Debates of June 4th, 2015

Employment

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

Mr. Speaker, in this fragile global economy, the last thing we need is a tax increase, but that is exactly what the Liberals and the NDP propose. They want a new $1,000 payroll tax on every worker earning $60,000 a year. Small businesses would be forced to pay that same $1,000. That would kill jobs, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Our low-tax plan has created 1.2 million net new jobs. This week, Stats Canada confirmed that Canadians are enjoying higher net worth than ever before.

The Economy

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, economists hardly ever predict recessions, but when, as is the case today, they downgrade their GDP forecast to a miserable 1.5%, that is economist shorthand that recession and deficits may well be looming.

When the facts change, responsible governments change their policies. Will the government confront this new reality, bring in a new fiscal update before this session ends, and most important, come up with a real plan for jobs and growth?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals want the government to bring in Kathleen Wynne's new payroll tax. That would be the only new plan they put forward. They want the average worker who earns $60,000 a year to pay a brand new $1,000 tax, and the employer would be forced to match it. That would force a lot of employers to cut wages and lay people off.

We are going to do the opposite. We have cut taxes for every Canadian. We just brought in a family tax cut and benefits, which help 100% of households with kids. We are putting money directly in the pockets of Canadians.

Public Service of Canada

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians want a government that respects their tax dollars but also respects the public service. The government is doing neither by making a joke of the collective bargaining process and refusing to provide any evidence that this will make employees healthier or save the taxpayer money.

Will the minister start respecting the collective bargaining process so that the public service can feel confident that any deal reached on sick leave will be fair and honest?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the hon. member that indeed we are continuing to bargain with the bargaining agent representing the public sector, but I would remind the hon. member, perhaps he is not aware of this, that the current system, which has 14.7 million banked sick days, in fact does not even help employees who have catastrophic illness early on in their careers. Sixty per cent of federal public servant employees do not have enough sick days under the current system to help them when they need it most.

We need a fair system for public servants and a fair system for taxpayers.

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board knows that the $900 million is phony.

The minister likes to talk about fair and reasonable. Is if fair and reasonable to trample on bargaining rights? Is it fair and reasonable just to prop up his $900-million phony budget application? Is it fair and reasonable to steal away from workers something that was negotiated at the bargaining table? Is it fair and reasonable to try to mislead this House and Canadians about the integrity and character of our public service?

We see nothing fair nor reasonable about the actions of this minister.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, I think there were ten questions in there, but I will try to focus the hon. member a little bit and indicate, of course, that we are still at the bargaining table, as I mentioned.

Perhaps I already mentioned that there are 14.7 million banked sick days in place right now, but it is not working for the public servants who need it most. We need a system that is fair and reasonable for them and fair and reasonable for the taxpayers.

The hon. member is clearly on the side of being the shill for the bargaining agents we are bargaining with. That is his right if he wants to do so. We want to have a fair and reasonable plan for the taxpayers.

Public Safety

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

Mr. Speaker, the crisis of sexual harassment in the RCMP has shocked Canadians. It is abhorrent that hundreds of women, maybe more, were subjected to discrimination, harassment, bullying, and even assault, all while trying to protect other Canadians.

These women deserve justice, yet the government has sent its lawyers to fight to get their case thrown out of court.

Does the minister honestly believe that the government has no responsibility for what happened to these women?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, our government, of course, takes the issue of discrimination and sexual harassment very seriously. All RCMP members and employees should feel safe and respected among their colleagues and superiors. Canadians have the right to expect professional and exemplary conduct from their national police service.

As this matter is currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on this case.

[Rosane Doré Lefebvre, NDP, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are not taking this matter seriously at all. Today we learned that the government asked the B.C. Supreme Court to reject the class action lawsuit filed by 375 women against the RCMP.

Instead of taking action against violence, bullying and sexual harassment, the Conservatives would rather sabotage women who blow the whistle on unacceptable behaviour.

Can the minister explain why the government would rather block the class action lawsuit than work to find solutions?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that all members of the RCMP be free to face the daily unexpected challenges of a day's work without harassment and without fear of mistreatment by co-workers and their superiors. As I just said, this matter is before the courts, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on this case.

Privacy Protection

[Rosane Doré Lefebvre, NDP, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today, with Bill C-59, the Conservatives want to collect biometric data on visitors with visas from over 151 countries.

The Privacy Commissioner was very clear about this. When the government collects that much information, special precautions are required to protect privacy and prevent the theft of personal information, especially considering the Conservatives' record on this, which is downright disastrous.

Will the Conservatives come up with additional measures to protect privacy?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we consulted the Privacy Commissioner and accepted all of his recommendations. These new measures will not even apply to Canadians. These measures are necessary to protect Canada from threats, including terrorism.

We are well aware that the NDP does not want to do anything about that, that it does not want to do anything with our armed forces in Iraq and Syria, that it does not want to do anything to revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists, and that it does not want to do anything to cancel the passports of terrorists and people seeking to travel to Iraq and Syria. Everyone knows that the NDP's record on this is very poor.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister can crank up the fear machine, but what we are talking about here is gathering biometric data on 2.9 million people within just a few years and making it harder for tourists, family members, and business people to visit Canada.

Can the minister tell us if he has consulted the immigrant, tourism, or business communities on this proposal? Can he tell us how this data will be protected from the Conservatives' atrocious record on data breaches? Can he tell us who the data will be shared with? On this point, at least, he has to be clear. Will the data be passed on to other security agencies in the United States?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we consulted the Privacy Commissioner, and we accepted all of the recommendations that came. These measures will not be applied to Canadians, and we are, in fact, by doing these things, catching up with many of our allies, like the United States, like the United Kingdom, like Australia, and like other European countries that have had these measures in place for a long time.

The New Democrats are clear that they want to do nothing to protect this country from terrorism. They want to do nothing to revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists, nothing to enhance the authority of CSIS to protect us, nothing to do what needs to be done in a world where terrorism is a serious threat. The New Democrats are irresponsible on these and other issues.

Taxation

[John Barlow, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada recently released some new data showing that many Canadian families are seeing their net worth increase under our government. I would like to ask the Minister of Employment and Social Development to update this House on what the low-tax policies of our government are doing to improve the lives of Canadian families.

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

Mr. Speaker, while both the NDP and Liberal Party have announced they support Kathleen Wynne's plan to bring in a $1,000 payroll tax on the average worker in Canada, we have done exactly the opposite. Our low-tax plan is not only creating jobs, it is raising the net worth of the average Canadian family. In fact, the bottom 20% of income earners have seen their net worth increase by 38% since 1999.

The overwhelming majority of our tax-relief measures have gone directly into the pockets of modest- and middle-income families. We are lifting people up by rewarding their hard work with low taxes.

Access to Information

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I smell another video coming.

The Information Commissioner of Canada, Suzanne Legault, has already warned the government that the retroactive amendments to the Access to Information Act set out in Bill C-59 set “a perilous precedent against Canadians' quasi-constitutional right to know”. However, the government chose to ignore her.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ms. Legault recently filed an order in Federal Court to prevent the Conservatives from destroying the data.

Why is the government stubbornly refusing to listen to the commissioner?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, first, we reject any claim that the RCMP did anything wrong by following the express will of this House, of Parliament, to destroy the data from the long gun registry.

Our Conservative government fulfilled its commitment to the Canadian public to end the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry once and for all, and we will make no apologies to any member of the NDP for ensuring that the will of Parliament is followed.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Information Commissioner is taking the government to court over its attempt to legalize the illegal destruction of documents, and she is calling it a “perilous precedent”. She says that it sets the stage for future coverups and government wrongdoing, including electoral fraud and scandal.

Undermining independent officers of Parliament is nothing new for the government, but it is actually trying to retroactively fabricate the will of Parliament to aid in its latest coverup.

Why is it so hell-bent on creating a legislative black hole to send public information to disappear and die?

[Roxanne James, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, again, we reject any claim that the RCMP did anything wrong by following the express will of Parliament, but it is interesting that the NDP continues to bring up this question, because the NDP, if ever given a chance, would bring that long gun registry back with everything else.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, what was that? That was the sputtering of a once mighty political machine that has just run out of gas.

Speaking of which, we are learning now from media that key Liberal and Conservative senators who are handling the political fallout of the Auditor General's report are actually implicated in the scandal. This is unacceptable. The Prime Minister promised Canadians that he would bring reform. He failed. His own office is implicated in the scandal.

What steps will the government take to reassure Canadians that justice will be done with the upper chamber and to ensure that full transparency will be brought to this issue?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, it was the Senate that invited in the Auditor General to review senators' expenses. As we have said right from the beginning, we expect that all senators would co-operate and assist the Auditor General.

At the same time, we know that the NDP owes $2.7 million to the Canadian taxpayers. There are some 68 members of that caucus who will be spending their summer in the defendant's box at court trying to explain to Canadians why they refuse to pay back the $2.7 million they owe them.

The member for Scarborough Southwest owes $141,000. He is part of the--

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Order, please.

The hon. member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, fortunately this Parliament is coming to an end, because we can only endure so many platitudes from the other side of the House.

Today, we learned—and this is very serious—that prominent politicians, key members of the Senate, both Liberal and Conservative, will be targeted in the Auditor General's upcoming report. The Conservatives promised us a transparent, open and accountable government. That is not what we got. Conservative senators are going to be singled out in this report, and that is in addition to senators Duffy, Brazeau, Wallin and all others that the Prime Minister appointed.

What are the Conservatives going to do to bring accountability and transparency back to this Parliament? What are they going to do for Canadians? What are they going to do for taxpayers?