Stephen Harper

[Parliamentary Budget Officer, April 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to see the court decision against the partisan action of the former Parliamentary Budget Officer and the leader of the NDP. This government created the position. We provide information on a regular basis and we will continue to do so.

[Justice, April 24th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I think the House knows well, I also met with the parents yesterday. I obviously want to express my great admiration for both their strength and their public-mindedness in the face of what is just a horrible and unspeakable tragedy that has befallen their family.

I would agree with the assertion by the leader of the New Democratic Party. One of the difficulties is that investigative tools for our police officers have not kept pace with the Internet age. That must change. The government has indicated it will be bringing forward various measures in this regard.

We absolutely must speak out against the notion that some people have that anything goes on the Internet. Something that is a crime is a crime, if it happens on the Internet as well.

[Employment, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, what is readily apparent is that the leader of the Liberal Party has no idea what his party's own record is on a number of programs that support young people, but that is not surprising. As head of Katimavik, the Liberal leader drove an organization to a one-third dropout rate, while wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars, spending $28,000 for every young person. We can do better. We are doing better and hope the Liberal Party will start to vote for the things that are assisting young people.

[Employment, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, there is a party, this government, which is investing in youth, and there is another party, the Liberal Party, which votes against these investments.

For example, let me just repeat the various things the Liberal Party has voted against to help young Canadians: against the youth employment strategy, against the apprenticeship incentive grant, against the textbook tax credit, against expanded RESPs, against the pathways to education program, against the tools tax credit, against helmets to hard hats, against expanded tuition tax credits, and I could go on and on. It is this party that is investing in--

[Employment, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the real question is why does the Liberal Party keep voting against measures to help people?

For example, the Liberal Party voted against the youth employment strategy, the apprenticeship incentive grant, the textbook tax credit, the child tax credit, the pathways to education program, the broadening of the tuition tax credit, and so on.

There is only one party working for our youth and for young Canadians, and that is the Conservative Party.

[The Economy, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, once again to put this in context, Canadians have been borrowing and have been expanding their holdings of housing because they have felt very confident about their financial futures. That is not surprising, given the relatively strong performance of the Canadian economy coming out of the recent recession, and obviously combined with low interest rates.

That said, the Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada have expressed concerns about the exposure of some households. That is why we have taken particular action on a range of mortgage rules to ensure that the sustainability of our household sector continues long into the future.

[The Economy, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we have taken measures to change how Canadians spend and to control the level of debt in Canada.

As members know, officials at the Bank of Canada and the Minister of Finance have spoken regularly about our concerns about debt. Obviously, Canadian households have been borrowing because interest rates are low and they feel secure about their economic futures in terms of the housing sector. However, we have urged caution in terms of the accumulation of debt and have taken some measures to modify that particular tendency.

[Public Safety, April 23rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate the RCMP, CSIS and local police forces for their work in uncovering this terrorist plot.

I want to congratulate also the RCMP, CSIS and local police forces for the work they have done to lead to the charges we have seen regarding this terrorist plot. I also want to express thanks for the co-operation we received from American authorities, from the private sector and from Canada's Muslim community in these activities.

These terrorist threats are unfortunately a part of the global reality. Our government is committed to working with our police and security agencies to ensure we do everything we can to keep Canada safe.

[Employment, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our government has made investments in a range of youth employment activities. That is one of the reasons why we see over 900,000 net new jobs created in the country since the recession ended. It is one of the best records in the developed world.

What will not help the youth, or anybody else in the country, are the proposals of the Liberal leader and the Liberal Party to increase taxes on students and other Canadians.

[Employment, April 22nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the government has in fact, on a net basis, reduced tariffs by over half a billion dollars annually for Canadian consumers. Obviously we do not think it makes sense to give special tariff reductions to countries like China.

I always know when a question is coming from the Liberal leader because inevitably he has written to the government asking us to do exactly the opposite. He has written asking us to increase taxes on a range of consumer electronic products, including iPods. Our government will not be doing this.