Debates of May 2nd, 2014

Employment

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I just quoted the former minister saying she deliberately expanded the program. She reduced the waiting times. She made it open to every sector. She did everything in her power to grow this program, to the point where the numbers have doubled. It is taking jobs away from good Canadians and law-abiding businesses. Now, all of a sudden, the government acknowledges the crisis and changes it tune totally.

Will it have a new program in place by the summer?

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy is now upon us. Opposition members come over and ask the Minister of Employment and Social Development for more temporary foreign workers in their ridings, say the program is not tight enough and stops them from getting workers in their ridings, but then they say we should tighten the program up and lessen the amount of workers. Which way do they want it?

Privacy

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

Mr. Speaker, since the Privacy Commissioner blew the whistle on the government's widespread snooping on Canadians, the government's excuses keep changing. First it was all being done with warrants, then it was only done to stop extreme terrorist acts. Every 27 seconds someone from a government agency calls a telecom and demands private information on Canadians and gets it without a warrant.

Will the government quit the excuses and give the Privacy Commissioner the mandate to demand that the telecoms and government agencies disclose the number of warrantless disclosures every year?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that any private information protected under the Charter requires a warrant. The information being asked for helps our security services in terms of violent crimes and in terms of terrorism. It can range from a whole host of things. Moreover, our security services have civilian oversight, and they have constantly been shown to be following the law.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about civilian oversight, and civilian oversight says that it is widespread snooping, under the government, on the private rights of Canadians. Then the Conservatives say that it is all about violent crime, so we are supposed to believe that 1.2 million requests a year have to do with stopping those crazy, violent people running around the streets in all the Tory ridings. I just do not get it. The government should stop the stonewalling, step out of the Orwell novel, and give the Privacy Commissioner the mandate to investigate why it is wide open.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is questions like that that help Canadians understand why after 16 straight elections, the NDP has never actually made it to this side of the House.

I would suggest that Canadians can be proud of the fact that Canada is a safer place because we have security services that are doing the hard work to make sure that our communities are safe. That is what we are talking about here. We are talking about protecting Canadians from acts of terrorism.

If there is a violent crime taking place, a local police force is able to contact our partners and make sure that they have the information they need to stop it as it is taking place. Moreover, there is a bill before the Senate that will help the--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. Members are again making it very difficult for the Chair to listen to both the question and the answer.

The hon. member for Pontiac.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are trying to tell us that everything is fine, that Canadians' privacy is not being invaded and that it is no big deal if more than one million Canadians are not aware that their information is being sent to this government. Come on.

Not only do the Conservatives refuse to admit that this is unacceptable and that these practices must stop, but they also do not see any problem with the fact that Canadians are paying to be spied on.

How will the government put an end to this abuse?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that that is not true. Moreover, as I was mentioning toward the end of my last answer, there is a bill being brought forward to look at tightening this up a little further. It is Bill S-4. The minister has been in contact with the Privacy Commissioner. She has suggested that the bill does advance Canadians' privacy further.

I would suggest that the opposition really take a hard look at what it is they are suggesting. Our security services do excellent work in making sure that our communities stay safe. It is time for the opposition members to get on board with them and trust that they are doing a good job. I know that we trust them to do that, and the results have been staggering. Great work.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, he is referring to the famous Bill S-4, as though it will fix everything. I do not know if they have read their own bill, but I must say that it will not change a thing. As long as the government continues to use national security as an excuse to invade the privacy of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, this problem will continue.

When will the government propose measures to ensure that telecom companies disclose the information collected on Canadians? When?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it seems that the opposition is finally moving in the right direction. I know that yesterday, the Liberals said it was millions and millions of Canadians who were being spied on. Then it was 1.2 million to two million from the NDP. Now it is thousands. I am sure by next week, the truth will actually be talked about by the opposition. What we are doing here is that the telecoms are being asked, in instances of national security, in instances when violent crime is taking place, to assist our authorities. There is, of course, civilian oversight to make sure that this is all done properly.

Moreover, any personal information protected by the Charter requires a warrant. There is Bill S-4 in front of the Senate, which will help improve this even further.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the RCMP confirmed what aboriginal women have been telling us for many years. The number of aboriginal women and girls missing or murdered in the last 30 years is staggering, 1,026. It is a national shame.

It is time for the government to acknowledge that the status quo is just not working. Will the government finally call a national inquiry into missing and murdered women and girls?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, one missing person is one missing person too many.

I would like to inform the House, however, that the actual report has not been shared with the government. We invite the RCMP to release that report, as soon as possible, to the public. We also expect law enforcement to enforce the law and investigate every incident, every case, that has come to its attention.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP Commissioner said that it is important that we get a firm understanding of what's going on”. Almost 40 aboriginal women and girls every year, for the last 30 years, never came home to their families and friends. Families are left wanting answers and wanting justice.

Why are the Conservatives ignoring the police, victims, and their families? Why are they continuing to refuse to call a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, now is not the time for more studies. Now is the time to take action, action the Conservative government has been taking since taking office.

When we put forward measures to tackle crime, measures that create tougher sentencing for murder, for kidnapping, for sexual offences against women, on this side of the House, the Conservatives vote for those measures. The NDP consistently votes against every single thing we do to stand up for women in this country.

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

Mr. Speaker, the real question is: what are they afraid of?

A nation-to-nation relationship involves respect, partnership, listening and reconciliation. Clearly, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs has a different definition. He uses his Facebook page to launch partisan attacks on anyone who dares disagree with him.

The minister should learn from his mistakes instead of imposing Ottawa's solutions. Why is he refusing to listen to communities, families and teachers so that he can really address their education needs?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, the government has made first nations education reform a priority. We feel that first nations are in the best position to know what their children need. That is why Bill C-33 will ensure that first nations are responsible and accountable for administering their own education systems on reserves.

This debate has been going on for decades. Still today, the NDP is opposed to investing nearly $2 billion more in the system.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are proud to stand alongside the aboriginal communities, families and teachers across the country who are calling for more from this government than partisan attacks from the minister. People who understand the reality of first nations communities can describe the deplorable conditions in the schools.

Why is the minister so determined to impose a bill that will force students to wait until the next election to receive new funding when they deserve it now, today?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, we know full well that the NDP has never really been that concerned about the country's taxpayers.

They want to throw money at the problem, as they have always said: tax and spend. From the outset, we said that investments would not replace reform. We said that reform would be coupled with the funding that was committed in the last budget.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government promised to consult and promised to deal in good faith with first nations, but it has broken this promise.

The Conservatives launch mindless attacks on the NDP, because they have no defence for their mishandling of first nations education. They fail to respect the right of first nations students to a quality education.

Two years ago, the House unanimously passed a motion on Shannen's Dream. Why will the government not honour the principles of that motion? Why will it not give first nations students the same opportunities as every other Canadian student?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, it is rich to hear this from the member, when every single motion or project advanced to improve the situation of first nations members across the country is opposed by the NDP.

For the first time ever, a bill before the House has proposed that children on reserve have a statutory right to education, and they oppose it.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, this is very serious.

Senior Conservatives have let slip information about what the Chief Justice might have said during the selection process that led to the nomination of Justice Nadon. That process is confidential. The only people who could have been aware of the Chief Justice's opinions are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice.

Will the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice take responsibility for this major leak that is undermining their credibility?

[Robert Goguen, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, during the selection process, the Chief Justice tried—emphasis on “tried”—to talk to the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Justice advised the Prime Minister not to take the call given the subject she wished to raise. The Prime Minister did not take the call, and no discussion ensued. Neither the Minister of Justice nor the Prime Minister would ever take a call on a matter that is or could ever be before the court.