Debates of Nov. 15th, 2016

Pensions

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I appreciate this opportunity to go into more detail about how important the Canada pension plan enhancement is for women.

We know that, unfortunately, many of them live alone once they reach retirement age. In recent months, we lowered the age of eligibility for old age security to 65, which will lift 100,000 Canadian seniors out of poverty or prevent them from becoming poor. Many of those seniors are women, and 80% of the seniors living in poverty are single women.

This is important. We are working very hard—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The member for Outremont.

Natural Resources

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' bill removes rights from women. How can they be proud of that?

In the wake of Stephen Harper's decade-long reign, Canadians have lost faith in our pipeline review process.

The Liberals set up a panel to fix the review process, but most of the members of that panel are from the oil and gas industry.

Would the minister like to share with us his definition of “conflict of interest”?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I have to say I am surprised at the hon. member's response to a panel of five distinguished Canadians who represent many interests. There are two indigenous leaders as part of this five-person panel. There are those who have long experience with the regulatory process. Would the member have us appoint people who have no experience with the process?

We are proud of the five. They will do great work for Canada.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is the choice? Industry hacks or nobody?

Stephen Harper broke Canadians' trust in the pipeline review process, because he completely dismantled it. Instead of fulfilling their promise to fix the broken system, the Liberals have appointed a panel dominated by people with close ties to the oil industry to rewrite the rules for the oil industry. Hmm, I really wonder if the minister has even thought about the notion of conflict of interest.

How can Canadians have any faith that the government is fixing the Harper mistakes when it keeps repeating them?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the member perhaps may want to reflect on what he just said about distinguished Canadians, including grand chiefs, both in Saskatchewan and in British Columbia, that he is accusing of being corporate hacks.

That is not the kind of respectful discourse that will create some credibility for the regulator trying to do a good job for Canadians. These are very unfortunate accusations.

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, members will recall that we asked the Minister of Finance five times when he will balance the budget. The minister was never able to tell us when there will be a zero deficit in Canada.

Today, the parliamentary budget officer took the government to task. In his report, the parliamentary budget officer stated that the government does not have a timeline for balancing the budget.

Can the minister answer a very simple question? When will Canada again have a balanced budget?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent for his question.

Our objective is to invest in Canadian middle-class families and create jobs in Canada. That is why we are very proud of what we have done. The fall economic statement announced historic investments in public transit infrastructure, green infrastructure for water and air quality, and social infrastructure. We have also invested in our trade corridors, and our rural and northern communities. We have created Investing in Canada and brought in a number of skills—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

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

Mr. Speaker, in French or in English, zero deficit.

Zero deficit, it is the same thing.

However, the Liberals are unable to say that here in French or in English.

This government has been elected on the platform that it will have a balanced budget in 2019, but today it is no longer the case.

My question is quite simple, in French or in English: Give Canadians a date when Canada will get back to zero deficit.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to answer in English what we have done for Canadians, and in the fall economic statement, we invested in Canadian families. We invested in infrastructure. We invested in our economy to create jobs.

The world gets it and Canadians get it. Even the IMF director said she hopes the Canadian plan goes viral. I just hope that our friends on the other side will understand.

That is the plan for Canadians. That is a plan for Canadian jobs. That is a plan for Canadian families and we will continue with that.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

I remind hon. members that the rules members of the House have made provide that we do not interrupt. I will ask the members to listen to the questions and to the answers.

The hon. member for Richmond—Arthabaska.

Infrastructure

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister was in Toronto pitching his new bank and claiming that the provinces and municipalities are happy with the idea of having access to additional funding.

However, what the Prime Minister did not say is that the municipalities in the regions, the rural municipalities, will not see a penny of that money. The $15 billion that was earmarked for them will go into the infrastructure bank, and only projects of $100 million and over will be approved.

Will the Prime Minister at least be honest with Canadians and tell the regions of Canada that, as a result of this bank, they will not see a single penny of infrastructure funding?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, we were elected on the promise of creating the largest infrastructure program in Canada's history. That is exactly what we are doing with $180 billion in investments: $81 billion in new funding, $25 billion for public transit, $22 billion for green infrastructure, and $22 billion for social infrastructure.

The infrastructure bank is an additional tool that will allow us to build more infrastructure. We want more, not less.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is no mention of the regions in the Speech from the Throne. There are no longer any ministers for the regional economic development of Canada. Now the Liberals have the nerve to take the $15 billion that was allocated to the regions and put it into this future bank that will fund projects of only $100 million or more and will not be accessible to Canada's rural municipalities and regions.

In short, the government is saying goodbye to small and medium-size municipalities and hello to Liberal Party cronies.

Is that how the Liberal Party plans to create jobs?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, allow me to say again that we are delivering the most ambitious infrastructure program in the history of Canada. I am talking about $81 billion in new funding. I talked about green and social infrastructure and public transit. Perhaps my colleague overlooked this part of the document, but there is also $2 billion going directly to small rural communities. We are investing not only in our cities, but also in all of our regions. It is time the hon. member understood that.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, privatization works. CN Rail, Air Canada, and Petro-Canada have gone from costly wards of the state to profitable private sector employers, because investors got both profit and the risk.

By contrast, the Liberals will force taxpayers to take on the financial risk of infrastructure megaprojects while allowing billionaire bankers, like the ones the Prime Minister was schmoozing yesterday, to enjoy all the profit. Why should taxpayers get all of the risk while billionaire insiders get all of the profit?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleague on the other side would be happy to hear about our clear action plan to grow the middle class and Canadian jobs. We are very proud that our Prime Minister was in Toronto yesterday to speak with investors, and we had a number of ministers. Let me remind this chamber what one of the members said, and I hope the member is going to listen. The chief executive of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said, "I believe that they have a vision to put together a model which is pretty ground-breaking. ...In terms of the details of how it will actually be executed, I think they are correctly looking to the expertise that exists in the country for input and advice on how to move this agenda forward." That is the—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Carleton.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if pension funds want to invest in infrastructure, they can. They do not need a $35-billion backstop from taxpayers. The question is who is actually going to run this. The Liberals say it will not be elected officials or public servants. Will investment bankers have the use of $35 billion in tax dollars to guarantee the profits of other investment bankers? Self-serving insiders get the reward, taxpayers get the risk. How will the government ensure that this scheme does not become a $35-billion, taxpayer-backed, self-licking ice cream cone?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure bank is far too serious a matter to joke about. As I said, we are delivering the largest infrastructure program in the history of Canada. We are investing in green infrastructure, social infrastructure, and public transit. The infrastructure bank is a fundamental tool for even more investment.

The minister is currently holding consultations with cities, municipalities, the provinces, and the private sector. We will have the opportunity to announce the details later. This is a good thing for Canada.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister and eight ministers were in Toronto for a meeting hosted by the powerful, private equity firm BlackRock to discuss what the Canadian government can do to help these investors get a piece of our public infrastructure. Of course, private investors will not invest out of the goodness of their hearts; they will want a big return. The only way they will get that is through tolls and user fees for Canadians. Why did the Liberals hide their privatization scheme from Canadians during the campaign? This is not what Canadians voted for.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think we hide anything. I would invite my colleague to read page 8 of the platform. If she is not satisfied, she can read page 15 of the platform. If that is not enough, maybe she could read page 40 of the platform. That is three times.

We are investing in the largest infrastructure program in the history of Canada. The infrastructure bank is an additional tool that will allow us to have more infrastructure: not less infrastructure, but more infrastructure.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' Wall Street and Bay Street cronies are being ushered up to the trough.

The government is putting BlackRock in charge of infrastructure privatization and infrastructure revenue. The government also asked Crédit Suisse, an investment firm that buys infrastructure, to advise it on whether it should privatize our airports. Now we know that Morgan Stanley, which was involved in the 2008 financial crisis, is advising the Canadian government on whether it should privatize ports. Not even Stephen Harper went that far.

Where in the Liberals' platform is their promise to privatize infrastructure?