Debates of May 12th, 2014

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, two years ago, the President of the Treasury Board wrote to the then minister and complained that the job bank was not doing the job. The new minister says that he leaps into action whenever one of his colleagues complains. Why did he not leap into action two years ago, and if the answer is that he was not the minister then, will he leap twice as high today to fix this problem that—?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. Minister of Employment.

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

I do not know what the question was, Mr. Speaker. All I know is that the member is becoming a bit of an embarrassment to himself with his inaccurate questions.

We have rules around the temporary foreign worker program. If employers cannot demonstrate that they have made a position available to a Canadian at the prevailing regional wage rate, they cannot invite someone in from abroad. That is what happened to a restaurant in the member for Markham—Unionville's riding. However, guess what? The restauranteur constituent called up the member and said “This is not fair”. It wants to be able to bring someone in from abroad. The member is advocating that we lift the moratorium for his preferred restaurant, just like the leader of the Liberal Party did.

We will not—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Newton—North Delta.

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

Mr. Speaker, time and again the minister points to job vacancy numbers from the Canada job bank, data that is used to determine labour market opinions. However, that data is often old and postings are not removed when filled. In other words, decisions to permit temporary foreign workers are based on false information. Will the minister fix Canadian labour market data collection to ensure Canadians have first access to Canadian jobs?

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

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the job bank is a useful platform to connect unemployed Canadians with available jobs. The typical maximum posting period is 30 days. We only extend it beyond that if employers ask for an extension, for up to six months maximum, after which the postings expire.

We are making improvements to the Canada job bank. We actually have several provinces for which provincial job banks are automatically posted on the Canada job bank. In those provinces that are not co-operating, we work with private sector web platforms as well. We will be using new technological developments in the near future to ensure an even better matching of unemployed Canadians with available jobs.

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

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives took a broken program and made it even worse. The data used to determine whether a company can employ temporary foreign workers is unreliable. Some post ads in the job bank just to qualify for the program. The program needs to be fixed.

Will the minister agree to an independent review so we can stop using bad data, stop allowing abuses, and start giving Canadians confidence that this program will do what it was meant to do?

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

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, we have already made very substantial changes, which have reduced the demand for the use of this program. We are on the cusp of another series of reforms. There are independent audits, conducted by Service Canada, under the new statutory authorities that we have given that agency.

However, I have letters from New Democratic MPs asking for us to streamline, simplify, and speed up the LMO process, asking us to lower the prevailing regional wage rate, asking us to make it easier for employers they prefer in their constituencies to use the program. With all due respect to those MPs, we are not going to listen to them.

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

Mr. Speaker, while the labour market situation is deteriorating, the Conservatives are flying blind. They have to deal with employment challenges without any reliable statistics. They are sending temporary foreign workers to regions where unemployment is high. They do not even know which industries or occupations are in demand.

Do the Conservatives realize that, by making cuts to labour market research, gutting Statistics Canada, and doing away with the mandatory long form census, they no longer have any benchmarks to indicate when it is reasonable for them to intervene in the labour market?

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

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the member is mistaken. My department implemented approximately 60% of the recommendations set out in the report published by Mr. Drummond a few years ago on labour market information. We will continue to improve the availability of that information. We always want to ensure that Canadians are the first in line for jobs available in the Canadian economy. That is the goal of our program reforms.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General warned the government that Statistics Canada was unable to identify the labour needs within the provinces. Dominique Gross from Simon Fraser University also said that, with the existing data, it is impossible to know where labour shortages exist and which employers can legitimately hire temporary foreign workers. In short: bad data, bad decisions, bad government.

When will the Conservatives meaningfully tackle unemployment, starting with reliable labour market data?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times, national labour market information is not relevant to the specific decisions made on the labour market opinions submitted by employers. We have made the analysis of these labour market opinions more stringent. We will make the process even more stringent with the reforms we will soon be announcing, to ensure that Canadians have the first crack at jobs available in the Canadian economy.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, stopping themselves from understanding a problem in order to find real solutions to it is what the Conservatives do best, especially on the issue of the missing and murdered aboriginal women.

Nothing in their policies allows us to understand why these women are missing or have been murdered. In fact, the list of victims is getting longer. This is why the UN special rapporteur has recommended that a public inquiry be held.

Can the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness tell us the reasons for these disappearances and murders?

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

Mr. Speaker, I note that the report very much acknowledges that while many challenges do remain, undoubtedly, the government has taken positive steps to improve the overall well-being and prosperity of aboriginal people in Canada.

With particular reference to the steps that the government has taken to support police action on these important files, we have created the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains, created a national persons website, improved law enforcement databases, made enhancements to the victims fund, and adopted the development of aboriginal community-based awareness initiatives and safety plans. The time for talk is over.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, for 24 hours, a ceremony has been taking place on Parliament Hill, honouring the families of missing and murdered indigenous women. Today, UN rapporteur James Anaya issued a new report. He said the government should “...undertake a comprehensive, nationwide inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal woman and girls...”

Mr. Anaya joins a growing list of experts, at home, abroad, provinces and territories, indigenous organizations, and the victims' families. They all agree that an inquiry is necessary. Why is the government failing to call a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women?

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

Mr. Speaker, not everyone agrees. In fact, I have looked at some of the recent reporting on this. Advocate Audrey Huntley, who is the co-founder of No More Silence, an organization that raises awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women, has been advocating on the issue since the 1990s. She very much believes that what is needed, again, is more support for police to investigate these matters, more direct action and intervention, more programming, more efforts to actually be on the ground, ensuring that the law enforcement measures being taken are getting desired results. That is exactly what our government is doing.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, what the government should be doing is calling an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

The UN report released today casts light on the failure of the government. In fact, the report says that indigenous women and girls remain vulnerable to abuse. The world is watching, and it is long past overdue. When will the Conservatives stop denying families and communities the truth and justice that they deserve?

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

Mr. Speaker, over the last number of years, there have been some 40 different reports, inquiries, and measures taken to identify issues. The reality is that more work needs to be done directly to get to the problem.

Let us look at the actual report, which says:

...Canada has taken determined action to address ongoing aspects of the history of misdealing and harm inflicted on aboriginal peoples in the country, a necessary step towards helping to remedy their current disadvantage.

The report goes on to talk about how Canada has in place numerous laws, policies, and programs. That is what we are continuing to do. That is real action.

The Budget

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with these types of answers, we will not be surprised with the next stats.

In April, the Department of Justice cut $1.2 million, or 20%, from its research budget. Its internal report now shows that its research did not line up with the government's priorities. Then, eight researchers were fired.

It did the same as it has done with science; it cut the funding because it does not like the facts. What exactly were the facts that the government objected to so strongly?

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

Mr. Speaker, I know that the member, and seemingly her party, are very much opposed to any steps that bring about greater accountability and financial responsibility within the public service.

What we are doing and continuing to do at the Department of Justice, and throughout government, is to ensure that we bring value to hard-earned taxpayers' dollars for Canadians, to ensure we are getting the maximum efficiencies out of departments like mine and others.

Research is of course undertaken to obtain information to support priorities of government, measures of government that are actually getting results. That is what has happened in this case. That has happened across all government departments.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, he said greater accountability.

They have made cuts to Statistics Canada and Environment Canada. They have made cuts to the National Research Council and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. They have made cuts to CBC/Radio-Canada. Now, they are making cuts to the Department of Justice. The upshot of all these cuts is a reduction in the quality of information available, which has the effect of reducing the quality of the bills introduced by the government. The choices made by the Conservatives are ideological. There is a pattern of cuts to everything that involves facts and science.

Which research projects in the area of justice did not line up with the government’s vision and priorities?

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

Mr. Speaker, what seems to be ideological is this member's and her party's ideological disdain for anything that brings about savings for taxpayers and anything that brings about more accountability and efficiency in government departments, whether it is justice or across government.

We have made a determined decision to bring about greater accountability, greater value for dollars, greater respect for taxpayers' dollars. That is what we are doing in justice. That is what they are doing in defence. That is what they are doing in public safety. That is what Canadians want and demand and expect of government in the 21st century.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, there are 156,000 Canadians who have been out of work for a year or longer. That number has more than doubled since 2008, when the number was 65,000. To make matters worse, the Conservatives are now giving four-year work permits for temporary foreign workers. Four years is not temporary. Unemployment for those 156,000 Canadians is not temporary.

Why did the Conservatives ramp up the TFW program, when so many Canadians face long-term unemployment?

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

Mr. Speaker, yet again the Liberal Party is embarrassingly misinformed about this. In fact, the typical work permit in that program is issued for one or at most two years, but until we put in place the four-year maximum renewable period, temporary foreign workers could have their status to work in Canada renewed for as many years as possible. Under the Liberal management of the program, TFWs could be renewed for five, seven, or ten years.

We said if this is a temporary program, it must be temporary, so we put an absolute four-year maximum on the period of residency in Canada for these workers. It tightened the program over the Liberal rules.

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

Mr. Speaker, to fix long-term unemployment, we need more jobs, not more temporary foreign workers.

In 2013, Canada's job growth stalled. To quote The Economist magazine, Canada's “post-crisis glow is fading” . The workforce participation rate in Canada has hit a 13-year low, and our growth rate has fallen behind that of the U.S., the U.K., and Australia.

How far must our economy slide before the Conservatives realize, before the finance minister realizes, that his status quo is not working for Canadians?