Debates of Feb. 19th, 2015

Lunar New Year

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, when Chinese and Asian communities around the world will celebrate the Year of the Sheep.

Yesterday, I joined colleagues and the Chinese ambassador at a gala dinner here in Ottawa; and throughout the Greater Toronto Area, our Liberal Party leader is participating in celebratory events with the community. I am personally honoured to host an MP lunar new year reception in Vancouver this weekend; and Vancouver's great parade in Chinatown this Sunday is legendary.

Across our country, Canadians of all ages and cultures will come together to celebrate, and we will reflect on the important role that the Chinese and Asian communities have played in shaping our great nation. On behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada and its entire parliamentary caucus, I extend our warmest good wishes to all Canadians ringing in the lunar new year. Good health, happiness, and prosperity for all.

Gong hey fat choy. Xin nian kuai le.

Taxation

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our family tax cut and enhanced universal child care benefit will help 100% of families with children, and the vast majority of benefits go to low- and middle-income families.

With the enhancement of the universal child care benefit, moms and dads in Pickering—Scarborough East and across this country will receive nearly $2,000 per year for every child under 6 and $720 per year for every child between the ages of 6 and 17. The NDP and the Liberals will take these benefits away, while imposing more taxes on Canadian families. Instead of giving decision-making power to parents, the NDP and Liberals want the Ottawa bureaucracy telling families what to do. That is not right.

Our government knows that parents know what is best for their kids, and we are proud to be the only party standing up for them.

Minister of Employment and Social Development

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, everywhere the hon. member for Nepean—Carleton goes, catastrophe turns into disaster. As the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, he got his government into trouble a number of times with his hotheaded comments. As the minister for democratic reform, he championed a regressive, unfair bill designed to reduce voter turnout. Now that he is the Minister of Employment and Social Development, we fear the worst. The Social Security Tribunal is completely clogged up. Thousands of people have to wait up to five years to get their file reviewed. People who are seriously ill or in financial difficulty cannot get their case fast-tracked. It is shameful. One might say that the Conservatives are counting on discouragement and death to reduce the wait times.

By appointing the hon. member for Nepean—Carleton to the head of a such a dysfunctional department, the Prime Minister has proven that he has no intention of getting things back on track. Canadians definitely deserve better than this heartless government.

Taxation

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

Mr. Speaker, mothers and fathers should be able to make the important decisions that affect their own children. That is why our family tax cut and enhanced universal child care benefit will give 100% of families with kids across Canada more money to do just that.

Our government trusts parents to make the best decisions for their children. However, both the Liberals and the New Democrats are against putting money back into the pockets of hard-working families. They would take these benefits away so big government bureaucracy could tell Canadian families what they could do with their own money.

On this side of the House, we will not hike taxes like the Liberals and the New Democrats propose. Rather, we are prepared to let parents make their own decisions with their family's finances. That is where the responsibility belongs.

Public Safety

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, today the U.S. is holding a global summit on countering violent extremism. It is focused on empowering local communities.

As President Obama stated, “the best way to protect people...from falling into the grip of violent extremists is the support of their family, friends, teachers and faith leaders”. In Canada, instead of working with faith leaders to find solutions, the Prime Minister singles out Canada's Muslim community.

Why does the Prime Minister's so-called security bill do nothing to prevent or reverse radicalization?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, that is patently false. Many departments of government, including the justice department, have cross-cultural round tables. Our security forces themselves are often involved in outreach, and they will continue to do so.

However, with respect to the substance of Bill C-51 before the House, the bill would give tools to our security forces to allow them to do more to prevent terrorism, to prevent violence. That is something that all communities in Canada are interested in and engaged in the discussion.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that is what the American forum is also about, but it understands that efforts have to be included for anti-radicalization. There is not one word in the government's bill on anti-radicalization.

The bill would give CSIS the power to “disrupt security threats”. Right now, CSIS collects intelligence and the RCMP disrupts threats by arresting those who are conspiring to commit a crime. Therefore, precisely what new powers would CSIS be given to disrupt threats under the bill? What does that mean? Could the minister give us a single example?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, that is one of the most important elements of the bill, enabling CSIS to do just that, to disrupt and in some cases to take down material that could be used for radicalization. The hon. member again is incorrect in his assessment of the bill.

This is a comprehensive bill. This is a bill that involves oversight for those new powers. This is a bill that Canadians are responding to very positively, unlike the position staked out by the NDP.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

It is the same thing as yesterday, Mr. Speaker. The government cannot give one single example.

Once again, the government is trying to associate security threats with terrorist activity. According to internal documents, the RCMP describes groups that oppose major polluters, such as environmental groups and first nations, as security threats.

Under the Prime Minister's bill, will CSIS have the authority to investigate such groups? Do you also have environmental groups and first nations in your sights?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I would just remind the hon. Leader of the Opposition to address his questions through the Chair and not directly at other members.

The hon. Minister of Justice.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Leader of the Opposition is trying to scare Canadians into thinking that they will be targeted, and that is absolutely not the intent of the bill. In fact, one only has to read the bill to see that they will not be targeted. It states specifically that any activity undermining Canada's security does not include lawful advocacy, protest, dissent or artistic expression.

The type of activity the hon. member is describing is not going to be targeted by CSIS or the RCMP.

Social Development

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, based on what the RCMP has already written, it is clear that CSIS will be allowed to investigate environmental groups and first nations. That is the truth.

The Conservatives have totally failed on their promise to streamline the appeal process for Canada pension plan and employment insurance. The backlog for income security appeals was up 24% last year. Worse yet, dozens of sick, dying and financially desperate Canadians were denied their request for expedited hearings. These are middle-class families and Canadian seniors struggling just to get by during the most difficult times of their lives.

Why has the Conservative government made them wait longer than they have to wait to get a fair hearing?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, we agree that the backlog is unacceptable. That is why my predecessor put in place a practical plan to eliminate that backlog by this summer. We are using experts within the department to review all of the cases that are under appeal to see if we can settle as many of them as humanly possible so they do not even have to go before the tribunal at all.

I met with my officials this week and have confirmed that they are on track to achieving our goal.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolute rubbish, because the tribunal's backlog continues to grow.

The majority of Canadians are denied an expedited hearing. That is the reality. Instead of improving the appeal process, the Prime Minister has put in place a system based on favouritism and patronage. One-third of the tribunal members appointed are Conservative Party cronies.

Why does the Prime Minister put Conservative cronies ahead of seniors and families in need?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong. Tribunal members have the necessary qualifications and experience to do their job.

We agree that the wait time is too long right now. That is why my predecessor instructed his officials to review all cases to prevent claimants from having to go before the tribunals.

We expect to eliminate the backlog before the summer, and my officials confirmed this week that we are going to do that.

The Economy

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, if we want a strong economy, we need economic certainty and stability.

The GDP shows that our national economy is on the decline, the quality of jobs is going down, and our country lost $28 billion in capital investments in December alone, so why do the Conservatives continue to create uncertainty and instability?

Why do they refuse to immediately table a budget, so we can get the economic certainty we so desperately need?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has the best job creation record in the G7 with almost 1.2 million net new jobs created since the depths of the global recession. The vast majority of these jobs were full time, in the private sector and in high wage industries.

Our government has a low tax plan for jobs and growth for all sectors of the Canadian economy that is working and will return Canada to a balanced budget this year.

We are proud of our plan that is lowering taxes and providing benefits directly to families for them to reinvest in the Canadian economy.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, with yet another forecast of recessions in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, with the latest GDP figures showing the national economy is shrinking too, with nearly $28 billion in investor capital fleeing the country in December, with anaemic job creation, poor job quality and weak labour market participation, the government keeps punting its overdue budget deeper and deeper into the next fiscal year, into May or even later.

Canada needs an urgent budget that invests in real growth right now, so why not?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, because of the instability in the oil market, we will not bring forward the budget before April.

I can assure the member opposite that our government will continue our low tax plan for jobs and growth for all sectors of the Canadian economy. That is working and will return Canada to a balanced budget this year. We are proud of our plan that is working, and we will stick to that plan.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

However, there are no jobs and no growth, Mr. Speaker.

Canada needs to be far more aggressive on public infrastructure. Who said so? The G20, the IMF, the Bank of Canada, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, all of the premiers, every municipality, every think tank from C.D. Howe to the Canada West Foundation, the Chambers of Commerce, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the Canadian Labour Congress, and many more. The only one who is saying that the feds are doing enough is the beleaguered government, and it cannot even get its act together to table a budget. If it will not lead, will you please get out of the way.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. Some members might be confused that the member for Wascana was talking to the Chair and not the person to whom he was directing that question. I plan on staying here for at least the next 35 minutes.

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, our government is focused on what matters to Canadians: jobs and economic growth. Around 1.2 million net new jobs have been created since the depths of the recession.

It is rich that the Liberals would be criticizing our record on job creation because they have voted against every job creation measure that we have introduced, including freezing EI rates, tax cuts for manufacturers, the $75 billion in stable and predictable job-creating infrastructure, and more.

The Liberal leader does not even have a plan, and he thinks budgets balance themselves.

Public Safety

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, so much for not railroading Bill C-51 through the House, as the Conservatives could not even wait 24 hours to limit debate on this bad bill. That is in pretty strong contrast to the U.S. President, who is out talking about what works to counter terrorism. Here is what President Obama said: “...we need to do what extremists and terrorists hope we will not do, and that is stay true to the values that define us as free and diverse societies”.

We do not need divisive rhetoric and limited debate. Why is this always the Conservatives' approach, even on such an important topic as threats to our national security?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, one of the most important Canadian values is that of security, feeling safe in one's community, home, and place of work. This is a bill that has targeted measures, with oversight, aimed specifically at giving our security forces the important tools they need, the important support they need, often in a very dangerous and evolving world that involves terrorism.

This bill will receive scrutiny by this House and by the committee. Canadians, including the four out of five who support this bill, will have a safer and more secure country.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Mr. Speaker, if the government is so confident in this bill, why is limiting the debate?

The minister would do better if he took a hint from the U.S. President, who has appointed a full-time coordinator at Homeland Security dedicated to stopping violent extremism before it takes root. What a contrast. Here in Canada we have RCMP and CSIS budget cuts, and community engagement plans left to languish on the drawing board for years.

Why are the Conservatives ignoring anti-terrorism measures that work, and pushing a dangerous bill that will not?