Bev Shipley

[Petitions, February 12th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have two sets of petitions here that come mostly from residents in Lambton—Kent—Middlesex. The petitioners call upon the House of Commons and Parliament assembled to condemn discrimination against girls through sex-selective abortions and to do all it can to prevent this from being carried out in Canada.

[International Trade, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our government is engaged in the most ambitious pro-trade plan in Canadian history. Unfortunately, the NDP has consistently tried to sabotage these new opportunities for Canada's exporters.

In fact, last year the NDP's Canada-U.S. border critic supported calls to end negotiations for a free trade agreement with the European Union. This week, joining a coalition of activists speaking out against free trade with the European Union is the union representing the writers of the questions for the NDP leader in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, the OLO. The NDP staffers union joining such a campaign is further proof of the NDP's ideological anti-trade agenda, an agenda that not long ago sent an anti-trade mission to Washington to lobby against Canadian jobs.

On the positive side, since forming government, we have concluded a number of trade agreements that are opening new markets for Canadians and creating jobs. We will continue our pro-jobs and economic growth trade agenda for Canada.

[Business of Supply, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I found it quite amazing to listen to the speech.

If I have this right, the motion is that the NDP members want to take the position of the budget office, move it away from the independence of Parliament and give it to the government, which I suspect would lead them to say that if in 50 years they were maybe to form the government they would have the opportunity to influence the office.

NDP members always talk about accountability and transparency. What I find amazes me daily is that when it comes to standing up for accountability, whether it is for first nations or unions, they actually stand up to oppose it, not once, but every time anything about accountability comes up.

Could the hon. member comment on that?

[Business of Supply, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Burlington who is an important cog in the wheel of the finance committee.

I do not think it matters what party it is. We made commitments during the election. The election came about and Canadians spoke. We made a commitment to bring forward the Accountability Act, which would deal with the issues of reporting, being accountable and transparency. We said we would do it, and actually—

[Business of Supply, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what is the best way to answer that.

I find that quite a question coming from the Liberal Party, which was actually the reason why we had to bring in the Accountability Act. We needed to have some oversight on spending, because the Liberal Party had ripped the Canadian people off for hundreds of millions of dollars to feed their friends.

The Accountability Act and the Office of the Parliamentary Budgetary Officer make sure that we spend our money properly, and that will continue under this office.

[Business of Supply, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague across the way for her question. It was fairly straightforward and I would suspect that at the end of the day she knows the answer is that we would not be.

The position of the Parliamentary Budget Officer is one of the Library of Parliament. It is totally independent of government. I think that the last thing we would want to see happen is to make that office come under the jurisdiction of government. It is under the jurisdiction of the Library of Parliament, which is independent. That sets aside and takes away any influence from the governing party.

Quite honestly, it is there through the Accountability Act of 2006 because government had to be cleaned. Corruption was happening under the previous government and that is why we do not want the office accountable to the government.

[Business of Supply, February 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, not only for his great presentation and understanding but also, quite honestly, for the leadership he shows on behalf of the government at the public accounts committee, which I am pleased to be part of.

It is indeed an honour today to rise and speak regarding budgetary and expenditure reporting as they relate to the role of the parliamentary budget office in promoting accountability in government.

It has been mentioned, and I am sure that we will hear this more than once today, that it was our Conservative government that introduced the Federal Accountability Act. Through that act we created the non-partisan parliamentary budget office, after more than a decade of concerns across the country about the former Liberal government and how it was operating and looking after expenditures, and the boondoggles that followed that.

Canadians want to be confident that the Government of Canada is actually working in their best interest. They expect those in elected office and public servants to manage their existing tax dollars wisely, rather than taxing and spending even more, as some of the parties across the way would do. It is like one's family or one's business, because the Canadian people want us to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct, not unlike any good company or small business in my riding of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex.

Why do we do that? It is because we want to instill confidence in Canadians, which means that government must be open about what it has achieved. It must assure Canadians and parliamentarians that the right controls are in place and must provide them with the information they need to judge its performance. That is exactly what we have done.

Confidence is about trust. It is about the trust we place in our elected officials and public service employees to act in the best interests of Canadians. It is a trust that must be earned every day. Earning that trust starts with making government more accountable. Being more accountable means that governments must be honest, open and fair.

The result has been our Conservative government's Federal Accountability Act. It signalled dramatic changes in how federal politics and government works in the country.

When it comes to reporting to Parliament, we have followed up with a number of measures to improve accountability and to increase transparency. We have developed a comprehensive regime to report and review both planned and actual expenditures at the whole of government level and departmental level.

At the whole of government review, this regime includes planning information released through the budget, the estimates and financial results released in the monthly “Fiscal Monitor” and the Public Accounts of Canada.

At the departmental level, there are reports on plans and priorities, the actual expenditure information that is contained in the departmental performance reports and the quarterly financial reports.

We are continuing to provide Canadians and Parliament with the information they need to hold government to account. For example, we have made improvements to the estimates document to provide more meaningful information to parliamentarians, trying to make these complex documents more user friendly.

The Treasury Board Secretariat has worked with the departments and agencies to try to improve and make changes in that system. This has resulted in more accessible information describing the nature of transactions, including the offset of new spending requirements through the use of existing spending authorities.

We have made other changes, including the provision of clearer summary tables and a presentation of gross funding requirements for each organization and an explanation of the funds available to offset new spending requirements.

We talked about this at the public accounts committee and how we might make the reporting and the resulting volumes of material more understandable to the average Canadian.

Members understand the task in front of us. It is a very difficult one, even for those folks who are very much involved in the business of auditing and accounting. We are working with them. We want to make these as user-friendly as possible. We want to do this by using a standardized approach to results-based reporting. We have worked closely with the departments in order to present an annual performance summary, balancing successes and challenges.

Parliament actually has a number of tools at its disposal to obtain information to access the government's actions. Treasury Board Secretariat is committed to continuing to ensure transparency and diligence in providing what it can. As members know, the secretariat supports and shares the Parliamentary Budget Officer's interest in providing parliamentarians and the public with more timely and easy to use data on departmental spending.

That is why the government has taken many actions on this front. These improvements allow all hon. members to get a better understanding of the government's spending plans in order to hold government to account. However, we are not only providing information to parliamentarians. We are also providing that information to Canadians.

Members have all heard the saying that information is power. By making information accessible, the government is also empowering Canadians to hold the government to account. In fact, Canada is a leader in providing accessible information to citizens. We are one of the first countries around the world to enact access to information legislation, which goes back almost three decades. That is why, since coming to office in 2006, our government has been working hard to throw open the doors of government and make information available not only to parliamentarians but also to Canadians.

For example, in 2006, as I mentioned before, this government significantly expanded the coverage through the Federal Accountability Act, which contained the most extensive amendments to the Access to Information Act since the act came into force in 1983. Most importantly, it broadened the reach of access to information to more public institutions. In April 2007, for example, five foundations and five agents of Parliament came under the act's provisions. All told, the Federal Accountability Act added 69 additional public institutions to the list of those covered by legislation. In fact, as a result, there are now 250 public organizations subject to the access to information law. One might be surprised by that large amount. The services these institutions provide are wide-ranging, far-reaching and involve many activities and services that are important not only to parliamentarians but also to all Canadians.

Ensuring greater transparency and accountability goes beyond expanding just the coverage of the act to more institutions. The government recently made it a requirement for all departments and agencies that are subject to the Access to Information Act to post summaries of their complete access to information requests online. Each summary includes the requested number, a summary of the completed requests and the number of pages disclosed. I am pleased to say that the departments, agencies and crown corporations are complying with this new requirement.

The government's commitment to Canadians is clear. It is to increase the accountability of government. I am proud to say we have committed and every day we continue to follow through. Our government is confident that the current structure of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer is capable of providing quality non-partisan analysis.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely, our government is playing, and has played, a significant role. One is the clarification of how we help individuals, whether they are looking for full-time or part-time in seasonal jobs, by ensuring they can find out twice a day what job opportunities are out there.

Sometimes we do not have clientele within a working area and we bring in temporary foreign workers. In the agriculture industry and others such as the tourism industry those people are significant to our economy. Therefore, it is a balance. We also know that when people are collecting EI, they have a responsibility to look for a job. That is what we are trying to encourage. One of the best social programs we have in our country is a job.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am not familiar with the hon. member's riding, but I am with my riding of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex where it is very much small towns and rural, which means agriculture. We rely significantly on the labour force because of agriculture. People may say that the trouble with agriculture is that they are the jobs nobody else wants. These jobs are very much respected and I have never taken the opinion that because one works in agriculture, driving a truck, the agriculture industry or any service industry, that those jobs are below what people should be doing. Those are jobs that we encourage Canadians to pick up the ball on and help those industries because they are the backbone of our country. Those industries make up 90% of the small businesses in Canada. Those small businesses are the ones that generate the economic growth for the major part of our country.

In my riding we encourage Canadians who are looking for jobs to go to those jobs because there is nothing wrong with them. We would make that a part of the positive job creation in our country.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the great member for Elmwood—Transcona.

Today I am here to give some perspective for hon. members opposite on measures that have been introduced by the government to the EI program.

The purpose is to ensure the EI program is working for Canadians. The design of it is to help find work and get people back to work. Our government is committed to supporting workers and ensuring that EI enables a strong and competitive workforce. This is in line with our government's focus on jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Many of the clarifications to the EI program are designed to make it easier and to better connect unemployed Canadians to the jobs in their local labour market.

The government has announced several targeted common sense clarifications to encourage Canadians to stay active in the job market and to remove disincentives for individuals. These changes include better connecting Canadians with available opportunities in their local area, clarifying their responsibilities while collecting EI and establishing a new pan-Canada approach for calculating EI benefits. Those living in regions of comparable labour market conditions should receive similar benefits.

Canadians may not be aware of local jobs within their skill sets and that is why, as a government, we will be providing enhanced job alerts. They are there to inform Canadians of where the local jobs are. Therefore, as of January 2013, recipients can sign-up to receive two emails a day through the enhanced job alert program. This is a vast improvement over the previous program that sent out alerts once or twice a week.

However, the opposition continues to argue that these changes will limit access to EI. Therefore, we need to be very clear about what EI is. An individual who is on EI has a responsibility to undertake an active job search. All these changes do is further clarify what that job search should be like, but this does not affect access to the EI program at all.

The new definition for a “reasonable job search” includes a wage that is significantly better than the benefits paid out by EI. It cannot be said that these changes are pushing Canadians into poverty. In fact, it is quite the opposite. With greater workforce attachment, Canadian families are always better off.

Our government has introduced many other EI measures that are designed to support Canadian families, the fundamental units of society and the backbone of any successful country.

For example, foster parents adopting foster children into their care now have access to parental benefits earlier on. Eligibility to the compassionate care benefit has been extended to include additional family members and others considered as family by the person who is gravely ill. The self-employed, which I have been all my life, will now have the option to opt into EI programs, which has never been offered before, to receive maternal, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits. As for military families, there is now improved access to parental benefits.

Our government also recognizes that it may difficult for people who have full-time jobs to care for family members with serious illnesses or injuries. That is why we want to help families balance their work and family responsibility with the financial difficulties that happen during those times. Specifically, the Helping Families in Need Act, which was passed in the fall, is to help hard-working Canadian families at a time when they need it most. It is an important and fundamental value that truly connects all of us as Canadians.

We understand on this side that raising a child is the most important, responsible thing that we ever have to do. I have three grown children and nine grandchildren, and I can attest to that.

Therefore, when a parent is struggling with an illness while balancing responsibilities, whether at work, at home or both, the whole family becomes affected. Under the Helping Families in Need Act, parents are now able to access sickness benefits if they fall ill while receiving parental benefits. Additionally, as part of the bill, we included changes required to allow for other income supports for families when they needed it the most.

We now offer EI benefits to parents of critically ill or injured children.

These new benefits are there to help reduce some of the financial pressures that parents experience. I think that through our families or a personal experience, all of us can relate to what that means and the toll it takes.

Last year we also announced a new grant to support parents coping with the disappearance or the death of a child as a result of a suspected criminal act. We read and hear of way too much of that every day in the news.

Our government is combining our proven track record of adapting the employment insurance program to foster economic growth along with support for parents who are victims, helping to ease them financially.

We want to improve the EI program to make it more flexible for Canadians by adding benefits for parents who need to take time away from work to focus on a critically ill or injured child, all to help them focus on the issues that really matter as a parent or grandparent.

Our desire is to help families. It is a desire that motivated the government to renew the extra five weeks pilot project through the worst recession since the thirties. We understand that many industries are working less and we want to help Canadians through that very tough and difficult time.

While we still all recognize that these are fragile economic times, particularly around the world, we have seen a significant and strong growth in the Canadian economy and labour market, with over 920,000 new net jobs since July of 2009. We now have more jobs in Canada than at any point in our history.

Many of the regions covered by this pilot project have now seen excellent or significant recovery as well. There were in fact a couple of regions that prematurely pulled away from that pilot project because their unemployment rates had receded so well.

Our government remains committed to jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for all Canadians. On this side of the House, and I believe across all sides of the House, we are proud of our country, the job creation and the economic standing that we have seen and been recognized for around the world. Therefore, let all of us stay focused on growing jobs and continuing to develop a long-term prosperity for all Canadians.