Debates of May 4th, 2015

National Defence

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Sergeant Doiron lost his life due to friendly fire in northern Iraq almost two months ago. It was only through media leaks we learned that three investigations are now completed as well as a few details about what happened that terrible night.

A lack of transparency is the Conservative government's hallmark, but disclosing through selected leaks and not directly to Parliament and Canadians is very disrespectful of Sergeant Doiron and his family.

Will the minister commit to release these reports and appear before the defence committee to discuss them?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Armed Forces chose to conduct a summary investigation into Sergeant Doiron's death. It is thorough, but it is much less time consuming and will allow the Canadian Armed Forces to make any required changes much faster than through a normal board of inquiry.

On top of these two investigations, the United States, as coalition leader in Operation Impact, is also doing an independent investigation that will inform our investigations, and we will release those publicly very shortly.

Government Contracts

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, access to information requests show that IT contracts at the Department of Foreign Affairs frequently exceed budgets. According to La Presse, a $62,000 contract ended up ballooning to more than $400,000, and a $1 million contract exceeded almost double the cost that was budgeted. This is on top of an internal investigation into IT consultants fabricating time sheets.

Why is the Conservative government throwing money at high-priced consultants? What happened to transparency? What happened to oversight? Where is the accountability from the Conservative government?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member suggests is completely false.

The contracting process across government often includes option years which have a value of zero dollars up until the point that the option is actually exercised. Actual contract expenditures are always reported through the usual parliamentary processes, such as public accounts and the quarterly financial reports.

I know that is upsetting to the hon. member, but that is the way it works.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is utter nonsense. Not only have many of the IT contracts for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs gone way over budget, but additional costs are often higher than the initial contract amount. For example, there is a contract for $1.13 to which $770,000 was added.

What is a contract for $1.13? Is that a contract for a pack of gum? Can the minister tell us if this is abuse, favouritism or just Conservative mismanagement?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is not actually any of those. The hon. member has it completely wrong.

There are processes in place. As I indicated, all expenditures are reported through the usual parliamentary processes, such as the main estimates, public accounts and quarterly financial reports.

[An hon. member]

They don't read them.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Well, I guess if they do not read them, then they would not know about them.

Taxation

[John Carmichael, Conservative, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our government's low-tax plan is helping middle-class Canadian families balance their budgets while we balance ours. That is why we have introduced the family tax cut and enhanced universal child care benefit.

Would the Minister of Employment and Social Development please tell this House about the important announcement he made Friday on keeping more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadian families?

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

Mr. Speaker, I announced again the family tax-cut benefit which helps 100% of families keep more money. Today the Liberals announced that they would take that money away. They would replace a Conservative family tax cut with a Liberal family tax hike. They announced that they would raise taxes on those earning less than $60,000 a year who contribute the max to their tax-free savings accounts.

These are the tax increases they will admit. We know that their billions of dollars in uncosted spending promises would require many more taxes on the middle class.

International Aid

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last night I joined hundreds of Canadians at the candlelight vigil in Toronto to remember and honour the victims of the recent devastating earthquake in Nepal.

During the ceremony, the Nepalese community urged the federal government to commit to three concrete actions: one, substantially increase the current $10 million aid commitment; two, double the time for matching donations; three, ease the family reunification requirements for those affected by this terrible tragedy.

Will the government commit to these three clear requests?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie]

Mr. Speaker, we have been at the forefront of the global response. Canadians can be proud of this.

We have established a matching fund for humanitarian donations. We have made available supplies from Canada's emergency stockpiles in Mississauga and Dubai.

Canadian support is helping to provide safe drinking water and food to those in need, and is providing medical supplies and shelter, deploying a mobile hospital which will help up to 200 people a day, and deploying a DART assessment team.

Canadians are very much at the forefront of this crisis. We have an integrated approach, and we are making a difference on the ground.

Canada Post

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' cuts to Canada Post and the plan to phase out urban door-to-door mail delivery have been an outright disaster.

Instead of putting a stop to it, the Conservatives are allowing Canada Post to ignore city bylaws and railroad unwanted mailboxes into our communities. The City of Hamilton is taking Canada Post to court, just so it can have input on where those mailboxes go. Incredibly, Canada Post is going to court to strike down the bylaw.

Will the minister take responsibility, intervene and finally put a stop to this?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as part of their five-point plan to ensure self-sustainability, Canada Post is converting the last third of addresses to community mailboxes.

In siting these mailboxes in municipalities, it must work with the municipality. In fact, it sends out a survey to each and every homeowner who will be affected by the move to the community mailbox. It gets this information back and it is supposed to work with the municipalities.

We expect Canada Post to do exactly that, and to be sensitive to the needs of municipalities. With respect to the jurisdiction, however, that is a matter before the courts, and I expect that will be solved there.

National Defence

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence were recently in Iraq, where they met with Iraqi and Kuwaiti leaders about challenges in the region and reaffirmed Canada's role in the fight against ISIS.

Having been on the ground in Baghdad on a 2011 human rights issue, I can personally attest to the importance of our role in Iraq today. Can the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence give this House an update on our mission against the ISIS death cult?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government is very proud of the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces who are working to bring peace and stability to the region and keep Canadians safe.

I am pleased to inform the House that the Royal Canadian Air Force has now conducted over 800 sorties in the Iraq region. Our Canadian special operations forces continue to work with our allies in an advisory and assistance role by providing strategic and tactical advice to Iraqi forces.

On Saturday while visiting the region, the Prime Minister announced that we are providing Iraqi forces with bomb disposal robots and night vision goggles to help them degrade the terrorist ISIL's threat.

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers are unanimous in their opposition to the temporary foreign worker program reform. The reform does not take Quebec's unique circumstances into account. We are talking about jobs in agriculture as well as in engineering, high tech and medicine. The federal government is once again acting unilaterally. It could not care less about the impact of its decisions on the economy of Quebec and its regions. Things are so bad that companies are talking about relocating to the United States.

Can the government tell us if it will keep turning a deaf ear to Quebec's requests and let well-paid jobs go elsewhere?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong.

First of all, there is a specific program for the agricultural industry. Second, there are allocations for better-paid industries. In addition, our reform ensures that Quebeckers have priority for jobs in Quebec. We will never allow Quebeckers to be passed over in favour of a temporary foreign worker.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Couillard government, the National Assembly, the Quebec labour minister, the Conseil du patronat, unions, academics and research centres—everyone agrees that the government is headed in the wrong direction. Do the government and the minister understand that their actions suggest that they think they are right and everyone else is wrong?

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

Mr. Speaker, there are Quebeckers who are out of work. They should be first in line for jobs in Quebec. Perhaps the Bloc Québécois, the federal Liberals and the NDP believe that jobs in Quebec should be reserved for temporary foreign workers, but we will protect jobs for Quebeckers.

Forestry Industry

[Jean-François Fortin, Forces et Démocratie, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, private forests are facing a serious crisis. Over 200 jobs in forest management will be lost in eastern Quebec because the forestry job creation program has been eliminated. The situation is truly disastrous for the small communities that depend on forestry.

The Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec has already received an appeal from the Fédération des producteurs forestiers du Québec. That organization wrote a letter dated March 13, condemning the federal government's decision to no longer fund this key sector. They are asking for a mere $10 million over two years to help Quebec's private forest producers and all the affected local communities.

Will the minister listen to them?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, never in the history of Canada has a government done as much as we have for the forestry industry, and without raising taxes or interfering in other jurisdictions. Speaking of jurisdictions, there is no doubt that the NDP would like to centralize everything in Ottawa, but we respect the provinces and we will continue to work very hard. We also respect the fact that forest management is a provincial matter.

Public Works and Government Services

[Jean-François Fortin, Forces et Démocratie, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it will be five years next month since the federal government launched its shipbuilding procurement strategy. It has been five years and not a single ship has been built. In fact, the only thing progressing is the number of cost overruns and missed deadlines. Since some of these ships, including the icebreakers, urgently need to be replaced, why does Ottawa not fix the situation, stop turning up its nose at Quebec's shipyards and give them a share of the contracts to speed up the production of ships?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, our government is determined to provide our men and women of the armed forces with the equipment they need to do their jobs. Our national shipbuilding procurement strategy is expected to create 15,000 jobs with $2 billion in benefits every year. Nearly 200 businesses in Canada have already earned nearly $500 million in revenues.

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 table, in both official languages, the government's response to three petitions.