Rodger Cuzner

[Employment Insurance, February 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we live in a big, diverse country where all regions contribute in different ways. Some are more affluent than others, and I applaud that success, like the riding of Ajax—Pickering, where the EI rate is under 7% and household income is over $100,000. However, their Conservative member believes that people in Canso, Nova Scotia, where the EI rate is over 17% and household income is under $36,000, should be happy to take jobs at Tim Hortons. The problem is, the closest Tim Hortons is two hours away, because it is rural Canada.

Where are the rural members of the Conservative caucus on these changes?

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the presentation of my colleague from Avalon, although he referenced that people could work at McDonald's. I know in a lot of areas I represent, there are 50 volunteer fire departments and only one McDonald's in my entire constituency. In rural communities a lot of these low-paying jobs do not exist outside the season.

When the premier of a province, Pauline Marois, met with the Prime Minister, what did she speak about? She spoke about EI. Premier Ghiz is supported by the other two major parties in P.E.I. They have been very active in opposing these EI changes.

Could he at least share with the Conservatives some basic math? As one example, there is the change on working while on claim. I cannot believe they have not figured this out yet. Suppose people get called in to sort potatoes on a farm in P.E.I., they come in at $10 an hour and work an eight hour shift and that is their additional money. Under the old system, they were able to keep that $80. Under the current system, they now get clawed back $40. We can throw in transportation on that. It is eight hours of work for $40.

It is punitive. Does my colleague understand just how punitive it is? Workers are being bullied to go into the new system. Hence they are being put in a position where they have to make the choice not to take that work, or it has to be paid under the table.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine for his comments. He hit many of the major points.

He was wrong about one, though. He said that the pressure on the working while on claim program forced the Conservatives to fix the program. What it forced them to do is to put up a face and let on that they fixed the program. There is no fix there. People are still being disparaged and pretty much bullied into opting into the new program. However, the member made some very clear and concise points.

As to the comment that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence made, that they can take a job at Tim Hortons, a lot of people are feeding their families on those Tim Hortons jobs in the region that my colleague represents and in the region I represent. It is not students in those jobs and there are not a lot of job openings at Tim Hortons.

People are being hurt by the changes the government made. The Conservatives want to throw a cloak around it, saying that anyone who receives EI is a bad person. Would it not have made more sense just to hire more compliance officers? There are abuses in the system. Let us root out those abusers rather than treating everybody like criminals.

[Government Priorities, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, what really rubs Canadians the wrong way, what really grinds their gears, is that the Conservative government continues to rack up record deficits while it continues to cut programs and make changes that hurt the most vulnerable Canadians. It went ahead and increased its advertising budget by 72% just to pat itself on the back. That would be like the fire department arriving at a house ablaze and running around screaming, “Fire, fire”, rather than picking up the hose and putting the fire out.

The Conservatives have cut programs. They have gutted services. Have they no shame and no conscience whatsoever?

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, talk about disappointment. It is unbelievable. The last time this guy got up, he said it was just clarification. Now, he is up and is beating his chest about reform. Reform for sure. The whole bunch of them are reform. That is what they have shown here.

We do not fix one problem on the backs of the vulnerable. We do not fix one problem by creating a whole bunch of other problems.

I am all for reassessing programs. I am all for keeping programs current. However, I am not for hurting one group for the benefit of another. That is what these changes are doing, these clarifications, these reforms, whatever he wants to call them in his next speech. Whatever he calls them, they are hurting Canadians.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, to try to pass this off as just clarification is the biggest ruse. These guys have been exceptional at saying one thing and—let us take, for example, working while on claim. We have pushed them and pushed them on working while on claim. I know my colleague from Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles said that they solved it. We were asking questions for a week and a half before they rose on the question. However, it does not matter. The member is there now and is doing a good job.

The minister stood here and we pounded her for about a month. Then she woke up and said they were going to have to do something.

All they did is doctor it up a bit. They said they were going to do something and they said that they were going to respect the old program, which was of benefit to anybody who only worked one, two or three days a week. If that is all the work they could get, it would be of benefit. The disincentive was taken out under the old program. They said they were going to fix it.

We know how that played out. There was no fix at all. People would try to register under the old program and the people at Service Canada would say, “Are you sure you want to do this, because we'd sooner have you on the new program?” One person who came to our office said he was asked the question six to eight times, “Are you sure you want to? We'd sooner have you on the new program”.

It is all smoke and mirrors. I will tell members who is getting gassed here. It is the seasonal workers in this country.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, let me first say that I will be splitting my time with the member for Bourassa.

I am very much pleased that the NDP brought forward this motion today to speak about this very important matter, because really we did not have an opportunity. I sit on the human resources standing committee and this issue, as all in the House would know, was brought forward in the omnibus bill, so the impacts of these changes were never given a fulsome debate. Certainly, there are consequences here that will have tremendous negative impacts on many communities in this country.

I know that the Conservatives are trying to paint this as fearmongering. The exercise here is to try to bring them to the light, bring them to the truth, to the fact that these changes will have substantive negative impacts on many communities and Canadians. They will be far-reaching.

If members do not believe the opposition, then they should listen to the premiers from across the country.

Pauline Marois had a one-on-one meeting with the Prime Minister. She said that the meeting was okay and that they talked about the promises he has made with respect to fixing EI, because she had brought forth concerns about the changes to EI to the Prime Minister.

Let us talk not just about Premier Robert Ghiz but all party leaders in Prince Edward Island, who went across the province to solicit input from Prince Edward Islanders. In unison they said that these changes will hurt islanders.

In Nova Scotia we saw Premier Darrel Dexter and Liberal leader Stephen McNeil both raise these concerns. Jamie Baillie, who is a little shy of the boss, was not quite ready to make the jump and stand up for Nova Scotians, but I am glad the other two did.

They are speaking because they know that these changes will have a tremendous impact on them, because the people who will be losing access to or who will be knocked off of EI benefits because of the government's changes will end up on the provincial welfare rolls. That is the next step.

The Conservative government does not understand that so many Canadians live their lives that close to the line. That is a fact. The government should listen to the concerns that are being raised by the premiers. I doubt it will.

Municipal leaders right across the country, especially in rural communities, have sounded the alarm. I know in my own riding that the councils of Warden Lloyd Hines of Guysborough County and Warden Duart MacAulay of Inverness County have raised the issue of the impacts of these changes.

At the provincial level we see that there will be a movement of people out of rural communities to Saskatchewan and Alberta. The country will be tilted toward Saskatchewan and Alberta. This is coming from a guy who spent nine years in Fort McMurray, a place I have a lot of time for, and I really enjoyed the time I spent there. However, people should not be forced to make that decision. The premiers say that is where the people are going. The municipal leaders say that the changes are chasing people out of rural communities into urban centres. That will be the movement there.

It is not just seasonal workers. The municipal leaders understand because they are closer to the problem. They deal with problems day in and day out. They understand that if a group of seasonal workers has to leave town, then the merchants, the teachers and the nurses will leave town. When that critical mass is not there, services are lost because they can no longer be justified. Therefore, it is not just about those seasonal workers. It is about the impact on the seasonal industries and their access to trained labour. That is the broader issue here.

It is pretty cute. Some people have to get off the Hill. People have to get out and see what is going on in other areas of the country. I find, as a member from a rural area in one of the regions, that I am always trying to bring the reality of the region into the bubble here.

The parliamentary secretary stood up and said the changes are great for her riding. They are embraced by her riding. The annual household income in her riding is $90,000 a year. The unemployment rate is just over 6%.

Let us compare that to Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, where the unemployment rate is 17% and the annual household income is $40,000 less. It is a different reality.

Might I say that the incomes of $40,000 less are from revenue being generated almost entirely through seasonal industries. I know that in Nova Scotia almost over half of the regional GDP is generated through seasonal industries.

I have had an opportunity to speak with industry leaders, business leaders and organizations. I had a representation from the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture. It is very fearful of the impacts of the changes being brought forward by the government.

The landscape association of Nova Scotia has shared its concerns. At one time, to be a landscaper all one needed was a half-ton truck and a wheelbarrow, and one could put oneself forward as a landscaper. I know that over the last 10 to 15 years there has been a lot put into professional development and training of professional landscapers.

Sometimes it is tough to lay sod in February. Many landscapers knit together landscaping in the summer with snow removal in the winter. However, sometimes there are gaps for their employees. They are fearful they are going to lose those trained employees. It is somewhat naive to take untrained employees, put them on a front-end loader that is worth $200,000 and expect that the machine will be looked after and there will be productivity. They need trained, skilled labourers as well.

I have been speaking with people in the tourism sector or people who own fishery operations. These people too need people year after year who are trained. They are fearful, and I am also hearing from business that because people have to go from $15 an hour to $10 an hour, they will take that job until the $15 an hour job is back up again. The employer who has the $10 an hour job is going to be forced to seek yet another employee. There will be a turnstile of employees with those lower wage jobs. The greater fear, for those who work in those industries, is there will be a downward pressure on wages, on the payment per hour. Benefits for those people will be at risk.

There were comments made by my colleague, for whom I have a lot of respect, to say people will not make less than minimum wage. That is why it is called minimum wage. When one hits the bottom, there is nowhere to go.

The most egregious aspect of this is the contempt government members have held for seasonal workers in this country. We read last week that there is a bonus being paid to the public servants who can find anybody who runs afoul with the EI system. The government has put a bounty on seasonal workers. Any public servant who can shake a seasonal worker out is going to get a reward.

If there is anything, it has to start from a position of respect. It is obvious through these changes that the government holds no respect for seasonal workers, for rural communities and for people in those industries. That is why I will be supporting this motion today and why I will be encouraging my party to support this motion today.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very clear, concise, non-rhetorical question. Could the parliamentary secretary provide me with some information?

Sometimes when legislation is passed, there are unintended consequences. The federal government itself is a large employer of casual employees. During tax time, CRA ramps up. During various times of the year, government departments ramp up. We know that the cost of training an individual, such as someone who works in Citizenship and Immigration Canada on a casual basis, runs between $12,000 to $15,000 per year.

I am sure the member could tell me what impact this would have on the federal public service, how many casual employees it would have and the cost the federal government will incur with the loss of some of these employees. Without question, the government will lose a great number of these casual employees.

[Business of Supply, February 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, two parliamentary secretaries have stood and have tried to present these changes as mere clarifications. This whole side of the House laughed at that one.

The changes are forcing workers in this country to take jobs at 75% of their wages. For example, a person is making $20 an hour, but because there is a gap between jobs, he or she is forced to take a job at $15 an hour while waiting for that next job. If a person is forced in that situation to take that type of reduction, when does that become a clarification? There was nothing written on that before. When does that become a clarification?

When did the downward pressure on wages in seasonal occupations in rural communities become a clarification?

Could the hon. member provide me with some clarification?

[Request for Emergency Debate, February 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise pursuant to Standing Order 52 to request an emergency debate today on the urgent matter relating to the disclosure by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada on January 11 that the department had lost the personal records of 583,000 Canadians who participated in the Canada student loans program between 2000 and 2006. According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, this is one of the largest data breaches in Canadian history.

The House of Commons needs to debate this issue because the loss of this data means that the private and confidential financial information of almost 600,000 Canadians is at risk and there exists a real danger of identity fraud.

Furthermore, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development has been unable to tell the House of Commons how long the hard drive containing the data was missing from her department, exactly what information was lost, why social insurance numbers were included in this data, why the RCMP was involved and why it took two months to inform the public.

In addition, the House needs to debate the issue of protection that HRSDC is providing to these Canadians. There has been much confusion as to what credit and identity protection services the government is actually paying for with Equifax, one of the two major credit bureaus in Canada. As well, why is the government not paying for the equivalent coverage with TransUnion, the other major credit bureau, as recommended by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada?

There are reports that many of the approximately 600,000 affected people have not yet been contacted by HRSDC even though it has been almost three months since the drive was first noticed missing.

According to recent media reports, less than 5,000 individuals have signed up so far for the free credit monitoring service provided by the government, and I reinforce free for most.

Knowing how many of these people have yet to be contacted and the reasons for the delay in being contacted is very important. The possibility that a large number of the affected people are still not aware that their personal information has been breached is unacceptable.

Canadians, and more specifically the people affected in this data breach, need to have confidence that their government is doing everything it can to find out why and how this historic breach occurred, and more important, how the government is going to immediately protect them from the risk of identity fraud.

Canadians should not have to pay for the mistakes of the Conservative government. I respectfully ask that you, Mr. Speaker, grant my request so that hopefully questions will be answered and solutions found to the satisfaction of those affected.