Debates of Feb. 12th, 2014

The Budget

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, she talked about playing politics. Last year we brought in, yet again, a new record amount of money for municipal infrastructure investment, with the strong endorsement last year, and again this year, of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

In this budget we want to talk about job creation and hope for young people, and record investments in first nations education, strongly supported by the Assembly of First Nations. So if the member and her party do not want to play politics, they will vote for these good measures.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a number of issues have fallen by the wayside in this empty budget. What has not fallen by the wayside is the good old Conservative approach of confronting the provinces instead of working with them.

Now, the Minister of Finance, who no longer knows whether his government is for or against income splitting, has decided to repeat his ill-advised ultimatum about the Canada job grant. That drew some harsh criticism from many provinces.

Why are the Conservatives getting caught up in pointless bickering that could so easily be avoided?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government is focusing on job creation instead of bickering, and our record proves it.

The Canada job grant will help us reach our main objective, which is creating jobs in Canada. We are always prepared to work with the provinces that have the same objective.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the Conservatives' inconsistency. The government keeps bragging about supporting our soldiers and taking military procurement seriously. However, its new budget cuts $3.1 billion from the defence procurement budget over the next four years. This money had been earmarked for new ships, vehicles and helicopters.

Can the Minister of National Defence tell us what purchases will be delayed or cancelled? Will it be ships, search and rescue planes, helicopters or trucks?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is a rather curious question coming from a party that has opposed every military purchase made by this government and requested by our soldiers.

The government adjusted DND's budget at its request, so that the money will be available when our military personnel need it. There are no cuts. Unfortunately for the NDP, we are committed to moving forward with military procurement.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, first the Minister of National Defence had $3.1 billion taken away from him. Now he is not even allowed to speak for himself.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for St. John's East has the floor, and I would like to hear the question.

The hon. member for St. John's East.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the trucks were supposed to be ready years ago. Construction on the joint supply ships was supposed to have started already, like in 2008. Fixed-wing search and rescue planes were promised in 2006 and again for 2015.

Would the Prime Minister confirm then if he is going to answer which projects will be delayed or cancelled because of this budget?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, every year there are profiles of capital expenditures based on what the Department of National Defence asks for in terms of its own spending plans. There has been absolutely no reduction. On the contrary.

We know that the NDP has opposed every single major capital investment we have made in the military. I can assure the hon. member of the NDP, to his great disappointment, that all that money is still there, and all those future capital investments are going to happen.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget turned a blind eye to our economy's biggest problem, stagnant growth. The finance minister himself admitted that our economy will miss the target he set in his own fall forecast.

Contrary to what we have just heard from the Prime Minister, the experts agree. The IMF says we will lag both the U.S. and the U.K. in growth this year. The OECD predicts we will fall behind its average for growth in 2015, ranking just 16th out of 30. Why did the government give middle-class Canadians a do-nothing budget?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is always interesting to hear that the Liberal Party's definition of “do nothing” is when we are not raising taxes and not spending money we cannot afford.

We know the record. The IMF is very clear. The government's policy approach has been completely appropriate. The IMF and others recognize that Canada has had the strongest economic growth coming out of the recession, over many years. All the tables are there for the member to review.

The fact that we are seeing some pickup and growth in the United States and other economies is positive for Canadian exports, and we look forward to that.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance was part of an Ontario government that created a pre-election, phoney, fiscally unsustainable surplus. Instead, Ontarians were left with a $6 billion deficit and a botched Highway 407 asset sale.

Now the minister is trying to fool Canadians again with another pre-election, fiscally unsustainable surplus, again based on one-time asset sales.

Is the minister hoping Canadians forget his Ontario record of budget deception and asset sale incompetence?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is a rather bizarre question. The member is suggesting that not only should we not balance the budget but that we will never balance the budget, when his own leader says it will balance magically on its own.

This government made a firm commitment to Canadians in the last election. With modest economic growth and controlled spending, we would ensure, without tax hikes on individual families and businesses, that we would balance the budget by the next election. I can say we are certainly on track to do that as Canadians.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that is rich from a Prime Minister who has added over $160 billion to the national debt.

When provincial governments propose higher CPP premiums to improve Canadian pension income, the Minister of Finance calls it a job-killing payroll tax, but when the minister uses high EI premiums to pad his books to create a phoney pre-election surplus, it is fair game.

Why does the minister think that higher payroll taxes are okay when they help Conservative politics but not okay when they help Canadian pensioners?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the employment insurance account ran a deficit during the recession. It will run a balance over time, and that is how it is set up. Certainly we are opposed to the 35% EI hike that would be required to institute the Liberals 45-day work year.

On debt, let me just comment on the facts of debt. The fact of the matter is that the federal debt burden in Canada is the lowest in the G7, by far. In fact, it is about half of what it is in any other country, including Germany. In reality, our debt burden will actually be lower than it was before the recession in the next couple of years.

Employment

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last year's budget unilaterally cut provincial skills training, but the government finally promised to sit down and negotiate these changes.

Yesterday, Conservatives were back to making threats. They will unilaterally kill provincial job-training programs unless provinces agree to the government's demands.

Too many Canadians are out of work. They want the federal government to work with provinces and with municipalities. Why does the minister prefer threats to collaboration?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism]

Mr. Speaker, I unsurprisingly reject the premise of the question.

The reality is that this government is making record investments in skills development to create jobs, including the labour market agreement of which the member speaks, which was introduced by this government, $500 million in transfers to provinces.

We just want to make sure that we are getting maximum bang for the taxpayers' buck out of those dollars so that they actually lead to real jobs.

We do not want résumé factories. We do not want training for the sake of it. We want employers, actually putting money into training so that they guarantee people jobs at the end of it. Why is the NDP against job training that leads to real jobs?

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the week, the Minister of Employment and Social Development said that he was having productive discussions with the provinces. His colleague, the Minister of Finance, contradicted him this morning. The provinces will no longer be able to opt out of the program with compensation. Taking unilateral action was not enough for the government. It also had to hold a gun to the provinces' heads. This new quarrel between the two ministers will not help to warm up their relationship. What is the reality: productive discussions with the provinces or the April 1st ultimatum?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is clear: we are having productive discussions with the provinces.

We continue to have those discussions to get better results from investments in job training that leads to real jobs.

I should also point out that this government has increased tax transfers to Quebec by 65%, or $7.6 billion. In yesterday's budget, the government also announced an increase of $1.8 billion in transfers to Quebec.

Social Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, the government is turning a deaf ear not only to the provinces, but also to municipalities.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Union des municipalités du Québec and the mayor of Montreal have all denounced the budget's silence on social housing. There is no specific commitment or long-term plan. Worse still, cuts of $1.5 billion are expected over the next five years.

Will the minister review his plans and work with the municipalities to find solutions to the crisis affecting thousands of families?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has supported the budget that we delivered yesterday. It has seen the great things that are in that budget.

On the issue of housing, we continue to work with our stakeholders and with the provinces and municipalities on this issue.

Let me remind that member of what our government has done and the major investments we have made, such as $2 billion to renovate existing housing, $1.25 billion to renew our investment in affordable housing, and renewed investment in our homelessness partnering strategy.

The federal government is doing its part. More importantly, the Canadian taxpayers are doing their part.

[Mike Sullivan, NDP, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, some of that money referred to by the minister was actually from Jack Layton, not from the minister.

Working people trying to find a place to live in Vancouver—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Peter Julian]

We had an NDP budget, the best budget ever.