Privacy  Mr. Speaker, our goal is to provide Canadians, including media, with timely, factual information, while ensuring sensitive information remains protected. I directed my department to ensure that we provide accurate information regarding ongoing conduct with industry partners, whil

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, on the eve of our third annual National AccessAbility Week, and of course with Bill C-81 having gone through this House last week, I can assure every Canadian that we will find jobs for these workers. In fact, we are showing them the dignity of giving them meaningful

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I would first like to acknowledge the number of Canadians with disabilities, their advocates and the interpreters here on the Hill today and all day yesterday. I thank everyone very much. I also thank everyone in the House for recognizing the importance of this leg

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, the short answer is yes, we will be very diligent. Thanks to the amendments put forth through the House committee, there would now be more robust accounting for an exemption when it was granted. The rationale for granting an exemption would have to be published. It w

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, it is very exciting that we have managed to get into Bill C-81 the recognition of American sign language, langue des signes québécoise and indigenous sign language as the primary language for Canadians who are deaf. This is something I heard loud and clear and that I

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, this legislation would fundamentally create a system in which we focused on a human rights approach to disability rights, and that would be a game changer for the disability community in our country. We know, and we heard very loudly, that as much as we needed to ack

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, through Bill C-81, we would put in place mechanisms to ensure, as much as possible, that the funding we allocated would reflect the principles of accessibility. Where that was not possible, say for jurisdictional regions, such as provincial jurisdiction, we would bui

Accessible Canada Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question and, of course, her partnership on Bill C-81. This bill belongs to all of us. The elements in Bill C-81 are additional elements in an existing system. We have things in place. We have structures in place through the Canadian

Accessible Canada Act  moved the second reading of, and concurrence in, amendments made by the Senate to Bill C-81, An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada. Mr. Speaker, as a person with a disability and as the Minister of Accessibility, it is truly an honour to rise today to speak to Bill C-81. Over

Persons with Disabilities  Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Calgary Centre for his tireless effort and advocacy on behalf of citizens with disabilities. This is indeed National AccessAbility Week, the third annual that our government has put forth. This week we celebrate the contributions of indiv

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, we understand that the persistent problems with the Phoenix pay system are unacceptable. We are working every single day to fix the problems with this system. We reduced the backlog by about 40% a year ago. We are working with the unions and the President of the Tre

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, we continue to act with laser focus on addressing the Phoenix pay system. We know how completely unacceptable it is that public servants still continue to not be paid. IBM is a partner in this, and we need IBM to continue along on this journey with us. We are holdin

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, we are working very hard to stabilize the Phoenix pay system. The backlog dropped by 40% last year. We are transitioning to our new system and working with the unions to implement it in the public sector. We assure the member that it is a priority for our governmen

Justice  Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. The process that unfolded did so completely independent of our government. The investigation, the decision to stay proceedings and, in fact, the prosecution itself were handled by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. Canadians can be very

Public Services and Procurement  Madam Speaker, we are very pleased with the Davie workers' productivity and the excellent work they did on the Asterix. We are working closely with all Quebec businesses. We awarded $1.6 billion in contracts to Quebec companies. We gave Davie a contract that was part of a $7-bill