Debates of June 16th, 2014

Natural Resources

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

Mr. Speaker, they claim they believe in science, but it was the Conservatives who gutted the Fisheries Act. It was the Conservatives who wiped the Environmental Assessment Act. It is Conservatives who muzzled their own scientists from telling Canadians the truth.

Enbridge northern gateway represents that rare Holy Trinity of bad ideas. Environmentally, it is a disaster waiting to happen. Economically, it is a sellout of good Canadians jobs. Politically, it is a nightmare for a tired, out-of-date, arrogant government that just cannot listen to the people who put it here.

Finally, will B.C. Conservatives stand up for British Columbians and reject this bad proposal?

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, a process is currently under way. The joint panel has provided the government its recommendation and we are carefully considering it prior to making any decision on this project. Once again, projects will only be approved if they are safe for Canadians and safe for the environment.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I think the minister is getting a bit uncomfortable with his weak excuses.

Doug Eyford, the government's own special envoy, reported that the northern gateway pipeline approval process lacked proper governmental oversight, lacked consultation with first nations. In fact, Eyford asserts that the Prime Minister mismanaged the whole process, being wilfully blind to the project's risks.

One major oil tanker spill and the Pacific north coast would never be the same again, and the people of B.C. understand this. They understand that the risks are real and that they are not worth the benefits.

Why will the minister and Prime Minister not listen to British Columbians?

[Greg Rickford, Conservative, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, we have received the report by Mr. Eyford. We appreciate its recommendations and we have already acted on two of them. They have been very well received by first nations leadership.

Obviously, there are elements here of world-class and world-leading liability regimes, safety preparedness and spill response, and a very remote chance that would even occur. With more than 73,000 kilometres of pipeline in Canada and a 99.999% safety record, we are confident that record and Mr. Eyford's suggestions will help build the kind of framework for us to move forward with respect to transportation of our energy products.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, the temporary foreign worker program seems to be run by three unwise ministers. They will not hear complaints about Canadians losing their jobs. They will not speak to the provinces about enforcement. Now we know they have not seen any useful labour market data.

The government decided to slash spending on labour market spending to the point where labour market opinions have become labour market guesses. How can the Conservatives defend this decision?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, to begin with, we will not take any lessons from the Liberals when it comes the temporary foreign worker program, which it used to bring in strippers. We will not take any lessons from the Liberals when it comes to the labour market or skills training, because they did nothing on that.

What we will do is follow the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Employment and Social Development, who are making necessary reforms to the temporary foreign worker program, who have introduced the Canada job grant, getting Canadians back to work with the jobs that are available.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today I join thousands of medical professionals and other concerned Canadians who have come together in 16 cities in a national day of action to demand that government reverse its short-sighted and mean-spirited cuts to refugee health care.

The minister is misleading Canadians. He is not only rejecting failed claimants, he is shamefully refusing health care to refugees as they arrive in Canada. The minister has said that refugees are a federal responsibility.

The doctors are asking when he will accept his responsibility, exhibit Canadian values and reverse these cuts.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the member is wrong. The member and these few activists are actually misleading Canadians. They are not helping refugees. They are trying to help failed and bogus claimants and they are trying to undo taxpayer benefits from a very successful reform, one that has reduced, by 87%, the number of claimants from safe countries and that has saved Canadian taxpayers $600 million in one year.

All of that threatens to be undone if either the Liberals or the NDP have their way on refugee policy.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, leaving refugees without health care is an appalling fact that the government has perpetrated on our country. We are talking about pregnant women and children, and because they have no access to preventative medicine, when they get severely ill, they go to the hospital. The hospitals in the provinces have to pick up a much more costly tab for this.

Will the minister then finally do the right thing and reinstate the health care coverage for refugee claimants in Canada?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the member has again misspoken.

He is not calling for help for refugees. Refugees are protected and helped by the interim federal health program, by Canada's generous programs that resettle one out of ten refugees who come from all over the world every year.

What the member is asking for is to make decisions himself on who deserves taxpayer money through the health care system. He is asking doctors to decide who a refugee is, to take that power away from the Immigration and Refugee Board.

It undermines the rule of law and it is unfair to taxpayers. We will not let it happen.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, since the minister brings up the government's record on refugees, let us talk about that then.

Three million people have been displaced in Syria, half of them women and children, and yet the minister stubbornly refuses to tell us how many have actually come to Canada. He cannot now use the excuse that he has to run to QP to excuse the question.

This is a simple question. Will the minister tell us, exactly, of the 200 Syrian refugees that the government has committed to sponsoring in Canada, how many of them are in Canada? Is 10, is it 20 or is it 100? How many?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the member would do well to get his facts straight.

We have committed to helping 1,300; 1,150 have received Canada's protection and are inside Canada. Moreover, on a day when terrorists are unfortunately threatening the stability of Iraq, it is important to remind the House that Canada's commitment from 2009 to resettle 20,000 Iraqis, many of whom took refuge in Syria in recent years, has almost been met.

That is action. That is action for refugees. That is this government's record, and we are proud of it.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the minister is choosing to create confusion rather than to provide a clear answer to a simple question.

Perhaps he is not aware of his own figures or perhaps he is not very proud of them and so he would prefer not to share them. Either way, it is not very reassuring.

The civil war in Syria continues to wreak havoc. Canadians want Canada to meet its international commitments.

We do not want to know how many refugees have received Canada's protection. What we want to know is exactly how many of the 200 refugees that the government promised to sponsor last year are actually in Canada. How many of those 200 refugees are in Canada?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we promised to help those refugees before the end of this year and we are already in the process of exceeding that number.

A total of 1,150 Syrians have already received Canada's protection and are currently in Canada. It is the NDP that is causing confusion by insisting that the refugees are failed refugee claimants. That is not fair to Canadian taxpayers.

Why does the NDP not want temporary foreign workers, tourists and students to receive health care in Canada when failed refugee claimants have access to it? That is unfair.

We do not agree with that policy or with the confusion the NDP is creating.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we still do not have any figures on the number of government-sponsored refugees.

In addition to the confusion over the issue of Syrian refugees and a reform that denies pregnant women and children the health care that they desperately need, the minister wants to pass his citizenship bill, which attacks the fundamental rights of Canadians. A growing number of experts say that the bill could end up in court because it does not comply with the Constitution.

Why does the minister want to rush through a bill that will inevitably end up in court instead of truly addressing the problems with our immigration and citizenship system?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our bill on Canadian citizenship, which will pass at third reading after question period today.

We are proud to strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship and to talk about terrorism, treason and espionage, which should not be accepted as foundations of our citizenship. Indeed, we will revoke Canadian citizenship from dual citizens who commit serious crimes.

We would like the NDP to think about that on a day when terrorists are causing panic in Iraq.

Foreign Affairs

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the ongoing situation in Iraq is deeply troubling. Recent reports indicate that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have taken the city of Tal Afar. This news follows the capture of Tikrit and Mosul last week by this brutal terrorist organization. This organization's activities are not simply limited to Iraq but extend into Syria as well, where it is responsible for untold numbers of deaths as well as destruction.

Could the Minister of Foreign Affairs please comment on this developing situation Iraq?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, Canada and our government are very concerned by the rise in terrorism in Iraq, and we extend our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who have been killed.

Since 2012, the ISIL has been a listed terrorist entity in Canada. We are committed to working with the Iraqi leadership. I should point out that Canada has not been asked to participate in any military effort. Nor is it something we are considering.

Social Development

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Social Security Tribunal, which hears Canadians' appeals concerning employment insurance and old age security, is overwhelmed because of a lack of umpires.

For example, the income security section has only 35 umpires to hear 3,700 cases. At this rate it will take nine and a half years to hear these cases, provided that there are no new cases, which is light years from reality.

Does the minister believe that it is normal for it to take this long for Canadians to obtain justice?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, the Social Security Tribunal started its operations on April 1, 2013, just over a year ago. It received higher than anticipated caseloads from the legacy tribunal.

Having said that, this tribunal is ready now to look at all these cases, and we expect it to get caught up. It is an arm's-length tribunal, but we do expect it to catch up with these cases.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are trying to justify their mismanagement by telling us that the problem is the backlog created by the former tribunals. They should stop insulting people. The Conservatives have been in power for eight years.

If the system still poses problems, it is because of the Conservatives' incompetence. The Conservatives mismanaged the transition to the Social Security Tribunal, and they are not hiring enough umpires. Thousands of unemployed workers, disabled people and seniors must wait months without income before their cases are heard.

Why is the government once again trying to save money at the expense of the poorest Canadians?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, currently there are two vacancies, and we expect those to be filled very soon. The Social Security Tribunal is an independent administrative tribunal that operates at arm's length from the department. It is committed to providing fair, credible, and impartial appeal processes in a timely manner, and that is what we expect it to do.

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

Mr. Speaker, a new system and no transition plan leaves thousands of Canadians waiting years for a hearing. That is nothing to be proud of.

Last year, the income security section of the Social Security Tribunal held only 178 hearings. It will take nine and a half years just to hear all of the current cases. These are senior citizens, people with disabilities, our most vulnerable, heartlessly being left behind by the government.

Where is the minister's plan for fixing the mess that Conservatives have made of the Social Security Tribunal?

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Minister of State (Social Development)]

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that the NDP has never been in government and does not understand how some of these processes work.

Here are the facts. On April 1, 2013, the Social Security Tribunal was established. A year later, the members were ready. They are moving forward. We expect them to catch up with the backlog. We care about the people who are waiting for their hearings to be heard. We are not going to take lessons from the NDP, who do not understand that these processes are how they move forward.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that minister should hang her head in shame. A woman in London suffering from a terminal medical condition requested an urgent hearing, in December 2012. A year and a half went by with no reply. She finally did hear back, but the tribunal will not see her before next fall.

Thousands of Canadians are being put in similar precarious situations. Why are the Conservatives refusing to fix the mess that they created with the Social Security Tribunal?