Mike Sullivan

[Business of Supply, May 9th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech, which highlights the lack of accountability of the government in any way, shape or form for money. This is not the first time that there have been money issues with the government. I believe they were found in contempt of Parliament in the last Parliament over money issues.

The Conservatives have misled the Canadian public—I was going to use a different word I am not allowed to use in the House—over the cost of the F-35s, which is far more than $3.1 billion, yet the government seems to take it so nonchalantly. That is a lot of Canadian taxpayers' money, $3.1 billion. That is not something to sneeze at. That is an enormous amount of money that has been spent in good faith by Canadian taxpayers. They deserve to know, and parliamentarians deserve to know, how it was spent. That is all we are asking. How was that money spent? Would he agree?

[Justice, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, there were four muggings of students for their phones, from one school, in my riding last week. Cellphone thefts have doubled in Toronto over the past three years, and this is a growing problem in high schools across the country. Carriers are trying to track and deactivate stolen cellphones, but they need help from Parliament. They want to make it illegal to tamper with serial numbers. My private member's Bill C-482 does exactly that.

Why are Conservatives not serious about removing the incentive to steal cellphones in the first place? Why will they not support our smart-on-crime bill?

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Oakville for his speech. However, the thing that is missing in this budget is real job creation. When the Conservatives took over in 2006, there were one-quarter million fewer unemployed individuals in Canada than there are today, which speaks to the Conservatives' record. There are one-quarter million people who are now unemployed who were not unemployed in 2006. At the same time, we have one-quarter million more temporary foreign workers.

Members can do the math, and it is very simple. The temporary foreign worker program has been increased by the government over the course of its being, which has had a direct impact on the number of people who are unemployed in this country. However, the Conservative government has done nothing about it.

I would like the member to comment on what it is that the government is going to do to correct those numbers and bring more people to more jobs in Canada in a way that is actually going to work. We have heard it all before, and it is not working now.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comments. However, he has not dealt with one of the biggest issues facing us, and that is the lack of democratic action on this bill. We are not permitted to discuss it in the House of Commons beyond the end of today, and we have been told that there will be only five days of debate in committee. With five days for 50 bills at two hours a day, that is about 10 minutes for each bill to be studied in committee.

I am wondering if the member would comment on the democratic deficit we seem to have encouraged, at this Conservative government's urging, by limiting debate on things he claims are very important, such as the increase in the gas tax. As I pointed out earlier, it will not take effect until there have been three more budgets, and those three more budgets will probably not be studied in any great detail, because the government is so fond of limiting debate.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the member for Kildonan—St. Paul, referenced some of the money in the budget that would go to the CNIB. We welcome that. Unfortunately, there is little else in the budget for persons with disabilities. In fact, 50% of people with disabilities in our country are unemployed. That climbs to 80% when it is developmental disabilities. There is nothing to change that. There is no action by the government on ratifying the UN convention on persons with disabilities. It owes; it is 14 months late in giving a report card to the UN. There is still no indication of where that is.

On the gas tax, the member suggested that somehow this would be a big boon to municipalities. In fact, not one nickel of increase to the gas tax would flow until 2016 at the earliest, which is at least three years hence. Regarding the money that the Conservatives say is in the budget, there will be three more budgets before there would be any more money flowing in the gas tax indexing that they are crowing about.

[Petitions, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from numerous people in my riding and beyond. The petitioners are calling attention to the issue of genetically modified organisms. They are calling on the government to conduct an independent inquiry on the safety of genetically modified organisms and to provide clear evidence that genetically modified organisms in food are not a risk to humans or the environment.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the member is aware, but yet another 350 jobs were lost in his colleague's riding of Etobicoke North when Caterpillar decided to close the once famous and world-renowned Lovat tunnel manufacturer, which was an American company that took over a Canadian world leader. However, this Liberal colleague has voted against our motion to stop FIPA, and the Liberal leader supports the takeover of Nexen.

How does the member feel about the changes to the Investment Canada Act that would drastically reduce the number of takeovers that would be examined by the Minister of Industry, given that we have just lost another 350 jobs as a result of an American takeover?

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I note that my colleague opposite would like to suggest that the Conservatives are somehow being generous to first nations when, in fact, there is an alarming 30% funding gap that exists between first nations on reserve and other Canadians whose educations are provided for by the provinces.

So, number one, nothing has been done about that.

Number two, with respect to public funding of post-secondary education, my understanding is the waiting list is so long that people cannot even get on it because there is just not enough funding. My understanding is there are something like 10,000 students waiting on a waiting list in order to get into post-secondary education. Ten million dollars would barely touch that, if at all.

How will the government actually work to create a level playing field between first nations and other members of Canadian society?

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

Mr. Speaker, it is exactly what people are facing in southern Ontario. They have watched as industry after industry has closed, and nothing is filling the gap. There is no federal policy to try to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to take the place of those large manufacturing businesses. There is nothing in federal policy that looks at the next wave of technologies that will need to be created in the new energy economy. Where is the Conservative help for the new energy businesses? It does not exist in this budget, and it has not existed in previous budgets. All we get is the same old, same old from the government. It thinks the economy will continue to roll along, but it is failing. It is failing in places like southwestern Ontario and other places in Canada as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, it would appear that the government's strategy is to lower Canadian wages in any way it can, and lowering Canadian wages is counterintuitive to a government that is expecting growth in the economy. There will not be growth in the economy when, every time we turn around, the majority of working people in this country are told to expect less in the following year, because that will lower tax revenue. That will lower the ability of those individuals to continue to function in society.

In the case of Electrolux in his riding, it is yet another example of the Conservatives having failed to protect Canadian workers in this country through policies and practices, and even a buy Canada policy that would protect Canadian workers.