Jim Eglinski

[Committees of the House, April 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, very much like my colleague, I do not like using a whole bunch of buzzwords. I believe that all men should treat women with due respect, and that all women should treat men with due respect. We are equal. When we are doing the same job and working in the same environment, we should all have the same equal respect for each other. We do not need to brag about this or brag about that. They are the same as we are and we are the same as they are when we are working in the same environment. Let us respect each other the same way.

[Committees of the House, April 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I think there is a very important role that the government needs to play to encourage people, whether male or female, to enter into any career they choose.

I am a commercial pilot, as well as an RCMP officer. I have worked with both female and male commercial pilots. Each have their qualities. I have seen some very good female pilots and I have seen some very good male pilots, as well as some bad and bad. Therefore, with respect to occupations, we should encourage young people to look at all walks of life, look at all careers, and challenge themselves into picking a role or a job for which they feel they would best be suited.

[Committees of the House, April 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I believe, and I have always believed, that when we are working with members of the opposite sex we must treat them with respect and due diligence. We are all equal in this House, men and women. We have to send that message out across this country. I do not like using buzzwords. Call me a feminist if you want; I probably am when one looks at the whole picture, but I believe we need to respect each other, and we need to show that in leadership across the country.

[Committees of the House, April 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to follow a little different format here. First of all, I am going to say that I have never stood up and bragged that I was a feminist. However, throughout my working career, most of my working career, I have always believed in working with women and treating them equally, with equal respect to the men I work with.

Most of the people in this House know my background is in the RCMP. I spent 35 years there. The RCMP was one of the first government agencies, going back to 1974, that decided to allow women to join the force and become regular members on the street. That decision was by Commissioner Nadon. In March 1975, they hit the streets, working with us men.

I want to go back in the history of the RCMP. This is all talking about women and gender equality. It is very important to realize that this is nothing new. It is just that we are starting to respect it a lot more now than we did in the past. It is unfortunate that we did not do it in the past.

I want to talk a little about the past. In the organization that I was proud to serve for 35 years, we have had women going back to the 1800s. Many of them worked as matrons for us in the detachments across the country, guarding men, guarding women. Many of them worked as clerks. Even in about 1920, we started hiring them as lab technicians, to work in our labs and help solve cases. They worked as clerks in many of the bigger detachments. Women played a very important role. They definitely were not paid the same as regular police officers, and that may be unfortunate.

One of the things that a lot of people do not realize is that in Canada, as Canada grew, there were many RCMP detachments across this country. Many of them were one-man, maybe two-man detachments. There might be one member there, and he had his wife. A lot of people did not realize that a lot of the wives of RCMP officers, when their husbands were away on patrol, whether it was on a horse, by dog team, or whatever means, lots of times they played an equal role to their husband in handling minor investigations in the community while their husbands were out. They did counselling and took complaints.

I can recall a number of years ago when we had a murder in a community I was in. The culprit would not talk to any of the police, because his lawyer told him not to. However, he knew he was wrong in what he had done, so he gave a statement to my wife, who gave it to me, and I gave it to the crown counsel. The case was resolved.

Women have always played a very important role. I believe they are equal to men.

Let us move to 1974. I think I had about six years' service then, when Commissioner Nadon announced that the RCMP would be taking women into the force. Many of us felt this was a man's occupation. I remember hearing talk for about a year, between 1974 and 1975, that women could not do the job, could not break up a fight, could not go out on patrol by themselves, and that this was a man's world and only men could do the work. Well, 1975 arrived, and women started coming out in the field. I think I can only say, in a few words, “Wow, were we wrong.”

Women, when they joined the force—30 of them graduated in 1975, the first troop—were spread out across Canada. Like any organization, when they were new to us, I think we made mistakes, because we did not treat them equally. They were new; they were unique. We used a lot of them for propaganda, for promotional things, for parades and stuff like that. We gave them a special status.

It really bothered the first few troops of women. They wanted to do the job, equal to what we, the guys in the field, were doing.

They soon made it very apparent that they were equal to us and did not think they needed to be treated any differently. We have seen that change over the years; their uniforms have become the same as those of the men and we got away from all the specialties that were in there.

We have made mistakes in learning how to work with women. However, I learned one thing very early, and I am going back to the mid-70s and a little later. The first two women I worked with were Doris and Ann, and I learned to respect the ability of a woman to handle the same role as a man in the job of being a police officer. In fact, it did not take me very long to learn that they could probably do a better job in a lot of cases than I could.

I always loved having a female member with me on domestic cases, and also cases dealing with children. However, there was one thing that really surprised me when I was policing in a community that was probably one of the roughest communities in British Columbia. We had seven reserves surrounding the community. It was a violent community. There were lots of fights, lots of stabbings, and that stuff. We had two women posted to our detachment. We worried about them, but we did not have to. They were able to integrate just as well as we were. In fact, when we went to a bar disturbance, I could guarantee that if two male members walked into the bar disturbance, the scrap would probably continue, but if I walked in with a female member, it usually stopped. One can be in a rough and tumble logging community, but people still respect women.

I remember one incident where one of our female members walked into the bar by herself. We always told her not to do it, but I guess we were busy. There was quite a ruckus going on. She tried to arrest a guy who resisted her, and I still remember people telling me that half the bar got up, helped her take that person and put him in the back of the police car. He got a little roughed up on the way, but that is irrelevant. If it had been me, I would have had to scrap him all the way in.

Women have always played a very important role. People who have not had the opportunity to work side by side with a woman in an equal environment will learn that they can do a similar job. Therefore, they should get similar pay and be treated equally.

I support the motion. Recommendation 14 says:

That the Government of Canada, following consultation with federal departments and agencies, as well as civil society, introduce legislation by June 2017....

This has to happen. It has been happening for many years in many government agencies. As I said, in March of 1975, the RCMP started working with women. It is very important, but we must look at it across Canada, and treat women with equal respect and provide equal pay for equal work.

[Questions on the Order Paper, April 6th, 2017]

With regard to the February 16, 2017, band election conducted by the O’Chiese First Nation: (a) when did the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs approve the application by the band to change its election rules; (b) why did the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs approve the change; (c) what specific rules were changed; (d) is the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs aware of allegations that individuals were refused the right to run in the election as a result of decisions made by the Chief and Council that were based on a previous bias; (e) what reasons was the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs provided with regarding why certain individuals were refused the right to run for office; (f) does the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs consider the reasons provided in (e) to be valid; and (g) what specific requirements has the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs put in place to ensure that the O’Chiese First Nations conducts elections in a transparent and legal manner?

[Ronald McDonald House, April 4th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, last week, my first great-grandchild was born. My granddaughter Stephanie and her husband Justin welcomed Emma-Rose Muss into this world.

Baby Emma-Rose had some internal problems, and her birth needed close monitoring. Like so many rural Canadian families, her parents stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver. Baby Emma-Rose is doing fine.

Fifteen Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada give families a place to stay close to a hospital where their children are being treated. Ronald McDonald family rooms are located at strategic hospitals, giving families a place to rest and recharge. McDonald's supports these facilities by contributions from every happy meal it serves across Canada and through McHappy Days.

From my family and all Canadians, I want to thank the Ronald McDonald foundation for the help, compassion, and family support it gives to rural Canadians.

[The Budget, April 4th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, the Liberal government has cut $8.5 billion from the National Defence budget this year. That is now $12 billion if we take into consideration what was cut last year.

Last summer our caucus held coast-to-coast round table discussions with many communities. From these discussions, people told us very clearly that they wanted to see the military spending increased, and our military itself increased and modernized.

Could the member please tell me how we can do this when the government has cut military funding in the last two years by $12 billion?

[Role of Co-operatives, March 24th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today in support of Motion No. 100. This motion from the hon. member for Brossard—Saint-Lambert proposes that the government recognize the important role that co-operatives play in the economy, and ensure they continue to thrive.

It is no secret that the cost of housing is extremely high and continues to break records across Canada. The average price for homes around my riding of Yellowhead is approximately half of the national average, which is still affordable for hard-working Albertans. However, this low average does not mean that access to affordable housing is not an issue in my riding.

In my riding of Yellowhead, multiple towns rely on funding from the province to provide housing to low-income families and seniors. Housing co-ops make a valuable contribution to affordable housing by providing lodging to approximately 250,000 Canadians across Canada. The town of Rocky Mountain House has two housing co-ops, serving 28 families. The town of Hinton has 47 unit complexes. The town of Edson has 24 units. The town of Drayton Valley has 26 units, with another 20 to be built. Even in Jasper National Park, co-operative housing units exist.

Our party supports a multi-pronged approach to affordable co-operative housing, involving provincial, territorial, and municipal governments. Motion No. 100 attempts to do just that. It calls on the government to develop a federal co-operative strategy to promote and support Canada's co-operative sector through consultations with provinces, territories, municipalities, indigenous communities, and co-operative groups.

Our previous Conservative government worked with all governments and indigenous groups to develop and implement affordable housing solutions by committing close to $2 billion to build new units, and to repair and update existing social housing. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, better known as CMHC, has largely been the government's tool by which financial aid programs have been delivered. Our party spent almost $19 billion on housing through CMHC since 2006, a lot more than in the present budget.

Through initiatives such as the investment in affordable housing, the IAH, and the Housing First initiative, we empowered Canadians and fought homelessness at a fundamental level. Our Conservative Party also sought to minimize difficulties by equipping CMHC with a wide range of tools to enable home providers to plan for the end of funding, and to allow for flexibility in specific programs, especially in regard to renovations and capital repairs.

If federal funding agreements end, tens of thousands of low-income households across the country, including seniors, newcomers, lone-parent families, people with disabilities, and others, are in danger of becoming homeless without the government's reinvestment in co-op housing.

Co-ops and other community housing programs built under federal programs are aging, as all of us are, and have to devote more of their revenues to covering rising maintenance and other operating costs. Most will have to re-mortgage their properties to carry out major renovations and upgrades in the near future. This is why a renewed commitment from federal and provincial governments to support affordable housing for low-income residents in co-ops and other housing communities is necessary.

All Canadians should have a reasonable opportunity to own their own home and have access to safe and affordable housing.

In his mandate, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development has been tasked with renewing federal leadership in housing and prioritizing investments in affordable housing, including construction and renovation as well as community financial aid for financial initiatives. This is just one reason that I hope all parties will support the motion.

There are other kinds of co-operatives besides housing. The Canadian co-operative sector includes close to 8,000 incorporated co-operatives, and it employs over 90,000 Canadians in urban, rural, and remote communities across Canada. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others. They can apply this co-operative business model to almost any type of enterprise: agriculture, utilities, finance, education, housing, retail, and more.

Most of the debate on this motion has revolved around the financial co-operative sector, which includes credit unions and insurance co-operatives. Owned and democratically controlled by their members, these co-ops provide affordable lending and insurance services to Canadians.

Perhaps one of the oldest types of co-ops in my province of Alberta is that of the agricultural sector when farmers got together to sell and purchase grain.

In fact, many of these co-operatives have grown over the years, as the member for Peace River—Westlock mentioned. For example, the largest retailer in the town of Rocky Mountain House is the co-op, which sells food, clothing, hardware building supplies, chemicals, feeds, petroleum products, and much more. There are many of these throughout Canada, including in my province.

My learned friend earlier mentioned the Neerlandia co-op, which I felt was one of the biggest in Alberta until I saw the one in Rocky Mountain House. What he forgot to tell people is the pride of his community. He is very humble and so is his community. They built that building. It is a massive structure, almost the size of this one. They put their rubber boots on and built it with shovels and laid the cement. Everybody in the community participated. It was a great co-operative action in that community.

Many of these old co-operatives are still active, such as United Farmers of Alberta.

Electricity and gas distribution co-operatives have also been quite successful in Alberta. At one time, the rural electrification program carried out by the co-operatives accounted for about 90% of the electricity supplied to Alberta farmers. In 2007, rural electrification associations represented more than 45,000 electrical users in the province. In the 1990s, these co-operatives accounted for over 54% of the total sales of energy to co-operatives in Canada.

There are also co-operatives in the service sector. Communities form child care co-operatives when they want to have some control over the involvement in their children's care and education. They range in size and include pre-school co-ops, day care co-ops, baby-sitting co-ops, etc.

Clearly, co-operatives come in all shapes and sizes and are valuable to many communities across Canada. The co-operative sector has a positive impact on our economy and helps to create jobs. I urge all parties in this House to recognize the important role that co-operatives play in the economy and ensure that they continue to thrive.

In closing, it is paramount that all parties in this House co-operate to support this motion.

[Business of Supply, March 21st, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are talking about possibly getting rid of our airports in Canada by selling them to the private sector. One only has to look back, as the hon. mentioned a few minutes ago, 10 or 12 years, when the Liberals were in government. They got rid of some 26 airports across Canada. They sweet-talked a lot of municipalities into taking over these airports and told them it was going to be great for them and would be given to them for a dollar.

I happen to have been a mayor of a community that took one of these airports, and I sat on that committee for many years. I think I know a thing or two about airports and privatization. I am also a commercial pilot and have put my wheels down in many airports across Canada. Of those 26 airports, a number closed. Many of them ran in the red year after year. They became white elephants.

Our airport was in the black because of the Conservative tax cuts that allowed businesses to grow in my area of northeast British Columbia. Businesses grew and supported the airport, and we could operate that airport in the black. We operated with four municipalities that worked together.

Does the member see a repetition possibly of what we saw in the early 2000s, with the 26 airports the Liberals gave away, and what might happen in the immediate future?

[Questions on the Order Paper, March 20th, 2017]

With regard to Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) payments to provinces: (a) as of February 1, 2017, which provinces owe money to the federal government as a result of HST overpayments; and (b) what is the amount owed, broken down by province?