Debates of Nov. 18th, 2014

CBC/Radio-Canada

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

Mr. Speaker, by now, everyone knows that nine of the 12 CBC board members are Conservative Party backers.

How about this for a surprise? Yesterday, members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage received notice of a new appointee: Sonja Chong, who gave the Conservatives $1,000, will replace Peter Charbonneau, whose greatest flaw was never having given money to the Conservative Party.

How can the minister claim that CBC is independent when she keeps stacking the board with Conservative sympathizers?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, our government makes appointments using a rigorous, transparent, competency-based selection process.

Our goal is to appoint the most competent candidates for each position and to reflect Canada's linguistic and regional diversity. The government does not interfere with the democratic rights of board members. Once again, I repeat, CBC's problems are due to declining viewership and changes in the sector. We will continue to ensure that it—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order.

The hon. member for Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher.

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

Mr. Speaker, CBC clearly does not need another Conservative on its board of directors. What CBC needs is board members who care about our public broadcaster.

Quebec's intergovernmental affairs minister also sent the minister a clear reminder that Canada has recognized the importance of its founding peoples and supported their development. Cutting parliamentary appropriations is contrary to that.

Will the minister backtrack, if that is even possible, and give CBC the means to fulfill its mandate to offer local content and regional and national news in French from coast to coast? Is backtracking even possible?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, I have repeated several times in this House that the CBC receives over $1 billion from taxpayers. In fact, their viewership has declined despite getting over $1 billion in direct subsidies every single year from taxpayers.

Changes at the CBC are a result of both declining viewership and declining revenues. The CBC is responsible for its own choices. It is up to it to produce, both in English and French, programming that Canadians want to watch and see.

Veterans Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, from the time the government took power in 2006 to the end of 2013, $1.1 billion of appropriated money from the budgets of the government has not been spent on the Department of Veterans Affairs. It sent that money back to the finance department for its future tax schemes for the wealthy in this country.

On my desk, I have the files of veterans who have been denied hearing aids and denied access to hospitals. We have an increased rate of suicide. Many veterans are now homeless. Over and over again, veterans across the country are suffering great difficulty.

The money is there in the department to be allocated for these heroes of our country, yet the minister returns that money to the finance department. My question is, why?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, since 2006, our combined investment to veterans affairs has reached almost $30 billion more.

What does that mean? It means improved rehabilitation for Canadian veterans. It means more counselling for veterans' families. It means more money for veterans' higher education and retraining. It means we care deeply about our veterans.

If that member and his party would vote in support of these programs, we would be far better off, as would the veterans.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the minister and the Conservative government that when the member for Outremont becomes the Prime Minister of Canada, we are going to fix these problems once and for all for the veterans of our country.

We have reservists who are treated differently from people in the regular forces and we have many RCMP members who cannot get the help they need, yet the money is there in the budget to help these men and women. The government closed veterans' offices across the country as a cost-cutting measure and returned that money back to the finance department.

The veterans of this country and their families are sick and tired of the delays in the benefits that they require. A benefit delayed is a benefit denied. When will the government allocate those funds to help the heroes of our country?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I respect deeply the concern that the hon. member across the way expresses on the issues of veterans.

However, it is totally contradictory to the last eight budgets, wherein we put in place veterans' assistance, programs, funding, and services. That party has consistently voted against that.

CBC/Radio-Canada

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, 200 people gathered at the Radio-Canada Acadie office in Moncton to tell the government that enough is enough.

During the tragic events in Moncton in June, we all saw the consequences of the Conservatives' cuts when RDI and Radio-Canada did not have enough resources to support their excellent journalists in Moncton. This fall, nine more positions were cut at Radio-Canada Acadie, and that will just make matters worse.

When will the government understand that enough is enough?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, our thoughts and prayers remain with the families affected by the tragedies in Moncton. Nonetheless, the changes at Radio-Canada have nothing to do with what happened that day.

As I said before, the crown corporation is attracting fewer viewers, even though it receives more than $1 billion every year in taxpayer subsidies. The changes are directly related to that decline.

The corporation is responsible for its own decisions. It is up to the CBC to provide Canadians with programming they want in English and French.

The Environment

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the United States is going to meet its 2020 Copenhagen targets. The Government of Canada, however, is not going to meet its 2020 Copenhagen targets.

Last week, President Obama set new, more aggressive targets in his deal with the Chinese. If the Government of Canada cannot even meet its 2020 targets, by what means of fanciful thinking does it think that it can meet the new, more aggressive 2025 targets?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, with 79% of our electricity supply emitting no greenhouse gas emissions. We have taken action on two of the largest sources of emissions in Canada, the transportation sector and the electricity generation sector. Canada was also the first major coal user to ban the construction of traditional coal-fired generation units.

Canada's per capita greenhouse gas emissions are now at their lowest levels since we started recording them in 1990. The total emissions will go down by close to 130 megatonnes from what they would have been under the Liberals.

Seniors

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a new report from the College of Family Physicians of Canada highlights the failure of federal leadership under the Conservatives when it comes to improving care for our seniors. New Democrats believe that all seniors should be able to live in dignity and security. It is about priorities and intelligent planning, but the Conservatives have failed to act to fix gaps in home care.

Will the minister finally recognize these repeated calls and commit to implementing the NDP's proposal for a national seniors strategy?

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Minister of State (Seniors)]

Mr. Speaker, no other government has done as much for seniors as our government under the leadership of the Prime Minister. We believe in working for action. That is why we have done an action plan for seniors with 22 different departments. With that report we know that we are doing well. We have lowered taxes for seniors, increased funding for the GIS, and also encouraged healthy, active aging. That is why our seniors love us but not the NDP.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, 75% of Canadians think that the federal government is not doing enough to support the provinces in the area of home care. The government is showing a lack of vision and leadership, while the need for this type of care keeps growing.

The College of Family Physicians is now calling on the federal government to develop a home care strategy. The timing is good because the NDP has a strategy ready.

Will the Conservatives support us and adopt a real strategy to ensure that our seniors have access to home care?

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Minister of State (Seniors)]

Mr. Speaker, in 2007 our government created the National Seniors Council and I commend it for its hard work on matters related to the well-being and quality of life of seniors. This includes work on issues such as elder abuse, volunteering among seniors, positive and active aging, and senior participation in the workforce.

This year I directed the NSC to study a new priority, the social isolation of seniors, and I look forward to their report. This is exactly what we have done for our great seniors.

Foreign Affairs

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, early this morning we learned of an attack against a synagogue in West Jerusalem. This cowardly act took the lives of four people and left nine injured. Attacks on innocent worshippers in what is supposed to be a place of peace and tranquillity are cowardly and must never be tolerated. Those who incite or morally support these outrages cannot evade responsibility for their role in these cowardly acts.

Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs please comment on today's tragic events?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those who came under attack. When people go to worship at a synagogue, a church, or a mosque they expect to be able to do so in peace. We stand with the people of Israel against this barbarous attack.

However, we are tremendously concerned about the incitement and want to speak out very strongly against all the incitement, which only contributes to these types of barbaric terrorist attacks.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the Israeli people.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, over 1,000 constituents of mine have launched a court action against the federal government related to abuses suffered by aboriginal students at residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. These schools were not included in the Indian residential school apology even though the abuse resulted in many of the same kinds of social and private suffering we saw in other parts of Canada.

Why is the government shirking its fiduciary duty to the aboriginal people of Labrador?

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

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that Canada, along with many parties, has reached an agreement on a settlement with residential school victims. The people in question to which the hon. member refers were in a part of our great country that was not part of Canada at the time.

This issue is before the court, and out of respect for the court, I will not comment further.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

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

Mr. Speaker, we are entering the home stretch in the negotiations for the trans-Pacific partnership. New Zealand and the United States are demanding that we abandon supply management and yet the minister is saying that everything is going well. The stability provided by supply management allows us to maintain 215,000 jobs in the dairy industry in different parts of the country.

Will the government again sacrifice dairy producers on the altar of free trade, or will it protect supply management, which is so vital for our regions?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to repeat what I said last week. My colleague and I were in Quebec City, and we met with people from the dairy and cheese industries. We told them that our government had signed 38 free trade agreements and that we had always preserved supply management and promoted it internationally.

The people who were with us, the people from the dairy and cheese industries, agree with us. They support our government, and we will continue to stand up for these people, as we have always done in the past.

National Defence

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, our government strongly condemns the aggressive actions of Vladimir Putin and the illegal occupation of Crimea. That is exactly why we are supporting Ukraine in facing these hostilities.

We have already sent four CF-18 fighter jets, and HMCS Toronto to NATO maritime forces, and approximately 120 CAF members to eastern Europe for training exercises.

Will the Minister of National Defence please tell us what are the latest actions undertaken by the Canadian Armed Forces in Operation Reassurance?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we are providing training and non-lethal equipment and supplies to the Ukrainian government as part of our contribution to NATO's Reassurance package.

I can also say that last week, two Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18s based in Lithuania intercepted and visually identified a Russian electronic warfare and surveillance aircraft. This interception clearly demonstrates the capability both of our equipment and personnel. I thank our armed forces for their efforts.

While I am on my feet, let me just say how proud I was to hear our Prime Minister tell Vladimir Putin last week, “You need to get out of Ukraine”.