House of Commons Hansard #26 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was union.

Topics

FinanceOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Saint-Maurice—Champlain Québec

Liberal

François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, first, it is Friday, so let me salute my family in the gallery today, and let me—

FinanceOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

FinanceOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I am delighted the member's family is in the gallery, but members should know that only the Speaker recognizes people in the gallery. I ask him to finish his question and stick to the subject matter.

FinanceOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Liberal

François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC

Mr. Speaker, in answer to my colleague, we have plan to grow this economy.

On October 19, Canadians made a real choice. They made the choice of growth. We are going to do that with our three principles. We are going to do that responsibly. We are going to continue to reduce our debt-to-GDP ratio throughout our mandate. It is still our goal to balance the budget.

Our objective, and our priority, is growth.

FinanceOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly the problem.

Canadians made a choice based on an election promise that the government never planned to keep. The $10-billion deficit it promised has tripled in three months.

Did the Liberals mislead Canadians during the election campaign? Why did the Liberals hide their real plans for massive spending increases and huge deficits?

FinanceOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Saint-Maurice—Champlain Québec

Liberal

François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.

The only people who do not realize that the Conservatives left behind a deficit are the Conservatives. Everyone else in Canada realizes it.

We have a plan for growth, and Canadians made that choice on October 19. We will continue what we started in December when we cut taxes for the middle class. We will stay on track in the budget with the Canada child benefit, and we will implement our historic infrastructure plan. That is how we will work for Canadians.

TaxationOral Questions

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Mr. Speaker, I have never seen a parliamentary secretary attack his own department for saying that the budget was balanced.

Not only are the Liberals blowing Canada's hard-won surplus, now they plan to help their Ontario Liberal friends impose a new job-killing payroll tax and a new tax on everything, a tax on carbon. All of that means fewer jobs and lower income.

Why in the world would the Liberals be killing jobs through higher taxes, particularly at a time of economic fragility?

TaxationOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Saint-Maurice—Champlain Québec

Liberal

François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, the only ones who do not understand that two months do not make a year, that nine months do not make a year, and that 12 months do make a year are the Conservatives.

We are going to have a deficit. That is what the Conservatives have left us with. Canadians made the right choice on October 19. They made the choice for growth. The IMF said it at the G20. They said we should continue to invest. At times like this, it is time to invest. That is the choice that Canadians have made. That is what we are going to do.

TaxationOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government wants Canadians to believe that deficits are good for the economy.

Obviously, the Prime Minister has never had trouble making ends meet like thousands of Canadian families do. Canadian families know that, if the government borrows money that it does not have, they will end up having to pay more taxes.

What taxes will be raised as a result of this Liberal government's incompetence?

TaxationOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Saint-Maurice—Champlain Québec

Liberal

François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.

We reduced Canadians' taxes. In December, we cut taxes for nine million Canadians. We are going to continue with a plan for economic growth. That is what people in Canada want. We are going to continue to invest in productivity, innovation, and infrastructure.

The Conservatives left the country's finances in a sorry state, but now is the time to invest and that is exactly what we are going to do.

TaxationOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC

Mr. Speaker, this type of answer from the government makes me wonder whether there is a captain on the Liberal Titanic.

This Liberal government does not have any economic leadership, and that is a big concern. It is imperative that we avoid structural deficits that will lead to more taxes being imposed.

How much will families have to pay for this Liberal mess?

TaxationOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Saint-Maurice—Champlain Québec

Liberal

François-Philippe Champagne LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague.

The Conservatives are the ones who sunk the economic ship, but I will repeat for the benefit of my colleague that, thanks to our plan for economic growth, we are going to continue to responsibly invest in the economy. We are going to continue to reduce our debt-to-GDP ratio throughout our mandate. It is still our goal to balance the budget.

Our priority is growth. That is the choice that Canadians made, and that is what our colleagues opposite need to learn.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Mr. Speaker, Liberals have an appalling on employment insurance. They took $50 billion from unemployed workers and their families when they raided the EI fund. Then they imposed massive cuts to access.

Conservative cuts of course made it even worse for those who have lost their jobs, and now less than four in ten unemployed Canadians can access benefits.

The Liberals have voted in favour of the following measure before, and they promised to bring it to government, so the question is clear: Will the Liberals create a universal eligibility of 360 hours for all Canadians across the country?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

Kildonan—St. Paul Manitoba

Liberal

MaryAnn Mihychuk LiberalMinister of Employment

Mr. Speaker, we are in a process of Canadian consultation.

It is important that we hear from people from coast to coast to coast to reverse the mean-spirited changes implemented by the previous government that focused on the EI system helping employers, not workers, in Canada. We will change that.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:20 a.m.

NDP

Brigitte Sansoucy NDP Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives caused untold hardship by eliminating access to employment insurance for workers who need it most. In my region and in many regions across the country, in Atlantic Canada and Gaspé, our seasonal industries are key drivers of the economy.

The Liberals roundly condemned the Conservatives' employment insurance reforms. Now that they are in office, will the Liberals commit to reinstating the five additional weeks for seasonal workers?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Kildonan—St. Paul Manitoba

Liberal

MaryAnn Mihychuk LiberalMinister of Employment

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat that we are in the process of a massive review of the employment insurance system to modernize it so that it meets the needs of seasonal workers and vulnerable workers from coast to coast to coast.

We are in the process, so I would ask all of you to participate in the EI review that is ongoing.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I remind the hon. minister to direct her comments to the chair. As I said yesterday, when we say “you”, usually we are talking about the Speaker, and I get a little concerned.

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

February 26th, 2016 / 11:25 a.m.

NDP

Brigitte Sansoucy NDP Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

Mr. Speaker, people need help now. They have no use for evasive answers. Workers remember to this day that the Liberals under Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien helped themselves shamelessly to the employment insurance fund in order to balance the budget. More than $50 billion was taken from the benefits to which workers were entitled.

We are all aware of the size of the Liberals' projected deficits. Could they at least answer a very simple question? Does the government plan to dip into the employment insurance fund once again, yes or no?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Kildonan—St. Paul Manitoba

Liberal

MaryAnn Mihychuk LiberalMinister of Employment

Mr. Speaker, that gives me the opportunity to remind the House that this is government that ran on a platform to change the EI system, which was modified in a set of mean-spirited changes by the previous government, which focused the system to help and subsidize businesses rather than dealing with the needs of Canadian workers.

We are busy working on a system to modernize the program.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC

Mr. Speaker, reviews do not put food on the table for unemployed workers. That is the reality.

Liberals voted for 360 hours in this House and now they are opposed to that same measure. They promised to roll back all the bad Conservative measures, but now they do not seem to mind a lot of those measures too much. They promised to never ever take money from unemployed workers again, and now they are opposing a House motion that actually forces them to keep their promise.

At a time of growing unemployment and growing layoffs, why are they breaking their promises to Canadian unemployed workers?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Kildonan—St. Paul Manitoba

Liberal

MaryAnn Mihychuk LiberalMinister of Employment

Mr. Speaker, I want to promise the House of Commons and the citizens of Canada that we made a commitment to improve employment insurance, to actually make it a modern system that meets the needs of business and workers, which was a priority that the previous government ignored in its mandate.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

Mr. Speaker, we know that Liberal deficits are skyrocketing, balanced budgets are out the window, and the Prime Minister continues to spend on foreign climate change projects that are costing Canadians billions of dollars. Now we learn that the Minister of Environment has picked a fight with the premiers of Saskatchewan and Yukon by forcing a harmful carbon tax on them.

After all the minister's rhetoric about co-operative federalism and all the warm and fuzzy platitudes about a new relationship with the provinces and territories, what happened to sunny ways?

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Ottawa Centre Ontario

Liberal

Catherine McKenna LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change

Mr. Speaker, I was delighted to share sunny ways with the hon. member in Paris, where we went and we did our part to tackle climate change.

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

The EnvironmentOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order, please.

It is so nice to see members getting along so well, but please, let us have a little order.

The Minister of Environment has the floor.