Debates of April 14th, 2016

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member just said that the parliamentary budget officer was not telling the truth. That is unbelievable.

The parliamentary budget officer said that he did not have all of the information, but my colleague is saying that his government gave it all to him.

We should not be surprised, since, yesterday, when we asked the Prime Minister about his four companies, he did not want to give us any details. He was very evasive about the whole thing.

What does the Prime Minister have to hide in that regard?

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

Mr. Speaker, my colleague opposite knows full well that we have absolutely nothing to hide.

The Prime Minister was very clear yesterday. It has never happened before, but he proactively disclosed information about his personal finances when he decided to run for the leadership of our party. The companies in question always paid all of the necessary taxes.

Obviously, when he became Prime Minister, his assets were placed in a trust, which is the appropriate thing to do.

The Budget

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

Mr. Speaker, the reviews are in for the Liberal budget with a resounding fail for transparency.

The parliamentary budget officer called it the least transparent budget in 15 years. A former deputy finance minister said that it failed the Liberals' own campaign commitments. Even the CBC called it a “shell game”.

The Prime Minister thinks that the budget will balance itself, but how can the Liberals have any credibility on the economy when they keep fudging the numbers?

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact, the reviews are in from economic experts, people like David Dodge, Kevin Lynch, and Larry Summers, former secretary of the treasury in the U.S., who have called for this kind of important investment in jobs and growth for some time.

Their calls were ignored by the previous government. We have listened.

We have also heard from the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who said that we have a better mix of policies today than we would have had without that fiscal change.

The reviews are in, and we are doing the right thing.

Natural Resources

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is making pipeline projects more difficult to get approved by adding more hurdles and red tape.

He keeps moving the goalposts and giving special interest groups undue influence on the process. Now he claims that this more difficult process will ensure Canadians have more confidence in the process, that making it harder will somehow make it easier, and yet he refuses to commit to actually approving any project that makes it through his new onerous process.

Very simply, if an application makes it through the new process that he himself has designed, will the Prime Minister approve it, or does he not have confidence in his own process?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, just two days ago, there was a question from a member of the Bloc Québécois. He said that the government was about to impose the energy east pipeline on the people of Quebec.

The day before that, there was a member from the Conservative Party who said that the budget should announce its approval of a pipeline, which application has not yet been received by the regulator and without a single community having yet been consulted.

We are going to follow a more rational process, a more principled one, that has a better chance of carrying the confidence of Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, that is completely false. All we are asking is whether the government will respect the result of its own process.

Canadians know that pipelines are the safest, most effective way to get our oil and gas to market. Canadian oil and gas is the cleanest and most ethical energy in the world, and creates high-paying jobs here at home.

Without pipelines, eastern Canada is forced to import foreign oil. The Prime Minister's principal secretary and top advisor said that oil and gas development is as bad as hooking kids on cigarettes.

Can the government explain why oil shipped by ocean tanker from Saudi Arabia is somehow better than western Canadian oil and gas?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, it is our objective, as the Prime Minister has said many times, to move our natural resources to market sustainably.

The previous government, in spite of $100-a-barrel oil, in spite of all of that representation from western Canada, did not build a single pipeline to tidewater during its majority government from 2011.

I do not think Canadians would advise the government to follow that process. We are following a different one. We think we will have a better chance to do the right thing, which is to move that product—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. The hon. member for Timmins—James Bay.

Indigenous Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, with the government responding to the crisis in Attawapiskat, we are hearing from indigenous youth in other regions who are saying “Where are the resources for our community?” The crisis is extreme across this country, and band-aids will not work. The youth want action now, yet there were zero dollars in this budget to deal with the suicide crisis and zero new dollars to deal with indigenous mental health.

The current government has the power to act. The only thing missing is political will. Will it commit today to augment the funds to ensure that we can end the mental health crisis in all of the communities across this country?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our government has been clear about the fact that we will increase access to mental health services across the country. In particular, of course, we will be focusing on the indigenous communities, the first nations, the Inuit, and the Métis nation to ensure that they have access to the mental health services they need.

I am very pleased that in the case of Attawapiskat, there are now 18 mental health workers on the ground who were not there previous to the time that this crisis began. We will continue working to introduce the resources that are required.

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

Mr. Speaker, we did not just get to this crisis by accident. The children have been dying on a daily basis across this country, dying in nurses stations from strep throat and asthma because government will not pay for the medication, dying by suicide because government will routinely turn down their pleas for mental health counselling. The current government has no new money for mental health or for health services. It has to stop. Where is the political will to invest in resources, in what is truly our greatest resource, our children? Where is that will to move today?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I hope that it is abundantly clear that our government is absolutely committed to addressing the gaps in terms of the realities of the day-to-day life of indigenous people in this country. In our recent budget, we have invested $8.4 million to address those gaps. Much of that will go to addressing educational resources, which these communities need. I am pleased that within that there is $270 million that will go to improving health centres and nursing stations in indigenous communities. This will encourage health human resources to stay in these communities. We are firm in our commitment to ensure that the health care services are out there.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are concerned about the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat and many other indigenous communities. We cannot continue to neglect our youth this way.

The government says that it is taking this problem seriously, but in reality, the budget does not provide for any investments in mental health care services for indigenous youth. The government needs to invest in prevention.

Will the government immediately make recurrent funding available for mental health care services for first nations youth?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite well knows, the response to the needs in indigenous communities is a collaborative response. This is a response that needs to take into consideration, of course, the leadership of indigenous leaders across this country. In terms of Attawapiskat and other communities, we have done just that. We are in regular communication with the national chief, the regional chief, the grand chief, and the local chief in this community. We are also working with the provincial government, which has recently invested $2 million to support health care services in Attawapiskat. We will be there working in partnership with all of these jurisdictions to make sure that people have the services they require.

Health

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

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to palliative care services, there is a crying need for help across the country.

The government itself acknowledged that this is an important issue in the bill it introduced today, but there was nothing for palliative care in the budget. The Liberals had promised $3 billion over four years for home care. There is yet another broken promise.

Will the government finally acknowledge that this is urgent and invest in palliative care?

[Jane Philpott, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased this morning to introduce, along with my colleague the Minister of Justice, new legislation that will support Canadians and provide medical assistance in dying. At the same time, this has triggered a conversation, a very important one, about the need to make sure that Canadians have access to the palliative care services they require in end of life. I have said repeatedly that it is important that Canadians should be able to have a good and peaceful death. However, just as much, it is important that Canadians will have a good, peaceful, and dignified life until the very end. For that purpose, we will make sure that Canadians have access to the palliative care services they need. We will do so in participation with our colleagues in the provinces and territories.

Natural Resources

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, 84% of Canadians know it is possible to transport our energy resources while protecting the environment, and 70% of Canadians believe pipelines are the most appropriate method of transporting oil and gas. Canada's oil and gas is the most socially and environmentally responsible in the world. When will the Liberals finally get on board and proudly support Canada's world-leading, internationally renowned energy sector?

[Jim Carr, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, we do support the wonderful energy sector in Canada. I have had the pleasure of having conversations with people around the world about Canada's energy sector and they feel very confident that we will get over this dip in prices and emerge stronger. In part, we will emerge stronger because they will know that our regulatory system carries the confidence of Canadians and they will know that in 2016 we must move responsibly to market, and that is what we intend to do.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we can say it is wonderful, but we are all wondering when, just like the workers.

Canada can be a major global competitor for long-term, high-reward LNG contracts with Asian markets. These projects will provide thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment and revenue to benefit communities all across Canada. Exporting LNG will help the world lower GHG emissions. The Liberals will be responsible if Canadian LNG is shut out.

Will the Liberal government stop blocking Canadian companies from getting LNG to global markets?

[Jonathan Wilkinson, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, major resource projects play a vital role in our economy, and we clearly recognize the importance of creating jobs and economic growth. We have been very clear that the focus is on moving the environment and the economy forward hand in hand. In fact, that is a requirement in the modern age.

With respect to LNG projects, they will go through an appropriate environmental assessments and decisions will be made on science and data, not on politics as perhaps they have in the past. This is the responsible approach. This is the modern approach. It is obviously not the Conservative approach, but this is how we plan to move forward.

Small Business

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, the Liberal leader said, “Raising corporate taxes, like the NDP want to do, strangles growth.” The current immigration minister also said that the NDP's proposed corporate tax hikes would cost 150,000 jobs.

It stands to reason therefore that raising the corporate tax rate on small business would have a similar job-killing effect on our economy.

Would the Minister of Finance tell us whether his department did a calculation of the number of jobs that would be lost based upon the tax increases the budget imposes on our small business job creators?

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to remind my hon. colleague that we did reduce taxes for small businesses and we did reduce taxes for nine million Canadians.

I would invite my hon. colleague to read the entire budget. He will see that this government is working for Canadians.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the member is chopping, it was only our government that cut taxes for small business.

As the law currently stands, the rate will fall down to 9% within three years. The government proposes legislation that will raise it up back to 10.5%. That is an increase in taxes on 622,000 small businesses that pay $150 billion in wages.

The budget contains a bunch of inflated numbers for job creation. Has the finance department done any calculation on job losses with this tax hike?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would remind my hon. colleague to read the entire budget, because this is the government that reduced taxes on nine million Canadians. We did that in December. The taxes on small business have been reduced.

This is a government that works for Canadians, Canadian families, and small business. We will continue to do exactly that.