Rosane Doré Lefebvre

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of Public Safety did not speak out against the RCMP commissioner's condescending remarks about sexual harassment.

By calling into question the validity of the complaints, he is encouraging women who work for the RCMP to continue to remain silent for fear of reprisal. The existing system is not working at all.

Can the minister reassure us and confirm that these women did the right thing by coming forward? Can he also tell us where this much-promised change in RCMP culture is?

[Public Safety, June 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, what I hear is that the minister thinks that this failure to update the classification is acceptable and that he is not bothered by the fact that paramilitary groups could take advantage of this situation.

The consequences of the minister's inaction are very real. A firearm that the RCMP recommended banning in 2010 was used in the fatal shooting that took place the night of the most recent Quebec provincial election.

How many more tragedies must there be for the minister to take action?

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for his speech.

At the end of his speech, he said that he was looking forward to speaking with his constituents this summer. We are all looking forward to getting back to our ridings to see what our constituents think of the work we are doing in the House.

I was able to do some of that this spring when the budget was introduced. I showed it to my constituents to see what they thought about it. We received a lot of feedback from people in the riding of Alfred-Pellan, people from Duvernay, Saint-François, Auteuil, Vimont and other communities. Residents of Laval decided to get involved and tell us what they like and do not like about this budget.

A number of points were raised about this budget. For one, there is the fact that the President of the Treasury Board will have more authority to interfere in collective agreements.

I am wondering what my colleague opposite thinks about the fact that the government is directly attacking workers by, among other things, eliminating the labour-sponsored funds tax credit and giving the President of the Treasury Board more powers?

What does he think?

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague across the aisle for his speech.

With regard to the budget, I took the time to broadly consult the people of my riding to find out what they thought of the Conservatives' budget and what their priorities are. I received hundreds of replies. The people of my riding are worried about a number of things, and I promised to defend their values and priorities by asking the Conservative government some questions.

The most important thing for the people of Alfred-Pellan is to get some answers regarding the elimination of the labour-sponsored funds tax credit. This tax credit is extremely important to Quebec. It supports employment and small business development in all regions of the province. It has a tremendous impact on our economy.

My colleague opposite talked about jobs and prosperity. I would like to hear what he thinks of the fact that, with this measure, the government is attacking Quebec's small businesses and our workers, who deserve so much more than that.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for his speech, but I cannot say that I agree with what he had to say.

If we are going to talk about employment rates and economic growth, I would like to tell the House that I had a chance to talk about the 2013 federal budget with the people of my riding in Laval in April. I wanted to tell them about what was in the federal budget, both good and bad. I asked them what they thought of this budget. They talked to me primarily about their concerns, and at the top of the list was the elimination of the tax credit for labour-sponsored funds.

My colleague across the aisle talked about how important employment, economic growth and prosperity are. Quebeckers really liked investing in our local economy using that tool. However, the Conservatives are pulling the rug out from under us, since over 85% of these labour-sponsored funds come from the province of Quebec.

Would my colleague opposite not agree that this budget measure is a direct attack on Quebec's economy?

[Petitions, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition concerns Development and Peace.

This petition is presented by people in Saint-Noël-Chabanel and the parish of St-François-de-Sales in my riding. For the sake of international solidarity, they want the government to fully restore the $49.2 million in funding sought by Development and Peace for the next five years.

[Petitions, June 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I will be presenting two petitions today.

The first petition is from one of my constituents, who calls on the government to strengthen animal transportation regulations.

[Public Safety, May 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, quite frankly, they can try to spin things however they like, but the reality is that the President of the Treasury Board has been dragging his feet for three years and is refusing to negotiate.

It is also troubling to hear that Public Safety employees are the latest victims of the campaign to muzzle public servants. As of today, no employee is allowed to speak publicly without the minister's prior approval.

What is the minister so afraid of?

[Public Safety, May 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, federal correctional officers have now been without a contract for three years. Three years is a long time.

Instead of sitting down at the bargaining table, the Conservatives are focusing their efforts on budget cuts to correctional services, which threatens the safety of staff.

When will the minister negotiate in good faith with federal correctional officers?

[Government Appointments, May 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, under Arthur Porter's watch at the Security Intelligence Review Committee, Jeffrey Delisle sold state secrets to Russia, and CSIS refused to share that information with the RCMP.

For the past two days, the minister has been asking us just to trust him. The problem is that when we trust him, we end up with cases like Porter and Delisle on our hands.

What corrective measures has the minister taken with regard to collaboration between Canadian security agencies?