Debates of June 2nd, 2015

Aboriginal Affairs

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, our government has taken concrete steps to support first nations and in providing safe housing. Since 2006, our government's investments for on-reserve housing have resulted in the construction of close to 12,000 new homes and the renovation of nearly 22,000 existing homes in first nations communities.

While we continue to work in collaboration to improve first nations' quality of life and infrastructure on reserve, the opposition has voted against all of our aboriginal housing investments, all of our infrastructure investments on reserve, and everything we have done to improve the lives of people living on first nations reserves.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has called on the government to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Justice Murray Sinclair has described it as “the starting point for reconciliation”, but the Conservative government has steadfastly refused to implement the declaration, has voted against our bill, and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars fighting aboriginal rights in court.

Will the government listen to the commission, and will it finally implement the United Nations declaration?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, as has already been said, Canada is one of the only countries in the world where aboriginal rights are protected under the Constitution. We have endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as an aspirational document in strengthening the relationship between aboriginal Canadians and the government.

We will continue to take concrete measures, and we would ask that the opposition support our concrete measures to bring things like the same rights for women living on reserve, to bring the same water and waste water standards that other Canadians expect, and to bring the Canadian Human Rights Act on reserve. All of these things we have done, the opposition has opposed. It should get on board.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for too long first nations waited for redress for the injustices they suffered at Canada's residential schools. Students were forced to live in inhumane conditions, and many experienced abuse. Tragically, thousands never returned home. Today, survivors face social, psychological, and health barriers to overcoming the trauma. Yet too many first nation communities do not have access to quality health care.

Will the government finally close the gap in first nations' health outcomes and guarantee that survivors can access the medical care they require and so desperately need?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our government is very proud of the relationship Health Canada has with first nations. It has provided over $2.5 billion a year in health care on first nations reserves. In fact, we support $200-million worth of mental health services on reserve, and I am very proud to see in the latest budget a new investment in mental health task crisis teams that can go onto first nation reserves to support them at crisis times.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we need to bring the sad residential school legacy to an end. Far too many children were subject to heinous acts of abuse. More than 6,000 of them did not survive. Today, the survivors still suffer the effects of a stolen childhood. They suffer from health problems that also affect their families. They need help and support.

We have a moral obligation to provide that. Will the government take action and provide proper funding for aboriginal healing centres?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Again, Mr. Speaker, we are providing primary care, and most importantly, I think, mental health services on first nation reserves for families and children who require it. We have 24/7 access to essential nursing services in almost 80 remote communities across Canada, and we have home and community care in almost 500 first nation communities across Canada.

As I said, we have a very good relationship with first nations, especially when it comes to mental health services.

[Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, NDP, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this is the legacy of the residential schools: more than 150,000 children forced to abandon their culture and their language; thousands of cases of abuse, humiliation and heinous acts; mothers and fathers who never saw their children again after they were taken from their arms; more than 6,000 children dead—a mortality rate similar to that of the Second World War; and intergenerational trauma that is still present today.

We have a moral obligation to take action. Will the government finally show some leadership and support the first nations?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly thank the residential school survivors for their strength and courage in sharing their stories with the commission and with all Canadians. Our government remains committed to a fair and lasting resolution to the legacy of Indian residential schools.

As acknowledged in the Prime Minister's historic apology on behalf of all Canadians in 2008, there is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian residential school system to ever prevail again. Our government will continue to move forward in the spirit of reconciliation and to take concrete measures to improve the living conditions of aboriginal people.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the House apologized to the generation of the residential school survivors, but who will make it right for this generation? We have schools that are crippled by the 2% funding cap, children scooped from their families into a broken child welfare system, a minister who refuses to provide support to fight youth suicide and then blamed their parents.

Children have only one childhood. It is a resource too precious to be squandered. The government broke its commitment to close the education funding gap. In the spirit of reconciliation, will it address the education crisis today and make it right for this generation of indigenous children?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, I reject much of the premise of that question.

Our government remains committed to a fair and lasting resolution to the legacy of Indian residential schools, and as acknowledged in the Prime Minister's historic apology on behalf of all Canadians in 2008, there is no place for the attitudes that led to the Indian residential school system. We will continue to make significant investments in aboriginal education. In the last budget, $200 million more was committed to aboriginal education. The Prime Minister committed $500 million to first nations' schooling infrastructure, and we will continue to work with first nation parents, teachers, schools, and leaders to improve the quality of education on reserve.

Pensions

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives have always hated the Canada pension plan. They voted against its creation in 1965 and have voted against improving it every time since, but no Conservative hates it more than the Prime Minister. He actively campaigned to eliminate it entirely and actually demanded that Alberta opt out of it, while his closest adviser referred to it as a Ponzi scheme.

As the Prime Minister raises the retirement age and slashes numerous benefits, how can Canadians possibly trust him to safeguard the Canada pension plan?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, we know what the Liberal policy is on the Canada pension plan. Their leader was very clear. He said:

We're looking at an expansion and a mandatory expansion of the CPP of the type that [Premier] Kathleen Wynne put forward in Ontario.

For someone who earns $60,000 a year, the Liberal policy is a massive tax hike. While we are letting middle-class Canadians choose how they spend and save their money, the Liberal leader's only solution is raising taxes. A $1,000 tax increase Canadians do not--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Malpeque.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, it is actually time for an answer from the Minister of Finance. Nobody should believe for a minute that the government had a grand conversion and is committed to strengthening the Canada pension plan.

Is it not true that this new voluntary scheme is just a stepping stone to a completely voluntary pension plan, as proposed by the Prime Minister when he was president of the National Citizens Coalition?

As step one, they are stealing two years of income from low--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. Members need to come to order when the member for Malpeque is asking a question.

I see the Minister of State (Finance) rising to answer.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Again, Mr. Speaker, the Liberal leader does not have a stepping stone; he has a springboard, a springboard to higher taxes. He was very clear. He said what the Liberal Party is looking for is “an expansion and a mandatory expansion of the CPP of the type that [Premier] Kathleen Wynne put forward in Ontario”.

Again, that means, for the income earner earning $60,000 a year, a $1,000 tax hike. For a two-income family, it means thousands of dollars in extra taxes. The Liberal leader's only solution is raising taxes.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, let us get to the facts. Step one, the Conservatives are stealing--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Malpeque.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

The facts are, Mr. Speaker, step one, the Conservatives are stealing two years of income from low-income seniors.

Now, step two, they want to make the Canada pension plan just optional. All we need to do is look at the Prime Minister's so-called firewall letter, where he stated, “Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan”.

Is this new scheme to go voluntary not just to over time make the Canada pension plan optional? Why will the government not tell the truth?

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Minister of State (Finance)]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talks about step one and step two. We know the Liberal leader's step one is a tax increase. His step two is getting rid of the universal child care benefit. He was clear. He said that the Liberal party is looking at a mandatory tax increase and adjustment of the CPP of the type Kathleen Wynne put forward in Ontario.

For someone earning $60,000, that step is a high step toward yet higher taxes. It is a step Canadians cannot afford.

National Defence

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has named the members of his new procurement body, but he has not said why he is setting up yet another layer of bureaucracy to help distance himself from responsibility for his government's repeated failures on military procurement. We have had a decade of Conservative mismanagement, and our military is contending with delayed, over-budget, and underperforming equipment.

What Canadians want to see from this minister is some accountability for this failure, not more ways to divvy up responsibility. When will the minister take real action to fix this broken process?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of National Defence and Minister for Multiculturalism]

Mr. Speaker, the question itself demonstrates how unserious the NDP is with respect to military procurement.

Virtually every expert in the country on these matters agrees that it will help to accelerate procurement to have a challenge function early in the process, where an external body of experts can consult with industry and others to ensure that platforms are available and that the statements of demand from the military are realistic and affordable before proceeding with procurement decisions, to avoid years of wasted time at the end of the process.

However, on every one of these procurements, the New Democrats have been opposed. Their own leader in 2010 criticized this government for spending too much on the military.

We will not take any advice from the NDP when it comes to supporting procurement.