Jason Kenney

[Employment, October 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, regrettably, the preamble to the hon. member's question is completely inaccurate.

The member will no doubt be interested to know that for the first six months of this year, the number of labour market impact assessment applications made by employers to have authorization to employ temporary foreign workers decreased by 75% compared to the number received in the first six months of 2012.

With tougher penalties, much stronger inspections, a higher fee, better labour market information, and an absolute ban on low-skilled workers in regions of unemployment of over 6%, we are doing what Canadians expect.

[Social Development, October 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, that is precisely what our strategy is about, focused on choice for parents as opposed to the one-size-fits-all institutional approach of the NDP. I should also mention that, since our government has taken office, there are 225,000 fewer Canadian children living in poverty, below the low-income cutoff line. Also, the member speaks about resources in the province of Ontario, a province to which we have increased the Canada social transfer by $4.6 billion, or over 60%. Since 2006, we are giving Ontario and the other provinces historic levels of resources to address child care. We expect them to use those resources wisely.

[Social Development, October 23rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the universal choice child care benefit has assisted literally millions of Canadian families to make choices that are most relevant to them and their family circumstances, where they live, in providing for child care. This government believes that moms and dads are the real experts in child care. Whether they work in shifts, or they live in rural areas, or they have relatives helping to take care of kids, all of them deserve support, not just those who depend on nine-to-five institutional care.

[Employment Insurance, October 21st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we are doing no such thing.

On the contrary, employment insurance is available to unemployed workers who have lost their jobs for no reason. Whether they are seasonal workers or not, if they have worked for the minimum number of weeks, they can receive employment insurance benefits.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 21st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, if the NDP were a serious opposition, it would listen to what I am saying.

Every time I talk about the temporary foreign worker program, every time I talk about the so-called labour shortage, I say that we should be hiring, training and bringing together unemployed aboriginal people so that we can connect them with available jobs. It is urgent that we do so, and that is the message we are sending to employers every day. Employers who apply to bring in foreign workers have to make an effort to hire aboriginal workers.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 21st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the preamble to the question was the opposite of the truth. In fact, employers, in applying for labour market impact assessments to invite temporary foreign workers, have to demonstrate first that they have reached out to groups that are under-represented in the Canadian labour force, including persons with disabilities, Canadian youth, recent immigrants, and specifically, aboriginal Canadians.

Consistently, our message to employers is that they must redouble their efforts to hire and train unemployed Canadians, particularly aboriginal and other Canadians, before we will even consider their applications to bring in temporary foreign workers.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Peterborough for the question.

Indeed, the ASETS program is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada. I have just completed six months of consultations with first nations communities and employers on the renewal of the aboriginal skills and education training strategy. I look forward to an announcement in the months to come, but it clearly is our intention to renew and improve aboriginal skills development programs.

We have an enormous opportunity, if we can get this right, to address the underemployment of aboriginal Canadians and many of the labour shortages that we are facing. We intend to do exactly that through smart investments to help aboriginal Canadians get gainful employment.

[Service Canada, October 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, there are several service centres available to people in the region. The public can also access good services online and over the phone.

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, October 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, that speech really goes to the heart of what I find the total incoherence of the NDP's position. Once again, the New Democrats are demanding humanitarian assistance, which we are already providing on a larger measure per capita than any other developed country in the world and which we will increase. Let us just put that aside. The question here, then, is whether we contribute to military force in stopping Da'esh.

I have a very simple question for the member. What is the point of providing humanitarian support to people who have been murdered by genocidal maniacs? I cannot even believe I am hearing this on the floor, but he talked about sending lawyers to interview rape victims. The point is to stop women from being victimized by the mass rapists in the first place.

There are hundreds of Yazidi and Christian women being held as serial sex slaves by Daesh. How does he suggest we have Canadian tribunals interview them, while they are held under slave-like conditions? The fundamental question for the NDP is this. How do we deliver humanitarian response to people as they are being attacked? Does he not understand that without the use of some force, more minorities will completely be wiped off the face of the earth in Iraq? Does he not understand it?

[Military Contribution Against ISIL, October 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member is asking hypothetical questions that are excluded by the motion. He knows perfectly well of the complexity of the situation in Syria, and he knows that we have been invited by the government of Iraq to provide assistance, which is what we will do. He is asking this hypothetical question because he is plainly trying to evade the grotesque irresponsibility of his party and leader, outside the best Liberal tradition, in the position it has taken on this motion.

While most of our major allies in the democratic world, including social democratic governments and parties, have endorsed or committed military support to this mission in Iraq, the leader of the Liberal Party, in an extreme variation from Liberal tradition, is making adolescent jokes. He characterized prospective Canadian military action, referring to the use of the Royal Canadian Air Force jet fighters, as “whipping out our CF-18s to show how big they are”. How profoundly unserious. I would suggest that the member instead listen to voices such as those of former Liberal ministers Lloyd Axworthy, Ujjal Dosanjh, Jean Lapierre, le premier ministre du Québec, to Liberals who understand the great Liberal tradition of standing in solidarity with our allies in defence of international security.