Debates of April 12th, 2016

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, we are moving forward with appointments, not only to the superior courts across the country but certainly, in the impending retirement of an honoured justice out of the Supreme Court of Canada, moving forward with the process to appoint a new Supreme Court of Canada justice.

We are looking at this process and renovating the process to ensure that it is open and transparent. We will engage with members of the House in ensuring that the appointments are based on merit and that the appointments are diversified in terms of reflecting a judiciary that has the face of this great and diversified country.

Taxation

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, under the Liberals' job-killing budget, they are raising taxes on small businesses and their workers. They reversed the Conservative tax cut for small businesses, raised payroll taxes, and now the top tax bracket in over half of our provinces will be more than 50%.

When will the Liberals stop raising taxes on workers and job creators?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the member opposite to read our budget. If she goes back to January, when I believe she was in the House, she will see that we lowered taxes on nine million Canadians. What she will find is that this year small business taxes actually have gone down. What the member will also find is that the nine out of ten families with children who will get the Canada child benefit will have an average of $2,300 more. This will help small businesses.

This is a budget that will help Canadians and Canadian businesses to be more successful.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claimed to consult with businesses and workers, but as we saw in the budget, they broke that promise too. The Liberals even ignored their own members on the finance committee by raising taxes on small businesses. This should come as no surprise after the Minister of International Trade said “Amen to raising taxes”.

How can Canadians trust the tax-and-spend Liberals when they break promises to their own members?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, let us start with understanding that we had more pre-budget consultations than in the history of the country will ever have.

Let us move forward with a very clear understanding that we reduced taxes on nine million Canadians. Let us move forward one more step by understanding that we helped small businesses across the country by helping their customers and clients.

This is a budget that will help Canadians, families and businesses. It will grow our economy over the long run.

International Trade

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the trade committee is finally hitting the road next week to study the TPP, yet it still has no impact study to guide its work. The Liberals promised a full, public consultation, but now they are trying to pass off the committee's work as their own.

When it comes to what Joseph Stiglitz called, “the worst trade deal ever”, that just does not cut it. Why is the government refusing to live up to its promise of full, public consultation for all Canadians?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP that condemns this deal without even reading it, we are keeping our election promise. We promised to consult, and we are.

I would also like to point out that we learned something interesting about the New Democrats on Sunday. We learned they want to shut down our natural resource industry and we learned they want to say no to Canada trading in the world.

That is not good for Canada's middle class, including the union members the hon. member claims to represent.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today, the Government of Quebec and dairy producers and processors stood shoulder to shoulder on the diafiltered milk issue.

The Liberal government has been saying for months that it is working on this issue, but it has not done anything yet. The industry has had enough. Farmers are losing thousands of dollars a week. However, there is nothing complicated about this. All the government has to do is enforce the cheese compositional standards.

What is the Prime Minister waiting for? When will he keep his election promise to solve the diafiltered milk problem here in Canada?

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

Mr. Speaker, I think my colleague is fully aware that I met many stakeholders in the agricultural sector, including supply management and the dairy industry in particular.

This issue was inherited from the previous government, and we are working with the industry to resolve the issue.

Fiscal Stabilization

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to extend my thoughts and prayers to the people of Bay de Verde in light of yesterday's fire at the Quinlan Brothers fish processing facility. Our hearts are with the workers and the community today.

The Newfoundland and Labrador throne speech confirmed what many in our home province have been worried about. The recent downturn in oil prices has decreased revenue at a time when unemployment is on the rise.

Will the Minister of Finance provide an update to the House about what our government is doing to help the people of Newfoundland and Labrador during these difficult times?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Avalon, his caucus colleagues from Newfoundland and Labrador and the Minister of Public Services and Procurement for their tireless work on behalf of Newfoundland and Labrador.

When that province came to us with a fiscal stabilization request, I directed the Department of Finance officials to move forward expeditiously on this request.

I am pleased to say that we have moved forward with an advance payment of $32 million of fiscal stabilization for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in these difficult times.

Natural Resources

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

Mr. Speaker, it is no secret the Prime Minister surrounds himself with anti-oil activists, people like Zoe Caron who believes fossil fuels must stay in the ground, or his principal secretary who compares supporting oil to encouraging children to smoke.

Well, the Liberals have their way. Alberta investment is down 62%. In fact, oil is staying in the ground and the entire country is suffering because of it.

Is the Prime Minister ready to abandon his anti-pipeline advice and stand up publicly for Canadian oil and gas?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the member for Grande Prairie—Mackenzie urged the government to approve a pipeline project before it even had been registered with the regulator. He asked the government to approve a pipeline project before one community had been consulted, before one indigenous leader had been phoned.

This is not the way to get projects approved. This is why we will do it a different way. We will not take for granted that people agree with us before we even ask them.

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

Mr. Speaker, the people in Alberta are looking for a government that will proudly stand up for Canadian oil and gas, not act coy and shy when it becomes convenient for it.

If that is not bad enough, the Minister of Environment says that over time they are going to block development in the oil sands. In other words, that is the end of the oil and gas industry in Canada. How can the oil patch expect investment when one of the Liberal's most prominent ministers is suggesting that the government has a plan to shut them down?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said that there is no contradiction between building wind turbines and pipelines. He has said it is a principal responsibility of the Government of Canada to move our natural resources to market sustainably. That is why we are following a process that will consult with Canadians and give people the chance to understand that in this day and age we develop the economy sustainably, with one eye on the environment and the other on job creation. That is the way we will move forward sustainably.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve a straight answer from the Liberals. The Prime Minister creates instability and uncertainty in the energy sector. He appointed the justice minister who has opposed pipeline projects. His senior advisors are against Alberta's responsibly developed oil sands. He ignores Albertans who just want to get back to work.

A strong Alberta means a strong Canada. Will the Prime Minister finally support Canadian energy through crucial infrastructure projects like trans mountain and energy east?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, we understand that the natural resource sector in Canada accounts for 20% of the GDP. We know that Canada's economic future depends on a healthy energy sector. We also understand that in order to ensure that our natural resources move to markets sustainably, we need a regulatory process that has the confidence of Canadians. That is why we have established a set of principles that we are confident will much more likely get us to that place than what happened with the previous government.

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

Mr. Speaker, according to anonymous sources, the Prime Minister is supposedly now in favour of building certain pipelines. Really? In reality, the Liberals are standing in the way of proponents who are trying to develop the economy. That is not surprising since the Prime Minister's entourage is full of activists who want to block energy sector projects.

Will the Prime Minister rise in the House and say that he supports the workers and families who depend on the energy sector?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, our budget demonstrates in real terms how we support workers who are suffering from low commodity prices. This is true in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

We also understand that Canada is poised to become an international leader in green technology, which is why the budget invests many millions of dollars on the next wave of energy development in Canada, while we understand that we will move fossil fuels to market sustainably.

Ethics

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today at the Standing Committee on Finance, the Liberals rejected the NDP motion to call the Minister of National Revenue to testify about the KPMG affair. We know that the Liberals promised Canadians a responsible, accountable, transparent government, but they looked like a bunch of Conservatives in committee today.

Canadians are angry about the KPMG affair and the Panama papers, and the Minister of National Revenue owes them an explanation.

Why is the minister refusing to step up and explain to Canadians and the committee the difference between her statements in the House and the KPMG affair and the facts that have been revealed?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure the House.

All Canadian taxpayers are treated fairly. Regardless of income, our $440-million announcement in the latest budget is proof of that. I would like to be clear about KPMG. The fact is that the Canada Revenue Agency exposed the scheme. The agency audited taxpayers and took legal action. Yesterday's announcement confirms our commitment to preventing entities from promoting such schemes.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is not what we want to know. We want to know whether she will appear before the Standing Committee on Finance.

My question is for the chair of the finance committee. This morning, the Liberal members of the committee voted down my motion to have the Minister of National Revenue appear to answer questions regarding the amnesty given to tax cheats in the KPMG affair. She said in the House on March 10 that there is no such amnesty, and we believe that she has to explain herself.

Could the chair of the finance committee confirm that there are currently no plans to have the minister appear on this very important issue to Canadians?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, there was a discussion at committee this morning. There were two motions before the committee, and the meeting had to adjourn before the second one was completely discussed. I would make a point that one of our members on committee suggested that most all of this activity happened under the previous government in terms of the way that it operated. This minister does not hold responsibility for those discussions, but the committee would consider bringing this minister before the committee after we hold the initial hearings on KPMG and CRA.

Natural Resources

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Speaker, industry has said that investment in Alberta's oil sands will be down more than $60 billion over the past two years, a 63% decrease since 2014. Hundreds of thousands of Albertans have lost their jobs, and they are losing their homes. The Prime Minister has told Albertans that they should hang in there and they should be thankful that things are not worse.

We cannot wait for things to get worse. When is the Liberal government finally going to make an investment in Canada's national energy program?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I have had the pleasure of representing Canada at a number of international meetings and to talk with those who are looking at investments in the energy sector. They all agree that Canada has been and will continue to be a very important international market for energy. It is our goal as the government to develop these energy sources, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, which will make Canada, after these low commodity prices pass, again a major place of investment and confidence internationally.