Rémi Massé

[Business of Supply, April 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It is a very important one.

We obviously do not want to provide a band-aid solution. We want a solution that will help support our dairy producers in the long term. That is the commitment we are making to ensure that we can conduct the necessary consultations, understand the issue, and, once again, find a long-term solution that will help develop our dairy producers and their businesses.

[Business of Supply, April 21st, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in the House this afternoon to talk about the important issue that is before us.

Agriculture is a critical part of our economy, and the Government of Canada has made it a priority. The government's mandate is clear: support the agricultural sector so that it can be a leader in job creation and innovation, including the supply management system.

Together with our colleagues in the House, the provinces, and the territories, and with help from the sector itself, we will carry out the government's action plan to strengthen Canada's agriculture sector, help it boost innovation, and ensure its stability.

The government will use its policies and financial tools to support the essential work of the agricultural sector. It will help on many fronts: product commercialization, research, innovation, food safety, and export support.

To do that, we plan to invest in food processing so that we can help processors develop new value-added products that respond to changing consumer tastes and markets.

We will also invest in agricultural research to support discovery science and innovation in the sector. We will promote Canadian agricultural interests at the national level. We will also work closely with producers and provincial governments to determine whether all farm income protection programs are meeting the needs of Canadian farmers. We also plan to introduce a new five-year agricultural policy framework. Also, in partnership with the provinces, territories, and other partners, we will help the sector adjust to climate change and better address water and soil conservation and development issues.

The agri-food sector is a powerful engine for Canada's economy. After all, we are talking about a sector that creates one out of every eight jobs in Canada and, with its industries, employs more than two million Canadians. It contributes 6.6% of our GDP, or $108.9 billion, and generates over $60 billion in exports.

That is why our government is determined to support Canada's system of supply management. Together, the dairy, poultry, and egg sectors create more than 300,000 jobs and generate an overall economic impact worth $32 billion.

The budget brought down in March contains important measures to support the Canadian agricultural sector. It includes a $70-million investment to support research and infrastructure for mitigating the biological threats to agriculture associated with climate change. It includes $41.5 million for the renovation and upgrading of agricultural research stations and laboratories in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. It includes a one-year investment of up to $1.9 million for the agricultural youth green jobs initiative to attract youth to green jobs within the agriculture and agri-food sector.

This initiative follows through on a Government of Canada commitment made in budget 2016 to provide employment opportunities for post-secondary graduates to support the agriculture sector in implementing environmentally beneficial activities.

The budget includes funding of up to $500 million to expand and improve digital infrastructure in order to provide Canadians in rural and remote communities with new opportunities to participate in the digital economy and to access government services remotely. These investments promote the establishment of a sound agricultural sector, including sectors under supply management.

Our government continues to work hard to stimulate innovation in Canada's dairy industry. Researchers from our research centre in Sherbrooke are busy developing innovative tools to keep the Canadian dairy industry competitive.

For example, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers discovered that it is easier to absorb vitamin B12 from cow's milk than from supplements. That kind of research can obviously give the industry a shot in the arm because today's consumers are particularly health conscious.

We are aware of the industry's concerns regarding the use of diafiltered milk in cheese production. Our officials are working on ensuring that the standards are clear for everyone. We are in regular contact with stakeholders in the dairy industry on this serious problem.

The Government of Canada fully supports supply management. We will also continue to defend all Canadian interests in agriculture, including supply-managed sectors, when examining trade issues. The Government of Canada fully supports supply management.

By continuing to work hard, the agricultural sector will continue to prosper and to stimulate our economy, which will reach new heights. Canada is a country with enormous economic potential and an unrivalled spirit of innovation. Its farmers produce world-renowned foods, which they sell on international markets that are full of opportunities.

The future is promising. Global demand for quality food is growing, and this food will be supplied by very progressive and productive farms and processors from across Canada. We will continue to work closely with all of our partners so that Canada's agrifood sector will be even more successful. We will continue to defend all of the interests of Canadian agriculture when reviewing trade files.

[Business of Supply, April 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, it is ironic that my Conservative Party colleagues are using the precious time of the House to raise this kind of frivolous accusation, when their 10-year run in power was known as the dark decade, a period of secrets.

I would like the opposition member to respond to my constituents who are telling me they would like to hear about issues that affect them in the House. They want us to talk about economic development, jobs, and measures to ensure that they have enough income to make ends meet.

Does the opposition member have an answer for my constituents who tell me that, instead of wasting our time in the House on this kind of debate, we should be talking about solutions for their families who need help?

[Business of Supply, April 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Peterborough—Kawartha.

When I wrote my speech, I said that I was pleased to rise in the House to debate this motion; however, in reality, that is not the case. The Conservatives were in power for 10 years, a period known as the dark decade, a period of secrets, and today they are moving this motion.

The people in my riding want us to discuss real issues, like infrastructure, in the House. They want additional income so they can make ends meet, and they want the federal government to provide the services they need to do what they have to do.

Those are the kinds of issues we want to debate. Unfortunately, we have to discuss a motion that, in my opinion, is quite frivolous. However, that is part of the process in the House, and we will have to discuss it.

When we were elected, we committed to a new kind of leadership and tone in the federal government, to honour the trust that Canadians put in us. We are very serious about and committed to giving Canadians an open and accountable government.

We stand by the fundamental democratic principles, and we will strengthen our democratic institutions. As my hon. colleagues have explained, our government endorsed the notion that an open and transparent government is a good government. The code of conduct for exempt staff is just one of many measures taken by our government, an open and transparent government.

Our agenda strengthens the guidelines for the non-partisan use of departmental communications resources. We must carefully ensure that these resources are used for official Government of Canada communications and not for partisan purposes. This means that no partisan symbols or content should be used in departmental communications, events, or social media.

An open and accountable government innovates by giving ministers and parliamentary secretaries guidelines on the use of social media.

I believe that every member of the House realizes that social media can be an effective means of communicating with Canadians and that it is important to know how to use them. For ministers and parliamentary secretaries, this means knowing how to use social media and, in particular, drawing a line between the official Government of Canada accounts and their own personal accounts. This ensures that members of the public are able to differentiate between the two types of communication and can continue to expect non-partisan messages from the Government of Canada. That is what is required under Treasury Board policy.

An open and accountable government innovates, once again, by providing a guide on the role of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. In short, the justice minister develops bills, policies, programs, and services for Canadians in various areas of law, while the Attorney General of Canada is the chief crown prosecutor.

Pursuant to the Department of Justice Act, and as reiterated in our “Open and Accountable Government” plan, the Minister of Justice is responsible for ensuring that the administration of public affairs complies with the law. The minister is responsible for upholding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the rest of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the independence of the courts. The role of the minister is to help the federal departments develop, reform, and interpret legislation. The minister assesses the legal risks associated with the proposals, regulations, and laws brought before cabinet, in order to ensure that they are consistent with the Charter, and clear in both official languages, while taking into account Canada's bijural system, namely our common law and civil law.

Naturally, as all other ministers, the Minister of Justice must adhere to her mandate letter by continuously working with her parliamentary secretary and her advisors to ensure that the work done by her office is done professionally, and that decisions are always made in the public interest.

Her exempt staff give her advice on the political aspects of her duties, while always providing services in a non-partisan way.

The department uses these resources to carry out its duties efficiently and to make informed decisions based on real, verifiable data while adhering to strict ethical standards in all of its activities.

The government also innovated by creating a similar code of ethics for political staff members, who must conduct their activities with integrity and honesty, support the minister's duties, and remain loyal and diligent at all times. That is not something our predecessors had in place.

That is what Canadians have the right to expect from an open, honest, accountable government. However, it is unrealistic to suggest that ministers should be aware of every single thing going on in their department and should take personal responsibility for everything that happens. That would be an unreasonable standard.

Nevertheless, our “Open and Accountable Government” plan states that ministers should take all necessary measures to correct problems that might arise in their portfolios and to be accountable to the House by answering questions. That is how they promote the integrity of our public and democratic institutions.

In that sense, I firmly believe that the claims made by the member for Saint-Albert—Edmonton in this motion are frivolous and unfounded. The minister participated in an event as an MP, which was quite legitimate and in compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act, including section 16, and the Canada Elections Act.

However, by consulting the Ethics Commissioner from the outset, the Minister of Justice demonstrated just how much we all care about conducting our affairs with integrity and diligence. It is to her credit that she took that step, and Canadians view her as being honest and a person of integrity.

She conducted herself in an exemplary manner in this situation. She is an exceptional minister who is dedicated to ensuring respect for the rule of law and defending Canadians' interests. She embodies the guiding principles of our government, and I firmly believe that she will be able to do so throughout her term.

I know that everyone here agrees that we must never give Canadians a reason to distrust their government. They will not always like what we do. Some will not always support our policies, and that is okay. Diverging ideas and opinions are what make our democracy great because they encourage people with different points of view to work together to reach a consensus.

Disagreeing with a policy is quite different from not trusting the government. Canadians should not think that their government and elected representatives play by a different set of rules than the rest of society. There is absolutely no doubt that our “Open and Accountable Government” plan shows that our government is fully invested in the rule of law and the Charter. Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, our government is determined to earn and maintain the trust of all Canadians.

As elected representatives, we should also make this our watchword. We have to carry out many duties as parliamentarians, including participating in committees to weigh the merits of a bill or defend the public.

The current government made a promise to Canadians. It is set out in black and white in the ministerial mandate letters, in our election platform, and in our various policy documents. We will keep that promise.

In my opinion, everyone in the House should accept our promise and commend us for it. Canadians should demand nothing less. They deserve an open and accountable government.

In closing, I would like to remind the House that the men and women who represent their communities in the Parliament of Canada are dedicated to their jobs, regardless of which party they belong to.

As the Prime Minister so aptly stated during the election campaign, Canadians need to believe that their government is on their side and that it is eager to work with them to solve real problems and to bring real change.

[Jennifer Mawn and Arthur Laflamme, April 18th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, in recent days, deadly earthquakes have struck Ecuador and Japan.

Ecuador's strongest earthquake in decades has killed hundreds and injured thousands.

It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of two Canadians, Jennifer Mawn and her son, Arthur Laflamme. On behalf of the members of the House, I would like to express our most sincere condolences to the Mawn and Laflamme families, their friends, and all those affected by this devastating earthquake.

We would also like to wish a prompt recovery for those people who were injured. Canadian officials at the Quito embassy are working hard to give the families and Canadians affected by this earthquake all the help they need.

Canada will continue to work with local authorities in Ecuador and Japan to assess the impact of these earthquakes and the needs on the ground.

Today, however, our thoughts are with the Mawn and Laflamme families.

[The Budget, April 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am always surprised to hear this kind of negative attitude from the other side of the House. As I said, the people I met were extremely proud of the budget presented to them. They see the concrete measures that will help them make ends meet.

We talked about the Canada child benefit. That is a promise we made during the election campaign and a promise kept. This promise will give families in our respective regions extra money that they can use to make ends meet. That is the kind of promise we made and what we committed to Canadians. I am very proud of that.

[The Budget, April 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I would say the response has been extremely positive. I met with a number of stakeholders and elected officials during the two weeks I spent in my riding. Once again, the response was very positive. Some of the people I talked to called our measures historic. We have covered a whole range of important issues, including employment insurance, infrastructure, arts and culture, and our indigenous communities.

I have three indigenous communities in my riding, and they are delighted with the investments we are making to help them. They were satisfied with the way we handled consultations both before and after the budget to arrive at the major initiatives we announced. The response has been very positive.

[The Budget, April 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, what our workers need is jobs. They want to work 52 weeks a year. People in my region need that. They do not want to resort to employment insurance, but they have to periodically or temporarily because they lose their jobs or their industry is seasonal. Once again, we are very proud of the improvements we announced, such as investments to speed up employment insurance claims processing.

When I was campaigning, people told me that getting their first cheque took a long time. I am very proud that, in this budget, our government decided to invest in speeding up employment insurance claims processing.

[The Budget, April 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Toronto—Danforth.

I am delighted to rise in the House this morning to speak to the budget tabled by our government a few weeks ago. While we were in our respective ridings recently, I had the opportunity to present our budget to some of the chambers of commerce in my region. I met with just over 200 people to share the budget's main points with them.

To answer my colleague across the aisle, I would like to talk about what the budget will do for our regions and our communities. This budget includes some very positive things for our rural communities and regions like mine, such as eastern Quebec and the Gaspé. That is what I want to talk about here in the House this morning.

First I would like to paint a picture of my region's socio-economic situation. My riding covers an area of about 16,000 square kilometres and has 57 municipalities and as many elected representatives. As for population density, one of the counties has about 6.5 people per square kilometre and therefore has a vast expanse of land. The population is relatively evenly distributed in terms of age. There are about 2,500 people aged zero to 14, 2,000 people aged 15 to 24, and 4,000 aged 25 to 44.

My region has a negative migration flow, which means that it is slowly losing its population, and this saddens me. The same is true for three of the four municipalities in my riding. In addition, the population is aging, and the employment rate is 69%.

In my riding, per capita disposable income is $23,000. It is one of the lowest average disposable incomes in Canada, if not the lowest. It is a particularly tough economic situation. When the budget was brought down, I was very proud of the tangible measures that the Minister of Finance and our government put in place to help those in great need who are having a hard time making ends meet. Solid commitments were presented and announced in the budget to address this. We also talked about lowering taxes for the middle class. It is quite an achievement.

We also committed to presenting tangible measures for families, young people, and seniors. I would like to quickly mention those. The first pillar of budget 2016 is the Canada child benefit. Many families in our region need this benefit. It will allow families with children under six to receive up to $6,400 per child. Families with children between six and 17 will receive up to $5,400 per child. That is a lot of money for families in our regions who need extra money to make ends meet. We clearly indicated in the budget that these benefits would not be taxable, which is very important.

As far as young people and students are concerned, we announced a 50% increase in student grants, meaning an extra $1,000 for students from low-income families. We are also very proud of this measure.

We also announced a student loan repayment exemption for students who earn less than $25,000 when they enter the labour market. In other words, students will not have to repay their student loan until they are earning at least $25,000 a year. That is an increase of $5,000. It is very important for them to have a small financial cushion before they have to start paying off their student debt.

We announced the creation of many student jobs under the Canada summer jobs program. We committed to increasing the number of jobs in the regions. We estimate that this could represent 350 more jobs for students in my riding. We are very proud of that.

Obviously, we did not forget about our seniors. These individuals are proud, active members of our community who do volunteer work. We announced a 10% increase in the guaranteed income supplement for single seniors. Our government's excellent approach in this regard seeks to recognize the financial difficulty that some members of our population are experiencing. These are practical measures that will affect our communities.

Other measures have also been put in place, including improvements to the employment insurance program. That is important in my riding. Unfortunately, people sometimes may need to rely on employment insurance, whether it be on a temporary or a periodic basis. Significant improvements have been made to the program, including the reduction of the two-week waiting period to one week and a decrease in the number of hours required to be eligible for EI benefits. New entrants and re-entrants to the labour market had to accumulate up to 910 hours of employment to be eligible for EI benefits. We recognized that that was a problem and now, in our region, they will have to accumulate only 420 hours to qualify. We are very proud of that measure.

We are eliminating the requirements that forced claimants to accept jobs at lower rates of pay and with longer commuting times. That was a very obvious problem in my riding. These sorts of measures, which were brought in by the Conservatives in 2012, have been eliminated. That is a promise that we made during the election campaign, and I am proud to see it in the budget. The people in my riding are very happy that these types of changes have been made.

We have also undertaken to extend the working while on claim pilot project to August 2018. That is very important to us. We have also decided to continue and increase investments in skills training, and we have increased that budget to $675 million. Obviously, I am also very proud of the fact that we are reinstating the 15% tax credit for labour-sponsored funds. That is another important element of our platform that is being implemented with this budget.

There has been a lot of talk about infrastructure. We believe these investments are important because they can benefit our communities. For example, we have allocated $1.5 billion over two years for affordable housing. It is very important to be able to access such housing in our communities. Another example is the $342-million investment over two years for cultural and recreational infrastructure. It is important for our communities to have cultural and recreational infrastructure.

We will be investing $2 billion over four years to immediately improve water treatment and distribution infrastructure. We are even committing to paying 50% of eligible costs.

Different measures for infrastructure are very important to us. Once again, we are very proud and we believe that investments in Quebec could total up to or over $700 million.

There were some big announcements in the budget for arts and culture, such as increased funding for CBC/Radio-Canada. There was also more funding for the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, the National Film Board of Canada, and Showcasing Canada's Cultural Industries to the World. Cultural organizations in our region welcomed these reinvestments in arts and culture. We are very proud that these measures are in the budget.

We have heard a lot about SMEs. We obviously want to support them with technology and help them improve and modernize their organizations and businesses. These SMEs also want contracts, to help keep their businesses going. By investing in infrastructure, we think we will be in a position to create jobs that will generate economic spinoffs in our regions and encourage people there to spend and invest. For example, they may buy a pair of skis or a bike this summer, which will have a direct impact on our regional businesses.

We also promised to invest $197 million over five years in Fisheries and Oceans Canada to increase monitoring and research activities. That is very important to us. The Maurice Lamontagne Institute is in my riding and is one of the top francophone research centres in the world. We are very proud of this institute, and we obviously hope that this measure will benefit the Maurice Lamontagne Institute.

In conclusion, I am very proud of the budget that was presented. This budget will help my community and our municipalities develop economically and create jobs. Once again, this is a step forward for us.

[Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, February 25th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, my riding's economy is struggling. Three companies in my riding have shut down in recent months.

Residents could have decided to throw in the towel, but instead, 50 entrepreneurs in the region, led by François Rioux, the president of Groupe Bertrand-Rioux, developed a fund to create new companies and new jobs in the RCM of La Matanie.

These 50 entrepreneurs collected $300,000 in a show of entrepreneurial solidarity. Our entrepreneurs care about stimulating our region's economies. Now is the time to be inspired by Mr. Rioux and to be a positive, unifying leader for the business community.

We have a vision for our region. The community is prepared to work together and to be actively involved in the region's economic recovery. I am counting on our government to support this initiative, which will help create sustainable jobs. I salute Mr. Rioux for his initiative. This is a concrete example of how to create an environment that supports economic recovery in our region.