching the watchers: the CSE Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner, the Auditor General. All of them have given CSE a clean bill of health.

I would refer my hon. friend to the report tabled in Parliament, which speaks to the practices and process that are followed by this important organization. Let us not lose sight of what it does. What it does is protect Canadians. It does so in accordance with the law; it does so when it comes to the gathering of foreign intelligence which is actually a threat to this country.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government has absolutely no regard for the privacy rights of Canadians. It has no answers for the biggest loss of personal information in Canadian history. It has been found violating the privacy of first nations children's advocate Cindy Blackstock, and now we have learned that Canada's electronic eavesdropping agency has been tracking ordinary Canadians' emails and phone calls.

Why is the government violating the privacy of Canadians instead of protecting it?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, let me repeat for the hon. member and members present that CSEC is in fact prohibited by law from directing its activities at Canadians anywhere in the world or any person in Canada.

I again refer the member to the same report, wherein the commissioner of CSEC says, “I found the new policies and procedures to be comprehensive, containing satisfactory measures to protect the privacy of Canadians”. This same commissioner is meeting with the Privacy Commissioner tomorrow. The report is there. It is tabled annually in Parliament. I invite the member to take the time to read it.

The Environment

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, although the Réseau d'observation de mammifères marins has an agreement with Environment Canada, it is still waiting for a simple signature from the Minister of the Environment to keep its operations going this summer.

It is mid-June, and staff could be laid off in a few days. The lack of environmental monitors on the river could cause difficulties for tourist operators who are required to demonstrate that their activities are not causing harm to the whales. Both the tourism industry and the environment in the Lower St. Lawrence region are at risk.

Will the minister sign off on this funding immediately or will he wait until there are no more whales in the river before he does his job?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism)]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague that the tourism industry is very important. That is why we will continue to invest in the Canadian Tourism Commission.

With regard to the specific case raised by my colleague, we know that attracting tourists from all across Canada must be done a certain way. It involves promoting the tourism industry through the Canadian Tourism Commission. That is what we are doing. I would like my colleague to support us in that.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that does not make any sense. The Conservatives are not content to simply gut environmental protections and assessments. If they can, they will also undermine the activities of environmental organizations.

Because the government has stalled on giving the Réseau d'observation de mammifères marins its funding, it has become almost impossible for the organization to recruit the employees it needs to monitor the species at risk.

The Conservatives seem to think that if we simply do not monitor species at risk, then we will not have to worry about whether they go extinct.

Will the minister do something about this unacceptable administrative delay or will he stand idly by while these species go extinct?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, we consider many hundreds of grant and contribution applications under our habitat stewardship program. I am not familiar with the status of this particular application at the moment, but I will endeavour to get the details and deliver them to my colleagues across the House.

International Co-operation

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government is focused on economic growth because we know it is critical to reducing poverty around the world. Yesterday, World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim called for the end of extreme global poverty by 2030. He said, “We cannot reach our goal without the private sector”.

Can the Minister of International Cooperation please update the House on what Canada is doing to help encourage private sector-led development?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of International Cooperation]

Mr. Speaker, our government has announced three new initiatives to encourage private sector-led growth, including support for a World Bank facility that would provide insurance for projects that help support economic growth and reduce poverty. Canadians can be very proud of these initiatives and investments. In fact, World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim said that these investments will “help rebuild fragile economies, which creates good jobs and helps people lift themselves out of poverty”. He also said, “We are very grateful to our Canadian partners...”.

While the NDP protests the value and worth of engaging the private sector, we will continue to help create jobs and growth for those who are most in need in impoverished countries.

Health

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court was clear that InSite saves lives. It ordered the federal government to keep it open and to allow for new sites across Canada. In response, the Minister of Health tabled legislation making it nearly impossible to create new sites. The Conservative Party sent a fundraising letter to communities, fearmongering and asking them to block sites.

Now, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport tells us that the Prime Minister is head of the Conservative Party. Does the Prime Minister condone this letter? And will he admit his bill is a sham?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our government members believe it is important that local voices be heard before decisions are made to put supervised drug consumption sites where illegal drugs are used in neighbourhoods. That is why I was proud to announce that we have introduced a respect for communities act which would ensure that local voices are heard. We do not think a supervised drug consumption site should be created in a residential neighbourhood without the input of the residents.