Debates of March 28th, 2014

Democratic Reform

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks as if the only solution to eliminate fraud is to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters. All he needs to do is to simplify the vouching paperwork. Mr. Maynard said it, Jean-Pierre Kingsley said it, and Mr. Neufeld said it.

When will the minister realize that voters are not the problem in our electoral system? When will he understand that blocking my constituents in Thunder Bay—Rainy River and thousands of other Canadians from voting will not solve anything?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that his constituents in Thunder Bay are capable of producing any of the 39 different pieces of acceptable ID. He should be clear with his constituents that they do not require photo ID or government ID to vote. They can choose from 39 pieces, including things like utility bills, OAS or employment insurance cheques, statements of attestation from aboriginal reserves, Indian status cards, and student cards. The list goes on and on.

There are 39 different options. We just think it is reasonable that people bring some form of ID when they show up to vote.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, so far, the total number of experts who say that this bill should be adopted in its current form is zero. Expert after expert is calling out the government for trying to ram through a bill that would give the Conservative Party an unfair advantage.

Everyone in Nickel Belt agrees that it must either be scrapped or rewritten. Will the minister now stop twisting the words of experts like Harry Neufeld to justify his reckless changes? Will he agree to fix this bill?

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

Mr. Speaker, the fair elections act would keep everyday Canadians in charge of democracy by pushing special interest groups to the sidelines and rule breakers out of business. It would close loopholes to big money. It would protect against the risks of fraudulent voting. It would crack down on rogue callers who impersonate either parties or Elections Canada. It would give the commissioner, the law enforcement watchdog, sharper teeth, a longer reach, and a freer hand.

It is a good bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts. When there were problems with the vouching system, it was because of administrative errors. No voter fraud was reported. The minister has to stop treating honest citizens like criminals. He is using false pretenses to try to disenfranchise 120,000 people, including aboriginal people, homeless people, students, seniors and the poor.

Why are the Conservatives afraid of voters? Why do they want to take the right to vote away from society's most vulnerable people?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have in my hand a list of the 39 different forms of identification that are accepted: a driver's license; health card; Canadian passport; certificate of Canadian citizenship; birth certificate; certificate of Indian status; social insurance number card; old age security card; student ID card; provincial or territorial identification card; liquor identification card; medical and hospital clinic card; credit or debit card; employee card; public transportation card; library card; Canadian Forces identity card; Veterans Affairs Canada health card; Canadian Blood Services card; the Canadian National Institute for the Blind card; the firearm possession and acquisition licence or possession only licence; a fishing, trapping and hunting license—

Employment

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government is getting its statistics about available jobs from websites, which is skewing all the benchmark data. Without expert analysis, the statistics from these websites are not reliable and fluctuate wildly.

How can the government claim to have a coherent employment policy if it refuses to use sources that are recognized by all of the country's economic stakeholders?

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, the PBO report is clear and is not inconsistent with the position that we have taken. I will quote from page 13:

...the lack of evidence of a national labour shortage or skills mismatch in Canada does not rule out regional- and sector-specific labour shortages or skills mismatches.

Why do they not support the PBO?

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government's use of job numbers from Kijiji has shown Canadians yet again that the Conservatives prefer to pick and choose unreliable numbers to support their ideological policies. We witnessed this distaste for evidence with the elimination of the long form census, and are now seeing it again.

When will the government finally understand that reliable statistics are key to delivering effective job programs? When will the government start basing its decisions on facts rather than rigid ideological bias?

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, the policies put in place by this government have led to the biggest job growth of any country in the G7 since the pit of the economic recession in July 2009, with over one million net new jobs.

Every policy that we bring forward to help create jobs in this country, that member and party oppose. Why do those members not get onboard and help us create jobs and build growth in this country?

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the last time legislation was put before the House to deal with the grain transportation issue, the government ignored all the good advice it got from farmers. It voted down every single amendment that farm groups proposed, and because of that it has this $8 billion grain crisis on its hands now.

When farmers, provincial governments, and even its own parliamentary secretary are saying that Bill C-30 is not good enough, is the government finally going to listen? Will it protect short lines and producer cars?

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, Bill C-30 is important and very good legislation. This legislation would help to correct the problem that farmers are having moving their grain to port. It would impose transportation requirements of one million metric tonnes of grain moved to port each and every week by the two railroad companies. It would impose fines of $100,000 per day for non-compliance.

I have quotes here. The Manitoba minister of agriculture states, “The Manitoba government supports this move”. The Alberta minister of agriculture says, “We are pleased that the federal government has brought forward the fair rail for grain farmers act.”

I would ask that member and his party to support this key legislation.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am not at all surprised that the minister is dismissing the revelations that the Canada Revenue Agency is compromising Canadians' privacy every year with its data breaches. More than 2,000 Canadians were exposed to identity theft through the minister's mismanagement of the agency.

Canadians expect the minister to take responsibility. When will that happen?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue and for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, we do agree that Canadians should rightfully expect their personal information to be protected. The CRA has a close working relationship with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and acts on all of her recommendations.

I would clarify that 95% of the reported privacy issues are related to misdirected mail. The CRA handles nearly 150 million pieces of mail each year, and therefore these incidents represent 0.001% of all of the supposed breaches that the hon. member—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Victoria.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that is cold comfort for over 2,000 Canadians.

Let us return to reality for a moment. The CRA's Montreal offices have been infiltrated by organized crime. The CRA is failing to collect untold billions of dollars in revenue from tax cheats and others who simply refuse to pay. Now we learn that it is exposing thousands of Canadians to identity theft through a lax approach to privacy.

The CRA experienced more data breaches last year than all other departments since 2006, so how can the minister say it is no problem?

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue and for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency]

Mr. Speaker, the CRA takes privacy breaches with the utmost level of seriousness. We know this is a concern for Canadians. Canadians have a right to expect the CRA to look out for their privacy. We will continue to do that.

The member opposite knows this. He should recognize that it is irresponsible to misrepresent the facts and undermine the confidence that Canadians place in the CRA.

Veterans

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it has been nearly two years since the Federal Court ruled in favour of veterans on the issue of pensions, yet they are still waiting to hear whether the government will compensate them retroactively. The ombudsman has been inundated with telephone calls from veterans who feel that the minister has stalled long enough. The ombudsman and the Royal Canadian Legion are calling for a decision.

Can the government tell us if it intends to compensate these veterans who have been unfairly treated? Yes or no?

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite should know that our government voluntarily increased benefits for veterans receiving the earnings loss benefit, the Canadian Forces income support, and the war veterans allowance. This meant thousands of dollars more for veterans in addition to added benefits to the veterans independence program.

If the member and her party cared about veterans, they would not have voted against the initiative we brought forward.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Maybe, Mr. Speaker, it got lost in translation.

My question to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs is very clear. These disabled veterans were wrongfully clawed back on the earnings loss benefit from April of 2006 until November of 2012. Two veterans ministers previously said they would promise to fix this problem.

My question is quite clear. For two years now, we and other people have been asking when these disabled veterans will get the money they so rightfully deserve.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, there is no other government in the history of our great nation that has done more for Canada's veterans than this government right here under the leadership of our Prime Minister. We have invested almost $5 billion in additional funding since coming to office.

The NDP and the Liberal Party have voted against virtually every single initiative we have brought forward. I would encourage the member opposite to please stop playing partisan games with our veterans and start supporting the initiatives.

The Economy

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

Mr. Speaker, under the strong, stable leadership of our Prime Minister, our Conservative government has remained committed to strengthening the economy for all Canadians. Canada's overall job growth record since the depth of the recession is the best amongst all G7 countries, with over one million net new jobs created. Nearly 90% of those jobs are full time and more than 80% are in the private sector.

Despite a worldwide economic crisis, we have never wavered from seeing our plan through.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance please tell the House what our newest step will be to create economic growth?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Prince George—Peace River for that excellent question.

Unlike the Liberal leader, who thinks that budgets balance themselves, we know good economic management requires tough decisions, a focus on priorities, and sound judgment. Under our government, Canada has enjoyed strong economic performance during both the global recession and the recovery.

Today we will introduce economic action plan 2014, act one, marking the next chapter in keeping our commitment to Canadians. We remain focused on our key priorities, supporting families and communities, creating jobs and opportunities, and returning to balance in 2015.

Privacy

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to a University of Toronto study, Internet service providers are sharing their clients' private information with Canadian surveillance agencies, without anyone knowing about it and without any transparency. The report also indicates that none of the foreign providers that manage Canadian Internet traffic shows any compliance with Canadian privacy laws. This is troubling and completely irresponsible.

Can the government tell us what it has done to protect the personal information of Canadians?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure all Canadians that our government takes the privacy of law-abiding Canadians seriously. At all times, law enforcement agencies comply with Canadian law regarding receiving any type of information. For the record, we will take no lessons from the NDP.