Debates of Feb. 22nd, 2016

Natural Resources

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, these are just more broken promises. At the Paris climate change conference, the Minister of Environment promised a nationwide climate change plan within 90 days. Now it is clear that the minister will not deliver on that plan. At the same time as the economy flounders, she is scheming to impose a carbon tax grab that will increase the price of everything, including gas, groceries, and heating.

What is the minister hiding and when will Canadians finally see her climate change plan?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we have been pretty clear and pretty transparent. There is the first ministers meeting in Vancouver at the beginning of March where the Prime Minister will meet with his provincial and territorial counterparts to begin to map out a pan-Canadian approach to addressing climate change. This is an issue that this government takes seriously. Unlike the previous government, which talked for 10 years about climate change and did nothing, we intend to actually make progress.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member now refers to beginning the discussion on a pan-Canadian climate change framework. Let me quote the minister on CBC, “We were setting the stage for a first ministers meeting that's going to take place at the beginning of March. Then that's when we're going to have this pan-Canadian framework”.

Now it appears that the Liberals are just beginning those discussions in March. No climate change plan, only billions of dollars of spending on foreign vanity projects and a punishing new carbon tax on Canadians. Will the minister now admit that she is in way over her head?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, we have very little to take from the opposition with respect to how to engage in federal-provincial relations in a constructive manner. This government intends to work in collaboration with the provinces and territories to define a pan-Canadian approach that will be effective in a manner that the previous government was unable to do.

Health

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the government has discriminated against first nations children. Documents from Health Canada confirm what first nations people already knew. Rejecting orthodontic appeals for first nations children is standard. Almost 100% of claims are denied.

These documents actually state that the government will provide these services if the parents agree to give up their children to foster care. This is unacceptable. What steps has the Minister of Health taken to end this discrimination?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our government and I are fully committed to ensuring that first nations families have access to the health services that they need when they need them. I have been working with Health Canada, with the first nations and Inuit health branch to address the serious health outcomes gaps that first nations and Inuit communities are experiencing. My colleague has spoken to me about this. We will continue to address these issues. We will continue to invest $2.5 billion per year and make sure that the system works for all Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, government documents submitted to the Human Rights Tribunal show that Health Canada routinely denies everything from motorized wheelchairs to specialized prescription drugs for indigenous children. I refer the minister to evidence tab 420 from the hearings, which relates to a four-year-old child who suffered severe anoxic brain injury and required a specialized medical bed so she could go home to her family. Health Canada wrote in response “absolutely not” and refused to pay.

What directives has the minister given to her staff to end this malignant culture, so the culture of “absolutely no” for children finally becomes one of “absolutely yes”?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is fully aware that my officials in Health Canada and the first nations and Inuit health branch have been speaking to him on a regular basis to address specific cases of concern on this matter. We will continue to work on these issues.

I have talked to my officials in the first nations and Inuit health branch. We agree with the member that, absolutely, indigenous peoples must have access to the health care services that they need when they need them. Where there are gaps in the system, I will work with my department to make sure that we address those concerns.

Regional Economic Development

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, my riding of Tobique—Mactaquac, a rural New Brunswick riding, is home to thriving natural resource, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors, all of which utilize ACOA to help invest in new technology, innovate, and grow their businesses.

Can the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development please give us an update on his department's progress in ensuring that Canada's regional development agencies are helping Canadian companies and their businesses, and ensuring that entrepreneurs have access to the capital they require to create jobs and grow the economy in Atlantic Canada?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, this is very important to our government, and the NDP supports our hard work, as we can see.

These new development agencies are making strategic investments that support small and medium-sized enterprises. This funding in SMEs really helps these companies innovate, and become more productive and export-oriented. I am pleased to announce that we have approved $37 million in ACOA funding. This generates opportunities for local developments and I want to assure the House that ACOA will be key for economic development in that region.

Labour

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, piece by piece, the Liberal government is dismantling democracy in Canada. The first piece of legislation brought forward by the jobs minister is a bill to gut accountability and transparency for unions. The Liberal MPs have been arguing in the House that a secret ballot is somehow undemocratic and burdensome red tape.

I would like the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour to please explain to the House why she believes a secret ballot is undemocratic.

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, what is undemocratic are bills that are brought in through the back door without proper consultation—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. I know that people at home want to hear those arguments, but members should wait until they have the floor.

The member for employment has the floor.

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

As I was saying, Mr. Speaker, the point is that there is a process that involves consultation and dialogue between trade unions and business, which has proven to be effective, efficient, and fair. The previous government chose to circumvent the process and make the system unbalanced. We are changing it.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is nice to know that if I were a Liberal member of Parliament I would have no voice, because, apparently, a private member's bill is illegitimate with the current government.

Only a few months ago, each and every one of us in the House was elected by secret ballot, a hallmark of a Canadian democracy. However, the first piece of legislation brought forward by the jobs minister is robbing union members of their democratic right to a secret ballot. Ninety per cent of union members polled support a secret ballot.

Why is the secret ballot good enough to elect members of Parliament, but not good enough—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Employment.

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, the point of the legislation is to reset the framework so that we have fairness and balance. In fact, the bill that the previous government presented included a framework that made unionization and decertification more difficult in a package that disrupted the fairness and balance of labour and industry relationships.

Ethics

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government, time after time, has already faced questions about its ethical behaviour, and here we go again.

The justice minister is in partnership with her husband in a private company. He has not been a registered lobbyist for years, but as soon as his wife was appointed to a Liberal cabinet, he dusted off the old laptop, put new ink in the printer, and signed up as a lobbyist. Is this the ethical standard that the Prime Minister approved when he said his ministers must avoid not only the conflict of interest but even the appearance of a conflict of interest?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Minister of Justice]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a member of Parliament, and I am also proud to be the Minister of Justice. I have been an advocate for good governance my entire life. I take my ethical responsibilities incredibly seriously, and I am doing everything to ensure that I am not found in a conflict. That is why my husband and I have met with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and are following and abiding by the measures that are required to ensure that we are in compliance. We will be in compliance with respect to what the conflict commissioner has said.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the bar the Prime Minister set was about the perception of a conflict of interest. Does the Prime Minister not see this as a problem?

The Minister of Justice sits on six cabinet committees, including one responsible for examining initiatives designed to strengthen the relationship with indigenous Canadians. This is exactly the issue that her husband will now lobby the government about. The justice minister will now deal with legal matters involving first nations. Her husband's lobbying work is in direct conflict with this.

How can the Prime Minister justify this obvious conflict of interest?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, members on the other side are having an enormous amount of difficulty with a very basic principle. When we came to office, we raised the bar on accountability and transparency.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

They are laughing, Mr. Speaker, because they have a lot of things to try to hide.

Canadians saw through that, and on October 19, they chose a government that would raise the ethics rules, proactively meet with the ethics commissioner, and follow her advice. That is what the Minister of Justice has done, and that is what she will always continue to do.

Indigenous Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister committed to building a new nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples. He even cited the Supreme Court as proof.

Now his government is refusing to listen to first nations communities that oppose the Site C dam project in British Columbia.

When is the Prime Minister going to walk the talk? Will this be just one more broken promise made to indigenous peoples, continuing in the tradition of the past 150 years under successive Conservative and Liberal governments?