Debates of April 12th, 2016

Vaisakhi

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize April 13, 2016, the festival of Vaisakhi and Khalsa Day. It is the 317th anniversary of the birth of Khalsa, which is the first time Sikhs were baptized.

On April 23, like every year, Surrey—Newton will be home to the largest Khalsa Day celebration and parade, which will bring together hundreds of thousands of Canadians of all backgrounds. I invite everyone to attend.

I, along with my western Canadian colleagues, am proud to represent Sikh communities throughout western Canada, and we wish everyone a happy Vaisakhi and joyous Khalsa Day.

National Volunteer Week

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, I had the honour of attending the ceremony where Monique Venne from Mont-Laurier was awarded the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers.

Since it is National Volunteer Week, I would like to sincerely thank her for the 25 years that she has spent helping people in need through the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

That is why I would also like to recognize the inspiring attitude of many other volunteers who were recently awarded the Quebec Lieutenant Governor's medal at a ceremony that I attended on Saturday in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts.

I would like to congratulate and thank Mathieu Desmarais, Mélissa Campeau, Vincent Mailloux, Alexandre Milette-Gagnon, Robert Ardoin, Ernest Boyer, Denise Comtois-Lalongé, Francine Doré-Paquette, Micheline Drainville, Jacqueline Dumas, Huguette Dumay, Monique Guénette, Rose-Amande Houle, Claire Lalonde, and Yolande Véronneau.

Our communities would not be the same without volunteers like Ms. Venne and the commitment of these other leaders in our region. Keep up the good work.

The Budget

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals introduced their first budget, the news was not good for Canadians. Despite their election promise, the Liberals have blown through the surplus they inherited from the Conservatives and have racked up a massive $29-billion shortfall.

Members can imagine giving their credit credit to their children to go and buy groceries. They give them permission to spend up to $100, but when they come home and show the receipt, they find that the bill came to $3,000. What did they bring home? Nineteen bags of marshmallows, a case of chocolate bars, bags and bags of chips, and a whole lot of pop, but no eggs, no meat, no milk, not even a loaf of bread. Where is the beef? This is how the Prime Minister has spent our money.

Canadians were looking for a real plan to get the unemployed back to work, real investments in infrastructure, and a plan to avoid taxes, but the Liberals' budget failed to deliver on any of that. Instead, we have a government that is blocking private sector job creation, like energy east and northern gateway, and the Liberal tradition of raising taxes is back.

This is not the budget Canadians were looking for.

Claire Kirkland-Casgrain

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a woman who was a pioneer in a time of change. Claire Kirkland-Casgrain was the first woman elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and became the province's first female cabinet minister.

As a member of Jean Lesage's Quiet Revolution government, she helped shape a new and progressive Quebec by, among other initiatives, introducing legislation to further gender equality.

Before Bill 16 was passed, a woman could not open a bank account or sign a lease in Quebec without her husband's consent. According to Ms. Kirkland-Casgrain, the passing of this bill was her greatest achievement.

Following her very successful political career, Claire Kirkland-Casgrain was the first woman to be appointed as a judge in the Quebec provincial court.

I had the honour of knowing Claire Kirkland-Casgrain. She was a warm and compassionate person with a disarming sense of humour who loved life and people.

To her husband, Wyndham, and children, Lynne, Kirkland, and Marc, we offer our deepest condolences as we salute a remarkable woman whose determination to move society forward changed the lives of so many for the better.

Laurie-Ève Rhéaume

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate nine-year-old Laurie-Ève Rhéaume on her desire to make a difference.

I have a meeting scheduled with this young lady from my riding on Earth Day so that she can tell me about her concerns regarding the environment and poverty reduction.

Laurie-Ève also asked me to visit her elementary school. Her teacher, Dominique Provost, has made arrangements for me to meet with more than 125 children aged nine to 12 to discuss the environment, citizen engagement, and fighting inequality.

I would like to thank Laurie-Ève for taking this initiative. Although she is young, we can all look to her as a model of personal involvement in our democracy.

Wounded Warriors Canada

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about an exceptional group that has helped many of our veterans. The group is called Wounded Warriors Canada and is a national leader in funding innovative mental health programs that help support our soldiers and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, their families, and first responders in the community.

Wounded Warriors Canada is able to offer programs thanks to the care, compassion, and generosity of Canadians and Canadian businesses. I therefore want to thank all Canadians for supporting our women and men in uniform when they need it most.

As the official opposition critic for veterans affairs, I want to thank Wounded Warriors Canada for the important work it does in order to help our veterans.

Constable Sarah Beckett

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Constable Sarah Beckett of the West Shore detachment of the RCMP, who was killed last week while on patrol in Langford, British Columbia.

I know I speak for all members of this House in offering our heartfelt condolences to her family, her friends, her colleagues, her community, the community she loved and worked so hard to protect and serve.

No words can describe the loss this tragedy represents. Each day in communities in Canada, police officers put themselves in harm's way and put their lives on the line to keep us safe. Each day we owe them a debt of gratitude for the safety they work to ensure.

Today, a grieving and grateful community says goodbye to one of its heroes. Today, we thank Constable Sarah Beckett for her service and acknowledge the sacrifice she made for us.

The Budget

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, experts agree on three things: the Liberals are borrowing way more money than they promised, they are already raising taxes, and none of the spending will create the jobs and growth that they promised. In addition, this budget is the least transparent budget in 15 years. Now we also know that the budget numbers do not add up.

Let me repeat that: the federal budget numbers do not add up.

When the numbers do not add up, how can Canadians trust them with their jobs?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, budget 2016 puts forward significant, real help by putting money into the pockets of the middle class and by helping grow the economy in ways that, quite frankly, we have not had for 10 years. The reality is that by investing in public transit, in social infrastructure, in green infrastructure, in university and research infrastructure, we are creating the kinds of good jobs now, the growth for tomorrow, and the long-term prosperity that Canadians right across this country need.

That is what budget 2016 is all about, and that is a promise delivered.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, first the Prime Minister refused to give the parliamentary budget officer the information that he needs to do his work. Since then, we have seen a former deputy minister of finance conclude that this budget has no transparency. Even the CBC, believe it or not, declared that the numbers do not add up and called it “a shell game”. We have made-up numbers, hidden numbers, and numbers pulled from thin air, so why should Canadians trust the Prime Minister to run our economy?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, after 10 years of the kind of secrecy, of number-twisting, of obfuscation that Canadians got all too used to under the previous government, we put forward an open and transparent budget that actually talks about investing in the kind of growth and opportunities for Canadians that Canadians voted for and that Canadians need.

We are establishing investments in infrastructure. We are establishing a strategy for innovation that is going to demonstrate the kind of opportunities that Canadians can innovate and create in the coming years. This is exactly the kind of budget that Canadians were asking for with their ballot box choices last year.

Employment

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, if we cannot trust the numbers, how can we trust that the economy is in good hands?

In Alberta, the Prime Minister told oil and gas workers that they should be pleased they were not harder hit, when all they needed to hear was a commitment to build pipelines. Will the Prime Minister finally tell the 100,000 unemployed oil and gas workers today that if the Trans Mountain pipeline and the energy east pipeline are approved, he will also approve them?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, for 10 years the previous government did everything it could to try and shout those pipelines into being. What that resulted in was delivering no pipelines to tidewater.

One of the fundamental responsibilities of any prime minister is to get our resources to market. However, in the 21st century, getting those resources to market means doing it responsibly for communities, for indigenous peoples, and for the environment. That is why we are combining both environment and economy as we build for a stronger future, and basing our decisions on evidence.

Infrastructure

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

Mr. Speaker, we now know that the Liberal government is going to borrow $30 billion, money that will be paid back by Canadians who are not yet born.

During the last election campaign, at a photo op in a crane, the Prime Minister promised a lot of money for infrastructure. In this budget, very little money will go to roads, highways, or public transit.

How can the Prime Minister say that he will run a $30-billion deficit on infrastructure, when there is only $2.9 billion in new money for infrastructure in this budget?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, we promised to invest $60 billion over 10 years in infrastructure, and that is exactly what we are doing.

Last week, I was in Montreal to announce that $775 million will be going directly to public transit in order to provide better service for Montrealers. We are doing this across the country. Canadians want a government that has confidence in them and is prepared to invest in their future. That is exactly what we are doing because the other party dropped the ball for the past 10 years.

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

Mr. Speaker, we delivered the largest infrastructure plan in Canadian history on two separate occasions. We increased and doubled investments while still balancing the budget, not borrowing from the future.

The money that will be invested this year is money from the program we put in place, because we respect provincial jurisdictions. As for the funding announced for public transit and social housing, I will come back to that later. However, those are exclusively under provincial jurisdiction. The parliamentary budget officer said that he was missing some information that prevented him from completing and having accurate figures on the economy.

How can the Prime Minister claim that he is being transparent, when he is not providing all the information—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition party keeps repeating the same arguments that clearly failed to convince Canadians last fall.

The Conservatives are talking about their investments in the Canadian economy, but Canadians got nothing out of them. On the contrary, the Conservatives kept giving the benefits to those at the top, rather than helping the middle class and those working hard to join it and investing in the infrastructure that would help them in their communities. That is what we are doing and what we will continue to do.

Ethics

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after years of ethically challenged Conservative rule, the Liberals promised to do things differently.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

It is hard to hear the question. The hon. member for Outremont has the floor. Let us try to calm down, everybody. We are all excited.

The hon. member for Outremont.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after years of ethically challenged Conservative rule, the Liberals promised to do things differently.

The Minister of Justice is doing certain things differently. When Conservative minister Shelly Glover was caught holding a dodgy fundraiser in 2013, she promptly gave the money back, but this minister refuses to do the same.

Will the Prime Minister ask his Minister of Justice to simply give the money back?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, after 10 years of ethical failings on behalf of the government, the Liberal Party got elected to government on a platform of openness and transparency and promises that we are keeping.

We have always followed all the rules around fundraising. We have always demonstrated openness and transparency and accountability. Union and corporate donations are banned. There are very strict limits on donations to the parties.

We are following all rules, unlike the previous government.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, she should never have been there.

Canadians who follow the rules and pay their taxes find the Panama papers scandal disgusting. This week we learned that a former senior Revenue Canada official left the agency and went to work for KPMG when the firm was being investigated by Revenue Canada for using tax havens.

Will the Prime Minister finally conduct an investigation and lock the revolving door at Revenue Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect that no one should be able to avoid paying their fair share of taxes by giving money or doing favours.

For that reason, our budget includes a $440-million investment so that the Canada Revenue Agency can recover money lost as a result of tax avoidance and evasion. The reality is that we must support the Canada Revenue Agency as it works to ensure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes.