Ed Komarnicki

[February 1st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this member indicated that we have cancelled the programs. Of course, we have not cancelled it; we have extended the programs.

The member's Liberal Party has a shameful record when it comes to voting against help for Canadians. It voted against up to 20 additional weeks' of EI for long-tenured workers, extending the enhanced work-sharing program, additional funding to help youth gain valuable work experience, and the apprenticeship incentive grant and tool tax credit. The Liberals voted against all of that.

Something the government will not do is to balance our books on the backs of the most vulnerable, those who need our help the most, the low skilled and the low income families, by cutting transfer payments to the provinces by $25 billion, like the Liberal Party did; nor will we raid the EI account as the Liberals did to the tune of $50-plus billion. If we had that money there, we could probably do a lot of the things this member is asking for today, that is, if the Liberals had not raided those accounts and used them for pet political projects at that time. We will not do that.

[February 1st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, we have been focused on taking action to address the needs of Canadian families and the Canadian economy.

We will continue to act in those interests. We are focused on job growth, expanding the economy, investing in skills training and helping those who were hardest hit by the global recession.

The economy has responded since July 2009. Over 400,000 new jobs have been created. Unfortunately, if the opposition and the coalition had their way, their proposed actions would very well destroy those hundreds of thousands of jobs and throw our economy into reverse by raising taxes. That is something we will not do.

When we go back to the question that was asked by this hon. member of the minister, he said that the Conservatives were looking at cancelling the best 14 weeks and the working while on claim programs. The member said these programs have helped those in need during these tough economic times. They have benefited the most vulnerable, the youth, women, low-skilled workers, and low-income families.

In fact, with respect to the EI pilot projects, months ago, on October 12, we announced that we were extending the two EI pilot projects for 8 months, namely the best 14 weeks pilot and the working while on claim pilot. We also announced that we were reintroducing the extended EI benefits pilot for up to two years.

In light of that, one would think this member would get up today in the House and say, “Well, thank you very much. I said you were cancelling the program. You did not cancel the program. Thankfully you extended the program as I wanted you to do. In fact, you have extended three of the EI programs that help those who are most vulnerable.”

I would think he would get up in the House to thank the government for doing that instead of not doing it. Quite frankly, we have taken many actions that have helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians, through our improvement to the EI system. Long-tenured workers have received extra help through extra weeks of EI. Career transition assistance is also helping tens of thousands of long-tenured workers who need additional support for retraining to find a new job.

Over 265,000 jobs have been protected through our enhancements to the work-sharing program. That's another thing one would think this member would stand up in the House to thank the government for preserving those jobs. I do not hear him doing that.

We are focused on helping Canadians get back to work. We have made unprecedented investments in training. In fact in 2009-2010, we invested more than $4 billion in training, helping over 1.2 million Canadians.

We have also introduced tax cuts and premium freezes to ensure that Canadians have more money in their pockets to take care of themselves and their families and to spend on their priorities.

All of this is to say that we have taken significant action. We have acted strongly to help Canadians through the global recession, and we have done so in a reasonable and responsible way. We have invested where investment counts. We have ensured that people have jobs. One would think this member would get up in the House to thank the government for doing these things and get behind these things and support them.

Shamefully, the Liberals voted against many of these initiatives. These initiatives are helping the Canadians who need help the most.

[December 15th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I find it interesting that this particular member has not addressed the fact that his government cut $25 billion from the Canada social transfer, which has caused severe damage to post-secondary education, has caused severe damage to those things that he now is advocating for. We are only now taking the steps to repair that damage to go forward and do the kind of things that need to be done.

Here are some quotes. They are not from me, but from the Canadian Federation of Students, for instance, which said:

The government has taken a positive step towards improving access to post-secondary education....

By implementing a national system of grants, the government has responded to a long standing call by students and their families.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations said it is pleased to see the Canada student grants program and the repayment assistance plan are aimed at, respectively, giving students access to post-secondary education and alleviating debt repayment upon graduation. It is something that the previous government did not do; in fact, it took steps and made it even worse and more difficult for students than what they are facing at this time.

[December 15th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I have certainly responded to the question on the Canadian Council on Learning.

We provided one-time funding of $85 million in 2004, a significant amount of money. It was always clear that this funding would expire after five years. In fact it turned out that we extended the funding for one more year to ensure maximum impact and usefulness of the money spent.

Our government is committed to value for taxpayers' dollars. We understand fully the need for stronger learning and labour market information systems, and that is where our government is proceeding. We are focused on working with the provinces and a variety of stakeholders on the creation of an improved learning information system that will make a positive difference in the lives of Canadians.

We have taken those steps and we are committed to having the most educated and the most skilled workforce in the world. We are committed to getting there in a fiscally responsible way and we have made significant investments, but we will not do what the Liberal Party did, the member's party. In the nineties, it cut social transfers to the provinces by $25 billion. When it did that, of course education suffered in a significant way.

When we took over government, we increased transfers by 6%, restored the cutbacks by the Liberal government and added $800 million to education through the Canada social transfer. We put in place a new grants system that allowed students to have $250 per month, or $150 per month depending upon certain circumstances, that they would not have to pay back. It allowed for more students to go into post-secondary education, in fact 140,000 more students than under the previous Liberal government.

What we have done is not that complicated. We have invested significantly in education, in skills training and updating.

With respect to Mr. Drummond, to whom the member referred, here is what he had to say:

PSE has been sideswiped by the expenditure cutbacks of the federal [Liberal government]...in the mid-1990s.

He said that the current federal government, our government, has corrected a lot of the difficulties that got created by the severe budget cutbacks to post-secondary education in the 1990s. “The era of fiscal restraint of the 1990s hit post-secondary education funding hard”.

That was a time when the member's government, the Liberal government, attempted to balance its books on the backs of those who were most vulnerable, on the backs of students.

It is not that complicated. When the funding gets taken away, we cannot have more students go into post-secondary education. We cannot have early child learning and care as we have now with investments we have made. We have made significant investments over the years. It has taken that kind of investment.

The objectives and the directions are not that complicated and we are doing what needs to be done, in conjunction with partners, stakeholders and the provinces. That is why we have taken such unprecedented action, particularly in the sphere of post-secondary education, through Canada's economic action plan.

Our government, over the past four years, in fact has made significant investments toward universities, post-secondary infrastructure and education. We know that is important. That is why we have invested, but more importantly, we have provided provinces with predictable and growing funding through the Canada social transfer for the first time in history. It is increasing every year because we know it is important for government to direct those funds to ensure that there is early child learning, child care and students who can go to university and not owe the great sums of money they did under the previous Liberal government.

[Employment Insurance, December 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we of course extended EI benefits for five additional weeks. We extended it for five to twenty weeks for long-tenured workers during tough economic times during the last couple of years.

In fact, we have taken a number of initiatives to create jobs. If the member and his party had their way, they would increase taxes and kill, according to experts, approximately 400,000 jobs. While we are trying to preserve jobs and an environment to create jobs, they are doing things just the opposite of that.

[Employment Insurance, December 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, we have extended the EI pilot projects that related to working while on claim, the best 14 weeks, the extra 5 week pilot project program. We have done a number of initiatives with respect to employment. We have unprecedented investments in training to get Canadians back to work, of over $4 billion in training to help 1.2 million Canadians.

We have done a number of things, including preserving 260,000 jobs protected through our enhanced work-share program, programs that the opposition party members did not necessarily support. We ask them to get behind us in support of those programs.

[Pensions, December 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of the member and the Liberal-Bloc-NDP coalition, the policy has been cancelled. Not only has the policy been cancelled, but we have reverted to the old policy that was effective in May 2010. All of the departmental officials have been instructed to follow the old policy. The new one was cancelled. It is not in existence.

[Pensions, December 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know how much more clear I can be. The member needs to listen. He cannot understand that the policy is cancelled. It is the old policy that is in effect.

The member is purposely misleading Canadian seniors. He is trying to score cheap political points on the backs of our poorest and most vulnerable seniors. That is incredibly irresponsible and shameful and it needs to stop.

[Pensions, December 10th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has been very clear. The policy change has been cancelled. I do not know what the member does not understand about that.

Everyone affected since May 2010 will have their case reviewed based on the old policy. If the member actually reads the various documentation and listens to the statements, he will see that the department has been instructed by the minister to follow her instructions immediately, and is following through.

[December 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, let us have a look at the record and at the facts.

The Liberal Party has a shameful record of voting against help for Canadian workers. It voted against the 5 to 20 additional weeks of EI for long tenured workers. It voted against extending the enhanced work-sharing program. It voted against additional funding to help youth gain valuable work experience, the apprenticeship incentive grant and tool tax credit.

The Liberal Party complains about EI premiums and yet it and its Bloc-NDP coalition partners support bills calling for huge spending and premium increases, like the costly and irresponsible 45-day work year. The coalition's EI plan would cost an estimated $7 billion and result in an astronomical 35% permanent increase in premiums. The Liberal leader admits that it is fiscally irresponsible to do this but continues to support these ideas, as does his caucus. The Liberals are not responsible on this file.