Debates of June 6th, 2013

Ethics

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the facts here are clear. Mr. Duffy actually said publicly, in late February, that he would repay and was willing to repay any inappropriate expenses. In the middle of April, Senator Duffy further said that he had in fact, himself, repaid those expenses. Those are his statements. They are on the record. Obviously, there is an investigation. He will be held accountable for those statements.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, does the Prime Minister regret any of his actions, not Nigel Wright's actions, not Mike Duffy's actions? Does the Prime Minister regret any of his own actions in this affair?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we answered that question a couple of weeks ago.

The fact of the matter is that, of course, as a result of accepting some responsibility, we insist that action be taken. That is what is being done.

On the other hand, I do have to ask the leader of the NDP this. Does he accept any of his responsibility for not reporting on the actions of the mayor in Laval for more than a decade and a half?

41st General Election

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear. The Conservative Party pled guilty in a campaign finance scandal involving senior senators, the Federal Court declared that the Conservative Party's voter database was the source of campaign election fraud, and now Elections Canada has found that two more members of the Conservative government violated election laws.

The people of Labrador finally got to hold Conservative Peter Penashue to account. When will other Canadians get to hold the current Prime Minister and the current government to account?

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

Mr. Speaker, these two members of Parliament acted in good faith in the last election. In fact, the member has said that Elections Canada accepted one interpretation in the 2008 election and an entirely different one in the 2011 election.

These are matters for the court to consider. Honest people can consider them in good faith, and I expect that will be done.

Government Appointments

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Mr. Speaker, despite an order to terminate from the commissioner of the public service, the defence minister's former right hand, Kevin MacAdam, still enjoys his $130,000-a-year salary at ACOA through outside influences.

Insiders Allan Murphy and Nancy Baker enjoy inside access to jobs at ECBC, thanks to some influences and a little whitewashing.

ECBC's president is under investigation, while ACOA's president has been cut in an investigation. They are the inside influences.

Would the government admit the common denominator to the outside influences is the Minister of National Defence?

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

Mr. Speaker, we cannot speak to details of an ongoing investigation. However, as soon as I became aware of these allegations, I directed ACOA officials to refer the matter to the Ethics Commissioner.

Ethics

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Mr. Speaker, principled Conservatives are now fleeing the caucus—and I repeat, “principled Conservatives”.

Here are some of the greatest hits: RCMP raid on party headquarters; the in-and-out scandal; $90,000 payoff to Mike Duffy; the Penashue election scandal; and one of our all-time favourites, Bev Oda's orange juice and limousines.

Without changing the channel, why has the Prime Minister really left all this out there with so many questions to be answered?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been very clear on this matter. Indeed, it was our government, when we were first elected in 2006, that put forward Bill C-2, the Federal Accountability Act.

The Liberal Party talks about principled Conservatives. The truth is that Canadians were looking for a principled government, and principled Canadian voters abandoned the Liberal Party.

Food Safety

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the report on the XL beef crisis made it clear that the largest beef recall in Canadian history was preventable.

The report says the minister should read chapter 4 of the Weatherill report, called “How does Canada's food safety system work?”.

Yet again, the minister has failed Canadian families. When will the minister stand up and take responsibility for his failures?

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

Mr. Speaker, we welcome the panel report. We accept all of the recommendations. However, from that panel there are several quotes the member should read.

One says, “The Panel noted that, generally, both the food safety governance and management of this incident were sound.”

Another one says, “...the incident revealed some of the strengths of Canada's food safety system—from monitoring and surveillance, to recall and incident management...”.

And, finally, this one says, “CFIA's documentation of the incident was both thorough and well organized”.

Canadians expect nothing less.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is the minister's failure. It is his responsibility. He should apologize.

The issues raised in the report are the same as those identified in the report on the listeriosis crisis. Two crises, two reports and no action.

His mismanagement is endangering people's lives, and that is to say nothing of the impact that the cuts in his department are having.

What will it take for the minister to act? Another crisis?

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

Mr. Speaker, as officials showed members of the agriculture committee this morning, there have been absolutely no cuts to anything to do with food safety from this government.

We continue to vote, budget after budget, for hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure CFIA and Ag Canada have the capacity to continue to offer the best food safety system in the world. The opposition continues to vote against that. In the years we have been in government, we have added 20% to the personnel of CFIA to get that important job done. Again, they continue to vote against it.

Government Accountability

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that kind of drivel is what we get in reply.

This lack of transparency was the straw that broke the camel's back for our colleague from Edmonton—St. Albert. He chose to abandon ship rather than to continue being a cheerleader for the Prime Minister. Instead of acting like the Liberals in the sponsorship scandal, he became the spokesperson for thousands of Conservatives who are disgusted that, under this Prime Minister, their party has become everything that he condemned when he was in opposition.

The Conservatives—who welcome with open arms members who cross the floor—compounded their hypocrisy by asking him to resign.

Will the Conservatives heed this reformer's call and finally embrace transparency?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has shown openness. We put forward our accountability act.

He has answered questions very clearly here, in the House, day in and day out, as Canadians deserve.

Equally, if the NDP is so strident about what it means when a member of the caucus leaves its party and what can be read into that, then what is to be read into the NDP leader's track record? There are three former NDP MPs who have left. One is the in the Liberal Party, one is an independent and one went back to the Bloc Québécois. Who else is going to go back and join the Bloc over there?

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it seems for a Conservative MP to take a principled stance on transparency and accountability, he has to leave the Conservative caucus to do so.

The moral of the story is that, when a political party abandons every principle on which it got elected, principled people will abandon it. What starts out as a trickle will turn into a torrent as more people realize that their party has come to most resemble that which they most condemned in their period of opposition.

Can the Prime Minister tell us, for the sake of future historians, at exactly what point he decided to jettison all their principles for the sake of political expediency?

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

Mr. Speaker, the principle and mandate on which we were elected was to build a stronger and healthier country, and look at where Canada is today: the best job record in the G7, lowest taxes in 50 years, violent crime rates down and the biggest infrastructure program in the history of this country.

Again, the NDP should not be pointing at the government and what it means for someone to become an independent. It was an NDP member of Parliament who kept his word and stood with his constituents on the long gun registry, and the NDP leader's response was to throw him out of the party for keeping his word.

Veterans Affairs

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it was 69 years ago today that Canadian veterans stormed the beaches of Normandy and began the drive to end World War II.

They fought with heroism and distinction to bring freedom and liberty to Europe.

Would the Minister of Veterans Affairs please update this House on why today is such an important day for Canadian veterans?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister for La Francophonie]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Oakville for reminding us that the reason we are able to have debates in the House is that on June 6, 1944, 14,000 Canadians landed in Normandy.

Five thousand of our Canadian soldiers never returned. There are still some surviving veterans of that campaign, and we can take this opportunity to thank them.

Thank you for democracy. Thank you for freedom. Thank you for having fought against Nazism and the violation of human rights. Thank you to our veterans.

National Defence

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in an act of courage, Corporal Glen Kirkland testified yesterday in parliamentary committee about the post-traumatic stress he has experienced following his deployment to Afghanistan. He testified in spite of attempts to keep him quiet.

Corporal Kirkland courageously served his country, but he does not have access to the health care he needs, and now he is worried he could lose his pension.

How many veterans will have to testify in parliamentary committee before this government provides some assistance? How many? Shame on them.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, Corporal Kirkland gave compelling and courageous testimony yesterday, or this week, before a parliamentary committee. He is a true Canadian hero.

I have sought and received assurances from the Department of National Defence, from our military, that he will receive every and all benefits to which he is entitled.

I will go further and commit to him and his family that he will suffer no ramifications for his testimony. We need to hear from veterans like Corporal Kirkland, and as well he will not suffer any consequences from coming forward.

In addition to that, he will continue to serve as long as he decides to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the question would be, why would he? Corporal Glen Kirkland served his country in Afghanistan with great courage and great valour.

Unfortunately, he came back with severe injuries. He was denied medical aid. He was told to keep quiet about his problems. He was also offered a dishonourable discharge if he came forward.

The reality is that the Prime Minister owes Mr. Kirkland and all those other veterans out there an apology for that type of treatment.

Will the minister put in writing that Mr. Kirkland will not suffer any retribution for his testimony yesterday?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Putting aside the usual feigned outrage from the member opposite, Mr. Speaker, this is now in Hansard so it is in writing.

I will repeat: Corporal Kirkland is a Canadian hero, is courageous for coming forward, but more important than that, he shed blood in the service of his country.

He will of course receive the proper benefits. He will of course suffer no consequences, and will continue to serve in the Canadian Forces as long as he decides.

We are incredibly grateful to him. We are incredibly grateful to all our veterans, all our serving members and their families, and this government as a consequence has increased their benefits and their protections, all of which the member voted against.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we hope the minister will actually follow through with his commitments, because there is a lack of trust that they will see those kinds of results.

This Conservative government promised a new relationship with aboriginal peoples, but it was all just empty words.

National aboriginal organizations are being warned that they will face more cuts, up to 40%, for next year's project funding. Organizations will now be pitted against each other, and they will be competing for the remaining dollars.

Is this the minister's vision of a new relationship, cutting funds to projects in health, housing and education?

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

Mr. Speaker, this is totally false. Housing will not be cut because of that, and no other social programs will be cut because of this. These are projects that are funded annually. What we want to ensure is that project funding for aboriginal organizations, not first nations, is focused on the delivery of essential services and programs in key areas, such as education, economic development and community infrastructure, and these are shared priorities with first nations.