Debates of Jan. 26th, 2015

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that Statistics Canada has never surveyed reserves for the labour force survey, including under the 13 years of the previous Liberal government, because Statistics Canada statisticians advise that there are significant practical challenges to doing so.

I have raised this with Statistics Canada and have asked that it come up with suggestions on how it can get better labour market information from reserves, because we do know that unemployment rates are typically far too high on aboriginal reserves. That is why our government has invested record amounts in skills development and job training programs for aboriginal people to ensure that they can benefit from Canada's prosperity.

Veterans Affairs

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the Minister of Veterans Affairs to his new role. I am glad that the Prime Minister has finally recognized how poorly the previous minister was treating veterans. A new face does not mean a change in attitude though.

The new minister already started off on the wrong foot by excluding from consultations the veterans groups with whom he disagrees. This does not offer us much hope for movement on major issues like reopening veterans offices, ending budget cuts on the back of veterans services, and recognizing the sacred obligation owed to veterans.

Why was the minister's very first act an attempt to silence Canadian veterans who have rightly called the government out for mistreating them?

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it appears that my friend is just as angry as he was last fall, which is unfortunate because my outreach to veterans groups was about listening and reaching out. All stakeholders were called and talked to, and I found that there is tremendous diversity among our stakeholder community, those traditional organizations, those helping veterans, as well as those new groups, the peer-based counselling and support groups.

I am going to continue to reach out and listen to all of them, if we are all going to work together to help our men and women.

Health

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in 1961 the Canadian government made a terrible mistake when it approved thalidomide and was slow to pull it off the shelves. It was not until 2014 that the House unanimously voiced its support for compensation for hundreds of victims and adopted a motion to that effect. Today was the deadline for the government to move from the motion to action. However, nothing has been done.

Can the minister guarantee that the victims will receive compensation as soon as possible?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I can absolutely assure the House that we remain committed to working collaboratively with the survivors to ensure that their health care needs are supported.

Officials from Health Canada are working to undertake the analyses needed to approve this new spending. As one can imagine, in government all sorts of spending programs will have checks and balances that need to be covered off.

We are hopeful that the minister will be able to make an announcement very shortly.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, thalidomide survivors just do not have the luxury of time. They have been suffering from their disabilities their whole lives. The Canadian government told their mothers that thalidomide was safe. That means we have a moral responsibility to provide them with support now.

In December, the House vowed to make things right, but today an important deadline has passed and the government still has not moved to action.

Will the minister act quickly to give survivors the support they so desperately need?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, nothing can ever undo the pain and suffering that has been inflicted on these survivors. This tragic event from the 1960s reminds us why we need to take drug safety so seriously.

I have had the pleasure of meeting with many members of the Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada and will continue working to ensure that survivors are properly supported.

We hope that the minister will be able to make an announcement very shortly.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month we witnessed the terrorist attacks in Paris. One of the targets, tragically, was a kosher grocery store.

Too often we have seen that enemies of freedom and democratic rights target their hatred against the Jewish people. Anti-Semitism is on the rise globally and we must stand ready to fight this rising hatred.

Can the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration please update the House on our government's efforts to combat anti-Semitism?

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

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all members of the House, I would like to thank the member for Thornhill for his leadership on this issue across Canada and around the world in opposing anti-Semitism in all its forms.

As the member said, with Canada and the international community standing up to the menace of terrorism and the ideology of hatred and violence it represents, we find ourselves increasingly dealing with the scourge of anti-Semitism, which we thought we had been left behind.

That is why Canada continues to participate in a meeting of the UN called just last week by Israel to address the rise of anti-Semitism. We outlined our government's leadership on these issues, which will continue under the Prime Minister's leadership and with the participation of everyone on these benches.

We have supported efforts to promote Holocaust remembrance and are opposing the deeply misguided boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign. This government will stand on the principle of opposing anti-Semitism.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs initially refused to intercede on behalf of Raif Badawi because he is not a Canadian.

The Liberal opposition insisted that the minister condemn the cruel and inhuman punishment inflicted on the blogger and that he call on the Saudi authorities to overturn his sentence, just as the United Nations, the U.S. government and many Nobel Prize recipients have done.

Will the Prime Minister intercede directly with the new Saudi king as requested by Mr. Badawi's spouse?

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular)]

Mr. Speaker, to expand on this, the Minister of Foreign Affairs recently raised Mr. Badawi's case directly with Prince Turki Al-Faisal. Canada also made representations to Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Ottawa. Canada's ambassador in Riyadh has met with senior Saudi officials about the case, seeking further meetings. Canada does consider the punishment to be a violation of human dignity. We continue to promote and protect human rights as an integral part of our Canadian foreign—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Victoria.

Health

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have sad breaking news. We have just heard that the first case of H7N9 bird flu in North America has been found in a traveller in British Columbia. This is obviously a very serious public health concern for all Canadians.

Can the minister update the House about what measures the government will be taking to screen travellers and identify anyone who may have been in contact with that virus?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I can inform the House that, unfortunately, the first case of H7N9 has now reached Canadian soil. The patient is being monitored, is in isolation, and is recovering.

Health officials have also been in contact with the close contacts of that patient, and all of those individuals are being monitored.

The Public Health Agency advised us that the risk to Canadians remains very low, as H7N9 does not appear to spread easily from human to human.

Foreign Affairs

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the serious situation in Ukraine is escalating. Russian-backed rebels in Mariupol fired rockets that killed 30 innocent Ukrainians. This escalation of hostilities has resulted in a mounting civilian death toll and has exacerbated an already-dire humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine. Russia continues not to fulfill its commitment outlined in the Minsk agreement.

Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence please comment on this serious situation in Ukraine?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Langley for his strong commitment in standing in support of the people of Ukraine.

Our government is appalled by Russia's latest aggression, and we demand that Russia stop its reprehensible actions. Russia must immediately abide by the Minsk agreement and respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Furthermore, today we join the Canadian Ukrainian community in calling for the immediate release of the Ukrainian pilot and member of parliament, Nadiya Savchenko, who was illegally abducted and is now being held in Russia.

Our government will continue to work with our allies to isolate Russia for its destabilizing actions in Ukraine. As the Prime Minister has said, Russia needs to get out of Ukraine.

National Defence

[Jean-François Larose, Forces et Démocratie, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised Canadians that the Canadian Forces' mission in Iraq would not be a ground combat mission. He has broken that promise. Even the Chief of the Defence Staff has acknowledged that there are Canadian soldiers at the front.

Since the mission is completely different than what Canadians were told it would be, the Prime Minister needs to set the record straight and move a new motion this week for debate in the House. Will he do that?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, we are operating under the government's decision, that was approved by Parliament, that the six-month mission would come up for discussion and/or renewal, if that be the case, in the first week of April. That being said, members of our armed forces are doing an outstanding job standing up to terrorism in that part of the world, and we can all be very proud of that.

The Economy

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

Mr. Speaker, now that oil prices are dropping, we can see just how fragile the Canadian economy really is. We have been living in an oil bubble created by the federal government.

The Bloc Québécois and its partners have already proposed an economic recovery plan that would have allowed and would still allow the federal government to diversify and modernize its economy. However, yesterday, the Prime Minister said that he wanted to put a strong focus on the manufacturing industry in order to promote the interests of Ontario and appeal to voters.

What does he intend to propose for Quebec other than a pipeline for which the province will have to assume all the environmental risks without reaping any of the financial benefits?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, falling oil prices will have an impact on the government's room to manoeuvre. However, we are going to balance the budget by 2015.

Falling oil prices will affect the economy in various ways. As I said, there will be a drop in the price of gasoline and energy prices for manufacturers, including Quebec manufacturers.

Intergovernmental Affairs

[André Bellavance, Independent, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been caught with its pants down after basing its economic strategy exclusively on oil production.

This government, which did not even believe in the crisis in 2008, did not see the drop in oil prices coming, and now its vote-getting plans are being thwarted. That worries us.

Since we know that the government insists on moving forward with its promise to introduce income splitting for the wealthy and balance the budget, can the Minister of Finance guarantee that he will not offset this by cutting transfers to Quebec and making cuts to social programs?

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

Mr. Speaker, this government has significantly increased transfers to the provinces, and in particular to Quebec. We are talking billions of dollars.

Quebeckers want to see a decrease in their tax burden. They want their taxes to go down. The reforms we have made to help families will help 100% of Quebec families with children under the age of 18. These families will receive on average $1,200 a year, as a result of the benefits we increased. That is good for Quebec families.

The Environment

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last month, in Lima, at the climate negotiations, Canada signed on to a decision in which all nations are invited to submit their intended nationally determined contributions—in other words, the next round of pledges for cuts—within the first quarter of 2015.

My question for the minister is this. Will Canada meet this request? Will we submit new pledges by the first quarter of 2015? Will it slide to a nebulous budget date? Will we actually have a pledge that will mean we can avoid a 2° Celsius global average temperature increase?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, our government is working to negotiate a new global climate change agreement that includes commitments from all major emitters.

We take the challenge of climate change seriously, which is why we are doing our part reducing emissions in Canada and working with our international partners. We will continue to reduce short-lived climate pollutants under the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the Arctic Council, and the Montreal protocol. Our recent contribution to the Green Climate Fund will also help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change and promote private sector investment.

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 (8), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the government's response to 32 petitions.