Scott Brison

[Public Service Labour Relations Act, May 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I have considerable respect for the hon. member. I have known him a long time. However, he ought to realize that the urgency of the situation was created by his government in failing to act more expediently in response to the Supreme Court decision. We as a government inherited a situation that needed to be addressed. We requested an extension, and were granted a four-month extension, and we acted after that. We engaged Parliament. We engaged the committee process. In fact, we accepted a legislative change from the committee because we respect the role that all members of Parliament from all parties play in committees in terms of their role in crafting legislation. That is in stark contrast to his previous Conservative government's approach to the management of committees and the passing of legislation. However, that does not obviate the need to act and to act expediently when our national police force and its labour relations are under considerable uncertainty post-May 16. We have a responsibility to act, and as a government we take that seriously.

[Public Service Labour Relations Act, May 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it is of real urgency that we pass this bill. The hon. member is right that the deadline is May 16, after which the Public Service Labour Relations Act will apply to the RCMP. There will be a lot of confusion around this. That act was never designed to apply to the RCMP, and part of this legislation is, in fact, to adapt it to do so. To have our national police force operating under that kind of uncertainty and ambiguity from a labour relations perspective is very bad. It is bad from a public safety perspective. We are doing the right thing.

Again, the hon. member is fairly new to this House. I welcome him. He is working hard as a member of Parliament. I enjoy working with him. However, the fact is that we as a government accepted legislative changes from the committee. If he had been here in the last Parliament, he would have seen that the Conservatives never would have accepted legislative changes made by a committee.

We are engaging committees respectfully. Under us, committees are not branch plants of ministers' offices.

[Public Service Labour Relations Act, May 11th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that our government inherited a situation of considerable urgency when we formed government in November. In fact, we inherited a situation where the Supreme Court decision had put a deadline of January. We sought an extension to May, a four-month extension at that time. Again, it was the previous government that allowed a situation to develop where there was significant urgency. The Supreme Court decision was that RCMP members ought to have the right for collective bargaining. This legislation provides that. Beyond that, we have had 10 hours of debate and 34 members of Parliament have participated in that debate. Further to that, unlike the Conservative government previously, we actually accepted legislative changes made by a committee to this legislation.

[Access to Information, May 6th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Newmarket—Aurora for his work on open government.

This directive sends a strong message across federal institutions that government information belongs to the people we serve and should be open by default. It also directs federal officials to waive all fees for access to information, apart from the $5 filing fee, and to release information in more user-friendly formats, such as Excel spreadsheets, whenever possible.

This is an important step for the Government of Canada. We are taking this step because we are committed to revitalizing and strengthening access to information.

[Poverty, May 6th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, income inequality is a problem here in Canada and elsewhere. Our government's priority is to help the middle class and families that need it.

For example, our budget includes the Canada child tax benefit, which will really help Canadian families in need. We are going to continue to do that.

[Ethics, May 6th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that the hon. member brought up the issue of child benefits. The Canada child benefit, which we introduced in our budget, will help the Canadian families who need the help the most. A family making $40,000 a year in Canada, with two kids, would be $4,000 better off under our Canada child benefit. A single parent making $30,000 a year will be over $6,000 better off than under the former Conservative government. A family making $90,000 a year with two kids would be $2,500 better off than under the former government.

We are—

[Ethics, May 6th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, in a way, it is strange to hear the Conservatives attacking family values. It is very important for the Prime Minister and his family to be together, and it is also important to recognize the significance of Canada-U.S. relations. We will continue to protect our relationship with the United States.

[Ethics, May 6th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney said that the most important foreign policy priority for a Canadian prime minister was to have a personal relationship with the president of the United States. It would appear that our Prime Minister has heeded that advice. He has built a strong relationship with President Obama. Perhaps if the immediate former Conservative prime minister had done the same, he would have been able to get projects like Keystone XL approved.

[Ministerial Expenses, May 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, Liberals have led on openness and transparency.

In fact, it was Paul Martin's Liberal government that was the first to actually post ministerial expenses publicly. It was our Prime Minister, who, when leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the opposition, ensured that the Liberal caucus was the first caucus to publicly post our expenses.

We led the way then in terms of openness and transparency and proactive disclosure, and we will continue to.

[Ministerial Expenses, May 4th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, our government is completely open and transparent. We make our expenses public and we will continue to do so. It is very important to recognize the transparency of our government. We will continue to be completely open.