Wayne Easter

[The Budget, February 12th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, outlined some of the barriers to competition. He said:

Canada is struggling to stay competitive. In fact, our country’s ability to remain a leader among nations is stagnating. For the second consecutive year, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada 14th in global economic competitiveness—down two places from 2011 and sliding five places since 2009. Restoring Canada’s competitiveness requires an ambitious, aggressive and innovative private sector. Strategic thinking and smart public policies are also needed to address long-standing structural impediments that hinder businesses at a time when they need much greater flexibility to compete.

He goes on to say that urgent action is needed and that every Canadian's standard of living depends on the government meeting the challenge.

Was there anything in this budget that deals with the concerns raised by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce? Was there anything in this budget that would deal with the growth problem this country really has?

[Petitions, February 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of presenting a petition from a number of islanders who are concerned about high volume hydraulic fracturing. They believe that the Government of Canada should study high-volume hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts on drinking water resources, air quality, human health, and the health of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

[Corrections and Conditional Release Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. The crime rate went down when the Liberal governments were in power, and we do not defend criminals.

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we do not know that for sure. We will check.

I wonder if there is or should be any way of dealing with that kind of thing, or do we just accept it as it is?

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

I hear heckling from the other side, Mr. Speaker. I know the name. I know where he stayed. I know what he was being paid, when he was on official salary, and I know my riding was targeted.

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know, because we never applied under access to information whether or not he was on leave while he was there.

The fact of the matter is that we knew that through a minister's office that a certain candidate in an election was being targeted.

Is there any way under the elections act that should be covered?

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we heard the member for Selkirk—Interlake's story earlier.

I have a question on some of the problems under the elections act that need to be solved.

I had an incident in my riding in the last election as well. The chief of staff of former minister of public safety Vic Toews spent three weeks in my riding working on the campaign. He lived in a basement, yet we know he is paid $160,000 per year—

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in the first of the member's remarks, she accused the government of being infused with scandal and fraud, and I would definitely agree. There was the in-and-out scandal, and the Conservatives paid a fine in that one; and there is the electoral robocalls scandal. That is just to name two.

However, the really serious part of the act relates to basically cutting the legs out from under Elections Canada itself, by separating the commissioner and putting it under public prosecutions. Let us not fool ourselves; that is really under the Attorney General.

To give an example of what could happen, a few years down the road it might be a different Attorney General. It could be somebody named Pierre, or something like that. Can members imagine the commissioner calling? He might say, “Yes, hello, Pierre; we have one of your members who sits three rows back behind you there, who we believe may be caught in election fraud. Should we press charges?”

Come on. What would happen here, under this, is that they would put the fox in charge of the chicken coop, if I could put it that way. The people who are involved in the wrongdoing would have a say as to whether there are charges laid. That is not the way to protect our election system in this country. Could the member confirm that?

[Fair Elections Act, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this will be quick. Right from the very beginning with this bill, we have been getting something that has become customary from the government over the years. When I walked by where the announcement was made, over a blue background was written "Fair Elections Act". Even the naming and propaganda is entirely wrong in the way the government has approached this.

This is the Government of Canada and it should be seen as such, rather than trying to propagandize the way it does. Would the member not agree?

[Public Safety, February 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, tragically, Lucia Vega Jimenez, a Mexican women being held in detention under the authority of CBSA, hanged herself on December 20. She died in hospital eight days later. This is a sad, unnecessary loss of life, at age 42, while being held by Canadian authorities.

My question is not about why she was being deported but about just how is it possible that a woman, naturally despondent over her situation, could commit suicide while under CBSA authority. Why was monitoring and supervision contracted out at this detention centre, and why this failure under the minister's watch?