Debates of Feb. 3rd, 2016

Natural Resources

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I recognize there are enormous challenges for people in Alberta. We know that we need to work together with people in Alberta, we need to work together with people in Saskatchewan, we need to work together with people in Newfoundland. I spoke last week with the Alberta minister of finance to talk about ways we could work together. A good example is the stabilization fund. They will be putting forward a request so that they can get up to $250 million from this fund. We believe that is an important first step. We will be taking other actions in budget 2016.

Public Services and Procurement

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have turned their backs on the shipbuilding industry just as they have on the energy sector.

The Liberals are going back on their promise and leaving Canadian workers out in the cold. Although they said in the election campaign that they want to invest more in Canadian shipyards, now they want to have ships built abroad. However, we have a number of shipyards right here in Canada that have the capabilities and expertise required.

Will the Minister of Public Services and Procurement keep her promise to have our naval ships built in Canada by Canadians in order to create jobs here at home?

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

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

The government remains committed to the national shipbuilding strategy. We want to see our ships built in Canada. That is exactly what we are doing. If there comes an occasion when we have to look, particularly on the defence front, in terms of tugs that are needed, in the system, then we certainly may look at a more efficient and effective way of procuring those.

However, at this point in time, we are committed to building our ships in Canada.

Indigenous Affairs

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I had the honour to going to La Loche yesterday and visiting with our extraordinary colleague, the member for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River.

The pain in the community following the tragic shootings runs deep, but so do the scars of centuries of colonialism, racism, and indifference. I was told by elders how important it is to promote and protect their language and culture in the community, to provide hope, and instill pride in young people.

Since the Prime Minister committed to implementing every one of the truth and reconciliation recommendations, will the upcoming budget include funding to make good on this important commitment for aboriginal languages?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his visit to La Loche. It is hugely important that that community know that all Canadians are behind them, and we thank him for going. I will go on Tuesday.

I, too, know how important language and culture is. Together, with the Minister of Canadian Heritage, who has in her mandate to protect language, I have the responsibility to make sure that it is present in kindergarten to grade 12. We will do that. It is hugely important to secure personal cultural identity. It is essential to good health, education, and economic outcomes.

International Trade

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the TPP was secretly negotiated in the dying days of the Conservative government.

Independent studies say tens of thousands of Canadians stand to lose their jobs. Those are not just numbers; they are people's livelihoods; they are Canadian families. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both come out against this deal.

The Liberals are not only willing to accept a worse deal than the U.S., but they admit that they have no studies of its impact on Canadians. Will the Liberals commit to completing a thorough impact assessment and then making the study public?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, we have been clear on our commitment to engage with Canadians before taking a final position on the TPP. In fact the government has already held nearly 200 consultations.

However, Canada needs to stay at the table, and that is why the Minister of International Trade will sign today. It is simply a technical step that will allow for full consideration of the deal.

The only way the TPP can take effect is through ratification and a majority vote in this House.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we will take that as a no to publishing an impact assessment.

The Prime Minister won the election on a promise to do things differently, and yet today his government is signing a treaty that was negotiated by the Conservatives in secret. This agreement will have a direct impact on Canadians. Independent studies are saying that it could cost Canada 60,000 jobs. Our men, women, families, and communities will be affected. Why is the Prime Minister so determined to make the same mistakes as his Conservative predecessor? It is the same battle, Mr. Speaker, whether the government is Liberal or Conservative.

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Outremont for his question. The TPP, the trans-Pacific partnership, landed in our laps late in the election campaign. We have acted very responsibly. We said that we will study the agreement, and that is exactly what we are going to do. We need to do studies and consult Canadians all across the country. That is exactly what we are doing.

Employment Insurance

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, he says that studies need to be done. He admits that they have no study and yet they are signing the agreement today. The economy is faltering. The Liberals also made a lot of promises about employment insurance, and they have yet to make good on those promises.

The Prime Minister will arrive in Alberta where thousands of workers have lost their jobs. I sure hope he arrives with something more than “hang in there”, which we heard him say recently.

Will the government ensure these workers and their families get the support they need by getting rid of the Conservative restrictions and extending employment insurance benefits, and will this be done immediately?

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question and the sincerity of concern for working Canadians, just like on this side of the House. Our goal is to have a strong economy and where we unfortunately see Canadians laid off, to provide a modernized employment insurance system that will be there when they need it.

Natural Resources

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, last week the Liberals introduced another layer of red tape for energy infrastructure, but what they actually are doing is severely shaking investors' confidence in Canada. In fact, Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said that good governance does not mean additional hurdles at the last minute, referring to the Liberals' plan. When will the minister stop killing jobs with these delays, with all of this uncertainty?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, as the Liberal Party knows well, the only way to get resources to market in the 21st century is to do it in a sustainable way. That is exactly what we are doing. We introduced principles last week, transitory principles, that will re-establish the trust of Canadians in this process and that is the way we will get resources to market.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, what Mr. Beatty said in response to that plan was when global businesses sit down and decide where to invest, the uncertainty and overly politicized nature of Canada's environmental regulatory process is a strike against us. It is becoming clear that the government has put this process in place so that it can rubber-stamp a “no” on good energy projects. Why else would Liberals continue to torpedo Canadian jobs?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.

We know that the only way we will get resources to market is in a responsible way. We have depoliticized the process by introducing transitory principles that will re-establish the trust of Canadians. That is how we will get resources to market.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the Liberals voted against supporting the energy east pipeline. It is hard to imagine any MP from Edmonton voting against safe and sustainable pipelines, but two of them did. Where I come from, the energy industry is so respected we even named our hockey team after it. Will the infrastructure minister from Edmonton Mill Woods tell Edmontonians why he did not support the shovel-ready, job-creating infrastructure project?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, as I would like to reiterate, unfortunately for the Conservatives, Canadians lost trust in our environmental assessment process. The only way we will get resources to markets is to re-establish the trust of Canadians. That is exactly what the Minister of Natural Resources and I did last week by introducing transitory principles.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a quote: “Rest assured when elected, I will pound the table on the need for pipelines. It's the safest way to transport oil and it is in the national interest.”

Who said this to gain votes during the election? The member for Calgary Centre. The member voted against the motion that would affirm the House's support for workers in the energy sector and pipeline development. When he did that, was he pounding on the table, or was he selling out?

[Kent Hehr, Liberal, Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be with a government that sees energy and the economy as two sides of the same coin. Here we have a time where Canadians have lost confidence in our system and now we are reintroducing principles that will allow us to get access to markets, something that the former government failed miserably to do.

Employment

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development stood and talked about his yet to be announced investment plan, in typical Liberal fashion, he forgot about the west. The anti-energy Liberal government has gone out of its way to kill jobs in western Canada. How can the Mississauga minister for Alberta, who just voted to kill a shovel-ready, job-creating pipeline, be trusted to do what is best for western Canada?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear. When it comes to the economy, we have a strong growth agenda, and that agenda speaks to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

We are creating a social contract when it comes to pipelines. We are working with the aerospace sector, the automotive sector, and the life sciences sector. We have a government that understands the importance of building strong relationships with industry to make sure that we create high-value-added, good-quality jobs, and that is what we will continue to do for the coming months.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, meanwhile, Ontario, the once proud economic engine of Canada, languishes as a have-not province under an incompetent Liberal government at Queen's Park.

Ontario has half a million people looking for work. Young people, like my kids, face especially dismal job prospects. Add to that, Ontario is pressing forward with a job-killing payroll tax scheme that will cost 54,000 jobs.

Is the government's plan to grow jobs in Ontario simply to hire Kathleen Wynne's staff to run the office of the Prime Minister? It that all it has?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member opposite that we have a government that understands the importance of working in collaboration with our provincial and municipal counterparts. That is exactly what we are doing in Ontario. We have made announcements for southwestern Ontario and for northern Ontario. We are making investments in the auto sector. We understand the importance of manufacturing, as well.

We have a plan when it comes to growing the economy. That is what we will continue to do in Ontario and across the country.

Indigenous Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, today we learned that 1,000 compensation claims for harm caused at residential schools were rejected because of a technical administrative error.

This attitude flies in the face of reconciliation. Parliament did in fact offer an official apology. The victims have suffered enough. The government has to follow through on its intentions.

What does the Minister of Justice intend to do to correct this shameful situation?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is committed to the successful implementation of the Indian residential schools settlement agreement and to honouring all its obligations under that agreement. I have asked my department to look into this issue as a matter of urgency.