Debates of Feb. 12th, 2014

Food Safety

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Of course, Mr. Speaker, that is not true. This government has been increasing the number of front-line inspectors and will continue to do so.

That is one of the many reasons why the budget was so well received. I would note a number of organizations have spoken very positively about the budget: the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Royal Canadian Legion, Special Olympics Canada, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, the Assembly of First Nations, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Alzheimer Society of Canada. I could go on and on.

Democratic Reform

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Temerity is one thing, Mr. Speaker, but those numbers are easily verifiable. The Conservatives did fire 300 food inspectors and they compromised the public when they did it.

Under the Conservatives' electoral “deform” bill, investigators will report to the Minister of Justice from now on.

Why should Canadians trust a system in which the people who investigate Conservative election fraud are under the orders of a Conservative minister?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, our legislation ensures that the Commissioner of Canada Elections is fully independent, more independent than ever.

When the leader of the NDP is talking about issues of facts, let me draw some attention to his own facts. Yesterday, he got up and said it was absurd that we would not count fundraising spending as election expenses in the conduct of an election when, in the leadership race he won in the NDP, they did not count fundraising expenditures against their election cap.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, under the Conservatives' rigged elections act, the Chief Electoral Officer would be banned from warning the public about election fraud and voter suppression, but the commissioner of elections would actually have to warn suspects under investigation. The public would not be warned, but the fraudsters would.

Why do Conservatives want election fraud suspects warned that they are being investigated? Is it because the Conservatives are the suspects? The good people of Peterborough want to know.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. All Canadians, including elections officials, have every responsibility to report any evidence of wrongdoing to Elections Canada and to the commissioner of elections. That is what we do on this side. Certainly, we want to make sure that, when there are incidents like the cheating the NDP did with the union donations, all of that information is made completely public, as it should have been.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, from 1995 to 2006, the Liberals took $57 billion from the employment insurance fund to pay for their tax breaks for large corporations.

Yesterday the Minister of Finance admitted that his balanced budget includes the employment insurance surplus. We would like the Prime Minister to tell us one thing.

Can he assure us that he will not do the same thing the Liberals did and use money from the EI fund for something else?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we discussed this matter with organizations like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

There was a deficit in the employment insurance fund during the recession. Now we are balancing that fund. Our system is based on the idea of keeping that fund balanced over the long term.

Veterans Affairs

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance admitted he had not heard the loud and repeated calls for help from our veterans.

He said that he had not “...been asked for money for post-traumatic stress disorder...”.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Why did he not ask for more help for our veterans?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this government, even before the budget, has made record investments into precisely those kinds of health services for our veterans.

I was delighted to see the Legion support yesterday for the extension of the Last Post Fund.

It is passing strange that the leader of the Liberal Party would ask me about someone else's comments on the budget when yesterday he said that we should not balancing the budget in this country because, according to him, “...the budget will balance itself”.

I will let him explain that.

The Economy

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, economic growth in 2013 was down from the year before, which was down from the year before that, which was down from the year before that.

Yet we saw in the budget that this year's plan is the same as last year's, which was the same as the year before that, which was the same as the year before that.

When will the government offer a real plan for economic growth and prosperity for the middle class?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the record of the government's economic action plans is very clear.

This country, coming out of the recession, has the highest growth rate among major developed economies. It has the highest level of job creation. It is one of the few with a AAA credit rating. It has the strongest financial sector in the world. It has, by far, the lowest debt among the major developed economies.

That is our record, year after year after year. Crazy statements about “the budget will balance itself” come from the Liberal Party year after year after year.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, economic growth balances budgets, not the worst record on growth since R. B. Bennett.

Economic growth is what will help Canadians prosper, not a vote-seeking surplus swiped from the pockets of middle-class workers.

Can the Prime Minister explain why his budget does not include a plan to generate economic growth?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party leader's economic analysis is off. That is not enough. If we want to keep taxes low, we need more than just economic growth. We also need to control the growth of spending.

That is exactly what we are doing on this side, controlling our expenses, making sure we are not raising taxes and making key investments while balancing the budget, not all by itself.

Democratic Reform

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, earlier the Prime Minister tried to distance himself from a rather clear provision in his electoral “deform” bill. I want to give him the opportunity to state clearly what he thinks the legislation says.

Does the Prime Minister realize that his bill makes it impossible for the Chief Electoral Officer to warn the public about election fraud? Does he realize that, yes or no?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this reform is to ensure that there is an independent commissioner of elections who can conduct investigations. It is essential that this office have all the necessary tools for dealing with electoral fraud.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he is starting to pay attention, but clause 18 is quite clear.

The only thing that the Chief Electoral Officer has the right to talk about with voters is where, when and how to vote and nothing else. The Chief Electoral Officer cannot report to Parliament, as his minister was saying, because, as we know, Parliament is dissolved during the election period. The bill is clear: it muzzles the Chief Electoral Officer.

Why does the Prime Minister want to prevent the Chief Electoral Officer from communicating with Canadians about other topics?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the main problem is that the NDP decided to oppose this bill before they even read it. The NDP critic even admitted it. The reality is that the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada has very important duties in the conduct of elections. According to his report, there is a lot of work to be done to improve the system and we encourage Elections Canada to do its job.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I will always respond to that invitation positively.

Let us read the bill under subsection 376(3).“The commercial value of services provided to a registered party for the purpose of soliciting...” is not included in the total.

Hundreds of paid telemarketers, hundreds of thousands of phone calls in a federal general election, no problem. They are not in the campaign limit. How would Elections Canada even know if these calls were going out to prior Conservative Party donors? It is just not plausible.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this refers to people who have been long-time donors to a political party, which is a very small percentage of the electorate.

I point out the hypocrisy of the leader of the NDP. His own party, when it established internal spending limits on its campaign, made an exception for fundraising for its political candidates.

It is not reasonable. It is reasonable that those expenses would be paid entirely by the party, and unlike eligible expenses, would not be claimed for reimbursement, as the NDP would like to do.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that is coming from someone who never revealed who donated to his leadership.

In just one of their scams, the in-and-out scandal, Conservatives spent more than a million bucks illegally. Their technique is quite simple: cheat, fight like hell when caught, and then when convicted, name them to the Senate.

Does he really think Irving Gerstein is a model?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

That seemed to be more a question about party finances instead of government business.

I see the Prime Minister rising to answer. I will allow him to answer the question, but I would urge members to keep their questions on subjects under government responsibility.

The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the allegation about my own donors is completely false.

The point I would make is that these kinds of fraudulent allegations are exactly what we get when a party loses an election.

Employment

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, budgets are an opportunity to help make life a little more affordable, to give families a fair break, but yesterday's budget failed to deliver. Nearly 300,000 more people are unemployed today than before the recession, yet the government failed to deliver a plan to create jobs.

While so many Canadians are struggling, Conservatives are playing politics. Will the minister now table a real plan to create jobs, or is he really going to make people wait for help until it is an election year?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the minister tabled an excellent plan and has the record to prove it. That is the best job creation record in the G7.

What are the proposals of the NDP? That we should shut down our resource industries, because they are a disease; that we should block all trade agreements, because they are against trade; that we should bring in a carbon tax and raise taxes on Canadian consumers and businesses.

The reason Canada has such an outstanding job creation and growth record compared to most other developed economies is precisely because we do the opposite of what the NDP proposes.

The Budget

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is not going to play politics while millions of Canadians are waiting for help. It is just wrong.

Canadian cities are facing infrastructure crises. Provinces are trying to meet demands for everything from transit to housing to job training. Canadians are struggling to make ends meet.

Why are Conservatives putting Conservative squabbles with the provinces ahead of taking action to help Canadians?