Debates of April 4th, 2017

Ethics

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, speaking of Liberals helping themselves, there is more news today regarding the Prime Minister's illegal vacation to a private island.

We have learned that the Liberal government gave taxpayers' money to a close friend of the Prime Minister in order to cover the expenses of a technician on the private island. This payment proves that the rest of the trip was actually a gift accepted by the Prime Minister and several other Liberal friends.

Will the Prime Minister rise today, finally take responsibility, and admit that he broke the law?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, as has been the case for previous prime ministers, the Prime Minister is always in contact with his office and routinely receives documentation during all travel, domestically and internationally, whether on personal or government business.

The Prime Minister must always be ready to carry out his official duties. As was already mentioned, the Prime Minister was on a family holiday with a long-time friend.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals initially tried to hide the details of this illegal vacation. When it was revealed, the Ethics Commissioner started not one but two official investigations.

The Prime Minister continues to claim it is all okay, move along, nothing to see here, because the Aga Khan is a close family friend. Are Canadians supposed to believe that the trip would have been more inappropriate if they were not so close?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, as has always been the case for previous prime ministers, the Prime Minister is always in contact with his office and is routinely provided with necessary resources during all travel, domestic and international. Whether on personal or government business, the Prime Minister must always be ready to do the important duties he has as Prime Minister, and this has been the case for that office always.

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

Mr. Speaker, we are celebrating our country's 150th anniversary. Never before has a prime minister been subject to an investigation like the one being conducted at present.

When the Liberals came to power, they talked about doing things differently. They are not walking the talk. They talk a lot about sunny ways, transparency, and co-operation. The majority is imposing what is in its own interest on Parliament. That is not how Canada has functioned for 150 years. That amounts to a lack of respect for the opposition.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, we are celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation. This is a really important year.

For the first time in the history of our country, we have gender parity in our cabinet. For the first time in the history of our country, we have a woman in the role of the government House leader. For the first time in our country, we have people working together, a government responding to the very real challenges that Canadians are facing.

We will continue to work hard for Canadians. We will continue to respond to the very real challenges they are facing. I am very proud of the leadership of the Prime Minister and the work this government is doing.

Finance

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

Mr. Speaker, we are in the House of Commons, the place where Canadians send their elected officials to speak on their behalf, and we are getting answers like that.

We all know that this year marks the 150th anniversary of Confederation. The Liberals do not seem to realize that because they are abandoning the approach taken by all former prime ministers. No prime minister has ever shown such disrespect for the opposition as the Liberals are demonstrating right now.

The member mentioned the election campaign. The Liberals said that they would run a deficit of $10 billion and would balance the budget by 2019. They also said that they would reform the electoral system. They do not do what they say they will. They are not being consistent.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

Our government's top priority is to make wise and responsible investments to strengthen the middle class, grow the economy, and prepare Canadians for the economy of today and tomorrow.

We can see that our plan is working. Over the past seven months, the economy has created over 250,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped from 7.1% to 6.6%. We are moving forward and we are happy with the progress being made.

Standing Orders of the House of Commons

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

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are outraged and they are expressing their concerns about the Prime Minister's power grab. Even the media has condemned his actions.

Today after question period we will be voting on a motion calling on the Liberals to finally commit to not changing the Standing Orders unless they have agreement from the opposition parties.

Will the Liberals do the right thing and once and for all stop this attempt to ram these changes through? Will they agree to our motion?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned time and time again, in the election campaign, we committed to modernizing Parliament and making it a 21st century workplace. As a direct result of the Harper government's approach to Parliament over 10 years, we promised Canadians that we would bring a new approach to Ottawa to ensure that their voices were also heard in this place.

We respect the work of the committee. We respect that the Conservatives yesterday wanted to have a debate on the Standing Orders, something we have been asking for for quite a long time, rather than discussing the very good budget that we introduced, budget 2017, that will be helping middle-class families and those working hard to join it.

We look forward to working with members opposite. We will continue to work—

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

The hon. opposition House leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is those kinds of non-answers that are eroding our democracy.

What gives the Prime Minister the right to disrespect Parliament and ram these changes through? What gives him the right to silence anyone who dares criticize him? What gives him the right to trample all over this House of Commons?

At a minimum, will he allow his backbenchers a free vote on this motion that affects them so directly, or will he trample all over your rights too?

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

I remind the opposition House leader to always direct her comments to the Chair.

The hon. government House leader.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, we encourage all members to have a voice in this House. We encourage them to represent their constituents. That is exactly what we were elected to do. That was not the—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

We want to encourage the voice of the person who has the floor, not everybody else's voice.

The hon. government House leader has the floor. Let us have a little order.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we will always encourage our members of Parliament to represent their constituents. That is exactly what we were elected to do. That was not the approach of the previous government. We know that the Harper government did not take that approach when dealing in this House. We believe that we can modernize this place. We will continue to work better together. We encourage all members on all sides to have this very important conversation. However, we will not give a veto to the Conservatives over our campaign commitments.

Ethics

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics of the Prime Minister's bohemian billionaire island holiday bash are getting murkier by the day. We now know that the government reimbursed the Aga Khan for at least one government employee's stay on this private island. Why are government per diems being paid to the Prime Minister's billionaire friend?

Will the Prime Minister admit finally that his middle-class boasting does not wash when he treats the public purse like his personal piggy bank?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, as I have answered this question, I will remind the member that, as has been the case for previous prime ministers, the Prime Minister is always in contact with his office and is routinely provided with necessary resources during all travel, domestic and international, and whether on personal or government business.

What Canadians have elected this government to do is to deliver on a plan to grow the economy and to create jobs. In the last seven months, over a quarter million good, full-time jobs have been created for Canadians. That is exactly the growth they are expecting. We will continue to advance what they have mandated us to do.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister brought a government technician with him on his trip to the Aga Khan's billionaire island. We also know that the employee's per diems were paid out to the Aga Khan, which is of course flying in the face of accountability.

Did the employee actually do any work for the taxpayers? That is what we want to know. Are the taxpayers on the hook or is the government's position that the Aga Khan is merely an Airbnb?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

Mr. Speaker, this government was elected on a plan to grow the economy, to support middle-class Canadians, and those working hard to join them. That is exactly why we lowered taxes on middle-class Canadians by increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of Canadians.

Irrespective of the Prime Minister's schedule or planned events, the Prime Minister must always be prepared to carry out his official duties. That is why he is always given the necessary resources, regardless of when he is travelling, whether for personal or business reasons.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I guess this island was an all exclusive.

People are tired of seeing the wealthy hide their money in Barbados or the Cayman Islands. If the Liberal government were serious about tax havens, we could get at least $8 billion. With that, we could offer university studies to our students or pharmacare to everyone.

Getting this money back is a priority for the NDP because it is our money. The Liberals voted in favour of our motion on this, but they have done absolutely nothing since then. Is this the old Liberal tactic of putting on a show while continuing to help their millionaire pals?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see that the party opposite is aligning its thinking with ours. In the last budget, which we have just tabled, we invested $524 million to continue to fight tax evasion and tax shelters. Last year, we got $13 billion with the $444 million we invested. We will continue with our work.

Employment

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, last week, reports were released that CIBC is cutting 130 Canadian jobs and outsourcing them to India in a move to save money. This comes from a bank that made $1.4 billion in profits last quarter.

Will the minister agree with me that this is completely unacceptable when so many Canadians are still looking for work? With a budget with investments that are ringing hollow for many, what is the government doing to create jobs in Canada?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, we presented a budget that focused on Canadians, that focused on skills and innovation, to create opportunities and to create jobs. This is to build on the first successful budget that has really shown a clear indication that the job market is getting better in Canada. More than 250,000 jobs have been created over the last seven months. In particular, this budget is going to focus on additional opportunities built on the past, which is about creating jobs and opportunities. I am confident that we will continue to see positive trends going forward in the economy, in trade, in the retail sector, and in the job market.