Stephen Harper

[Ethics, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP was clear about this issue: I had no knowledge of this matter.

[Employment, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again, this government has made very large increases to post-secondary education and training funds for the provinces, and it is their primary responsibility. At the same time, I would hope that the Liberal Party would finally recognize that job creation is also the responsibility of the federal government. We recognize that, which is why the Canadian economy has one of the best job creation records since the end of the recession.

[Employment, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this government has made massive increases to provincial transfers for job creation programs. At the same time, we are asking for better results. We want to see efforts being made to match workers and the unemployed to jobs that employers want to create. We intend to continue in that direction.

[Employment, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, of course this government is going to continue all of its efforts to create jobs and to make sure there are Canadians to fill available jobs that the marketplace wants to offer them.

In terms of youth unemployment, I should note now that even with the levels that are higher than we would like them to be, the levels coming out of the recession today are lower than they were for the average of the entire Liberal government.

[Ethics, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, obviously I have complete confidence in the RCMP in terms of its responsibility for investigations.

Once again I am not going to let the previous comment pass. Part of what happens when a party spends 90 years in opposition is it forgets its own record.

This government has made record investments, five billion more dollars in veterans and veterans' services, and on every single occasion was opposed by the NDP. The NDP can explain that—

[Consumer Protection, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am certainly not going to let the previous comment stand. This government has vastly increased the mental health services available to our veterans. In fact, they are the strongest such services anywhere in NATO.

This government also created the Mental Health Commission of Canada upon coming into office to deal with the general challenges to mental health in Canada. I was pleased to be able to name Denise Batters to the upper House so that she can continue the work in the name of our former colleague, Dave Batters.

[Veterans Affairs, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, of course that is completely false. What is happening here is a significant increase in service. There are a small number of service centres that are being closed that, frankly, serviced very few people, had very few visits. They are being replaced with 600 service centres across the country, and in an increased number of cases employees will actually go and meet veterans instead of the other way around.

[Veterans Affairs, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite the opposite.

The government is replacing a small number of Veterans Affairs Canada service centres with Service Canada's 600 service centres for Canadian veterans. That is a big improvement in services.

[Ethics, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Strahl was not only not forced to resign; the Ethics Commissioner said very clearly there was not a scintilla of evidence that he had done anything wrong whatsoever.

Chuck Strahl is one of the most honourable and decent people I have ever worked with in the Parliament of Canada. It is a shame that for the sake of his personal reputation, he decided he is no longer willing to provide his services.

[Ethics, January 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, again, the leader of the NDP knows that those facts are not accepted. As a matter of public record, the individual he is making accusations against is not under any investigation.