Stephen Harper

[Employment, September 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite the contrary. We are very proud to see that wages in this country have continued to rise in spite of the general economic turmoil around us.

There is lots we do for Canadian families, obviously. I mentioned the universal child care benefit, cutting the GST that affects all Canadian consumers, and enhancing the guaranteed income supplement. There are three things alone that benefit families, workers, and poor people, and in every case, the NDP voted against them. Why does the NDP vote against every idea unless it is about more taxes and more borrowing?

[Employment, September 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite the contrary.

This government lowered the GST for all Canadian families. This government created the universal child care benefit, and the New Democrats are the ones who voted against benefits for Canadians.

[Employment, September 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I think if you review the record, you will see the government's position on parliamentary votes on military deployment has been very consistent.

As for minimum wage, the labour market is largely regulated by the provinces. The federal government follows the wages set by the provinces. It does not make sense to have two different wages for different classes of employees.

We will continue to work with the provinces on this.

[Foreign Affairs, September 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member should know well the government's position. Of course, it is the right of any government that has the confidence of the House of Commons to advise the Governor General on military operations.

That said, wherever there has been a deployment of a combat nature, the government has put this to Parliament for a further confidence vote, and that is not the case with the present mission to Iraq.

[Foreign Affairs, September 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as the government has announced, and I gather was reviewed by a committee of this body, the Royal Canadian Air Force has been deployed to Iraq to deliver humanitarian and military assistance to Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State, ISIL, and there are several dozen Canadian army personnel also deployed to Iraq in an advise-and-assist capacity.

We are, of course, very proud that the men and women in uniform are always ready to undertake these missions on behalf of Canadians.

[Natural Resources, June 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the government is following the recommendations of countless independent scientists and experts who reviewed this project for months. The government approved this project with more than 200 conditions.

Once again, as I said, we are obviously following expert scientific advice here. This is something the Liberal Party preaches but never actually practices, and that is evidence-based decision making.

[Natural Resources, June 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we are all familiar with the long history of the deep hostility of the former Trudeau government to everything in the western energy industry.

The reality is that this government has acted to promote the Great Bear Rainforest, something not supported by the Liberal Party at the time. That is what this government did. The scientific finding does not confirm any such threat as the member indicated.

However, there are some 200 conditions that will have to be fulfilled for the regulator to approve any work going forward.

[Natural Resources, June 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the government is obliged by law to respond to the findings of an expert scientific independent panel. It spent many months examining this project and consulting the public and other affected interests.

As a consequence, the government has imposed some 200 conditions on the project and the regulator is now tasked with ensuring that the company, the proponent fulfills those conditions moving forward.

[Natural Resources, June 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, of course that is not the case. Aboriginal consultation is part and parcel of the review process.

I would just point out that there were 72 days of hearings from aboriginal groups to share their views, including on traditional knowledge, and 41 first nations were, indeed, financed to enhance their participation in the project. There are a range of views among those groups. Those are the facts.

Speaking of the American government, we know about the lobbying of the NDP in Washington to actually block Canadian projects from going forward. That is how fanatical the NDP is in its opposition to development, something that Canadians do not support.

[Natural Resources, June 18th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, a panel of independent scientific experts reviewed this project, and the government acted on its recommendations.

In terms of the various effects that the hon. leader of the NDP laid out, those were not the findings of the panel. It was quite the contrary. The government has to base its findings on the facts and on the hearings as they transpired. The government is not as free as the NDP to simply ignore the facts and ignore the rules, as it does with its own parliamentary budget.