Debates of Oct. 6th, 2016

Taxation

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals love to quote from millionaire CEOs from billionaire companies as being super-supportive of a carbon tax, but they never talk about supporting the more than 100,000 energy workers who have been put out of work since they took office.

Many have exhausted their severance pay and employment insurance, if they had any, and their savings are gone. Instead of throwing them a lifeline, the government has thrown them an anvil.

How can the Prime Minister justify sending a new tax bill to out-of-work energy workers who are using the food banks and losing their homes?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are very much concerned about what is going on for Canadian families.

That is why the first thing we did was to reduce taxes for nine million Canadians, and then we went on to bring in the Canada child benefit, which are measures that are helping Canadian families.

The reality is that we are helping millions of Canadian families, and we will continue to do that. That is the right thing to do. Canada's plan has been applauded around the world. I invite my colleagues to read and see what we are doing. Our programming is applauded around the world, and we are helping Canadian families.

Status of Women

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, for no reason, the government announced it would wait two more years before introducing pay equity legislation.

The Canadian Labour Congress says:

After all the expert testimony, and with the Task Force and Committee’s recommendations in hand, it’s unacceptable that the government would decide to make women wait another two years for pay equity legislation.

It is a human right.

Women should not have to wait until 2018 for the government to act. Will the minister introduce proactive pay equity legislation before the end of this year?

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I am so glad for the opportunity to indicate to this House that this is a government that is not going to sit on the sidelines when it comes to pay equity.

For 12 years, the previous government did nothing. We are proud to say that we are implementing proactive pay equity legislation. We are moving on it, from the day we got elected. Now we are going to be bringing in legislation to make it happen.

[Karine Trudel, NDP, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is 2016. Yesterday, the government told Canadian women that they would have to wait a bit longer for equality.

Pay equity is a fundamental right. Canadian women have already waited far too long for their rights to be respected. The pay equity task force released its report on this 12 years ago. Enough is enough.

Why is the Liberal government holding up justice for women? Will the government take immediate action and introduce a proactive bill on pay equity by the end of 2016?

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, the federally regulated industries that are included in the proactive legislation include 874,000 employees and 10,800 employers. All of them need to be consulted and worked with, a process that is complicated and will take some time. We do want to have understanding and co-operation from the private sector, and we are working hard to make this as reasonable as possible.

Employment

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have known for many months now that this government has a hard time managing public funds. Now we learn that it does not know how to count either. It is not us saying so, but Statistics Canada. For weeks and weeks, this government said that there would be far more young people working this summer in summer jobs. That was wrong since Statistics Canada told us today that the number of young people who worked this summer was the same as last year under a Conservative government.

They are champions at creating taxes, but they fall short when it comes to creating jobs.

When will they realize that their measures do not create any jobs?

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for the opportunity to indicate that businesses actually want young people to have some experience and to work in the real world, and that is exactly what this government provided young people this past summer, by investing and doubling the number of students. Actually, it was even more. There were 78,500 young people who had an opportunity to get valuable work experience.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the problem with the hon. member's argument from across the aisle is that, although these students enjoyed a summer job, they now are pressed with the task of having to find a job that will continue to put them through school, and they are finding it difficult to do so.

Why is this so? It is so because there are small businesses across this country that are having a hard time making ends meet and are cutting back on the number of employees they are hiring, which means that youth are going without meaningful employment, which means that youth are finding it hard to put themselves through school.

My question is this. Will the Liberals just simply continue to pay lip service to their desire to serve students, or will they actually—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that not only have we provided job experiences for young people, but we have provided student grants that have reduced the debt that young people will have to face and provide a more successful transition from education into the workforce.

Softwood Lumber

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, what they provided is lip service.

Of the hundreds of campaign promises, there was not a single mention of softwood lumber in the Liberal campaign platform, not in the Speech from the Throne, not in the minister's mandate letter. It is one of the most important trade deals between Canada and the U.S. and not a single mention, zero. In six days, the current softwood agreement ends.

What will it take for the Prime Minister to acknowledge the incompetence of the trade minister and pick up the phone, call his BFF, and protect and save the 400,000 jobs in the forestry industry?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by reminding the members opposite that this accord expired under the previous government's watch.

Yesterday I was in Toronto negotiating with Mike Froman and representatives of our industry from across the country. U.S. negotiators are still in Toronto talking to my team.

I would like to remind the member for Cariboo—Prince George of something he said in committee on August 18. He stated, “I can appreciate that there's been a considerable amount of work to this point done by both Global Affairs and the minister”. Thanks. We are working hard.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should put more effort into finding a solution instead of saying any old thing. Her words are not reassuring at all.

This government has no desire to settle this matter because the Prime Minister does not want to upset the United States. That is the real story. We see that in the diafiltered milk file. It is the same thing over again.

Thousands of families, small merchants, workers, and entire communities are being threatened by the government's inaction.

How many jobs have to be lost before you do anything about it?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

As I said earlier, when an hon. member uses the word “you” in the House, he or she is addressing the Speaker. I do not think that was the hon. member's intention in this case.

The hon. Minister of International Trade.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, the softwood lumber agreement expired under the previous government's watch.

We have been engaged in intense negotiations for months. The country knows that. The Conseil du patronat du Québec commended the government “for all that it has done in defence of the Quebec forestry industry”.

The Conseil de l'industrie forestière du Québec says that it is “pleased with our position on Quebec's forestry regime”. We want a good deal for Canada—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. The hon. member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

Indigenous Affairs

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, not only is the Prime Minister responsible for the youth file, but I believe I heard him promise a new nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples.

Nevertheless, his government is not keeping the promise he made to indigenous youth. The new minister's briefing notes recommend that she honour that commitment, but she prefers to continue to shortchange them.

Can the minister explain once again how she justifies her decision to ignore her department's recommendation?

When will she stop saying one thing in the House and doing the opposite outside?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, honouring the promises made to Canada's indigenous youth is very important to our government. It is very important that they have access to an education of equal quality. It is a very important issue for the Prime Minister and for me, and we will work on it.

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

Mr. Speaker, the first promise that the Prime Minister made in the election was to first nation children. Fast-forward a year, and we see the Liberals trying to stonewall the PBO, pretending that documents on the underfunding of first nation children do not exist. We find the blacked out financial documents on clawing $800 million back from the election promise. In these documents, one of the minister's staff explains their attitude, which states, “number crunching is for suckers.” No. Keeping an election promise on funding education is not about suckers; it is about children and our responsibility to them. Why the stonewalling from her department?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I reiterate that our government is committed to openness and transparency. We respect the value and work done by the parliamentary budget officer and his team. Unfortunately, and I apologize for this, there was a misunderstanding between my department and the information that the PBO was seeking. Departmental officials have offered to meet with the officials from the parliamentary budget office, and we will ensure that they get all of the information they require in order to hold this government accountable.

Status of Women

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.

October is Women's History Month in Canada. We are celebrating women's achievements and the obstacles that they have managed to overcome.

However, women still face many obstacles in the business community. The boards of directors of Canadian corporations are not very visibly diverse.

Given that federally regulated companies fall under the minister's jurisdiction, what does he suggest to remedy this situation?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising this important issue.

Last week, I was pleased to introduce Bill C-25, which seeks to improve corporate transparency and diversity. It will help increase the number of women on boards of directors and senior management teams.

I invite all members to support this bill.

Foreign Affairs

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, a recent report says Chinese peacekeepers failed to protect civilians on a UN mission in Sudan. In the face of the conflict, they abandoned their weapons, leaving behind weapons and ammunition, and turned their backs on over 300 people who were killed, and thousands more were raped.

We learned this week that the Government of China wants to take control of all UN peacekeeping missions. The Prime Minister knew all of this, yet he is still naively pledging 600 Canadian troops to the UN.

Does the Prime Minister believe that the Communist dictatorship in China is qualified to command Canadian troops?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to peace operations, Canada is taking a leading role in this, hence the reason that Canada was asked by the United Nations to host next year's peacekeeping summit.

When it comes to anything where our troops go abroad, we make sure that they have the right equipment, the proper robust rules of engagement. We always maintain full command of the missions, also making sure there is a robust mandate for it, regardless of the troop contributions to any mission.