Debates of Feb. 27th, 2014

Ethics

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have been stabbed in the back before, which is why I no longer believe the stories the Conservatives are telling.

We already knew that Michel Fournier, a good friend of the Liberals who was also known as Zorro, awarded a contract to repair and renovate the Jacques Cartier Bridge to SNC-Lavalin. Then, miraculously, as though this happens every day, he suddenly had a Swiss bank account with $1.5 million in it. The contract awarded to SNC was worth an estimated $110 million. However, we now know that this contract cost an extra $17 million.

Can the government tell us the status of the Zorro investigation and what happened to the additional $17 million?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, right from the beginning this government has always talked about how important it is to maintain the highest ethical standards, and it is a standard that the Prime Minister has maintained right from the beginning.

That is why one of the first acts that we brought forward was the Accountability Act. We passed that through the House to take out the corruption, the influence of big unions and big money, in the system.

We know now that the NDP leader is throwing in the towel. He is prepared to enter into a tax-and-spend coalition led by a Liberal leader who thinks that the budget simply balances itself. We will make sure that never happens and that Canadians can have a good, competent government for a very long time.

Finance

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Conservative broken promises are piling up but Canadians are not going to be duped any more. They remember phony Conservative promises to cut diesel taxes in half and to deliver income splitting. What about the government's failed greenhouse gas plan or its wait time strategy? What about its promise to renew infrastructure that resulted in a 90% funding cut to our cities and our communities?

How can anyone trust a government that continually breaks its biggest promises?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, we made a commitment and a promise to Canadian families, ordinary Canadians, that we would lower taxes and we have kept that promise.

Stats Canada announced that the median net worth of Canadian families has increased by almost 45% since 2005. This confirms that middle-class families are better off today under this Conservative government than they ever were under the former Liberal government.

The federal tax burden on families today is at the lowest level in 50 years. We will keep our commitments to families.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister did not want to tell us who speaks for the government on fiscal policy.

Regarding income splitting, the discrepancy between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance could not be any clearer.

I therefore must ask again: who speaks for the government on fiscal policy? It is a very simple question. What is the answer?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party continues to bring forward questions about next year's budget—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. I will once again ask members to hold off on their applause until the minister has finished answering the question. I am sure members will be happy to applaud him then.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is correct.

Only this Conservative government can be trusted to lower taxes for families. The Liberal Party continues to worry and wonder about next year's budget. We brought forward a budget this year that would lower taxes for Canadian families, that would help middle-class families. We have said that in 2015 we would have a balanced budget.

We have a good budget this year. We will have a great budget next year.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, back in 2002, finance minister Paul Martin resigned from cabinet, or was removed from cabinet—

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. I just reminded members to hold off on their applause. Surely they could not have forgotten so quickly?

Let us allow the hon. member for Markham—Unionville to finish asking his question.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, they do not like his balanced budgets.

He resigned from cabinet or was removed from cabinet, depending on the interpretation. At the time, the Prime Minister referred to this as “political and administrative chaos”, but now history is repeating itself.

Given their differences over income splitting, will the Minister of Finance be removed from cabinet, will he leave on his own, or, as in 2002, will there be conflicting stories about what really happened?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, we committed to Canadian families that we would continue to lower taxes. We made a commitment that we would cut the GST. We have cut it from 7% to 6% to 5%. We talked about a tax-free savings account. We delivered that for Canadians. Now, over 9 million Canadians invest in their retirement through a tax-free savings account.

We introduced pension income splitting for seniors, which the opposition opposed. It also voted against tax cuts for families. It votes against the middle class. We will continue to bring forward tax measures that will help the middle class.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the tragic death of Loretta Saunders, an Inuk woman from Labrador, is felt deeply in my province, as it is across Canada and by every member of this House. As one indigenous leader put it, “There’s something wrong in Canada if aboriginal people have to live this fate”.

We here, the elected representatives of the people, have a duty to act. Will the government agree to call a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, first let me express my condolences to the family and friends of Loretta Saunders.

The one thing I will note is that our government has taken concrete action to deal with the tragic issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women. In fact, in economic action plan 2014, we will invest an additional $25 million to deal with this tragic issue.

What I say to the member opposite is that we have taken action and we will continue to do so. Why do you not stand up for aboriginal women?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I would remind the minister that we do not address our colleagues directly. Rather, we go through the Chair and use the third person.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Loretta Saunders was writing her university thesis on missing and murdered indigenous women when she went missing herself. Today, our community mourns.

Over 800 indigenous women have been murdered or have gone missing since 1990. It is time for us to acknowledge this crisis and for us to act. Will the government establish a national action plan on violence against women?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite mentioned, I think we all mourn when a family loses a loved one. As I mentioned before, we express our condolences. I express my condolences to the family of this young woman.

With respect to action, our government has taken action. We have invested in economic action plan 2014. We have invested additional funds with respect to a DNA-based missing persons index.

We have taken action. In fact, this government has focused substantially on action, and we encourage the opposition members to join us in that action.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Delilah Saunders-Terriak vowed to continue her sister's fight for stolen sisters. It is long past time that we addressed the reasons for why indigenous women are five times more likely to be killed than other women.

Members of this House and the government have a role to play. Will the government continue the work of Loretta Saunders? Will it institute a national action plan and call an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I think all members of this House express their condolences to the family and are deeply concerned with respect to this tragic issue.

As I have said multiple times in this House today, we have taken action and we will continue to take action. I want to commend those who are part of the special parliamentary committee that is looking into this issue.

I encourage all members of this House to join with the government. Let us make sure that we are taking action to deal with this tragic issue.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Loretta Saunders, a young aboriginal woman from Labrador, was conducting university level research on missing and murdered aboriginal women. Her own murder, I am sure everyone would agree, is a tragic irony. We must honour her memory, just as we must honour the memories of all of these missing and murdered women.

We waited too long before getting to the bottom of the residential schools problem. Will the government avoid making the same mistake and will it launch a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women?

[Kellie Leitch, Conservative, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, our government continues to take concrete action to address this tragic problem.

As I mentioned before, we all in this House express our extreme condolences to the family of this young lady, Loretta Saunders.

I will say, though, yet again, that we have taken action. We will continue to do that. There have been multiple actions taken by this government, all of which the opposition looked to not support. We would encourage—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. minister still has a few seconds left to finish her response.