That the Supplementary Estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 be concurred in.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 71% of the vote.
Supplementary Estimates (B), 2015-16 December 10th, 2015
That the Supplementary Estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 be concurred in.
Public Service of Canada December 10th, 2015
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Gatineau. Restoring a culture of respect towards our public service is a priority for us. I recently met 2,000 public servants at a gathering. I met union leaders and spoke with them about the report on mental health in the federal workplace. Our commitments are clear: we will respect the bargaining process, we will negotiate in good faith, and we will restore a culture of respect.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
The answer would be yes, Mr. Chair. We will do that and I look forward to doing it. Beyond that, we will be actively engaged with committees, both me as President of Treasury Board and my parliamentary secretary, the member for Vancouver Quadra. We will be engaged with the government operations committee and will also be engaged in the ethics committee, for instance, when we are talking about expanding and modernizing access to information. We will be engaging Parliament in that.
We believe we will make better decisions as a government with the full engagement of members of Parliament from all parties through the committee process. Committees are not going to be branch plants of ministers' offices under this government; they are going to be partners in progress as we build a better Canada.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I speak on behalf of all ministers in our government, who look forward to engaging with committees and to appearing before committees, and to defending our estimates before committees, and beyond that to engaging committees in a review of and reform of our procedures around estimates. There needs to be a better alignment between budgeting and the estimates process. That is essential to have respect for Parliament and to enable members of Parliament to actually know what they are voting on and what the cost of legislation is.
I am going to try not to be partisan in terms of reflecting on the previous government's behaviour in this way. I want to speak to the future. We intend to work with members of Parliament from all parties to do a better job of fortifying our ability as members of Parliament to do our jobs on behalf of Canadians and to hold government to account. That is a critical part of their job as members of Parliament.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I worked with the father of the hon. member in this place. He was a fine man and great parliamentarian, and the hon. member has big shoes, or big Birkenstocks, to fill.
On the question, this was a commitment made by the previous government. Under the new government-owned contractor-operated model, AECL is now responsible to meet its mandate and objectives for the Canadian nuclear laboratories.
The funding of $232.8 million has been provided to manage Canada's radioactive waste and decommissioning, provide nuclear expertise to support federal responsibilities, and offer services to users of the Canadian nuclear laboratories on commercial terms established previously. It is a significant sum, and I appreciate the member's question.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I have spoken with personnel at the Aldershot reserve base in my riding. I have also spoken with defence personnel who were active when the Kosovar refugees came some time ago. They are absolutely enthusiastic about participating in this great national project of welcoming the Syrian refugees.
The budgeting process is such that DND has, within its $13.6 billion operating budget, the capacity to handle the costs incurred in this process. In the future, if there are incremental costs, they can submit them to Treasury Board for supplementary estimates (C) or the main estimates.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, we already have within our public service an exceptional team of people across departments and agencies of this government. We have Anita from Immigration, here with us today. We have Yaprak from Treasury Board and Brian. These are just three examples of the exceptional public servants we have serving Canadians every day within the Government of Canada. They will work very hard.
My hon. colleague, the former minister of veterans affairs, a Conservative colleague, just said we would do whatever they say. No, actually we will not do everything that the Public Service asks us to do, but we will seek from them their fearless advice, because we want to know, based on evidence, what the best way forward would be.
We will make the decisions ultimately based on a number of factors, but not before we respect our public servants enough to seek their fearless advice, and we will not muzzle our public servants, as did the previous government.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I appreciate the question from the member for Whitby, and I congratulate her on her election to this House.
Our government is committed to evidence-based decision-making. To do that, we need to have the best possible information, whether it means restoring the long-form census or restoring the capacity of government departments to research and provide sound evidence to decision-makers on which to make decisions.
Science is part of it, but we also need better data, as an example, for the housing market. We are told by bank economists that in Canada today we do not have good, solid data on Canada's housing markets, which are fragmented across the country. That is not helpful in terms of homeowners and investors understanding the housing market to the extent that we ought to, or banks having as much data as they ought to. We are also told by economists that we do not have good labour market data that we need.
The long-form census is a key part of what we will do as a government, but it is only part of that. We will restore investments in science across this Parliament and agencies. We will support science and research in our universities. As my colleague, the parliamentary secretary and member for Charlottetown said earlier, we are committed to open data within government. That we have not had a review or an update of the access to information legislation since the early 1980s is absurd, given the remarkable change, much of which have been technologically driven, since then.
For Canadians, the transparency bus has left the station. Canadians, particularly young Canadians, wonder why more information is not available to them, and they are right. Our Prime Minister's commitment, as an opposition leader, as a leader in our platform, and as we move forward, is very strong. That commitment is something we take very seriously.
We will work with Public Works, for instance, which plays a pivotal role. We will work with all departments and agencies; Treasury Board plays an important role across every department and agency of government on this.
We look forward to engaging Parliament. We intend to really work more closely with parliamentary committees. I have a fairly high opinion of Liberal members of Parliament, but I do believe that members of Parliament from other parties have good ideas too. Those good ideas will help inform better decisions by this House.
When ministers from our government ask critics and opposition members on parliamentary committees for their input, we will be genuinely seeking their input because we want to make better decisions. There are good ideas from all parties in this House of Commons. We intend to work with members of Parliament from every party to help make sure that this Parliament makes the best possible decisions and renders the best public policy to move this country forward.
That is what Canadians want. They want smarter decisions from a less partisan and more constructive Parliament. I am pleased to say to Canadians, that is what they will get from this government.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, I was jostling my hon. colleague. I actually have known him for quite a while and quite like the fellow. However, beyond that, the departments he cites actually are in a position where they can cash-manage for a period and are preparing, for instance, for supplementary (C) and main estimates. They are going to prepare Treasury Board submissions and we will deal with those.
The budget process is such that these amounts are budgeted. When departments need additional resources, they come to Treasury Board and we will review them. This is clearly the case with the immigration department. Its costs are largely front-end, which is why these estimates are being tabled today.
Business of Supply December 9th, 2015
Mr. Chair, the hon. member asked a question about estimates and the budget process. CIC's front-end costs were immediate, and for many of the other departments and agencies of government, they are able to cash-manage until the supplementary (C) and main estimates. The member is displaying a lack of understanding of the budgeting process.
One of the things we want to do as a government is not repeat the mistakes of the previous government in terms of failing to align the budget and estimates process.
The previous government, for this fiscal year, actually introduced estimates before it introduced a budget. Of course, it had to do that because it had to delay the budget until after it could do the one-time asset sale of GM shares to create an illusionary surplus on the eve of an election. However, it was still unacceptable and unaccountable to Parliament.