Debates of June 2nd, 2014

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the climate change file that Conservatives have been mishandling.

The number of temporary foreign workers approved for P.E.I. has skyrocketed under the current government. It approved more than 1,300 foreign workers. Meanwhile, nearly 12,000 islanders are unemployed. Only Kijiji economics could consider 11% unemployment to be a labour shortage.

Why is the government importing cheap, precarious workers instead of helping Canadians find jobs?

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

Mr. Speaker, the member raises a very legitimate question, which is precisely why our government brought in sensible changes to the employment insurance program last year. It makes no sense that people would be collecting employment insurance benefits right next to employers for which they are applying to work.

We want to encourage unemployed people to be connected to employers that are offering jobs and to encourage those employers to offer the jobs to the local population first. That is what those EI reforms are designed to do. That is what the NDP opposed, and it makes no sense at all.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about a shortage of skilled labour. The unemployment rate in Prince Edward Island is 11%, and the Conservatives are approving temporary foreign worker permits for McDonald's, Burger King, Domino's Pizza and Cora.

That is not how an economy should be managed. It is resulting in higher unemployment and the abuse of temporary foreign workers.

Will the minister finally commit to launching an independent investigation to get to the bottom of this?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is right to raise this issue. I find it odd that employers are having a hard time filling available jobs in a market where there is high employment and a lot of people are receiving employment insurance benefits.

That is why we carried out the EI reform last year—which I think was perfectly reasonable—in order to encourage the unemployed and employment insurance recipients to actively look for work.

We will be making additional changes to the temporary foreign worker program to more strongly encourage employers to hire local employees.

Veterans

[Pierre Jacob, NDP, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, Jenifer Migneault, from Brome—Missisquoi, tried to meet with the Minister of Veterans Affairs to talk to him about the loved ones who support soldiers dealing with PTSD.

Instead of facing up to his responsibilities, the minister ran away. He clearly has no class or empathy.

Will the minister finally agree to listen to Ms. Migneault?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, in some cases veterans who have a serious injury related to their service receive over $10,000 a month in financial benefits from the Government of Canada. This is in addition to world-class rehabilitation and retraining on top of exceptional medical care.

I have, and will continue, to work with veterans and their family members, and I hope that member stops playing politics with our veterans.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I asked the minister to put his talking points down and listen to the question. The question is very clear.

Jenifer Migneault is in a desperate situation trying to help her husband who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Afghanistan. This minister should meet with her in order for her to discuss her concerns so she can in turn help her husband.

The minister's actions the other day were nothing to brag about. Therefore, I give the minister a chance to redeem himself. Will the minister now announce to the House that he will meet with Jenifer at a time that is convenient for both of them so she can have a proper airing of her grievances against the DVA?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am not about to politicize an individual veteran's case on the floor of the House of Commons and neither should the member be doing so.

I care deeply about the well-being of Canadian veterans and their family members. I always have and I always will. That is why I asked the parliamentary review of the new veterans charter to look at this very issue. With veterans affairs spending $700 million more each year than in 2005, we are moving in the right direction.

Infrastructure

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, like all communities in Canada, Ft. McMurray needs infrastructure. What does the Prime Minister do? He cuts infrastructure dollars that are to be spent this year by 80%.

Why is the Prime Minister putting his own personal re-election agenda of 2015 ahead of the important infrastructure dollars that are necessary for our communities this year? Why is he doing that?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, the preamble to the question is totally false.

Our government is set to balance the budget by 2015, while making historic investments in infrastructure. This is completely opposite to the Liberals who want to hike taxes by $11 billion a year to fund infrastructure spending alone.

The people who manage their own money know their budget does not balance by itself.

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

Mr. Speaker, climate change is battering our already fragile infrastructure. In Toronto this past year, we suffered the devastating effects of the ice storm and the unprecedented flash flooding. The Conservative response was to slash infrastructure spending by close to 90%, starving municipalities of the urgently needed federal support.

When will the government provide municipalities with sufficient, sustainable and predictable funding to deal with the 21st century infrastructure needs?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, the FCM has been involved all along in the process to build the new building Canada. It assisted in 12 round tables with us. It has been supportive of all the plans.

Now the Liberals are trying to do politics with the ones they are seeing. We have delivered the longest and biggest plan ever for the country. Never, before our government, has infrastructure been supported so much. That is because of our Prime Minister.

The Environment

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government's inaction on climate change is translating into delays for approving key projects such as Keystone XL.

The Prime Minister says that he is waiting for the United States to act, but President Obama has acted. In the meantime, the Conservatives still seem to be stunned.

Why is the Prime Minister incapable of protecting our interests? Where is the action plan for climate change? On Obama's desk?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, I think many people forget that Canada represents less than 2% of the global emissions, while the United States produces almost 20%. The coal-fired energy generators in the United States produce twice the greenhouse gas emissions as all of the emissions produced in Canada.

We are pleased the United States is following Canada's footsteps, and we will continue to build on our record and work with the United States to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions internationally.

Employment

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the job market has not bounced back since the 2008 crisis.

In fact, we are still 300,000 jobs shy of pre-crisis employment levels, and the Conservatives still do not have a plan for stimulating the economy. What is more, they decided to get rid of the hiring credit for small business. Small businesses create good jobs. Everybody knows that.

Why do the Conservatives not want to understand that and act accordingly?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, that is a bit rich coming from the New Democratic Party. It voted against the hiring tax credit in the first place. It was always meant to be a temporary measure to help small businesses during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.

Unlike the New Democratic Party, we recognize the vital role small business plays in this economy and in the job creation they provide.

Small Business

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, temporary measures to try to help small businesses are all the government has to actually help the real economic drivers in this country. Shameful.

We have taken the time to listen to small businesses, and they are telling us that they are still getting gouged. They are still getting gouged by unfair credit card fees, fees that are some of the highest in the industrialized world, reducing new job growth and investment.

Even the Competition Tribunal agrees that only Ottawa has the power to fix the uncompetitive practices by credit card companies, but the minister has done nothing. Will the minister agree to better support small businesses by finally taking action to lower merchant fees before—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of State for Finance.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, again, Canadian consumers deserve access to credit on fair and transparent terms. We have taken measures to provide for and protect Canadians who use credit cards by banning unsolicited credit card checks, requiring clear and simple information, providing timely advance notice of rates and fee changes, limiting anti-consumer business practices, and ensuring that prepaid cards never expire.

We have done other things, like freezing EI premiums for three years that have helped, again, small businesses, and putting $660 million back into the pockets of job creators. The NDP voted against them.

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

Mr. Speaker, here is the Conservative ad campaign to Canadian consumers and small businesses: “The Conservative Party of Canada. We're not happy until you're not happy”. The Conservatives have to do better than this. They should at least promise not to do any more harm.

The Conservatives cut the hiring credit for small businesses. This one program alone helped half a million Canadian businesses hire new employees. Why not reintroduce this practical, common sense measure into the budget so that we can put Canadians back to work?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, again, this government, time after time, has taken the proper measures through budgets and other implementation measures to help provide job creators with the measures that they need to build this economy and create jobs.

We have frozen EI premiums for three years, putting $660 million back into the pockets of those small businesses and job creators, but the NDP votes against these measures. It wants to propose a $21-billion carbon tax on every small business in this country and on every Canadian.

Canadians are not buying it.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight. The Conservatives introduced one small, good measure into a budget that the NDP voted against and, rather than reintroduce the good measure, they bring in a bad budget without the good program that Canadians actually need. Canadians are struggling to make ends meet, but the Conservatives are only listening to their well-connected lobbyist friends.

Maybe as the Prime Minister heads off to Europe, he will address the real challenges in the Canadian economy. There are 1.3 million Canadians out of work. Youth unemployment is twice the national average. Household debt is at an all-time record high.

When are the Conservatives going to bring in the practical solutions that will help this economy and get Canadians back to work?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, again, our government is focused on what matters to Canadians, that is jobs and that is economic growth.

Even though the global economy remains fragile, our economic policies have helped protect Canada. Over one million net new jobs have been created since the deepest part of the recession, 85% of them are full-time jobs, and 80% are in the private sector.

This is the strongest job growth of the G7. The opposition proposals will destroy jobs. Both the IMF and the OECD forecast Canada to be one of the strongest growing G7 countries in the years ahead.

The Economy

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government is showing economic leadership. My constituents want a balanced budget, and we are firmly on track to have just that.

In an uncertain world, it is this Conservative government that is leading the charge on economic responsibility. Canada's fiscal position is earning praise the world over and is considered a model for others.

Could the Minister of State for Finance please explain why countries around the world are looking to Canada for financial guidance?