Dan Harris

[Employment, May 10th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, it would seem that the member wants to refer to an answer that she gave last night when she was not even paying attention while the question was being posed. She was a little busy chatting with a colleague.

The question was about jobs, and the parliamentary secretary got up and gave an answer about early childhood education. Then tonight she says to refer back to that answer.

Has she absolutely no respect for Canadians or for Parliament? I would like the hon. member to give a real answer.

[Employment, May 10th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, on February 17, I rose in this House and asked when the government would finally help Toronto families deal with rising inflation and higher gas prices, and help them to make ends meet.

I asked specifically when the government would come up with a real jobs plan, a plan that would provide jobs to help support families instead of low-wage, part-time jobs many families depend on. The government has not created jobs in Toronto. The people in my riding of Scarborough Southwest know and live it every single day. There are fewer and fewer good jobs in Toronto, and therefore more and more families continue to struggle.

When I asked the question of the government, I received a glib, meaningless, puerile response from the Minister of State for Finance. The citizens of Scarborough Southwest, Torontonians and indeed all Canadians deserve much more respect from the member for Macleod and indeed from any member of cabinet in the Canadian government. This would include the parliamentary secretary actually paying attention to a question when it is being posed to her, which she failed to do last night.

We need the member for Macleod and the whole Conservative government to take the needs of Canadian families seriously. The Conservative government has no jobs plan. Canada is losing quality jobs under the Conservatives. Since the Conservatives took office, we have lost over 400,000 good manufacturing jobs. Since September alone, we have lost 60,000 more full-time jobs.

Unemployment now stands at 1.4 million Canadians and three-quarters of the new jobs created since May 2008 have been part-time. Now with the cuts coming as a result of the recent federal budget, 102,000 more may be added to the ranks of the unemployed.

This is shameful, and the government should indeed be ashamed. Yet the Conservatives are sticking with their failed approach of blind, unconditional tax cuts for profitable corporations. They are not creating jobs. Too many multinational companies are taking their tax breaks and then turning around and shipping good jobs overseas, as the member for London—Fanshawe was mentioning with Caterpillar in London as it closed the 450 job Electro-Motive plant.

New Democrats have a practical, affordable plan to create good, full-time jobs, offering targeted tax credits for new hires, implementing investments to help businesses that create jobs, investing in job-creating infrastructure and ensuring foreign investment keeps good jobs here in Canada.

The job situation is getting worse under the Conservatives, not better. Their policies have failed Canadian workers and failed to create Canadian jobs. Now, the Conservatives have introduced a budget which will do nothing to create jobs but, according to journalist, Don Martin has everything but the kitchen sink in it. Believe me, we have looked at it, and we found the kitchen sink in Bill C-38.

Frankly, the bill is just an end run around accountability and transparency from the very Conservative government that made commitments to govern better than the Liberals and to be accountable to Canadians.

[Employment, May 9th, 2012]

My apologies, Mr. Speaker. I was making reference to the fact that the member was not paying attention.

I was asking about a jobs plan. That is really what is missing from the government's plan. Hundreds of thousands of unemployed Canadians are looking for work. As I mentioned in my statement a few minutes ago, many people have given up that job search. They have lost hope. They have stepped out of looking for jobs, which is certainly not helping the Canadian economy. It is not helping families to succeed. Yet, the government members do not even have the respect for Canadians, for Torontonians, or for other members of the House to actually pay attention when we are asking a question.

I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary why she does not have enough respect to actually listen to the questions being asked.

[Employment, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, while the parliamentary secretary gave an answer, if she had bothered to have enough respect for the people of Toronto to actually listen to the question instead of speaking to her neighbour, she would have heard that I was asking about a jobs plan, not about early childhood education.

However, while we are talking about it, the child tax credit certainly does not—

[Employment, May 9th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting to hear the parliamentary secretary talk about saying one thing and doing the other. If members remember, the Conservatives said nothing about changing OAS and the age of retirement, yet they did just that.

On February 13, I rose in the House and asked when the government would introduce a jobs plan for Canadian families. We are talking about families who have a hard time making ends meet and who struggle to pay the rent and buy groceries.

I asked specifically about when the government would help the people of Toronto. I asked the question in light of a study showing that Toronto is a place of skyrocketing costs. The study also showed that Toronto has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and described how many of the unemployed simply lose hope and give up. This is absolutely unacceptable.

Many Canadians are hurting, but by way of a response to my questions, I got a bunch of Conservative double-talk, faulty numbers and an absence of hope. However, I, as well as many Canadians, knew at that time that the Conservatives' budget had yet to be introduced, and we were hopeful that there would be something for struggling families in Toronto.

We are hopeful that the government will do what a government is supposed to do: help those it is supposed to serve. We were all hopeful that the government would introduce real initiatives to help Canadian families by providing such things as a jobs plan, a national housing strategy and a national transit strategy; instead the government introduced a 425-page Trojan Horse, a political tool used to change laws out of sight of the public and accountability.

While the Conservatives were focusing on their so-called budget and on cynical parliamentary tricks, they failed to take the time to introduce one measure to help Canadian families make ends meet.

Where is the jobs plan that would help Canadians gain some measure of security and help many more re-enter and maintain their participation in the economy?

[Public Transit, May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there have been investments put in, but that is to make up for the huge deficiencies that have existed for years. When we look at what a lot of the money is spent on, it is state of good repair things, maintenance and replacing tracks. It is that aging infrastructure. What the cities need is that long-term stable funding. All these projects that the member mentioned are one-offs. It is a bit of money here, a bit of money there. We applaud the fact that the gas tax money goes to the cities, but the cities need more of it. This is why the NDP called for an additional 1¢ of the gas tax to go to public transit, and the Conservatives voted against it.

For years and years, I have been a loyal public transit rider in Toronto, taking it to work, to play, to everywhere. However, the moment we get out of the downtown core, there are problems that abound. It does not serve the people well and it harms the economy, which is the biggest thing.

[Public Transit, May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians face long commutes stuck in traffic and smog. Across Canada, urban mayors are asking for federal leadership in assisting them to establish better public transit. Sadly, the government refuses to act.

Investing in public transit would create jobs, reduce harmful emissions and save billions in lost economic productivity. For years, the NDP has been leading the way in calling for a national public transit strategy. Our bill, introduced by my colleague, the member for Trinity—Spadina, is designed to ensure fast, accessible, affordable public transit in cities across the country. It calls for a permanent investment plan for transit systems and innovation research. It calls on different levels of government to work together to ensure quality transit under the leadership of the federal government.

It is time to get moving on transit. We see the need in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and even in Fort McMurray. Cities and towns, big and small, need permanent, strong, stable, national transit funding so that Canadians have access to reliable, frequent public transit to get to and from where they live, play and work.

We need to put public transit back on the national agenda. Canada has been falling behind, and that is holding us back economically. We are the only country in the G8 without a national transit strategy. Federal leadership and investment in transit is vital to a healthier economy and a healthier environment. It is vital to our cities, large and small, and everyone who lives in them.

Canada's big city mayors have been calling for such a strategy since 2007. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canadian Urban Transit Association, the Canadian Construction Association and, yes, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have all come out to support a national public transit strategy.

In February I rose in this House and asked the Minister of Transport why the government is ignoring this growing crisis. When will it finally give cities like Toronto the stability they need? It had a chance to address this crisis in the federal budget. Unfortunately, the budget set no money aside for transit. In fact, infrastructure funding took a big hit.

I understand that the minister is working on developing a long-term infrastructure plan to take effect after the Building Canada Plan expires in 2014, and will be consulting with stakeholders. In light of the recommendations emanating from the Standing Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities' report on a national transit strategy, how important is public transit as a key foundation to the long-term infrastructure plan?

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, May 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on the question from my colleague from Windsor West. We certainly do have time in the industry committee to engage in studies on this bill.

Would the member for LaSalle—Émard comment on changes in the budget that are coming up on the Investment Canada Act, changes that have been put in by the government before the industry committee has had the opportunity to actually study those questions?

[Safer Railways Act, May 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest the government take a vastly different approach than it is taking with practically every other labour issue that has come up since the Conservatives were elected in May 2011. We look at the workers at Canada Post and at Air Canada. The government shows absolutely no respect for labour and for labour agreements that have been negotiated. Therefore, we would say that the negotiations have to take place, we have to treat all of the stakeholders and parties with respect and come to an agreement on the issue.

We have voice recorders in airplanes. We can certainly implement them in a way that respects all sides and where that information would only be used in the strictest of circumstances, and privacy laws would apply.

[Safer Railways Act, May 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member mentioned that it had taken a little while. As I said in my speech, it has taken five years from the time the recommendations came out to the point we are now with this bill. With the support from all sides, one wonders if it could have passed in a minority Parliament that existed for the last several years, and I think it would have. It probably would have been one of those bills that all sides of the House could have looked to proudly and said, “This is how minority governments work when we work together”. Unfortunately it was not a priority for the government and it did not happen.