Peter Van Loan

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am most puzzled by the question just delivered by my hon. friend. It bears very little relation to anything that is actually taking place on our legislative agenda. As far as I can tell, there is only potentially one bill in the months ahead that would deal with correcting laws that had been struck down by the courts and that would be the invitation by the Supreme Court for us in the Bedford decision to make changes to the prostitution laws that it has found unconstitutional and contrary to the charter.

The member said that is because they were rammed through by a Conservative government. I guess in some sense he may be correct because the bulk of those laws were put in place in 1892 when it was a Conservative government in place. I believe it was Prime Minister John Thompson who as the minister of justice was responsible for the comprehensive reform of the Criminal Code at the time. I will say in fairness to the prime minister at the time in 1892, that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was not yet in place. The changes he did bring into place, the legislation did seem to withstand any kind of court challenge for at least a century. Any response that we may bring legislatively can hardly be said to be responding to a bill that was brought in rashly, rammed through, and thrown out by the courts a century plus a couple of decades later. I really think it is a very bizarre kind of characterization of what we might be doing legislatively.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it all comes down to the technique or the way in which the device is utilized. One could utilize time allocation to shut down debate immediately. As I said, our approach has been entirely different. We use it as a scheduling device to create certainty, so members know when bills are going to be debated and they can come to debate them at those times. They will know when votes will take place, and this will create certainty.

The result is, under this government, some of the longest amounts of time allocated to the debate of bills in the history of Canadian Parliament. We have had, for example, four of the longest debates ever under time allocation on budget implementation bills.

It is not a question of inadequate time for debate but rather a question of how it is utilized. If it is used in a different fashion to try to limit debate rather than as a scheduling device, then we would have the kind of events that provoked the response we heard from the Prime Minister, but that has not been the approach of this government.

This government's approach has been one of using it as a device for certainty, for productivity, to let us get things done on the economy, on tackling crime, on opening markets abroad to Canadians and Canadian workers and businesses, so they can create jobs and achieve prosperity. It is all about delivering results and, at the end of the day, that is what this is about.

The bottom line difference is that the NDP would like us to never come to any conclusions, to never have to make any decisions, just to have endless filibusters, whereas members on this side of the House are more interested in getting things done, and from what I hear, the Liberals are as well. That is why they support the motion, so we can make decisions, so we can get things done, so we can deliver results for Canadians.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this is actually one of the rare occasions when we actually are dealing with a closure motion. We have had just a handful of them in our Parliament.

The reason the member's numbers are so high is that we do not use time allocation in the fashion he has suggested. We use it as a scheduling device. In some cases we have been criticized by the opposition for utilizing time allocation and allocating more time than was necessary for a bill to be debated. That is because we want to ensure we make our best assessment of how much time will be needed for a bill to proceed, to allow a full and adequate debate and to allow decisions to be made. It also creates certainty in members' schedules, so they can plan to be in attendance when a vote happens and not be taken by surprise.

That kind of orderly approach has delivered us a productive, hard-working Parliament that has delivered real results in advancing Canadians' priorities, which we delivered to them in the last election. Those priorities are ensuring our focus is on the economy, job creation, and long-term prosperity; ensuring we are delivering safer communities for Canadians by tackling crime and by rebalancing our justice system to improve the rights of victims; making sure we are opening Canada's markets abroad for Canadian workers, employers, and businesses, so they can export goods and create jobs here in Canada and create greater prosperity here in Canada.

These are all items that stand ahead of us in the weeks ahead, when we can support and advance the legislative agenda in further steps: the actual proposals that we have delivered to Canadians, that Canadians say are important to them.

The irony of it all is that we are talking about a motion that would allow more debate, allow more sitting to occur, allow more discussion of bills to happen, allow more decisions to be taken, and allow more bills to be passed through certain stages. This is all productive hard work that Canadians want to see. Those who complain about any lack of debate should obviously want to see more debate and will support the motion, I am sure.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member from the Liberal Party for that question because, in fairness, without disclosing what happens in our behind-closed-door negotiations, I can say I actually enjoy a very positive relationship in which we do have a very constructive exchange with the Liberal Party. I have to say that those experiences are very positive. Indeed, we do have very constructive negotiations, and there is an understanding of how government works and the need to approach it properly. I commend the Liberals for the way in which they have approached such discussions and negotiations.

Obviously, not everybody comes to the table with the same attitude and, as a result, we have to adopt other measures.

However, the reason for it is that we are trying to deliver on commitments we have made to Canadians, important commitments, commitments like delivering on our budget and our budget implementation bill, which was an important part, for example, of ensuring that Canada remains an economic leader by delivering a budget that is in balance in 2015. We have been lucky to enjoy coming out of the economic downturn in the strongest fiscal position of any of the major developed economies. Our budget bill would allow us to continue to enjoy such a strong position, help ensure that Canada continues to lead in job growth as a result of that, and keep taxes down. As we heard today, Canadians are paying 12% less in taxes today than they were many years ago, as a result of the tax reductions made by this government. That means everybody's standard of living in Canada is higher than it was before, thanks to our policies.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, of course, the great consultation we are having with the House is the consultation we are having right now, in which we are debating the motion and hopefully allowing the opportunity for many more consultations in this House.

The last time we were up dealing with the matter of this motion, and I was answering questions on the motion itself, the member had a lot to say about speeches. Apparently he had been counting who had been delivering speeches. I think this House, and perhaps the public, might have been left with the mistaken impression that the New Democrats were participating vigorously in debate and Conservatives had not been last spring when we had extended hours just like this.

I actually took a look at those statistics, which I had not done before that debate, and discovered that in fact on those days—and there were 20 of them between the Victoria Day break and the end of session last time—on 11 of those 20 days, Conservatives actually spoke more often. More Conservatives gave speeches than New Democrats. There were only five days in which New Democrats gave more speeches than Conservatives.

Therefore, it seems very odd to me that the member is trying to suggest that Conservatives were not speaking. The fact is that, overwhelmingly, on the majority of those days, it was actually Conservatives who spoke more often than New Democrats.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That, in relation to the consideration of Government Business No. 10, the debate not be further adjourned.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this morning we saw the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster speak for over half an hour on Government Motion No. 10 and yet not actually tell us anything about the NDP's position on it. To his credit, the hon. member for Markham—Unionville showed the way by speaking only as long as necessary to indicate that the Liberal Party will join with the Conservatives in working hard this spring. Then he resumed his seat, to the consternation of my friend from Burnaby—New Westminster.

Therefore, I must give notice that with respect to the consideration of Government Business No. 10, at the next sitting a minister of the crown shall move, pursuant to Standing Order 57, that debate be not further adjourned.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the principal concept is that we would be able to get more done, make more decisions and get more bills passed. This is what I think Canadians expect of their parliamentarians. They expect them to actually come here and make decisions. This is an opportunity to do so, whether it be on our justice, agricultural or citizenship bills as they are all things that Canadians have spoken to across the country. They have asked for our government to take action on these matters, and I think they are looking for results.

When I am at home in my riding talking to constituents, there are very few people who tell me that they think the problem with the House of Commons is that there are too many decisions made, that we should have more lengthy debates, where 280 more members get to speak and never bother taking decisions. They actually want to see decisions and action taken.

When I talk about that approach for a productive hard-working and orderly Parliament, keep in mind what we have been through in the global economy in recent years. We have seen political paralysis in Europe, which has harmed its economy in a devastating fashion, and a similar kind of political paralysis in the United States, which hurt it for quite some time. Canada came through that downturn in a far better position.

Consistently, when we speak to people in the international community, they actually give credit to the Canadian government for taking decisions and getting things done. That was credited as one of the reasons we were able to respond so well in changing economic circumstances, come through the downturn with some of the strongest job creation, in fact, the strongest job creation among major developed economies and the strongest fiscal position.

We are in a position to balance the budget in 2015, something that is generations away in some other countries. They look to us as leaders for competent, capable management with the ability to make decisions and to do so with our political institutions.

This is something of which we as a government can be very proud. It is something we expect to see more of in the weeks ahead.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, since the opposition House leader is apparently fond of hearing speeches, I know he will want to vote for this motion. It would give him many more opportunities to come to this place during the extra time we would set aside in the evenings to hear many great speeches both from the government and I think from the opposition as well.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as I think the House is aware, some of our priorities this spring have included the budget, job creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity. They have been the core priority of the government throughout.

We have also dealt with the fair elections act, something we know Elections Canada wants us to have in place before the end of June so it is able to prepare for a 2015 election. We are seeking to meet that objective so it can be adequately prepared and ready.

As a result, we have not had as much time as we would have liked so far this spring to focus on our very important tackling crime agenda. The opportunity over the next several weeks, with extended hours, would allow us more opportunity to advance those bills and allow ample debate on them. We are happy to do that, because we know these bills are very important to Canadians.

We need to continue to find ways to send a clear message to criminals that the government will not tolerate crime, and that it is looking to rebalance the justice system to give greater rights to victims, as members can see with the victims bill of rights. We are looking to protect those who are vulnerable in our society.

The tackling crime aspects of the agenda are, in fact, a very significant part of what we hope to achieve over the next several weeks.