Debates of April 21st, 2016

Ministerial Expenses

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of International Trade about her taxpayer-funded trip to LA to appear on the HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher.

The parliamentary secretary claimed the purpose of the trip was to promote Canadian interests with one of our most important trading jurisdictions. Yet, the minister did not even mention trade or make any reference to Canada's interests during her appearance on the show.

The minister's Hollywood meeting had nothing to do with her portfolio or government business. Why did Canadian taxpayers pick up the tab?

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

Mr. Speaker, our Minister of International Trade earned an international reputation as a global thought leader on economic and social issues well before she entered politics.

That is why she was given the opportunity to appear before millions of Americans, millions of viewers, on these high-profile panels. It is good for Canada to have a trade minister with that kind of international stature.

She should be celebrated for the work she is doing in defending Canadian values and defending Canadian interests.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, once again, yelling raises Liberals to their feet.

Yesterday, I asked the President of the Treasury Board why he and other ministers were violating rules obligating them to post their travel expenses by March 31. Then about an hour later, some of his expenses magically appeared online.

A few ministers are still missing, however. When can we expect the rest of the Liberal ministers to obey the law?

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

Mr. Speaker, Liberals have led the charge on openness, transparency, and proactive disclosure. In fact, it was a Liberal prime minister, Paul Martin, whose government was the first to proactively disclose cabinet ministers' expenses. It was a Liberal leader, our Prime Minister, in opposition, who led the charge, being the first party in the House of Commons to proactively disclose members of Parliament's expenses.

We disclose our expenses. We will continue to disclose our expenses, because it is the right thing to do. Canadians deserve openness and transparency. Our government will continue to deliver that.

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

Mr. Speaker, after missing the deadline set by his own department, the President of the Treasury Board finally reported his travel expenses. However, the same cannot be said of some of his colleagues who are late in doing so or have provided incomplete information. Canadians deserve better than this pseudo-transparency.

When will we have proactive disclosure? Are they going to disclose information only when they get caught breaking the rules?

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

Mr. Speaker, our government is completely open and transparent. We report our expenses and we will continue to do so.

Air Canada

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Transport said that we must move quickly, and he moved a time allocation motion for Bill C-10. One of his arguments was that the Government of Quebec decided not to sue Air Canada. However, things are not going the minister's way because, this morning, Quebec's economy minister said that the federal government must not hinder her negotiations with Air Canada.

He is saying one thing, but Quebec's minister is saying the opposite today. That is not good. I am sorry to bring the minister back to earth, but why did he really impose closure? Why is he hindering the discussions? What are the Liberals trying to hide?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, this gives me a chance to repeat what I said.

The reason we imposed closure yesterday was very clear. Last Friday, the NDP tried to kill this bill. In our fine democracy, we know full well that there are still many stages for Bill C-10 to go through before it reaches the end of the process. We are going to move to committee stage where we will listen to witnesses. Then there will be report stage, followed by third reading. The bill will then follow the same process in the Senate. There is still a lot of time for everyone to be heard.

Taxation

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

Mr. Speaker, we cannot understand the Liberals' strategy to combat tax evasion. First, there were the secret sweetheart deals for a number of millionaires and posh soirees with KPMG representatives, and now we learn that, while the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance was a Bionest board member, he regularly made transfers to a partner's company, which was located in a tax haven. Furthermore, Bionest was receiving federal tax credits at the same time.

How much taxpayer money did this company transfer and divert to the Turks and Caicos?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain is a colleague and a friend. There is absolutely nothing he has done that contravenes the law from an income tax standpoint. To insinuate otherwise is categorically false.

What I can say is that the members opposite clearly like our budget so much that they are moving to talk about other things, non-stories, to move us off the topic. The fact is that we are helping Canadians with our budget. We are going after tax evaders, and we are going to continue to do so.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, is the Liberal government serious about tax havens?

The Minister of Finance and his parliamentary secretary are busy explaining why companies they have left have links to Caribbean tax havens. The Minister of National Revenue continues to defend sweetheart deals with millionaire tax cheats and privileged relations with KPMG.

As Canadians are sitting down these days and doing their taxes, they are angry about one set of rules for the super rich and another for the rest of us.

When will the minister just call an investigation into the KPMG tax evasion scandal?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, to insinuate any sort of wrongdoing on the part of the parliamentary secretary to finance is categorically wrongheaded.

What I can say is that our government is absolutely committed to dealing with tax evasion and to dealing with tax avoidance that is inappropriate.

At the G20, we were a strong and loud voice for common reporting standards around the world. We are moving forward on the base erosion and profit shifting initiative to come to those deliverables, and we have committed $440 million to the CRA to ensure that we go after people who are evading taxes.

Natural Resources

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week at committee, I asked the Minister of Environment and Climate Change about Canada's competitive advantage in carbon pricing. The only response I could get was that China was considering a plan to price carbon and that this was a game changer.

Therefore, we are left with a minister who turns to China for inspiration on carbon taxes, and a Prime Minister who expresses admiration for the basic dictatorship that is China.

When will the Liberals abandon their plan for a carbon-tax grab and focus on supporting Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, Canada's government is working actively with the provinces and territories to develop and implement a Canadian plan to reduce emissions and to further the clean-growth economy. We welcome the discussion with respect to carbon pricing. Carbon pricing is something that will be part of the outcome of the discussions.

I would say that the hon. member should actually have a conversation with some of the leading Conservative members around the country, including Patrick Brown, the leader of the Ontario Conservative Party; Preston Manning; and Mark Cameron, who was an advisor to his former prime minister.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is not only about a carbon-tax grab.

Earlier this week in question period, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change was asked when she would make a decision on the $36 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project in B.C. She flippantly said, “We will make a decision when we are ready to make a decision”.

When will the minister abandon her plan for a harmful carbon-tax grab, get out of the way, and allow Canada's resources to be shipped to market?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear that we will be working to ensure that the economy and the environment go hand in hand. We have also been very clear that we are going to base decisions on science and evidence.

With respect to Pacific NorthWest, as I have mentioned to my hon. colleague in the past, the proponent provided substantive new information during the public comment period, some of which had the potential to have impact on the second largest salmon run in British Columbia.

We are going through the process of assessing that information to ensure that we understand the environmental impacts. That is the responsible thing to do. That is what we plan to do.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Mr. Speaker, mining is the biggest provider of jobs in the north. The recent downturn in the natural resource sector had disastrous effects on each of the territories. Unemployment is now 6.9% in the Yukon, 9.4% in the Northwest Territories, and a staggering 16.2% in Nunavut.

A carbon tax will only make things worse. When will the Liberals realize that a carbon tax will only weaken the northern economy and raise unemployment?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in an earlier reply, we are working actively with all of the provinces and territories across the country to develop a pan-Canadian approach to address carbon emissions and to actually promote a clean-growth economy.

We intend to work constructively with all provinces and territories to ensure that we have a plan that has the support of all parts of the country, but will allow us to ensure that we are addressing what is a critical international issue.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Mr. Speaker, northerners want to work and support their families. Instead of embracing the resource industry, the Liberals have taken every opportunity to give it the cold shoulder. They are making it more difficult for the natural resource industry in the north by introducing a carbon tax that will raise the cost on everything.

Why are the Liberals kicking northerners down when the economy is already down?

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to refer my hon. colleague to a number of elements in the budget which focus on innovation and driving clean technology into sectors such as the mining industry, to enable the mining industry to become more carbon friendly, but also more productive and more efficient.

I would also note that people like Pierre Gratton, the CEO of the Mining Association of Canada, last week came out and actively supported carbon pricing as part of the overall solution. In fact, people in industries from oil and gas, to mining, to other industrial sectors have joined the modern age and understand that carbon pricing is part of what we must do in order to meet carbon emission targets and to ensure that we have a clean growth economy in the future.

Budget Legislation

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives disrespected Parliament through their use of omnibus bills and the Liberals rightly joined New Democrats to decry them, but yesterday, the Liberals tabled an omnibus budget bill of their own. The bill runs more than 170 pages and includes a bill that is already before the House. It also contains the Liberals' inadequate EI changes that will leave most Canadians out.

Are the Liberals really using omnibus bills like the Conservatives did to avoid proper scrutiny from Parliament?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, our budget implementation act is absolutely not an omnibus bill. Every measure in the budget implementation act is related to our budget, unlike previous omnibus bills from the members opposite, who put in things like the repeal of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act in 2012, or gutted the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act in 2010. We will continue on our message that our budget implementation act is about budget measures and budget measures only.

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

Mr. Speaker, the problem is that, as members will recall, the Conservatives used their budget implementation bill to amend dozens of bills, and the Liberals are doing the same thing. The Conservatives made retroactive changes to other laws, and the Liberals are doing the same thing.

As my colleague mentioned, entire bills that had been introduced in the House were inserted into this bill. The problem is that the Liberal government promised to be more transparent and to do things differently.

In the interest of transparency, will the government agree to split the bill, so that it can be properly studied in committee?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to be clear. Our budget implementation act is in fact exactly that. It is a budget implementation act that includes budget measures and budget measures only. It is an act that shows Canadians in an open and transparent way the way that we are going to make a real difference in their lives both today and tomorrow.

Ecuador

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last Sunday, Ecuador was hit by the worst earthquake in 40 years. This devastating earthquake claimed hundreds of victims, including four Canadians. Furthermore, tens of thousands of disaster victims find themselves in an extremely precarious humanitarian situation.

Can the Minister of National Defence inform the House of what could be made available to Ecuadorians to help them deal with this immense catastrophe?