Debates of May 12th, 2014

Pharmaceutical Industry

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today is Canada Health Day. What an excellent opportunity to say that the health of Canadians is not a free commodity and that public interest takes precedence over free enterprise in the drug industry.

The NDP wants to ensure that health care professionals have access to the information they need to care for their patients properly and do their work more effectively. To that end, we need to require that pharmaceutical companies report drug shortages. We cannot rely on their goodwill. I honestly wonder how many more drug shortages Canadians will have to endure before this government finally listens to reason.

Women Entrepreneurs

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, women entrepreneurs make up one of the fastest-growing segments of the Canadian economy but are still a huge untapped engine of economic growth. That is why our government spearheaded an initiative in budget 2014 to encourage leadership and entrepreneurship in young women.

Last week we heard what works with fantastic clarity from two great women leaders: Christine Day, CEO of Luvo, formerly of lululemon; and Heather Kennedy, vice-president of Suncor. It is thanks to champions who got them off the sidelines and encouraged them to run with the ball and take on big challenges like starting their own business.

Our Minister of Status of Women is a huge champion of women. Her champion was Jim Flaherty. My champions were my mom; one of my first editors, Bill Peterson; and Ken King, now of the Calgary Flames.

I challenge everyone listening to champion a young woman so that she can go and be the best that she can be and reach her dreams. It will also be one of the best things we can do for our country.

International Nurses Day

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to celebrate International Nurses Day. I have the honour of practising this profession along with more than 300,000 other Canadians.

Some of my parliamentary colleagues would do well to take inspiration from these exceptional and dedicated women and men who dedicate their lives to serving society.

If each member here looked after the well-being of his or her community in the same way that nurses look after their patients, we would, by far, already be the best country in the world in every way.

Furthermore, a nurse's ability to set aside their personal convictions, listen to others and understand that it is up to the person in front of them to choose and act is something that some parliamentarians should be taught.

Nurses are more than professionals. They are guardian angels who support their patients during the most difficult times of their lives. At one time or another in their lives, every Canadian has needed a nurse, and I think they all experienced the professionalism and generosity of these unique people with huge hearts.

I want to wish a happy International Nurses Day to all the women and men who keep our health care system running.

Anaphylaxis

[Brad Butt, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, May is National Food Allergy Awareness Month and is an important reminder that millions of Canadians have food allergies and anaphylaxis and that much more can be done to raise awareness and to support those with this condition.

Last May, the House of Commons unanimously passed Motion No. 230, which states:

That, in the opinion of the House, anaphylaxis is a serious concern for an increasing number of Canadians and the government should take the appropriate measures necessary to ensure these Canadians are able to maintain a high quality of life.

I want to thank the Canadian Anaphylaxis Initiative and Mississauga resident Debbie Bruce for championing this issue. There is no reason someone should become critically ill or die as a result of anaphylaxis. We can do more to make places like airplanes more food allergy safe and to ensure that EpiPens are available.

These groups call on Health Canada and Transport Canada to work with them to improve the lives of those living with food allergies.

Afghanistan Veterans

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I was honoured to join branch president Ken Heagle, members of the Cornwall Legion branch 297, and members of the public to honour the brave men and women who served in Afghanistan during Canada's 13-year mission.

Sergeant Marc Léger, one of the first casualties of the war, was a proud resident of Stormont—Dundas and South Glengarry until his unfortunate death in 2002. His loss and his contribution to our country will be forever remembered.

It was also a very moving experience to witness Libby Pelkey, a mother of two Afghanistan veterans, lay a wreath at the Cornwall cenotaph to honour her son Cody's four tours of duty and her other son Kyle's two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

May 9, 2014, certainly was a day of honour in Stormont—Dundas and South Glengarry. We will remember them.

Violence Against Women

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, since last night the 24-hour sacred gathering of drums organized by the women's committee of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation has been raising awareness about the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Mother's Day was selected to begin the 24-hour tribute in recognition of the missing or murdered mothers and grandmothers, as well as those grieving for their lost family members. Today the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples added his voice to theirs and echoed the overwhelming calls for a public inquiry.

When the Native Women's Association of Canada identified nearly 600 cases in 2009, this horrible situation was already a crisis.

Recent statistics compiled by the RCMP have doubled this estimate, identifying approximately 1,200 cases.

The Prime Minister needs to listen to the drumbeat and call a national public inquiry now.

Supreme Court of Canada

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the law societies and deans of law departments across the country have all condemned the Prime Minister's unprecedented attack on the Chief Justice, and this weekend retired Justice John Gomery added his voice to those condemning the Prime Minister. He said, “I think it's appalling that the judiciary should be used for political purposes in this way and I'm puzzled as to the motivation of the Prime Minister and his office....”

Justice Gomery is best known as the person who got to the root of Liberal corruption in the sponsorship scandal and now, no doubt, he will be attacked by the Conservatives, just as they attacked Sheila Fraser and so many others. In 2006, they included clips of Justice Gomery in their TV ads. This year, he is just another name on the Conservative government's ever-growing enemies list.

Canadians deserve better. They deserve a government that respects Canadians and respects Canadian heroes like Justice Gomery and Sheila Fraser, and next year that is what they will get with an NDP government.

Public Safety

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government is working to make sure that our correctional system actually corrects criminal behaviour. Recent regulations brought forward by our Conservative government will give our front-line correctional officers better tools to stop prisoners from being able to bring drugs into prisons. It is shocking, but not surprising, that the opposition has rejected these common sense measures and has come down fully on the side of convicted criminals. The NDP public safety critic actually said that rather than cracking down on drug-dealing prisoners, we should give them new addiction treatment, and the Liberal public safety critic worried that these new tools are blatantly restrictive and will create too much tension.

I want to assure all Canadians that our Conservative government will take no lessons from those who always put the rights of criminals ahead of the rights of victims.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Speaking about victims, Mr. Speaker, the UN Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, did not mince words today when he reported that conditions for indigenous peoples in Canada have reached “crisis proportions”.

This is a crisis that has festered under the stubborn, confrontational approach of the Conservative government. Will Conservatives finally take a first step toward building a true nation-to-nation relationship with first nations and launch a public inquiry into the 1,200 murdered and missing indigenous women in Canada?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that we are taking action into this very serious issue, and have been since forming office.

In fact, we have taken a number of very important initiatives, not the least of which is renewing the funding for the aboriginal justice strategy. We have ensured that this program, which is specifically designed to reduce victimization and crime overall in aboriginal regional communities, is coupled with numerous efforts, including introducing a number of criminal justice initiatives and giving police more tools to do their important work. Yes, action is very important.

Democratic Reform

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has rejected requests by the Commissioner of Canada Elections to give him the power to compel witnesses to testify in investigations of electoral fraud, a power that exists, for example, at the Competition Tribunal.

We now learn that Conservative Party lawyer Arthur Hamilton was caught giving false information to Elections Canada investigators in the robocall scandal. Is this why Conservatives will not give election fraud investigators the power to compel testimony—because it will be used to prosecute Conservatives who are lying?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of Canada Elections conducted an extremely extensive and lengthy investigation into the allegations that the member across the way found, and we came to the conclusion that there was nothing to get to the bottom of.

As for the powers of that commissioner, he has the same powers of investigation as any police force would have.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, here is the truth.

After hearing all of the evidence, the Federal Court delivered a clear ruling that the Conservative Party's database had been used to make thousands of fraudulent robocalls. Only the Conservatives' systematic obstruction has prevented the guilty party from being identified.

Does the Prime Minister think it is okay for his lawyer to provide false information to Elections Canada investigators?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of Canada Elections conducted an exhaustive investigation into this matter. He found that nothing happened. The investigation proves that the allegations by the New Democrats and other partisan individuals were false. It is time for the NDP leader to stand up in the House and apologize for those false allegations.

Taxation

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, under the Conservatives' watch, there was a net loss of 30,000 jobs in Canada, making this one of their worst months when it comes to the economy. Today there are almost 300,000 more Canadians unemployed than before the 2008 recession.

Under the circumstances, will the minister reconsider and maintain the $1,000 tax credit to help small businesses create jobs?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government is focused on what matters to Canadians, namely jobs and economic growth. The employment rate might be unstable from one month to the next and we sympathize with the Canadians who lost their jobs in April.

Nevertheless, overall, Canada has one of the best records in the G7 for creating jobs, namely 1 million net jobs since the height of the recession. Some 90% of those jobs are full time and over 80% are in the private sector.

Employment

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, in Toronto, our largest city, unemployment is higher than the national average, and the Conservatives are doing nothing.

In 2002, Liberals expanded the temporary foreign worker program to include low-skilled jobs such as fast food. Since then, the number of temporary foreign workers has grown at a staggering rate of 13% a year under both Liberals and Conservatives.

There are nearly 200,000 more temporary foreign workers a year under that minister. With 30,000 Canadians losing their jobs just last month, will the minister finally agree to a full audit of abuse in the temporary foreign worker program?

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

Mr. Speaker, we did give Service Canada officers the power to do independent audits of employers, both those who are at a higher risk of potential abuse and on a random basis as well. Additional powers to crack down on abusive employers were implemented last December, including the new blacklist. We now have administrative and monetary penalties that are proposed in the budget implementation act.

I am now referring any cases of misrepresentation under the Immigration Act, by employers applying for LMOs, to the CBSA for potential criminal enforcement.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that the federal government's job bank site, a key component of the temporary foreign worker program, is not operating properly. Job ads are still posted months after the positions have been filled. Unemployed Canadians are unable to get a response from employers. That is the fault of the government, not the employers.

Will the Conservatives fix this disaster that they themselves created?

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is wrong. The role of the job bank is to better connect the unemployed with available jobs in Canada. Thousands of employers use the job bank. The maximum period for posting a job is 30 days. Some provinces also link their own job banks to this site. The maximum period for posting a job is six months. We will soon make changes in order to better connect unemployed workers with employers.

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

Mr. Speaker, it does not matter how many Canadians go on the site if the site does not work.

It was a few years ago that the Conservative government said employers had to advertise only on this site, so it is absolutely critical to its program. We know the site is so poorly maintained, so outdated, that job-seekers across the country are facing huge frustration.

What is the government doing to enforce the rules? What is it doing to make sure that employers actually follow up with Canadian job seekers?

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

Mr. Speaker, like most of what that member says on this issue, he is wrong again. The government has never required employers to only advertise on that site. That would be ridiculous.

The truth is that the site is a useful platform to connect unemployed Canadians with available jobs. The job alert service is now sending, collectively, hundreds of thousands of email alerts to unemployed Canadians, making them aware of available job postings. The typical maximum period for postings is 30 days. The absolute maximum is 60 days. Many of the provinces are participating in the Canada job bank site as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, dissension in the Conservative caucus continues to reign, and this time it is no less than the President of the Treasury Board, who two years ago wrote—

[Some hon. members]

Oh! Oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Markham—Unionville has the floor.