Joy Smith

[Human Trafficking, June 13th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of Canada's leadership in combatting human trafficking.

Yesterday, I returned from leading the Canadian delegation, on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, at a high-level conference focused on anti-human trafficking efforts in Kiev, Ukraine.

I would like to thank Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe for hosting this conference. Canada commends Ukraine for making the fight against human trafficking one of its priority areas in 2013.

The OSCE's area of work that covers human rights, democratic development and rule of law is a key priority for Canada. I was pleased to represent Canada and collaborate with experts from across the OSCE region and to share Canada's best practices in the fight against modern day slavery.

In fact, I was delighted to share that one year ago our government launched its national action plan to combat human trafficking. Our government will continue to lead by example and take comprehensive measures to end slavery in our country and abroad.

[Main Estimates 2013-14, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was very insightful and beneficial. I appreciated it very much.

As we all know, there are so many wonderful senators in the Senate who work very hard and do pay very close attention to what they are doing. Unfortunately, we now have to take a second look because there are some real issues that need to be addressed at the Senate for accountability.

I would like my colleague to comment on what he feels is the most important focus that we need to have on the Senate to reform it and improve it as quickly as possible.

[Fighting Foreign Corruption Act, June 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minister for this very important bill on corruption. Just listening to the comments here in the House, I know this minister has a lot of experience on the justice side and a lot of expertise in this area.

Based upon some of the comments I have heard, I would like the minister to comment on an example of what corruption would be. I think this is very important because I think members opposite are confused about what real corruption is.

[Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act, June 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minister for this bill. I have worked extensively with the aboriginal community and have to say that every woman wants the same rights as every other woman in the country.

In addition to providing access to emergency protection orders, Bill S-2 would allow the courts to consider these factors and provide extended exclusive occupation access to the family home. Emergency protection orders are often provided in the initial procedures in a relationship breakup, which would be followed by an application for exclusive occupation and valuation.

During the time period of the emergency protection order, the spouse or common-law partner could apply for exclusive occupation of the family home. In cases where the need for this protection is extended and where there are children involved, having access or extended access to the family home is very important.

Could the minister please describe the importance of providing access?

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Winnipeg for his very insightful question, because indeed, health care is of paramount importance. We are looking at so many aspects of health care right now through our government, not only in Manitoba but all across our nation.

Looking at the funding, the health care transfer payments have been increased exponentially across our nation this year so that the provinces can make their decisions about actual health care delivery.

Under the auspices of the federal government, we look at several aspects. The accord is one aspect. I know that the Senate has done an in-depth study on the health accord. I know that in committee, we are just about to finish a very good report on technological innovation. We are moving forward in terms of having all partners being part of the health care solution: the patient, the families, everybody.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank that member, who I too have deep respect for, because I think her heart is definitely in the right place with respect to her constituents.

When I talk about the research, I am talking about the $165 million in multi-year support for genomics research through Genome Canada.

Having said that, there was another question asked about the Experimental Lakes Area. I know that there is a lot of opportunity for private entities to also take care of this research and take it over so that it is not shut down. It is expanding and reaching out to offer private entities the opportunity to come in and help with this kind of research.

On the health care aspect, the funding will enable Genome Canada to launch new large-scale research competitions. As I said in my speech, with an aging population, we need more research on cancer care and on a lot of the health care initiatives and challenges we have right now in our country. There will be more of them as we progress. Therefore, it is a matter of making this very important choice of expanding on the research in health care areas that are going to be very important for Canadians.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed my pleasure today to speak to elements of Bill C-60, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures.

I want to talk about some of the things that are so important in this budget, which would really make a difference, especially to my province.

The Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act piece of Bill C-60 is extremely important to Manitoba. As members know, 40¢ on the dollar has come from the federal government basically to keep Manitoba going.

This new legislation would amend part I, part I.1 and part V.1 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act. These changes are required to implement the renewal of the equalization and territorial formula financing programs as the minister announced in December of last year at the finance ministers meeting.

New Brunswick and Manitoba would be protected because of this legislation against a year-over-year decline in their total major transfers. It would eliminate provisions that would be no longer required for the administration of the equalization and TFF programs and would clarify the provisions setting out the escalators in TFF and the Canada health transfer. This is extremely important to Manitoba.

In terms of part I, this legislation would extend the authority to make equalization payments to provinces to March 31, 2019, fulfilling the commitment to renew the program for an additional five-year period.

In addition, the legislation sets out payments to New Brunswick and Manitoba that would ensure their total major transfers in 2013-14 would be no lower than what they were in the previous fiscal year. A change would also be made to clarify the alignment of the timing of calculations and the associated payments. The remaining changes would eliminate elements of the legislation no longer required for the administration of the program, including those related to amounts determined for previous fiscal years that expired provisions related to the 2005 offshore arrangements with Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

This might seem insignificant to provinces that do not have these challenges. However, for Manitoba, this is very helpful to our province. When I look at Bill C-60, it is indeed an economic action plan that would build our Canada, create more jobs and pay attention to the needs of businesses across Manitoba and our nation.

I want to talk a bit about the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.

This measure in Bill C-60 proposes to provide funding of $18 million in multi-year support for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation to enable the foundation to continue its support for young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 34. These young entrepreneurs do not need a hand out, they need a hand up, and with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, that would happen.

The Canadian Youth Business Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization that works with young entrepreneurs to help them become the business leaders of tomorrow. They get mentorship, expert advice, learning resources and start-up financing. Over the past 10 years, the foundation has worked with 5,600 new entrepreneurs helping to create 22,100 new jobs across Canadian communities, which is very exciting to our economy and the young business people who have their hopes and dreams of building their own futures here in our great nation.

There are many other things that have happened to help youth, and I want to talk about Indspire, which is a measure that also centres on youth.

Bill C-60 would provide $5 million in 2013-14 to Indspire to provide post-secondary scholarships and bursaries for students who are registered as Indians under the Indian Act and for Inuit students. A further $5 million for 2014-15 would be provided through the estimates.

Indspire has a proven record of success. It has provided scholarships to over 2,200 aboriginal students annually and has raised significant support from a range of corporate donors to help support student success. With this new investment, Indspire would be able to provide scholarships to thousands more registered first nations and Inuit youth, helping them reach their potential and strengthening aboriginal communities across the country.

What makes Bill C-60, the economic action plan 2013 act, so important is that it goes right to the essence of what Canadians are all about. It talks about needs, as I outlined at the beginning of my speech on Manitoba and the transfer payments. It outlines the need to build youth, not only young entrepreneurs but youth who would be helped in their education with these scholarships.

The economic action plan also looks at another vulnerable community in our country, and that is older people. We will have more senior citizens in two years than we have young people. There needs to be real attention paid to front-line health care providers.

I want to talk about the Pallium Foundation of Canada. This is another very good initiative. This measure proposes to provide $3 million in multi-year support to the Pallium Foundation of Canada to support training in palliative care for front-line health care providers.

With an aging demographic, when our seniors, who have built this country, come to end-of-life situations, they need to be honoured and cared for. Often they like to be cared for in their homes. The government has committed to helping ensure that Canadians receive the compassionate care they need.

The Pallium Foundation of Canada works to improve the quality of palliative care and end-of-life care for Canadians by creating educational resources for primary care professionals. These primary care professionals are the ones who take care of these very vulnerable populations.

Economic action plan 2013 proposes funding of $3 million over three years to the Pallium Foundation of Canada to support training in palliative care for front-line health care providers. This investment builds on the funding provided in budget 2011 that is being used to support the initiative called the way forward: moving towards community-integrated palliative care in Canada, which aims to help develop new community-integrated palliative care models across this country.

Having said that, we know that a lot of people are not trained in end-of-life issues. Having this front-line training for these very important front-line health care workers is of paramount importance to the well-being of the elderly person and others who are coming to end-of-life situations and are receiving palliative care. It is also important to their families to put in those supports to help them see their way through this very difficult time.

When we look at all these measures, we are cognizant of the fact that to be able to provide health care and all these things we need, we need research.

I am just starting, and I find that I only have a minute left. I have so many good things to talk about in this particular economic action plan.

I want to finish off with the importance of research. Genome Canada has been given a very big boost since our government came to power. It has provided $165 million for multi-year support for genomics research through Genome Canada. This research has been very important for health care.

[The Senate, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I share the disappointment of Canadians over the abuse of taxpayer money by some members of the Senate. There is no excuse for any politician of any political party to take advantage of public finances or public trust. I support a full investigation by independent authorities into this matter.

It is also imperative that every cent of every dollar spent by anyone who holds public office, whether in the House of Commons, Senate or otherwise, must respect taxpayer money. Integrity and accountability are absolutely vital to the institution of Parliament.

We made a promise to Canadians to fix Senate expense rules. We have done just that. The Senate now has adopted our government's 11 tough new rules governing Senate travel and expenses.

Our government is focused on delivering meaningful reform to the Senate, including Senate elections, Senate term limits and tough spending oversight. Canadians understand that our Senate, as it stands today, must be accountable.

[One Heart Winnipeg, May 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday I attended the 4th Annual One Heart Winnipeg event. One Heart Winnipeg is part of a two-week focus called “Love Winnipeg”, encouraging the sharing of God's love through random acts of kindness within the community.

Over 90 city churches joined together on Sunday morning to attend One Heart Winnipeg. This is the first event to be held at the Investors Group Field, the new home to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Pastors and more than 12,000 attendees prayed for the City of Winnipeg, for its leaders and its safety, and to seek God's blessing. Speakers at One Heart included dignitaries, such as Mayor Sam Katz and Bombers legend Milt Stegall, along with many church leaders from across the region.

I hosted students from Faith Academy on Monday here in Ottawa, and I want to congratulate these students, and everyone involved with Love Winnipeg and One Heart Winnipeg. These students wore their yellow T-shirts saying “Love Winnipeg”.

Random acts of kindness are a wonderful way to live out one's faith and strengthen our communities.

[The Canadian Museum of History Act, May 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as we approach the 150th anniversary of Canada, what a unique opportunity this is to showcase our great country and our great history.

I know from being a teacher for 23 years that, in many of our schools across the country, our history has not been taught. There have been so many other subjects that were very important. Some of the students cannot even name the prime ministers of Canada. This is an opportunity for small museums and people in different places to be able to get to see exhibits that they never had the opportunity to see before.

I cannot understand why, in the House, we hear all this rhetoric going back and forth off-topic about this wonderful museum. Can the member explain to me why he cannot support Canadians learning more about their history and enjoying this opportunity, approaching the 150th anniversary, to showcase Canada as the great country it is?