Debates of June 7th, 2013

Ethics

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order.

Order, please. The hon. member for Trinity—Spadina now has the floor.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, obviously keeping Mike Duffy's expenses quiet is a partisan move, and only Conservatives have a $90,000 payout orchestrated out of the Prime Minister's Office.

Since he acted alone, how does the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport know about this secret fund and about this payout?

My question is simple. Is the secret fund in the PMO a trust account?

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

Mr. Speaker, she is asking how I know about a secret fund that does not exist. Those members are getting a little metaphysical over there.

Let us go from fictional news to good news. Today we had one of the biggest-ever one-month job creation results, 95,000 net new jobs, the biggest job creation result for our youth in 30 years, bringing the total to one million net new jobs.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, never mind the $90,000 mystery cheques. I wonder how it feels for grassroots Conservative MPs to be forced to defend using tax dollars to play Pimp My Ride with the Prime Minister's flying Taj Mahal.

Did the Conservatives use the PMO's slush fund to re-brand “air force run” in Conservative Party colours?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what I do not understand, quite clearly, is what the problem is with the New Democratic Party that every time we start to do anything good for Canada, it opposes it.

Speaking about this Airbus, it will carry Canadian national symbols. I do not understand why those members have a problem with Canadian national symbols.

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

Mr. Speaker, all we get from the Conservatives are weasel words, and their actions are not passing a smell test with Canadians. The Prime Minister's legal counsel, Benjamin Perrin, denied negotiating the cheque for Mike Duffy.

This is a simple question for the government. Was Mr. Perrin involved in any aspect of negotiating the terms between Nigel Wright and Senator Duffy?

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

Mr. Speaker, these questions have already been answered. The opposition members continue to pose questions founded on false premises. They should, instead, take a moment to ask questions about the well-being of everyday Canadians.

Today we learned that there have been a million phone calls across our country when people have picked up the line and heard the good news, “You're hired. You got a job.” The pride of work, food on the table, improved well-being for kids and family is good news. We are working on that on this side of the House.

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

Mr. Speaker, there are millions of Canadians wondering about the ethical behaviour of the government.

As a lawyer, Mr. Perrin has a sworn duty to uphold the law. Could the government explain why, when Mr. Perrin eventually learned that the source of the $90,000 was Nigel Wright himself, he did not blow the whistle to the appropriate authorities at that time?

Millions of Canadians want to know that answer.

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

Mr. Speaker, Nigel Wright has taken sole personal responsibility for his decision. He said that it was a mistake. He offered his resignation to the Prime Minister and that resignation was accepted.

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

Mr. Speaker, in the wake of scandal after scandal, ethical Conservatives are now fleeing the Conservative Party.

With the PMO's $90,000 cheque to a Conservative senator, guilty in the in-and-out scandal, engaging in trench warfare against the courts, using the robo database to commit election fraud and allowing two Conservative MPs to sit and vote in the House when they have no legal right to be here, how can any Conservative serve under a Prime Minister with such low ethical standards?

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

Mr. Speaker, we know that once again the Liberal Party is throwing mud because it is losing ground. The Liberals do not have anything to offer the Canadian people. They have absolutely no policy to improve the lives of everyday Canadians.

On this side of the House, our policy speaks through results. We have a million net new jobs, almost all of them full time and almost all of them in the private sector. We had the biggest one-month increase in youth employment in three decades. That is hope for our young people. That is hope for our future.

International Trade

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

Mr. Speaker, the trade agreement that Canada is about to sign with Europe is the most important such agreement in the last decade.

However, the only reason the Prime Minister is rushing off to Europe is to distract attention from the scandals that are undermining his credibility and that of his government. The Prime Minister is not taking this seriously. Canadians do not even know what was put on the negotiating table.

Will the government commit to consulting with Canadians regarding the terms of this agreement?

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, these negotiations are the most open and transparent that Canada has ever undertaken. In fact, the provinces are at the negotiating table when it comes to matters within their jurisdiction. Our government is committed to keeping Canadians informed and to consulting extensively on this agreement.

I would also remind the member that this agreement will be Canada's most comprehensive ever, one that will open up new opportunities for Canada's exporters and manufacturers. It is expected to increase our GDP by $12 billion a year, which is the equivalent of 80,000 new jobs in Canada, or $1,000 for each Canadian in extra income per year. Those members should get on side with this program.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, CETA negotiations have been the least transparent negotiations that our country has ever seen. The New Democrats support a trade deal with Europe that advances Canada's interests, but no trade deal should be signed in desperation just to cover up for Conservative scandals.

A good deal with Europe would be positive for Canada, but a bad deal could mean more expensive prescription drugs, harm to our dairy farms and the weakening of our banking regulations without gaining the market access our exporters need.

Are the Conservatives preparing to sacrifice Canada's interests in order to sign a deal at any cost?

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolute nonsense. We have made it clear time and again that the standard we have set is that we will only sign an agreement that is in the best interests of Canadians.

It is pretty rich for the New Democrats to get up in the House and claim to be the great born-again free traders of the world. That is the party that sends its leader into the United States to bash our resource industry and to bad-mouth our economy. The New Democrats have no credibility on trade; they are anti-trade, anti-investment.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food's response to the XL report is irrational. He promised $15 million in new monies and yet cut $56 million at the same time. Then he announced a brand new program, but no new staff. He is literally moving some from here to there or maybe over there too. Who knows? He is playing a shell game with Canada's food safety in an attempt to hide his mismanagement.

Canadian families cannot wait five years for the next audit. The need for an audit is now. Will the minister order a comprehensive audit of CFIA immediately?

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture]

Mr. Speaker, given that the member was talking about resources, I would remind the House that under this government we have increased front-line inspectors for CFIA by 750 net new inspectors.

In our previous budgets, we have provided hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for CFIA and for food safety. The member and his party have voted against each and every opportunity and initiative that we have put forward to increase resources and finances for CFIA.

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

Mr. Speaker, two major crises occurred on his watch.

It is high time he started taking some action, but his solution is to cut funding to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and make the already overworked employees take on additional tasks, rather than hiring more staff. If the minister continues down that path, we are surely headed for a third major crisis.

Will the minister allow the Auditor General to conduct a comprehensive review of operations at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency?

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian families trust our food safety system. Following the XL Foods recall, the government launched an independent review to get to the bottom of what happened. We accept all of the recommendations made by the review panel.

The Economy

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is not immune to global economic challenges from beyond our borders, especially from our most important trading partners like the United States and the European Union.

In economic action plan 2013, we have continued our commitment to grow the economy and create jobs. For example, the Canada jobs grant is going to train more Canadians for skilled jobs. We also have the largest federal investment ever in job creating, infrastructure and new tax relief.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance update the House on the government's actions to grow the economy and create great jobs for hard-working Canadians?

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, because we have remained focused on the economy, 95,000 Canadians are working today who were not working a month ago. That is very important.

That brings us to a total, since the depth of the recession, of one million more Canadians working. That is what matters to Canadians. That is indeed the best job growth record in the G7 and, for Canada, it is the second best growth in jobs for any month in recorded history.

Government Expenditures

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board still does not appear to have found the $3.1 billion he lost track of, so I would like to come back to that. Maybe he should look for it in the secret fund controlled by the Prime Minister's chief of staff.

My question is simple: is the government still spending money from the $12.1 billion set aside for public safety?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has it wrong. The Auditor General clearly stated, “We didn’t find anything that gave us cause for concern that the money...was used in any way that it should not have been”.

These are the facts. These are the words of the Auditor General.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in the fog of the Senate scandals and the PMO secret slush fund, the Conservatives still have not answered a very simple question. Just where did that $3.1 billion go? If the money was in the public accounts and earmarked for public safety, then every penny of that money must have already been spent and tracked.

Again, has the government spent all that money or is it still looking for it?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is trying to mislead the House. Departments have always been, and are still, responsible to report to Parliament through the normal processes: the public accounts, main estimates and the quarterly financial reports. The Auditor General reaffirmed that in committee when he said “We didn't identify anything that would cause us to say that we felt that anything was going on outside of those processes”.

These are the facts. Those are the words of the Auditor General.