Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet

[Employment, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the minister will use any excuse. She will do anything she can so that she does not have to admit that she made a mistake and that the Conservatives' temporary foreign worker program was flawed.

The Minister of Human Resources received a memo on May 29, 2012, that said that hundreds of foreign workers were arriving in Alberta to work as food counter attendants, while hundreds of Albertans with similar work experience continued to be unemployed.

Why did the minister not do anything after receiving that memo?

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have no idea how he can say that with a straight face.

He mentioned infrastructure earlier. However, the infrastructure money is coming from the building Canada fund, an old program that did not use up all of its funding. They are claiming that there is new money but, in reality, they are cutting $5.8 billion over five years.

These are not new funds and this is not the most money any government has ever spent. That is untrue.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said that there is nothing in this bill for workers. That is definitely true, but I want to know if she agrees with the idea that it will harm workers. Sixty-seven thousands jobs will be lost between now and 2017 because of the 2012 and 2013 budgets.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned housing, something that always piques my attention.

In Toronto, the vacancy rate, or in other words the number of available housing units, is very low. It is around 1.5%. This results in higher rents, because not many places are available. However, there is not much money in the budget for affordable housing. What does this kind of thing do to the economy of a big city like Toronto?

[Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act, April 30th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have no military experience, but since my colleague has a lot of experience, I would like to ask her a question.

I see that, in summary trials, the judge is the accused person's commanding officer. Could that not lead to a conflict of interest? Has she seen that type of situation before?

[Employment, April 30th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, when he is in the House, the minister does not understand what is going on, and when he leaves the House, he says he will cut something that never even existed.

The proposed changes will not solve the systemic problems with the temporary foreign worker program. At best, these changes will respond to the most recent crisis created by the Conservatives when they relaxed the program rules last year.

Will the minister admit to his mistake and launch an independent investigation into the program?

[Committees of the House, April 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I just received a letter; it is hot off the press. It is a request to stay an imminent deportation, a real case, caused by an administrative delay.

Leopoldo Granados Dominguez from Hochelaga applied for permanent residence for his wife and her daughter. However, because of an administrative delay, his wife and her daughter are being deported tomorrow. The couple has two young children together. Nevertheless, their mother has to leave tomorrow, all because of an administrative delay, no less.

If I do not show this letter to two ministers here and if they do not look at it, this woman will have to leave and two of her children will be left with only their father.

Does my colleague find these kinds of situations fair? Is this the result of Conservative policies?

[Hochelaga, April 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on April 6, the new Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium opened its doors in my riding. Thanks to its outstanding cutting-edge exhibits that transport us throughout the Milky Way, Montreal will shine brighter than ever before. The Planetarium is part of Space for Life, which includes the Insectarium, the Biodôme and the Botanical Garden.

On June 22, the beauty of our wonderful Botanical Garden will be reinvented when Mosaïcultures Internationales returns to Montreal after a 10-year hiatus. Some 50 majestic works of horticultural art will be on display. People of all ages are invited to Hochelaga to explore the planets that surround us and learn to appreciate and protect biodiversity in our communities.

These four signature Montreal institutions are definitely worth the trip. Together, they honour nature and science and truly are a Space for Life.

[Business of Supply, April 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned that something needs to be done right away, that this is urgent.

Could he give us an idea of what might happen if we do not take immediate action, as is the case with the government opposite?

[Privacy, April 25th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, those kinds of answers are not reassuring.

Under the Conservatives' watch, the Department of Human Resources lost the personal information of more than 600,000 Canadians. In 2007, a data breach affected 28,000 Canadians and was never reported to the Privacy Commissioner. This year, another data breach made half a million Canadians susceptible to identity theft.

Why are the Conservatives so complacent, and when will steps be taken to address their repeated failures?