Debates of Jan. 27th, 2015

National Defence

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The Leader of the Opposition knows that phrases such as “deliberately mislead” or “intentionally mislead” are unparliamentary, and I will ask him to keep that in mind.

The Right Hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again it is the leader of the NDP who is caught in his own contradictions.

Canadian troops, under their commanders, are executing exactly the mission that Canadians have given them, that this Parliament has given them, that Canadians expect. They are advising; they are assisting.

Guess what? If fired upon, they are going to shoot back; and if they kill some of the ISIL terrorists, Canadians are going to support that, no matter what the New Democrats think.

The Budget

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians will judge the Prime Minister on his original statement, not on the changed version. He told Canadians that the mission in Iraq was not a combat mission, but that was not true. He will be judged on that this year.

Speaking of telling Canadians the truth, the current fiscal year expires on March 31. When will we have a budget?

The fiscal year ends March 31. When are Canadians going to see a budget?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to answer the last question. Obviously, this year, Canadians will judge this government and all of the parties.

Canadians will decide that this government has the attitude needed to carry out a mission against Islamic State terrorists. That is the right thing to do, and we are very proud of our actions.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's biggest problem is a problem with the truth.

For nine years, the Prime Minister has put all his eggs in the resource-extraction basket. For nine years, the Prime Minister has fed into a cycle of boom and bust. He has left our economy at the mercy of falling oil prices, and now the bill is coming due.

The NDP is ready, laying out clear actions the government could take to help small business and kick-start manufacturing. Why is the Prime Minister dithering yet again? Why is there no action?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, completely the opposite is the truth. The reality is that everybody is projecting that the Canadian economy will continue to grow this year.

What we have done is pursue a plan of balanced budgets and low taxes for families, for individuals, and for businesses. What the NDP has advocated—in fact, what it was advocating as little as just a few weeks ago—was that we impose additional taxes, regulations, and costs on the energy sector.

That shows how completely out of touch the NDP is with economic reality, which perhaps explains today the leader's attempts to flip-flop and do a deathbed conversion toward lower taxes for business.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Prime Minister, the Bank of Canada understands that action is needed now. Just last week the Bank of Canada cut interest rates below 1%, levels that we have not seen since the depths of the financial crisis. The bank understands the risk and it is responding.

Why is the Prime Minister, as usual, sitting on his hands? Where is the budget?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, what the Governor of the Bank of Canada understands is that you do monetary policy once every quarter, when he makes a monetary policy announcement.

When it comes to budgetary policy, this government does it every year based on a long-term plan. That plan has created 1.2 million net new jobs.

We are continuing to grow. We are continuing to move forward. Unlike the NDP, we are not going to write a different budget and have a different economic policy every month.

National Defence

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last fall the Prime Minister said that our mission on the ground in Iraq was, and I quote, “to advise and to assist. It is not to accompany.”

Yesterday, the Minister of National Defence clearly stated the opposite.

Would the Prime Minister like to take this opportunity to correct his minister?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the member, the Liberal Party and its leader have taken a very unwise position against the mission against ISIL, a crucial mission for our allies and for the security of our nation.

The mission is clear: our soldiers and troops are there to advise and assist the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi forces. If our soldiers are fired upon, they are going to respond. That is what our troops did, and we are very proud of them.

The Economy

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, oil prices have fallen nearly 50% since the fall fiscal update. The Prime Minister has certainly been briefed on the current fiscal impact. Will he now tell Canadians exactly how much that drop in oil prices has affected the Canadian government?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government has been very clear. Obviously, the drop in oil prices affects the government's fiscal flexibility, but I have said repeatedly that the government will balance the budget this year. I note that the Parliamentary Budget Officer himself said today that even looking at his own numbers the government will be capable of balancing the budget this year.

We are not in recession. We have every intention of balancing the budget.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after two weeks of contradictions and ad libbing, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister are now saying that nothing has changed because of the price of oil.

If that is really the case, why is the Prime Minister allowing his Minister of Finance to create uncertainty by postponing the budget?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the government is continuing its long-term plan to balance the budget, lower taxes and create jobs. Our plan is working. We can see the results.

I understand very well that the Liberals and New Democrats prefer huge tax increases and deficits, but that is not our country's policy. That is why our economy continues to grow and why our policy is admired around the world.

Manufacturing Industry

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have lost more than half a million manufacturing jobs over the last decade and southern Ontario has been rocked by plant closures in recent years. The Conservatives have just stood by, while the Liberal leader says it is time to give up. They are both wrong. We can kick-start manufacturing in Canada but we need action now to boost investment and create jobs.

Will the Conservatives adopt our plan to help create the next generation of well-paying manufacturing jobs for Canadians?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, any time a New Democrat starts a question with “Will you adopt our plan?”, I am going to go ahead and say no.

We do have good numbers when it comes to manufacturing sales. The member singled out the province of Ontario. Sales in manufacturing in Ontario are up 41% since the recession. Just in the past month, Chrysler has announced that it is investing $2 billion into the city of Windsor. Honda motor company in Ontario says it is going to invest $850 million to create jobs. Ford motor company is investing more money as well into Oakville, which is going to create 1,200 new jobs in Oakville in the auto sector.

We do have policies that are working, that are creating jobs, that will support the manufacturing sector well into the future for Canadians.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have disappeared.

Middle-class families have to resort to taking underpaid and unstable jobs because the Conservatives are incapable of diversifying our economy. With the downturn in the oil industry, we see the extent of the damage caused by the Conservatives.

Why are they refusing to do something to diversify our economy and stimulate job creation in the manufacturing sector?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of implementing policies that are truly in the interest of our economy in every region and in a number of sectors of our economy. This is what Jayson Myers, the president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, had to say, and I quote: “Many of the programs the Conservative government has put in place do support manufacturing, and do it very well”.

It is very important to have policies, commitments and approaches to protect our industries across Canada and to diversify our economy. That is what we are doing.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the downturn in the oil economy puts the spotlight on the Conservatives' mismanagement and failure to diversify our economy for years.

Half a million manufacturing jobs were lost in the past decade and the government is doing nothing about it. Instead of postponing the budget until April and boycotting the Council of the Federation, the government should be showing leadership and working with the provinces on stimulating job creation in the manufacturing sector and in SMEs.

Why is it doing nothing?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, that is not at all the case.

We are creating policies that will protect, promote and definitely expedite our access to good-quality jobs in every region of Canada. We have made investments in the regions for the auto sector, not to mention the Asia-Pacific gateway and Canada's east coast. We are definitely in a position to say that we have good news about the future and we will soon make announcements about investments.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP's plan to stimulate job creation in the manufacturing sector and in SMEs is a responsible and practical plan that will boost employment and broaden the government's tax base.

Several NDP measures have the support of the Manufacturiers et exportateurs du Québec and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. There are ways to stimulate employment.

Why is the government refusing to help the middle class?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, of course, when it comes to supporting the middle class, this government has done more than anybody else.

There was a well publicized, well documented study on the front page of the The New York Times which said that Canada has the wealthiest middle class in the world. It is because our government has delivered for the middle class by lowering taxes, supporting key industries in all parts of this country, and ensuring that good-quality jobs are happening all across this country for the benefit of all regions of Canada. That is why we have our national shipbuilding procurement strategy. That is why we are supporting the automotive industry.

We are keeping taxes down. We have a 13 percentage point lower corporate tax rate than what is offered in the United States, which is creating jobs in Canada in all of our regions. We are leading the world. There have been 1.2 million net new jobs created and we are going—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

The Economy

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

The Conservatives say that the 400,000 Canadians who have lost those manufacturing jobs should just read The New York Times and have hope.

Another day and another report showing the mess that Conservative economic mismanagement has put us in. Today the PBO joined the Conference Board, the TD Bank, and others in raising concerns about the impact of low oil prices on the Canadian economy.

Conservatives have failed to build a balanced economy, blowing billions on handouts to the wealthiest families and the most profitable corporations.

While tens of thousands of Canadian families lose their jobs, the Minister of Finance refuses to do his. Delaying the budget months and hiding under the covers will not help these families out at all.

Will he support our motion, at least show us the books, and come clean with Canadians for once?

[Joe Oliver, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the PBO is one of many forecasters and has shown that the government can in fact reach a balanced budget next year, which we are of course determined to do.

Our government has a low-tax plan for jobs and growth, and it is working. There are 1.2 million net new jobs and a superior growth rate to that of other G7 countries overall. We are proud to lower taxes and we are proud to provide benefits to four million Canadian families.

The opposition would put forward policies that would raise taxes and increase debt.