Scott Brison

[Main Estimates, 2016-17, June 14th, 2016]

moved:

That the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, except any vote disposed of earlier today and less the amounts voted in Interim Supply, be concurred in.

[Public Service, June 13th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the government is working very hard to restore a culture of respect towards our public service, and we will continue to do just that during our negotiations.

On the question of outsourcing, this is a question we are engaged with the public service on. We believe very strongly that we can do more to engage our professional public service to provide better services for Canadians and better value for taxpayers at the same time. We are deeply engaged in this dialogue.

[Questions on the Order Paper, June 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to each meeting of the Treasury Board during the period of November 3, 2015, to April 22, 2016: (a) when the House of Commons is in session, the Treasury Board usually sits on Thursday.

In response to part (b) of the question, the information requested is a confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council and cannot be provided.

Regarding part (c), the committee members are the President of the Treasury Board, chair; the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, vice-chair; the Minister of Finance; the Minister of Health; the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development; and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Alternate members are the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Minister of Natural Resources, the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Minister of Democratic Institutions.

In response to part (d), the information requested is a confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council and cannot be provided.

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, June 9th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, we have tremendous respect and support for the work of the parliamentary budget officer. We will continue to work closely with his office.

We also would like to draw the attention of the hon. member to what the PBO said recently about what this government had done to render the budget and estimates process more transparent and open. We will continue to view his work as being important and work to establish a more open and transparent government and budgeting process for Canadian.

[Finance, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary budget officer's latest report confirms that our government is making significant progress in presenting its spending plans more transparently and in a more timely fashion to Parliament.

In his own words, the PBO said that these important improvements will enhance “parliamentary financial scrutiny”.

Our government has and is raising the bar on openness, transparency, and accountability to Parliament.

[Government Advertising, May 16th, 2016]

Again, Mr. Speaker, the policy defines, and we are being very clear on this, that it is for any advertising message paid for by the government for placement in media. It is very clear that this example was not paid government advertising.

The Conservatives, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting themselves in partisan advertising, abusing the taxpayer, abusing our democratic system, should be ashamed to attack a government that is actually cleaning up the mess that they left.

[Government Advertising, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, clearly we define in the policy what is acceptable. Ads must be objective, factual, and explanatory. They must be free from political party slogans or images. It is clear the policy defines that for advertising it is any message paid for by the government for placement in the media.

It is very clear as well that this was not paid government advertising, so the Conservatives should change their questions now having learned the truth on this.

[Government Advertising, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the policy was very clear that in terms of paid advertising, no minister or member of Parliament or prime minister will be in ads. We brought in these new policies, which for the first time define clearly what is acceptable in terms of government advertising and what is not, in response to 10 years of taxpayer and power abuse of this under the Conservatives.

We are serious in that we are ending partisan advertising. We will continue to do this because it is the right thing to do. We will invest in Canadians.

[Government Advertising, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it was not paid advertising. That is a little rich for the Conservatives, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases advertising programs that did not exist, in some cases spending $100,000 for a 30-second ad in the NHL playoffs.

The Conservatives ramped up government spending on partisan advertising at the same time that they slashed funding for Canada's summer jobs for students. We have cut the advertising budget because we are doubling the amount we are investing in summer jobs for students. We believe that it is a better priority to invest in young Canadians than to—

[Government Advertising, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, last week, we put an end to partisan government advertising. The policy on advertising clearly states that it applies to any message paid for by the government for placement in media. That is not the case in this example. We were and will continue to be clear. We have put an end to partisan government advertising.