Tony Clement

[MAIN ESTIMATES 2015-16, June 8th, 2015]

moved:

That vote 1 in the amount of $57,031,359 under the Senate program expenditures in the Main Estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 be concurred in.

[Public Service of Canada, June 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I think there were ten questions in there, but I will try to focus the hon. member a little bit and indicate, of course, that we are still at the bargaining table, as I mentioned.

Perhaps I already mentioned that there are 14.7 million banked sick days in place right now, but it is not working for the public servants who need it most. We need a system that is fair and reasonable for them and fair and reasonable for the taxpayers.

The hon. member is clearly on the side of being the shill for the bargaining agents we are bargaining with. That is his right if he wants to do so. We want to have a fair and reasonable plan for the taxpayers.

[Public Service of Canada, June 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the hon. member that indeed we are continuing to bargain with the bargaining agent representing the public sector, but I would remind the hon. member, perhaps he is not aware of this, that the current system, which has 14.7 million banked sick days, in fact does not even help employees who have catastrophic illness early on in their careers. Sixty per cent of federal public servant employees do not have enough sick days under the current system to help them when they need it most.

We need a fair system for public servants and a fair system for taxpayers.

[Public Service of Canada, May 27th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Post plan is not the plan we are suggesting and are bargaining in good faith with the unions on this.

If the NDP wants to be the advocate for the union bosses, it has the right to do that in the House. We will stand up for the taxpayers.

[Public Service of Canada, May 27th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the 40-year-old sick leave accumulation system is antiquated and does not meet the needs of the majority of our employees. We need a system that is fair and reasonable for employees, of course, but also for taxpayers. That is our plan. We will be fair and reasonable during bargaining. We have to reach an agreement, if that is possible.

The budget numbers are hard numbers, and they have been better.

[Science and Technology, May 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the hon. member is shilling for the union bargaining unit with its latest demands from the taxpayers. That is his right to do so, if he so chooses.

What we choose to do is bargain fairly and reasonably with the bargaining unit on behalf of the taxpayers to make sure we have fair and reasonable agreements that are affordable to the taxpayer, and we will continue to do so.

[Access to Information, May 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, what I can say in this place is that there have never been more access to information requests that have been followed through on, that have been responded to. It is a record number. I believe it is 46,000.

That is the record of this government. The requests come in, they are processed, and they are responded to. That is the access to information regime. We are proud to have this open government that responds to the requests of the citizenry.

[National Defence, May 13th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, what I can tell the House is that in compliance with the Federal Court's May 2014 order, there was an independent, impartial review that was conducted. Of course we relied on the advice of that independent third party expert in the conclusion that in fact the market was not depressed.

[Public Service of Canada, May 13th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to sick leave, it is important to have a system that is fair to both taxpayers and employees, of course. There were around 200 meetings, but we need to have a solution that is fair to taxpayers and, at the same time, fair to employees.

[Public Service of Canada, May 13th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, we have had close to 200 meetings with various union bargaining agents to date, at which time none of the bargaining agents were even willing to discuss the issue of a better, fairer, more equitable, more accountable sick leave system.

It is at that point that we had the budget. However, I have said to union leadership that I am willing to continue with these discussions, and certainly I will continue to be fair and reasonable: fair and reasonable for the employees, and fair and reasonable for the taxpayer.