Debates of April 30th, 2014

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, as I told the member earlier this week, we actually have put in place an auditing process for use in the temporary foreign worker program. We put in place legislative measures, which came into effect last December, allowing Service Canada integrity branch officials to go into work sites unannounced to investigate pay levels, to get the paperwork to ensure that the rules are being followed. We will be proposing additional measures to even further strengthen those auditing powers to ensure that the rules are followed and that there are very serious consequences should employers break the rules of the program, because they must always give Canadians the first crack at available jobs.

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

Mr. Speaker, the temporary foreign worker program has been a problem for a long time. In 2009, the auditor general warned the Conservatives. She criticized them for not enforcing the rules strictly, and she pointed out that files were poorly documented and that the department's opinions were random. Against all logic, the Conservatives responded to that damning report by relaxing the rules and increasing the number of work permits.

Why are the Conservatives refusing to fix this program to ensure that Canadian workers are not wronged?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think there has been a misunderstanding. The government never set a goal or target for temporary foreign worker numbers. That being said, the number of foreign workers depends on the number of requests for labour market opinions, which fell by 20% after fees were introduced last year. Fewer employers are making requests in the context of the program because of that change in policy.

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

Mr. Speaker, no NDP member believes that it is okay to replace a Canadian worker with a lower-paid temporary foreign worker.

Excessive use of temporary foreign workers is skewing the labour market. The program is putting downward pressure on wages and working conditions, and it is creating unemployment in some regions. It is not good for businesses either. At the end of each season, they lose the workers they trained, and it is getting harder and harder for them to find skilled workers.

Is that the government's plan—use cheap labour to grow the Canadian economy?

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is wrong. Quite a few NDP MPs have asked me to overturn officials' decisions to deny requests. Officials have said that employers in NDP ridings have not done enough to recruit Canadians. New Democrats have disagreed with the officials' decisions and tried to have them overturned. New Democrats are the ones who want to create an exemption for foreign musicians, foreign IT workers, and foreign agricultural workers. The New Democrats are being inconsistent.

Transport

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Toronto Port Authority was set up by the Liberals, against the wishes of the City of Toronto. Until 2001, the airport belonged to the city. Then the Liberals created an unelected, unaccountable port authority, taking control of the airport out of Toronto's hands and into Ottawa's. Now this unelected body thinks it is above the law and can cherry-pick which decisions of council to respect.

Will the government tell the Toronto Port Authority it must respect the democratic decisions of Toronto City Council?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the Toronto Port Authority is an independent organization that has many agreements with the City of Toronto for which it is held accountable and that it has to be able to fulfill, too.

It is very important that port authorities and airport authorities have good communications with their local communities. I encourage them to sit down and talk with their local council members, and as well, to talk to their council in general about how to better further economic development through the use of port assets.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, while imposing a moratorium on temporary foreign workers in the food sector, at the same time the government advertises to companies that they can bring in young foreign workers under the exchange program, with no labour market opinion and no rules on wages. The government says we have a moratorium, and then it says, “Do whatever you want”.

How can the moratorium mean anything when the government still advertises LMO-free foreign workers for the food services industry?

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

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Markham—Unionville. He is learning just bit by bit that the program is larger than the labour market opinion stream.

The truth is this. There are tens of thousands of young Canadians working around the world on youth mobility programs. They are getting good experience abroad, which they may put to work in the future, perhaps running businesses. In order for them to be able to do that, we have to admit, on a reciprocal basis, young foreigners to Canada to work and experience this wonderful country as well. I do not know what he is proposing, but does he really want us to tell those Canadians working abroad that—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Cape Breton—Canso.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the minister bragged about that program yesterday, the reciprocal aspect of it that was a benefit to all. The reality is that there are three times as many foreign youth workers in this country than there are Canadians working offshore. Look at Poland, with 753 Polish workers here in Canada. How many do we have in Poland? We have four. Look at Croatia, with over 300 Croatian workers here in Canada. How many do we have there? We have two.

With 225,000 fewer youth jobs under the government's guidance, how can he accept that as reciprocal?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, it is always—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. Minister for Citizenship and Immigration now has the floor.

The hon. minister.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is always fascinating to hear members of the Liberal Party stand up and denounce a program that they created in 1951 and then expanded dramatically in 2003. We will leave it to them to answer those questions about their lack of consistency.

The truth is that the job opportunities in Canada are much better, thanks to this government, than they are in many of our partner IEC countries. Thanks to the leadership of this Prime Minister, thanks to the leadership of this team, 1.1 million net new jobs, a lower youth unemployment rate today than—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Wascana.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, because of the government's mismanagement of temporary foreign workers, employees and employers alike have been damaged. Legitimate employers with real job market needs have been jeopardized. Canadian jobs have been lost, some wages have been driven down, some foreign workers have been abused, all because of Conservative incompetence.

Conservatives have run this program for eight years, and they have run it into the ground. It is on their watch. It is their responsibility.

Can Canadians at least get a commitment that the government will get this mess investigated and fixed and the program salvaged before this summer?

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

Mr. Speaker, again, it is interesting hearing from that particular member. I was in his constituency a couple of months ago and met with several dozen employers. They said that their only issue was the labour challenges that they were facing. They said the rules of the program were far too tight.

That is perhaps why that member and so many of his colleagues make representations to overturn the decisions of our officials with respect to the temporary foreign worker program. Let us be clear. We are going to ensure that Canadians come first in the labour market and, if there are abuses or if the labour market is distorted, those issues are addressed.

Privacy

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Privacy Commissioner is mandated by Parliament to protect the privacy rights of Canadian citizens. When she raises red flags about a million cases of warrantless snooping on the Internet and telephone use of Canadians, she deserves answers. Instead, she is being stonewalled by both the telecoms and the government.

Will the government explain whether or not it approves of this open season on the use of data that belongs to Canadian citizens?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, before we tabled Bill S-4, the digital privacy act, I spoke to the Privacy Commissioner and got her views on how to best move forward with modernizing Canada's intellectual property laws.

I spoke to her this morning about the story that has been in the news recently, and in fact here is what she said about our digital privacy act and our efforts to best protect Canadians online. She said, “...I welcome the proposals...” in this bill. This bill contains “...very positive developments for the privacy rights of Canadians...”.

We work with the Privacy Commissioner. We protect the best interests of everyday Canadians, and we are making sure that we move forward to modernize our digital laws.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is a guy who was going to beat up on those big, bad telecoms, but boy oh boy, when it comes to unwarranted snooping, let us all be polite here.

If Canadians are being spied on, they have a right to know. After all, Canadians are paying for this. The telecoms charge $1.25 every time the government comes snooping on Canadians, so if their numbers are right, that means Canadian taxpayers are paying over $1 million a year to be spied on.

Will the minister confirm to the House how much taxpayers' money is being used every year in this warrantless snooping on the private words of Canadians online and on telephones?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, with respect, I do not think my colleague quite understands the law. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, section 7, spells out very clearly the kinds of information that are being sought by different agencies of the government, and they all relate to public safety, national security, and criminal investigations. That is what this is about. We have moved forward, as I said, to further protect the privacy of Canadians online. The digital privacy act does that.

We have worked with the Privacy Commissioner in developing these proposals. We have put them before the Parliament of Canada. If the NDP has any ideas that it wants to bring forward to draw into our legislative process, we will entertain them.

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

Mr. Speaker, we realize that there are times when telecommunication companies might have to hand over private customer information to government agencies in the interest of national security.

However, this should never be done without a warrant and I would be surprised that it needs to be done 1.2 million times a year. The biggest concern here is not that the agencies have practically unlimited access to this data, but that the Privacy Commissioner has no access to any information about these transactions.

If the government agencies can access the data whenever they want, then how does the minister explain that the telecommunication companies can refuse to co-operate with the Privacy Commissioner?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, the companies must co-operate. I believe that Bell is appearing before a Senate committee today to answer such questions. If my colleague wants to ask those types of questions at one of the House of Commons committees, he can ask these companies to come testify.

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

Mr. Speaker, they cannot deliver the mail, but they can look at our email. It is mind-boggling.

The minister talks as if it were normal to spy on the private lives of 785 million people, as if this were just a precaution. We have the government requesting private information about the public and getting that information without a warrant. Then we have the telecommunication companies failing to notify their customers that their information is being handed over to the government. In the meantime, the commissioner is trying to shed light on what is happening, but the companies are putting up roadblocks.

Will the minister compel the telecommunication companies to co-operate with the Privacy Commissioner in all circumstances?