Debates of March 7th, 2016

Natural Resources

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

Mr. Speaker, unlike the party opposite, we understand that the environment and the economy go together. I was very pleased to see the Prime Minister with all the provinces and territories making exactly that case, coming together to tackle climate change. We will also be working with the United States to tackle climate change, because that is the right thing to do.

The Economy

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister is in Washington hanging around with anti-Canadian activists, it is now obvious that back here at home his budget promises will not actually help working people. The latest evidence comes from TD Bank economists. According to TD, the Liberals will completely miss their balanced budget target, adding $150 billion in borrowed money, and yet that will have a very small impact on Canadian economic growth.

When will the Prime Minister admit that his reckless borrowing and spending will not actually result in growth; it will only result in higher taxes and larger government?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives added $150 billion to Canada's national debt and they failed to create growth with that spending. That is because they spent money on fake lakes, on partisan advertising, and on gazebos, none of which create growth.

Our government will invest strategically in infrastructure, skills, and jobs and growth. In today's slow growth economy, it is not the time to cut ideologically; it is the time to invest strategically. That is exactly what we are going to do.

Natural Resources

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we had the biggest growth in the G7 and the country was in a surplus in November. We will see how the Liberals manage the economy.

We have learned that during the Prime Minister's visit to the United States, he will be meeting with a group that opposes oil sands development, which creates a lot of jobs here.

The Center for American Progress, a group that prides itself on opposing development of this natural resource, is against Canadians who depend on oil sands development. Many Canadian families depend on that money coming in.

Will the Prime Minister explain to Canadians why he is against Canadian jobs?

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

Mr. Speaker, we believe that the environment and the economy go hand in hand.

That is why we were in Vancouver, where the Prime Minister met with all of the provincial and territorial premiers. They drafted an ambitious plan to tackle climate change. I was at the GLOBE summit, where I met with industry representatives, including some from the energy industries. We will work together to prove that the environment and the economy go hand in hand.

Finance

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our government always worked to ally the economy and the environment, but not by creating a $150-billion deficit. That is not the way.

TD Bank reports that this government's deficit for the next four years will exceed $150 billion. That makes no sense. We know that today's deficits are tomorrow's taxes, which will be paid by our children and grandchildren.

How are they going to explain that to future generations?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, we inherited a deficit from the Conservatives, and economic growth is weak. That is why it is up to us to invest in job creation and economic growth. That is exactly what we are going to do in the budget.

Employment Insurance

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, members will be voting today on our motion to improve access to employment insurance. These are exactly the same proposals that the Liberals supported when they were in opposition. They even denounced the Conservatives' reform, especially in New Brunswick.

Now that they are in power, the Liberals have broken yet another promise, even though job losses are mounting and action is urgently needed.

Why will the Liberals not support the thousands of Canadian workers who need it most?

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the member across the way, and all Canadians, that we are working very hard to reform an EI system that was modified with a meanspirited purpose, a second purpose to help, clearly, businesses rather than workers.

It is time we renewed EI, and we are going to be bringing in a modernized system very shortly.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are going to get to do that today, if they vote with us. We will see how that goes.

In opposition, the Liberals voted for increasing EI access, 360 hours as the norm across the country, and they were going to repeal the Conservative reforms. During the campaign, they swore they would protect the money workers paid into EI; and that is important because the last time the Liberals were in power, they stole $54 billion from workers and spent it on corporate tax giveaways.

Why are the Liberals now voting against a motion that would do just that, protect the EI fund? Is it because they plan on stealing workers' money again?

[MaryAnn Mihychuk, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, clearly, the goal of the system is to hear from Canadians, allow time to look at the changes that are necessary, and fulfill our election platform commitments.

That is exactly what we intend to do.

Forest Industry

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the three elements of today's motion are directly in their campaign proposals. Will they vote with us, yes or no? That is what Canadians will find out today.

The softwood lumber agreement is about to expire. The industry and forestry workers are worried that the Americans are going to once again reduce imports into the U.S. Things have evolved since the botched agreement in 2006. For example, Quebec has revised its forestry regime, thereby responding to American claims of unfair competition.

During his trip to Washington, will the Prime Minister stand up for our forestry industry for once?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Outremont for his question.

The softwood lumber issue is an absolute priority for our government. We are working constructively with our American and Canadian partners to come up with a solution that works for everyone. We remain committed to ensuring that Canada's softwood lumber industry has stable access to the American market.

The Environment

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, here is a solution for the future: say no when the Americans try to impose new requirements that hurt our forestry industry. That is the problem.

After promising to establish a national climate strategy 90 days after the Paris conference, last week's first ministers meeting on climate change simply managed to produce more meetings. All Canada has is the old Conservative timelines, the old Conservative targets, and no plan to even reach those.

Does the Prime Minister believe that this satisfies the commitment he made in Paris? How proud is he to bring the Conservative climate strategy to Washington—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. Minister of the Environment.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are thrilled by the agreement that was reached with the provinces and territories in Vancouver.

For the first time in our history, we have all the provinces and territories on board to take action against climate change, to meet our international obligations and recognize the importance of putting carbon pricing mechanisms.

This is a real step. We are now entering into a work group process where, at the end of six months, we will be able to show real actions that we are taking.

Finance

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, less than two weeks ago, the Minister of Finance announced the Liberals would run a larger than expected deficit for the next two years, even before they add in the billions of dollars involved in spending on their new pet projects.

Last week was a break week, when no doubt he would have heard from Canadians who are very concerned about the plan.

Will the Minister of Finance listen to Canadians and reconsider his plan for massive increased spending, higher taxes, and a commitment to long-term deficits?

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

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. We will take no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to the deficit.

We already started in December with our plan for the middle class. We cut the tax to middle-class families in December.

We will continue, in our next budget, helping Canadian families with our Canada child benefit, which will help nine families out of 10 and lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We will make historic investments in our infrastructure.

That is the way to grow the economy. The Conservatives should listen to us and look at what Canadians decided on October 19.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is one lesson I wish they had learned from us, the previous Conservative government, on deficits, and that is how to eliminate the deficit.

Last week, StatsCan confirmed that we are not in a recession, and indeed, Canadians are left asking why the Minister of Finance is hell bent on acting as if we are in a recession.

Maybe the Minister of Finance can confirm for us that we are not in a recession; or does he have the same lack of confidence in StatsCan officials that he does in finance officials?

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

Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives when it comes to the deficit.

Let there be no mistake, the Conservatives left us with a deficit. The only ones who do not understand that are the members opposite—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. Order, please. We do not need any counting. Colleagues, let us pay attention to what people are saying. Let us not draw attention to personal attributes or characteristics. Let us focus on the content.

The hon. parliamentary secretary has the floor.

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

Mr. Speaker, I was saying to the member opposite that we will make historic investments to grow the economy. That is what Canadians chose on October 19.

Let me be clear. We will be making investments that are responsible, we will continue to reduce our debt to GDP ratio, and we will still have the objective of balancing the budget.

That is what Canadians expect from us, and that is what we will deliver.

Small Business

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives believe that the real job and wealth creators are our SMEs. We respect them and hold them in high esteem.

In fact, the Conservative government reduced the burdens shouldered by SMEs on several occasions. Take, for example, the employment insurance burden. We wanted to lower premiums to $2.09 per $100 in wages, but the current government wants to keep them at $2.31.

The question is simple. Will the government promise not to increase the burden on our job and wealth creators, our SMEs?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, this government ran on a platform. We committed to work with small and medium-sized businesses, and we committed to reduce the administrative burden as well as the tax burden on small and medium-sized businesses, and that is exactly what we will do.

I know the members opposite are excited to see the budget that we will be introducing on March 22. They should stay tuned. It is coming. We look forward to working with members, Canadians, and small and medium-sized businesses.

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said “stay tuned”, but the problem is that the Prime Minister, the government leader, did not show much respect for SMEs during the election campaign.

He said that “a large percentage of small businesses are actually just ways for wealthier Canadians to save on their taxes”.

That is disrespectful to SMEs.

Will the government commit to helping our SMEs, rather than treating them with disdain, as the Prime Minister did during the election campaign?