Debates of May 8th, 2014

Employment

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

I can see that hit a nerve, Mr. Speaker.

There is a lot of hypocrisy on display today, just like when the minister chastised the Liberals for allowing in exotic dancers, yet the Conservatives did the same thing for over six years. The Conservatives allowed adult entertainment businesses like strip clubs from coast to coast to coast to bring in temporary foreign workers.

When will the minister stop these mindless attacks on the opposition and agree to an independent audit? When will he fix this broken program once and for all?

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

Mr. Speaker, is that the best those members can do?

Speaking of hypocrisy, I have right here in my hands letters from New Democrat MPs complaining that the temporary foreign worker program—

[An hon. member]

Table them.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

I would be happy to table these letters, Mr. Speaker.

For example, the member for Western Arctic complains that “the wage levels that are being set for the low skills retail counter employees are high and making an important program unworkable”. He complains that we are not properly balancing the interests of employers in the program, just as the member for Halifax asked us to speed up the program, streamline the labour market opinions, and reduce “lengthy and cumbersome LMO applications”.

Hypocrisy—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for La Pointe-de-I'Île.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister gets a kick out of reminding us that the Liberals issued work permits for exotic dancers.

Interestingly, for six years, the Conservatives continued to issue such work permits. Here is a short list: Saint Pete's Men's Club in Edmonton, The Gent's Club in Red Deer, Showgirls Exotic Nightclub in Edmonton and Cabaret Lady Mary-Ann in Quebec City. Just to be clear, these are the kind of establishment where the food is not the biggest draw.

How can the minister be all holier than thou and criticize the Liberals, when for six years, his government determined that Canada lacked skilled dancers?

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

Mr. Speaker, that is strange. When we came to power, we placed a moratorium—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Surely members of the opposition heard me just a few moments ago when I asked the government to hold off on its applause. I will ask them the same thing now.

The minister has not finished answering the question. I am sure they will be applauding when he is finished answering, but they could wait until then. I will give the floor back to the hon. minister.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as soon as we came to power, we placed a moratorium on that program. However, we had to change the law. When we were a minority government, we proposed amendments three times to get rid of the program. The NDP and the Liberals opposed the amendment to get rid of the program. It was a majority Conservative government that passed the bill.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the entire fiasco created by the Conservatives with respect to the temporary foreign worker program exposes what Canadians have long since suspected: that when it comes to this program, there is little difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals.

Conservatives love to bash the so-called Liberal stripper program, but they allowed it to go on for six years while in office. They talk about clamping down on employers who abuse the system but have with only a few employers out of hundreds of cases going on across the country. A bit of tough action to match some of this tough talk would be welcome in this place.

This hurts the Canadian economy. It hurts Canadian workers. When is the minister going to start matching some of the action with the talk?

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

Mr. Speaker, we will address problems in this program in the very near future. We have tightened up the program.

To completely shut down the program the member talked about required a change to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. We proposed that change on three separate occasions in the minority Parliaments of 2006 and 2008. It did not pass because the opposition would not let it pass. It required a strong, stable, Conservative, national majority government to finally pass that amendment to shut down the Liberals' stripper program.

International Trade

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on another matter, the NDP has always said that it would welcome the trade agreement with the European Union, but that it would have to see the details before deciding whether to support it.

We still have nothing concrete. We have been waiting for seven months, and with the upcoming European elections, there is still a lot of uncertainty here in terms of the agreement. Investments in the Quebec cheese industry are on hold because people are waiting to understand the impact of the agreement on the industry.

Could the minister give us an update on this agreement and tell us when we might hope to see the final wording of the agreement?

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for that question. Our government has negotiated a historic agreement with the European Union, a market of 500 million consumers, as announced last fall, with the final agreement to come before this place in the coming months.

Today is European Union Day, and I will be meeting our ambassadors tonight, talking about the jobs that will be created by this truly historic agreement. I hope the NDP can change its ways and finally get behind trade and the jobs that come from it.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that answer just does not fit the facts. It has been over seven months since the trade minister boasted, “All of the substantive issues have now been resolved”. That is clearly not true. Beef and pork, the investment chapter, rules of origin requirements, and more were not settled then and they are not resolved now.

Canadians want a good trade deal with Europe, so where is the promised deal? When will Canadians see the actual text of CETA?

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows as a colleague of mine on the trade committee, this agreement is historic, and all of the fundamental principles, including reduction of tariff lines, including phase-in years, including a region-by-region breakdown on how beneficial this agreement will be, were all released. In fact, the European ambassador to Canada praised Canadian documents outlining the details of the agreement and said that in Europe they use the Canadian details to showcase the agreement.

The final agreement will come before the House, which is a precedent our party established in getting agreement for these trade agreements.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we heard that line seven months ago.

Clearly the minister has failed to close this trade deal with Europe, so why did the Prime Minister fly off to Brussels last year at the height of the Senate scandal? Will the Prime Minister tell us how much his European photo op has cost Canadian taxpayers?

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, what we see today, sadly, is the true NDP. In some circles NDP members praise trade because they know one Canadian job in five is directly attributable to our exports, yet when they are in other places or at national meetings of unions, they bash trade and try and oppose all of our agreements, whether it is with Europe or whether it is with Korea.

Our government has launched the most ambitious diversification of our trade relationships in Canadian history. One job in five is now attributable to trade. We want to see those jobs secure and we want more in the future. It is time for the NDP to get behind it.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's Office suggested to Justice Nadon that he resign as a judge and join the Barreau du Québec to be eligible to be on the Supreme Court. Justice Nadon did not go along with this scheme, which Justice Binnie and other lawyers described as unworthy.

By suggesting that a judge do something unworthy of his office, by attacking the chief justice, and by violating the secrecy of the judge appointment process, will the Prime Minister admit that he is the one who is unworthy of his office as head of government?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have noted a number of times now, and I will inform the hon. member again, we followed a process that can only be described as the most inclusive ever undertaken by a government with respect to a Supreme Court appointment, but we took an unprecedented step of going further and getting outside advice, which conformed with the decision we had taken with respect to that appointment. We then proceeded to put that name forward, the nomination occurred, and the individual in question was actually sworn in by the Supreme Court. We also went to the unprecedented step of seeking clarification through legislation, and then sent it to the Supreme Court for a reference.

The world unfolded as it did. We accept that inevitability, and we are now moving forward.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, the Attorney General is suggesting that the chief justice brought this whole he-said-she-said affair upon herself, that she had acted inappropriately by making a phone call about a Supreme Court vacancy in July of 2013.

The government had months of notice. If the minister and the government really felt so strongly about that phone call, why did they not simply request that the chief justice recuse herself from the Nadon case and avoid the smear campaign that he and the Prime Minister are now on?

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

Mr. Speaker, far be it from me to tell the Supreme Court chief justice what to do. That is, in fact, the question here. I would not do that. That would, in fact, I am sure, spark much controversy, with members of the opposition standing here demanding my resignation.

The reality is we followed a process. That process came forward with a name. We took that name forward. The court ruled with their pronouncement on eligibility, and we accepted that. Now we are proceeding, with great anticipation, on a new name.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Now, there is a great idea, Mr. Speaker.

The government botched the appointment of Justice Nadon. To deflect its incompetence, it is engaged in a smear campaign against the chief justice. The Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Judicial Council, the deans of law schools from across the country, experts, and academics have all raised serious concerns about this deliberate smear campaign.

How can the Attorney General defend his behaviour as a full participant in the smear of Beverley McLachlin?

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

Mr. Speaker, I remember, back in law school, people saying that if someone is uncertain of his or her argument, he or she should speak louder, use hyperbole, use words like “attack” and “smear”, as this member has continually done over the last number of days here in the House.

The reality is that we followed an open, transparent, inclusive process. We came forward with a name that we deemed appropriate, and as a result, we have seen the decision now of the Supreme Court, which causes us to go back. As the member may know, I took the step this week of speaking with the Attorney General from Quebec, and we intend to come forward with a new name for the Supreme Court very soon.

National Defence

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, in 2005, Canadians strongly rejected the idea of participation in American missile defence. They were opposed to a system that would weaponize space and drive an arms race, but now a source has told Global News that the government is considering participation in a new missile defence program.

Can the minister tell the House if his government will participate in the U.S. ballistic missile defence program?