Bernard Trottier

[Canadian Forces, May 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to stand and honour the men and women who have served in the Canadian Forces and who continue to serve our great country. Our Conservative government supports our troops while in combat, and we continue to support them when they return home safely.

This is why our government is getting things done for Canadian veterans, cutting red tape, creating new career opportunities and partnering with non-profit organizations and corporate Canada to ensure a seamless transition to civilian life.

In addition to what our government is doing, a Canadian charity, To the Stan and Back, supports post-combat wellness programs for returning troops from Afghanistan, or “the Stan” for short. Tonight, To the Stan and Back is hosting the fourth annual Party Under the Stars in Ottawa to raise money for the Canadian men and women who have returned recently from the Stan. This event is always a great time and raises money for a worthwhile cause.

I would like to invite my fellow parliamentarians to show their support for tonight's great event and support the men and women who have risked their lives for the safety of all Canadians.

[Ukraine, May 10th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to lend support to the Ukrainian-Canadian community in my riding, which has expressed its shock and outrage to me regarding the recent statement issued by the Liberal Party celebrating the Soviet Victory Day in Ukraine.

This holiday was created by the Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev, but it was certainly not celebrated by Ukrainians, as the end of World War II set off the Soviet reign of terror and domination.

The Soviets tried to crush Ukrainian culture, historical memory and aspirations of self-determination and subjected Ukrainians to starvation, mass arrest, execution and deportation to the Gulag. This was certainly no victory.

I ask that my parliamentary colleagues join me in demanding that the leader of the Liberal Party apologize for his party's deeply insensitive statement, which is still online. I call on the Liberal critic for multiculturalism to apologize for his profoundly ignorant comments in the House yesterday, referring to Ukraine as “the Ukraine” as if it were a Russian province.

[The Economy, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our government is working on what matters to Canadians: jobs and economic growth.

Last week, Statistics Canada announced that Canada's economy grew 0.3% in February. This was better than economists' expectations. Thanks to our government, Canada's job growth record remains the best among G7 countries. Canada is the only G7 country with a top credit rating and stable outlook from all major agencies.

The OECD projects Canada will lead the G7 in economic growth over the next 50 years. KPMG ranked Canada the most tax-competitive economy among mature markets.

While we are focused on the economy, the NDP wants to impose a $20 billion job-killing carbon tax on Canadians that would raise the price of gas, food, electricity and almost everything. On top of that, the NDP leader's reckless $56 billion in unaffordable new spending would ruin the economy.

On the government side of the House, Conservatives will remain focused on what matters to Canadians: jobs and economic growth.

[Conservative Party of Canada, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark a very important anniversary. Two years ago today, Canadians elected a strong, stable, national, majority Conservative government.

Since this time, our government has got the job done for hard-working Canadians. We passed the Safe Streets and Communities Act, making sure our communities are safer and victims are always put first. We amended the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry. We cracked down on immigration fraud. We have abolished the Wheat Board's monopoly.

We made the most ambitious long-term commitment with regard to Canadian infrastructure. We made unprecedented investments in the Coast Guard. We made investments in the Canadian Armed Forces after the Liberal decade of darkness. We strengthened our borders. We announced the construction of a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit and another over the St. Lawrence.

Finally, we have created hundreds of thousands of jobs for Canadians. Unfortunately, the opposition has opposed these measures. Canadians can be proud that two years ago today, they elected a strong, stable, national Conservative majority government.

[Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, April 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, for the past seven years, our government has continued to work hard in order to keep taxes low for Canadians and their families. Unfortunately, the NDP leader remains true to his socialist roots and would implement irresponsible taxes on hardworking Canadians. Not only would they raise corporate taxes, payroll taxes, income taxes and the GST, but the leader of the NDP and his party would impose a $20-billion job-killing carbon tax to pay for his $56-billion reckless spending plan. Canadians simply cannot afford to have these risky policies the NDP would impose on the backs of hard-working Canadians.

On behalf of Canadians, we demand that the leader of the NDP come clean on the details of his $20-billion job-killing carbon tax and on his $56-billion reckless spending plan.

[Canada Job Grant, April 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak about a key measure in budget 2013: the Canada job grant. In consultation with employers and provinces, our government will be creating a grant of up to $15,000 for unemployed Canadians to connect with available jobs. Canada is facing a skills mismatch. We have Canadians looking for work, while employers are unable to find workers with the skills they need.

We are excited to be partnering with job creators to ensure that training for work is connected to a job that employers are looking to fill. This is good news in my riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore and across Canada.

Our unwavering focus has been jobs, the economy and the long-term prosperity. The Canada job grant is a key measure to ensuring Canadians have the skills they need to fill the jobs that are in demand today.

[Business of Supply, April 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development for his thoughtful speech on an important topic.

The Liberal and NDP opposition members have been opposing the rights of aboriginal women and children. Just this week they voted against first nations matrimonial real property legislation that would protect the rights of aboriginal women, particularly in cases of family violence.

Would the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development please comment on that situation?

[Discover Your Canada Act, March 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Bill C-463 brought forward by the Liberal member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel.

I know that the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel is a proud Canadian, and I commend his efforts to give Canadians the opportunity to get to know their country better.

This bill is really just a novelty, a gimmicky distraction costing taxpayers over $200 million a year, without really encouraging tourism within Canada. While the member says his intent is to promote tourism, not only is his ill-considered proposal unfair, but there is absolutely no evidence it would have any effect whatsoever.

In fact, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada has already dismissed this Liberal idea as completely out of touch with the challenges faced by the Canadian tourism sector, saying, “we don’t think this is a particularly useful mechanism because Canada’s challenge is not a lack of domestic travel”. Indeed, our challenge is finding ways to compete in the international travel market.

In contrast, our government promotes travel in Canada by funding cost-effective programs and events proving that, unlike the Liberals, the Conservative government supports the tourism sector, while safeguarding taxpayer dollars.

Let me start by briefly highlighting our government's role in supporting the tourism industry in Canada.

Canada's strong economic performance during the global recession has been the envy of the world. While these initiatives may not have always been the most talked about, Canada's economic action plan provided funding to several organizations to stimulate the growth of tourism during the global economic downturn and it helped promote our country as a destination for Canadians and visitors alike.

During this time, economic action plan funding was provided to things like the National Trails Coalition, Parks Canada and its National Historic Sites, the Canadian Tourism Commission for greater domestic and international marketing and a grand total of 79 festivals and events through the marquee tourism events program. Our economic action plan also increased tourism-related infrastructure through investments in everything from local parks to convention centres.

Furthermore, our government already supports programs to discover Canada, programs geared to encourage Canadians to explore what is happening culturally outside their own backyards.

In particular, the Department of Canadian Heritage invests over $105 million every year to provide almost 100,000 youth with opportunities to learn about their country and connect with one another through its youth programs. I should add that these programs can benefit all Canadians, regardless of what region they live in, a point I will return to later in my speech.

In addition, the government supports programs to foster Canadian identity for people of all ages such as celebrate Canada, which encourages Canadians to come together in their communities to discover and appreciate the wealth and diversity of Canadian society and understand the significance of the rich heritage Canadians all share. These types of measures and programs achieve two important results: they boost our economy and they promote tourism in Canada.

Beyond what our government already does to boost tourism in Canada, the bill before us today is fundamentally flawed. Providing an income tax deduction for travel expenses of up to $2,000 for individuals and each of their dependants under the age of 16 raises concerns about fairness.

Let me explain.

Under the proposal, only travel within Canada that crosses three provincial boundaries is eligible. Here is the first problem with that. This requirement may disproportionately benefit some regions and favour particular travel routes. Given the shorter distances between provinces in Atlantic Canada, less travel would be required to meet the eligibility criteria.

Furthermore, the three provincial boundaries rule would unquestionably favour particular routes. For example, travelling from Halifax to Toronto by train or bus would cross three provincial boundaries and qualify for tax relief, whereas air travel, assuming the flight uses U.S. airspace, might not qualify.

The list of inequities continues. The value of the deduction would depend on the mode of travel: 100% for travel by bus; 75% for travel by train; and 40% for travel by airplane. From the onset, this makes no sense.

It bears repeating that the breakdown of how the deduction would be calculated makes no sense. Why should someone travelling by bus get a higher deduction than someone travelling by train or plane? Why does it exclude travelling by car or even by boat? There is no question this bizarre distinction is completely unfair.

Not only that, but Bill C-463 would provide more tax relief to higher-income individuals who tend to travel more and spend more on travel than lower-income families. Not only would higher-income individuals generally claim more, but the tax relief stemming from the proposed deduction would also be higher for individuals who were in higher personal income tax brackets, which vary from 15% to 29% federally.

Our government has been very clear. We believe in tax fairness for all Canadians. This discrimination alone is reason enough to vote against the bill, but there are many other reasons to vote against this bill.

On this side of the House, that is the government side, we believe a law that is meant to encourage interprovincial travel should, at the very least, encourage Canadians to travel. With respect to Bill C-463, there is no evidence that the proposal would encourage individuals to travel more often, over $200 million a year with no result. Not only that, but individuals who plan to travel anyway would gain significant benefits from the deduction. It would represent a windfall, again an unfair tax advantage without actually increasing tourism within Canada.

Furthermore, the proposal only recognizes the cost of tickets for traveling by bus, train or air, not other major travel expenses, such as lodging or car rentals, that may continue to be an obstacle for people to travel.

Finally, as I have already mentioned, the cost of the proposal would be significant. Preliminary estimates suggest that based on existing travel patterns and expenditures, the passage of Bill C-463 would cost about $215 million a year.

In a time of a certain fiscal restraint that we have now, it is not the time for a novelty Liberal subsidy, or as National Post columnist Kelly McParland put it, “silly ways to spend even more borrowed money trying to manipulate Canadian behaviour, just like the old days”.

Our government has been working diligently to keep taxes low and the economy strong in the face of turbulent economic challenges from across the world. Our economic action plan has delivered results for Canadian families. We will stay the course.

I would ask every member of the House to vote against the bill. It is plainly not in the best interests of Canadians.

[Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act, March 27th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, in my enthusiasm, I inadvertently voted twice. My intention was to vote no.

[The Budget, March 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I love to talk about job training, because I spend a lot of time in my riding talking to business people about some of the challenges they are having.

One of the things they mention is that the skills are not there. They have jobs posted for months at a time. There is a machine shop in Etobicoke—Lakeshore that has been trying to get machinists for months. It cannot fill the positions and is looking to bring people in from places like Germany and the former Yugoslavia. Those are the kinds of jobs. When people look at the training programs now for the province of Ontario, they say that they do not work.

In the budget consultations we held for months before the budget was announced, the business people said that we needed a change, that the bilateral agreements negotiated in 2007 between the federal government and the province of Ontario did not work. They said that they wanted a program that was responsive to the business needs. That is what has been holding back the economy and it is what will be creating opportunities for young people.