Debates of April 8th, 2014

New Democratic Party of Canada

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the NDP has been caught with its hand in the cookie jar. Staff members paid for with House of Commons resources were working side by side with staff members working for the NDP party apparatus in an office paid for by the NDP and where a number of partisan activities are known to have taken place. The rules are clear that House resources can only be used for parliamentary or constituency offices. This arrangement was neither of those things.

The rules are also clear that the House resources cannot be used for any activity involving the administration, organization, and internal communications of a political party or the solicitation of contributions or memberships. These are the exact things that would have been done out of this political party office the NDP is operating.

This is one more example of the flagrant and consistent pattern of abuse exhibited by the New Democrats when it comes to using taxpayer money to forward their own partisan agenda.

Quebec Provincial Election

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal caucus would like to commend all those who exercised their democratic right in Quebec yesterday.

We want to congratulate the Liberal Party of Quebec and its leader, Philippe Couillard, on their victory. Their government is committed to creating jobs and expanding Quebec's economy within a united Canada, one that builds on the solidarity that binds all Canadians and gives them a strength that they would not otherwise possess.

It has been said that the deciding factor in this campaign was the fear of another referendum. In fact, this result was born of rational choice, not fear. It was a vote against separating from Canada and against the idea of a third referendum. It was a vote in favour of being both Québécois and Canadian, a vote against discrimination among Quebeckers and a vote in favour of an inclusive Quebec.

Along with our leader, the member for Papineau, we invite all the members of the House to offer their full co-operation to those elected to Quebec's National Assembly and the new provincial government.

National Volunteer Week

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, National Volunteer Week is April 6 to 12, 2014, and for the 40th consecutive year, the Fédération des centres d'action bénévole du Québec has declared a theme. This year's theme is “Volunteer from head to toe”.

Many activities will be organized by the various volunteer action centres and by many community organizations in order to highlight the commitment of all volunteers and to honour a variety of achievements by people whose noble goal is to do good in the community.

In Quebec alone, there are approximately 2 million volunteers who devote 310 million hours to volunteering. What a wonderful demonstration of our collective generosity.

I would like to congratulate the federation on 40 years of outreach, as well as the 111 volunteer action centres in Quebec and everyone in Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière who helps improve the lives of those around them through their volunteer commitments and their generosity of spirit.

Democratic Reform

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have launched repeated attacks on election experts under the guise of creating a fairer electoral system. Their sometimes veiled attacks culminated today in a direct attack on the Chief Electoral Officer, Marc Mayrand.

The very person who represents the integrity of a system in which all Canadians have confidence was attacked by the minister for democratic deform, the very minister who defended the fraudulent robocalls and the in and out scheme, two Conservative tactics that enabled them to take power.

Those who schemed to make it to the top want us to believe that we need to change the act to make it fairer, but I have serious doubts that this bill will benefit the public. As always, the Conservatives are putting the party and their friends above the country.

The experts are not the only ones this government is ignoring. The Conservatives are also ignoring the concerns of seniors, the visually impaired, students and low-income individuals. What is worse is that they are going to force people to pay to vote. If we can no longer use electronic bills as identification at polling stations and the Conservatives continue to allow big corporations to charge $2 for paper bills, then the public is being forced to pay to vote. That is not right. Canadians deserve better.

Veterans Affairs

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on the eve of Vimy Ridge, a battle that marked the birth of our proud and modern Canada, it has been nearly 365 days since the inflammatory comments made by the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie came to light in the House. He praised communists and remarked that World War I was purely a capitalist war on the backs of workers and peasants. It is shameful that the leader of the NDP has not only maintained silence on the member's take on communists and capitalist war but, in fact, named him the co-chair of the NDP's 2015 national campaign. While—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. I will ask members to hold off on their applause until the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke is finished.

The hon. member has a few seconds left to conclude her statement.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the NDP leadership rewards communist ideals, our government will continue working to provide world-class benefits and services for Canadian veterans.

Democratic Reform

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, two years ago, I asked the Prime Minister if it was acceptable for any of his ministers to knowingly mislead the House. He said that it was not acceptable and that he expected his ministers to always tell the truth. Is that still the Prime Minister's position?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Couillard on his victory last night.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The Right Hon. Prime Minister has the floor. Order, please.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Calgary Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I just spoke with Mr. Couillard. I congratulated him and noted that Quebeckers have rejected having another referendum. They want a government that is focused on the economy and job creation. Those are our priorities as well, and we look forward to working with this new premier.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, in front of the unelected, undemocratic Senate, of all places, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform launched an all-out attack on Canada's Chief Electoral Officer. He accused him of making “amazing” and “astounding” false claims to derail the proposed elections act.

Will the Prime Minister stand in this House and apologize to parliamentarians and apologize to Marc Mayrand for that cowardly, baseless attack on Canada's Chief Electoral Officer?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, while I will address that, I would like again to congratulate Mr. Couillard for his great victory last night.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Calgary Southwest, AB]

I have spoken to him and congratulated him, and I think all of us in all parties have noted that Quebecers have rejected the holding of another referendum and want the government to focus on job creation and the economy. We will work with the government of Quebec to do that.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform claimed:

There are regular reports of people receiving multiple voter cards and using them to vote multiple times. That...can be found on the Elections Canada website.

The only problem is that it is not true. The minister was making up stories about alleged voter fraud, just as the member for Mississauga—Streetsville did just a while back.

If the Prime Minister still believes it is unacceptable for ministers to knowingly mislead Parliament, what will the consequences be for that false statement?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, just last week when I was in the House, the leader of the NDP said that, under the fair elections act, all existing investigations would be cancelled.

That was yet another false statement by the leader of the NDP. I do not see him dealing with that particular issue.

On the fact at hand, it is a matter of fact that the voter ID card of Elections Canada is not a secure piece of ID. That is why we have, instead, allowed 39 other pieces of identification.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that the one and only case of fraud that the Prime Minister can cite as an example is the Infoman gag. All the rest were invented by either the minister or the brilliant and talented member for Mississauga—Streetsville.

Will the Prime Minister really disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Canadians because of an Infoman gag? This is no longer funny.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, that is one of the problems: it is impossible to prosecute a secret voter. That is the problem with voting without identification. In our opinion, the integrity of elections and the democratic process requires that voters have identification. We are determined to ensure the integrity of elections.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, when Sheila Fraser was exposing Liberals, the Prime Minister admired her integrity and courage. As a former officer of Parliament, she now fears that the Conservative bill will undermine the Chief Electoral Officer's ability to do his job independently.

Why does the Prime Minister no longer respect Sheila Fraser? Is it because she is now helping expose Conservative dirty dealing?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we have a different view, which is that the voters who vote in elections need to establish identity. I do not think Canadians agree with the notion that elections should be decided by people who cannot indicate any form of identification.

In terms of Elections Canada, we have been very clear. Elections Canada has a job to do. That job should be done in such a way that the rules are applied consistently and that the organization itself, like all institutions of government, is held accountable for its actions.

Infrastructure

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives say that the new building Canada fund is open for business, Nova Scotia does not believe it. In fact, yesterday the provincial government wrote this to the municipalities in a letter:

Nova Scotia, like all other Provinces and Territories, was surprised by this announcement. The Province has not signed an Agreement with the federal government for the NBCF and no details have been released to us on the application process.

Did the Conservatives not learn anything from the Canada job grant fiasco? Why are they ignoring the provinces and promoting a program that does not even exist?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the hon. member is referring to.

What I do know is that the government has announced, with the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and others, the largest federal infrastructure spending program in Canadian history: $70 billion over the next decade.

Shamefully, that has been opposed by the Liberal Party. It is up to the Liberal Party to explain why it is so against this help for Canadian infrastructure.