House of Commons Hansard #9 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was riding.
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, Iran has a long history as a bad actor in the Middle East. Iran provides military assistance to the Assad regime in Syria. Iran's supreme leader routinely threatens the destruction of Israel. Reopening our Canadian mission in Tehran would put Canadian foreign service workers at risk.
Will the government abandon plans to normalize relations with Iran and keep sanctions in place?
Stéphane Dion LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, with the misleading approach of the former government, Canada is not in Iran. It is not good for the people of Iran, it is not good for the promotion of human rights, it is not good for our strategic interests in the region, it is not good for Israel. It is good for nobody. We will change this policy.
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Mr. Speaker, we have seen that Iran is very selective in the way it protects foreign diplomatic missions.
I am wondering whether the Minister of Foreign Affairs is more willing today than yesterday to explicitly condemn the incitement by Palestinian leaders for deadly attacks against Israeli civilians. I wonder whether the minister's reluctance has anything to do with his stated intention that Canada return to be an honest broker in the Middle East, a return to the discredited Liberal philosophy of moral equivalence of Palestinian terrorists and Israeli victims.
Will the minister stand today and condemn the incitement?
Stéphane Dion LiberalMinister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Speaker, Canada has been, is, and will always be a friend of Israel. What will not happen any more is the attempt by the opposition, the Conservative Party, to make it a partisan issue in Canada.
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal affirmed today what aboriginal communities have known for far too long: first nations children living on reserve receive less help than other Canadian children. The Minister of Justice did everything she could to derail the process and to deny the reality facing so many children.
Will the Minister of Justice tell us today that she will not appeal this historic decision?
This is a simple question that requires a yes or no answer.
Jody Wilson-Raybould LiberalMinister of Justice
Mr. Speaker, as I said, the judgment is 180 pages. We are undertaking to do our due diligence and review that decision, but I cannot anticipate anything within that decision that would cause me to file for judicial review. This is about equality. Our government is committed to equality and to taking, assisting, and working with first nations to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, the eyes of the children are on Parliament as they look to us to see how we are going to end the policies that have led to too many indigenous families broken up, too many children denied access to everything from emergency dental care to proper wheelchairs. For indigenous children in this country, this is how the system works. The government is balancing the books on children who are considered not worthy of protecting.
My question is for the President of the Treasury Board. This is a legally binding rule. What is his plan to weed out the systemic negligence that runs through all the key departments of the federal government? What is his plan for action?
Carolyn Bennett LiberalMinister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question and his advocacy.
As we know, every member of this government and every minister has in their mandate letters the relationship with first nations, Inuit, and Métis people as a very serious issue. We take very seriously the absolutely devastating report of the tribunal today. All members of this government will work tirelessly to make sure to right the wrongs of the past and make sure that every indigenous child in this country has an equal start in life.
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary budget officer is reporting that Canadian households actually carry the highest debt load in the G7. He says this is of concern because it actually creates a situation where Canadians are more vulnerable to economic shocks, like losing their jobs. This applies to Canadian households. It also applies to our country.
Who is going to max out our country's credit cards on a spending spree? It is going to be the finance minister. Why is the government abandoning any fiscal sense in the form of common sense?
François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. The government wants to ensure that household finances remain strong and that household debt is manageable. We are obviously monitoring the household debt ratio and many other indicators. The government recently took action by requiring larger down payments, in order to address vulnerability and potential risks in the housing sector. Those are the kinds of measures that will help grow the middle class.
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Mr. Speaker, this cannot be a situation of “do as I say, not as I do”. The Liberals are clearly saying that there is a problem with respect to Canadian household debt, buy they are failing to recognize that there is going to be a real problem with our country's debt if they are going to go on with this spending spree.
One way to figure out what is going on in the country is to have finance committee pre-budget consultations, as per the mandate of a parliamentary committee. None are on the horizon.
It is a very simple question for the government. Yes or no, are we going to have a finance committee pre-budget consultation?
François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to report that, with the Minister of Finance, we went from coast to coast and met with thousands of Canadians. Canadians have asked us to invest in innovation, productivity and to look at infrastructure and exports.
I am pleased to report to the House that thousands of people have also made submissions online. More than 120,000 people have interacted with us online.
Canadians want us to invest in the economy, and that is exactly what we will do for Canadians.
Phil McColeman Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are losing their jobs, they are holding back investments, and they are on the edge about their financial futures. Yet, all we hear are Liberal plans for massive spending, saying that their deficits could go as high as $30 billion.
Could the Minister of Finance confirm that the Liberals still plan to target small business, including engineers, doctors, veterinarians, and other professionals, to finance his spending spree?
François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I remind my hon. colleague opposite that we inherited a deficit of more than 150 billion Canadian dollars from the Conservative government. We have a plan to grow the economy and we have already started. We will respect three key principles: we will keep bringing the debt-to-GDP ratio lower, we will be prudent with spending, and we will return Canada to a balanced budget by the end of our mandate. That is responsible management.
Phil McColeman Conservative Brantford—Brant, ON
Mr. Speaker, we left a surplus in October 2015. Those are the words of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
It is clear. The Liberal plan is spend, spend, spend. The government has already gone after families, taken away income splitting, cut tax-free savings accounts and signalled that it will take away tax credits from students, apprentices, first-time homebuyers, and families with children in sports and arts program.
How is the Minister of Finance going to pay for his massive spending? Who is next on his hit list?
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
I am starting to hear noise today from more than one side. That is not a good sign. I know we would rather have no noise from no sides. If we could all co-operate, that would help. After all, this is the crucible of democracy. It is a place for vigorous debate. It is a place where ideas are tested, but the test of an idea is not how loud the applause is or whether it is a standing ovation. Nor is it whether it can withstand rude interruption. Test is time. With that, let us go.
François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I would like first to apologize. I did not see that you were rising.
The hon. colleague said there was a surplus. Actually Canadians know about the $150 billion deficit that he left us.
We have a plan to grow the economy.
We started the process in December by lowering taxes for the middle class, which will benefit more than 9 million taxpayers. This is one of the measures. In the next federal budget we will also include the Canada child benefit, which will benefit nine out of ten families and will help bring hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.
Canadians asked us to invest in the middle class and grow the economy. That is exactly what we will do.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
As the member for St. Albert—Edmonton is a new member, there are some things not to learn from older members, members who have been here longer, and one of them is heckling. Let us try to avoid that.
The member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques.
Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Mr. Speaker, the report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development showed that there are serious flaws in the pipeline oversight system. First of all, the contingency plans and oversight system are outdated. The report also indicated that the public was being kept in the dark, and to top it all off, the National Energy Board is not even ensuring that the conditions imposed on companies are being met.
How are Canadians supposed to have confidence in the system? When will the Liberals realize that it is going to take more than a band-aid solution to fix this completely inadequate system?
Jim Carr LiberalMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, I spoke to Commissioner Gelfand yesterday about her report, and I spoke to the chair of the National Energy Board this morning about her recommendations.
I am assured by the chair that there will be instant action. In fact, it started quite some time ago. It is the commitment of my department to monitor those actions to ensure that the commissioner's recommendations are followed completely.
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the minister might be a bit confused, because the environment commissioner's report has pointed out in black and white how flawed and in fact dangerous the current NEB process is. In more than half of the cases studied, the regulator does not even keep track of the conditions it imposes upon pipeline companies.
The Prime Minister and his MPs made explicit promises to British Columbians. Let us now see if they will actually keep them.
Will the government demand that the National Energy Board review Kinder Morgan and energy east under new and credible processes that Canadians can finally trust?
Jim Carr LiberalMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, we have said that there will be a new process of transition for those projects that are currently under review by the National Energy Board. We have been saying that those principles and the transition period will be announced in a number of weeks. I can now say that it will be in a number of days.
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to making major changes to the way Parliament operates.
Can the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons update us on the initiatives that have already been undertaken and tell us about the action plan adopted by the government to implement the desired reforms?
Dominic LeBlanc LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Brossard—Saint-Lambert for her question.
As members know, I meet regularly with the opposition House leaders. I can even assure my colleagues that we are starting to become friends. Yesterday, I wrote to the chair of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to ask him whether I could appear before the committee to share our ideas with our committee colleagues. He recently informed me that I could appear in committee as early as Thursday of this week.
I am therefore extremely confident that, with the help of our colleagues and the support of members of the House, we will be able to make Parliament more effective and achieve a better work-life balance.
Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister showed that he did not know that under our Conservative government, the first Keystone pipeline was approved and built, along with the Alberta clipper, the Line 9B reversal and the anchor loop. However, under this irresponsible Liberal government, the Keystone XL pipeline was rejected with virtually no push-back, no opposition or concern from the Liberals.
However, TransCanada is not taking it lying down. In fact it is challenging the U.S. decision at NAFTA.
Will the government support this NAFTA challenge? Will it get behind it and be supportive?