Debates of April 11th, 2016

Ethics

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I am having trouble hearing the member. It is going to be a short question period. Let us quiet down.

The hon. Minister of Justice has the floor.

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Mr. Speaker, to the member's question, I attended this fundraising event as all members of Parliament attend fundraising events. I was accompanied, on a voluntary basis, by my policy adviser. She paid her own way, having been a long-standing resident of the Toronto area. The subject matter of which I spoke in terms of the fundraising or what we talked about was Canadian politics, being involved in politics, and ensuring that everybody has the ability to have their voices heard, which is what I talked about.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the minister attended a pay-to-play fundraiser in which attendees were invited to pay in return for access to the minister. The Minister of Justice has a duty not only to be independent but to be perceived as independent, which the minister has clearly compromised.

Will the minister do the right thing, stand up, apologize, and return the pay-to-play cash?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. government House leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, the feigned indignation in front is a little rich.

We have indicated at all times that the Liberal Party raises money in accordance with the provisions of the Canada Elections Act. As I have said on previous occasions, nobody on this side of the House has gone to prison for illegal fundraising, and that is something they are having trouble saying over there.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in attending this fundraising event, the minister broke the Prime Minister's code of open and accountable government and the minister crossed the line by putting herself in a conflict of interest.

In order to clear the stench from this sordid Liberal fundraising affair, will the minister release the list of attendees? If not, what does the minister have to hide?

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

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we have nothing to hide.

The member knows full well that all of those donations are disclosed, according to law, every quarter. The member can spend the whole evening searching the Internet. Here is good news: it is coming to a computer near him.

While he is up asking questions, perhaps he should ask his colleague from Red Deer about fundraising activities when Senator Duffy went to his riding and, in fact, even threatened litigation with the riding association over that event.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, budget 2016 provides $20 million to the First Nations Finance Authority, the same organization that the Minister of Justice chaired, the same organization that the Minister of Justice's husband lobbies for. There is a clear conflict of interest here.

The Prime Minister states that his ministers must uphold the highest ethical standards and the impartiality of government is to be maintained and enhanced.

Does $20 million to an organization so intertwined with the Minister of Justice and her husband seem impartial?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am extraordinarily proud of that investment to the First Nations Financial Management Board.

Every member of the aboriginal affairs committee last year heard the testimony. This is an organization that takes a small amount of money, turns it into a large amount of money, and accesses infrastructure for first nations, coast to coast to coast.

This is an excellent investment. Ask any of the members on that side. The member needs to ask her colleagues on the aboriginal affairs committee why they supported that in the report.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, the Minister of Justice said she went to Toronto to attend a fundraising activity simply as the member for Vancouver-Granville. The minister would therefore have us believe that the people she met at this cocktail party in Toronto wanted to talk to her about matters that are important to her riding in Vancouver. Let us be real. If I go to Toronto, no one is going to talk to me about what is going on in Lévis—Lotbinière.

Will the minister stop taking us for fools and admit that she was there as the Minister of Justice?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I did attend a fundraising event. In advance, I cleared it with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and complied with all federal rules with respect to fundraising.

The purpose of the discussion, the primary discussion that occurred at that event, was about Canada. It was about how far we have come as a country wherein we embrace diversity, ensure that all voices are heard, and recognize that in a country such as Canada, the justice minister can be an aboriginal person and also be a woman. That is what this country is about.

Indigenous Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, let us go from Bay Street to Attawapiskat. The chief of Attawapiskat was once again forced to declare a state of emergency on Saturday, following a rash of suicide attempts by young people in his community.

While the Prime Minister talks about how saddened he is by the situation, the fact is that it is getting worse and nothing is being done about it.

The government refused to conduct an inquiry, and requests for mental heath services are often denied. The government is turning its back on young people.

When will the government take action and put an end to this tragedy?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question and for changing the topic in the House.

This is one of the most serious and pressing tragedies that our nation is facing. I am devastated by the situation that is taking place in Attawapiskat. I am working with my colleague the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs to respond to this tragedy.

I was in conversation yesterday with National Chief Bellegarde. I spoke today with Chief Shisheesh from Attawapiskat. We now have five new mental health workers in the community. We are responding to both the immediate needs and long-term needs of this community.

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

Mr. Speaker, as parliamentarians, our primary responsibility is to make sure children in this country have hope, and we are failing them. I want to thank the minister for her positive words on Attawapiskat, but as the community said to me this morning, it should not take a state of emergency to get mental health workers to fly into a region that has had 700-plus suicide attempts.

There is no money in the budget for mental health services for indigenous children. I have this question for the minister. What is it going to take to end this cycle of crisis and death among young people? What are the concrete steps for the long term that the Liberals are going to put on the ground, not just in Attawapiskat but in all the indigenous communities of this country?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will find no argument with me that in fact we need to find a way to restore hope for these communities and particularly for the young people who consider taking their lives.

In fact, as the hon. member may know, the budget includes $8.4 billion in funding for indigenous communities. It is these funds that would actually restore hope to communities. When we invest in education, so that these young people will have a standard of education that every Canadian child should have, it will renew hope. When we invest in these communities, so that people will have adequate housing and not be faced with overcrowding, we will find hope.

The Budget

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government says that we are in a recession, but the evidence from Statistics Canada is that we are not. The government says it is going to be financially transparent, but the evidence from the Parliamentary Budget Officer is that it is not.

The government says it is the saviour of the middle class, but the evidence from Finance Canada, which was just forced out of it by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, is that the Liberals plan on slashing this help to the middle class by 75% by 2021.

Let us just cut to the chase here, since we know where this is going. Can the Minister of Finance tell us today which taxes he is actually going to raise on us?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be able to talk about taxes in our budget. We started on January 1 by reducing taxes on nine million Canadians. We moved forward with our Canada child benefit, which gives more money to nine out of 10 families with children—on average $2,300 more.

We are in a situation where we are helping people who have not had the help they have needed over the last generation. We are improving the lot of middle-class Canadians, and we are going to grow the economy, so for the future their children and their grandchildren will be in a better position.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should know from his finance department that the median average wage for the Canadian middle class in the past 10 years rose 13% under the Conservative mandate.

The minister said that he consulted private-sector economists for predictions to the economy. He did not take their advice. The Liberals promised and advised many times that they would reduce the small business tax. They did not take small business tax advice either.

This is the question I have for the minister. Why is he even bothering to consult with small or big business owners in this country when he is not going to take their advice?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we were happy to consult with Canadians. We had more than 250,000 people who were touched by our pre-budget consultations. We listened to Canadians across the country, small businesses and big businesses.

We have made a real difference for small and medium-sized business by helping middle-class Canadians. We are investing in the future of Canada through a new innovation plan that is going to allow us to grow our economy over the long term. This is what Canada needs at this time, and we are going to make a real difference for future Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government loves to go on and on about its lofty principles, but its actions say quite the opposite.

Consider the example of transparency. The governments boasts about being transparent, but meanwhile it is eliminating transparency rules for first nations and labour unions. We are not the only ones saying so. The parliamentary budget officer said that he is, and I quote, “unable to provide completed tables due to the lack of information provided in Budget 2016.”

Why is the government hiding information from Canadians? Why this lack of transparency?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of budget 2016. We have been open and transparent with Canadians. We introduced measures that are easy to understand.

We also know that the PBO leads an important institution. We received a letter from him on April 1, and over the week that followed, we provided all necessary information to the PBO for his office to understand our budget.

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

Mr. Speaker, the minister forgot some things, because in his budget he inflated the figures, to say the least.

With respect to job creation, it says in the budget that 146,000 new jobs will be preserved. The parliamentary budget officer said that is not the case. On the contrary, we are talking about a much smaller number, namely 86,000 jobs. Furthermore, the PBO concluded that the forecasts for the private sector are “excessive” and that this budget, as tabled, “makes parliamentarians' work more difficult”.

Why did the government fudge the numbers? Why is the government refusing to tell Canadians the truth?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are proud of what we have put in the budget. It is open. It is transparent. We are talking here about how much we will grow the economy. That is the debate. We are confident that our measures to help Canadians today, with tax cuts and benefit changes, and our measures for the future, with infrastructure expenditures and the new innovation plan, will make a real difference over the long term, allowing us to grow the economy. We are happy to have the debate on exactly how much it will grow the economy.

International Trade

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what on earth will it take for the Liberals to stop backing the TPP? Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz calls it the “worst” trade deal ever. He warns it will erode workers' rights, kill Canadian jobs, and reverse the principle of polluter pays, making governments pay billions for any attempt to protect the environment. Can the minister confirm that Stiglitz explained to her the serious problems with the TPP, and will she tell the House which part she did not understand?