Debates of June 5th, 2015

The Environment

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, our government has announced a fair and ambitious target for Canada, and it is in line with international industrialized countries. We plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below the 2005 levels by 2030, and will continue to take actions.

We recently announced three sectors that we will continue to regulate: reduce the methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, regulate the production of chemical nitrogen fertilizers and regulate emissions from natural-gas-fired electricity.

This is in addition to the actions that we took in the traditional coal-fired electricity sector and in the transportation sector.

Ethics

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his office are embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Senate. The upper chamber has become a real embarrassment for the Conservatives and the Liberals. Canadians are fed up with paying for all these illegal expenses. The Conservative champion of law and order, who was appointed by this Prime Minister, is now under investigation by the RCMP. We know that the PMO staff are up to their necks in this scandal.

What happened to the promise this Prime Minister made 10 years ago to clean up Parliament?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, it was the Senate that actually invited in the Auditor General to review its expenses, and we expect that senators will continue to co-operate in that process.

At the same time, we know that it is the New Democrats who owe $2.7 million to the Canadian taxpayers. In fact, this member herself took $30,000 that was meant for her riding and redistributed it to an illegal office in Montreal, against the rules of this House, and now refuses to pay back the taxpayers. I hope that she and the other 67 members will do the right thing and pay taxpayers back.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister appointed Senator Housakos as Speaker of the Senate, but today, he and his colleagues, Senator Carignan and Senator Cowan, have just been singled out by the Auditor General's report.

They took charge of the Senate committee that deals with the report and will be the ones to set up the arbitration process. This is an absolute farce. The foxes have been put in charge of the henhouse.

How can the minister be okay with this abuse of power?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the Senate invited the Auditor General in and we expect all senators to continue to participate in this process. It is unfortunate that this member refuses to participate in reimbursing the Canadian taxpayer the over $30,000 that the member owes to the taxpayer.

For some reason, this member, along with 67 other members of the NDP caucus, took money out of their ridings, money meant for their constituents, and redirected it to an illegal partisan party office in Montreal, and now they are refusing to pay back the taxpayer of Canada. They should do it. Repay.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is no wonder these Conservatives have to recreate reality.

We are talking about repeated abuse of taxpayer dollars. With Conservative and Liberal senators submitting travel claims that were not really all about Senate business, these expenses were for partisan and personal events, where senators were campaigning on the public dime. Canadians are sick and tired of these appointed party cronies treating the Senate like an election slush fund.

Why are the Conservatives covering up for this dysfunctional institution?

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

Mr. Speaker, it was the Senate that invited in the Auditor General to review all expenses.

At the same time, we know that the NDP caucus members, 68 of them, owe the Canadian taxpayers $2.7 million. The Leader of the Opposition himself owes $400,000 to the taxpayers. This summer the 68 of them are going to be squished into the defendant's box in the court trying to explain to the taxpayers why they refuse to pay back the money they owe them. Pay the $2.7 million back.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Oh, the desperate need for a smokescreen, Mr. Speaker.

The Prime Minister's Office has been on the inside of the Senate expense scandal from the beginning. The coverup of the Duffy spending scandal was orchestrated by the PMO. The Conservatives knew full well what their Senate cronies were up to because they were the ones who invited these senators to partisan fundraisers. The Conservative MPs here enabled the corruption of Conservative senators over there.

How can the Prime Minister continue to maintain he is innocent when all the evidence points back to his office?

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

Again, Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. The only person who has done enabling is the actual Leader of the Opposition, who hatched a scheme out of the office of the Leader of the Opposition to take funds of the Canadian taxpayers, funds meant for 68 members' ridings, and funnel them to an illegal office in Montreal. Now they owe the taxpayers $2.7 million. They are refusing to pay that money back. I hope they will do the right thing and pay back the taxpayers.

Do not spend your summer in court defending why it is that you refuse to pay them back. Just simply pay the taxpayer back.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I would remind the parliamentary secretary to direct his comments to the Chair and not to other members across the floor.

The hon. member for Toronto—Danforth.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Senate is in total disrepute. Even former Conservative prime minister Mulroney agrees that the Senate is facing an unprecedented crisis.

The Auditor General's report will confirm just how deep the rot runs. It has never been clearer that it is not only possible but it is necessary to abolish the Senate. The Supreme Court has told us how, so will the Minister for Democratic Reform tell us whether the Conservatives will finally let Canadians get rid of this thoroughly discredited institution?

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

Mr. Speaker, we went to the Supreme Court to find out how we could get rid of the Senate, how we could abolish it, and, in fact, NDP provincial governments argued against doing so during those very same proceedings. The court has now said that it would require the unanimous approval of all 10 provinces and so far, that consensus has not come from the provinces, but if the provinces do bring that forward, then we will support it.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, every year, the Conservative government intentionally underspends in excess of $200 million. This is now five years in a row that has taken place.

Every member of this chamber, I am sure, is aware of the many reserves that rely on boiling their water in order to have drinking water. Many reserves are on an advisory. Every member is aware of the deficiencies in education within the reserves.

How does the Conservative government justify stealing over $200 million a year in the past five years when the needs are so great in Canada's first nations—

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

Order. I remind all members that they have 35 seconds to ask their questions and not a minute.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.

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

Mr. Speaker, of course, that member does know that lapsed funding is not money that has disappeared. In fact, 97% of that funding was carried forward to future years and spent on a wide range of programs.

Every time we spend money on aboriginal programming or aboriginal infrastructure in this House, whether it is for waste water treatment, water treatment, education, or to give women on reserve the same rights as women living off reserve, we can count on the Liberal Party to vote against it.

Government Advertising

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, $30 million could provide 300 affordable housing units, one million bus passes to seniors on a pension, summer jobs for 9,000 students, and 20 million breakfasts in our elementary schools to children who go hungry, as well as reopen nine veterans' service centres. How does the Prime Minister explain spending $30 million on 10,000 blue Conservative vanity ads?

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

Mr. Speaker, we are informing parents about the benefits that we are providing them. In fact, the Prime Minister just increased the universal child care benefit by nearly $2,000 for each child under 6 and $720 for each child 6 through 17.

The Liberals want to take that benefit away from families. In the meantime, the Liberal leader just announced that he wants to add an extra $1,000 to every worker's tax bill through a pension scheme proposed by Kathleen Wynne, in Ontario. We are against that idea and we will keep reducing taxes.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, here is what $30 million can buy: 15 MRI machines; 500 registered nurses or 900 personal support worker salaries for one year; 10,000 hip, knee and cataract surgeries; 4,250 insulin pumps for our kids coping with type 1 diabetes; 15,000 doses of chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients; 46,500 injections to treat osteoporosis.

In the face of so many needs, how can the Prime Minister justify spending $30 million on 10,000 obscene Conservative blue vanity billboards?

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

Mr. Speaker, we communicate with Canadians about the benefits that the government is providing. For example, the Prime Minister has recently increased the universal child care benefit to almost $2,000 a year for each child under 6 and $720 for each child 6 through 17.

The Liberals have not only announced that they would take the universal child care benefit away, but just last week the Liberal leader announced a plan to increase taxes by $1,000 on every worker who earns $60,000. The small business employing that worker would also have to pay the same $1,000 payroll tax. That will kill jobs and set families back, and that is why we do not support it.

Infrastructure

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, many Canadians face long commutes made worse by overcrowded transit and crumbling roads and bridges. Liberal and Conservative governments have left our cities with a staggering $170-billion infrastructure deficit. They downloaded costs and failed to keep pace with the funding needs.

This week, mayors from across the country are coming together to demand real federal investment in our cities; funds to cut commute times, boost local economies and make our cities more livable.

New Democrats are ready to partner with our municipal leaders to invest in our cities. Why are the Conservatives not?

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government is making record investments in infrastructure under the ten-year new building Canada plan. We will invest $80 billion over the next decade. We are making record investments in federal infrastructure. We are providing unprecedented support to municipalities and provinces to help them meet their infrastructure needs.

These investments will renew infrastructure, create jobs, and enhance the quality of life for Canadians.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, decades of negligence by the Conservative and Liberal governments have led to a $172 billion deficit in municipal infrastructure. That is not trivial. Our cities, such as Quebec City, need investment in order to improve the quality of life of their citizens. The best example is the Quebec Bridge, a file that has been dragging on for far too long.

By increasing transfers, in a stable and predictable way, the NDP is committed to being a reliable partner to our cities.

Why do the Conservatives keep ignoring the real needs of our cities?

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, under the leadership of our Prime Minister, Canada has consistently led all G7 countries with respect to investments in infrastructure as a rate of GDP.

We are seeing unprecedented support being provided to municipalities through the gas tax fund, which our government has doubled. We have extended it, made it permanent, and indexed it moving forward. Many of these commitments go specifically to public transit. We have also, in our recent budget, established the public transit fund.

There is unprecedented support from municipalities and provinces across the country.

Tourism Industry

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Tourism Week ends tomorrow, as Montreal welcomes thousands of tourists for the Grand Prix. However, it is disturbing to note that, since 2002, Canada has fallen from 7th to 16th when it comes to the number of international visitors we get each year. The Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism was proud of the fact that he cut $22 million from the funding allocated to Destination Canada, the organization that promotes Canada abroad.

Why are the Conservatives abandoning our tourism industry and businesses?

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Minister of State (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario)]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, marketing investments by Destination Canada, formerly the Canadian tourism commission, are paying off. Since January 2014, overnight trips to Canada have increased by over 10%.

As announced by the Prime Minister on May 22, the government is investing another $30 million over three years to Destination Canada's connecting America marketing plan. This kind of funding is needed, but the NDP votes against it every time.