Debates of Sept. 30th, 2014

Foreign Affairs

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, let me just lay out how we see the situation. I think it is widely understood. We have at the present time the establishment of a quasi-state, an Islamic caliphate, stretching from Aleppo almost to Baghdad, up until very recently operating entirely in the open, planning attacks, not just genocide against large populations in the region but planning attacks against this country.

We will work with our allies on a counterterrorism operation to get us to the point where this organization does not have the capacity to launch those kinds of attacks against us.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what is the government's exit strategy in Iraq?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, obviously the government could terminate present deployments at any moment. We obviously have not done that. We are looking at next steps. We will obviously look carefully at steps that we believe would not leave us there in a quagmire for years. That is something all governments are going to avoid.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, how long has the Prime Minister been considering air strikes in Iraq? How long?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the government has made no such decision. However, as we have clearly said since we first came to power, any such decision will be brought before the House for a debate and a vote.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, were air strikes included in the letter that the Prime Minister says he received from the United States last week?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the United States and our other allies have taken a range of actions in Iraq and Syria. It is well known what all of those are. Obviously, they are seeking our assistance wherever we could be helpful, and we are obviously examining what options are most appropriate for this country.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians first learned about this letter from an interview that the Prime Minister did with The Wall Street Journal last week. Is the Prime Minister going to make that letter public, yes or no?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government will make public its own decisions. Ultimately, while we act with our American and other allies, this country is responsible for its own decisions, its own actions, and those are the things we will put to this Parliament to debate.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what are the rules of engagement for the Canadian soldiers currently in Iraq?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the rules are very clear. They are there to advise and assist Iraqi forces in the northern part of the country.

Infrastructure

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, to everyone's surprise, the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs announced that he was considering setting up tolls on a number of bridges to the Island of Montreal. True to form, he did not consult Quebec's transport minister or any of the mayors of the cities that would be affected by this news.

Does the minister understand that consultation is a good idea and that it is always better to share the results of studies than to keep them secret?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, obviously our priority is to build the new bridge over the St. Lawrence, as we said. We will deliver a new bridge in 2018. We said there would be a toll on the bridge.

Enough with the speculation and theories. We always said that we would be transparent, and that is what we will do. The tendering process is under way, and three consortiums will submit a proposal to build the new bridge. It did not take our government 13 years to do this. We are getting the new bridge built.

The Economy

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this morning StatsCan delivered some bad news for Canadians. Economic growth was zero in July. Our stalled economy means we do not have enough good jobs. Canada lost a staggering 112,000 private sector jobs in August.

According to the OECD, Canada ranks a dismal 16th out of 34 when it comes to employment. Even the Minister of Finance admits this is not good enough, at least when he is out of the country. He confessed in New York today that “We'd like to grow faster”, so where is his plan for growth?

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

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

The report she has referenced also reminds us that our economy has seen six consecutive months of growth, but we know that the global recovery and the global economy remain fragile. That is why we must stay the course. Our low-tax plan for jobs and growth is working.

The report also showed that manufacturing showed strength and growth in the last month as well.

[Arnold Chan, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government remains out of touch with the needs of middle-class Canadians. In Ontario, families are struggling to make ends meet, and even the government's so-called favourite economist, the Prime Minister, says that employment has flattened recently.

As I stated yesterday, the minister of state for economic development has only spent $79,000 out of his $177-million budget to stimulate Ontario's economy. When will the minister acknowledge his inaction plan and do something? If not, will the Prime Minister replace him?

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

Mr. Speaker, again, StatsCan has confirmed that families are better off under the Conservative government than under all previous Liberal governments. Median net worth for Canadians has increased by 45% since we took office. Canadian families in all income groups have seen increases of about 10% in their take-home pay. The lowest-income families have seen an increase of 14%.

Despite the Liberal leader's on-the-fly promise to reverse our tax cuts, the government will continue to keep taxes low for Canadians.

Foreign Affairs

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that the rules of engagement are to advise and assist the Iraqis, but the question is, assist them how? For instance, are Canadian soldiers currently going on patrols with Iraqis or Kurds?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I said “ advise and assist the Iraqis”.

If I could just use the terminology in English, it is quite precise. It is to advise and to assist. It is not to accompany. I think that was laid out before the parliamentary committee.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, are they going into combat zones?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I just said that Canadian soldiers are not accompanying the Iraqi forces into combat.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, have Canadian Forces assisted in targeting ISIS troops?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, as I have said, the purpose of Canadian Forces in Iraq is to assist and to advise the Iraqi forces as they have been resisting, particularly in the north, a force bent on the genocide of the people who live there. These are the actions they are undertaking. While there is some risk, there is not a direct combat role.

I say once again, we are very proud of people who do this work on our behalf and keep all of us, not just in that part of the world but all of us here in Canada, safe.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, is targeting or coordinating attacks by others a combat role, yes or no?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as you can understand, I neither have the will nor the desire to get into detailed discussions of military operations here.

As I have said repeatedly, the Canadian Forces involved in Iraq are not involved in combat. They are there to assist Iraqi and Peshmerga forces in undertaking combat against a brutal enemy that is intent on their slaughter. We will go there and we will assist them and make sure we stop that kind of problem there and not at our own shores.