Debates of May 5th, 2014

69th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to mark the 69th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. Approaching the conclusion of the Second World War, the Netherlands were one of the remaining countries German forces continued to retain as a stronghold.

Due to the valiant efforts of many serving Canadians, German forces ultimately surrendered. This triumph led to the liberation of a country and ended tyranny across Europe, but it is a solemn one, with more than 7,600 Canadians giving their lives.

Lest we forget the courageous Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom and the liberation of the Dutch.

Justice

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, can the Attorney General tell us whether he considers it part of his job to ensure that there are never any attempts to intimidate the courts?

Does the Attorney General consider that it is part of his job to ensure that there are never any attempts to intimidate the courts in our country?

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

Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of that question. What I can tell the hon. member opposite is that after being consulted on the vacancy of the Supreme Court of Canada by a special parliamentary committee, my office was contacted by the office of the chief justice. After I spoke with her on that call, I was of the considered opinion that the Prime Minister did not need to take her call.

One thing I can assure the hon. member is that neither the Prime Minister nor I would ever consider calling a judge where that matter is or could be before the court of competent jurisdiction.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting answer. It is entirely unrelated to the question, however, which was whether or not the Attorney General thought it was part of his role to defend the courts, to protect them from efforts of intimidation.

In a press release that was wildly inaccurate about the sequence of events, the Prime Minister attacked Canada's highest court by implying that the chief justice was not upholding the Constitution.

The Attorney General's job is to protect the integrity of our court system. Is he saying that he condones the Prime Minister's unprecedented attack on the Supreme Court and the chief justice?

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

Mr. Speaker, of course the role of the minister of justice and attorney general of Canada is to uphold the integrity of the entire justice system.

What I can tell the member again is that in addition to the precedent with respect to appointments to the Supreme Court of Canada of Mr. Justice Rothstein, our department went out and sought an outside legal opinion from two former Supreme Court justices, the foremost constitutional expert in the country, and the legal advice was very much the position that the government took with respect to Supreme Court appointments from Quebec. We followed the appropriate course of action based on that advice.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Justice Rothstein is a judge from Ontario, not from Quebec. I believe our Minister of Justice was trying to talk about Justice Nadon.

The attorney general's job is to defend the integrity of the court system in our country, not to help the Prime Minister attack the chief justice.

Is our attorney general telling us that he will be the henchman of the Prime Minister in this unwarranted, unprecedented attack on the Supreme Court and its chief justice?

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

Mr. Speaker, no, in fact I was talking about Mr. Justice Rothstein, whom the hon. member I think knows came from the federal court, albeit not from Quebec.

With respect to upholding the laws, with upholding the integrity of our justice system, of course the attorney general and justice minister will do just that.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, is the Government of Canada, our Minister of Justice, actually telling Parliament and Canadians that he actually does not understand that there are specific provisions in the Supreme Court Act concerning Quebec?

Does he not understand that Quebec's legal system is based on French civil law, hence the specific provisions about where justices who are appointed to represent Quebec at the Supreme Court must come from? Is he really admitting that he does not understand that?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition seems to be a bit agitated for a Monday morning. The reality is that the Government of Canada, my office, took the position that we were proceeding, not only within a constitutional manner, but on the considered learned advice of two former Supreme Court justices and the foremost legal expert in the country when it comes to our constitution.

We were also acting on the advice of a parliamentary committee that had provided a list from which we were acting.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court of Canada read the Supreme Court Act, something that apparently our Minister of Justice has never done. The Province of Quebec has a specific legal system. It is the only civil law jurisdiction in Canada. That is why the rules are different.

Is the Minister of Justice really telling us that he does not understand the difference between appointing someone from the Federal Court, which is prohibited in the case of Quebec, and appointing Rothstein, in the case of Ontario? Is he that out of touch with the laws that he is supposed to interpret and enforce in Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, I went to law school too. I know the hon. member did, but I do not believe he is actually telling us that he thinks the Supreme Court Act, prior to the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in the most recent reference, which was proactively referenced by this government, prohibited the appointment of a Supreme Court judge who had come through the Federal Court. That is not in the Supreme Court Act, so I invite the hon. member to go back and read that legislation himself.

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

Mr. Speaker, at the very beginning of this sordid affair, anonymous high-level Conservatives told a reporter that the chief justice was lobbying against Justice Nadon. They misrepresented the chief justice's remarks.

How could they have claimed that they knew what the chief justice had said when the selection process for justices is supposed to be secret and only five Conservatives—the Minister of Justice, the Prime Minister, and the three MPs in the selection committee—were privy to that information?

Which of these five people broke confidentiality?

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

Mr. Speaker, somewhere in that convoluted question was the suggestion that somehow I would know what high-ranking anonymous Conservatives might have told a reporter of the National Post. I am afraid I simply cannot help the member with that convoluted question.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, senior Conservatives insisted on confidentiality when they complained to the media in the course of an unprecedented smear on the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Prime Minister then publicly breached the confidentiality of the selection process for Supreme Court judges.

Does the minister agree that the privacy of disgruntled caucus members merits greater protection than the Supreme Court selection process? Could he justify that?

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

Mr. Speaker, what I can tell the hon. member once again is that I cannot comment on the suggestion that somehow disgruntled, unnamed Conservative supposed sources who spoke to the press would somehow bear any credence on the decision by the Supreme Court justice's office to release a press release on the subject.

What I have told him, and what I told the leader of the official opposition, is that we followed, in fact, the most open and inclusive process for consultation ever undertaken by a government with respect to a Supreme Court appointment.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, let us focus in on the confidentiality breached by the Prime Minister. He has undermined the confidence in the process for the appointment of judges. There is one vacancy now and there is another approaching soon. How can anyone, including the minister, have any faith in the process after what the Prime Minister has done? Will the minister take any steps to restore integrity to the process or is he perfectly happy with the present state of affairs?

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

Mr. Speaker, again, let us just set the record straight. This government undertook the most inclusive process ever for the Supreme Court appointment process. Going back again to the premise of this question, it was not until members of the opposition in this place then began to somehow suggest that it was against the appointment of Mr. Justice Nadon, it was the official critic from the opposition for justice who suggested he was a very competent and able legal jurist.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, we are now hearing more troubling stories from temporary foreign workers who have been mistreated, had wages withheld, were threatened with deportation and even violence. Government agencies have known about these complaints for months and did nothing.

After years of Liberal failure to protect workers, under the current government things have gotten even worse. Conservatives even use make-believe Kijiji economics to justify their changes.

Why is the minister refusing to allow for an independent review?

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

Mr. Speaker, in the matter to which the member refers, I understand there is an ongoing RCMP investigation. We have also referred the matter to the Canada Border Services Agency. The employer in question has been blacklisted and is unable to access labour market opinions.

It does point to the need for better information sharing between law enforcement agencies so that when one investigation is open in the police force, for example, that administrative agencies are informed. However, we take such allegations very seriously and criminal sanctions are a potential in this case.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have finally seen the light. They have decided not to use data from Kijiji to assess the state of the labour market. As a result, the job vacancy rate has suddenly dropped from 4% to 1.5%. Contrary to what the Conservatives claimed, there is no general labour shortage in Canada. The only shortage in Canada is the shortage of Conservative ministers who can protect the interests of Canadian workers.

When will they ask for an independent review of the temporary foreign worker program?

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

Mr. Speaker, who said there was no general labour shortage in Canada? I did. I have said it a hundred times: there is no general labour shortage in Canada. However, some sectors and some regions are experiencing skills gaps. That is a fact, and that is why the government took action to improve the training system. For example, the Canada job grant helps ensure that young people are better prepared for the jobs of the future.

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

Mr. Speaker, even the C. D. Howe Institute says that the program is creating unemployment. At 13.6%, the unemployment rate among people under 25 is twice as high as in the rest of the population. By expanding the temporary foreign worker program to unskilled workers, the Conservative government is contributing to unemployment among youth with little or no work experience.

Why is the minister refusing to let the Auditor General investigate and assess the impact of this program on unemployment among young Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not refusing that. I am refusing to allow the government to interfere in the work of the Auditor General.

That being said, the NDP says that this program is displacing Canadians. They want all temporary foreign workers to become permanent. If the program is displacing Canadians temporarily, why would the NDP want to displace them permanently? That makes no sense.

National Defence

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

Mr. Speaker, Master Corporal Kristian Wolowidnyk suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder He attempted suicide after the Canadian Forces tried to dismiss him. As a result of public pressure, National Defence had agreed to offer him extended leave in order to facilitate his transition. Oddly, after the media frenzy died down, the Conservatives reneged on their promise. He is deemed capable of working or returning to school, which is ridiculous.

Will they finally keep the promise they made to this soldier?

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

Mr. Speaker, what I can assure the hon. member and the House is that we take the mental health of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and women and their very well-being as a very serious obligation, solemn obligation.

With respect to this particular case, Master Corporal Wolowidnyk's is a situation where there is an effort being made to help him to transition. In fact, we are assured by the military that every effort is being made to respect his wishes, to respect those of his family, to ensure that this transition is as smooth as possible for him.