House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2021, with 8% of the vote.
Health November 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' inaction puts many Canadians at risk.
The Conservatives have failed to respond to hundreds of reports revealing serious side effects associated with drugs commonly sold in pharmacies. Over 600 cases have been identified of children suffering from serious, and even fatal, side effects. Hundreds of families are worried and they deserve information about this troubling situation.
Will the Minister of Health conduct an investigation?
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns October 31st, 2012
With regard to the impact of the cuts to the Public Health Agency of Canada announced in Budget 2012: (a) where will the increases or decreases occur in relation to the forecast amounts in place before the budget was tabled on March 29, 2012, broken down by (i) branch, (ii) initiative/program; (b) for each branch or program in point (a), (i) what are the amounts of the planned increases or decreases in human resources and funding, (ii) will positions be eliminated and, if so, how many; (c) which initiatives and/or programs will be eliminated by Budget 2012; (d) what are the reductions in transfer payments to the provinces/territories and municipalities, broken down by (i) initiative/program, (ii) province/territory; and (e) which grant or contribution agreements will be reduced or cancelled, broken down by (i) program/initiative, (ii) recipient?
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns October 31st, 2012
With regard to the impact that the cuts announced in Budget 2012 will have on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research: (a) where will the increases or decreases occur in relation to the forecast amounts in place before the budget was tabled on March 29, 2012, broken down by institute; (b) for each institute in point (a), (i) what are the amounts of the planned increases or decreases in human resources and funding, (ii) will positions be eliminated and, if so, how many; (c) which initiatives, institutes or programs will be eliminated by Budget 2012; (d) what are the reductions in transfer payments to the provinces/territories and municipalities, broken down by (i) initiative, (ii) province/territory; and (e) which grant or contribution agreements will be reduced or cancelled, broken down by (i) program or initiative, (ii) recipient?
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. Young people are worried about the fact that this government is going to leave them with a huge deficit. In addition to the fiscal deficit, the environment will also be threatened, which is unfortunate for young people. We will all suffer from the cuts and from this government's policies regarding young people, women and seniors.
I would like to assure my colleague that young people today are more aware of government policies than they were in the past. They are the next generation and history will prove them right.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher for his question. Of course my constituents are very concerned. They are always asking me what an omnibus bill is. Ordinary Canadians do not always understand our parliamentary jargon. They are very worried about the government's cuts to employment insurance, health care and several other crucial sectors, such as housing, when those are some of the basic things needed to ensure the well-being of ordinary Canadians. My constituents are very worried about the situation and are saying that they cannot wait for 2015.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question.
Of course, that is what I just said in my speech. When the Conservative government was elected in 2006, it promised Canadians transparency and accountability. Unfortunately, considering these major omnibus reforms, Canadians can never know what this government will try to bury in its bills. That is why the opposition has asked several times for the government to be transparent and to split the bill up, and this is obviously in order to highlight this government's poor practices.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take up where I left off yesterday.
Like Bill C-38, Bill C-45 is another massive omnibus bill that makes changes to many laws. Once again, the Conservatives are trying to ram their legislative measures through Parliament without allowing Canadians or their representatives, the MPs, to carefully examine them. The 400 pages of this bill contain many areas of concern. I would like to focus on a few specific points since, if I wanted to get into any detail, I would barely have time to address the table of contents of this mammoth bill in the 10 minutes that I have to speak.
The first point that I would like to speak about is health, particularly the decision to eliminate the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission, which falls under division 13 of part 4 of the bill. The commission was an organization that helped to regulate hazardous materials protected by business confidentiality by ensuring that employers and workers had the information they needed to safely handle hazardous materials in the workplace.
I would like to know what prompted this change at this time. Was the organization, in its existing form, not doing its job properly? I doubt it. Why is it necessary to give the mandate that is currently being carried out by the commission to a group of people who will be appointed by the minister? These are the questions that we should be examining. The government did not provide much in the way of justification for this change. It keeps hiding significant changes in giant, complex bills to prevent MPs from discussing and thoroughly examining the impact of these changes.
Unfortunately for the government, it has clearly not yet learned its lesson. The official opposition will not let the government impose new omnibus bills without resistance. Canadians deserve better. We will do our job and we will expose the bad decisions that this Conservative government is making.
The other point that I would like to address is the impact of the cuts to research and development. My riding, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, is lucky enough to have in it a number of specialized aerospace companies through the Saint-Hubert airport. The North American head office of Bombardier Transportation is also in my riding, in Saint-Bruno.
The changes to research and development proposed by the Conservative government will affect all these businesses and their workers. Various measures in the bill eliminate $500 million for entrepreneurs at a time when Canada already lags behind in investment in research and development. In my riding many people depend on the aerospace industry, and this situation is creating instability at a bad time.
Canada's aerospace industry is ranked fifth in the world. It employs over 150,000 Canadians directly and indirectly. It generates $22 billion in revenue annually and invests approximately $2 billion in research and development. That is significant.
These cuts are being made at a most unfortunate time because the sector is growing internationally and competition is increasingly fierce. In this context, I cannot understand and I deplore the decision made by the government to slash funding for an important tool that can spur innovation and productivity and maintain existing jobs. Technology and innovation have given Canada a comparative advantage in these leading-edge industries. Strategic investments in research and development as a whole are vital in order for Canada's industrial sector to compete with emerging countries and for Canada to retain its competitive edge internationally and its well-paid jobs.
I am not making this up. In its pre-budget consultation brief, the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada said that these measures to boost research and development are important for the future. The association said the following in the brief it submitted to the Standing Committee on Finance:
These measures will foster competitiveness and productivity, ensuring our industry is positioned to take advantage of the outstanding growth in demand for aircraft and thus create long-term, high-quality jobs for Canadians.
The NDP has called for a better balance between tax credits and direct support to businesses, which is what countries such as Israel, Sweden and Finland do, and they are ranked the most innovative countries according to OECD. But the budget only decreases the government's support for research and innovation.
And the Conservatives are proclaiming loud and clear that the 2012 budget creates jobs. We know that that is not true. In fact, the Parliamentary Budget Officer believes that the budget will lead to the loss of 43,000 Canadian jobs. This budget would increase the unemployment rate. I have to say that they are not walking the talk.
This bill is proof that the government says one thing but does another. It claims to want to support job creation, but there are no concrete measures to strengthen existing jobs, let alone create new ones. The Conservatives got elected in 2006 by promising Canadians that they would be transparent and accountable. But the government is hiding major reforms from Canadians by putting them into omnibus bills like this one and the earlier Bill C-38, and it does not want to give the Parliamentary Budget Officer the figures related to cuts to federal departments and agencies.
The NDP will always stand up proudly for transparency and accountability.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I get the impression that today is Groundhog Day, and I am not talking about the day in February where we check to see whether the groundhog has seen his shadow to determine when spring will arrive. Rather, I am talking about the 1993 movie, where the main character keeps reliving the same day over and over again. I have the vague impression that I have already lived this moment where I rise in the House to speak out against a bill that is over 400 pages long and contains many elements that were not part of the budget tabled by the Minister of Finance in March.
This is likely because this is not the first time this has happened. I promise to do my best not to repeat myself even if the speech I gave last June is still valid and relevant today.
Like Bill C-38, Bill C-45 is another massive omnibus bill that makes changes to many laws. Once again, the Conservatives are trying to ram their legislative measures through Parliament without allowing Canadians or their representatives, the MPs, to carefully examine them. The 400 pages of this bill once again contain many areas of concern.
I would have liked to focus on a few points, particularly health, but unfortunately, I have only one minute left.
What I can say is that this is truly an undemocratic practice designed to prevent the representatives of the people of Canada from examining the bill and doing their jobs properly. We are opposed to this way of doing business in Parliament. We want Canadians to know exactly what the current government is doing. We must speak out against all the bad things in this bill.
I would like Canadians to be aware of the fact that this is the same story all over again. This is the second time this has happened. It is the same 400-page bill to do nothing, apparently.
I hope that Canadians will learn their lesson about this government.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech, which I listened to carefully.
We have started talking about the budget implementation bill. We have gotten used to the Conservatives introducing huge omnibus bills to push through all kinds of legislation. MPs cannot do the work that Canadians elected them to do.
Does my colleague think that this practice is undemocratic?
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the wonderful speech made by my colleague. I also heard the speech of a member opposite, in which he praised his government.
But here it is written in black and white that the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that the budget will lead to the loss of 43,000 Canadians jobs. He said that in reality, this budget will cause the unemployment rate to go up.
Does my colleague not think that Canadians deserve better?