House of Commons Hansard #268 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was billion.

Topics

The BudgetOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

NDP

Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, one day after the federal budget, Quebec remains unsatisfied. Although expectations were high, Quebec got only crumbs. The budget offered no details on phase two of infrastructure projects like Montreal's blue line, had nothing for Davie shipyard in Quebec City, and, most importantly, it had nothing about taxing web giants like Netflix. They are doing nothing. Despite strong grassroots support, there are no measures for fighting tax evasion or the tax havens robbing us of billions of dollars.

What use are the Liberal members from Quebec if they cannot keep their promises to Quebeckers?

The BudgetOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with our investments in the Canada child benefit, the Canada workers benefit, and our national housing strategy, we are keeping our promises in Quebec and across the country. As for tax evasion, we invested over $1 billion within the first two years, and there are now more than 1,000 offshore audits and more than 40 criminal investigations with links to offshore transactions under way. To date, we have imposed $44 million in penalties on individuals promoting tax avoidance schemes, and yesterday we announced more than $90 million over five years—

The BudgetOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I will now recognize the hon. member for Don Valley East.

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON

Mr. Speaker, the new EI parental sharing benefit represents a major step forward in helping parents balance work and parental responsibilities, as they welcome new children into their family.

Could the Prime Minister explain how this greater choice and flexibility in parental and maternity benefits will help parents provide their children with the best possible start in life?

Employment InsuranceOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, too often working mothers pull double duty, working a full-time job during the day, then going home and doing the bulk of parenting duties at night. Moving away from this second shift will take time, and it begins by helping parents share the work of raising their children more equally with the new parental sharing benefit.

Greater gender equality is the smart thing to do for the economy and the right thing to do for Canadians.

Prime Minister’s Trip to IndiaOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON

Mr. Speaker, we woke up today to headlines from around Canada. “[The Prime Minister] stands by official who suggested Indian factions sabotaged trip.” “PM doesn't refute 'conspiracy theory' that Indian government factions sabotaged his trip.” In response, India has said that the assertion is baseless and unacceptable.

The Prime Minister leads a G7 nation. This is a diplomatic matter. What will he say to the high commissioner to Canada from India in response to its missive?

Prime Minister’s Trip to IndiaOral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives seem to think it is a problem that the headline is “Prime Minister stands by his officials”. This is something that we need to understand.

On this side of the House our government will always stand by the professional public servants who work hard, regardless of the government stripe of the day, to serve Canadians, to keep Canadians safe, and to give us the information and the understanding of the world that we need to have.

We will always stand by our non-partisan professional public service. It is a shame that they do not.

The BudgetOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Québec debout

Michel Boudrias Québec debout Terrebonne, QC

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing in the budget for the 800 Davie workers who are out of a job, but a government that runs an $18-billion deficit can hardly plead austerity. This is a political choice, and the government can take action if it wants to. It is even giving up revenue by protecting tax havens for the super-rich and allowing Internet giants to avoid collecting taxes.

Why is the Prime Minister working harder for tax havens than for Quebeckers?

The BudgetOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Papineau Québec

Liberal

Justin Trudeau LiberalPrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Davie shipyard, we know what great work Davie workers have been doing for a long time. That is why we are happy to be in talks for the new icebreakers the Canadian Coast Guard needs.

With respect to Internet giants, we will not make taxpayers pay more tax no matter what the opposition wants. We will keep making sure that we are helping middle-class Quebeckers and Canadians because that is what we said we would do. That was our election promise to Canadians.

Presence in GalleryOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of Mr. Michael Creed, Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of Ireland.

Presence in GalleryOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

Guests in the GalleryPoint of OrderOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Mr. Speaker, it is my duty to inform the Speaker of the House of an incident that occurred yesterday when the budget was tabled in the House by the Minister of Finance.

The House of Commons is not an instrument of government. The House of Commons is not a place where the Minister of Finance has permission to control who has or does not have the right to be present in this place.

A guest from my riding wanted to be present when the Minister of Finance made his presentation and opposition members subsequently made their statements. She therefore requested an access card in order to attend the budget presentation. She was very surprised to learn that all seats, including those reserved for opposition members, had been reserved by the Minister of Finance. I still asked her to attend, in case a seat became available.

Mr. Speaker, you and I noted that there were many seats available in all the galleries yesterday, so I told my guest to come and attend the budget presentation.

To her astonishment, the finance department official denied her access to the House and would not give her an access card. My guest is the manager of my constituency office. She came all this way to attend the budget presentation. She has an ID card that allows her to move about on the Hill. She then went to the Parliamentary Protective Service and asked them to let her in. However, they had orders not to admit anyone without a pass from the Department of Finance. She then went back to the rotunda and reminded the finance department official that there were seats available, but she still denied her access to the House.

My guest then sent me a text message to inform me that she was unable to attend. I had to leave the House and miss several minutes of the finance minister's speech to go meet my employee and accompany her to the gallery, where she was finally able to see the presentation.

Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable.

Members will recall that last year, on budget day, there were two incidents. The first one involved the distribution of the budget documents. The documents were distributed before the Minister of Finance rose in the House to present the budget, and even more offensive was the fact that the documents were distributed to Liberal members only. The second matter involved the vote that preceded the budget presentation. The members for Milton and Beauce were prevented from attending that vote because security was holding the buses that carry members to the House on account of empty cars from the Prime Minister's motorcade.

Mr. Speaker, both of those cases and the case before you today have involved the interference of the executive branch with the administrative responsibilities of the House. It is your duty, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that the Department of Finance gets out of our way and allows us to control our own affairs. You, Mr. Speaker, are responsible for the distribution of documents in the House, access to the House, and access to the galleries, not the Department of Finance.

Last year, the matter of access to the House was settled through a question of privilege, and the distribution of documents was dealt with by you personally, Mr. Speaker. I am asking you to intervene again this year and to once again rein in the executive branch. This place belongs to us, not them.

Speaker Fraser summed it up this way when he was faced with the behaviour of the Department of Finance in 1989. He said, on October 10, 1989:

I expect the Department of Finance...to study this ruling carefully and remind everyone within the Public Service that we are a parliamentary democracy, not a so-called executive democracy nor a so-called administrative democracy.

Guests in the GalleryPoint of OrderOral Questions

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to address the disrespect shown to this member by members of the government while he was talking about this.

This is the House of Commons, where we are all equal. This House belongs to all of us. It does not belong to the government. When the government tries to control how the public can access the galleries, that is not the job of anyone in the executive branch. It is not the job of the Department of Finance.

Mr. Speaker, we look to you. It is your job to protect our rights and privileges to ensure that there is equal access for every member of Parliament, our staff, and the public we invite. We would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to take this very seriously. This is not a partisan issue. It is an issue for all members of Parliament, despite what these Liberals are saying right now, when it does not matter if it does not affect them. This affects all members of Parliament. We look to you to protect our rights and privileges, Mr. Speaker.

Guests in the GalleryPoint of OrderOral Questions

3:20 p.m.

NDP

Ruth Ellen Brosseau NDP Berthier—Maskinongé, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for raising these important issues in the House of Commons. It is very frustrating, and quite alarming, to see the members of the government laughing about such an important issue. I would like to take the opportunity to confer with my colleagues and bring back concerns we would have on the same point of order.

Guests in the GalleryPoint of OrderOral Questions

3:20 p.m.

Bloc

Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC

Mr. Speaker, I share my opposition colleagues' opinion, so I will join the debate. I agree that it is not right for the government to start controlling access to the gallery. I would also like to add that my constituency office received requests to reserve seats in the gallery on budget day, but we were turned down. I felt exactly the same frustration as my colleague who spoke earlier when I saw the empty seats yesterday. I want to thank him for his point of order, and I fully support his efforts.

Guests in the GalleryPoint of OrderOral Questions

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order. I thank the hon. members who have raised this matter and commented on it. I gather that some members will have more comments later. In the meantime, I will be looking into the matter. I also encourage members to read in detail my ruling on a similar issue that arose last year, including the details of the findings at that time.

The House resumed from February 15 consideration of the motion.

HomelessnessPrivate Members’ Business

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

It being 3:24 p.m., pursuant to order made on Monday, February 26, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on Motion No. 147, under private members' business, in the name of Ms. Benson.

Call in the members.

[And the bells having rung:]

The question is on the motion. Shall I dispense?

HomelessnessPrivate Members’ Business

3:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

HomelessnessPrivate Members’ Business

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

[Chair read text of motion to the House]

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #456

HomelessnessPrivate Members’ Business

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I declare the motion defeated.

The House resumed from February 26 consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—Phoenix Pay SystemBusiness of SupplyGovernment Orders

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Pursuant to order made Monday, February 26, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of the member for Jonquière relating to the business of supply.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #457