Jason Kenney

[Employment, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, again, the premise of the question is false. In fact, most of the surveys to which the member refers were not dealing with labour market information. They were time limited. They ran their course.

I am surprised to hear that NDP members do not read their favourite newspaper, the Toronto Star. If the member did, she would realize that the government is now launching two important, robust new labour market information surveys, one with respect to a quarterly survey on job vacancies and one an annual survey on wage rates.

I am pleased to say that we have either implemented or are in the process of implementing about two-thirds of the recommendations of the Drummond commission and are working closely with the former labour market ministers to ensure better coordination of labour market information.

[Employment, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member said that the program is a catastrophe. There are problems with it, but the number of temporary foreign workers entering Canada represented 1% of all workers seven years ago and it is still 1% of all workers today. It is not a huge change, and the effects are not catastrophic.

That said, we have increased audits and sentences for employers who abuse the program, and there will soon be substantial changes to strengthen the integrity of the program.

[Employment, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member is incorrect. In fact, the highly trained professional public servants of Service Canada do not approve labour market opinions for employers seeking temporary foreign workers if Canadians are or have been displaced by an employer. To do so would be against the law.

Of course, we have introduced independent audits at work sites, and we will be introducing a robust package of reforms in the near future to further ensure that this program is only and always used as a last and limited resort.

[Employment, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, yet again, the premise of the question is entirely inaccurate. Of course, the member would complain if the minister himself was leading an investigation. It is our highly trained professional public servants at Service Canada and at Employment and Social Development Canada who are responsible for such investigations, who are conducting one in this respect, and I look forward to the results of their investigation.

Just as we have increased substantially investigations and audits of employers using the temporary foreign worker program, we will further tighten the program in the near future.

[Employment, June 11th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the question is false and ridiculous. In fact, a couple of non-labour-market-information related time-limited surveys ran their course, but I am pleased that the member raised the question, because it allows me to inform the House that the government will be launching two significant, robust, new labour market information studies, one a quarterly study on job vacancies and one a robust annual survey on wage rates, just as experts have asked us to do.

We are delivering. We will be getting that labour market information. Unlike the Liberals, who set up the low-skilled temporary foreign worker program in 2002, we are going to tighten up this program and ensure that Canadians always come first.

[Employment, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it will be when we announce broader reforms to the temporary foreign worker program designed to prevent abuses, severely punish non-compliant employers, and prevent distortions in certain regions or industries in the Canadian labour market.

We will ensure that Canadians always come first, and if that means employers have to pay a little more and be more active in recruiting and training Canadians, that is a good thing.

[Government Appointments, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to appoint members to the Social Security Tribunal. This new quasi-judicial organization is becoming increasingly effective with its decisions, and the chairperson keeps me updated.

We will continue to work with the tribunal to ensure that it is able to reduce backlogs on appeals.

[Employment, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, when the member says their licence has not been pulled, I do not know what he is talking about. There is no such thing as a licence in the program. How ridiculous. We have a Liberal immigration critic who does not even understand the first thing about the program.

The blacklist means that employers cannot access labour market opinions or work permits. How many employers were on the blacklist during 13 years of Liberal government? Zero. Why? Because Liberals did not have a blacklist. They did not have administrative and monetary penalties. They did not refer criminal cases for criminal prosecution. We are. We are taking action.

[Employment, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken major steps to prevent abuses related to the program. We are punishing employers who do not follow the rules.

For example, we have created a black list to which we are adding more and more bad employers. In the budget bill, we created penalties for bad employers. In addition, I have asked my department to work with the Canada Border Services Agency on files of a criminal nature.

We are taking action on this file.

[Business of Supply, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, first, would the hon. member admit that the percentage of Canadian families living below the low-income cutoff line, typically referred to as the “poverty line”, is the lowest level ever?

Would he admit that the percentage of Canadian children living below that so-called poverty line is at its lowest level ever?

Would he indicate whether he has read the Luxembourg Income Study in The New York Times indicating that Canada now has the highest median family income of any developed country in the world?

Finally, in his constituency, Victoria, I know there is a disproportionately large number of seniors, pensioners, some of them with relatively high incomes, above the average. Will he maintain our policy of income splitting for those seniors, including the high income ones in his constituency? Or will his class warfare apply to the high income seniors who are benefiting from pension splitting, under the current government?