House of Commons Hansard #192 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was amendment.

Topics

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

June 12th, 2017 / 4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Amarjeet Sohi Liberal Edmonton Mill Woods, AB

Mr. Speaker, Jean Simard, president of the Aluminum Association of Canada went even further, saying, “We think definitely the challenge is not to slow down this process but to accelerate the transition.”

Canadians understand that climate change and economic growth can happen at the same time. I do not want to be unfair to members opposite. Finally, belatedly, the party opposite has recognized that climate change is real. That is a good start. Who knows, perhaps by this time next year the party opposite will come to see the need to take action on climate change by pricing carbon. Perhaps, but I am not holding my breath. The fact is, the world has moved beyond the position of the Conservative Party. Some 40 countries, over 20 cities, states, and regions, including seven of the 10 largest economies, are putting a price on carbon.

The direction is clear. More and more countries are moving toward pricing carbon, and our government is proud to place Canadians among their number. We realize, unlike the hon. member and his party, that fighting climate change requires more than fine words. It requires firm action. Our government is taking that action. It is the same action that is urged by businesses, endorsed by environmentalists, and embraced by jurisdictions around the world.

As the recent economic data shows, it is clear that we can create jobs, drive growth, and protect the environment all at the same time. Indeed, in today's economy, there is no better way of creating prosperity.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Before going to questions, I want to remind the hon. members that when they are shouting and looking straight down, just because they cannot see the speaker does not mean the Speaker cannot see them when they are speaking loudly. I wanted to point that out in case anyone was wondering.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Provencher.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5 p.m.

Conservative

Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB

Mr. Speaker, I want it on the record that I am a huge fan of historic spending on infrastructure. I like it, if it is done properly. The problem is that it is not being done properly by the Liberal government.

Spending on infrastructure is an important investment, but it should be done by Canadians, not Chinese billionaires, and not rich Liberal elites. The way the government has structured it, those are the individuals who are going to be benefiting from the infrastructure bank, with an expected return of up to 20% on their investment. However, if by chance that project goes south, and if by chance there is a loss incurred on some of these infrastructure projects, we know who will take the bite. It will be middle-class Canadians and those working very hard to join it. They are the ones who are going to feel the pain.

When we look at it that way, I am wondering why we would not give middle-class Canadians the opportunity to invest in Canadian infrastructure. We could do it through the Canada savings bond program. However, instead of doing it through that program, offering middle-class Canadians and seniors a vehicle to get a decent return on their investment, the Liberals are doing away with it. They are going to discontinue the Canada savings bond program, and instead offer Chinese billionaires the opportunity to profit off of Canadians. I want to know how the minister feels about that.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5 p.m.

Liberal

Amarjeet Sohi Liberal Edmonton Mill Woods, AB

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the question from the hon. member and his desire to see infrastructure investments creating opportunities for Canadians.

Let me tell the House what our budget 2016 investments have been able to achieve. Through those investments, more than 1,000 buses have been bought in Canadian communities to reduce congestion and improve mobility. Those investments are renovating close to 60,000 housing units to provide a safe place for Canadians to live and provide opportunities for those who are working hard to be part of the middle class.

These investments are helping to build more than 200 schools in indigenous communities. It allows us to build 5,000 housing units on indigenous communities to improve their quality of life. It is moving our public transit, housing, and recreation facilities toward making them more accessible for people with disabilities. We are building more shelters to provide a safe place for women fleeing domestic violence. This is having a real impact on Canadians.

As far as the mobilization of private capital and pension funds are concerned, those are the investments made into pension funds by average Canadians. Our pension funds invest in foreign countries. Why would we not allow them to invest in our own country, to create jobs in our own country for the middle class?

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5 p.m.

NDP

Scott Duvall NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON

Mr. Speaker, I was very interested when I heard we have had a surge in job growth. That is very good news. That is great news across Canada. The member mentioned there were 38,000 youth jobs, and a total of 77,000 jobs across the country. My question is on whether these are good-paying full-time jobs, or seasonal work. In the steel industry and the manufacturing industry, there is always a surge in May because everyone is going on vacation, so we have to do the backfill. In September, they are all laid off.

With some of those jobs, it does not say how much the pay is. Is it the $200,000 middle-class jobs that he is talking about—that is our new middle class now—or are these low-paying retail sector jobs for the ones who are striving to get to the $200,000 middle-class jobs?

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:05 p.m.

Liberal

Amarjeet Sohi Liberal Edmonton Mill Woods, AB

Mr. Speaker, all of us in the House want the best for our communities. We want to do our best to make sure that Canadians succeed, regardless of where they live. We want to give them opportunities. Absolutely, the vast majority of the jobs that are being created are full time. These are good-paying jobs. I cannot give the member the exact number on the wages because they are created throughout the communities.

What I can say is that the actions we have taken, whether reducing taxes for the middle class, or introducing the Canada child benefit that is lifting 300,000 children out of poverty, or the historic investments we are making in infrastructure, are acting as a catalyst to spur economic growth and enable the private sector to invest and create more jobs. That is where we see the opportunities. That is where we see the positive relationship that we have with our private sector doing more.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:05 p.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure for me to rise as the representative of the magnificent riding of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles.

I would like to begin by thanking the member for moving this motion, since it gives me the opportunity to once again talk about Bill C-49, the transportation modernization act, a bill that will help our farmers and others who transport their goods using our rail system.

Rivière-des-Mille-Îles is home to a great company called Elopak, which manufactures containers for liquid food, and it needs the rail system. It brings in big rolls of paper to manufacture containers for cream or juice, such as the refrigerated juice that we buy at the grocery store. Canada's rail system is important for moving goods and services within the country.

Users have been asking for many years for an effective, long-term solution to improve this system, and I am proud that our government can keep its commitments.

Our government is committed to ensuring that the grain industry has a balanced, effective, and transparent rail transportation system to get its products to market. That is why Bill C-49 includes a large number of measures to help meet that objective.

Specifically, Bill C-49 is making the most significant changes to rail policy in a generation. This legislation caps the maximum grain revenue entitlement to keep grain transportation rates low. Our government listened to the concerns of Canadian farmers on this issue, which is extremely important to them. Having the chance to sit on the Standing Committee on International Trade, I have often heard about this issue. Furthermore, we are making changes to the maximum revenue entitlement, or MRE, to encourage investment in railway companies and expand the network to benefit all users.

Bill C-49 provides monetary penalties for railway companies. These penalties will hold them accountable for poor service. As well, we clearly set out in the bill that the option for shippers to seek penalties from railway companies will not prevent them from seeking full compensation for expenses or losses due to poor service, such as late charges.

This is a long-standing issue for the grain industry, and this legislation will keep in place the Canadian Transportation Agency’s temporary authority to award compensation for such failures. This bill also provides a robust definition of “adequate and adapted” services by specifying that railway companies must provide the highest level of service under the circumstances. The level of service would be available to everyone, including farmers affected by poor railway service.

To ensure that this mechanism will provide quick compensation, we are reducing the agency’s timeframe for rendering a decision from 120 to 90 days.

Furthermore, Bill C-49 ensures that small users can use a centralized process to challenge high rates charged by railway companies.

We will raise the cargo load limit for access to final offer arbitrage from $750,000 to $2 million, indexed to inflation.

This system will be easier for small users. Since there are no hearings, small users will not have to provide evidence in their case against the facts provided by railway companies regarding alternatives for moving their goods.

Users will be able challenge rates, and an arbitrator can make a decision applicable for a period of up to two years.

Bill C-49 will also enhance transparency. For the first time ever, big rail companies will be required to provide detailed information about the rates they charge, including amounts to be paid under the terms of confidential contracts. They will also be required to make all important information about their services publicly available through the agency.

Under this bill, we will establish new requirements for railways with respect to their plans and the steps they are taking to enable them to move grain for the following crop year. The agency will also have clear authority to hold hearings and issue recommendations on any issue of concern.

Taken together, these measures will ensure that problems are identified ahead of time and that all affected parties can take steps quickly to ensure that what happened in the winter of 2013-14, when record grain production and a harsh winter caused major delays, never happens again.

Through the measures included in Bill C-49, our government is protecting our reputation as a reliable trade partner and ensuring that we can grow our economy to benefit all Canadians.

This bill includes an important new measure to promote competition between the railway companies. Railway interswitching would provide users with access to an alternative railway company for distances up to 1,200 kilometres or 50% of the total long-haul distance in Canada, regardless of which is greater. This would give users a significant bargaining tool when negotiating prices and service options.

Members of the House will recall that this was temporary legislation passed in response to extreme circumstances that are no longer an issue in the transportation and grain shipping system. In that context, we will allow Bill C-30 to lapse as planned on August 1, 2017.

There are four measures in this legislation that our government looked at in detail. We heard the users' concerns about each of them and we considered their future in order to ensure that adequate conditions will remain in place for the long term.

First, the agency has the authority to order a railway company to compensate users for inadequate service. As mentioned earlier, Bill C-49 makes that measure permanent.

Second, the agency has the authority to clarify service agreements that users have submitted for arbitration. This solution allows users to obtain a service contract when negotiations fail. Bill C-49 also makes that measure permanent.

Third, the temporary measures concerning the minimum volume of grain for Canadian National and Canadian Pacific will finally be removed as planned. Users have said that the minimum volumes were having an adverse effect on the system and that some corridors had received preferential treatment. Although it was understandable given the situation, I am sure all members of the House will agree that this is not the type of policy that we want to maintain in the long term, given its unintended consequences. Long-haul interswitching therefore provides a national solution to the major problem of captive shippers.

The report by the Hon. David Emerson on the state of transportation in Canada, began in 2014, recommends that railway interswitching in the Prairies, introduced in the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, be withdrawn as planned. This report did not make any recommendations about some alternative instrument for encouraging competition or providing users with additional tools for negotiating with the railway companies.

Our government did not think that this was acceptable. Captive users told us that it was crucial to get better service and rate options. That is why Bill C-49 proposes long-haul interswitching. While that would encourage competition in the system, railway companies would be appropriately compensated for directing traffic to a competitor.

This provides me with an opportunity to commend the Minister of Transport for his extensive efforts in consulting farmers and other users before introducing this bill. Our government took the time to listen to farmers. That is why this bill provides them with considerable support.

Our government understands the importance of a balanced and competitive railway system for its users and for farmers. That is why we are calling on all parliamentarians to act quickly. Meanwhile, the grain industry will continue to enjoy maximum revenue entitlement protections, something that keeps rates low and maintains processes such as arbitration around service delivery.

Bill C-49 is not a temporary fix; it proposes comprehensive measures to ensure the long-term success of Canada’s grain industry. Passing them all at once would greatly expedite the legislative process. I am pleased to note that the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities has already agreed to come back earlier, before the House resumes, to consider Bill C-49.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

NDP

Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC

Mr. Speaker, today I have been calling on the government members to address certain questions that are in the motion, asking them what they are doing about creating sustainable jobs for the Canadian forest industry.

I come from a community where raw log exports have gone up tenfold in 10 years. A third of the children are living in poverty in the Alberni valley. Recently, the Somass River was closed for the fishing of sockeye. It is further plunging people into poverty. I am not hearing any solutions from the government side.

I am hoping to hear a serious commitment to the forest sector. I am really grateful that we are finally talking about forestry, because it is not talked about in the House. It was not talked about in the last two Liberal budgets, that we know, and it has been largely ignored by Ottawa for decades.

It would be great to hear some actual commitment. It would be great to actually have a minister show up in my riding. When we have a third of the kids living in poverty, we would think it would be a priority.

I do not want to hear from the members across the way about their child tax saving the day and lifting communities right out of poverty. Jobs lift people out of poverty, and we need jobs in our communities. I want to hear how the Liberals will create jobs in my community. They deserve that.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank my honourable colleague for his question.

As I pointed out earlier, I sit on the Standing Committee on International Trade. The forestry sector is one of those issues we quickly discussed last year. When I was a member of the National Assembly, the first sector I was concerned about was precisely the forestry sector. It is a very important issue for both B.C. and Quebec.

You mentioned the Canada child benefit. Obviously, this benefit has helped all Canadian families bring more money in. As for jobs, I agree with you that many families, even in your riding, rely on the forestry sector. Our government is serious about resolving this issue. It is something we need to settle with a long-term solution.

We want a good agreement, but not just any agreement. We want an agreement that will last.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

I wish to remind the members to direct their answers and questions through the Chair.

The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has failed to recognize how the Liberal government has completely let down the forestry sector and has sat on its hands for the past year. It should have been renegotiating the extension of the current softwood lumber agreement or, in fact, getting a deal done to protect the 400,000 jobs in the forestry sector from coast to coast to coast. In every province, territory, and region, people work in the forestry sector and rural communities are hurting because of it.

I have to also take exception with the Liberal government for its policy on this regressive carbon tax. This tax will hurt the most vulnerable in our society, those living on fixed incomes and those who are underemployed. The only time they ever get to see a tax cut is when we reduce the input cost taxes, sales taxes. All the Liberal government wants to do is penalize these people who still have to heat their homes, drive their cars, and still have to take transit. All those things get more expensive because of a carbon tax, and will do absolutely nothing to fix the environment.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:20 p.m.

Liberal

Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague across the aisle for his question.

I am a bit surprised by his comment that the softwood lumber issue and the negotiation is our fault. In fact, the Conservatives were in office when the agreement expired. I would say to my colleague across the way that they should have ensured that it was renegotiated.

I will say it again, because perhaps he did not hear me. We do not want just any agreement. We want a long-term agreement. We do not want it to keep coming back, once again threatening jobs in B.C., Ontario, and Quebec.

I would like to remind our colleague that innovation and economic development do indeed go hand in hand with the environment. That is what we need to do to ensure good long-term jobs here in Canada.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:20 p.m.

Conservative

Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot.

I would like to speak to the motion of my colleague for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, and I will highlight three key things on forestry.

The first part of the motion reads:

That the House recognize that the government has mismanaged the economy in a way that is damaging Canadian industries and diminishing Canadians’ economic stability by: (a) failing to negotiate a deal on softwood lumber...forestry workers;

This is a section of the larger motion the member has brought forward. However, it is a big deal to people in British Columbia and across the country for that matter. However, I will speak to how it affects people of Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.

There was promise by the Prime Minister and President Obama that this deal would be reached within the first 100 days of the government's regime. I think we can all agree that there are some things other parties do that we like and want to see go through. It is not just about winning the political game; it is about what is good for our constituents. Therefore, we were hopeful that this 100-day agreement would come to fruition.

There was a big announcement that President Obama was going to come to Ottawa to speak, and he did. Regardless of whatever party the president represents, it is an honour to be in this place to hear heads of state speak. However, usually a visit from a head of state, especially one that promised a deal on softwood lumber, would follow with the signing of an agreement. We had hoped for that, and it would have worked out on timing. I think it was 90-plus days when the former president came to speak to us.

We heard the speech in Parliament, and I am sure many Canadians watched it on TV, and we waited. We thought maybe that night an agreement would be signed and we would hear an announcement the next morning that the Prime Minister and President Obama had come to an agreement. However, we were disappointed when President Obama left Ottawa without any documents signed. We knew then that we were in trouble. That was the window of opportunity for Canadians and Americans to get the agreement signed and done.

People say that it is a complicated thing to sign a softwood lumber agreement. I have the agreement that our previous government crafted. Anybody go to the web, under treaty-accord.gc.ca, and find the most recent softwood lumber agreement. All we were looking for was to have that reinstated. We negotiated this agreement before. It was fair to both countries. We were trading softwood lumber across our borders quite well with that agreement.

A group of us went to Washington in February. I wanted to meet with some of the members of the transition team for the new President. This was about a week after his inauguration. I met with about 10 members of the transition team and other members of the natural resource committee. We asked what the intent of the current presidency was on signing this agreement. We wanted to see where they stood on it. The message I received was quite clear. The new President was looking to expand the lumber manufacturing in the U.S. He wanted to develop his own industry and expand it even further. The new administration wanted to look at public land timber as opposed to private land timber, which would greatly expand timber and lumber manufacturing in the U.S.

What was clear to me was that we had a new regime in the U.S. that wanted to dramatically develop its resources, dramatically increase forestry production. What was also clear to me was that our window had passed. The window we had with what Obama and the current Prime Minister promised would have been the perfect opportunity, but alas, it did not happen.

I want to respond in the latter part of my speech to some of the comments that we hear, such as, “Conservatives didn't get it done under their watch.” Actually, we did get it done. We got it done, originally, in 2006, and we got an extension in 2012, up until a few months ago. They say we did not get it done, yet we actually have an agreement and we have an extension to that agreement that carried us from 2006 for 10 years and beyond.

To say that we, as Conservatives, did not get it done is, to me, laughable. We are the only ones who have produced a softwood lumber agreement in my recent memory. I would challenge the Liberals across the way to say otherwise. The fact of the matter is that former MP David Emerson was key in the deal, key in negotiating the softwood lumber agreement. That was under a Conservative watch, not under a Liberal watch, just to clarify that. If the Liberals want to check the record, they are more than free to do that. There is only one signatory at the bottom of the softwood lumber agreement, in 2006, and it is, again, the man I just mentioned, whose name is David Emerson. Certainly, a lot of people's efforts make an agreement. There are a lot of people who are needed to make that happen; for example, a lot of clerks are involved in writing it. However, it was still under a Conservative government that it happened.

I guess the hope was that since we had already done the legwork for the current government and the past president, all that really needed to be done was for it to be resubmitted and re-ratified and we would have another softwood lumber agreement until however long that agreement would be held, maybe six years, maybe more.

This is what is really problematic for me. I do not think the other side really understands how important that window was. We had, apparently, two willing parties to sign the agreement. The will was in the room and the will appeared to be strong enough. We saw the announcements and the Americans saw the announcements that President Obama was willing to do it and our Prime Minister was more than willing to do it. They had their meetings and they seemed to get along quite well. We were not upset about that. We were, frankly, happy they were going to get along, and hopefully get this agreement done, but then we saw that window float by and just disappear. To open that door again is going to be very difficult.

However, I think there is an answer. I think there is a way that we can get this done. Again, the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman has put forward this motion to challenge the government to develop its agreement. I think it is possible. What I think we need to understand, and what the government especially needs to understand, is that the current president of the United States, President Trump, is doing what he is doing for his country. He is trying to make his industry as competitive as possible in the market, to get as much of that market as possible. We cannot fault him for that.

The way we respond to that is not by putting in a carbon tax to make costs go higher for our industry. I know some may think that is the answer, but it absolutely is not. We need to get more competitive. We need to sharpen our pencils. We need to meet the new president on the same field as he is on. Where he is becoming more competitive, we need to become more competitive to compete with the new reality in the U.S.

There is an answer to this issue. I would suggest we look back at when former prime minister Harper was here. We had a competitive capital tax regime for corporate tax rates. We had a competitive regime for small business tax rates, etc. I think the present government needs to look a few pages back to see why we were so strong in the G7, why we were so strong in the world economy when, really, everybody else was failing.

Why was our economy strong? It was because it was competitive. I think we need to understand how to get back there. I look back to our government in 2011, and a bit further back, as the way we can be successful in the new reality that is before us in Canada.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC

Madam Speaker, I keep hearing all these Conservatives get up and talk about how great their softwood lumber agreement was in 2006. The problem with it was that it was not great. Virtually everybody at the time was opposed to it. They gave $1 billion to the American industry and not to the Canadian industry, and it directly resulted in the lumber crisis of 2008.

I was wondering what planet he was on with respect to this topic.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC

Madam Speaker, it is actually funny that he wonders what planet we are on. Our government got a softwood lumber agreement and got an extension. I would challenge the hon. member. This is coming from a government that has zero softwood lumber agreements under its belt but just keeps throwing the mud back at us. We are not in government anymore to make that decision. I think the challenge is for the member across the way. The Liberals need to develop their own softwood lumber agreement. If they are so good at making softwood lumber agreements, let us see it. Let us see them pull it off.

The government had the opportunity with a willing Prime Minister and a willing president to get a softwood lumber agreement. What did we get? Absolutely nothing. Until the Liberals can prove they can pull off a softwood lumber agreement, they should think twice about saying that about our former government.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:30 p.m.

NDP

Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, softwood lumber and getting an agreement is really important in my riding of Kootenay—Columbia. We are really disappointed that we are not there under the Liberal government, but I really cannot let my Conservative colleagues off the hook. If they knew the agreement was expiring, and this agreement expired in October 2015, if they were doing their due diligence, would they not have planned to have a new agreement in place when the old one expired?

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC

Madam Speaker, that is actually a great question. We were working on it in 2006 and got it done. We had it extended in 2012. It is good to have an extension. Why create a new softwood lumber agreement if we can extend it?

There was a little thing called an election that got in the way of 2015. While we were working on a new agreement, trying to work out the details, the election got in the way. Had we got back, it is all speculative what we would have been able to do, but we did it before and we know we could do it again. Now the challenge is up to the government across the way to follow through on its promise of 100 days. The 100 days have gone and are behind us. The challenge is for the government to pull it off.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for correcting the record. The facts of the matter of the last softwood deal were that the Liberals did not get it done in 2005. We became government in January 2006, and we got the softwood deal in September. Out of that deal the Americans then had to give $5 billion back to Canadian companies. We then negotiated a seven-year contract, and the hon. member is right that the contract ran out in 2015. There was an extension period there. It ran out in the midst of the election, but we also had a one-year extension where no duties and no countervail would be brought against our companies during that time. That then gave whichever government won the election time to finish the deal.

We heard the Liberals say, “We can do a better deal than they can. This will be easy. We know President Obama. We will have a great deal”. However, they did not get it done.

Would the member also make some comments as to that, how the $5 billion came from America back to the Canadian companies in 2006?

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:35 p.m.

Conservative

Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Battle River—Crowfoot for bringing that up, because this is how good an agreement that was. It held up in the higher court and we actually won those battles. The Americans came back and tried to get us for $5 billion, and we won the case and we got the money back.

The proof is in the pudding that we could pull off a great softwood lumber agreement. It held up in the higher courts of the land and in international courts for that matter. Let me remind the Liberals across the way that we got that done under a Conservative government. The challenge before the Liberals now is to get their own softwood lumber agreement that is so strong it will hold up in those higher courts. The challenge is out there. I honestly hope they pull it off.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:35 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak during the Conservative Party opposition day debate on the government's mismanagement of the Canadian economy. When we talk to Canadians, they understand how badly it is being mismanaged.

More specifically, the Conservative motion states, “That the House recognize that the government has mismanaged the economy in a way that is damaging Canadian industries and diminishing Canadians’ economic stability by”. Then it goes on to list three separate industries and areas where it does it.

First of all is “failing to negotiate a deal on softwood lumber and instead offering a compensation package rather than creating sustainable jobs for Canadian forestry workers”. That is the Liberal way, a compensation package. They cannot get the job done, but they will fork over more taxpayers' dollars.

Second is “attempting to phase out Canada’s energy sector by implementing a job killing carbon tax, adding additional taxes to oil and gas companies, removing incentives for small firms to make new energy discoveries and neglecting the current Alberta jobs crisis”. I will speak more about that later.

Third is “refusing to extend the current rail service agreements for farmers in Western Canada which will expire on August 1, 2017, which will result in transportation backlogs that will cost farmers billions of dollars in lost revenue.”

The constituents of Battle River—Crowfoot want the Liberal government to admit to its failures as described in the motion. There is concern throughout the large agricultural community that I represent about railway service and the challenge of getting our products to ports and markets. There is even more concern when they see the Liberals, as I stated in a question earlier, failing to renew Canada's softwood lumber agreement with the United States. When they came into power, they thought it would be a fait accompli and an easy task, and they have failed. Again, their only response is compensation.

Alberta has already seen the Liberal government completely ignore the crisis in the oil industry. There were no hundreds of millions of dollars to help that very important sector of the Canadian economy. The Liberals have nothing to help the oil and gas industry and the workers who are now unemployed. In fact, the government has seemed to only hurt the industry more. There has been what we called back in my football days “piling on”. They have taken one crisis down on the turf and jumped on it all over the place. The Liberals have nothing except handouts and people want more. The unemployed want jobs.

In Battle River—Crowfoot and many other agricultural ridings around the country, people are concerned about the Liberal government's pending mismanagement of our rail system. Liberals are basically saying that what they have done to softwood lumber and the oil patch they want to now take to the railway transportation system. What we are about to receive from the Liberal government as an answer to many of these problems, by the way, is a carbon tax on everything and everyone, and there is no reason for it. That is the good news. Conservatives are here to proclaim loud and clear that there is no reason for a carbon tax at this time or any time, and no reason to call it a solution to the problem.

The Liberals are using the same emissions targets that were calculated by the previous government. The Conservative government set very achievable targets that would not require a carbon tax system for Canada to meet them, and we were committed. Conservatives know that Liberals are using their carbon tax as a cash grab and Canadians should not take it. Canadians should not just accept that a carbon tax is a way to reach the Paris accord or any other environmental goal that the government may want to reach. It is not required. That is what my constituents tell me when I am home.

Battle River—Crowfoot is a large agricultural riding, approximately 54,000 square kilometres. It is mainly agricultural and individuals who work in the oil and gas industry. The people I meet in groceries stores, on the streets, and at various community events are all being hit hard by the drop in oil prices. In fact, many skilled workers who worked in the oil patch are not employed any longer. Many people have come home and there is little or no work. The Liberal government has not come to the aid of this sector of Canada's economy. In fact, it has added to it. It has ignored the job crisis.

The Conservative members of Parliament from Alberta went through the province and created an Alberta jobs task force. We listened to Albertans and to Canadians about the government's role in helping to create jobs. It is not just hiring more bureaucrats and just hiring more public servants. We wanted to know what it was going to take to create a climate in which the private sector, the small and medium-sized businesses, could create jobs. We did this before the last recent budget, but the Liberals ignored what the people of Alberta said.

In my constituency through most of the time I have served, we have had an unemployment rate of around 3%. It would go down a little and it would just go up marginally, but it was typically around 3%. Even during the recession, it was relatively low compared to what we are seeing now. In the month of March, it was 9.9%. In the month of April, it was 9.7%.

I mentioned some of this in my speech last week. These are the issues facing Alberta and my constituency. Now, as we come into the summer, when there are typically more jobs, the Liberals say there has been a bump in some jobs, including in Alberta, but it is a small marginal jump that happens in the construction season, and it is there again this year.

However, the Liberals are going down the road of a carbon tax, believing that that is going to solve the problems that they want to focus on. It is a shame.

The way the Liberals want to implement the agreement they have would mean speeding up the closure of coal-fired generation plants. The Liberals have gone ahead and seriously limited Canada's softwood lumber industry, but on the coal issue, I have two in my riding. One is Sheerness Mine down by Hanna, on Highway 36. Most of the workers employed there live in and around Hanna. There is also the Battle River generating station, just out of Forestburg, These workers are being told that their jobs are going to end and that it may be sooner rather than later.

That is not what we see going on everywhere else around the world. China is allowed to continue to use coal. They continue building new coal-fired electrical plants while Alberta shuts theirs down. In fact, some say we are shutting ours down so they can open them in China. China uses their coal-fired electricity to operate manufacturing facilities to make goods that will then be sold back to Canada, and we are purchasing them in record numbers.

The question is, is the carbon footprint being lowered? It was asked earlier in questions. It was asked earlier in this debate. Are we sending money to China to help them fire up their coal furnaces to generate electricity and then send products back to us? Are we actually supporting that? Perhaps we are. All I know is that precious little is offered to communities like Hanna and Forestburg to replace the jobs that are going to be lost there.

I want to talk about the Conservative motion in regard to the mismanagement of the economy around the softwood lumber deal. In the softwood lumber agreement, a rookie government got caught in the promises it made. It said it could do this. Now the average family involved in that industry pays the price, the father who is unemployed or the mother who is unemployed. They used to work in the sector. The child is off at school, but now mom and dad are not working. That is the problem. It did not need to be this way.

What did the Liberals do when the oil industry needed help? Nothing. What did it do when the softwood lumber industry needed help? It came up with an agreement and compensation. Then what did it do when Bombardier needed help? It spent hundreds of millions of dollars, and we know that some of that money went to pay executive bonuses. It is shameful.

The Conservative motion today is about the future of the Liberal government in protecting Canadians' jobs and economic growth. That is what the Liberals are going to fail to do, through the Paris Agreement and others.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:45 p.m.

Liberal

Bill Casey Liberal Cumberland—Colchester, NS

Madam Speaker, one of the comments by the hon. member was that we are phasing out the energy sector, but I think perhaps he is out of sync. I was just reading something on my iPhone from the managing director of Mercedes, predicting that electric cars will become mainstream by 2020. He went on to say that solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years, and he said that last year more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil.

Energy companies are continuing to convert from fossil fuels to solar, wind, tidal, and the other options. Do you not think that it is the Conservative Party that is a little out of sync here?

I have one other point on the softwood lumber issue. This is my fifth softwood lumber negotiation. I have been on that side and on this side, and often there is a compensation plan involved when there is a problem after the Americans take exception to what we do. We end up winning in the end, but meanwhile the lumber producers and labourers are suffering, so there are compensation plans. In previous negotiations, compensation plans have been applied by both parties.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:45 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

I just want to remind the member for Cumberland—Colchester that as someone who has a bit of seniority in the House here, he knows he is to address questions to the Chair and not to individual members.

The hon. member for Battle River—Crowfoot.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

Madam Speaker, in regard to the question asked, that member does fit in very well on that side of the House with that party, because when people losing jobs and western Canadians are fighting the winters and the climate, to answer with electric cars as the answer to those problems really does the people of Alberta and the people of this country a disservice. The answer to the issue is not putting electric cars in every driveway across this land.

Certainly there are some places where we can do it, and we fully endorse and support sustainable industries and capital, not just government handouts. We support the promotion of renewable types of energy, including solar, wind, and others. However, no matter where we look, we will not find statistics showing that any more than 20% or 25% of our energy needs could be answered by renewables. Fossil fuel is going to be around, and to be quite frank, China, India, and the world are looking for more. We have it and we should be supplying it.

Opposition Motion—Canadian EconomyBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

5:45 p.m.

NDP

Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK

Madam Speaker, I certainly agree with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot that it would not make sense to shut down facilities in Canada in order to open new ones in China. To produce a tonne of steel in China would mean five times as much carbon as would be produced by Evraz in either my riding or his riding.

Would the member for Battle River—Crowfoot agree that since the federal government is going to apply a price on carbon, it should extend the same price to the carbon content of imports from China, which would mean a carbon tariff about five times as much as the carbon charge put on steel mills here in Canada?