Claude Gravelle

[Business of Supply, April 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River for enlightening us on a lot of misspending from that side of the House.

As far as I am concerned, a tax is a tax. Obviously, the Conservatives do not believe that. I would like the hon. member to tell me his impression of why the Conservatives do not believe that a tax and a tariff are the same thing.

[Business of Supply, April 15th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have several questions, but I will keep them short.

First, I would like the hon. member to tell me the difference between a tax and a tariff, and who pays for it.

My second question is about his comment about the Fraser Institute. Is that not an institute that normally rallies around the Conservatives, saying that whatever the Conservatives say is God's truth and that they can do no wrong? Could he clarify that for me, please?

[The Budget, March 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Edmonton—Strathcona on a well-presented speech. She happens to be the very best MP in Alberta, bar none.

My question for the best MP in Alberta concerns the tax hike that apparently does not exist in the budget. The Conservatives have repeatedly said that there is no tax hike, but they have failed to tell Canadians that they will be paying taxes on parking at hospitals. That is a tax hike to me.

As we know, health care is expensive. Could you explain why the Conservatives are now going to tax Canadians who park at hospitals? Could you also tell me why the Conservatives are not telling Canadians about this tax hike?

[Support for Grandparents Act, March 26th, 2013]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-487, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Income Tax Act (support for grandparents).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Pierrefonds—Dollard for supporting my bill.

Today, I am happy to introduce my bill to amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Income Tax Act to support grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

The 2011 census indicated there are over 75,000 children in Canada being raised by grandparents. These families are called skipped generation households. This is a dramatic increase of over 50% in just 20 years. In fact the figure of 75,000 children in these families is probably the tip of the iceberg, knowing that many of these arrangements are informal.

The main issue here is financial assistance for the grandparents who step up during a family crisis to take care of children. Most grandparents who raise a grandchild with no parents present are ineligible for the child care expenses deduction because they do not work or have a partner with no income. My bill will remove these barriers. My bill will also permit grandparents to receive employment insurance benefits for parental leave to take care of grandchildren under the age of five.

In some of these households, there are mental health issues, drug issues or other social issues. Thanks to organizations such as CANGRANDS, which is here today, these grandparents have stepped up to prevent their grandchildren from being placed into care and are frequently already struggling to make ends meet on limited incomes. The least we can do is recognize this and afford them the same benefits biological parents would receive.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Regional Development, March 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we will always vote against Conservative budgets that do not get the job done for northern Ontario.

We have a shortage of workers in the mining sector to the tune of 100,000, yet the Conservatives have no plan for reversing this trend. They are actually making it harder for mining sectors to survive by killing the accelerated capital cost allowance, despite extending this allowance to the manufacturing sector.

Why are they excluding northern Ontario from their economic recovery plan?

[Canada Labour Code, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak about Bill C-464, introduced by our colleague from Verchères—Les Patriotes. She is a very progressive MP who, unlike the Conservatives, thinks about the future. I can assure the people of Verchères—Les Patriotes that they are very well represented in the House of Commons.

I am not surprised that the Conservatives are not supporting this bill. I do not think anybody should be surprised. They used to be a progressive party, but they are a long way from being progressive right now. Of course, we costed this bill at $26 million. The Conservatives have costed it at $100 million, and we should not be surprised by that either. After all, their costing numbers have been out in space ever since they became government. We only have to look at the F-35s and the way they costed those. They are applying the same costing system to this bill. If anything, I would like to see this bill go to committee so that we can discuss it properly and the costing can be reviewed. If we do that, I am sure that we will see that $26 million is a proper cost.

It certainly is a pleasure for me to rise today, for personal reasons. We have multiple births in my family. We also have multiple births in my wife's family. I could have been a parent of twins. Unfortunately, because of unfortunate things that happened, we are not parents of twins, but that is history. The fortunate thing that happened because of that is that a couple of years later, I got to meet my daughter for the first time. Maybe, if I get lucky, she will present me with twins some day.

My mother-in-law is a twin, and as I said, my wife was pregnant with twins. My aunt also had twins, way back when. I can still remember the difficulty of raising twins back in those days. It is not easy today. It was not easy back then. However, we can help families with multiple births today by passing this bill or at least by sending it to committee.

On my wife's side of the family, my nephew and his wife gave birth to twins. I can remember that they were having difficulty with their twins. It is not easy raising one baby. Imagine raising two babies at once. My wife and their mother and mother-in-law and others went to help. It is very important that these parents of multiple births get help.

Would it not be nice if we were to amend the EI Act so that the father could take part in raising his kids, his twins for, I believe, 35 or 37 weeks? That would certainly make a big difference in the lives not only of the mother but of the babies. Hopefully we can send this bill to committee.

People at Multiple Births Canada had this to say about multiple births and this bill. They said that if this bill is passed or sent to committee, “parents will be able to provide their infants with better (quality and quantity) bonding time—with more weeks, with one primary caregiver or two parents at home, parents will have more opportunities to interact individually with their infants”.

I want to remind people in the House today and people who might be listening in that it is so important that both parents be involved in the first months of a child's life. It is doubly important in the case of twins.

The primary caregiver will be better equipped to handle physical and emotional stress.

I have two kids. It is physically challenging for a woman who has been through a difficult birth to take care of one baby, let alone two babies. This bill would certainly go a long way in supporting the parents.

Another thing this association says is that:

Parents can focus on their babies, not their financial challenges-- ...more financial resources to meet the increased cost of two or more babies, and more flexibility to work when it best meets their needs. Also, there will be less need to seek daycare for their infants, which is difficult to find for two or more babies at the same time and extremely expensive for twins or more.

Except for those who live in Quebec, where people are quite fortunate to have responsible daycare, it is very expensive to have one child in daycare. Let us imagine having two children in daycare at the same time. It becomes very expensive and is onerous on the parents.

In the past, governments have made changes to EI. They have adapted to certain situations for illness and different reasons, mortality for example. We are asking that the bill go to committee so we could look at making changes that would allow parents of multiple births or adoptions to be given more time to spend with their new children.

Raising one child is difficult and costly, but raising twins is double the cost and double the work. It is double everything. It would certainly be a blessing for these parents to get help from the government. I guess that is too much to ask from the Conservatives. They are not really interested in helping ordinary Canadians, let alone mothers who have multiple births.

I just want to read one more line from Multiple Births Canada:

Mothers will have better support after pregnancy complications--with more time, be it with one primary caregiver or two parents at home, mothers have more time to rest and recover while caring for their babies.

Sometimes pregnancies can be complicated, especially where twins are involved. It is rather difficult for a mother who has just given birth to recuperate from a difficult birth or pregnancy. This bill would address this, and it certainly would go a long way in helping mothers and fathers, but most of all it would help in the bonding between parents and new babies.

[Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I find it unfortunate that the member would falsely accuse the NDP of holding up this bill. It is perhaps because he is frustrated. If he had been listening this morning, he would have heard that I checked with the table and we have been debating this bill for nine and a half hours. Where I come from, nine and a half hours is a long way from a hundred days. I did not know there was that much of a time difference between British Columbia and northern Ontario.

He also said in his speech that the NDP was filibustering this bill. Until today, there has not been a single Conservative MP who has stood up to speak to the bill. All of a sudden, today the Conservatives are filibustering the bill. Why are they so frustrated, and why can they not tell Canadians the truth about debating the bill for nine hours?

[Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Earlier, the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke stood up and said that this bill has been debated for 100 days. I checked, and it has actually been only nine hours. There is a big difference between nine hours and 100 days of debate.

I think the Conservatives are frustrated. Could my colleague please give me his opinion on the Conservatives' frustration?

[Petitions, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it certainly is an honour for me to present a petition from people from Onaping, Levack, Chelmsford, Dowling and Azilda.

The petitioners wish to bring to the attention of the Government of Canada that climate is our most pressing environmental issue, perhaps the defining issue of our generation. They feel it will profoundly affect our economy, health, lifestyle and social well-being.

I wish to add my name to this petition.

[Employment Insurance, March 8th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' complete failure on EI benefits has been a total mess.

Anna Silverman, of Gatineau, has been told that she is not eligible for maternity benefits. She would have had more than enough hours to qualify, but because of an outbreak of measles at the school she was working at, she was forced to stay home. As a result, she is nine hours short, and Service Canada is rejecting her claim. The government has amended the EI act for members of the armed forces to avoid this kind of situation. Why will it not do the same for young mothers like Anna Silverman?