House of Commons Hansard #86 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, we need to look at the facts. In this situation, it is not a question of rail regulations. The truth is that the police determined that it was a case of criminal negligence. It is before the courts.
As for regulatory reform, the NDP leader is correct. The government is developing regulations and something will appear in the Canada Gazette shortly.
Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, Parliament gave this power to the government in 2012. Nothing has been done. Lac-Mégantic will be one year at the beginning of July. Nothing has been done.
Why has it taken the government so long to act when it asked for the power to impose substantial financial penalties on railroad companies that were breaking the law and endangering public safety? Why has the government done nothing?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
That is untrue, Mr. Speaker. The government has brought in significant improvements and investments in railway safety.
The fact is that this, as the police have determined, is not a matter of regulation; this is a matter of criminal negligence causing death. It is a very serious criminal matter that will now be before the courts, as well it should be.
In terms of specific developments, in terms of regulations and fines, a process is under way and additional steps will be taken in the Canada Gazette in the near future.
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, we are told new fixes to the broken temporary foreign worker program are coming, but we have heard that before: failed changes in April 2011 were supposed to ensure “the integrity of the program”; last August, false assurances more employers would “hire Canadians”; last December, “Canadians are always first in line”.
Could the Prime Minister please tell us what will be different this time?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in English, the leader of the Liberal Party asked us to restrict the number of foreign workers, and then, in French, he asked us to increase the number of foreign workers.
The reality is this: the government has been progressively tightening the program to ensure that it is not used as a business model and that Canadians always have first crack at jobs. We will continue to do that while obviously ensuring that temporary foreign workers are available in those cases where they are genuinely needed.
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's years of neglecting Quebec have led to poorer French comprehension skills.
Our plan starts with a reduction in temporary foreign worker intake and a boosting of pathways to citizenship. It demands real transparency and accountability, a requirement that job vacancies are made available to Canadians first, and tightens the labour market opinion process.
Will the government adopt our reasonable plan to fix its mess?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party has demanded a tightening of the program in some instances, and on other occasions, of course, it voted against a tightening of the program. It has also been regularly lobbying the government to increase the number of temporary foreign workers in various ridings.
The last time I checked, these contradictions had been delivered in both English and French.
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister is checking anything, I would like him to check the program that he has so mismanaged over the past years.
The temporary foreign worker program has been badly managed and is creating conflict across the country.
I have been asking this question in the House for days now, and I am asking it again today.
Will the Prime Minister finally agree to the reasonable ideas in our plan and put an end to the mismanagement of this program?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, once again, thanks to changes made by this government, we have reduced the number of applications for some streams of the temporary foreign worker program by 30%. However, the Liberal Party voted against our changes and asked for fewer temporary workers, then it asked the minister for more temporary workers for its ridings. Those contradictions were delivered in French and English.
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Mr. Speaker, we have just learned that veterans affairs department found $100,000 to waste on tweets.
This is a government that closes veterans offices and lays off over 1,500 people in the Department of Veterans Affairs. The $100,000 could bury 10 veterans and give them a dignified funeral. It could give 20 veterans a service dog. It could give 40 veterans the VIP service.
Where does the government get off spending $100,000 on tweets, when that money could go to really help veterans? Does the government honestly believe that tweeting away $100,000 is a wise expenditure of taxpayers' dollars?
Julian Fantino ConservativeMinister of Veterans Affairs
Honestly, Mr. Speaker, as more and more Canadians turn to social media, it is important they too learn about the great accomplishments of Canadian veterans overseas and here at home.
However, the veterans I know would expect that if the NDP broke the rules, they take responsibility and repay taxpayers immediately.
If these reports are accurate, the NDP has misused House of Commons resources for partisan purposes, and that is the truth.
Sylvain Chicoine NDP Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cut services for veterans, then managed to find $100,000 to promote their tweets on Twitter. That is just indecent.
The tweets, mostly ministerial self-promotion, tend to be kind of ridiculous, barely relevant and written in dubious French. For example, in a tweet in which he meant to say how honoured and touched he was to pay tribute to the fallen at a Canadian war cemetery, the minister wrote, “Je suis honoré & touché pour rendre mes hommages au Cimetière de guerre canadien”. He actually wrote that he was paying tribute to the cemetery itself.
When will the minister realize that veterans are more important than retweets, hashtags and whatnot?
Julian Fantino ConservativeMinister of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Speaker, our government spends a fraction of 1% on commemoration activities while allocating billions each year toward the services and benefits available for Canadian veterans. However, if the NDP broke the rules, it should take responsibility and repay taxpayers immediately.
Moreover, people who operate out of tax-paid, bogus partisan offices should not be casting self-serving partisan stones.
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Mr. Speaker, Conservatives seem to want to spend money on everything they can, except actual services for veterans. While the minister is tweeting away money, veterans are coming to Ottawa to plead with the government about the devastating impact that clawing back benefits is having on their lives.
Does the minister really think veterans appreciate poorly formulated tweets asking for selfies instead of the respect and actual investments that they deserve?
Julian Fantino ConservativeMinister of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Speaker, it is quite ironic, really, that the party that has consistently voted against every measure that we have undertaken to upload and improve the quality of life for our veterans and their families today can stand up and be critical. It is about bogus partisan offices using taxpayers' money, House of Commons funds, that they should be accountable for, not this nonsense.
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Employment and Social Development claimed that postings on the job bank expire after six months. That would be nice were it true. Many of the postings are a year old, or even older. The labour market information system should be a valuable resource, but it is broken. Pages and pages of old and useless postings are not helping Canadians get any closer to a job.
Why is the minister refusing to fix the problem so we can start helping Canadians get back to work?
Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism
We are helping Canadians get back to work, Mr. Speaker. Indeed, since the global downturn, 1.1 million net new jobs have been created, overwhelmingly full-time in the private sector, good-paying jobs. The job bank is an important part of connecting employers with the unemployed. I understand that we have a lot of different partners in that job bank. One of them is Workopolis and I gather 2% of the postings that it made actually were there for longer than six months. We are working with it to fix that technical glitch.
However, the important thing is that we will be further improving that site as a really dynamic platform to connect the unemployed with the many available jobs in the Canadian economy.
Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives use the job bank to assess labour market opinions, but their data are even less reliable than the numbers they got from Kijiji.
The minister thought there were labour shortages because some job postings were left up for a year or more. The problem is that those jobs had already been filled.
Why has the minister still not authorized an independent review to remedy the situation and make this system work for Canadians?
Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism
Mr. Speaker, over a million new jobs have been created in Canada since the global downturn. Most of those jobs are full-time in the private sector.
Unfortunately, too many Canadians are still unemployed, and that is why the job bank exists. One of our partners is Workopolis, and it seems that 2% of the postings it made on the job bank were there for longer than six months. We are working on fixing that technical glitch.
Sadia Groguhé NDP Saint-Lambert, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cannot fly by the seat of their pants on this issue. It has a huge impact on jobs and the Canadian economy. They have done everything they can to have the most unreliable labour market information possible, and that has serious consequences.
Canadians are being replaced by temporary foreign workers—who are paid less—in fields where that should not be happening, and it is happening with the government's approval.
Will the minister finally commit to conducting an independent review and getting this broken system back on track?
Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism
Mr. Speaker, first of all, the government is conducting a fundamental review of the program. It began over a year ago. Second, Service Canada employees conduct independent audits. Third, the NDP's position is completely inconsistent. Two weeks ago, the New Democratic Party of British Columbia asked that the moratorium on the restaurant industry be lifted. Here, the NDP is saying that it wants to extend the moratorium. The NDP's position is inconsistent.
Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives are posting bogus job ads, employment remains a serious concern. Job growth has remained stagnant over the past year and is about half that of the United States. Over 30,000 full-time jobs were lost last month. The total number of hours worked is dropping, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has said that 95% of the jobs created in 2013 were part-time.
What is the minister doing about this situation and why does he not restore the hiring credit for small businesses?
Andrew Saxton ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, monthly job numbers can be volatile and we sympathize with those who lost their jobs in April. We have said this before, Canada is not immune to the fragile state of the global economy. However, our jobs growth record has been strong. Since the depths of the recession, our economy has created over one million net new jobs, nearly 85% in the private sector and nearly 90% full-time jobs.
However, as long as there are Canadians still looking for work, there is more work to be done. That is why we encourage the opposition to get on board and support economic action plan 2014.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are entitled to their own opinion about the economy, but not their own facts. The facts are that the Bank of Canada has thrown cold water on their over-rosy pictures about how we are doing. The long-term unemployment rate is twice what it was before the recession; 95% of all jobs created last year went to part-time workers.
Millions spent on ads, and we just saw another one, will not help the Canadian economy. When are the Conservatives actually going to deal with the facts of our economy and start helping out Canadians who are looking for work?
Andrew Saxton ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. Our government is focused on what matters to Canadians: jobs and economic growth. Even though the global economy remains fragile, especially in the U.S. and in Europe, our economic policies have helped protect Canada.
Over one million net new jobs were created since July 2009, among the best job creation records in the G7. Both the IMF and the OECD forecast Canada to be among the fastest-growing G7 economies in the years ahead. With a fragile global economy, we must stay the course with our low-tax plan for jobs and growth.