Wayne Easter

[Business of Supply, September 25th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. From the last discussion, it is obvious that government members do not know how the current or old system worked. I have a paper here by the Library of Parliament that is called “Case studies for the new pilot project, working while on claim”, which explains that. I wonder if I could have unanimous consent to table that report done by independent and non-partisan researchers so that government members would have the benefit of seeing how the system really works.

[Points of Order, September 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I would like to ask for unanimous consent to table a document done by the Library of Parliament called “Case studies for a new pilot project, working while on claim”.

There seems to be a lot of confusion on that issue. The minister has put out her document. This one is based on real-life case studies and would provide information to the House to make appropriate decisions.

[Foreign Investment, September 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, trade with China is important and something that we fostered with Liberal prime ministers, who led trade missions to China to secure business for Canadians on fair terms. However, on Friday the Chinese ambassador seemed to imply that the Nexen deal was a condition for everything else. That being the case, how does the Minister of International Trade intend to protect Canadian resources for the benefit of Canadians, adding value and jobs in Canada? And how does the minister intend to ensure that Canadian businesses have equivalent rights in China?

[Employment Insurance, September 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, does the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development just not know that prior to August 5, EI claimants could earn 40% of their weekly benefits without any penalty?

For example, Jennifer is a registered nurse in my riding who is on parental leave. Jennifer worked part-time to fill nursing care shortages and keep up her skills. However, the government now has clawed back 50¢ on every dollar earned, making her worse off with the changes.

Will the Prime Minister explain to this new mom on parental leave why he is taking half her wages for covering nursing shortages? Why is the government basically—

[Business of Supply, September 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the remarks of the member for St. John's East are well-thought out. I especially agree with his points on the growing inequity within Canada and the need for a first ministers meeting.

When the premiers made the request in June, they thought it through. They did not ask to meet the Prime Minister on areas of disagreement they had, which may be equalization and some other areas. They asked the Prime Minister to meet on the economy and trade, areas which are important to all Canadians.

There is nothing like having the whole group of first ministers come together and bounce ideas, from all political perspectives, off one another and come up with a plan. The premiers know at their level that the spin they are getting from the government on trade, as the member for St. John's East mentioned, is just that, spin.

We have had the biggest July trade deficit in the history of recording of trade deficits. Under the government's watch, our trade deficit has been increasing consistently, even though the minister travels the world.

Those are important points, and I agree with the member. Could he expand his views on real activities on trade versus—

[Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for Newton—North Delta on her remarks and especially that she was able to touch a nerve on the other side and actually get them on their feet in this House. That is quite something. They must have gotten their orders at caucus yesterday not to say anything in debate in the House to try to speed this through.

My question for the member is on what the member for Saint Boniface said. She said that the bill would give power to the commissioner of the RCMP, and that is true. However, having been there, I believe one of the problems with the RCMP is that there is too much power in that office. When it comes to the complaints commission, for complaints against the RCMP and the new civilian body that would be put forward in this bill, although there is talk about accountability in the bill, to date we have not seen that from the government in anything it has done.

I am just wondering what the member thinks about having the new civilian agency really no different than the previous commission for public complaints against the RCMP and the fact that all the power still rests with the commissioner of the RCMP.

[Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, September 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, the bill is called enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police accountability act. He talked a fair bit in his remarks about the new civilian complaint commission, which reports to the Minister of Public Safety. We know from experience that when the government introduced its own accountability act with much fanfare, it was just words with more spin than anything else. It has not, by any means, abided by that accountability act.

My question to the member is this. Why should we expect, with the fancy words in this bill, that it is going to do anything different when it comes to complaints against the RCMP than it has already done? We know one of the best representatives on the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP was Paul Kennedy. He was doing his job, and because he was doing his job the government removed him from his position, because he was challenging the RCMP and the government in terms of their management of that file. Now there is a new commission, which is basically a shadow of the other one. Yes, it has civilians on it, but it still reports to the Minister of Public Safety. How can that actually work?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 17th, 2012]

With regard to government advertising: (a) what is the overall budget for the print advertising campaign which has appeared in newspapers or other print media outlets concerning Old Age Security, under the heading “Placing Old Age Security on a Sustainable Path”; (b) who did the creative work on these ads; (c) if the answer to (b) is an outside party or agency, who was the outside party or agency; (d) what was the cost of the creative work; (e) what media outlets did the ad appear in, and, for each, on which date or dates was the ad inserted; (f) what was the cost of each individual insertion; (g) who determined the colour scheme for the ads; and (h) what was the rationale for the colour scheme?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 17th, 2012]

With regard to government announcements made by and associated with meetings or events attended by the following individuals in the following locations on or around April 27, 2012, related to the proposed Canada-European Union trade agreement, what were the travel and accommodation costs, including those of staff members or other government employees, associated with the announcements, meetings and events, and what were all other costs associated with the announcements, meetings and events for (i) the Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency) (La Francophonie), in Edmundston, New Brunswick, (ii) the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade in Halifax, Nova Scotia, (iii) the President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario in Huntsville, Ontario, (iv) the Minister of Labour in London, Ontario, (v) the Minister of Natural Resources in Toronto, Ontario, (vi) the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons in Waterloo, Ontario, (vii) the Minister of Canadian Heritage in Vancouver, British Colombia, (viii) the Minister of Health; (ix) the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in Cap-Pelé, New Brunswick, (x) the Minister of State (Finance) in Calgary, Alberta, (xi) the Hon. Rob Merrifield, P.C., M.P., in Spruce Grove, Alberta, (xii) the Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture) in Québec City, Québec, (xiii) Senator Pierre Claude Nolin in Montréal, Québec, (xiv) the Minister for Public Safety in St. Boniface, Manitoba (xv) the Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, (xvi) Mr. Randy Hoback, M.P., in Regina, Saskatchewan, (xvii) the Minister of National Revenue in New Annan, Prince Edward Island, (xviii) the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, and President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in St. John’s, Newfoundland, (xix) the Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway in Ottawa, Ontario, (xx) any of the persons named in (i) through (xix) in any other location?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 17th, 2012]

With respect to answers to written questions pertaining to possible tax evasion in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, why did provisions of the “Canada-France Income Tax Convention” preclude the government from answering written questions on the Order Paper regarding possible tax evasion in Switzerland, but the “Agreement Between Canada and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double taxation with Respect to Taxes on Income and Certain Other Taxes, the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion and the Assistance in Tax Matters” did not prevent the government from answering identical written questions on the Order Paper regarding possible tax evasion in Liechtenstein?