Debates of March 26th, 2014

Democratic Reform

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Jean-Pierre Kingsley clearly indicated that the Conservatives' election “deform” bill is unacceptable in its current form.

It is unthinkable that the government would get rid of the vouching system, which allowed tens of thousands of people to vote in 2011.

It is also unacceptable that the Conservatives are trying to muzzle the Chief Electoral Officer by preventing him from informing and educating the public.

Will the minister listen to the recommendations of experts such as Kingsley and Mayrand, who know a lot more about the subject than he does?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Minister of State (Democratic Reform)]

Mr. Speaker, there are rules in place to safeguard the vouching system.

However, unfortunately, according to Elections Canada's report, these rules were broken in 50,000 different instances during elections.

When it was revealed that there were 50,000 irregularities related to vouching, this is what the leader of the NDP said. “If we can’t even guarantee that the people who are voting are entitled to vote, and that can throw off the results of the elections, all is being lost”.

We agree, and that is why we are asking people to simply bring their choice of among 39 different forms of ID to prove who they are and where they live.

The Environment

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government is cutting half of the staff and three-quarters of the funding from its climate change program. The new Minister of Finance is now responsible for those cuts.

Given his past comments, will the minister answer a simple question. Does he accept that climate change is real and is caused by human activity?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, our government is taking action on climate change. We have introduced new emission regulations for vehicles. We were the first major coal user to ban the construction of traditional coal-fired power plants.

Thanks to our actions, carbon emissions will go down by close to 130 megatonnes from what they would have been under the Liberals. We are accomplishing this without the Liberal and NDP carbon tax.

Infrastructure

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is also for the Minister of Finance, and perhaps he will answer this one.

Next Tuesday, the annual budget for the building Canada infrastructure fund will be cut by 87%. Investments in world-class transit projects create good middle class jobs and improve economic productivity and quality of life.

Will the new Minister of Finance reverse his predecessor's infrastructure cuts?

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the third party can ask that question thousands of billions of times, but the answer will continue to be the same.

This government has tripled investments in infrastructure since we formed government in 2006. Over the next decade, we will provide stable and predictable funding, over $53 billion.

We look forward to working with our partners and to renewing infrastructure in this country and, in the process, creating jobs.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, next week, the infrastructure funding allocated to the building Canada fund will be cut by 87%.

Major projects such as the Champlain Bridge and the widening of the Henri IV highway in Quebec City create middle-class jobs and increase economic productivity. They improve Canadians' quality of life.

Will the Minister of Finance reverse the decision to make massive cuts to infrastructure funding?

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned previously, this government is making record investments in infrastructure. Over the next decade we will provide over $50 billion in investments for provincial, territorial, and municipal infrastructure.

When that third party was government, I would describe its investments in infrastructure, in parliamentary terms, as peanuts.

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, instead of using evidence, the Conservatives are making up data to justify their misguided policies. On budget day, the government claimed Canada's job vacancy rate was on the rise, and since Statistics Canada says the opposite, the Conservatives just went out and brought numbers from Kijiji.

Will the government now admit the information in its February report is incorrect?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, employers across Canada say the biggest challenge they are facing is a lack of skilled workers. This is particularly problematic in certain sectors, including the natural resource sector and certain regions where thousands of jobs are going unfilled because there are not enough skilled workers to fill them.

That is why we are taking action, including the Canada job grant plan, to ensure skills training actually leads to permanent jobs and that employers are investing more in equipping Canadians with the skills they need.

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

Mr. Speaker, between the Parliamentary Budget Officer's figures and the information available on Kijiji, I think the choice is simple. The information on the skills shortage is simply incorrect. We certainly cannot expect to get accurate figures from a site used primarily for renting apartments and selling used furniture.

Will the minister start developing policy based on information from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer or will he continue to use Kijiji?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is rather rich for the New Democrats to criticize the government's job creation record. They have voted against all the job creation measures our government has introduced, such as freezing employment insurance rates—which gives workers and employers some certainty and flexibility—tax cuts for manufacturers that buy new equipment and expand their operations, and so on. The NDP would introduce crippling new taxes.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance should know that Kijiji is for buying and selling things, not developing public policy.

Yesterday, I asked the new Minister of Finance about unused funds from budget 2013. His answer was unclear, to say the least. Now that he has had 24 hours to do his homework, can he tell us what he found out? What money from last year's budget was not used? What programs did not get all of the funding they were supposed to get? What programs were dropped?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, we are not going to discuss plans for next year today. I have no intention of doing detailed analyses today.

The question really is: Why did the NDP vote against skills training? Why did it vote against Canadians with disabilities and aboriginal peoples to get the skills they want, to make landmark investments in research and innovation and to encourage investment?

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

Mr. Speaker, that is twice now I have asked him questions about budget 2013. Someday I would like to get an answer about budget 2013.

The minister keeps making up stories about the job creation data. On Tuesday, he told us that 85% of the new jobs were full-time positions. That is completely false. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says that 95% of the jobs created in 2013 were part-time positions. Contrary to what the minister says, the job market is stagnant. Why is the minister so determined to make up statistics?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if they want to talk about the past, we can keep talking about the past. Over a million net new jobs have been created since July 2009. Over 85% of those are full-time jobs, and over 80% of them are in the private sector. Our government is focused on what is important to Canadians: jobs and economic growth.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Let us try this again, Mr. Speaker.

We asked the minister to identify the parts of budget 2013 that had lapsed. Yet, the minister still has no answers. That is $10 billion simply not accounted for; $10 billion in Conservative broken promises; $10 billion that was not invested in the fragile Canadian economy.

Let us try again. What programs were cut, and what services were slashed by the Conservative government?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is distressed if less money is spent by the government. This, of course, goes to the heart of the problem. New Democrats have a scary fiscal policy, which is to spend money and raise taxes. They think that is the way to create growth and wealth in this country.

We do not think so. Ours is a low tax plan for jobs and growth. It is working. Canadian debt to GDP is one half of that of the G7—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, let us go to the heart of the problem. It is a Conservative budget we are talking about. The minister has only got two choices, either stunning incompetence or deliberately misleading the Canadian public on $10 billion.

Let us move on to another serious problem facing the Minister of Finance. Because of serious errors in the last census, Manitoba is set to lose half a billion dollars in equalization payments over the next five years. There was massive flooding in Manitoba, and many people were not counted. Entire first nations communities were not recorded at all.

What action is the Minister of Finance willing to take in the coming weeks to rectify this serious problem?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, on the first point, apparently good news is bad news for the members opposite.

As to Manitoba, federal support to Manitoba is at an all time high. Manitoba will receive nearly $3.4 billion in federal transfers this year, a 24% increase from under the old Liberal government, including over $1.7 billion through equalization; over $1 billion through the Canada health transfer, an increase of 47% from under the Liberals; and $453 million through the Canada social transfer, an increase of $121 million.

Clearly, nothing has been cut.

Democratic Reform

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in committee the former chief electoral officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, said that vouching is fundamental to our democracy and our electoral system.

Can the Minister of State for Democratic Reform tell us whether he agrees with the expert who oversaw our electoral system for 17 years?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Minister of State (Democratic Reform)]

Mr. Speaker, we simply believe that people should bring with them a piece of identification that shows who they are and where they live to prove that they are eligible to vote. That is normal and I believe that Canadians think it is reasonable. There are 39 approved means of identification. That gives Canadians a great deal of choice.

We are going to require that Elections Canada inform Canadians of the approved pieces of identification they can use.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that the government's Bill C-23 will do is increase the annual political contribution limit by 25%, bringing it to $1,500 per person. The other major impact of Bill C-23 will be to exempt from campaign expenses the amounts spent to solicit donations from people who have made contributions in the past.

Can the minister explain where he got those ideas? Can he quote even one independent expert who believes that these measures will strengthen our democracy and reduce the influence of money in politics?