Debates of Feb. 2nd, 2016

Arctic Inspiration Prize

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the Rotary Club of Guelph's dedication to improving the lives of our northern neighbours through its project better hearing in education for northern youth.

Hearing is such an important sense, as it allows us to live and participate in life more fully without limitations. Without the ability to hear, it may often lead to feelings of isolation. Children in the Arctic region are 40% more likely to suffer hearing loss, a contributing factor to poor attendance at school, the ability to read, and interacting with other children.

Guelph audiologist Lynne McCurdy and the Rotary Club of Guelph were honoured with the Arctic Inspiration Prize, a contest for ideas that provide concrete action plans focusing on issues of critical importance in Canada's north.

On behalf of the people of Guelph, I would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work, generosity, and dedication in addressing this matter.

Valcartier Vacation Village

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell my colleagues that in my beautiful riding of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier there is an iconic attraction that everyone should know about, the Valcartier Vacation Village. This not-to-be-missed attraction in the Quebec City region belongs to a daring entrepreneur named Guy Drouin, who is now working on a new project. He is investing $65 million in a new tourist attraction that will allow visitors to enjoy a taste of summer all year long. An indoor water park and a luxury hotel will offer guests an unforgettable experience.

I think it is important to point out that Mr. Drouin's project is 100% privately funded, which proves that it is possible to succeed in business without the help of government. All it takes is some creativity, originality and a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

I would like to once again congratulate Mr. Drouin for his commitment and determination to build such an attraction in Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier. He developed a one-of-a-kind concept that is going to take shape in our community. Mr. Drouin is a man of vision who is helping to put our community on the map for the last 40 years.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

The hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour.

Bedford Institute of Oceanography

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the approximately 25 firefighters who responded Sunday to an intense fire at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth. The fire started in the late afternoon and six crews of firefighters arrived quickly to face and extinguish the 20-foot flames.

The damage to BIO is extensive, but it would have been far worse if it were not for the prompt service of our firefighters.

I recently toured BIO with the Minister of Fisheries, Hunter Tootoo. We are lucky to have a modern oceanographic research—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. First, I would ask the hon. member to sit down. I remind the member, and I have already reminded members and also reminded staff members of members of Parliament, when they assist members in advising them on these statements, not to use proper names, but to refer to the ministers by their departments.

The member has two more seconds to finish his statement.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

My apologies, Mr. Speaker. I think I can speak for all Canadians when I thank the firefighters who put their lives on the line to protect us every day. If it were not for them, we would have lost a very important research facility in Dartmouth.

Black History Month

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, every February, Canadians mark Black History Month, an important annual celebration of the accomplishments of Canadians who traced their family heritage to Africa and Caribbean. The great sacrifices and tremendous contributions of black Canadians go back to the early beginnings of Canadian history and have helped to create the Canada of today.

We Canadians are bound together as a people by our shared belief in the principles of equality and fairness, and remain committed to working together to end discrimination and inequality.

This month, I encourage all Canadians within our three beautiful coasts to learn more about the important role that black Canadians have played and will continue to play in shaping the strong and prosperous Canada that we know and love.

Natural Resources

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, today is Groundhog Day, and while some Canadians look for shadows, many others feel like Bill Murray in the movie of the same name. Last night, the Liberals voted against energy east, an infrastructure project which would grow our energy sector and create jobs across Canada.

Canadians, especially Calgarians, can be excused for having déjà vu. They remember the Prime Minister's father whose disastrous energy policies led to massive job losses and alienated western Canada for a generation.

The economic downturn in the oil industry hurts all Canadians. Energy east is a shovel-ready project, which would ease this hardship. It deserves the government's support.

The Prime Minister had an opportunity to show leadership. Instead, we have years of Liberal-led economic uncertainty ahead of us.

Black History Month

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today to recognize the importance of Black History Month in Canada, as well as in my riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook.

African Nova Scotians are one of the founding populations of the province, as well as our country. Black loyalists fled the America Revolution to settle in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick between 1782 and 1785.

Canadians have been celebrating the black community's contribution to our province and our country for a long time now.

In my riding, the community of North Preston is the largest indigenous black community in Canada and also houses the largest black cultural centre. I ask all members to reflect on their contributions.

Pyrrhotite

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the last election campaign, I often said that I had many opponents, but no enemies.

Accordingly, I would like to join the board of directors of the Coalition d'aide aux victimes de la pyrrhotite in recognizing the exceptional dedication of Liberal candidate Yvon Boivin, who spent six years defending the interests of victims of pyrrhotite.

I would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate my pledge to fully co-operate with Mr. Gélinas, the new president of the coalition, and his entire team. I applaud his approach of bringing all elected officials to the same table in order to resolve this issue.

Although I am still convinced that the NDP has the best proposal, I remain open to any proposed action that would provide the support that victims expect. It does not really matter to me who comes up with the best solution; what matters is that we quickly find a solution. Consequently, we believe that the upcoming budget will play an integral part in finding a solution given the commitments made by the Prime Minister when he was in Montreal.

Mount Renshaw Avalanche

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise today to pay tribute to the five Alberta men whose lives were tragically cut short while on a snowmobile trip last week. Vince Loewen of Vegreville and Lakeland, Tony Greenwood of Grand Prairie County, Ricky Robinson of Spruce Grove, Todd Chisholm of St. Albert, and John Garley of Stony Plain were killed last Friday in an avalanche on Mount Renshaw in B.C.

These men died while doing what they and so many Canadians love: sledding with friends in the great Canadian outdoors.

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of their fellow snowmobilers who attempted to rescue their friends against impossible odds.

On behalf of the House, I wish to convey our deepest condolences to the families and friends of these five men, and they have many friends. May their loved ones find peace and comfort in their cherished memories of Vince, Tony, Ricky, Todd, and John.

Community Leadership

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate three of my constituents who were honoured for promoting equality and diversity in my riding of Ottawa West—Nepean.

I would like to congratulate Sharmaarke Abdullahi, who received the Black History Month Community Builder Award for his work in creating opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds.

I would also like to congratulate Larry Hill and Désiré Kilolwa, who received the DreamKEEPERs Martin Luther King Award.

Larry Hill, a former Ottawa deputy chief of police, was recognized for his work with immigrants and vulnerable youth.

Désiré Kilolwa was recognized for his efforts to eliminate sexual violence in the Congo and here, in Canada.

I am proud of these extraordinary individuals whose community leadership helps to make our society one where all are treated with respect and given the same opportunities to succeed.

The environment

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's advice for hard-hit resource workers and their families is to wait it out, but what workers and their families really need is for the government to not make things worse.

Unfortunately, making things worse is exactly what the Prime Minister is doing. His plan for a national carbon tax will mean more costs piled on to Alberta families, on top of the carbon taxes they are already paying.

Will the Prime Minister commit today to do no further harm to Alberta workers and abandon his national carbon tax plan?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for 10 years the members opposite tried to do everything they could for Alberta, and they ended up making it worse.

The members opposite were unable to get the resources to market. They were unable to diversify the economy. They were unable to recognize that combining environment and economy is the only way to build a strong resilient economy in the 21st century.

Their lack of understanding of the nature of the new economy is what led, in part, to the challenges we are facing now.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he cannot simply tell resource workers and their families to wait for things to get better. The Prime Minister should not be causing additional damage.

Unfortunately, his national carbon tax plan will hurt the families of Alberta workers just when they will find it particularly difficult to pay more taxes.

Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and put his national carbon tax on ice?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, my colleagues on the other side of the House do not understand how important it is to show that we can build a responsible economy by developing and protecting the environment at the same time.

Their lack of understanding got us into this extremely vulnerable position, and that is exactly where many Albertans find themselves now.

We will work with the Government of Alberta and with Albertans to build a future that will be more prosperous for everyone.

Labour

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, let us compare. The Conservative Party's first bill was the Federal Accountability Act, to get big union money out of politics.

The Liberal Party's first bill is to reward big union bosses by getting rid of transparency and accountability for their expenses. Now we know that the unions spent a lot of money to help the Liberals get elected, in fact at least one illegal union donation.

Why is political payback to big union bosses priority number one for this Prime Minister?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I know the members opposite seemed to look at this fall as some sort of dress rehearsal, but we actually got immediately to work and lowered taxes for the middle class while raising them for the wealthiest 1% with our very first piece of legislation.

That was a commitment we made to Canadians. It is a commitment we have kept, along with many other commitments that Canadians expect us to keep. I thank the members very much for noticing.

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, in the matter of the illegal financing of the Liberal Party of Canada by the unions, the government is not being transparent, to say the least.

Last week, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons said they were in the dark. Yesterday, we submitted a document here, but unfortunately the government refused to have it tabled. We showed that this document proves that it was the Liberal Party that asked the union boss to fill the room.

Since the Prime Minister is here, could he tell us at what point he knew that the union paid its members $100 to pretend to be Liberal supporters?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, as soon as we learned about these irregularities, we acted immediately. We worked with Elections Canada and the unions to set everything straight instead of resorting to the previous government's bad habit of fighting all the time.

What we underscored is that we think unions are important partners in developing our economy. That is why we are reversing the attacks the previous government made on the unions.

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

Mr. Speaker, we know that unions are important allies for the Liberal Party, but not for all Canadians.

There was the event in Waterloo as well as two other events organized by big union bosses to help the Liberal Party. One was in Vaughn and the other in Oakville. That is at least three events.

Can the Prime Minister tell us whether there was illegal funding in these cases, yes or no?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party has always complied with Elections Canada laws and has always stood up for the enforcement of those laws. We are proud of our record on this. Conservative Party members' constant attacks on unions are shameful. That is why we are going to repeal Bills C-377 and C-525, which are unfair and undemocratic attacks on Canada's unions.

Pensions

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

It really is Groundhog Day all over again, Mr. Speaker. Another Auditor General report, another scathing indictment of the previous government.

Today the Auditor General reported on how that federal government made a complete mess of the CPP disability program: long wait times, a needlessly complicated 42-page application process, and no consistent standards for decisions.

The Conservatives may have been the ones to make this mess, but it is up to the Liberals to fix it. What exactly is the new government going to do to fix it?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are extremely concerned with what the Auditor General brought forward. We are working very hard to repair some of the errors made in the past, because Canadians deserve a government that is open, transparent, and able to deliver in a responsible way the things that Canadians expect it to deliver.

Public Services and Procurement

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians gave the previous government the boot for its many failures; now we want to know how the current government is going to undo the damage. For example, the previous government completely failed in the transition to Shared Services Canada: missing deadlines, failing to communicate with partners, data left unsecured, and millions misspent.

Exactly what concrete steps is the minister going to take to ensure that Shared Services actually works and that information is actually protected?