Debates of Sept. 16th, 2014

Ethics

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Speaker, Conservative Senator Mike Duffy's case is before the courts today.

The Prime Minister is a central figure in this whole affair, and Canadians are just not buying his story when he says it is difficult to imagine that he would have any useful information to add. In fact, the trial will provide the Prime Minister with an opportunity to testify under oath as to just exactly what he meant when he said to Nigel Wright that we are good to go.

When subpoenaed, will the Prime Minister testify?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already answered that question, and the RCMP was quite clear in all of the documents that it provided.

At the same time, it does give me an opportunity, again, to mention the fact that it is the Liberal Party of Canada that wants to take away the pension splitting for seniors that has been so advantageous to our seniors. Of course, on this side of the House, we will continue to stand up for seniors and all taxpayers. That is why we put $3,200 back in their pockets, and that is why the economy is growing.

We will continue to fight for all Canadians.

International Development

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the worst in history, with over 5,000 cases being reported now. The rate of infection has overwhelmed the local health systems and risks destabilizing the entire region.

The United Nations has called for global support to fight the epidemic, and our allies are answering. President Obama announced $750 million in an effort to respond to the outbreak, with 3,000 military personnel to help coordinate assistance.

Canada can and should do more. Will the government consider deploying Canada's disaster response team to help with this horrific epidemic?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is at the forefront of the Ebola response in West Africa. We are contributing funds to the WHO. We are contributing expertise to the WHO. Last night, we have offered several million dollars' worth of essential protective equipment to the WHO, such as masks, gloves and respirators. We also have a mobile lab on the ground with a team of medical experts helping to diagnose and test. We have offered up to 1,000 doses of an experimental vaccine that looks promising. It has been developed in Canada and given to the WHO to be used as a global resource.

Of course, we are in constant contact with international counter—

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Ebola epidemic is spreading at an alarming rate in West Africa. According to the WHO, there are now 5,000 cases and more than 2,400 people have died. The virus keeps spreading faster and faster. The question is not whether Canada should intervene, but what it should do. The United States has an ambitious plan to deploy 3,000 military personnel to help coordinate efforts.

Will Canada answer the calls of the international community and do what is necessary to fight the Ebola outbreak?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we have been responding in a very substantive and progressive way in response directly to discussions with Margaret Chan, the head of the WHO.

We are in constant contact with our international partners. Yesterday, I met with the U.S. ambassador to be briefed on what the U.S. is doing and to brief him on what Canada is doing. We will also be meeting with our global health security initiative partners in two weeks in Washington. Leading up to that, we continue to work in many different ways, whether it is a financial commitment, resource and equipment commitment, or having our mobile lab from Winnipeg on the ground and, of course, helping the WHO with expertise.

National Defence

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, more soldiers have been lost to suicide since 2002 than died in combat in Afghanistan. According to National Defence statistics, 178 soldiers have committed suicide since 2002.That is right, 178. It is obvious that the Conservative government has abandoned our soldiers, our veterans and their caregivers.

How many more deaths will it take in order for the government to realize that it has a crisis on its hands?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, that certainly is not the case.

I have to say that our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are dealing with the loss of their loved ones.

That being said, we have increased our investment in mental health services. There are now approximately 450 full-time mental health care workers. This gives us one of the highest ratios of mental health professionals to soldiers in NATO.

We will continue to get the job done for our men and women in uniform.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is no wonder the government kept this report under wraps. Sadly, its conclusions are a real shock.

The Conservative government knew that there was a total of 178 deaths by suicide since 2002 in the Canadian Forces, which is more than all our direct combat losses in Afghanistan combined. This problem has been swept under the rug by successive governments, and it is our men and women in uniform who are paying the price.

Will the minister now admit that there is a mental health crisis in the Canadian Forces and finally move to address it with the urgency that the soldiers deserve?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we started moving as soon we took office. One death is too many, but this has been a priority for this government. We have increased the military health budget by more than $130 million, boosting the annual mental health budget by $11 million for a total of $50 million. This will continue to be a priority with this government.

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, taxpayers in the riding of Ottawa—Orléans were shocked to learn that they were on the hook for a $72,000 bill in expenses so that a former general could move a few blocks down the road. What is even more shocking is that the individual who left taxpayers with this outrageous bill is none other than the Liberal leader's senior adviser Andrew Leslie.

What is the Minister of National Defence going to do to ensure that these types of outrageous expenses never occur again?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Liberal Party, our government is committed to respecting taxpayer dollars. This benefit is meant to help forces members when they retire, but using this privilege to move down the street is not in the spirit of the program. It is unfortunate that a senior Liberal adviser blatantly abused taxpayer dollars. That is why we will restrict eligibility to those moving more than 40 kilometres. There will, of course, be exceptions for medical release and other circumstances.

Canadians elected us to put an end to the Liberal culture of entitlement, which is exactly what we have done.

The Senate

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

Mr. Speaker, an Ottawa communications firm just picked up a new contract to improve the Senate's image. That is a full-time job with the whole Brazeau and Duffy debacle alone. The Liberal and Conservative senators are sparing no expense. They have hired some crisis management pros. The senior strategist at Blueprint Public Relations, who was formerly with Gosselin Communications, had to appear before the Gomery commission to explain her role in the Liberal sponsorship scandal. She is well versed in crisis management.

Why not admit that the best public relations plan for the Senate would be to close up shop?

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

Mr. Speaker, there is the small item of the Constitution. Having said that, there really is only one party in this chamber that is under investigation. That is the NDP. It is on the hook for having abused taxpayer dollars to the tune of over $1.5 million, paying for offices and partisan activities in provinces where it actually has no members of Parliament.

I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will do the right thing, that he himself will pay back and order the rest of his members to pay back to taxpayers the $1.5 million that they owe them.

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

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the unelected, unaccountable and under investigation Senate is spending $150,000 of taxpayer money to give itself a makeover. It is kind of like putting house plants in a bordello. It has hired the perfect person for the job, the vice-president of Blueprint Public Relations, Wendy Cumming. Members will remember her. She was a veteran of the sponsorship scandal. Do members remember when she was speaking before Judge Gomery trying to explain charging taxpayers $185 an hour to take corrupt politicians and public servants to hockey games?

The Prime Minister told us that getting rid of the Senate was better than the status quo. Does he still believe that?

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

Mr. Speaker, these are the New Democrats who hatched a plan to defraud Canadian taxpayers of over $1.5 million for partisan political offices in areas of the country where they actually have no members of Parliament, who dispatched the people who work for them to participate in by-elections, who used resources of the taxpayers to try to win by-elections.

I think the Leader of the Opposition has to show some leadership and the rest of his colleagues have to do the right thing and repay taxpayers the over $1.5 million that they owe them.

Health

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister said, “whenever there is a dangerous product identified, Health Canada inspectors act immediately”, but what she did not say is that we have to rely on the FDA to do Canada's work. The fact is that Health Canada has been keeping Canadians in the dark when it comes to drug safety. In fact, the minister admitted that Health Canada was unable to pull defective medication.

Could the minister tell Canadians specifically how many other unsafe drugs were left on the shelf because Health Canada cannot do its job?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said repeatedly, I do expect that Health Canada take all product safety issues seriously and address them immediately.

When it comes to our law, Vanessa's law, which is why our government has responded the way we have, when passed it will end these problems. It will ensure that clinical trial information will be disclosed on a public registry. It will ensure that positive and negative decisions on drug approvals are disclosed online. It will require tough new fines for companies that are putting Canadians at risk. Most importantly, it will give me the authority to recall unsafe drugs when I need to.

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have been in power for eight years, and we still have no law in place to protect Canadians from dangerous drugs. Where is the government's sense of urgency?

We proposed open, transparent measures, but the Conservatives refused these changes. In addition, the Conservatives have cut Health Canada's budget by $20 million.

Why has the government done nothing for eight years to strengthen drug regulations and protect the safety of Canadians?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, that is just completely false. First of all, we have passed what is a world-leading piece of legislation, Vanessa's law, to ensure that we are able to act quickly when these kinds of issues happen. We have also just recently created the openness and transparency framework, which will ensure—including on things like inspection of product facilities—that information will be posted online. We will now have one of the most open and transparent regulatory systems in the world when it comes to drug approvals.

As I have said repeatedly, I expect that Health Canada inspectors and product safety managers will deal with these issues as quickly as possible.

National Defence

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence should just stop pretending that his budget cuts are not contributing to the tragedy of suicides in the military. In fact, there have been at least 175 suicides among serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces during the 12 years of the Afghanistan mission; 158 soldiers were killed in combat during the same period. The death of a military member for any reason is a tragedy.

Can the minister confirm that more military personnel have died from suicide than from the combat mission in Afghanistan and commit to doing something to prevent these tragedies?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, one is too many, and this has become a priority for this government since taking office, unlike under the previous administration of which she was a member.

I have indicated that we have increased our health care spending. We have increased the number of mental health care workers. I can tell the House that, unlike under the previous administration, this will be a priority for our government.

Veterans Affairs

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government cannot claim any sort of leadership with the number of suicides among our Canadian Forces members. It is even worse for our veterans who are not receiving the support they need to deal with serious issues like PTSD because that is money the Conservative government would rather spend on self-promotion.

These men and women are neglected in the Canadian Forces and then completely abandoned as veterans. I ask the Minister of Veterans Affairs this. When will the government finally take the issue of suicides among our Canadian Forces and our veterans seriously?

[Julian Fantino, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of National Defence has already stated, and I concur, this is simply not a political issue.

Case managers and clinical care managers work with veterans day in and day out to assist them with their mental health needs. I encourage everyone—veterans, their family or friends—who think someone may be suffering from mental health conditions to seek the professional assistance they need right away and not in any way, shape or form give credibility to a political ploy, which this is not.