Debates of Feb. 4th, 2015

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

It being Wednesday, we will now have the singing of the national anthem led by the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

[Members sang the national anthem]

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to share with you and all of my colleagues a brief report on the events in Lima, Peru, in December 2014 at the 20th Conference of the Parties on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

I know all members will be very concerned about the results of the conference since the Government of Canada and all parties in this place adhere to at least the same goal: to ensure that we have a legally binding, comprehensive treaty by December 2015 at the next conference, which will be the 21st Conference of the Parties.

All countries around the world and all parties in this place are also, at least on paper, committed to ensuring that the levels of greenhouse gases be brought down sufficiently to ensure that the planet not experience as much as a 2°C global average temperature increase.

We have a long way to go to make the treaty work in December 2015. We need to work together. The results from Lima were not encouraging. In fact, we need Canada to show leadership.

Anti-terrorism Legislation

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, I was privileged to welcome to Richmond Hill the right hon. Prime Minister for a historic anti-terrorism announcement to help protect Canadians here at home.

The anti-terrorism act, 2015, further exemplifies our government's commitment to keep our streets and communities safe, including from those who would perpetrate terror on the Canadian people. With this legislation, law enforcement agencies would have additional tools to detect and apprehend terrorists and to keep pace with evolving threats.

My constituents congratulate this government for taking such strong action. Carol Jean, from Richmond Hill, wrote that “Our Prime Minister is courageous. He will not let Canadians down and this legislation is needed to protect innocent lives”. Shawn said, “On anti-terrorism, we finally have a Prime Minister that gets it, and does what he says”.

I am proud to be part of a government that is committed to protecting the safety and security of all Canadians.

World Cancer Day

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, “Not Beyond Us” is the theme of this year's World Cancer Day. This is a message the global community needs to hear.

Currently, 7.6 million people die from cancer worldwide every year. Currently, the Canadian Cancer Society has stated that over 76,000 Canadians died from cancer in the year 2014.

Clearly, there must be a global commitment to drive advancements in policy and implementation of comprehensive national cancer control plans. To succeed in this endeavour, we must share a collective responsibility to support low and middle-income countries.

Ensuring the availability of, and access to, early detection programs for cancer will significantly reduce the cancer burden in all countries. We must stand, nation alongside nation, to ensure that one day, the World Cancer Day theme changes from “Not Beyond Us” to “Now Behind Us”.

Renewable Energy

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after decades of drug-running, extortion and prostitution by the mafia, it appears the mob has found a racket even more profitable: wind turbine subsidies. In Ontario, these subsidies are disguised as a carbon tax on electricity bills called the global adjustment. For those on fixed incomes, they either pay up or are threatened with having their power cut. It is called energy poverty.

FIT subsidies were dreamed up in Toronto by the same individuals who now surround the green leader of the Liberal Party in Ottawa. This is not about renewable energy projects or who cares more about the environment.

This is about a few Liberal Party insiders collecting huge sums of money at the expense of the environment and people who can least afford it. The greed energy act is bankrupting Ontario and will bankrupt Canada when Toronto Liberal advisers impose their radical extremist policies on all Canadians.

Rather than be lost at sea with a party adrift with extremist policies, Canadians will continue to benefit from the strong, steady hand of a Conservative government.

Amateur Weatherman

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize weatherman extraordinaire, Mr. Frankie MacDonald, of Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia.

Frankie the weatherman, as he has come to be known, has taken the Internet by storm, making international headlines for his weather reports. He creates his forecast after monitoring weather on his television and computer, and then takes it to the Internet, with his knowledge and enthusiasm to let us know what type of weather we can expect and how best to prepare.

Since he was a young boy, Frankie has always been interested in the weather. His commitment and dedication to further his passion has led to his videos being viewed by millions around the world, turning his hobby into a career.

I ask all members of the House curious of their weather forecast to visit Frankie MacDonald's Facebook page for informative, up-to-date reports. We, as Cape Bretoners, are very proud of Frankie the weatherman and wish him all the best as he continues to keep us safe from mother nature.

Canadians are deep in winter. As Frankie says, “Stay safe, stay warm and good luck”.

Vietnamese Community

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for people of Vietnamese heritage living in Canada, Tet is a time of rebirth and renewal, a time to let go of the difficulties of the past year and look forward to the promise of a new beginning.

This year is particularly poignant for Canada's Vietnamese community, many of whom make York Centre their home. It marks the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to the Communist forces from the north. To commemorate this anniversary, I along with Senator Thanh Hai Ngo, are co-sponsoring Bill S-219, the journey to freedom day act.

This bill will establish April 30 as the day to commemorate the exodus of Vietnamese refugees and recognize Canada's role in welcoming so many. This bill also pays homage to the boat people's perilous journey in search of freedom, many of whom lost their lives at sea.

Although a sad anniversary, the journey to freedom day act will serve as a reminder of both the boat people's hazardous journey but also a celebration of their arrival in Canada.

As we celebrate the year of the goat, which symbolizes co-operation, peace and harmony, I say to all Canadians of Vietnamese origin, “Chuc mung nam moi”.

Employment

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we recently found out that LaSalle will lose 300 jobs because the Target store is closing. This is the latest in a long line of business and industry closures in the Montreal area.

The retail sector is booming in Canada, but most of the jobs being created are precarious and poorly paid. We are losing jobs, and the Conservatives are placing the blame elsewhere.

It is time to elect a New Democratic government that will step up to its responsibilities, fight for the middle class by protecting jobs here at home and ensure that people get adequate support if they lose their jobs. The NDP wants to create long-term jobs in growth sectors by supporting Canadian businesses that will not turn their backs on employees.

We have put forward concrete measures to get Canada on the right track and protect Canadian jobs and investment.

Nach Balliye

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honour that I stand before you today to recognize the Nach Balliye organization, which comprises a strong, passionate and talented group of young women who are determined to empower girls and break the gender discrimination in the South Asian community.

Last week, I was privileged to attend the Lohri for Her 2015 event organized by Nach Balliye. Lohri is a festival that marks new beginnings and celebrates the gift of life traditionally for newborn boys.

Since December 2011, Nach Balliye has hosted annual Lohri for Her events which have received enormous encouragement and involvement from the community.

On the international day of the girl, I had an opportunity to participate in a Pink Ladoos event organized by Nach Balliye where we greeted parents of newborn babies and celebrated the birth of baby girls with Pink Ladoos at the Brampton Civic Hospital.

I want to congratulate the entire Nach Balliye team on the wonderful work they do to create more gender equality through their initiatives and I encourage them to continue being a great inspiration for girls around the world.

Canadian Flag

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 11 days we will celebrate an important milestone in our history, the 50th anniversary of Canada's distinctive flag.

Getting a flag approved by Parliament was no mean feat. The search for a new flag began in 1925, following a Privy Council initiative.

In 1946, the search was renewed with the creation of a select parliamentary committee.

In 1964, a joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons was established, and it approved the proposal brought forward by Canadian historian Colonel George Stanley and parliamentarian and jurist John Matheson.

The Canadian flag was raised by Governor General Georges Vanier on February 15, 1965, under the watchful eye of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

The blood of our troops was spilled in order to keep this flag flying high, this symbol of our values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Let us celebrate it.

The Economy

[Matthew Kellway, NDP, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, years ago at Danforth and Vic Park, Ford then Nash Motors and finally American Motors churned out cars for the Canadian market and provided good jobs for Toronto.

That old auto plant now houses, but just for a few more weeks, a Target store. That tells a story about the failed economic management of successive Liberal and Conservative governments.

In just a few weeks dozens of part-time employees will lose their jobs at that store. Many will not be eligible for El, yet another indictment of Liberal and Conservative governments.

Many come from the Crescent Town community, a community with double Toronto's unemployment rate, double Toronto's poverty rate, where too many work long and hard but continue to struggle. This is the urban economy created by successive Liberal and Conservative governments.

Earlier this month, the Minister of Finance promised these employees every assistance to find new employment. These employees want to know when that is coming and where that is. If it is for real, it cannot come soon enough.

Taxation

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, since coming to office, our government has made it a duty to ensure that Canadian families have the support they need to grow and thrive. This is why our Prime Minister announced that we would be putting hard-earned money back into the pockets of Canadian moms and dads with our family tax cut plan and the enhanced child care benefit.

Soon, families in my riding of Calgary Northeast will receive just under $2,000 annually per child under the age of six. When it is added up, a family with five children will receive nearly $60,000 by the time their children turn six years old.

However, notwithstanding his lack of experience, the Liberal leader has shown that same old Liberal Party arrogance by pledging to reverse our tax breaks. The Liberals would take this money away from Canadian families.

Unlike the members on that side of the House, we will continue to stand up for hard-working Canadian families.

Eating Disorder Awareness Week

[Laurin Liu, NDP, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during this Eating Disorder Awareness Week, it is important to remember that the images the media force on us are often modified to the extreme, portraying ideals of beauty based on extreme thinness.

That is why I launched the “Let's be real” campaign, calling on the media to promote a healthy body image and body diversity. It also calls on the federal government to immediately implement a national strategy for eating disorders. I invite everyone to go to the website berealcanada.ca and sign the petition.

Many people are already taking action to promote body diversity, including Boisbriand resident Lysa Jobin, owner of Alysé & Collections, a boutique that showcases clothing for women of all sizes, and Marie-Christine Boyte, a student at Collège Boisbriand who won a literary competition whose theme was body diversity.

Let us start the conversation, let us be real, and together we can change attitudes.

New Democratic Party of Canada

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we found out that the NDP members had yet again abused taxpayer dollars when they funnelled $2.7 million from their House of Commons office budgets to pay for so-called satellite offices in Quebec.

Once again, the NDP continues to defend its illegal satellite offices and to deny any wrongdoing. My constituents think this is unacceptable.

The rules have always been clear: it is not acceptable to use House of Commons resources to fund party offices. Unlike the NDP, we believe political parties should pay for their own campaign offices, using their own funds.

It is sad that the NDP has demonstrated a pattern of abuse of taxpayer dollars. On this side of the House, we believe it should repay these funds immediately.

Congressional Gold Medal

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, against tremendous odds, a unique group of Canadians and Americans were called upon to perform some of the most difficult tasks of the Second World War.

Yesterday, for their achievements and their sacrifices, members of the Devil's Brigade were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour the United States Congress can bestow.

The first special service force was an elite group made up of soldiers from both sides of the border who were trained to jump out of planes, climb mountains, sneak behind enemy lines and fight hand-to-hand if need be.

I want to congratulate Canadians John Callowhill, James Summersides, Vernon Doucette, Herb Peppard, Arthur Pottle, Wilfred Paquette, George Wright, Donald Ballantyne, Morris Lazarus, H.R. Hawkyard, Charles Mann, Ralph Mayville, Leonard Corbet and Maurice White.

I also want to honour veterans like Bernard Cooper who could not travel to the ceremony, and like Al Wilson who sadly passed away the day before.

Lest we never forget these men and the men who went before them.

Taxation

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. .Speaker, while Canada's economy is better than many, we still remain on the road to recovery. A carbon tax is not a way to deal with economic issues in our country.

Bringing in higher taxes and higher debt is not the path on which we believe Canadians want to be. Canadians cannot afford more of the NDP and Liberals' risky tax hike schemes.

Our government believes in the importance of a strong economy and refuses to weigh it down with another tax on Canadian families. Bringing in a job-killing carbon tax is reckless.

Our Conservative government is lowering taxes for families and putting more money back into their pockets. Keeping taxes low and creating jobs are essential to keeping this economy on the right track. We will never punish Canadians with a job-killing carbon tax.

Employment

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is more bad news about jobs this week and still no plan from the Conservatives.

Today, 383 workers at Wrigley Canada in Toronto found out they were losing their jobs. After 52 years, production is going to shift to Gainesville, Georgia.

This comes right on the heels of other hard-working Canadians losing their jobs in retail: 17,600 families got hit by Target's closure, because a foreign company bought out their stores and then shut them down; 400 jobs lost from Tim Hortons corporate offices, along with Sony closing 14 stores and Mexx closing 95 stores. In total, 16 different chains have shut down or pulled out of Canada.

What do we get from the Conservatives? They are playing politics with the legitimate concerns of Canadians about safety from terrorism. They are planning tax cuts for the most well-off. They are delaying their budget.

Canadians deserve better, and this year they will get better when the NDP forms government.

Taxation

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our family tax cut helps 100% of families with kids. Families in Don Valley East and all families with kids across Canada will benefit from our new family tax cut. Every family in my riding and across Canada will benefit by an average of over $1,100 per year, with parents receiving almost $2,000 per child.

The NDP has never met a tax it did not like and the Liberals have never seen a tax they would not hike. The Liberal leader has even pledged to reverse our tax cuts and has threatened to do exactly what the Liberal Party elites always do: raise taxes on ordinary Canadians to put into the hands of bureaucrats.

Only this Conservative government can be trusted to put more money back into the pockets of the people of Canada.

Employment

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, every day now there is news of more job losses in Canada on the Prime Minister's watch, the latest being 400 people laid off from the Wrigley plant in Toronto.

What is the Prime Minister doing to help these laid-off workers and to help the tens of thousands of others who have lost their jobs in just the last month? What specifically is he doing for these laid-off workers in Toronto and their families?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, obviously no one ever likes to see a Canadian lose a job, although these have to do with particular business decisions of particular companies.

What I do know is that, following our economic action plan of low taxes and balanced budgets, we have created 1.2 million more new jobs than have been lost. That is 1.2 million additional people working.

It is important that we continue to focus on the needs of Canadian families by lowering their taxes and creating a good business environment so we continue to have the kind of superior record we have had as an economy during the post-recession.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, yes, that was part-time precarious work in the service sector, and let us look at the record there.

Some 1,500 jobs were lost at Jacob, 1,800 at Mexx, 2,200 at Sears, and 17,000 at Target.

Does the Prime Minister regret completely abandoning the manufacturing and retail sectors and putting all our economic eggs in the resource extraction basket, especially oil and gas?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the manufacturing sector has been very supportive of this government's policies for that sector, and it has criticized the NDP's opposition to those policies. It has also criticized the NDP's policies to increase taxes and the deficit.

More than 80% of the 1.2 million net new jobs are full-time, and 80% are in the private sector. Two-thirds of those jobs are well paid. The numbers speak for themselves.

Public Safety

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians know the real answer, and it is not what the Prime Minister just said.

Does the Prime Minister believe that the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which was created 30 years ago, is fully equipped today to properly oversee the operations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service?

Does this committee have what it takes today to do its job properly, if it was created 30 years ago?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we have a robust oversight system for our security agencies. Our laws also require judicial authorization for the use of specific powers.

Our system is very robust. Our job here is to go after terrorists and jihadists, not our police and security agencies.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Arthur Porter, come on down. Mr. Speaker, the Security Intelligence Review Committee is the same body that said in its last report that CSIS “seriously misled” it in one of its investigations, and that was just last year.

How can the Prime Minister contemplate radically expanding the powers of CSIS without equally expanding oversight? Is it because the Prime Minister believes, just like his minister, that the oversight that protects Canadians from abuse of power is just red tape?