Karen McCrimmon

[The Environment, February 9th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as mandated by the Prime Minister, our government is committed to protecting the environment, fish, and waterways, respecting indigenous rights, rebuilding the public trust, and strengthening our economy.

In addition, a new, more inclusive approach to the schedule would provide a greater level of oversight for navigable waters that are most important to Canadians and to indigenous peoples, including eligible heritage rivers, and our longest wild and free-flowing rivers.

Over the next few months, Transport Canada will be engaging with Canadians on this new process.

[Rail Transportation, February 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

Our government is developing the best approach to implementing an effective and reliable rail transportation system for Canadian passengers. That is why, in budget 2016, we allocated $45 million to various VIA Rail projects, including $3.3 million over three years for an in-depth assessment of VIA Rail's high-frequency train proposal—

[Winter Carnivals, February 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I invite everyone to the winter carnivals taking place in Ottawa and the local area.

Winterlude kicks off today, and next week there are two great carnivals in my riding of Kanata—Carleton.

Fitzroy Harbour Winter Carnival runs from Thursday, February 8 to Sunday, February 11, with activities like a spaghetti supper, a snow pitch tournament, trivia night, and much more. With four days of winter fun, there is something for the whole family.

On Saturday, February 10, I invite everyone to the Kanata-Hazeldean Lions Club Winter Festival for horse-drawn sleigh rides, a pancake breakfast, and lots of activities for the children.

None of these great events would take place without the tremendous volunteers who dedicate their precious time to making these carnivals happen. I thank them for everything they do, and for making such a big difference in their communities. Everyone should mark their calendars and next weekend come celebrate that we are midway through winter, both in Fitzroy Harbour and Kanata. I hope to see everyone there.

[Public Services and Procurement, January 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, truthfully, there is no greater priority facing the public service than providing employees with an accurate and reliable pay system. There are no shortcuts, and there are no quick fixes.

Our government has done many different things to stabilize the Phoenix pay system.

There is much work to be done, and we are moving forward with an integrated whole-of-government approach aimed at addressing these unacceptable issues. We also continue to work with public service unions and other stakeholders to ensure that their expertise is part of the solution.

[Public Services and Procurement, January 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to doing whatever is necessary to ensure that public servants are paid accurately and on time.

When the problems with the pay system first emerged, our number one priority was to address the most serious problems: those employees receiving no pay at all. This is why we hired additional staff at the Miramichi pay centre and established satellite pay offices right across the country. This also allowed us to bring down wait times for parental and disability leave, which unions had asked us to prioritize. The problems with Phoenix ran so deep that it took us time to understand what was wrong and to identify solutions to stabilize the system.

We are implementing a series of measures focused on bringing the pay system to a point of stability. These measures, developed with employees, departments, agencies, and unions, are aimed at reducing the backlog of late transactions and wait times for missing pay. These measures are also well aligned with the recommendations of the Auditor General.

Going forward, our efforts to stabilize the pay system fall into four broad areas, namely, accountable and informed decisions, improved processes and technology, increased capacity and service, and partnership and engagement.

Allow me to now briefly discuss our efforts to increase capacity and improve service.

Since the launch of Phoenix, we have more than doubled the number of compensation advisers. We have hired 300 employees to bolster the ranks at the pay centre in order to expedite the processing of transactions and reduce wait times for employees.

We are aware of the need to provide more useful support to employees, and we plan to enhance our client contact centre by hiring up to 100 recruits. Employees will then be able to obtain detailed information about their pay file directly from those working at the contact centre.

Finally, employees can consult the Pay Bulletin to obtain pertinent information and the latest news on the progress we are making.

Over the past several months, we have been focused on implementing collective agreements. More recently, we have focused additional efforts on overpayments so that employees will have accurate slips for the tax filing season. Once we have completed work in those areas, we will be shifting more resources to reducing the number of outstanding transactions in the queue.

In closing, I want to thank the dedicated employees at Public Services and Procurement Canada and across departments and agencies who are working tirelessly to ensure that their colleagues are paid accurately and on time.

[Air Transportation, January 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-49 is presently before the Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications. The Senate will debate the merits of this proposed legislation, and we look forward to hearing its views on our efforts to establish a world-leading approach to air passenger rights.

The intent has always been to have air passenger rights enshrined in regulations, as is done in the United States and the European Union. Undertaking a regulatory approach would also ensure that Canadians are consulted before and during the regulatory development phase. These passenger rights are for all Canadians, and this approach would ensure that their voice is being heard.

[Air Transportation, January 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to provide an update to the hon. member and to the House on the status of Bill C-49 and our efforts to create and implement a world-leading air passenger rights regime in Canada for Canadians.

When Canadians purchase a plane ticket, they expect the airline to meet its end of the deal and treat them with respect, fairness, and consistency. That is why our government has introduced legislation for the establishment of new regulations to strengthen Canada's air passenger rights. The Minister of Transport has even challenged airlines to immediately respect the clear intent of this legislation so we can finally move toward greater passenger rights.

The Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications is currently reviewing Bill C-49, and we look forward to hearing the views of the Senate on this proposed legislation.

It is important to note that, should the bill receive royal assent, it would be the Canadian Transportation Agency, in coordination with Transport Canada, that would begin to develop the air passenger rights regulations, not the airlines, as suggested by the hon. member.

Some concern has been expressed about having the proposed air passenger rights regime enshrined in regulations, as opposed to legislation. Let me address those concerns.

The existence of these rights in the regulations would not diminish their power. Air passenger rights would cover a number of issues, including denied boarding and tarmac delays, and would establish clear standards of treatment and levels of compensation in some instances, with specific penalties against air carriers that do not comply.

Utilizing the regulatory process for air passenger rights would ensure that Canadians and industry stakeholders have a voice at the table during the development process. We have always said that the most important voice in this process is that of the Canadian public, and the regulatory process would ensure that this voice is heard and that a balanced and effective air passenger rights regime is developed.

As well, the regulatory process would make it easier to make future changes and modifications, as opposed to the time-consuming process of changing legislation. Other jurisdictions, such as the United States and the European Union, have also taken the regulatory approach for these very same reasons.

As Bill C-49 continues to move forward in the other place, we will continue to listen to Canadians as we work to develop a world-leading air passenger rights regime that will be the envy of travellers throughout the world.

[Strengthening Motor Vehicle Safety for Canadians Act, January 30th, 2018]

I am sorry, I do not know the answer to that. I will have to take it back, and I will get back to you shortly.

[Strengthening Motor Vehicle Safety for Canadians Act, January 30th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, it is a balancing act. There is a commercial agreement that links the automobile manufacturers and the dealers. We did not feel that it was the place of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to play a role in that commercial agreement. However, we wanted to make sure that the dealers were not left hanging in that kind of situation.

Even the dealers have come away saying that they can live with that. At first they did not understand that they were also eligible to use some of the mechanisms in this piece of legislation for redress from the manufacturers so that they were not put at a significant disadvantage. Once it was explained to them that what is in this bill would apply not only to consumers but to the dealers, they were much reassured, knowing that they had these tools they could use, knowing that if they were in that position, they could make redress back to the manufacturers.

[Strengthening Motor Vehicle Safety for Canadians Act, January 30th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my speech, the technology, when it comes to automated and connected vehicles, is advancing so rapidly that sometimes the regulations that are in place right now slow us down.

There is so much talent in Canada. There is so much opportunity here on the business side, on the environmental side, and on the safety side to make some significant gains that we need to make the legislation and the regulations a little more responsive, a little more flexible, so that if there was a particular piece of regulation that was impeding their research or their testing, they could apply to Transport Canada requesting an exemption, saying that they would like to do something different but would make sure that everyone was still safe.

We would embed that power inside Transport Canada so that it would have that flexibility so we could keep this technology moving along.