House of Commons Hansard #36 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was union.
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister announced the labour market agreements in 2007, he said that the provinces have “the primary role and responsibility in the design and delivery of training programs”. But now he is contradicting himself, cutting those programs to fund his poorly conceived made-in-Ottawa Canada job grant.
In his upcoming budget, will he provide the funding to keep these effective job training programs alive?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, once again, this government has made very large increases to post-secondary education and training funds for the provinces, and it is their primary responsibility. At the same time, I would hope that the Liberal Party would finally recognize that job creation is also the responsibility of the federal government. We recognize that, which is why the Canadian economy has one of the best job creation records since the end of the recession.
Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, on May 14, 2013, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, wrote that the Prime Minister was well aware that he was personally assisting Mike Duffy with the reimbursement of his expenses.
Is what Nigel Wright put in writing true or false?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the RCMP was clear about this issue: I had no knowledge of this matter.
Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, the question was about what his chief of staff Nigel Wright wrote on May 14, and I am asking the Prime Minister the question. He wrote that “the Prime Minister knows...I personally assisted Duffy..”.
Is the Prime Minister now saying that Nigel Wright was lying when he wrote that?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has already been clear that I had no knowledge of this, as I said. We will obviously leave that investigation to the RCMP; they are responsible.
Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, on page 20 of the RCMP's documents, Nigel Wright told the police that he had informed the Prime Minister of the plan to make an agreement with Mike Duffy.
Is the Prime Minister saying that Nigel Wright lied to the RCMP about this?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the documents that the official opposition leader is referring to indicate that Mr. Wright did not inform me of this matter.
Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, six days after the deal with Duffy was made, six days after the Prime Minister gave the famous good to go, he stood up in this House and proceeded to deliver on his part of the deal. He read the very script that had been agreed to and said Duffy met the residency requirements to sit in the Senate.
Does the Prime Minister not understand that by his actions he is confirming that he knew about the deal?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, once again, the RCMP has looked into that matter and been clear, as I have been, that I did not know that.
Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, how gullible do we look? The Conservatives are taking us for fools.
On December 19, 2013, the Prime Minister was asked about plausible deniability within his office. His response was that Mr. Wright knew “full well that I don't believe in that doctrine.” Can the Prime Minister tell us at what point he informed Nigel Wright about his position on plausible deniability?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has just stated, and as is stated on page 72 of the documents that the RCMP released, the Prime Minister knew nothing of this. As the Prime Minister has said on a number of occasions, had he known he would have put a stop to it immediately.
Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, did the Prime Minister inform Nigel Wright of his position on the plausible deniability doctrine before or after Nigel Wright wrote a $90,000 cheque to Mike Duffy?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I can quite clearly say that the Prime Minister demands only the highest ethical standards from all of the people who sit on this side of the House and all of the people who seek to run for the Conservative Party of Canada. That is not something we have ever hidden from.
The Prime Minister also did quite clearly say in caucus to Mr. Duffy that he had to repay any of the expenses that he did not incur. That is a standard that we expect, and that is the standard that all Canadians expect.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister defended the practice of having lobbyists sit on the Security and Intelligence Review Committee. It is obvious to Canadians that this should not happen, and it ought to be obvious to the Conservatives too.
Will the Prime Minister be appointing any more lobbyists to the Security and Intelligence Review Committee?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, what was quite clear yesterday was that the Prime Minister stated that we had the utmost confidence in Mr. Strahl. Mr. Strahl is an individual who served his country and his community for many years. When we leave this place we should all aspire to have the same reputation that he had when he left. He is an individual of the highest ethical standards. We are very proud of the work he did. Canadians should also be proud of the work he did. Unfortunately, the NDP is trying to turn it into a political thing. This is an individual we are proud of.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, keeping with the trend of ethically questionable activities by ministers, does the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages believe it is appropriate for her to solicit funds from the cultural community for access to her? Does she really want us to believe that she was the only person at the event who did not read the invitation?
Shelly Glover ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I did not solicit funds and no funds were accepted.
I continue to work collaboratively with the Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner. Again, I had no participation in the planning of this event.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, we have Chuck Strahl, the Enbridge lobbyist, appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee the agency that is spying on Enbridge's enemies. Now he is gone.
Then we have the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages charging admission to arts groups and she has to give the money back.
We have the MP for Renfrew who turned the light bulb on raising funds for the Tories by attacking her own government, until they shut the lights out on that scheme.
Getting caught is not an ethical standard. When will the Prime Minister close the loopholes and raise the very low bar on the ethical behaviour of his government?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, of course this is a government that has maintained the highest ethical standards of all time. One of the first items of business that we brought in was the Federal Accountability Act.
This is coming from a member who has raised thousands of dollars himself from the communities that he represents, in the shadow cabinet of the leader of the opposition. This is also a member who issued a press release over the holidays praising all of the investments we have done in the north, including in his riding, but he voted against every single one of those investments. We will continue to do right by Canadians and all those people in his riding.
Chrystia Freeland Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Finance tabled the 2013 budget, he said that Canada's biggest economic challenge was our skills shortage. His alleged solution was the Canada job grant. A year later, the only thing the government has produced is a multi-million dollar advertising campaign for a program that still does not exist.
If a new plan is not in place by April 1, will the government extend the current labour market agreements with the provinces and territories or will the government simply cut the funding and run?
Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism
Mr. Speaker, first I would like to congratulate the member on her election and on her first question to me.
We are committed to ensuring that Canadians have the skills necessary for the labour market of the future. We believe we can get better bang for the taxpayer's buck and the training dollars that are spent by ensuring there is a guaranteed job at the end of the training. We do not believe in training for the sake of training.
We also want to ensure that employers put more money into training. That is why we proposed the Canada job grant, to leverage a larger private sector investment in skills development and have a guaranteed job at the end of it. It makes a lot of sense, and we are making progress in discussions with the provinces.
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Mr. Speaker, try as they might, the Conservatives cannot deny their involvement in plans to increase postal prices, lay off thousands of Canadians and eliminate home delivery. They need to explain to our seniors, to Canadians with disabilities and to small businesses why they approved such an outrageous plan.
Why do the Conservatives think that Canada is better off paying more for less?
Lisa Raitt ConservativeMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, the point of the matter is the fact that one billion fewer pieces of mail were mailed in 2012 than were mailed in 2006. Canada Post understands that it has to make changes to remain self-sufficient. It has had that responsibility since 1981. Its five-point action plan addresses this matter, and that is why we are supporting it.
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Speaker, young Canadians have 264,000 fewer jobs than before the downturn. Yesterday, on behalf of those young Canadians, I asked the Minister of Finance to admit the problem and to include a real jobs plan for young Canadians in the upcoming budget. However, the minister laughed off the question and said the status quo “serves young Canadians well”.
How can the minister tell young Canadians and their families that they are served well by the loss of 264,000 jobs under his watch?