Stephen Harper

[Employment, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the Liberal plan would be. Until very recently, the Liberal Party was inundating us with demands to increase the number of temporary foreign workers to their ridings. That is the opposite of where this government has been going. We have tightened up rules over the past several years. Applications under the low-wage stream for temporary foreign workers have fallen by some 30% as a result of the reforms we have put in place thus far.

We will continue to act, because it is our policy to make sure, as an absolute principle, that if Canadians are available and ready to work, that Canadians get jobs.

[Rail Transportation, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we need to look at the big picture and the facts here. The fact of the matter is, as many of us suspected, that the rules in this case have not been respected. As members know, we congratulate the police, who have now laid some criminal charges on the company and on a number of individuals.

That matter will be before the courts, so we are not going to comment on it, but obviously this government will continue to move forward on any measure necessary to improve railway safety.

[Rail Transportation, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the government has already made a number of amendments to the railway safety rules in the past and since the accident. We will continue to examine this situation in co-operation with our friends in the United States.

I would like to congratulate the police on their progress in this case. Criminal charges have now been laid against the company and certain individuals. Since this matter will be before the courts, I have nothing more to say.

[Justice, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do not comment on rumours. I can only say that we received legal opinions that Mr. Nadon was eligible for appointment to the Federal Court, and I appointed Mr. Nadon directly to the Federal Court.

[Justice, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, we received expert legal opinion on the eligibility of Federal Court judges for appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, as, by the way, had been a long-standing practice, not just in cases of previous processes, including processes with Quebec judges, but in cases where Federal Court judges have actually been named to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The recommendation of legal advice was they could be directly named, and that is what I had done.

[Foreign Affairs, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the government condemns these acts in the strongest possible terms.

The kidnapping of these schoolgirls by Boko Haram is obviously repugnant to everything that we believe in as Canadians and that most people in the world believe in. Our hearts are with these girls and their families. There are Canadian personnel now present in Nigeria. They are there to provide liaison and to assist Nigerian authorities in their search.

[Employment, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in the past three years the government has made improvements to the program and has implemented rules to strengthen it. These measures helped lower the application intake by 30%, despite the fact that the Liberal Party voted against all of these reforms and that Liberal Party members are still lobbying us to bring more temporary foreign workers into their ridings.

Our approach is obviously quite different from that of the Liberal Party, which wants to expand the program.

[Employment, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the government has for some time been recognizing some of the problems. That is why in the past three years we have brought in a series of reforms and continue to bring in reforms, reforms that have in fact lowered the application intake by 30%. We have done that in spite of the fact that the Liberal Party has voted against those reforms and the Liberal Party members have constantly been lobbying the government and lobbying the minister to bring in more foreign workers, something the member himself has done. Obviously, we are going in a very different direction than the Liberal Party.

[Justice, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again, as I have said before, it was alleged last week by another source that the government, myself particularly, were not properly informed of issues of eligibility on the Supreme Court appointment. As I said, that is clearly not the case. In fact, because I was fully aware of this matter and also aware of the fact that it could be brought before the courts, and eventually was brought before the courts, we decided to seek advice from outside the courts from independent experts, and we followed that advice. Those actions on my part, and on the part of the government, were entirely appropriate.

[Veterans, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have to correct what the leader of the NDP said in his preamble. The government has made clear from the outset its intention to pay for all the families of the fallen and to make sure that their costs are covered for the Afghan ceremony on May 9. We are very proud to do that.

Also, we are taking a very large delegation of veterans with us to the D-Day ceremonies, and of course, as has always been our policy, we will make sure that veterans do not pay their own costs for that.