Debates of June 8th, 2015

Infrastructure

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, we work with the municipalities more than the NDP does. The New Democrats are making promises, but we are keeping promises. I would like to remind my colleague that 96% of our country's infrastructure belongs to the municipalities and provinces. We have been their partner since 2006. No other government has invested as much as ours in infrastructure, while respecting jurisdictions.

The NDP wants to centralize decision making in Ottawa. We are working with our partners while respecting their jurisdictions.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, recently the Conservative MP for Calgary Centre decided that the best way to fix the lack of needed funding for her city was not to fight for more help but to attack the mayor of Calgary. She lectured that he should hurry up and get on with applications for new federal dollars.

Here is a news flash. Calgary has applied three times. Two of them the Conservatives rejected, and the third one they are sitting on it. No wonder Mayor Nenshi said that the Conservative approach “doesn't make any sense at all”.

Rather than attacking Canadian mayors, rather than just representing Ottawa talking points in their home towns, why do Conservatives not work with the mayors, work with the NDP, and fight for the people who actually sent them here?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, while we were building the new building Canada plan, we held 13 round tables across the country. One organization was been invited to all of them, the FCM, which was there at the table with us, and we continue to work with it.

As the member knows, a provincial election in Alberta just happened, but we continue to work—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. I think the opposition was a little early with its applause. I do not know that the minister is finished. If members could just applaud when he is finished answering the question, I am sure the minister would appreciate it.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as is our habit, we will respect the provincial jurisdiction and work with the governments of the provinces.

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

Mr. Speaker, we heard the Minister of Finance this week. He said that it was risky and reckless to invest any more in our cities. Well, we saw the evidence this morning of both Liberal and Conservative neglect of public transit in our country. Our largest city was shut down by a subway system failure, leaving hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded.

We have a plan to get transit moving in towns and cities across the country. Will the Conservatives get on board with the NDP's practical plan for public transit?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Minister of Infrastructure]

Mr. Speaker, it is exactly what I said a moment ago. The NDP wants to manage on behalf of the municipalities and provinces. We would have to manage day-to-day transit across the country. This is what the NDP thinks, but it is not what we will do. We will transfer the money to the provinces and municipalities, and work with them, not on behalf of them.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, since the Senate expense scandal rocked the Prime Minister's Office, the Conservatives have been trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and new makeshift ethics expert has still not answered our questions. We will give him another chance.

After Senator Housakos was personally appointed as Speaker of the Senate by the Prime Minister, did the Prime Minister's Office give him strategic advice to minimize the damage of the expense scandal?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said on a number of occasions, it was the Senate that invited the Auditor General to review the expenses of senators. What we understand is this. When one makes a mistake, if it is a deliberate mistake, one should pay it back.

Of course the NDP's mistake was not deliberate. It set out a scheme that was hatched in the office of the Leader of the Opposition to take money out of the ridings of the different members of Parliament to the tune of $2.7 million. The NDP members have been ordered to pay that back to their constituents, and they refuse to do that. Instead, they will be spending the summer in court explaining to Canadians why they refuse to pay them back the $2.7 million they owe them. They should just pay it back.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister still refuses to answer, but it is clear that his office was directly involved at all stages of the scandal. Canadians deserve to know once and for all whether the Prime Minister's Office is still deeply involved in the Senate expense scandal.

The Conservative Speaker of the Senate, the Conservative leader and the Liberal leader, who were all identified by the Auditor General in his report on Senate spending, have implemented an appeal process to defend themselves. This process was put in place by the very people who will use it. Does the Prime Minister agree with this type of process?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Senate will respond to the Auditor General's report tomorrow.

What is very clear is that the member who talks about ethics in the Senate owes the Canadian taxpayers $27,111, part of a $2.7 million bill that 68 members of the NDP owe the people of Canada. The member is refusing to pay the residents in her community back, just as all the other 67 members of the NDP caucus have. What they should do is look at their constituents and pay them back the $2.7 million they owe them.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister came to Ottawa promising strong rules to improve accountability in the Senate. Now the Conservatives have abandoned any reform.

The Prime Minister appointed Senator Housakos as speaker. The senator then immediately started working with Liberals, behind closed doors, to devise a new system so senators could appeal the Auditor General's findings.

Was the Prime Minister aware when he appointed him that Senator Housakos was making up new rules after learning he was to be named in the Auditor General's report?

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

Mr. Speaker, the senator has already answered that question.

However, the question that has not been answered is why 68 members of the NDP caucus participated in a scheme, hatched by the Leader of the Opposition, to take money out of the ridings of various members of Parliament and funnel it to an illegal politically partisan office in Montreal.

If reports are to be understood, the Senate expenses are about $1 million. The NDP owes $2.7 million to the Canadian taxpayers. If it is wrong for the Senate, and when taxpayer money is abused it is wrong, then it is also wrong for these 68 members of Parliament to refuse to pay taxpayers back.

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

Mr. Speaker, the New Democratic Party remains the only party in the House that is pushing for reform and accountability.

Canadians are outraged by the magnitude of the scandal and look to the House for leadership. They do not expect it from the Senate, where we see that the men who are charged with the Senate review are actually named in the report. In fact, a Conservative senator said that Canadians owe him thanks and the Liberal senate leader has been attacking the work of the Auditor General. There is no accountability and no contrition.

Here is a simple reform step. Why do we not just cut off the tap to the trough, insist on higher ethical standards from them and bring some accountability to that disgraced institution?

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

Mr. Speaker, of course we understand that the NDP has absolutely no respect for the Canadian constitution and it actually has no respect for the Canadian taxpayer.

If they had respect for the Canadian taxpayer, the New Democrats would be able to look at themselves and say that they have used $2.7 million of taxpayer resources inappropriately, and they would pay it back. However, they are refusing to do that to the point where they are going to have to go to court. Sixty-eight of them will be squeezed into the defendant's box all summer explaining to their constituents why they refuse to pay them back the money they owe them.

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

Mr. Speaker, with answers like that, after the next election I suggest the member for Oak Ridges—Markham give his resume to Sepp Blatter.

Rather than be the defenceman of blather, let us talk about the defence of change. If he wants to clean up the House, let us get rid of that Board of Internal Economy. Let us bring in the Auditor General to look at oversight and mechanics. Let us start to deal with the corruption over there.

Instead, he stands up and defends the indefensible time and time again. What happened to the Prime Minister who promised Canadians that he would clean up that House of ill repute in the upper chamber?

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

Mr. Speaker, that is a New Democratic Party that owes three times as much as the Auditor General has apparently identified in the Senate, $2.7 million.

That is an NDP member who in the last election went to his constituents and said that he would vote to cancel the long gun registry then came to this place, broke his word to his constituents and voted to maintain it. He now supports a leader of the opposition who wants to bring that back.

When it comes to accountability and ethics, the member has nothing to talk about.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. I will ask members to try to come to order. I know it is the first day back after a weekend, but we are going to be in rough shape on Wednesday if this progresses.

The hon. member for Toronto Centre.

International Trade

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, despite celebratory announcements in October and December of 2013, and then again in August and September of 2014, the CETA deal is still not done. Last September's premature party alone cost hard-working Canadian taxpayers nearly half a million dollars.

The government cynically boasts about the number of deals it has signed, but the grim reality is record high trade deficits of $3 billion and $3.9 billion in March and April. When will the government finally scrap its tired talking points and tell us when CETA will be finished?

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, no government has done more to advance Canada's trade interests than this Conservative government. Our government has concluded free trade agreements with 38 different countries, with many more to come.

Had the member actually reviewed the statistics she quoted, she would have found that, if we factor out the decline in energy prices, our exports are actually up 6.2%, year over year. On our manufacturing related statistics, our sectors have posted double-digit export gains.

We will take no lessons from the NDP when it comes to trade.

The Environment

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in response to strong pressure from the G7 countries, the Prime Minister was less than willingly persuaded to sign on to an agreement on global greenhouse gas emissions. According to some reports, Canada appears to have blocked a more ambitious agreement.

Why should our G7 partners believe in the Conservative government's good faith considering that its previous commitments have been unreliable and its action on climate change so late in the game and unconvincing?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, the G7 released a strong, unanimous statement on climate change. We have significantly increased our support for initiatives that reduce pollutants and improve air quality for Canadians. In addition, we will invest $1 billion in public transit every year.

What do the Liberals and New Democrats want to do? They want to want to increase taxes for middle-class families, put Canada back into the red and implement a job-killing carbon tax.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century, barely.

After immense pressure from the G7 leadership, he reluctantly agreed to a communique that would get Canada out of fossil fuels by the end of the century. However, his minister only has a target of 225 megatonnes by 2030. She seems awfully keen on mini-tonnes, however, on fugitive methane emissions from oil, gas and fertilizer sectors.

Since fugitive emissions are relatively small potatoes in the emissions profile, what is her plan for the rest?