Debates of Feb. 13th, 2014

Rail Transportation

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, Transport Canada has a variety of compliance measures that they use on those infractions, but that is the past. What this government has done is brought in the ability for front-line workers to fine companies that are in violation of rules and regulations.

As these investigations continue and we get the results of these investigations, it is very clear that if there are violations to the Railway Safety Act or the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, there will be prosecutions to the full extent of the law.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about the past, but the victims in Lac-Mégantic are getting a little tired of the minister's inconsistency.

That is probably why they filed a class action lawsuit yesterday against Transport Canada for gross negligence. Transport Canada completely failed to enforce its own rail safety rules, as I mentioned in my previous question.

Does the minister recognize that, by allowing MMA to continue its operations despite repeated violations of the regulations, her government failed in its responsibility to protect Canadians?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of the rail accident in Lac-Mégantic, investigations continue on, but this government too continues on to ensure that we strengthen rail safety in every way possible with cross-country consultations and meetings with the FCM. We are doing absolutely everything we can to ensure that information is in the hands of communities and that railways know that emergency directives are in place and that rules are expected to be followed. We constantly work on this file.

What does the NDP do? It decides to block a government committee and a parliamentary committee from getting real information from real safety experts from around the country.

That is the NDP's politics; we get it done.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, this do-nothing budget failed to deal with long-standing problems with rail safety. It also failed to protect passenger rail service through Atlantic Canada. CN is selling off a section of track in New Brunswick, and that could effectively put an end to passenger rail service to Halifax.

What is the government going to do? What are New Brunswick and Nova Scotia MPs going to do to protect passenger rail service to Halifax through New Brunswick?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. member to look at a rail map, perhaps, so he can see that there is more than one way to get from the Ontario-Quebec area into the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada.

I would say this as well: VIA Rail is an independent company. It takes its own business decisions and it takes its own decisions with respect to service levels and routes.

CN is currently in a process, under the Canadian Transportation Agency, to divest of its rail. We will see what happens with respect to this particular piece of rail, but no decisions have been made.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to the safety and security of Canadians. Last November the Minister of Transport asked the transport committee to study the transportation of dangerous goods to ensure they are moved safely and securely.

I know that when it comes to rail safety, our government is taking an approach focused on prevention, response, and liability, much like the world-class tanker safety initiative that we developed for marine transportation.

Would the Minister of Transport update the House on the committee's ongoing work in this study?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Prince George—Peace River for his work on this matter.

Indeed, as I mentioned already, the committee had been prepared to go across the country to talk to safety experts in their communities. Unfortunately, the NDP is playing politics and has decided that it wants to block this safety investigation from continuing. I am extremely disappointed by this decision.

I would give a tip to the member for Trinity—Spadina. I know that she is immersed in her mayoral campaign right now, but if she is thinking about communities, perhaps it is a good thing to think about consulting with communities instead of playing politics.

The Budget

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the economic engines of our communities. They are responsible for almost a third of Canada's GDP and almost 80% of all job creation, but budget 2014 just axed the hiring credit for small businesses.

The current government is abandoning Canada's real job creators. Why is it giving no-strings-attached handouts to its friends on Bay Street while rolling back job-creating incentives for hard-working business owners on Main Street?

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

Mr. Speaker, contrary to the opposition, we know that it is entrepreneurs, small businesses, that create jobs in this country. It is not a big fat government. That is why, in our budget, we controlled our spending to ensure that we would have more freedom for entrepreneurs and less government. That is it. That is all. In that way, we will create economic growth in this country.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have abandoned the small business sector, even though it is a key economic engine.

While the tax rate for large corporations has steadily dropped, despite the recession, small and medium-sized businesses have received no assistance. Worse still, the Conservatives have completely scrapped the hiring tax credit for small and medium-sized businesses. The Conservatives say they want to focus on growth and job creation, but they are eliminating a major tool that can help them do so.

Why have the Conservatives scrapped the hiring tax credit?

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

Mr. Speaker, time and time again, we see, in the House, that the NDP votes against proposals that favour entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. The budget promotes economic growth and entrepreneurs. We are making sure to keep our spending in check to enable entrepreneurs to create jobs and wealth. Wealth does not come from government spending, contrary to what the NDP believes. Increased government spending is not an economic stimulus. In fact, it would be a sedative for the Canadian economy.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the Conservatives' flawed economic approach.

Despite a 14% unemployment rate and despite the fact that more than 390,000 young people are looking for work, there is nothing in budget 2014 for them. Youth employment centres, which drive job creation in Quebec, are staunchly critical of what will happen if the government pushes forward without coming to an agreement with the provinces on the Canada job grant.

Why is the Minister of Finance doing everything he can to make the situation worse for unemployed youth?

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

Mr. Speaker, on top of what our government has already been doing to help young people get back to work, let me tell the member what we have done in this current budget. We have created the Canada apprenticeship loan, which helps apprentices who are registered in the Red Seal trades complete their training by receiving over $100 million in interest-free loans each year.

We have also supported youth employment with an additional investment of $55 million for youth apprenticeships in small and medium-sized businesses and with high-demand entrepreneurs. We are helping young people get back to work.

Employment Insurance

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives have frozen EI premiums at $1.88 for every $100 in insurable earnings, they are still gutting services. Is it because of a lack of funds? Definitely not. The employment insurance fund could have a surplus as high as $6.4 billion by 2016.

Will the recipients benefit from that surplus or will the Conservatives go back to their old ways, which they learned from the Liberals, and dip into the fund to pay off their debt?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I think we made it quite clear that we have frozen EI rates because of fragility in the global economy and not wanting, at this time, to jeopardize the very modest economic recovery we have in this country, as well as in the United States, unlike Europe, so that we do have job growth, even though it is modest.

We will unfreeze the rates, and they will go to balance in the next few years. For the time being, we are not going to put a greater burden on employees and employers. We want to create jobs, not kill them.

The Budget

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.

My concern is shared by many people in the arts community. The minister could alleviate this concern immediately by giving a clear answer. Some arts and culture programs are set to expire in 2015. The budget renews some of them, but not all. The Canada book fund is being cut from $37 million to $9 million, and the Canada music fund is being cut from $23 million to $9 million.

Can the minister confirm that these two programs—the ones I just mentioned—will be fully renewed, without any budget cuts, yes or no?

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister, in the budget, does commit to ensuring that both those budgets will remain intact for 2014.

Housing

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the budget touches upon social housing, but there is not a mention of co-op housing.

Over the last decades, the Government of Canada helped build 60,000 co-op units, in which 250,000 Canadians live. Through agreements, 20% of these people receive geared-to-income support.

The bulk of these agreements will expire in the next few years. Why did the government choose not to include the renewal of these agreements in its 2014 budget?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying that it was the Liberal government that stopped renewing these agreements in the nineties.

These agreements are going to be completed over the next 20 to 40 years. They will be completed because the mortgages will be paid off. We all know that when mortgages are paid off, subsidies do not need to continue, and we do not keep paying the banks.

We have renewed our investment in affordable housing. The provinces certainly have the flexibility, if after these agreements end, they want to continue to provide other types of subsidies. We are giving them that flexibility.

We are actually getting results for the most vulnerable in our society.

Rail Transportation

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, grain bins across the Prairies are bursting at the seams, because farmers cannot get their grain to market, and they are being forced to sell at fire-sale prices, as low as $4 a bushel. Now the grain companies tell the agriculture committee that they cannot ship grain because of the cold weather, as if cold weather is something new on the Canadian prairies, when the real problem is that they are shipping twice as many cars dedicated to oil as cars dedicated to grain, and there is no Canadian Wheat Board to negotiate reliable shipping.

Now, we have heard a lot about rail safety today. What is the Minister of Transport doing about rail service to ensure that Canadian farmers have the railcars they need to get their grain to market?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, as usual, the member from downtown Winnipeg has his grain companies and his railways all mixed up.

At the end of the day, we have been working with all of the players in the supply chain. There is a holistic approach required. We continue to work with everybody, looking for every efficiency we can find. Grain is moving, but not at the rate that is going to be required to clean bins out before road bans hit and so on.

I continue to meet with the railways and the grain companies. The next meeting is February 24, where they are to bring their plans forward as to how we attack the piles of grain that are out there and get them moving to port and off to import countries.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, grain farmers have not seen a bottleneck like this since the 1970s, contrary to what the minister is saying.

Grain is vital to Canada's economy. We must have an efficient, reliable grain-transport system. The current law is not protecting the interests of our producers. We need better rail service laws, with enforceable performance standards, accountability, and penalties. Will the Minister of Transport finally agree to meet with the producers and establish the long-awaited regulations on performance?

[Gerry Ritz, Conservative, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, we have been doing just that as a government. The Minister of Transport and I continue to meet with the grain farmers and oilseed producers across western Canada, who are the most affected by this.

We continue to work with the grain companies and the railways to work through the holistic situation that needs to be put in play to ensure that everybody has access to good rail freight. The cold weather cannot last forever. This global warming has to stop sometime, and when it does break, trains will get back to the length they need to be, and there will be more grain moved to port authorities and moved off to countries around the world.

Justice

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is estimated that there are over 600 unidentified human remains across Canada. That means there are over 600 families that have not been able to have any closure in the loss of a loved one. Our government is standing up for victims by returning to the heart of our justice system. That is why we have announced a victims bill of rights.

Could the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness please tell this House what our government is doing to assist families of unidentified missing persons?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Burlington, who has presented a private member's bill on that very same issue, for standing up for victims.

As indicated on page 226 of budget 2014, our government will introduce a DNA-based missing persons index. This database is being welcomed by organizations like the Missing Children's Network.

Let me thank the Minister of Finance and all the colleagues who have supported the coming of this DNA database. This will help bring closure to families. I want to praise Judy Peterson, who has been advocating for this for 20 years.