Most toxic speeches
Mr. Speaker, Canadians small business owners and their employees are worried because the Liberal government is calling them spoiled rich people who use their businesses to avoid paying taxes. All week, the Minister of Finance has been trying to demonize these men and women by suggesting that they are tax cheats.This despite the fact that Canadian small businesses are the reason Canada was able to withstand the last economic crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance punishing them for things that his own Prime Minister has done to shelter his family fortune without creating a single job? That is not fair.
Mr. Speaker, Chris Neal is a chartered accountant employing five people in Saint John. He fears the Liberals' proposed tax plans could hurt his small business and has called the Liberal rhetoric on this highly insulting. Chris is not alone. Over 50 small businesses in New Brunswick have joined a coalition opposed to the Liberal tax plan. Supporters of the coalition include the Liberal MPs for Saint JohnRothesay and AcadieBathurst.If the Prime Minister will not listen to small businesses in New Brunswick, will he at least listen to the members of his own caucus and stop this Liberal tax grab?
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member just said is both false and fallacious.We are not raising taxes for small businesses. Their tax rate remains unchanged and is the lowest in the G7. We support our SMEs. We are not attacking small businesses or farmers. Our only goal is tax fairness. That is what we are trying to accomplish, and that is why we are holding consultations on our proposals in order to make sure we are doing things right.
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. What police forces actually said was that they needed access to the resources and the training in order to do the job. Our government has responded. We have committed $274 million to ensure they have what they need to do the job.The cost of delay is continued jeopardy to our children who are using cannabis at the highest rate of any country in the world and billions of dollars more to organized crime. That is unacceptable to us; we believe it is unacceptable to all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to think that throwing money at the problem is going to fix it. Well, so far, it is not working. Not only has the Privacy Commissioner found 11 cases in which employees names and salaries have been leaked, but we also learned this week that the cost to fix Phoenix has now tripled and that has still not been fixed. The NDP has repeatedly demanded that the government fix the issue and there is no end in sight.Does the government actually have a plan or just a box of Band-Aids?
Mr. Speaker, over the summer I met with families across Saskatchewan that raised concerns with how the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is offloading some responsibility onto community-based organizations. With cuts to the STC, it is almost impossible for families to reach the inquiry's registration, community meetings, and hearings.If a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people is the most important relationship to this Prime Minister, why is he not removing all barriers to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, these changes at not fair and they are hurting the middle class.Serious concerns have been raised by experts, business leaders, and small business owners, not just by us but by experts in Canada. These are not frivolous complaints. They are legitimate questions.However, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister just do not care. They are arrogantly ignoring these real worries and real questions.When will they admit that this tax increase is a terrible idea? It is unfair and it needs to stop.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the Liberal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca, was a privacy nightmare. The Privacy Commissioner reports that the website automatically disclosed IP addresses, web activities, opinions, and lifestyle data from the 360,000 participants without their consent, to third parties such as Facebook. For months we asked the Liberals about this issue and they said that everything was just peachy. Were they lying to Canadians or was this just their usual incompetence?
Mr. Speaker, retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm used to volunteer to help his fellow soldiers who were dealing with operational injuries. At first, the door was wide open to him at the Canadian Forces. However, when he wrote to the Prime Minister to complain about how our flawed system is failing our most seriously injured vets, the Canadian Forces slammed the door in this face.Whether on mefloquine or our seriously injured soldiers, the Liberals turn a blind eye and ignore the facts. Why the cover up? Why shoot the messenger? Veterans do not want selfies, they want action.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with the commissioners from the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry in Canada and to hear first-hand from the commissioners about the work they are doing.Our government has launched a truly national and independent inquiry. At the heart of that inquiry are the families that have been affected and those who have been victimized through the process. The inquiry has told us, the commissioners have told us, that they have a plan, that they are dedicated to learning and adapting as the inquiry progresses and to finding the solutions to address the families' needs.
Mr. Speaker, my constituent Lana wrote: As a young woman with a professional corporation...I know first hand how hard I have to work to earn every penny that I make.... No maternity leave, no sick days, no overtime, no bonuses, no paid vacation time, no pension, variable income between pay checks, and so on.... these...changes will make it even more difficult for us. Why do the Liberals want Lana to pay significantly more in taxes, while the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will not be touched? How is that fair to Lana?
Mr. Speaker, when they stand behind those small businesses, they put a knife in their back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Dorothy Keating, chair of the St. John's Board of Trade, said that her members were extremely disappointed after meeting with the finance minister. She likened the Liberal tax plan to building a leaky boat and promising to fix it only after putting it in the water. Will it take a full mutiny of his own caucus for the Prime Minister to realize his plan to raise taxes on small business just will not float?
Mr. Speaker, the Union des producteurs agricoles, the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and Quebec's minister of agriculture all criticized the funding shortfall in the Minister of International Trade's plan to help dairy producers, yet he had the nerve to say that the reason the program ended after just one week was that it worked so well.To farmers in my riding and all across Quebec, that is outrageous. The program ended because there was not enough money.Does the minister even listen when dairy producers tell him that the program is not good enough?
Mr. Speaker, this consultation is happening during the harvest season. Farmers feed Canada, and in my riding, Gerald Finster is one of these farmers. He and his family work hard, and their fortunes are tied up in their family farm. Now the Liberals want to tax these farm families even more. Farmers like Gerald are being put in a tight spot. While crushing our food producers with unbearable taxes, how is it fair that the finance minister's family fortune is sheltered from these new taxes? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, former Liberal finance minister John Manley is saying that the damage is already being done. Manley says business owners are moving assets outside of Canada to avoid these Liberal tax hikes. In his words: You wont know about it because theyre not going to buy ads or report ittheyll just go. Since we know that the Minister of Finance is not listening or believing middle-class Canadians, will he at least believe John Manley and scrap these devastating tax increases?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will be unveiling her Canadian cultural policy next Thursday, and there is every indication that it will be at odds with Quebec's needs.If Ottawa does not want to tax Netflix, Quebec will. European states and Quebec will step up in the new digital environment to protect their culture, their artists, and their authors. Canada, in contrast, is counting on the free market, which will do nothing to protect Quebec culture.If the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not interested in protecting and promoting culture, then what exactly is her role?
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, most people will be having fun in the sun, but not the people living along the water near the flight schools in Saint-Hubert because of the incessant noise of the planes constantly flying overhead. Despite desperate pleas from those affected and my repeated interventions with the minister, Transport Canada refuses to enforce the flight restrictions that all parties had duly agreed upon. Transport Canada is completely absent on this issue and worse yet, the department has the nerve to tell us, after three months of hemming and hawing, that it has never received an official request on the matter of limiting flying hours. Does the minister find that acceptable?Can he finally commit to providing his support to ensure at the very least that this does not happen again next year?
Mr. Speaker, thanks to this free trade agreement, 17,000 tonnes of European cheese is flooding into our country to compete directly with cheeses made by our own producers, who have been abandoned by the federal government. After promising to compensate our producers for their losses, all the government has done is offer them a feeble modernization program that ran out of money within seven days. The Quebec government is now calling on the federal government to do its job. Will the government commit to meeting the Quebec government's demands and making the program improvements that dairy producers are calling for?
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone deaf they are to what is going on out there.Throughout this week, we have heard countless stories of small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, and their employers who will be devastated by these Liberal tax increases. We know that these tax increases have been designed to specifically protect the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.Why are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance putting their own well-being and self-interest against middle-class Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to having to deal with the botched Phoenix pay system, public servants have now learned that their privacy was breached because of the glitches in this system. Commissioner Therrien found at least 11 privacy breaches, including leaked names, employee numbers and salaries. Enough is enough. The Liberals have mismanaged this file from start to finish. When will the problems with the Phoenix pay system finally be fixed?
Mr. Speaker, energy is Canada's second biggest export. With global oil demand increasing to 121 million barrels a day by 2040, new energy infrastructure is crucial for Canada, but the Liberal chaos, not prices, is putting projects like energy east at risk. Meanwhile, the U.S. is removing red tape, ramping up exports, and rapidly pursuing its energy independence. The Liberal delays, uncertainty, and anti-energy agenda are threatening Canada's position as a global leader.When will the Liberals reduce red tape, kill barriers, and finally show the world that Canada is open for business?
Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem here.Commissioner Buller said, I'm happy to share those [ideas about eliminating obstacles to the process] with the government if and when they ever ask.How can it be that the government has never asked how it might help eliminate obstacles to the success of the inquiry? That is what we all want.When will the government stop paying lip service and actually do something to remove those obstacles in order to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps saying that his tax reform targets the wealthy. The Liberals believe that plumbers, restaurant owners, and florists are millionaires.What planet is the Minister of Finance living on? Guy, an international industrialist from PortneufJacques-Cartier, texted me and said that, when the Liberals' tax reform takes effect, he is going to transfer his company abroad, putting 24 middle-class families out of work. This reform will have major collateral damage for the middle class.Will this government show some respect for these job creators, our SMEs?
Mr. Speaker, we want to uphold NAFTA's track record, but that record shows that Canada is the most sued country under NAFTA's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.Private corporations can sue Canada just because our environmental or health regulations do not suit them, for example. Everyone knows the Liberals tend to favour corporations over Canadians, so can they tell us how having this type of provision in a free trade agreement helps promote democracy, protect Canadians, and keep our environment safe?
Mr. Speaker, for the first time in 35 years, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was forced to close family and civil chambers for a whole day. Real families are facing issues of access, child support, spousal support, and are being hurt by the Liberal government and its inaction. The Conservatives have been calling for action on judicial appointments and with this closure, the Liberals have failed. If the minister cannot get the job done in her own back yard, will the Prime Minister finally take some action and find a minister who will get it done for B.C.?
Mr. Speaker, 95% of small businesses believe that the reform will have a negative impact on them. In Saskatoon yesterday, dozens of people hit the streets to protest a reform that is going to jeopardize their business, their farm, their practice, their retirement, or the transfer of their business to their children.Here is what one of them had to say about the reform proposed by the Minister of Finance:This is take over, it almost feels like we're under attack.How is it fair to protect the private fortunes of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, while raising taxes for small businesses and farms, forcing them to pay more?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition member for her question. I was hoping that I would not be forgotten today and that I would be asked at least one question. This gives me the opportunity to rise for the first time as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and remind the opposition that our government's objective is a fairer tax system.The current system is inherently unfair and allows wealthy Canadians to incorporate so they pay a lower rate of tax than the middle class.We think that we need to keep taxes low for the middle class and SMEs, while asking all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Mr. Speaker, Clearly you are...just the kind of person we need to help move our yardsticks. This is what our Canadian Forces first wrote to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm for a position to assist the troubled Joint Personnel Support Unit. However, this was the response before that veteran wrote to the Prime Minister himself to expose the failure to our most wounded soldiers. He was then turned down. Will the minister confirm that veteran Westholm was canned because he was critical of the Liberal government inaction?
Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not being paid the money they are owed, and resolving this is definitely a priority for our government. We have taken a number of steps toward resolving this issue, including investing $142 million to recruit, hire, and train more employees; initiating emergency pay advances; implementing technological solutions; improving business processes; and taking a whole-of-government approach by creating a working group of ministers.Make no mistake, this will be fixed and we will leave no stone unturned.
Mr. Speaker, recently released documents showed that Global Affairs, diplomats, and our allies were confused by the decision to appoint the Hon. Stéphane Dion as Canada's ambassador to the EU and Canada's ambassador to Germany, a country within the EU. Confusion, hundreds of documents, and months of that have shown that the decision was ill-conceived, and Canada has been looked on poorly by our allies.Canadians know that it is not easy for Mr. Dion to set priorities. Will the minister inform the House whether his priority will be the ambassador to the EU or ambassador to Germany? Which is it?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the third round of NAFTA renegotiations start in Ottawa. Just this week, an Ekos poll found that 76% of Canadians said that we should not accept a bad deal if negotiations result in worse conditions for Canadians and our environment, and 80% said that NAFTA clauses that leave our water vulnerable to export and privatization should be removed. We agree. Bulk exports of our water resources do not serve the public interest.Will the Liberals stand up for Canadians and protect our water?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague that the Liberals will always be on side with farmers. We are listening to them to ensure there will be no unintended consequences.Farm family members can continue working. Farmers will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the G7. They can continue to invest and reinvest in their farms. We want to make sure that this does not affect intergenerational transfers. We are listing to Canadians, we hear what they have to say, and we want to do things properly. Our goal here is to create a fairer tax system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, this summer, seven women's advocacy organizations wrote to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Transport, and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs about losing STC and leaving many people, especially women, vulnerable and stranded. We cannot let the history of B.C.'s Highway of Tears repeat itself in Saskatchewan. The government claimed Greyhound would run service to these communities, but this week Greyhound clearly stated it would not.Without the safe service of the STC, what will the federal government do to protect vulnerable women and girls in Saskatchewan?
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we will always support our small and medium-sized businesses. That is why our tax rate remains the lowest in the G7. We are fully aware of the importance of small businesses, and we want to encourage them to continue stimulating growth in Canada.However, there are still some loopholes in the tax system that unfairly allow some of the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can access tax benefits that are out of reach for the vast majority of middle-class Canadians. That is the problem we want to tackle. That is why we have launched a consultation and tabled proposals. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection and security of employees' personal information seriously.Any time the department experiences an incident, we follow a systematic approach to immediately contain the breach and implement corrective measures, including notifying the Privacy Commissioner and affected employees. This process was followed after privacy breaches related to Phoenix and we have implemented recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Mr. Speaker, Rick, in my riding of Bow River, owns a three-generation farm. He works it with his children and his grandchildren.The Minister of Finance has designed a system by which Rick will pay significantly higher taxes, putting his family's livelihood at risk. Meanwhile, the family fortune of the Prime Minister and the finance minister's family business will not be touched.Is that really fair?
Mr. Speaker, recently I travelled to Embree, a small town in my riding. If members do not know where that is, it is next to Little Burnt Bay; they cannot miss it. It has a population of around 700 people. I had the honour of announcing close to $300,000 in federal money for its water system. After years of neglect, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador government's local MHA, Derek Bennett, to bring the residents an announcement for their drinking water system, which has been a need now for 12 to 15 years. These are the types of investments we are doing, not just for the larger centres but the smallest communities as well. Could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities please comment on that and other small communities across the country?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said that we have been debating the marijuana issue for two years, but the bill was only introduced in the spring.The police are telling us that they cannot enforce the law when it comes to plants grown at home, and that they do not have the specialists required for roadside tests. Even worse, the provinces are complaining every day that they cannot be ready for July 1, 2018.Can the Prime Minister explain why legalizing marijuana is his government's top priority and why he continues to ignore all the experts?
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are listening and that, on this side of the House, we would never, ever, adopt any measures that would put women at a disadvantage relative to men. That is why we are listening to all Canadians to get this right and make sure there are no unintended consequences. Our sole objective is to make our tax system fairer where it needs it.
Mr. Speaker, we were elected on a very clear promise to the middle class. That is why the first thing we did was to raise taxes for the wealthiest 1% and cut them for nine million Canadians. That is why we moved forward with the Canada child benefit, which will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.That is also why we are proposing to make our tax system a little fairer so that a Canadian who earns $300,000 a year and decides to incorporate to save $48,000, the average income in Canada, does not have access to more benefits than the middle class. We want the tax system to be fairer.
Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague agrees with us that the program for northerners and the struggles they have in trying to feed their families are completely unacceptable. That is why our government has expanded the program to include 37 other communities. We have also invested $65 million a year over the next five years.Most importantly, we know that the previous program failed northerners. We intend to get it right this time. We are hoping that we will be able to launch the new initiatives under nutrition north that are culturally sensitive to the people who need the program.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I cannot comment on an individual employment process case, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates possible. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, education is a good equalizer, and today a good post-secondary education is essential to land a good job. However, recent data from Stats Canada shows that going to college or university is now more expensive than ever. Average tuition is now more than $6,500 a year, and that does not include additional fees, books, food, or housing. The Liberal government says it wants to lower the cost of post-secondary, but overall, government investment continues to go down. When will we see tuition fees decrease so that students can afford their education?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that Stéphane Dion has fought long and hard for a better and more just Canada, and he continues to play a key role in advancing Canada's interests abroad in Europe, working with our European partners on this government's progressive international agenda. Ambassador Dion's role demonstrates Canada's commitment to Europe and to Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy. Ambassador Dion will continue the vital and important work of ensuring that Canada's interests and values are shared in the world.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House support family farms. We want them to succeed and prosper. I can assure my colleague that any family members who currently work for the business, for the family farm, will be able to continue doing so. Farmers and business owners will continue to benefit from the lowest tax rate in the G7 and will be able to continue investing and reinvesting in their businesses, in their farms. Our target is not SMEs, it is not farmers; our target is tax fairness.
Mr. Speaker, we will always stand behind our farmers and small business owners. That is why we are maintaining the lowest tax rate in the G7. We recognize how important SMEs are to the Canadian economy. That is all we want, and that is why we have brought forward proposals to create a tax system that is fairer and more equitable, one that asks everyone to pay their fair share, while keeping tax rates low for small businesses and for the middle class. That is our goal, and we are continuing our consultations to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, our government is working with Canadians to make sure that federally regulated aerodrome building projects take the public's safety and interest into account.Thanks to the regulatory changes made by the minister, which are already in place, Canadians can now voice their concerns before the decision to build or modify an aerodrome is made.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that a healthy democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens who have a relationship of trust with an open and transparent government.Next week is Canadas Right to Know Week. Some 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations around the world will celebrate Right to Know Day on September 28.Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us what he is doing to promote government openness and transparency?
Mr. Speaker, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started accepting applications for the program on August 22, 2017.The dairy industry welcomed this program. In fact, its reaction was so positive that the program stopped taking applications on August 29, 2017, probably because all of the funds had been allocated for phase one. Sometime in the next few months, the government will announce when it will start accepting applications for phase two.
Mr. Speaker, the committee overseeing the appointment process for the next official languages commissioner is currently evaluating the applications received. At this point, the official opposition has not yet been consulted. The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes has stated that it is concerned and will wait to see what happens.Will the next commissioner be non-partisan, or will he or she be a Liberal Party donor? How many people have applied? When is the deadline for the evaluation process? Can the government enlighten us on the process that is under way?
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, due to federal privacy laws, I cannot speak to this specific individual employment process, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates for available positions. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, the fact is, our current tax system has some inherent inequities that we want and need to address. That is why we have brought forward these proposals and why we are listening to Canadians. We want to do this right.Yes, it is and was legal, but we do not think it is necessarily fair that someone who makes $300,000 a year can save $48,000 a year simply by creating a private company, especially when that is the average salary in Canada. We think we can do better and we can a have a fairer, more equitable system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to very carefully read the proposals that have been put forward and to share his opinions, because we are in the midst of consultations.However, the SME tax rate, which is the lowest in the G7, remains unchanged. Small businesses will still be able to reinvest in the growth of their companies, which we encourage because we know how important entrepreneurs and small businesses are. Our goal is to make the tax system fairer. That is why we presented the proposals to Canadians and are listening to what they have to say.
Mr. Speaker, the AgriInvest program has been used by Canadian farmers for years as a way to set money aside to manage income decline, support investments, and more. However, while AgriInvest encourages farmers to set this money aside, and it was previously taxed at 15%, under the government's new tax plan, farmers are concerned that these funds could be taxed up to 53%.Does the Minister of Agriculture really think it is fair to ask farmers to set aside money in an AgriInvest account and then turn around and tax these funds at a higher rate? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, I think most Canadians, and certainly Canadian students, know the actions undertaken by this government to help them get that very necessary education they need to provide them jobs of today for the future. Last year, we increased the amount of support for Canadian students by 50% to help those in low and middle-income families. We have helped persons with disabilities and indigenous Canadians by increasing the number of grants they receive. This government is absolutely committed to helping students get that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA's track record is certainly one of economic growth and middle-class job creation.The three countries are firmly committed to modernizing NAFTA. As part of that modernization, we are in the process of reviewing chapter 11, which is being negotiated as we speak. We have the opportunity to improve an agreement that is good for Canada, and that is what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, in brief, yes we will. We welcome the modernization of NAFTA in support of our middle class. Our overarching objectives are clear: to protect NAFTA's record of job creation and growth and, of course, to introduce contemporary progressive policies. By the way, the Americans and the Mexicans both support this idea.Vis-à-vis the water, absolutely. We will uphold the elements of NAFTA that are key to our national interests both now and in the future.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House recognize that small and medium enterprises are crucial to the vitality of the Canadian economy. That is why the small business tax rate, the lowest in the G7, is not changing. We are on side with farmers. We are on side with small businesses. We have their backs. We want to make our tax system a little fairer.That is why we put forward our proposals and why we are holding consultations about those proposals now. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we are doing things properly. We are not trying to go after small businesses or the middle class. All we want is a fairer tax system.
Mr. Speaker, Rick and Paul, from Woodville, Ontario, own a family farm, where margins are already tight and the financial risks are high. To make matters worse, the finance minister is planning a system where farmers like Rick and Paul will pay significantly higher taxes and might not be able to pass on their farm to the next generation.Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's system will protect his family fortune and that of the Prime Minister. How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to do his job.His job is to take the taxes we pay and to automatically transfer them to Quebec so that we can build our roads, schools, and hospitals. It is not to set conditions and conduct negotiations that slow everything down. It is not his job to create a bank to privatize our infrastructure.When it comes right down to it, the minister's job is to do as little harm as possible, but is he capable of doing that?
Mr. Speaker, essentially, what we want is to make sure that our artists have the support they need.That is what our government is doing. We have allocated $22 million to Telefilm Canada, $13.5 million to the National Film Board, and $550 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. Those are tangible actions that support our artists without further taxing the middle class.
That is the CETA that was negotiated by the former government.The objective of the AgriInvest program states that it encourages producers to set money aside which can be used to recover from small income shortfalls, or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. For years it has allowed farmers to get by when times are tough or to make investments to save up for costly equipment. Does the minister really think it is fair to encourage farmers to open these accounts, previously taxed at 15%, and to now tax these funds at almost 53%? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, Françoise and Gordon are the owners of a company that provides agricultural services. They have worked hard all their lives, 10 hours a day, every day, and employed some 30 people in that time. Why should they have to pay higher taxes once they reach their well-earned retirement? Why has the Minister of Finance designed a system that will force Françoise and Gordon to pay a lot more taxes, while the Prime Minister's family fortune and the Minister of Finance's family business are left untouched? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, under the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act, the federal government has delegated the economic regulation of interprovincial bus carriers in federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories, including establishing conditions of entry or exit, and regulating rates and routes of interprovincial bus carriers. Intercity bus services within Canada, such as Greyhound, operate on a commercial basis with no support from the federal government. Nonetheless, our government encourages Greyhound to continue consulting with indigenous groups, stakeholders, provinces, and territories.
Mr. Speaker, in our discussions with the commissioners, they made the point that the process in which they are engaged is one that will require tremendous sensitivity.They are progressing on a road that we have not progressed on before, and they find it very much a priority that they do this appropriately and in a culturally respectful way. That is what has been happening.As a government, we have been lending them the support they need. We have been there to support them in this process. I think it goes without saying that this is a priority for our government. It is a priority for us that we respond to the needs of families, and we intend to do that.
Qujannamiik uqaqti, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Since last fall, I have visited 23 of Nunavut's 25 communities. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my constituents face to face. What I heard unanimously were concerns about the nutrition north program. Since the release of the What we heard report five months ago, people in my riding have been patiently waiting for the changes recommended in the report. Can the minister inform the House when Nunavummiut can finally expect these changes to be implemented? Qujannamiik uqaqti.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we signed the economic agreement, which will help boost exports to the tune of $1.5 billion. What is more, we have secured $2 billion in canola exports to China and we also secured access to the beef market in China and Mexico.We will continue to work on expanding markets. We are investing $350 million in modernizing Canada's dairy industry, we invested $100 million in agricultural science and innovation, and we invested $27 million in programs to combat greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. That is what our government has done.
Mr. Speaker, we believe in a competitive and sustainable energy sector, and the good projects must go ahead with the full confidence of Canadians. That is why we have approved pipelines in energy infrastructure projects that create tens of thousands of jobs while, at the same time, protecting our oceans, pricing carbon pollution, and working in partnership with our indigenous peoples. TransCanada's request is a business decision. The proponent develops its project application in a business environment where factors like the price of oil do change. We are committed to ensuring that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.
Mr. Speaker, developing Canada's early learning and child care system is one of the most crucial investments a government can make. I am pleased that shortly before the House rose in June, our government announced a historic framework agreement with the provinces and territories on early learning and child care. The agreement builds on investments announced previously in budgets 2016 and 2017 that support and create more child care spots across the country. Could the government advise the House on the progress in implementing the framework with the provinces and territories to improve the lives of Canadian children?
Mr. Speaker, energy east is a $15.7-billion project that would create thousands of jobs for all of Canada, but it is at risk, all because the Liberals keep changing the rules. In January 2016, the Liberals said that they might require emissions testing for energy approvals with no details, yet last month, TransCanada was blindsided by the NEB's sudden direction to do so a year and a half into the new review for energy east. Obviously, we are two years into reviews of reviews, no clarity, no confidence, and no end in sight.When will the Liberals be clear to investors and finally champion Canadian energy?
Mr. Speaker, as a former page of the House of Commons myself, I would like to begin by welcoming the new cohort of pages that we are lucky to have here with us. I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. Our plan will give Canadian children the best possible start in life and provide support to families who need it most. We have now signed agreements with Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. We are working very hard to achieve similar outcomes with other provincial and territorial partners. With each agreement we are getting closer to achieving our goal of affordable, high-quality, and fully-inclusive child care for all Canadian children and families.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the open and transparent judicial appointment process with which our government is continuing to proceed. With respect to judicial appointments, I have had the opportunity to appoint 109 superior court justices across the country, including 22 deputy judges in the north. I am going to continue to appoint judges to fill the vacancies across the country, vacancies that are filled by a diversity of Canadians who reflect the best we have to offer. I am going to continue to fill the vacancies in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that agrifood is one of the most important sectors for Canada's economy. We are making investments in agricultural research, and we consistently stand up for the agrifood sector, both domestically and internationally. What we are proposing today is a fairer tax system. That is why we have come up with proposals that will not affect small farms run by middle-class families. All we are trying to do is correct certain inequities in our current tax system.
Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on delivering results for Canadian farmers.We tabled a budget that treats agriculture as one of Canada's key industries and that sets a target of $75 billion in exports. We improved the grains legislation with Bill C-49, something the previous government never did. We signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will help boost agricultural exports to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. That is what our government has done for agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection of the personal privacy of Canadians extremely seriously, which is why we proactively reached out to the Privacy Commissioner to answer any questions he might have had. We thank him for his very thorough report and we accept those recommendations unconditionally. MyDemocracy.ca engaged Canadians in a national conversation in which individual responses that were received online remained anonymous. Paragraph 43 of the summary of investigation notes that the Privacy Commissioner found no evidence that individual responses to the MyDemocracy survey questions were disclosed to third parties. We will continue to protect and uphold the privacy of Canadians as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to once again remind the House that we have been able to do what the Harper Conservatives could not get done in a decade. We have approved infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and many of them indeed in Alberta. Projects include Nova Gas Transmission pipeline, 3,000 jobs; Line 3 replacement projects, 7,000 jobs; Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, 15,440 jobs; Keystone XL pipeline, 6,440; Arnaud apatite mine, 910; Woodfibre LNG, 700 jobs; and I could go on and on. These projects
Mr. Speaker, we are engaged on this file, we have listened to farmers and we have met with agricultural representatives. I can assure my colleague that we will take their perspectives into account as we move forward and come up with our plan.Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding all unintended consequences for our farmers. I want to assure my colleague that our government will not change any tax benefits that support the growth of family-owned businesses.
Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports the supply management system, dairy producers and their families, and Canada's entire dairy industry.We are the party that fought to bring in supply management, and we will continue to defend it. The economic agreement will drive growth and opportunity for Canadian farmers and boost our agricultural exports by over $1.5 billion per year. I am proud of the $350 million we invested to help dairy producers and processors modernize their facilities and give them a competitive edge.
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role as official languages critic. Our two official languages are at the heart of Canada's history and identity. They are a priority for us. With regard to appointments, our government is committed to a process that is rigorous, open, and transparent, and to finding the best candidate for each position.The role of Commissioner of Official Languages is very important. We are confident that the nominee will have all the required qualifications.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa WestNepean for her question.As we head into Canada's Right to Know Week, today, we are debating Bill C-58, the first major reform of the Access to Information Act in 30 years. Recently, our leadership was internationally recognized when I accepted the role of co-chair of the Open Government Partnership on behalf of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that yesterday all the provincial and territorial ministers came together to talk about the historic investments we are making in infrastructure. In the case of Quebec, we have approved 424 projects, with a federal investment of $1.6 billion. We are approving $1.28 billion for the REM project in Montreal. These are top priorities for the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal. We will continue to work in partnership with the province to deliver on the commitments we have made.
Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to be investing in communities of all sizes, including $2 billion dedicated funding for small communities. Last month, we announced more than $11 million for 77 projects in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador to provide clean water, and recreational and cultural amenities. We will continue to work with our partners to make these investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians small business owners and their employees are worried because the Liberal government is calling them spoiled rich people who use their businesses to avoid paying taxes. All week, the Minister of Finance has been trying to demonize these men and women by suggesting that they are tax cheats.This despite the fact that Canadian small businesses are the reason Canada was able to withstand the last economic crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance punishing them for things that his own Prime Minister has done to shelter his family fortune without creating a single job? That is not fair.
Mr. Speaker, Chris Neal is a chartered accountant employing five people in Saint John. He fears the Liberals' proposed tax plans could hurt his small business and has called the Liberal rhetoric on this highly insulting. Chris is not alone. Over 50 small businesses in New Brunswick have joined a coalition opposed to the Liberal tax plan. Supporters of the coalition include the Liberal MPs for Saint JohnRothesay and AcadieBathurst.If the Prime Minister will not listen to small businesses in New Brunswick, will he at least listen to the members of his own caucus and stop this Liberal tax grab?
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member just said is both false and fallacious.We are not raising taxes for small businesses. Their tax rate remains unchanged and is the lowest in the G7. We support our SMEs. We are not attacking small businesses or farmers. Our only goal is tax fairness. That is what we are trying to accomplish, and that is why we are holding consultations on our proposals in order to make sure we are doing things right.
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. What police forces actually said was that they needed access to the resources and the training in order to do the job. Our government has responded. We have committed $274 million to ensure they have what they need to do the job.The cost of delay is continued jeopardy to our children who are using cannabis at the highest rate of any country in the world and billions of dollars more to organized crime. That is unacceptable to us; we believe it is unacceptable to all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to think that throwing money at the problem is going to fix it. Well, so far, it is not working. Not only has the Privacy Commissioner found 11 cases in which employees names and salaries have been leaked, but we also learned this week that the cost to fix Phoenix has now tripled and that has still not been fixed. The NDP has repeatedly demanded that the government fix the issue and there is no end in sight.Does the government actually have a plan or just a box of Band-Aids?
Mr. Speaker, over the summer I met with families across Saskatchewan that raised concerns with how the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is offloading some responsibility onto community-based organizations. With cuts to the STC, it is almost impossible for families to reach the inquiry's registration, community meetings, and hearings.If a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people is the most important relationship to this Prime Minister, why is he not removing all barriers to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, these changes at not fair and they are hurting the middle class.Serious concerns have been raised by experts, business leaders, and small business owners, not just by us but by experts in Canada. These are not frivolous complaints. They are legitimate questions.However, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister just do not care. They are arrogantly ignoring these real worries and real questions.When will they admit that this tax increase is a terrible idea? It is unfair and it needs to stop.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the Liberal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca, was a privacy nightmare. The Privacy Commissioner reports that the website automatically disclosed IP addresses, web activities, opinions, and lifestyle data from the 360,000 participants without their consent, to third parties such as Facebook. For months we asked the Liberals about this issue and they said that everything was just peachy. Were they lying to Canadians or was this just their usual incompetence?
Mr. Speaker, retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm used to volunteer to help his fellow soldiers who were dealing with operational injuries. At first, the door was wide open to him at the Canadian Forces. However, when he wrote to the Prime Minister to complain about how our flawed system is failing our most seriously injured vets, the Canadian Forces slammed the door in this face.Whether on mefloquine or our seriously injured soldiers, the Liberals turn a blind eye and ignore the facts. Why the cover up? Why shoot the messenger? Veterans do not want selfies, they want action.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with the commissioners from the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry in Canada and to hear first-hand from the commissioners about the work they are doing.Our government has launched a truly national and independent inquiry. At the heart of that inquiry are the families that have been affected and those who have been victimized through the process. The inquiry has told us, the commissioners have told us, that they have a plan, that they are dedicated to learning and adapting as the inquiry progresses and to finding the solutions to address the families' needs.
Mr. Speaker, my constituent Lana wrote: As a young woman with a professional corporation...I know first hand how hard I have to work to earn every penny that I make.... No maternity leave, no sick days, no overtime, no bonuses, no paid vacation time, no pension, variable income between pay checks, and so on.... these...changes will make it even more difficult for us. Why do the Liberals want Lana to pay significantly more in taxes, while the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will not be touched? How is that fair to Lana?
Mr. Speaker, when they stand behind those small businesses, they put a knife in their back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Dorothy Keating, chair of the St. John's Board of Trade, said that her members were extremely disappointed after meeting with the finance minister. She likened the Liberal tax plan to building a leaky boat and promising to fix it only after putting it in the water. Will it take a full mutiny of his own caucus for the Prime Minister to realize his plan to raise taxes on small business just will not float?
Mr. Speaker, the Union des producteurs agricoles, the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and Quebec's minister of agriculture all criticized the funding shortfall in the Minister of International Trade's plan to help dairy producers, yet he had the nerve to say that the reason the program ended after just one week was that it worked so well.To farmers in my riding and all across Quebec, that is outrageous. The program ended because there was not enough money.Does the minister even listen when dairy producers tell him that the program is not good enough?
Mr. Speaker, this consultation is happening during the harvest season. Farmers feed Canada, and in my riding, Gerald Finster is one of these farmers. He and his family work hard, and their fortunes are tied up in their family farm. Now the Liberals want to tax these farm families even more. Farmers like Gerald are being put in a tight spot. While crushing our food producers with unbearable taxes, how is it fair that the finance minister's family fortune is sheltered from these new taxes? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, former Liberal finance minister John Manley is saying that the damage is already being done. Manley says business owners are moving assets outside of Canada to avoid these Liberal tax hikes. In his words: You wont know about it because theyre not going to buy ads or report ittheyll just go. Since we know that the Minister of Finance is not listening or believing middle-class Canadians, will he at least believe John Manley and scrap these devastating tax increases?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will be unveiling her Canadian cultural policy next Thursday, and there is every indication that it will be at odds with Quebec's needs.If Ottawa does not want to tax Netflix, Quebec will. European states and Quebec will step up in the new digital environment to protect their culture, their artists, and their authors. Canada, in contrast, is counting on the free market, which will do nothing to protect Quebec culture.If the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not interested in protecting and promoting culture, then what exactly is her role?
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, most people will be having fun in the sun, but not the people living along the water near the flight schools in Saint-Hubert because of the incessant noise of the planes constantly flying overhead. Despite desperate pleas from those affected and my repeated interventions with the minister, Transport Canada refuses to enforce the flight restrictions that all parties had duly agreed upon. Transport Canada is completely absent on this issue and worse yet, the department has the nerve to tell us, after three months of hemming and hawing, that it has never received an official request on the matter of limiting flying hours. Does the minister find that acceptable?Can he finally commit to providing his support to ensure at the very least that this does not happen again next year?
Mr. Speaker, thanks to this free trade agreement, 17,000 tonnes of European cheese is flooding into our country to compete directly with cheeses made by our own producers, who have been abandoned by the federal government. After promising to compensate our producers for their losses, all the government has done is offer them a feeble modernization program that ran out of money within seven days. The Quebec government is now calling on the federal government to do its job. Will the government commit to meeting the Quebec government's demands and making the program improvements that dairy producers are calling for?
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone deaf they are to what is going on out there.Throughout this week, we have heard countless stories of small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, and their employers who will be devastated by these Liberal tax increases. We know that these tax increases have been designed to specifically protect the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.Why are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance putting their own well-being and self-interest against middle-class Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to having to deal with the botched Phoenix pay system, public servants have now learned that their privacy was breached because of the glitches in this system. Commissioner Therrien found at least 11 privacy breaches, including leaked names, employee numbers and salaries. Enough is enough. The Liberals have mismanaged this file from start to finish. When will the problems with the Phoenix pay system finally be fixed?
Mr. Speaker, energy is Canada's second biggest export. With global oil demand increasing to 121 million barrels a day by 2040, new energy infrastructure is crucial for Canada, but the Liberal chaos, not prices, is putting projects like energy east at risk. Meanwhile, the U.S. is removing red tape, ramping up exports, and rapidly pursuing its energy independence. The Liberal delays, uncertainty, and anti-energy agenda are threatening Canada's position as a global leader.When will the Liberals reduce red tape, kill barriers, and finally show the world that Canada is open for business?
Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem here.Commissioner Buller said, I'm happy to share those [ideas about eliminating obstacles to the process] with the government if and when they ever ask.How can it be that the government has never asked how it might help eliminate obstacles to the success of the inquiry? That is what we all want.When will the government stop paying lip service and actually do something to remove those obstacles in order to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps saying that his tax reform targets the wealthy. The Liberals believe that plumbers, restaurant owners, and florists are millionaires.What planet is the Minister of Finance living on? Guy, an international industrialist from PortneufJacques-Cartier, texted me and said that, when the Liberals' tax reform takes effect, he is going to transfer his company abroad, putting 24 middle-class families out of work. This reform will have major collateral damage for the middle class.Will this government show some respect for these job creators, our SMEs?
Mr. Speaker, we want to uphold NAFTA's track record, but that record shows that Canada is the most sued country under NAFTA's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.Private corporations can sue Canada just because our environmental or health regulations do not suit them, for example. Everyone knows the Liberals tend to favour corporations over Canadians, so can they tell us how having this type of provision in a free trade agreement helps promote democracy, protect Canadians, and keep our environment safe?
Mr. Speaker, for the first time in 35 years, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was forced to close family and civil chambers for a whole day. Real families are facing issues of access, child support, spousal support, and are being hurt by the Liberal government and its inaction. The Conservatives have been calling for action on judicial appointments and with this closure, the Liberals have failed. If the minister cannot get the job done in her own back yard, will the Prime Minister finally take some action and find a minister who will get it done for B.C.?
Mr. Speaker, 95% of small businesses believe that the reform will have a negative impact on them. In Saskatoon yesterday, dozens of people hit the streets to protest a reform that is going to jeopardize their business, their farm, their practice, their retirement, or the transfer of their business to their children.Here is what one of them had to say about the reform proposed by the Minister of Finance:This is take over, it almost feels like we're under attack.How is it fair to protect the private fortunes of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, while raising taxes for small businesses and farms, forcing them to pay more?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition member for her question. I was hoping that I would not be forgotten today and that I would be asked at least one question. This gives me the opportunity to rise for the first time as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and remind the opposition that our government's objective is a fairer tax system.The current system is inherently unfair and allows wealthy Canadians to incorporate so they pay a lower rate of tax than the middle class.We think that we need to keep taxes low for the middle class and SMEs, while asking all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Mr. Speaker, Clearly you are...just the kind of person we need to help move our yardsticks. This is what our Canadian Forces first wrote to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm for a position to assist the troubled Joint Personnel Support Unit. However, this was the response before that veteran wrote to the Prime Minister himself to expose the failure to our most wounded soldiers. He was then turned down. Will the minister confirm that veteran Westholm was canned because he was critical of the Liberal government inaction?
Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not being paid the money they are owed, and resolving this is definitely a priority for our government. We have taken a number of steps toward resolving this issue, including investing $142 million to recruit, hire, and train more employees; initiating emergency pay advances; implementing technological solutions; improving business processes; and taking a whole-of-government approach by creating a working group of ministers.Make no mistake, this will be fixed and we will leave no stone unturned.
Mr. Speaker, recently released documents showed that Global Affairs, diplomats, and our allies were confused by the decision to appoint the Hon. Stéphane Dion as Canada's ambassador to the EU and Canada's ambassador to Germany, a country within the EU. Confusion, hundreds of documents, and months of that have shown that the decision was ill-conceived, and Canada has been looked on poorly by our allies.Canadians know that it is not easy for Mr. Dion to set priorities. Will the minister inform the House whether his priority will be the ambassador to the EU or ambassador to Germany? Which is it?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the third round of NAFTA renegotiations start in Ottawa. Just this week, an Ekos poll found that 76% of Canadians said that we should not accept a bad deal if negotiations result in worse conditions for Canadians and our environment, and 80% said that NAFTA clauses that leave our water vulnerable to export and privatization should be removed. We agree. Bulk exports of our water resources do not serve the public interest.Will the Liberals stand up for Canadians and protect our water?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague that the Liberals will always be on side with farmers. We are listening to them to ensure there will be no unintended consequences.Farm family members can continue working. Farmers will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the G7. They can continue to invest and reinvest in their farms. We want to make sure that this does not affect intergenerational transfers. We are listing to Canadians, we hear what they have to say, and we want to do things properly. Our goal here is to create a fairer tax system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, this summer, seven women's advocacy organizations wrote to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Transport, and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs about losing STC and leaving many people, especially women, vulnerable and stranded. We cannot let the history of B.C.'s Highway of Tears repeat itself in Saskatchewan. The government claimed Greyhound would run service to these communities, but this week Greyhound clearly stated it would not.Without the safe service of the STC, what will the federal government do to protect vulnerable women and girls in Saskatchewan?
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we will always support our small and medium-sized businesses. That is why our tax rate remains the lowest in the G7. We are fully aware of the importance of small businesses, and we want to encourage them to continue stimulating growth in Canada.However, there are still some loopholes in the tax system that unfairly allow some of the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can access tax benefits that are out of reach for the vast majority of middle-class Canadians. That is the problem we want to tackle. That is why we have launched a consultation and tabled proposals. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection and security of employees' personal information seriously.Any time the department experiences an incident, we follow a systematic approach to immediately contain the breach and implement corrective measures, including notifying the Privacy Commissioner and affected employees. This process was followed after privacy breaches related to Phoenix and we have implemented recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Mr. Speaker, Rick, in my riding of Bow River, owns a three-generation farm. He works it with his children and his grandchildren.The Minister of Finance has designed a system by which Rick will pay significantly higher taxes, putting his family's livelihood at risk. Meanwhile, the family fortune of the Prime Minister and the finance minister's family business will not be touched.Is that really fair?
Mr. Speaker, recently I travelled to Embree, a small town in my riding. If members do not know where that is, it is next to Little Burnt Bay; they cannot miss it. It has a population of around 700 people. I had the honour of announcing close to $300,000 in federal money for its water system. After years of neglect, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador government's local MHA, Derek Bennett, to bring the residents an announcement for their drinking water system, which has been a need now for 12 to 15 years. These are the types of investments we are doing, not just for the larger centres but the smallest communities as well. Could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities please comment on that and other small communities across the country?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said that we have been debating the marijuana issue for two years, but the bill was only introduced in the spring.The police are telling us that they cannot enforce the law when it comes to plants grown at home, and that they do not have the specialists required for roadside tests. Even worse, the provinces are complaining every day that they cannot be ready for July 1, 2018.Can the Prime Minister explain why legalizing marijuana is his government's top priority and why he continues to ignore all the experts?
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are listening and that, on this side of the House, we would never, ever, adopt any measures that would put women at a disadvantage relative to men. That is why we are listening to all Canadians to get this right and make sure there are no unintended consequences. Our sole objective is to make our tax system fairer where it needs it.
Mr. Speaker, we were elected on a very clear promise to the middle class. That is why the first thing we did was to raise taxes for the wealthiest 1% and cut them for nine million Canadians. That is why we moved forward with the Canada child benefit, which will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.That is also why we are proposing to make our tax system a little fairer so that a Canadian who earns $300,000 a year and decides to incorporate to save $48,000, the average income in Canada, does not have access to more benefits than the middle class. We want the tax system to be fairer.
Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague agrees with us that the program for northerners and the struggles they have in trying to feed their families are completely unacceptable. That is why our government has expanded the program to include 37 other communities. We have also invested $65 million a year over the next five years.Most importantly, we know that the previous program failed northerners. We intend to get it right this time. We are hoping that we will be able to launch the new initiatives under nutrition north that are culturally sensitive to the people who need the program.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I cannot comment on an individual employment process case, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates possible. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, education is a good equalizer, and today a good post-secondary education is essential to land a good job. However, recent data from Stats Canada shows that going to college or university is now more expensive than ever. Average tuition is now more than $6,500 a year, and that does not include additional fees, books, food, or housing. The Liberal government says it wants to lower the cost of post-secondary, but overall, government investment continues to go down. When will we see tuition fees decrease so that students can afford their education?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that Stéphane Dion has fought long and hard for a better and more just Canada, and he continues to play a key role in advancing Canada's interests abroad in Europe, working with our European partners on this government's progressive international agenda. Ambassador Dion's role demonstrates Canada's commitment to Europe and to Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy. Ambassador Dion will continue the vital and important work of ensuring that Canada's interests and values are shared in the world.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House support family farms. We want them to succeed and prosper. I can assure my colleague that any family members who currently work for the business, for the family farm, will be able to continue doing so. Farmers and business owners will continue to benefit from the lowest tax rate in the G7 and will be able to continue investing and reinvesting in their businesses, in their farms. Our target is not SMEs, it is not farmers; our target is tax fairness.
Mr. Speaker, we will always stand behind our farmers and small business owners. That is why we are maintaining the lowest tax rate in the G7. We recognize how important SMEs are to the Canadian economy. That is all we want, and that is why we have brought forward proposals to create a tax system that is fairer and more equitable, one that asks everyone to pay their fair share, while keeping tax rates low for small businesses and for the middle class. That is our goal, and we are continuing our consultations to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, our government is working with Canadians to make sure that federally regulated aerodrome building projects take the public's safety and interest into account.Thanks to the regulatory changes made by the minister, which are already in place, Canadians can now voice their concerns before the decision to build or modify an aerodrome is made.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that a healthy democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens who have a relationship of trust with an open and transparent government.Next week is Canadas Right to Know Week. Some 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations around the world will celebrate Right to Know Day on September 28.Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us what he is doing to promote government openness and transparency?
Mr. Speaker, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started accepting applications for the program on August 22, 2017.The dairy industry welcomed this program. In fact, its reaction was so positive that the program stopped taking applications on August 29, 2017, probably because all of the funds had been allocated for phase one. Sometime in the next few months, the government will announce when it will start accepting applications for phase two.
Mr. Speaker, the committee overseeing the appointment process for the next official languages commissioner is currently evaluating the applications received. At this point, the official opposition has not yet been consulted. The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes has stated that it is concerned and will wait to see what happens.Will the next commissioner be non-partisan, or will he or she be a Liberal Party donor? How many people have applied? When is the deadline for the evaluation process? Can the government enlighten us on the process that is under way?
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, due to federal privacy laws, I cannot speak to this specific individual employment process, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates for available positions. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, the fact is, our current tax system has some inherent inequities that we want and need to address. That is why we have brought forward these proposals and why we are listening to Canadians. We want to do this right.Yes, it is and was legal, but we do not think it is necessarily fair that someone who makes $300,000 a year can save $48,000 a year simply by creating a private company, especially when that is the average salary in Canada. We think we can do better and we can a have a fairer, more equitable system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to very carefully read the proposals that have been put forward and to share his opinions, because we are in the midst of consultations.However, the SME tax rate, which is the lowest in the G7, remains unchanged. Small businesses will still be able to reinvest in the growth of their companies, which we encourage because we know how important entrepreneurs and small businesses are. Our goal is to make the tax system fairer. That is why we presented the proposals to Canadians and are listening to what they have to say.
Mr. Speaker, the AgriInvest program has been used by Canadian farmers for years as a way to set money aside to manage income decline, support investments, and more. However, while AgriInvest encourages farmers to set this money aside, and it was previously taxed at 15%, under the government's new tax plan, farmers are concerned that these funds could be taxed up to 53%.Does the Minister of Agriculture really think it is fair to ask farmers to set aside money in an AgriInvest account and then turn around and tax these funds at a higher rate? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, I think most Canadians, and certainly Canadian students, know the actions undertaken by this government to help them get that very necessary education they need to provide them jobs of today for the future. Last year, we increased the amount of support for Canadian students by 50% to help those in low and middle-income families. We have helped persons with disabilities and indigenous Canadians by increasing the number of grants they receive. This government is absolutely committed to helping students get that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA's track record is certainly one of economic growth and middle-class job creation.The three countries are firmly committed to modernizing NAFTA. As part of that modernization, we are in the process of reviewing chapter 11, which is being negotiated as we speak. We have the opportunity to improve an agreement that is good for Canada, and that is what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, in brief, yes we will. We welcome the modernization of NAFTA in support of our middle class. Our overarching objectives are clear: to protect NAFTA's record of job creation and growth and, of course, to introduce contemporary progressive policies. By the way, the Americans and the Mexicans both support this idea.Vis-à-vis the water, absolutely. We will uphold the elements of NAFTA that are key to our national interests both now and in the future.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House recognize that small and medium enterprises are crucial to the vitality of the Canadian economy. That is why the small business tax rate, the lowest in the G7, is not changing. We are on side with farmers. We are on side with small businesses. We have their backs. We want to make our tax system a little fairer.That is why we put forward our proposals and why we are holding consultations about those proposals now. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we are doing things properly. We are not trying to go after small businesses or the middle class. All we want is a fairer tax system.
Mr. Speaker, Rick and Paul, from Woodville, Ontario, own a family farm, where margins are already tight and the financial risks are high. To make matters worse, the finance minister is planning a system where farmers like Rick and Paul will pay significantly higher taxes and might not be able to pass on their farm to the next generation.Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's system will protect his family fortune and that of the Prime Minister. How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to do his job.His job is to take the taxes we pay and to automatically transfer them to Quebec so that we can build our roads, schools, and hospitals. It is not to set conditions and conduct negotiations that slow everything down. It is not his job to create a bank to privatize our infrastructure.When it comes right down to it, the minister's job is to do as little harm as possible, but is he capable of doing that?
Mr. Speaker, essentially, what we want is to make sure that our artists have the support they need.That is what our government is doing. We have allocated $22 million to Telefilm Canada, $13.5 million to the National Film Board, and $550 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. Those are tangible actions that support our artists without further taxing the middle class.
That is the CETA that was negotiated by the former government.The objective of the AgriInvest program states that it encourages producers to set money aside which can be used to recover from small income shortfalls, or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. For years it has allowed farmers to get by when times are tough or to make investments to save up for costly equipment. Does the minister really think it is fair to encourage farmers to open these accounts, previously taxed at 15%, and to now tax these funds at almost 53%? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, Françoise and Gordon are the owners of a company that provides agricultural services. They have worked hard all their lives, 10 hours a day, every day, and employed some 30 people in that time. Why should they have to pay higher taxes once they reach their well-earned retirement? Why has the Minister of Finance designed a system that will force Françoise and Gordon to pay a lot more taxes, while the Prime Minister's family fortune and the Minister of Finance's family business are left untouched? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, under the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act, the federal government has delegated the economic regulation of interprovincial bus carriers in federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories, including establishing conditions of entry or exit, and regulating rates and routes of interprovincial bus carriers. Intercity bus services within Canada, such as Greyhound, operate on a commercial basis with no support from the federal government. Nonetheless, our government encourages Greyhound to continue consulting with indigenous groups, stakeholders, provinces, and territories.
Mr. Speaker, in our discussions with the commissioners, they made the point that the process in which they are engaged is one that will require tremendous sensitivity.They are progressing on a road that we have not progressed on before, and they find it very much a priority that they do this appropriately and in a culturally respectful way. That is what has been happening.As a government, we have been lending them the support they need. We have been there to support them in this process. I think it goes without saying that this is a priority for our government. It is a priority for us that we respond to the needs of families, and we intend to do that.
Qujannamiik uqaqti, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Since last fall, I have visited 23 of Nunavut's 25 communities. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my constituents face to face. What I heard unanimously were concerns about the nutrition north program. Since the release of the What we heard report five months ago, people in my riding have been patiently waiting for the changes recommended in the report. Can the minister inform the House when Nunavummiut can finally expect these changes to be implemented? Qujannamiik uqaqti.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we signed the economic agreement, which will help boost exports to the tune of $1.5 billion. What is more, we have secured $2 billion in canola exports to China and we also secured access to the beef market in China and Mexico.We will continue to work on expanding markets. We are investing $350 million in modernizing Canada's dairy industry, we invested $100 million in agricultural science and innovation, and we invested $27 million in programs to combat greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. That is what our government has done.
Mr. Speaker, we believe in a competitive and sustainable energy sector, and the good projects must go ahead with the full confidence of Canadians. That is why we have approved pipelines in energy infrastructure projects that create tens of thousands of jobs while, at the same time, protecting our oceans, pricing carbon pollution, and working in partnership with our indigenous peoples. TransCanada's request is a business decision. The proponent develops its project application in a business environment where factors like the price of oil do change. We are committed to ensuring that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.
Mr. Speaker, developing Canada's early learning and child care system is one of the most crucial investments a government can make. I am pleased that shortly before the House rose in June, our government announced a historic framework agreement with the provinces and territories on early learning and child care. The agreement builds on investments announced previously in budgets 2016 and 2017 that support and create more child care spots across the country. Could the government advise the House on the progress in implementing the framework with the provinces and territories to improve the lives of Canadian children?
Mr. Speaker, energy east is a $15.7-billion project that would create thousands of jobs for all of Canada, but it is at risk, all because the Liberals keep changing the rules. In January 2016, the Liberals said that they might require emissions testing for energy approvals with no details, yet last month, TransCanada was blindsided by the NEB's sudden direction to do so a year and a half into the new review for energy east. Obviously, we are two years into reviews of reviews, no clarity, no confidence, and no end in sight.When will the Liberals be clear to investors and finally champion Canadian energy?
Mr. Speaker, as a former page of the House of Commons myself, I would like to begin by welcoming the new cohort of pages that we are lucky to have here with us. I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. Our plan will give Canadian children the best possible start in life and provide support to families who need it most. We have now signed agreements with Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. We are working very hard to achieve similar outcomes with other provincial and territorial partners. With each agreement we are getting closer to achieving our goal of affordable, high-quality, and fully-inclusive child care for all Canadian children and families.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the open and transparent judicial appointment process with which our government is continuing to proceed. With respect to judicial appointments, I have had the opportunity to appoint 109 superior court justices across the country, including 22 deputy judges in the north. I am going to continue to appoint judges to fill the vacancies across the country, vacancies that are filled by a diversity of Canadians who reflect the best we have to offer. I am going to continue to fill the vacancies in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that agrifood is one of the most important sectors for Canada's economy. We are making investments in agricultural research, and we consistently stand up for the agrifood sector, both domestically and internationally. What we are proposing today is a fairer tax system. That is why we have come up with proposals that will not affect small farms run by middle-class families. All we are trying to do is correct certain inequities in our current tax system.
Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on delivering results for Canadian farmers.We tabled a budget that treats agriculture as one of Canada's key industries and that sets a target of $75 billion in exports. We improved the grains legislation with Bill C-49, something the previous government never did. We signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will help boost agricultural exports to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. That is what our government has done for agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection of the personal privacy of Canadians extremely seriously, which is why we proactively reached out to the Privacy Commissioner to answer any questions he might have had. We thank him for his very thorough report and we accept those recommendations unconditionally. MyDemocracy.ca engaged Canadians in a national conversation in which individual responses that were received online remained anonymous. Paragraph 43 of the summary of investigation notes that the Privacy Commissioner found no evidence that individual responses to the MyDemocracy survey questions were disclosed to third parties. We will continue to protect and uphold the privacy of Canadians as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to once again remind the House that we have been able to do what the Harper Conservatives could not get done in a decade. We have approved infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and many of them indeed in Alberta. Projects include Nova Gas Transmission pipeline, 3,000 jobs; Line 3 replacement projects, 7,000 jobs; Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, 15,440 jobs; Keystone XL pipeline, 6,440; Arnaud apatite mine, 910; Woodfibre LNG, 700 jobs; and I could go on and on. These projects
Mr. Speaker, we are engaged on this file, we have listened to farmers and we have met with agricultural representatives. I can assure my colleague that we will take their perspectives into account as we move forward and come up with our plan.Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding all unintended consequences for our farmers. I want to assure my colleague that our government will not change any tax benefits that support the growth of family-owned businesses.
Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports the supply management system, dairy producers and their families, and Canada's entire dairy industry.We are the party that fought to bring in supply management, and we will continue to defend it. The economic agreement will drive growth and opportunity for Canadian farmers and boost our agricultural exports by over $1.5 billion per year. I am proud of the $350 million we invested to help dairy producers and processors modernize their facilities and give them a competitive edge.
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role as official languages critic. Our two official languages are at the heart of Canada's history and identity. They are a priority for us. With regard to appointments, our government is committed to a process that is rigorous, open, and transparent, and to finding the best candidate for each position.The role of Commissioner of Official Languages is very important. We are confident that the nominee will have all the required qualifications.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa WestNepean for her question.As we head into Canada's Right to Know Week, today, we are debating Bill C-58, the first major reform of the Access to Information Act in 30 years. Recently, our leadership was internationally recognized when I accepted the role of co-chair of the Open Government Partnership on behalf of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that yesterday all the provincial and territorial ministers came together to talk about the historic investments we are making in infrastructure. In the case of Quebec, we have approved 424 projects, with a federal investment of $1.6 billion. We are approving $1.28 billion for the REM project in Montreal. These are top priorities for the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal. We will continue to work in partnership with the province to deliver on the commitments we have made.
Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to be investing in communities of all sizes, including $2 billion dedicated funding for small communities. Last month, we announced more than $11 million for 77 projects in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador to provide clean water, and recreational and cultural amenities. We will continue to work with our partners to make these investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
Most negative speeches
Mr. Speaker, former Liberal finance minister John Manley is saying that the damage is already being done. Manley says business owners are moving assets outside of Canada to avoid these Liberal tax hikes. In his words: You wont know about it because theyre not going to buy ads or report ittheyll just go. Since we know that the Minister of Finance is not listening or believing middle-class Canadians, will he at least believe John Manley and scrap these devastating tax increases?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the third round of NAFTA renegotiations start in Ottawa. Just this week, an Ekos poll found that 76% of Canadians said that we should not accept a bad deal if negotiations result in worse conditions for Canadians and our environment, and 80% said that NAFTA clauses that leave our water vulnerable to export and privatization should be removed. We agree. Bulk exports of our water resources do not serve the public interest.Will the Liberals stand up for Canadians and protect our water?
Mr. Speaker, the Union des producteurs agricoles, the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and Quebec's minister of agriculture all criticized the funding shortfall in the Minister of International Trade's plan to help dairy producers, yet he had the nerve to say that the reason the program ended after just one week was that it worked so well.To farmers in my riding and all across Quebec, that is outrageous. The program ended because there was not enough money.Does the minister even listen when dairy producers tell him that the program is not good enough?
Mr. Speaker, these changes at not fair and they are hurting the middle class.Serious concerns have been raised by experts, business leaders, and small business owners, not just by us but by experts in Canada. These are not frivolous complaints. They are legitimate questions.However, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister just do not care. They are arrogantly ignoring these real worries and real questions.When will they admit that this tax increase is a terrible idea? It is unfair and it needs to stop.
Mr. Speaker, recently released documents showed that Global Affairs, diplomats, and our allies were confused by the decision to appoint the Hon. Stéphane Dion as Canada's ambassador to the EU and Canada's ambassador to Germany, a country within the EU. Confusion, hundreds of documents, and months of that have shown that the decision was ill-conceived, and Canada has been looked on poorly by our allies.Canadians know that it is not easy for Mr. Dion to set priorities. Will the minister inform the House whether his priority will be the ambassador to the EU or ambassador to Germany? Which is it?
Mr. Speaker, Chris Neal is a chartered accountant employing five people in Saint John. He fears the Liberals' proposed tax plans could hurt his small business and has called the Liberal rhetoric on this highly insulting. Chris is not alone. Over 50 small businesses in New Brunswick have joined a coalition opposed to the Liberal tax plan. Supporters of the coalition include the Liberal MPs for Saint JohnRothesay and AcadieBathurst.If the Prime Minister will not listen to small businesses in New Brunswick, will he at least listen to the members of his own caucus and stop this Liberal tax grab?
Mr. Speaker, retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm used to volunteer to help his fellow soldiers who were dealing with operational injuries. At first, the door was wide open to him at the Canadian Forces. However, when he wrote to the Prime Minister to complain about how our flawed system is failing our most seriously injured vets, the Canadian Forces slammed the door in this face.Whether on mefloquine or our seriously injured soldiers, the Liberals turn a blind eye and ignore the facts. Why the cover up? Why shoot the messenger? Veterans do not want selfies, they want action.
Mr. Speaker, recently I travelled to Embree, a small town in my riding. If members do not know where that is, it is next to Little Burnt Bay; they cannot miss it. It has a population of around 700 people. I had the honour of announcing close to $300,000 in federal money for its water system. After years of neglect, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador government's local MHA, Derek Bennett, to bring the residents an announcement for their drinking water system, which has been a need now for 12 to 15 years. These are the types of investments we are doing, not just for the larger centres but the smallest communities as well. Could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities please comment on that and other small communities across the country?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with the commissioners from the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry in Canada and to hear first-hand from the commissioners about the work they are doing.Our government has launched a truly national and independent inquiry. At the heart of that inquiry are the families that have been affected and those who have been victimized through the process. The inquiry has told us, the commissioners have told us, that they have a plan, that they are dedicated to learning and adapting as the inquiry progresses and to finding the solutions to address the families' needs.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the Liberal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca, was a privacy nightmare. The Privacy Commissioner reports that the website automatically disclosed IP addresses, web activities, opinions, and lifestyle data from the 360,000 participants without their consent, to third parties such as Facebook. For months we asked the Liberals about this issue and they said that everything was just peachy. Were they lying to Canadians or was this just their usual incompetence?
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House recognize that small and medium enterprises are crucial to the vitality of the Canadian economy. That is why the small business tax rate, the lowest in the G7, is not changing. We are on side with farmers. We are on side with small businesses. We have their backs. We want to make our tax system a little fairer.That is why we put forward our proposals and why we are holding consultations about those proposals now. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we are doing things properly. We are not trying to go after small businesses or the middle class. All we want is a fairer tax system.
Mr. Speaker, when they stand behind those small businesses, they put a knife in their back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Dorothy Keating, chair of the St. John's Board of Trade, said that her members were extremely disappointed after meeting with the finance minister. She likened the Liberal tax plan to building a leaky boat and promising to fix it only after putting it in the water. Will it take a full mutiny of his own caucus for the Prime Minister to realize his plan to raise taxes on small business just will not float?
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to do his job.His job is to take the taxes we pay and to automatically transfer them to Quebec so that we can build our roads, schools, and hospitals. It is not to set conditions and conduct negotiations that slow everything down. It is not his job to create a bank to privatize our infrastructure.When it comes right down to it, the minister's job is to do as little harm as possible, but is he capable of doing that?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to having to deal with the botched Phoenix pay system, public servants have now learned that their privacy was breached because of the glitches in this system. Commissioner Therrien found at least 11 privacy breaches, including leaked names, employee numbers and salaries. Enough is enough. The Liberals have mismanaged this file from start to finish. When will the problems with the Phoenix pay system finally be fixed?
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, most people will be having fun in the sun, but not the people living along the water near the flight schools in Saint-Hubert because of the incessant noise of the planes constantly flying overhead. Despite desperate pleas from those affected and my repeated interventions with the minister, Transport Canada refuses to enforce the flight restrictions that all parties had duly agreed upon. Transport Canada is completely absent on this issue and worse yet, the department has the nerve to tell us, after three months of hemming and hawing, that it has never received an official request on the matter of limiting flying hours. Does the minister find that acceptable?Can he finally commit to providing his support to ensure at the very least that this does not happen again next year?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection of the personal privacy of Canadians extremely seriously, which is why we proactively reached out to the Privacy Commissioner to answer any questions he might have had. We thank him for his very thorough report and we accept those recommendations unconditionally. MyDemocracy.ca engaged Canadians in a national conversation in which individual responses that were received online remained anonymous. Paragraph 43 of the summary of investigation notes that the Privacy Commissioner found no evidence that individual responses to the MyDemocracy survey questions were disclosed to third parties. We will continue to protect and uphold the privacy of Canadians as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member just said is both false and fallacious.We are not raising taxes for small businesses. Their tax rate remains unchanged and is the lowest in the G7. We support our SMEs. We are not attacking small businesses or farmers. Our only goal is tax fairness. That is what we are trying to accomplish, and that is why we are holding consultations on our proposals in order to make sure we are doing things right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection and security of employees' personal information seriously.Any time the department experiences an incident, we follow a systematic approach to immediately contain the breach and implement corrective measures, including notifying the Privacy Commissioner and affected employees. This process was followed after privacy breaches related to Phoenix and we have implemented recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Mr. Speaker, we are engaged on this file, we have listened to farmers and we have met with agricultural representatives. I can assure my colleague that we will take their perspectives into account as we move forward and come up with our plan.Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding all unintended consequences for our farmers. I want to assure my colleague that our government will not change any tax benefits that support the growth of family-owned businesses.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we will always support our small and medium-sized businesses. That is why our tax rate remains the lowest in the G7. We are fully aware of the importance of small businesses, and we want to encourage them to continue stimulating growth in Canada.However, there are still some loopholes in the tax system that unfairly allow some of the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can access tax benefits that are out of reach for the vast majority of middle-class Canadians. That is the problem we want to tackle. That is why we have launched a consultation and tabled proposals. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started accepting applications for the program on August 22, 2017.The dairy industry welcomed this program. In fact, its reaction was so positive that the program stopped taking applications on August 29, 2017, probably because all of the funds had been allocated for phase one. Sometime in the next few months, the government will announce when it will start accepting applications for phase two.
Mr. Speaker, energy east is a $15.7-billion project that would create thousands of jobs for all of Canada, but it is at risk, all because the Liberals keep changing the rules. In January 2016, the Liberals said that they might require emissions testing for energy approvals with no details, yet last month, TransCanada was blindsided by the NEB's sudden direction to do so a year and a half into the new review for energy east. Obviously, we are two years into reviews of reviews, no clarity, no confidence, and no end in sight.When will the Liberals be clear to investors and finally champion Canadian energy?
Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on delivering results for Canadian farmers.We tabled a budget that treats agriculture as one of Canada's key industries and that sets a target of $75 billion in exports. We improved the grains legislation with Bill C-49, something the previous government never did. We signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will help boost agricultural exports to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. That is what our government has done for agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, energy is Canada's second biggest export. With global oil demand increasing to 121 million barrels a day by 2040, new energy infrastructure is crucial for Canada, but the Liberal chaos, not prices, is putting projects like energy east at risk. Meanwhile, the U.S. is removing red tape, ramping up exports, and rapidly pursuing its energy independence. The Liberal delays, uncertainty, and anti-energy agenda are threatening Canada's position as a global leader.When will the Liberals reduce red tape, kill barriers, and finally show the world that Canada is open for business?
Mr. Speaker, this summer, seven women's advocacy organizations wrote to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Transport, and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs about losing STC and leaving many people, especially women, vulnerable and stranded. We cannot let the history of B.C.'s Highway of Tears repeat itself in Saskatchewan. The government claimed Greyhound would run service to these communities, but this week Greyhound clearly stated it would not.Without the safe service of the STC, what will the federal government do to protect vulnerable women and girls in Saskatchewan?
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone deaf they are to what is going on out there.Throughout this week, we have heard countless stories of small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, and their employers who will be devastated by these Liberal tax increases. We know that these tax increases have been designed to specifically protect the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.Why are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance putting their own well-being and self-interest against middle-class Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, Clearly you are...just the kind of person we need to help move our yardsticks. This is what our Canadian Forces first wrote to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm for a position to assist the troubled Joint Personnel Support Unit. However, this was the response before that veteran wrote to the Prime Minister himself to expose the failure to our most wounded soldiers. He was then turned down. Will the minister confirm that veteran Westholm was canned because he was critical of the Liberal government inaction?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to think that throwing money at the problem is going to fix it. Well, so far, it is not working. Not only has the Privacy Commissioner found 11 cases in which employees names and salaries have been leaked, but we also learned this week that the cost to fix Phoenix has now tripled and that has still not been fixed. The NDP has repeatedly demanded that the government fix the issue and there is no end in sight.Does the government actually have a plan or just a box of Band-Aids?
Mr. Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to very carefully read the proposals that have been put forward and to share his opinions, because we are in the midst of consultations.However, the SME tax rate, which is the lowest in the G7, remains unchanged. Small businesses will still be able to reinvest in the growth of their companies, which we encourage because we know how important entrepreneurs and small businesses are. Our goal is to make the tax system fairer. That is why we presented the proposals to Canadians and are listening to what they have to say.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition member for her question. I was hoping that I would not be forgotten today and that I would be asked at least one question. This gives me the opportunity to rise for the first time as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and remind the opposition that our government's objective is a fairer tax system.The current system is inherently unfair and allows wealthy Canadians to incorporate so they pay a lower rate of tax than the middle class.We think that we need to keep taxes low for the middle class and SMEs, while asking all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Mr. Speaker, for the first time in 35 years, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was forced to close family and civil chambers for a whole day. Real families are facing issues of access, child support, spousal support, and are being hurt by the Liberal government and its inaction. The Conservatives have been calling for action on judicial appointments and with this closure, the Liberals have failed. If the minister cannot get the job done in her own back yard, will the Prime Minister finally take some action and find a minister who will get it done for B.C.?
Mr. Speaker, 95% of small businesses believe that the reform will have a negative impact on them. In Saskatoon yesterday, dozens of people hit the streets to protest a reform that is going to jeopardize their business, their farm, their practice, their retirement, or the transfer of their business to their children.Here is what one of them had to say about the reform proposed by the Minister of Finance:This is take over, it almost feels like we're under attack.How is it fair to protect the private fortunes of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, while raising taxes for small businesses and farms, forcing them to pay more?
Mr. Speaker, over the summer I met with families across Saskatchewan that raised concerns with how the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is offloading some responsibility onto community-based organizations. With cuts to the STC, it is almost impossible for families to reach the inquiry's registration, community meetings, and hearings.If a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people is the most important relationship to this Prime Minister, why is he not removing all barriers to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, under the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act, the federal government has delegated the economic regulation of interprovincial bus carriers in federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories, including establishing conditions of entry or exit, and regulating rates and routes of interprovincial bus carriers. Intercity bus services within Canada, such as Greyhound, operate on a commercial basis with no support from the federal government. Nonetheless, our government encourages Greyhound to continue consulting with indigenous groups, stakeholders, provinces, and territories.
Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague agrees with us that the program for northerners and the struggles they have in trying to feed their families are completely unacceptable. That is why our government has expanded the program to include 37 other communities. We have also invested $65 million a year over the next five years.Most importantly, we know that the previous program failed northerners. We intend to get it right this time. We are hoping that we will be able to launch the new initiatives under nutrition north that are culturally sensitive to the people who need the program.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said that we have been debating the marijuana issue for two years, but the bill was only introduced in the spring.The police are telling us that they cannot enforce the law when it comes to plants grown at home, and that they do not have the specialists required for roadside tests. Even worse, the provinces are complaining every day that they cannot be ready for July 1, 2018.Can the Prime Minister explain why legalizing marijuana is his government's top priority and why he continues to ignore all the experts?
Mr. Speaker, we were elected on a very clear promise to the middle class. That is why the first thing we did was to raise taxes for the wealthiest 1% and cut them for nine million Canadians. That is why we moved forward with the Canada child benefit, which will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.That is also why we are proposing to make our tax system a little fairer so that a Canadian who earns $300,000 a year and decides to incorporate to save $48,000, the average income in Canada, does not have access to more benefits than the middle class. We want the tax system to be fairer.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians small business owners and their employees are worried because the Liberal government is calling them spoiled rich people who use their businesses to avoid paying taxes. All week, the Minister of Finance has been trying to demonize these men and women by suggesting that they are tax cheats.This despite the fact that Canadian small businesses are the reason Canada was able to withstand the last economic crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance punishing them for things that his own Prime Minister has done to shelter his family fortune without creating a single job? That is not fair.
That is the CETA that was negotiated by the former government.The objective of the AgriInvest program states that it encourages producers to set money aside which can be used to recover from small income shortfalls, or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. For years it has allowed farmers to get by when times are tough or to make investments to save up for costly equipment. Does the minister really think it is fair to encourage farmers to open these accounts, previously taxed at 15%, and to now tax these funds at almost 53%? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will be unveiling her Canadian cultural policy next Thursday, and there is every indication that it will be at odds with Quebec's needs.If Ottawa does not want to tax Netflix, Quebec will. European states and Quebec will step up in the new digital environment to protect their culture, their artists, and their authors. Canada, in contrast, is counting on the free market, which will do nothing to protect Quebec culture.If the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not interested in protecting and promoting culture, then what exactly is her role?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa WestNepean for her question.As we head into Canada's Right to Know Week, today, we are debating Bill C-58, the first major reform of the Access to Information Act in 30 years. Recently, our leadership was internationally recognized when I accepted the role of co-chair of the Open Government Partnership on behalf of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem here.Commissioner Buller said, I'm happy to share those [ideas about eliminating obstacles to the process] with the government if and when they ever ask.How can it be that the government has never asked how it might help eliminate obstacles to the success of the inquiry? That is what we all want.When will the government stop paying lip service and actually do something to remove those obstacles in order to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, as a former page of the House of Commons myself, I would like to begin by welcoming the new cohort of pages that we are lucky to have here with us. I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. Our plan will give Canadian children the best possible start in life and provide support to families who need it most. We have now signed agreements with Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. We are working very hard to achieve similar outcomes with other provincial and territorial partners. With each agreement we are getting closer to achieving our goal of affordable, high-quality, and fully-inclusive child care for all Canadian children and families.
Mr. Speaker, the committee overseeing the appointment process for the next official languages commissioner is currently evaluating the applications received. At this point, the official opposition has not yet been consulted. The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes has stated that it is concerned and will wait to see what happens.Will the next commissioner be non-partisan, or will he or she be a Liberal Party donor? How many people have applied? When is the deadline for the evaluation process? Can the government enlighten us on the process that is under way?
Mr. Speaker, essentially, what we want is to make sure that our artists have the support they need.That is what our government is doing. We have allocated $22 million to Telefilm Canada, $13.5 million to the National Film Board, and $550 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. Those are tangible actions that support our artists without further taxing the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that Stéphane Dion has fought long and hard for a better and more just Canada, and he continues to play a key role in advancing Canada's interests abroad in Europe, working with our European partners on this government's progressive international agenda. Ambassador Dion's role demonstrates Canada's commitment to Europe and to Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy. Ambassador Dion will continue the vital and important work of ensuring that Canada's interests and values are shared in the world.
Mr. Speaker, I think most Canadians, and certainly Canadian students, know the actions undertaken by this government to help them get that very necessary education they need to provide them jobs of today for the future. Last year, we increased the amount of support for Canadian students by 50% to help those in low and middle-income families. We have helped persons with disabilities and indigenous Canadians by increasing the number of grants they receive. This government is absolutely committed to helping students get that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps saying that his tax reform targets the wealthy. The Liberals believe that plumbers, restaurant owners, and florists are millionaires.What planet is the Minister of Finance living on? Guy, an international industrialist from PortneufJacques-Cartier, texted me and said that, when the Liberals' tax reform takes effect, he is going to transfer his company abroad, putting 24 middle-class families out of work. This reform will have major collateral damage for the middle class.Will this government show some respect for these job creators, our SMEs?
Mr. Speaker, thanks to this free trade agreement, 17,000 tonnes of European cheese is flooding into our country to compete directly with cheeses made by our own producers, who have been abandoned by the federal government. After promising to compensate our producers for their losses, all the government has done is offer them a feeble modernization program that ran out of money within seven days. The Quebec government is now calling on the federal government to do its job. Will the government commit to meeting the Quebec government's demands and making the program improvements that dairy producers are calling for?
Mr. Speaker, we will always stand behind our farmers and small business owners. That is why we are maintaining the lowest tax rate in the G7. We recognize how important SMEs are to the Canadian economy. That is all we want, and that is why we have brought forward proposals to create a tax system that is fairer and more equitable, one that asks everyone to pay their fair share, while keeping tax rates low for small businesses and for the middle class. That is our goal, and we are continuing our consultations to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not being paid the money they are owed, and resolving this is definitely a priority for our government. We have taken a number of steps toward resolving this issue, including investing $142 million to recruit, hire, and train more employees; initiating emergency pay advances; implementing technological solutions; improving business processes; and taking a whole-of-government approach by creating a working group of ministers.Make no mistake, this will be fixed and we will leave no stone unturned.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are listening and that, on this side of the House, we would never, ever, adopt any measures that would put women at a disadvantage relative to men. That is why we are listening to all Canadians to get this right and make sure there are no unintended consequences. Our sole objective is to make our tax system fairer where it needs it.
Mr. Speaker, in brief, yes we will. We welcome the modernization of NAFTA in support of our middle class. Our overarching objectives are clear: to protect NAFTA's record of job creation and growth and, of course, to introduce contemporary progressive policies. By the way, the Americans and the Mexicans both support this idea.Vis-à-vis the water, absolutely. We will uphold the elements of NAFTA that are key to our national interests both now and in the future.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that agrifood is one of the most important sectors for Canada's economy. We are making investments in agricultural research, and we consistently stand up for the agrifood sector, both domestically and internationally. What we are proposing today is a fairer tax system. That is why we have come up with proposals that will not affect small farms run by middle-class families. All we are trying to do is correct certain inequities in our current tax system.
Qujannamiik uqaqti, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Since last fall, I have visited 23 of Nunavut's 25 communities. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my constituents face to face. What I heard unanimously were concerns about the nutrition north program. Since the release of the What we heard report five months ago, people in my riding have been patiently waiting for the changes recommended in the report. Can the minister inform the House when Nunavummiut can finally expect these changes to be implemented? Qujannamiik uqaqti.
Mr. Speaker, Rick and Paul, from Woodville, Ontario, own a family farm, where margins are already tight and the financial risks are high. To make matters worse, the finance minister is planning a system where farmers like Rick and Paul will pay significantly higher taxes and might not be able to pass on their farm to the next generation.Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's system will protect his family fortune and that of the Prime Minister. How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, my constituent Lana wrote: As a young woman with a professional corporation...I know first hand how hard I have to work to earn every penny that I make.... No maternity leave, no sick days, no overtime, no bonuses, no paid vacation time, no pension, variable income between pay checks, and so on.... these...changes will make it even more difficult for us. Why do the Liberals want Lana to pay significantly more in taxes, while the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will not be touched? How is that fair to Lana?
Mr. Speaker, the fact is, our current tax system has some inherent inequities that we want and need to address. That is why we have brought forward these proposals and why we are listening to Canadians. We want to do this right.Yes, it is and was legal, but we do not think it is necessarily fair that someone who makes $300,000 a year can save $48,000 a year simply by creating a private company, especially when that is the average salary in Canada. We think we can do better and we can a have a fairer, more equitable system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, education is a good equalizer, and today a good post-secondary education is essential to land a good job. However, recent data from Stats Canada shows that going to college or university is now more expensive than ever. Average tuition is now more than $6,500 a year, and that does not include additional fees, books, food, or housing. The Liberal government says it wants to lower the cost of post-secondary, but overall, government investment continues to go down. When will we see tuition fees decrease so that students can afford their education?
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. What police forces actually said was that they needed access to the resources and the training in order to do the job. Our government has responded. We have committed $274 million to ensure they have what they need to do the job.The cost of delay is continued jeopardy to our children who are using cannabis at the highest rate of any country in the world and billions of dollars more to organized crime. That is unacceptable to us; we believe it is unacceptable to all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, developing Canada's early learning and child care system is one of the most crucial investments a government can make. I am pleased that shortly before the House rose in June, our government announced a historic framework agreement with the provinces and territories on early learning and child care. The agreement builds on investments announced previously in budgets 2016 and 2017 that support and create more child care spots across the country. Could the government advise the House on the progress in implementing the framework with the provinces and territories to improve the lives of Canadian children?
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, due to federal privacy laws, I cannot speak to this specific individual employment process, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates for available positions. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA's track record is certainly one of economic growth and middle-class job creation.The three countries are firmly committed to modernizing NAFTA. As part of that modernization, we are in the process of reviewing chapter 11, which is being negotiated as we speak. We have the opportunity to improve an agreement that is good for Canada, and that is what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, Françoise and Gordon are the owners of a company that provides agricultural services. They have worked hard all their lives, 10 hours a day, every day, and employed some 30 people in that time. Why should they have to pay higher taxes once they reach their well-earned retirement? Why has the Minister of Finance designed a system that will force Françoise and Gordon to pay a lot more taxes, while the Prime Minister's family fortune and the Minister of Finance's family business are left untouched? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague that the Liberals will always be on side with farmers. We are listening to them to ensure there will be no unintended consequences.Farm family members can continue working. Farmers will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the G7. They can continue to invest and reinvest in their farms. We want to make sure that this does not affect intergenerational transfers. We are listing to Canadians, we hear what they have to say, and we want to do things properly. Our goal here is to create a fairer tax system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, our government is working with Canadians to make sure that federally regulated aerodrome building projects take the public's safety and interest into account.Thanks to the regulatory changes made by the minister, which are already in place, Canadians can now voice their concerns before the decision to build or modify an aerodrome is made.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that a healthy democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens who have a relationship of trust with an open and transparent government.Next week is Canadas Right to Know Week. Some 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations around the world will celebrate Right to Know Day on September 28.Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us what he is doing to promote government openness and transparency?
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I cannot comment on an individual employment process case, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates possible. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to be investing in communities of all sizes, including $2 billion dedicated funding for small communities. Last month, we announced more than $11 million for 77 projects in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador to provide clean water, and recreational and cultural amenities. We will continue to work with our partners to make these investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
Mr. Speaker, this consultation is happening during the harvest season. Farmers feed Canada, and in my riding, Gerald Finster is one of these farmers. He and his family work hard, and their fortunes are tied up in their family farm. Now the Liberals want to tax these farm families even more. Farmers like Gerald are being put in a tight spot. While crushing our food producers with unbearable taxes, how is it fair that the finance minister's family fortune is sheltered from these new taxes? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, we believe in a competitive and sustainable energy sector, and the good projects must go ahead with the full confidence of Canadians. That is why we have approved pipelines in energy infrastructure projects that create tens of thousands of jobs while, at the same time, protecting our oceans, pricing carbon pollution, and working in partnership with our indigenous peoples. TransCanada's request is a business decision. The proponent develops its project application in a business environment where factors like the price of oil do change. We are committed to ensuring that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.
Mr. Speaker, the AgriInvest program has been used by Canadian farmers for years as a way to set money aside to manage income decline, support investments, and more. However, while AgriInvest encourages farmers to set this money aside, and it was previously taxed at 15%, under the government's new tax plan, farmers are concerned that these funds could be taxed up to 53%.Does the Minister of Agriculture really think it is fair to ask farmers to set aside money in an AgriInvest account and then turn around and tax these funds at a higher rate? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House support family farms. We want them to succeed and prosper. I can assure my colleague that any family members who currently work for the business, for the family farm, will be able to continue doing so. Farmers and business owners will continue to benefit from the lowest tax rate in the G7 and will be able to continue investing and reinvesting in their businesses, in their farms. Our target is not SMEs, it is not farmers; our target is tax fairness.
Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports the supply management system, dairy producers and their families, and Canada's entire dairy industry.We are the party that fought to bring in supply management, and we will continue to defend it. The economic agreement will drive growth and opportunity for Canadian farmers and boost our agricultural exports by over $1.5 billion per year. I am proud of the $350 million we invested to help dairy producers and processors modernize their facilities and give them a competitive edge.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we signed the economic agreement, which will help boost exports to the tune of $1.5 billion. What is more, we have secured $2 billion in canola exports to China and we also secured access to the beef market in China and Mexico.We will continue to work on expanding markets. We are investing $350 million in modernizing Canada's dairy industry, we invested $100 million in agricultural science and innovation, and we invested $27 million in programs to combat greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. That is what our government has done.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the open and transparent judicial appointment process with which our government is continuing to proceed. With respect to judicial appointments, I have had the opportunity to appoint 109 superior court justices across the country, including 22 deputy judges in the north. I am going to continue to appoint judges to fill the vacancies across the country, vacancies that are filled by a diversity of Canadians who reflect the best we have to offer. I am going to continue to fill the vacancies in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, in our discussions with the commissioners, they made the point that the process in which they are engaged is one that will require tremendous sensitivity.They are progressing on a road that we have not progressed on before, and they find it very much a priority that they do this appropriately and in a culturally respectful way. That is what has been happening.As a government, we have been lending them the support they need. We have been there to support them in this process. I think it goes without saying that this is a priority for our government. It is a priority for us that we respond to the needs of families, and we intend to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role as official languages critic. Our two official languages are at the heart of Canada's history and identity. They are a priority for us. With regard to appointments, our government is committed to a process that is rigorous, open, and transparent, and to finding the best candidate for each position.The role of Commissioner of Official Languages is very important. We are confident that the nominee will have all the required qualifications.
Mr. Speaker, we want to uphold NAFTA's track record, but that record shows that Canada is the most sued country under NAFTA's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.Private corporations can sue Canada just because our environmental or health regulations do not suit them, for example. Everyone knows the Liberals tend to favour corporations over Canadians, so can they tell us how having this type of provision in a free trade agreement helps promote democracy, protect Canadians, and keep our environment safe?
Mr. Speaker, Rick, in my riding of Bow River, owns a three-generation farm. He works it with his children and his grandchildren.The Minister of Finance has designed a system by which Rick will pay significantly higher taxes, putting his family's livelihood at risk. Meanwhile, the family fortune of the Prime Minister and the finance minister's family business will not be touched.Is that really fair?
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to once again remind the House that we have been able to do what the Harper Conservatives could not get done in a decade. We have approved infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and many of them indeed in Alberta. Projects include Nova Gas Transmission pipeline, 3,000 jobs; Line 3 replacement projects, 7,000 jobs; Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, 15,440 jobs; Keystone XL pipeline, 6,440; Arnaud apatite mine, 910; Woodfibre LNG, 700 jobs; and I could go on and on. These projects
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that yesterday all the provincial and territorial ministers came together to talk about the historic investments we are making in infrastructure. In the case of Quebec, we have approved 424 projects, with a federal investment of $1.6 billion. We are approving $1.28 billion for the REM project in Montreal. These are top priorities for the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal. We will continue to work in partnership with the province to deliver on the commitments we have made.
Mr. Speaker, former Liberal finance minister John Manley is saying that the damage is already being done. Manley says business owners are moving assets outside of Canada to avoid these Liberal tax hikes. In his words: You wont know about it because theyre not going to buy ads or report ittheyll just go. Since we know that the Minister of Finance is not listening or believing middle-class Canadians, will he at least believe John Manley and scrap these devastating tax increases?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the third round of NAFTA renegotiations start in Ottawa. Just this week, an Ekos poll found that 76% of Canadians said that we should not accept a bad deal if negotiations result in worse conditions for Canadians and our environment, and 80% said that NAFTA clauses that leave our water vulnerable to export and privatization should be removed. We agree. Bulk exports of our water resources do not serve the public interest.Will the Liberals stand up for Canadians and protect our water?
Mr. Speaker, the Union des producteurs agricoles, the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and Quebec's minister of agriculture all criticized the funding shortfall in the Minister of International Trade's plan to help dairy producers, yet he had the nerve to say that the reason the program ended after just one week was that it worked so well.To farmers in my riding and all across Quebec, that is outrageous. The program ended because there was not enough money.Does the minister even listen when dairy producers tell him that the program is not good enough?
Mr. Speaker, these changes at not fair and they are hurting the middle class.Serious concerns have been raised by experts, business leaders, and small business owners, not just by us but by experts in Canada. These are not frivolous complaints. They are legitimate questions.However, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister just do not care. They are arrogantly ignoring these real worries and real questions.When will they admit that this tax increase is a terrible idea? It is unfair and it needs to stop.
Mr. Speaker, recently released documents showed that Global Affairs, diplomats, and our allies were confused by the decision to appoint the Hon. Stéphane Dion as Canada's ambassador to the EU and Canada's ambassador to Germany, a country within the EU. Confusion, hundreds of documents, and months of that have shown that the decision was ill-conceived, and Canada has been looked on poorly by our allies.Canadians know that it is not easy for Mr. Dion to set priorities. Will the minister inform the House whether his priority will be the ambassador to the EU or ambassador to Germany? Which is it?
Mr. Speaker, Chris Neal is a chartered accountant employing five people in Saint John. He fears the Liberals' proposed tax plans could hurt his small business and has called the Liberal rhetoric on this highly insulting. Chris is not alone. Over 50 small businesses in New Brunswick have joined a coalition opposed to the Liberal tax plan. Supporters of the coalition include the Liberal MPs for Saint JohnRothesay and AcadieBathurst.If the Prime Minister will not listen to small businesses in New Brunswick, will he at least listen to the members of his own caucus and stop this Liberal tax grab?
Mr. Speaker, retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm used to volunteer to help his fellow soldiers who were dealing with operational injuries. At first, the door was wide open to him at the Canadian Forces. However, when he wrote to the Prime Minister to complain about how our flawed system is failing our most seriously injured vets, the Canadian Forces slammed the door in this face.Whether on mefloquine or our seriously injured soldiers, the Liberals turn a blind eye and ignore the facts. Why the cover up? Why shoot the messenger? Veterans do not want selfies, they want action.
Mr. Speaker, recently I travelled to Embree, a small town in my riding. If members do not know where that is, it is next to Little Burnt Bay; they cannot miss it. It has a population of around 700 people. I had the honour of announcing close to $300,000 in federal money for its water system. After years of neglect, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador government's local MHA, Derek Bennett, to bring the residents an announcement for their drinking water system, which has been a need now for 12 to 15 years. These are the types of investments we are doing, not just for the larger centres but the smallest communities as well. Could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities please comment on that and other small communities across the country?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with the commissioners from the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry in Canada and to hear first-hand from the commissioners about the work they are doing.Our government has launched a truly national and independent inquiry. At the heart of that inquiry are the families that have been affected and those who have been victimized through the process. The inquiry has told us, the commissioners have told us, that they have a plan, that they are dedicated to learning and adapting as the inquiry progresses and to finding the solutions to address the families' needs.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the Liberal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca, was a privacy nightmare. The Privacy Commissioner reports that the website automatically disclosed IP addresses, web activities, opinions, and lifestyle data from the 360,000 participants without their consent, to third parties such as Facebook. For months we asked the Liberals about this issue and they said that everything was just peachy. Were they lying to Canadians or was this just their usual incompetence?
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House recognize that small and medium enterprises are crucial to the vitality of the Canadian economy. That is why the small business tax rate, the lowest in the G7, is not changing. We are on side with farmers. We are on side with small businesses. We have their backs. We want to make our tax system a little fairer.That is why we put forward our proposals and why we are holding consultations about those proposals now. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we are doing things properly. We are not trying to go after small businesses or the middle class. All we want is a fairer tax system.
Mr. Speaker, when they stand behind those small businesses, they put a knife in their back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Dorothy Keating, chair of the St. John's Board of Trade, said that her members were extremely disappointed after meeting with the finance minister. She likened the Liberal tax plan to building a leaky boat and promising to fix it only after putting it in the water. Will it take a full mutiny of his own caucus for the Prime Minister to realize his plan to raise taxes on small business just will not float?
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to do his job.His job is to take the taxes we pay and to automatically transfer them to Quebec so that we can build our roads, schools, and hospitals. It is not to set conditions and conduct negotiations that slow everything down. It is not his job to create a bank to privatize our infrastructure.When it comes right down to it, the minister's job is to do as little harm as possible, but is he capable of doing that?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to having to deal with the botched Phoenix pay system, public servants have now learned that their privacy was breached because of the glitches in this system. Commissioner Therrien found at least 11 privacy breaches, including leaked names, employee numbers and salaries. Enough is enough. The Liberals have mismanaged this file from start to finish. When will the problems with the Phoenix pay system finally be fixed?
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, most people will be having fun in the sun, but not the people living along the water near the flight schools in Saint-Hubert because of the incessant noise of the planes constantly flying overhead. Despite desperate pleas from those affected and my repeated interventions with the minister, Transport Canada refuses to enforce the flight restrictions that all parties had duly agreed upon. Transport Canada is completely absent on this issue and worse yet, the department has the nerve to tell us, after three months of hemming and hawing, that it has never received an official request on the matter of limiting flying hours. Does the minister find that acceptable?Can he finally commit to providing his support to ensure at the very least that this does not happen again next year?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection of the personal privacy of Canadians extremely seriously, which is why we proactively reached out to the Privacy Commissioner to answer any questions he might have had. We thank him for his very thorough report and we accept those recommendations unconditionally. MyDemocracy.ca engaged Canadians in a national conversation in which individual responses that were received online remained anonymous. Paragraph 43 of the summary of investigation notes that the Privacy Commissioner found no evidence that individual responses to the MyDemocracy survey questions were disclosed to third parties. We will continue to protect and uphold the privacy of Canadians as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member just said is both false and fallacious.We are not raising taxes for small businesses. Their tax rate remains unchanged and is the lowest in the G7. We support our SMEs. We are not attacking small businesses or farmers. Our only goal is tax fairness. That is what we are trying to accomplish, and that is why we are holding consultations on our proposals in order to make sure we are doing things right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection and security of employees' personal information seriously.Any time the department experiences an incident, we follow a systematic approach to immediately contain the breach and implement corrective measures, including notifying the Privacy Commissioner and affected employees. This process was followed after privacy breaches related to Phoenix and we have implemented recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Mr. Speaker, we are engaged on this file, we have listened to farmers and we have met with agricultural representatives. I can assure my colleague that we will take their perspectives into account as we move forward and come up with our plan.Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding all unintended consequences for our farmers. I want to assure my colleague that our government will not change any tax benefits that support the growth of family-owned businesses.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we will always support our small and medium-sized businesses. That is why our tax rate remains the lowest in the G7. We are fully aware of the importance of small businesses, and we want to encourage them to continue stimulating growth in Canada.However, there are still some loopholes in the tax system that unfairly allow some of the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can access tax benefits that are out of reach for the vast majority of middle-class Canadians. That is the problem we want to tackle. That is why we have launched a consultation and tabled proposals. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started accepting applications for the program on August 22, 2017.The dairy industry welcomed this program. In fact, its reaction was so positive that the program stopped taking applications on August 29, 2017, probably because all of the funds had been allocated for phase one. Sometime in the next few months, the government will announce when it will start accepting applications for phase two.
Mr. Speaker, energy east is a $15.7-billion project that would create thousands of jobs for all of Canada, but it is at risk, all because the Liberals keep changing the rules. In January 2016, the Liberals said that they might require emissions testing for energy approvals with no details, yet last month, TransCanada was blindsided by the NEB's sudden direction to do so a year and a half into the new review for energy east. Obviously, we are two years into reviews of reviews, no clarity, no confidence, and no end in sight.When will the Liberals be clear to investors and finally champion Canadian energy?
Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on delivering results for Canadian farmers.We tabled a budget that treats agriculture as one of Canada's key industries and that sets a target of $75 billion in exports. We improved the grains legislation with Bill C-49, something the previous government never did. We signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will help boost agricultural exports to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. That is what our government has done for agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, energy is Canada's second biggest export. With global oil demand increasing to 121 million barrels a day by 2040, new energy infrastructure is crucial for Canada, but the Liberal chaos, not prices, is putting projects like energy east at risk. Meanwhile, the U.S. is removing red tape, ramping up exports, and rapidly pursuing its energy independence. The Liberal delays, uncertainty, and anti-energy agenda are threatening Canada's position as a global leader.When will the Liberals reduce red tape, kill barriers, and finally show the world that Canada is open for business?
Mr. Speaker, this summer, seven women's advocacy organizations wrote to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Transport, and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs about losing STC and leaving many people, especially women, vulnerable and stranded. We cannot let the history of B.C.'s Highway of Tears repeat itself in Saskatchewan. The government claimed Greyhound would run service to these communities, but this week Greyhound clearly stated it would not.Without the safe service of the STC, what will the federal government do to protect vulnerable women and girls in Saskatchewan?
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone deaf they are to what is going on out there.Throughout this week, we have heard countless stories of small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, and their employers who will be devastated by these Liberal tax increases. We know that these tax increases have been designed to specifically protect the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.Why are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance putting their own well-being and self-interest against middle-class Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, Clearly you are...just the kind of person we need to help move our yardsticks. This is what our Canadian Forces first wrote to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm for a position to assist the troubled Joint Personnel Support Unit. However, this was the response before that veteran wrote to the Prime Minister himself to expose the failure to our most wounded soldiers. He was then turned down. Will the minister confirm that veteran Westholm was canned because he was critical of the Liberal government inaction?
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to think that throwing money at the problem is going to fix it. Well, so far, it is not working. Not only has the Privacy Commissioner found 11 cases in which employees names and salaries have been leaked, but we also learned this week that the cost to fix Phoenix has now tripled and that has still not been fixed. The NDP has repeatedly demanded that the government fix the issue and there is no end in sight.Does the government actually have a plan or just a box of Band-Aids?
Mr. Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to very carefully read the proposals that have been put forward and to share his opinions, because we are in the midst of consultations.However, the SME tax rate, which is the lowest in the G7, remains unchanged. Small businesses will still be able to reinvest in the growth of their companies, which we encourage because we know how important entrepreneurs and small businesses are. Our goal is to make the tax system fairer. That is why we presented the proposals to Canadians and are listening to what they have to say.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition member for her question. I was hoping that I would not be forgotten today and that I would be asked at least one question. This gives me the opportunity to rise for the first time as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and remind the opposition that our government's objective is a fairer tax system.The current system is inherently unfair and allows wealthy Canadians to incorporate so they pay a lower rate of tax than the middle class.We think that we need to keep taxes low for the middle class and SMEs, while asking all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Mr. Speaker, for the first time in 35 years, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was forced to close family and civil chambers for a whole day. Real families are facing issues of access, child support, spousal support, and are being hurt by the Liberal government and its inaction. The Conservatives have been calling for action on judicial appointments and with this closure, the Liberals have failed. If the minister cannot get the job done in her own back yard, will the Prime Minister finally take some action and find a minister who will get it done for B.C.?
Mr. Speaker, 95% of small businesses believe that the reform will have a negative impact on them. In Saskatoon yesterday, dozens of people hit the streets to protest a reform that is going to jeopardize their business, their farm, their practice, their retirement, or the transfer of their business to their children.Here is what one of them had to say about the reform proposed by the Minister of Finance:This is take over, it almost feels like we're under attack.How is it fair to protect the private fortunes of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, while raising taxes for small businesses and farms, forcing them to pay more?
Mr. Speaker, over the summer I met with families across Saskatchewan that raised concerns with how the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is offloading some responsibility onto community-based organizations. With cuts to the STC, it is almost impossible for families to reach the inquiry's registration, community meetings, and hearings.If a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people is the most important relationship to this Prime Minister, why is he not removing all barriers to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, under the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act, the federal government has delegated the economic regulation of interprovincial bus carriers in federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories, including establishing conditions of entry or exit, and regulating rates and routes of interprovincial bus carriers. Intercity bus services within Canada, such as Greyhound, operate on a commercial basis with no support from the federal government. Nonetheless, our government encourages Greyhound to continue consulting with indigenous groups, stakeholders, provinces, and territories.
Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague agrees with us that the program for northerners and the struggles they have in trying to feed their families are completely unacceptable. That is why our government has expanded the program to include 37 other communities. We have also invested $65 million a year over the next five years.Most importantly, we know that the previous program failed northerners. We intend to get it right this time. We are hoping that we will be able to launch the new initiatives under nutrition north that are culturally sensitive to the people who need the program.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said that we have been debating the marijuana issue for two years, but the bill was only introduced in the spring.The police are telling us that they cannot enforce the law when it comes to plants grown at home, and that they do not have the specialists required for roadside tests. Even worse, the provinces are complaining every day that they cannot be ready for July 1, 2018.Can the Prime Minister explain why legalizing marijuana is his government's top priority and why he continues to ignore all the experts?
Mr. Speaker, we were elected on a very clear promise to the middle class. That is why the first thing we did was to raise taxes for the wealthiest 1% and cut them for nine million Canadians. That is why we moved forward with the Canada child benefit, which will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.That is also why we are proposing to make our tax system a little fairer so that a Canadian who earns $300,000 a year and decides to incorporate to save $48,000, the average income in Canada, does not have access to more benefits than the middle class. We want the tax system to be fairer.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians small business owners and their employees are worried because the Liberal government is calling them spoiled rich people who use their businesses to avoid paying taxes. All week, the Minister of Finance has been trying to demonize these men and women by suggesting that they are tax cheats.This despite the fact that Canadian small businesses are the reason Canada was able to withstand the last economic crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance punishing them for things that his own Prime Minister has done to shelter his family fortune without creating a single job? That is not fair.
That is the CETA that was negotiated by the former government.The objective of the AgriInvest program states that it encourages producers to set money aside which can be used to recover from small income shortfalls, or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. For years it has allowed farmers to get by when times are tough or to make investments to save up for costly equipment. Does the minister really think it is fair to encourage farmers to open these accounts, previously taxed at 15%, and to now tax these funds at almost 53%? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will be unveiling her Canadian cultural policy next Thursday, and there is every indication that it will be at odds with Quebec's needs.If Ottawa does not want to tax Netflix, Quebec will. European states and Quebec will step up in the new digital environment to protect their culture, their artists, and their authors. Canada, in contrast, is counting on the free market, which will do nothing to protect Quebec culture.If the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not interested in protecting and promoting culture, then what exactly is her role?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa WestNepean for her question.As we head into Canada's Right to Know Week, today, we are debating Bill C-58, the first major reform of the Access to Information Act in 30 years. Recently, our leadership was internationally recognized when I accepted the role of co-chair of the Open Government Partnership on behalf of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem here.Commissioner Buller said, I'm happy to share those [ideas about eliminating obstacles to the process] with the government if and when they ever ask.How can it be that the government has never asked how it might help eliminate obstacles to the success of the inquiry? That is what we all want.When will the government stop paying lip service and actually do something to remove those obstacles in order to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, as a former page of the House of Commons myself, I would like to begin by welcoming the new cohort of pages that we are lucky to have here with us. I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. Our plan will give Canadian children the best possible start in life and provide support to families who need it most. We have now signed agreements with Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. We are working very hard to achieve similar outcomes with other provincial and territorial partners. With each agreement we are getting closer to achieving our goal of affordable, high-quality, and fully-inclusive child care for all Canadian children and families.
Mr. Speaker, the committee overseeing the appointment process for the next official languages commissioner is currently evaluating the applications received. At this point, the official opposition has not yet been consulted. The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes has stated that it is concerned and will wait to see what happens.Will the next commissioner be non-partisan, or will he or she be a Liberal Party donor? How many people have applied? When is the deadline for the evaluation process? Can the government enlighten us on the process that is under way?
Mr. Speaker, essentially, what we want is to make sure that our artists have the support they need.That is what our government is doing. We have allocated $22 million to Telefilm Canada, $13.5 million to the National Film Board, and $550 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. Those are tangible actions that support our artists without further taxing the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that Stéphane Dion has fought long and hard for a better and more just Canada, and he continues to play a key role in advancing Canada's interests abroad in Europe, working with our European partners on this government's progressive international agenda. Ambassador Dion's role demonstrates Canada's commitment to Europe and to Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy. Ambassador Dion will continue the vital and important work of ensuring that Canada's interests and values are shared in the world.
Mr. Speaker, I think most Canadians, and certainly Canadian students, know the actions undertaken by this government to help them get that very necessary education they need to provide them jobs of today for the future. Last year, we increased the amount of support for Canadian students by 50% to help those in low and middle-income families. We have helped persons with disabilities and indigenous Canadians by increasing the number of grants they receive. This government is absolutely committed to helping students get that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps saying that his tax reform targets the wealthy. The Liberals believe that plumbers, restaurant owners, and florists are millionaires.What planet is the Minister of Finance living on? Guy, an international industrialist from PortneufJacques-Cartier, texted me and said that, when the Liberals' tax reform takes effect, he is going to transfer his company abroad, putting 24 middle-class families out of work. This reform will have major collateral damage for the middle class.Will this government show some respect for these job creators, our SMEs?
Mr. Speaker, thanks to this free trade agreement, 17,000 tonnes of European cheese is flooding into our country to compete directly with cheeses made by our own producers, who have been abandoned by the federal government. After promising to compensate our producers for their losses, all the government has done is offer them a feeble modernization program that ran out of money within seven days. The Quebec government is now calling on the federal government to do its job. Will the government commit to meeting the Quebec government's demands and making the program improvements that dairy producers are calling for?
Mr. Speaker, we will always stand behind our farmers and small business owners. That is why we are maintaining the lowest tax rate in the G7. We recognize how important SMEs are to the Canadian economy. That is all we want, and that is why we have brought forward proposals to create a tax system that is fairer and more equitable, one that asks everyone to pay their fair share, while keeping tax rates low for small businesses and for the middle class. That is our goal, and we are continuing our consultations to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not being paid the money they are owed, and resolving this is definitely a priority for our government. We have taken a number of steps toward resolving this issue, including investing $142 million to recruit, hire, and train more employees; initiating emergency pay advances; implementing technological solutions; improving business processes; and taking a whole-of-government approach by creating a working group of ministers.Make no mistake, this will be fixed and we will leave no stone unturned.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are listening and that, on this side of the House, we would never, ever, adopt any measures that would put women at a disadvantage relative to men. That is why we are listening to all Canadians to get this right and make sure there are no unintended consequences. Our sole objective is to make our tax system fairer where it needs it.
Mr. Speaker, in brief, yes we will. We welcome the modernization of NAFTA in support of our middle class. Our overarching objectives are clear: to protect NAFTA's record of job creation and growth and, of course, to introduce contemporary progressive policies. By the way, the Americans and the Mexicans both support this idea.Vis-à-vis the water, absolutely. We will uphold the elements of NAFTA that are key to our national interests both now and in the future.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that agrifood is one of the most important sectors for Canada's economy. We are making investments in agricultural research, and we consistently stand up for the agrifood sector, both domestically and internationally. What we are proposing today is a fairer tax system. That is why we have come up with proposals that will not affect small farms run by middle-class families. All we are trying to do is correct certain inequities in our current tax system.
Qujannamiik uqaqti, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Since last fall, I have visited 23 of Nunavut's 25 communities. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my constituents face to face. What I heard unanimously were concerns about the nutrition north program. Since the release of the What we heard report five months ago, people in my riding have been patiently waiting for the changes recommended in the report. Can the minister inform the House when Nunavummiut can finally expect these changes to be implemented? Qujannamiik uqaqti.
Mr. Speaker, Rick and Paul, from Woodville, Ontario, own a family farm, where margins are already tight and the financial risks are high. To make matters worse, the finance minister is planning a system where farmers like Rick and Paul will pay significantly higher taxes and might not be able to pass on their farm to the next generation.Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's system will protect his family fortune and that of the Prime Minister. How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, my constituent Lana wrote: As a young woman with a professional corporation...I know first hand how hard I have to work to earn every penny that I make.... No maternity leave, no sick days, no overtime, no bonuses, no paid vacation time, no pension, variable income between pay checks, and so on.... these...changes will make it even more difficult for us. Why do the Liberals want Lana to pay significantly more in taxes, while the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will not be touched? How is that fair to Lana?
Mr. Speaker, the fact is, our current tax system has some inherent inequities that we want and need to address. That is why we have brought forward these proposals and why we are listening to Canadians. We want to do this right.Yes, it is and was legal, but we do not think it is necessarily fair that someone who makes $300,000 a year can save $48,000 a year simply by creating a private company, especially when that is the average salary in Canada. We think we can do better and we can a have a fairer, more equitable system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, education is a good equalizer, and today a good post-secondary education is essential to land a good job. However, recent data from Stats Canada shows that going to college or university is now more expensive than ever. Average tuition is now more than $6,500 a year, and that does not include additional fees, books, food, or housing. The Liberal government says it wants to lower the cost of post-secondary, but overall, government investment continues to go down. When will we see tuition fees decrease so that students can afford their education?
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. What police forces actually said was that they needed access to the resources and the training in order to do the job. Our government has responded. We have committed $274 million to ensure they have what they need to do the job.The cost of delay is continued jeopardy to our children who are using cannabis at the highest rate of any country in the world and billions of dollars more to organized crime. That is unacceptable to us; we believe it is unacceptable to all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, developing Canada's early learning and child care system is one of the most crucial investments a government can make. I am pleased that shortly before the House rose in June, our government announced a historic framework agreement with the provinces and territories on early learning and child care. The agreement builds on investments announced previously in budgets 2016 and 2017 that support and create more child care spots across the country. Could the government advise the House on the progress in implementing the framework with the provinces and territories to improve the lives of Canadian children?
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, due to federal privacy laws, I cannot speak to this specific individual employment process, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates for available positions. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA's track record is certainly one of economic growth and middle-class job creation.The three countries are firmly committed to modernizing NAFTA. As part of that modernization, we are in the process of reviewing chapter 11, which is being negotiated as we speak. We have the opportunity to improve an agreement that is good for Canada, and that is what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, Françoise and Gordon are the owners of a company that provides agricultural services. They have worked hard all their lives, 10 hours a day, every day, and employed some 30 people in that time. Why should they have to pay higher taxes once they reach their well-earned retirement? Why has the Minister of Finance designed a system that will force Françoise and Gordon to pay a lot more taxes, while the Prime Minister's family fortune and the Minister of Finance's family business are left untouched? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague that the Liberals will always be on side with farmers. We are listening to them to ensure there will be no unintended consequences.Farm family members can continue working. Farmers will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the G7. They can continue to invest and reinvest in their farms. We want to make sure that this does not affect intergenerational transfers. We are listing to Canadians, we hear what they have to say, and we want to do things properly. Our goal here is to create a fairer tax system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, our government is working with Canadians to make sure that federally regulated aerodrome building projects take the public's safety and interest into account.Thanks to the regulatory changes made by the minister, which are already in place, Canadians can now voice their concerns before the decision to build or modify an aerodrome is made.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that a healthy democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens who have a relationship of trust with an open and transparent government.Next week is Canadas Right to Know Week. Some 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations around the world will celebrate Right to Know Day on September 28.Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us what he is doing to promote government openness and transparency?
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I cannot comment on an individual employment process case, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates possible. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to be investing in communities of all sizes, including $2 billion dedicated funding for small communities. Last month, we announced more than $11 million for 77 projects in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador to provide clean water, and recreational and cultural amenities. We will continue to work with our partners to make these investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
Mr. Speaker, this consultation is happening during the harvest season. Farmers feed Canada, and in my riding, Gerald Finster is one of these farmers. He and his family work hard, and their fortunes are tied up in their family farm. Now the Liberals want to tax these farm families even more. Farmers like Gerald are being put in a tight spot. While crushing our food producers with unbearable taxes, how is it fair that the finance minister's family fortune is sheltered from these new taxes? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, we believe in a competitive and sustainable energy sector, and the good projects must go ahead with the full confidence of Canadians. That is why we have approved pipelines in energy infrastructure projects that create tens of thousands of jobs while, at the same time, protecting our oceans, pricing carbon pollution, and working in partnership with our indigenous peoples. TransCanada's request is a business decision. The proponent develops its project application in a business environment where factors like the price of oil do change. We are committed to ensuring that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.
Mr. Speaker, the AgriInvest program has been used by Canadian farmers for years as a way to set money aside to manage income decline, support investments, and more. However, while AgriInvest encourages farmers to set this money aside, and it was previously taxed at 15%, under the government's new tax plan, farmers are concerned that these funds could be taxed up to 53%.Does the Minister of Agriculture really think it is fair to ask farmers to set aside money in an AgriInvest account and then turn around and tax these funds at a higher rate? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House support family farms. We want them to succeed and prosper. I can assure my colleague that any family members who currently work for the business, for the family farm, will be able to continue doing so. Farmers and business owners will continue to benefit from the lowest tax rate in the G7 and will be able to continue investing and reinvesting in their businesses, in their farms. Our target is not SMEs, it is not farmers; our target is tax fairness.
Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports the supply management system, dairy producers and their families, and Canada's entire dairy industry.We are the party that fought to bring in supply management, and we will continue to defend it. The economic agreement will drive growth and opportunity for Canadian farmers and boost our agricultural exports by over $1.5 billion per year. I am proud of the $350 million we invested to help dairy producers and processors modernize their facilities and give them a competitive edge.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we signed the economic agreement, which will help boost exports to the tune of $1.5 billion. What is more, we have secured $2 billion in canola exports to China and we also secured access to the beef market in China and Mexico.We will continue to work on expanding markets. We are investing $350 million in modernizing Canada's dairy industry, we invested $100 million in agricultural science and innovation, and we invested $27 million in programs to combat greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. That is what our government has done.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the open and transparent judicial appointment process with which our government is continuing to proceed. With respect to judicial appointments, I have had the opportunity to appoint 109 superior court justices across the country, including 22 deputy judges in the north. I am going to continue to appoint judges to fill the vacancies across the country, vacancies that are filled by a diversity of Canadians who reflect the best we have to offer. I am going to continue to fill the vacancies in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, in our discussions with the commissioners, they made the point that the process in which they are engaged is one that will require tremendous sensitivity.They are progressing on a road that we have not progressed on before, and they find it very much a priority that they do this appropriately and in a culturally respectful way. That is what has been happening.As a government, we have been lending them the support they need. We have been there to support them in this process. I think it goes without saying that this is a priority for our government. It is a priority for us that we respond to the needs of families, and we intend to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role as official languages critic. Our two official languages are at the heart of Canada's history and identity. They are a priority for us. With regard to appointments, our government is committed to a process that is rigorous, open, and transparent, and to finding the best candidate for each position.The role of Commissioner of Official Languages is very important. We are confident that the nominee will have all the required qualifications.
Mr. Speaker, we want to uphold NAFTA's track record, but that record shows that Canada is the most sued country under NAFTA's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.Private corporations can sue Canada just because our environmental or health regulations do not suit them, for example. Everyone knows the Liberals tend to favour corporations over Canadians, so can they tell us how having this type of provision in a free trade agreement helps promote democracy, protect Canadians, and keep our environment safe?
Mr. Speaker, Rick, in my riding of Bow River, owns a three-generation farm. He works it with his children and his grandchildren.The Minister of Finance has designed a system by which Rick will pay significantly higher taxes, putting his family's livelihood at risk. Meanwhile, the family fortune of the Prime Minister and the finance minister's family business will not be touched.Is that really fair?
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to once again remind the House that we have been able to do what the Harper Conservatives could not get done in a decade. We have approved infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and many of them indeed in Alberta. Projects include Nova Gas Transmission pipeline, 3,000 jobs; Line 3 replacement projects, 7,000 jobs; Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, 15,440 jobs; Keystone XL pipeline, 6,440; Arnaud apatite mine, 910; Woodfibre LNG, 700 jobs; and I could go on and on. These projects
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that yesterday all the provincial and territorial ministers came together to talk about the historic investments we are making in infrastructure. In the case of Quebec, we have approved 424 projects, with a federal investment of $1.6 billion. We are approving $1.28 billion for the REM project in Montreal. These are top priorities for the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal. We will continue to work in partnership with the province to deliver on the commitments we have made.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to once again remind the House that we have been able to do what the Harper Conservatives could not get done in a decade. We have approved infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and many of them indeed in Alberta. Projects include Nova Gas Transmission pipeline, 3,000 jobs; Line 3 replacement projects, 7,000 jobs; Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, 15,440 jobs; Keystone XL pipeline, 6,440; Arnaud apatite mine, 910; Woodfibre LNG, 700 jobs; and I could go on and on. These projects
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that yesterday all the provincial and territorial ministers came together to talk about the historic investments we are making in infrastructure. In the case of Quebec, we have approved 424 projects, with a federal investment of $1.6 billion. We are approving $1.28 billion for the REM project in Montreal. These are top priorities for the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal. We will continue to work in partnership with the province to deliver on the commitments we have made.
Mr. Speaker, Rick, in my riding of Bow River, owns a three-generation farm. He works it with his children and his grandchildren.The Minister of Finance has designed a system by which Rick will pay significantly higher taxes, putting his family's livelihood at risk. Meanwhile, the family fortune of the Prime Minister and the finance minister's family business will not be touched.Is that really fair?
Mr. Speaker, we want to uphold NAFTA's track record, but that record shows that Canada is the most sued country under NAFTA's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.Private corporations can sue Canada just because our environmental or health regulations do not suit them, for example. Everyone knows the Liberals tend to favour corporations over Canadians, so can they tell us how having this type of provision in a free trade agreement helps promote democracy, protect Canadians, and keep our environment safe?
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role as official languages critic. Our two official languages are at the heart of Canada's history and identity. They are a priority for us. With regard to appointments, our government is committed to a process that is rigorous, open, and transparent, and to finding the best candidate for each position.The role of Commissioner of Official Languages is very important. We are confident that the nominee will have all the required qualifications.
Mr. Speaker, in our discussions with the commissioners, they made the point that the process in which they are engaged is one that will require tremendous sensitivity.They are progressing on a road that we have not progressed on before, and they find it very much a priority that they do this appropriately and in a culturally respectful way. That is what has been happening.As a government, we have been lending them the support they need. We have been there to support them in this process. I think it goes without saying that this is a priority for our government. It is a priority for us that we respond to the needs of families, and we intend to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the open and transparent judicial appointment process with which our government is continuing to proceed. With respect to judicial appointments, I have had the opportunity to appoint 109 superior court justices across the country, including 22 deputy judges in the north. I am going to continue to appoint judges to fill the vacancies across the country, vacancies that are filled by a diversity of Canadians who reflect the best we have to offer. I am going to continue to fill the vacancies in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we signed the economic agreement, which will help boost exports to the tune of $1.5 billion. What is more, we have secured $2 billion in canola exports to China and we also secured access to the beef market in China and Mexico.We will continue to work on expanding markets. We are investing $350 million in modernizing Canada's dairy industry, we invested $100 million in agricultural science and innovation, and we invested $27 million in programs to combat greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. That is what our government has done.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House support family farms. We want them to succeed and prosper. I can assure my colleague that any family members who currently work for the business, for the family farm, will be able to continue doing so. Farmers and business owners will continue to benefit from the lowest tax rate in the G7 and will be able to continue investing and reinvesting in their businesses, in their farms. Our target is not SMEs, it is not farmers; our target is tax fairness.
Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports the supply management system, dairy producers and their families, and Canada's entire dairy industry.We are the party that fought to bring in supply management, and we will continue to defend it. The economic agreement will drive growth and opportunity for Canadian farmers and boost our agricultural exports by over $1.5 billion per year. I am proud of the $350 million we invested to help dairy producers and processors modernize their facilities and give them a competitive edge.
Mr. Speaker, the AgriInvest program has been used by Canadian farmers for years as a way to set money aside to manage income decline, support investments, and more. However, while AgriInvest encourages farmers to set this money aside, and it was previously taxed at 15%, under the government's new tax plan, farmers are concerned that these funds could be taxed up to 53%.Does the Minister of Agriculture really think it is fair to ask farmers to set aside money in an AgriInvest account and then turn around and tax these funds at a higher rate? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, we believe in a competitive and sustainable energy sector, and the good projects must go ahead with the full confidence of Canadians. That is why we have approved pipelines in energy infrastructure projects that create tens of thousands of jobs while, at the same time, protecting our oceans, pricing carbon pollution, and working in partnership with our indigenous peoples. TransCanada's request is a business decision. The proponent develops its project application in a business environment where factors like the price of oil do change. We are committed to ensuring that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.
Mr. Speaker, this consultation is happening during the harvest season. Farmers feed Canada, and in my riding, Gerald Finster is one of these farmers. He and his family work hard, and their fortunes are tied up in their family farm. Now the Liberals want to tax these farm families even more. Farmers like Gerald are being put in a tight spot. While crushing our food producers with unbearable taxes, how is it fair that the finance minister's family fortune is sheltered from these new taxes? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to be investing in communities of all sizes, including $2 billion dedicated funding for small communities. Last month, we announced more than $11 million for 77 projects in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador to provide clean water, and recreational and cultural amenities. We will continue to work with our partners to make these investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I cannot comment on an individual employment process case, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates possible. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that a healthy democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens who have a relationship of trust with an open and transparent government.Next week is Canadas Right to Know Week. Some 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations around the world will celebrate Right to Know Day on September 28.Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us what he is doing to promote government openness and transparency?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague that the Liberals will always be on side with farmers. We are listening to them to ensure there will be no unintended consequences.Farm family members can continue working. Farmers will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the G7. They can continue to invest and reinvest in their farms. We want to make sure that this does not affect intergenerational transfers. We are listing to Canadians, we hear what they have to say, and we want to do things properly. Our goal here is to create a fairer tax system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, our government is working with Canadians to make sure that federally regulated aerodrome building projects take the public's safety and interest into account.Thanks to the regulatory changes made by the minister, which are already in place, Canadians can now voice their concerns before the decision to build or modify an aerodrome is made.
Mr. Speaker, Françoise and Gordon are the owners of a company that provides agricultural services. They have worked hard all their lives, 10 hours a day, every day, and employed some 30 people in that time. Why should they have to pay higher taxes once they reach their well-earned retirement? Why has the Minister of Finance designed a system that will force Françoise and Gordon to pay a lot more taxes, while the Prime Minister's family fortune and the Minister of Finance's family business are left untouched? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA's track record is certainly one of economic growth and middle-class job creation.The three countries are firmly committed to modernizing NAFTA. As part of that modernization, we are in the process of reviewing chapter 11, which is being negotiated as we speak. We have the opportunity to improve an agreement that is good for Canada, and that is what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, due to federal privacy laws, I cannot speak to this specific individual employment process, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates for available positions. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, developing Canada's early learning and child care system is one of the most crucial investments a government can make. I am pleased that shortly before the House rose in June, our government announced a historic framework agreement with the provinces and territories on early learning and child care. The agreement builds on investments announced previously in budgets 2016 and 2017 that support and create more child care spots across the country. Could the government advise the House on the progress in implementing the framework with the provinces and territories to improve the lives of Canadian children?
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. What police forces actually said was that they needed access to the resources and the training in order to do the job. Our government has responded. We have committed $274 million to ensure they have what they need to do the job.The cost of delay is continued jeopardy to our children who are using cannabis at the highest rate of any country in the world and billions of dollars more to organized crime. That is unacceptable to us; we believe it is unacceptable to all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, education is a good equalizer, and today a good post-secondary education is essential to land a good job. However, recent data from Stats Canada shows that going to college or university is now more expensive than ever. Average tuition is now more than $6,500 a year, and that does not include additional fees, books, food, or housing. The Liberal government says it wants to lower the cost of post-secondary, but overall, government investment continues to go down. When will we see tuition fees decrease so that students can afford their education?
Mr. Speaker, the fact is, our current tax system has some inherent inequities that we want and need to address. That is why we have brought forward these proposals and why we are listening to Canadians. We want to do this right.Yes, it is and was legal, but we do not think it is necessarily fair that someone who makes $300,000 a year can save $48,000 a year simply by creating a private company, especially when that is the average salary in Canada. We think we can do better and we can a have a fairer, more equitable system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, my constituent Lana wrote: As a young woman with a professional corporation...I know first hand how hard I have to work to earn every penny that I make.... No maternity leave, no sick days, no overtime, no bonuses, no paid vacation time, no pension, variable income between pay checks, and so on.... these...changes will make it even more difficult for us. Why do the Liberals want Lana to pay significantly more in taxes, while the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will not be touched? How is that fair to Lana?
Mr. Speaker, Rick and Paul, from Woodville, Ontario, own a family farm, where margins are already tight and the financial risks are high. To make matters worse, the finance minister is planning a system where farmers like Rick and Paul will pay significantly higher taxes and might not be able to pass on their farm to the next generation.Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's system will protect his family fortune and that of the Prime Minister. How is that fair?
Qujannamiik uqaqti, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Since last fall, I have visited 23 of Nunavut's 25 communities. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my constituents face to face. What I heard unanimously were concerns about the nutrition north program. Since the release of the What we heard report five months ago, people in my riding have been patiently waiting for the changes recommended in the report. Can the minister inform the House when Nunavummiut can finally expect these changes to be implemented? Qujannamiik uqaqti.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that agrifood is one of the most important sectors for Canada's economy. We are making investments in agricultural research, and we consistently stand up for the agrifood sector, both domestically and internationally. What we are proposing today is a fairer tax system. That is why we have come up with proposals that will not affect small farms run by middle-class families. All we are trying to do is correct certain inequities in our current tax system.
Mr. Speaker, in brief, yes we will. We welcome the modernization of NAFTA in support of our middle class. Our overarching objectives are clear: to protect NAFTA's record of job creation and growth and, of course, to introduce contemporary progressive policies. By the way, the Americans and the Mexicans both support this idea.Vis-à-vis the water, absolutely. We will uphold the elements of NAFTA that are key to our national interests both now and in the future.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are listening and that, on this side of the House, we would never, ever, adopt any measures that would put women at a disadvantage relative to men. That is why we are listening to all Canadians to get this right and make sure there are no unintended consequences. Our sole objective is to make our tax system fairer where it needs it.
Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not being paid the money they are owed, and resolving this is definitely a priority for our government. We have taken a number of steps toward resolving this issue, including investing $142 million to recruit, hire, and train more employees; initiating emergency pay advances; implementing technological solutions; improving business processes; and taking a whole-of-government approach by creating a working group of ministers.Make no mistake, this will be fixed and we will leave no stone unturned.
Mr. Speaker, we will always stand behind our farmers and small business owners. That is why we are maintaining the lowest tax rate in the G7. We recognize how important SMEs are to the Canadian economy. That is all we want, and that is why we have brought forward proposals to create a tax system that is fairer and more equitable, one that asks everyone to pay their fair share, while keeping tax rates low for small businesses and for the middle class. That is our goal, and we are continuing our consultations to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to this free trade agreement, 17,000 tonnes of European cheese is flooding into our country to compete directly with cheeses made by our own producers, who have been abandoned by the federal government. After promising to compensate our producers for their losses, all the government has done is offer them a feeble modernization program that ran out of money within seven days. The Quebec government is now calling on the federal government to do its job. Will the government commit to meeting the Quebec government's demands and making the program improvements that dairy producers are calling for?
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps saying that his tax reform targets the wealthy. The Liberals believe that plumbers, restaurant owners, and florists are millionaires.What planet is the Minister of Finance living on? Guy, an international industrialist from PortneufJacques-Cartier, texted me and said that, when the Liberals' tax reform takes effect, he is going to transfer his company abroad, putting 24 middle-class families out of work. This reform will have major collateral damage for the middle class.Will this government show some respect for these job creators, our SMEs?
Mr. Speaker, I think most Canadians, and certainly Canadian students, know the actions undertaken by this government to help them get that very necessary education they need to provide them jobs of today for the future. Last year, we increased the amount of support for Canadian students by 50% to help those in low and middle-income families. We have helped persons with disabilities and indigenous Canadians by increasing the number of grants they receive. This government is absolutely committed to helping students get that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that Stéphane Dion has fought long and hard for a better and more just Canada, and he continues to play a key role in advancing Canada's interests abroad in Europe, working with our European partners on this government's progressive international agenda. Ambassador Dion's role demonstrates Canada's commitment to Europe and to Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy. Ambassador Dion will continue the vital and important work of ensuring that Canada's interests and values are shared in the world.
Mr. Speaker, the committee overseeing the appointment process for the next official languages commissioner is currently evaluating the applications received. At this point, the official opposition has not yet been consulted. The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes has stated that it is concerned and will wait to see what happens.Will the next commissioner be non-partisan, or will he or she be a Liberal Party donor? How many people have applied? When is the deadline for the evaluation process? Can the government enlighten us on the process that is under way?
Mr. Speaker, essentially, what we want is to make sure that our artists have the support they need.That is what our government is doing. We have allocated $22 million to Telefilm Canada, $13.5 million to the National Film Board, and $550 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. Those are tangible actions that support our artists without further taxing the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, as a former page of the House of Commons myself, I would like to begin by welcoming the new cohort of pages that we are lucky to have here with us. I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. Our plan will give Canadian children the best possible start in life and provide support to families who need it most. We have now signed agreements with Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. We are working very hard to achieve similar outcomes with other provincial and territorial partners. With each agreement we are getting closer to achieving our goal of affordable, high-quality, and fully-inclusive child care for all Canadian children and families.
Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem here.Commissioner Buller said, I'm happy to share those [ideas about eliminating obstacles to the process] with the government if and when they ever ask.How can it be that the government has never asked how it might help eliminate obstacles to the success of the inquiry? That is what we all want.When will the government stop paying lip service and actually do something to remove those obstacles in order to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa WestNepean for her question.As we head into Canada's Right to Know Week, today, we are debating Bill C-58, the first major reform of the Access to Information Act in 30 years. Recently, our leadership was internationally recognized when I accepted the role of co-chair of the Open Government Partnership on behalf of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will be unveiling her Canadian cultural policy next Thursday, and there is every indication that it will be at odds with Quebec's needs.If Ottawa does not want to tax Netflix, Quebec will. European states and Quebec will step up in the new digital environment to protect their culture, their artists, and their authors. Canada, in contrast, is counting on the free market, which will do nothing to protect Quebec culture.If the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not interested in protecting and promoting culture, then what exactly is her role?
That is the CETA that was negotiated by the former government.The objective of the AgriInvest program states that it encourages producers to set money aside which can be used to recover from small income shortfalls, or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. For years it has allowed farmers to get by when times are tough or to make investments to save up for costly equipment. Does the minister really think it is fair to encourage farmers to open these accounts, previously taxed at 15%, and to now tax these funds at almost 53%? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians small business owners and their employees are worried because the Liberal government is calling them spoiled rich people who use their businesses to avoid paying taxes. All week, the Minister of Finance has been trying to demonize these men and women by suggesting that they are tax cheats.This despite the fact that Canadian small businesses are the reason Canada was able to withstand the last economic crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance punishing them for things that his own Prime Minister has done to shelter his family fortune without creating a single job? That is not fair.
Mr. Speaker, we were elected on a very clear promise to the middle class. That is why the first thing we did was to raise taxes for the wealthiest 1% and cut them for nine million Canadians. That is why we moved forward with the Canada child benefit, which will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.That is also why we are proposing to make our tax system a little fairer so that a Canadian who earns $300,000 a year and decides to incorporate to save $48,000, the average income in Canada, does not have access to more benefits than the middle class. We want the tax system to be fairer.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said that we have been debating the marijuana issue for two years, but the bill was only introduced in the spring.The police are telling us that they cannot enforce the law when it comes to plants grown at home, and that they do not have the specialists required for roadside tests. Even worse, the provinces are complaining every day that they cannot be ready for July 1, 2018.Can the Prime Minister explain why legalizing marijuana is his government's top priority and why he continues to ignore all the experts?
Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague agrees with us that the program for northerners and the struggles they have in trying to feed their families are completely unacceptable. That is why our government has expanded the program to include 37 other communities. We have also invested $65 million a year over the next five years.Most importantly, we know that the previous program failed northerners. We intend to get it right this time. We are hoping that we will be able to launch the new initiatives under nutrition north that are culturally sensitive to the people who need the program.
Mr. Speaker, 95% of small businesses believe that the reform will have a negative impact on them. In Saskatoon yesterday, dozens of people hit the streets to protest a reform that is going to jeopardize their business, their farm, their practice, their retirement, or the transfer of their business to their children.Here is what one of them had to say about the reform proposed by the Minister of Finance:This is take over, it almost feels like we're under attack.How is it fair to protect the private fortunes of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, while raising taxes for small businesses and farms, forcing them to pay more?
Mr. Speaker, over the summer I met with families across Saskatchewan that raised concerns with how the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is offloading some responsibility onto community-based organizations. With cuts to the STC, it is almost impossible for families to reach the inquiry's registration, community meetings, and hearings.If a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people is the most important relationship to this Prime Minister, why is he not removing all barriers to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, under the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act, the federal government has delegated the economic regulation of interprovincial bus carriers in federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories, including establishing conditions of entry or exit, and regulating rates and routes of interprovincial bus carriers. Intercity bus services within Canada, such as Greyhound, operate on a commercial basis with no support from the federal government. Nonetheless, our government encourages Greyhound to continue consulting with indigenous groups, stakeholders, provinces, and territories.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition member for her question. I was hoping that I would not be forgotten today and that I would be asked at least one question. This gives me the opportunity to rise for the first time as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and remind the opposition that our government's objective is a fairer tax system.The current system is inherently unfair and allows wealthy Canadians to incorporate so they pay a lower rate of tax than the middle class.We think that we need to keep taxes low for the middle class and SMEs, while asking all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Mr. Speaker, for the first time in 35 years, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was forced to close family and civil chambers for a whole day. Real families are facing issues of access, child support, spousal support, and are being hurt by the Liberal government and its inaction. The Conservatives have been calling for action on judicial appointments and with this closure, the Liberals have failed. If the minister cannot get the job done in her own back yard, will the Prime Minister finally take some action and find a minister who will get it done for B.C.?
Mr. Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to very carefully read the proposals that have been put forward and to share his opinions, because we are in the midst of consultations.However, the SME tax rate, which is the lowest in the G7, remains unchanged. Small businesses will still be able to reinvest in the growth of their companies, which we encourage because we know how important entrepreneurs and small businesses are. Our goal is to make the tax system fairer. That is why we presented the proposals to Canadians and are listening to what they have to say.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to think that throwing money at the problem is going to fix it. Well, so far, it is not working. Not only has the Privacy Commissioner found 11 cases in which employees names and salaries have been leaked, but we also learned this week that the cost to fix Phoenix has now tripled and that has still not been fixed. The NDP has repeatedly demanded that the government fix the issue and there is no end in sight.Does the government actually have a plan or just a box of Band-Aids?
Mr. Speaker, Clearly you are...just the kind of person we need to help move our yardsticks. This is what our Canadian Forces first wrote to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm for a position to assist the troubled Joint Personnel Support Unit. However, this was the response before that veteran wrote to the Prime Minister himself to expose the failure to our most wounded soldiers. He was then turned down. Will the minister confirm that veteran Westholm was canned because he was critical of the Liberal government inaction?
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone deaf they are to what is going on out there.Throughout this week, we have heard countless stories of small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, and their employers who will be devastated by these Liberal tax increases. We know that these tax increases have been designed to specifically protect the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.Why are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance putting their own well-being and self-interest against middle-class Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, this summer, seven women's advocacy organizations wrote to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Transport, and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs about losing STC and leaving many people, especially women, vulnerable and stranded. We cannot let the history of B.C.'s Highway of Tears repeat itself in Saskatchewan. The government claimed Greyhound would run service to these communities, but this week Greyhound clearly stated it would not.Without the safe service of the STC, what will the federal government do to protect vulnerable women and girls in Saskatchewan?
Mr. Speaker, energy is Canada's second biggest export. With global oil demand increasing to 121 million barrels a day by 2040, new energy infrastructure is crucial for Canada, but the Liberal chaos, not prices, is putting projects like energy east at risk. Meanwhile, the U.S. is removing red tape, ramping up exports, and rapidly pursuing its energy independence. The Liberal delays, uncertainty, and anti-energy agenda are threatening Canada's position as a global leader.When will the Liberals reduce red tape, kill barriers, and finally show the world that Canada is open for business?
Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on delivering results for Canadian farmers.We tabled a budget that treats agriculture as one of Canada's key industries and that sets a target of $75 billion in exports. We improved the grains legislation with Bill C-49, something the previous government never did. We signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will help boost agricultural exports to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. That is what our government has done for agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, energy east is a $15.7-billion project that would create thousands of jobs for all of Canada, but it is at risk, all because the Liberals keep changing the rules. In January 2016, the Liberals said that they might require emissions testing for energy approvals with no details, yet last month, TransCanada was blindsided by the NEB's sudden direction to do so a year and a half into the new review for energy east. Obviously, we are two years into reviews of reviews, no clarity, no confidence, and no end in sight.When will the Liberals be clear to investors and finally champion Canadian energy?
Mr. Speaker, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started accepting applications for the program on August 22, 2017.The dairy industry welcomed this program. In fact, its reaction was so positive that the program stopped taking applications on August 29, 2017, probably because all of the funds had been allocated for phase one. Sometime in the next few months, the government will announce when it will start accepting applications for phase two.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we will always support our small and medium-sized businesses. That is why our tax rate remains the lowest in the G7. We are fully aware of the importance of small businesses, and we want to encourage them to continue stimulating growth in Canada.However, there are still some loopholes in the tax system that unfairly allow some of the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can access tax benefits that are out of reach for the vast majority of middle-class Canadians. That is the problem we want to tackle. That is why we have launched a consultation and tabled proposals. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection and security of employees' personal information seriously.Any time the department experiences an incident, we follow a systematic approach to immediately contain the breach and implement corrective measures, including notifying the Privacy Commissioner and affected employees. This process was followed after privacy breaches related to Phoenix and we have implemented recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Mr. Speaker, we are engaged on this file, we have listened to farmers and we have met with agricultural representatives. I can assure my colleague that we will take their perspectives into account as we move forward and come up with our plan.Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding all unintended consequences for our farmers. I want to assure my colleague that our government will not change any tax benefits that support the growth of family-owned businesses.
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member just said is both false and fallacious.We are not raising taxes for small businesses. Their tax rate remains unchanged and is the lowest in the G7. We support our SMEs. We are not attacking small businesses or farmers. Our only goal is tax fairness. That is what we are trying to accomplish, and that is why we are holding consultations on our proposals in order to make sure we are doing things right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection of the personal privacy of Canadians extremely seriously, which is why we proactively reached out to the Privacy Commissioner to answer any questions he might have had. We thank him for his very thorough report and we accept those recommendations unconditionally. MyDemocracy.ca engaged Canadians in a national conversation in which individual responses that were received online remained anonymous. Paragraph 43 of the summary of investigation notes that the Privacy Commissioner found no evidence that individual responses to the MyDemocracy survey questions were disclosed to third parties. We will continue to protect and uphold the privacy of Canadians as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, most people will be having fun in the sun, but not the people living along the water near the flight schools in Saint-Hubert because of the incessant noise of the planes constantly flying overhead. Despite desperate pleas from those affected and my repeated interventions with the minister, Transport Canada refuses to enforce the flight restrictions that all parties had duly agreed upon. Transport Canada is completely absent on this issue and worse yet, the department has the nerve to tell us, after three months of hemming and hawing, that it has never received an official request on the matter of limiting flying hours. Does the minister find that acceptable?Can he finally commit to providing his support to ensure at the very least that this does not happen again next year?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to having to deal with the botched Phoenix pay system, public servants have now learned that their privacy was breached because of the glitches in this system. Commissioner Therrien found at least 11 privacy breaches, including leaked names, employee numbers and salaries. Enough is enough. The Liberals have mismanaged this file from start to finish. When will the problems with the Phoenix pay system finally be fixed?
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to do his job.His job is to take the taxes we pay and to automatically transfer them to Quebec so that we can build our roads, schools, and hospitals. It is not to set conditions and conduct negotiations that slow everything down. It is not his job to create a bank to privatize our infrastructure.When it comes right down to it, the minister's job is to do as little harm as possible, but is he capable of doing that?
Mr. Speaker, when they stand behind those small businesses, they put a knife in their back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Dorothy Keating, chair of the St. John's Board of Trade, said that her members were extremely disappointed after meeting with the finance minister. She likened the Liberal tax plan to building a leaky boat and promising to fix it only after putting it in the water. Will it take a full mutiny of his own caucus for the Prime Minister to realize his plan to raise taxes on small business just will not float?
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House recognize that small and medium enterprises are crucial to the vitality of the Canadian economy. That is why the small business tax rate, the lowest in the G7, is not changing. We are on side with farmers. We are on side with small businesses. We have their backs. We want to make our tax system a little fairer.That is why we put forward our proposals and why we are holding consultations about those proposals now. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we are doing things properly. We are not trying to go after small businesses or the middle class. All we want is a fairer tax system.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the Liberal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca, was a privacy nightmare. The Privacy Commissioner reports that the website automatically disclosed IP addresses, web activities, opinions, and lifestyle data from the 360,000 participants without their consent, to third parties such as Facebook. For months we asked the Liberals about this issue and they said that everything was just peachy. Were they lying to Canadians or was this just their usual incompetence?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with the commissioners from the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry in Canada and to hear first-hand from the commissioners about the work they are doing.Our government has launched a truly national and independent inquiry. At the heart of that inquiry are the families that have been affected and those who have been victimized through the process. The inquiry has told us, the commissioners have told us, that they have a plan, that they are dedicated to learning and adapting as the inquiry progresses and to finding the solutions to address the families' needs.
Mr. Speaker, recently I travelled to Embree, a small town in my riding. If members do not know where that is, it is next to Little Burnt Bay; they cannot miss it. It has a population of around 700 people. I had the honour of announcing close to $300,000 in federal money for its water system. After years of neglect, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador government's local MHA, Derek Bennett, to bring the residents an announcement for their drinking water system, which has been a need now for 12 to 15 years. These are the types of investments we are doing, not just for the larger centres but the smallest communities as well. Could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities please comment on that and other small communities across the country?
Mr. Speaker, retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm used to volunteer to help his fellow soldiers who were dealing with operational injuries. At first, the door was wide open to him at the Canadian Forces. However, when he wrote to the Prime Minister to complain about how our flawed system is failing our most seriously injured vets, the Canadian Forces slammed the door in this face.Whether on mefloquine or our seriously injured soldiers, the Liberals turn a blind eye and ignore the facts. Why the cover up? Why shoot the messenger? Veterans do not want selfies, they want action.
Mr. Speaker, Chris Neal is a chartered accountant employing five people in Saint John. He fears the Liberals' proposed tax plans could hurt his small business and has called the Liberal rhetoric on this highly insulting. Chris is not alone. Over 50 small businesses in New Brunswick have joined a coalition opposed to the Liberal tax plan. Supporters of the coalition include the Liberal MPs for Saint JohnRothesay and AcadieBathurst.If the Prime Minister will not listen to small businesses in New Brunswick, will he at least listen to the members of his own caucus and stop this Liberal tax grab?
Mr. Speaker, recently released documents showed that Global Affairs, diplomats, and our allies were confused by the decision to appoint the Hon. Stéphane Dion as Canada's ambassador to the EU and Canada's ambassador to Germany, a country within the EU. Confusion, hundreds of documents, and months of that have shown that the decision was ill-conceived, and Canada has been looked on poorly by our allies.Canadians know that it is not easy for Mr. Dion to set priorities. Will the minister inform the House whether his priority will be the ambassador to the EU or ambassador to Germany? Which is it?
Mr. Speaker, these changes at not fair and they are hurting the middle class.Serious concerns have been raised by experts, business leaders, and small business owners, not just by us but by experts in Canada. These are not frivolous complaints. They are legitimate questions.However, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister just do not care. They are arrogantly ignoring these real worries and real questions.When will they admit that this tax increase is a terrible idea? It is unfair and it needs to stop.
Mr. Speaker, the Union des producteurs agricoles, the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and Quebec's minister of agriculture all criticized the funding shortfall in the Minister of International Trade's plan to help dairy producers, yet he had the nerve to say that the reason the program ended after just one week was that it worked so well.To farmers in my riding and all across Quebec, that is outrageous. The program ended because there was not enough money.Does the minister even listen when dairy producers tell him that the program is not good enough?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the third round of NAFTA renegotiations start in Ottawa. Just this week, an Ekos poll found that 76% of Canadians said that we should not accept a bad deal if negotiations result in worse conditions for Canadians and our environment, and 80% said that NAFTA clauses that leave our water vulnerable to export and privatization should be removed. We agree. Bulk exports of our water resources do not serve the public interest.Will the Liberals stand up for Canadians and protect our water?
Mr. Speaker, former Liberal finance minister John Manley is saying that the damage is already being done. Manley says business owners are moving assets outside of Canada to avoid these Liberal tax hikes. In his words: You wont know about it because theyre not going to buy ads or report ittheyll just go. Since we know that the Minister of Finance is not listening or believing middle-class Canadians, will he at least believe John Manley and scrap these devastating tax increases?
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to once again remind the House that we have been able to do what the Harper Conservatives could not get done in a decade. We have approved infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and many of them indeed in Alberta. Projects include Nova Gas Transmission pipeline, 3,000 jobs; Line 3 replacement projects, 7,000 jobs; Trans Mountain expansion pipeline, 15,440 jobs; Keystone XL pipeline, 6,440; Arnaud apatite mine, 910; Woodfibre LNG, 700 jobs; and I could go on and on. These projects
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud that yesterday all the provincial and territorial ministers came together to talk about the historic investments we are making in infrastructure. In the case of Quebec, we have approved 424 projects, with a federal investment of $1.6 billion. We are approving $1.28 billion for the REM project in Montreal. These are top priorities for the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal. We will continue to work in partnership with the province to deliver on the commitments we have made.
Mr. Speaker, Rick, in my riding of Bow River, owns a three-generation farm. He works it with his children and his grandchildren.The Minister of Finance has designed a system by which Rick will pay significantly higher taxes, putting his family's livelihood at risk. Meanwhile, the family fortune of the Prime Minister and the finance minister's family business will not be touched.Is that really fair?
Mr. Speaker, we want to uphold NAFTA's track record, but that record shows that Canada is the most sued country under NAFTA's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.Private corporations can sue Canada just because our environmental or health regulations do not suit them, for example. Everyone knows the Liberals tend to favour corporations over Canadians, so can they tell us how having this type of provision in a free trade agreement helps promote democracy, protect Canadians, and keep our environment safe?
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague on his new role as official languages critic. Our two official languages are at the heart of Canada's history and identity. They are a priority for us. With regard to appointments, our government is committed to a process that is rigorous, open, and transparent, and to finding the best candidate for each position.The role of Commissioner of Official Languages is very important. We are confident that the nominee will have all the required qualifications.
Mr. Speaker, in our discussions with the commissioners, they made the point that the process in which they are engaged is one that will require tremendous sensitivity.They are progressing on a road that we have not progressed on before, and they find it very much a priority that they do this appropriately and in a culturally respectful way. That is what has been happening.As a government, we have been lending them the support they need. We have been there to support them in this process. I think it goes without saying that this is a priority for our government. It is a priority for us that we respond to the needs of families, and we intend to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased with the open and transparent judicial appointment process with which our government is continuing to proceed. With respect to judicial appointments, I have had the opportunity to appoint 109 superior court justices across the country, including 22 deputy judges in the north. I am going to continue to appoint judges to fill the vacancies across the country, vacancies that are filled by a diversity of Canadians who reflect the best we have to offer. I am going to continue to fill the vacancies in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we signed the economic agreement, which will help boost exports to the tune of $1.5 billion. What is more, we have secured $2 billion in canola exports to China and we also secured access to the beef market in China and Mexico.We will continue to work on expanding markets. We are investing $350 million in modernizing Canada's dairy industry, we invested $100 million in agricultural science and innovation, and we invested $27 million in programs to combat greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. That is what our government has done.
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House support family farms. We want them to succeed and prosper. I can assure my colleague that any family members who currently work for the business, for the family farm, will be able to continue doing so. Farmers and business owners will continue to benefit from the lowest tax rate in the G7 and will be able to continue investing and reinvesting in their businesses, in their farms. Our target is not SMEs, it is not farmers; our target is tax fairness.
Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports the supply management system, dairy producers and their families, and Canada's entire dairy industry.We are the party that fought to bring in supply management, and we will continue to defend it. The economic agreement will drive growth and opportunity for Canadian farmers and boost our agricultural exports by over $1.5 billion per year. I am proud of the $350 million we invested to help dairy producers and processors modernize their facilities and give them a competitive edge.
Mr. Speaker, the AgriInvest program has been used by Canadian farmers for years as a way to set money aside to manage income decline, support investments, and more. However, while AgriInvest encourages farmers to set this money aside, and it was previously taxed at 15%, under the government's new tax plan, farmers are concerned that these funds could be taxed up to 53%.Does the Minister of Agriculture really think it is fair to ask farmers to set aside money in an AgriInvest account and then turn around and tax these funds at a higher rate? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, we believe in a competitive and sustainable energy sector, and the good projects must go ahead with the full confidence of Canadians. That is why we have approved pipelines in energy infrastructure projects that create tens of thousands of jobs while, at the same time, protecting our oceans, pricing carbon pollution, and working in partnership with our indigenous peoples. TransCanada's request is a business decision. The proponent develops its project application in a business environment where factors like the price of oil do change. We are committed to ensuring that economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand.
Mr. Speaker, this consultation is happening during the harvest season. Farmers feed Canada, and in my riding, Gerald Finster is one of these farmers. He and his family work hard, and their fortunes are tied up in their family farm. Now the Liberals want to tax these farm families even more. Farmers like Gerald are being put in a tight spot. While crushing our food producers with unbearable taxes, how is it fair that the finance minister's family fortune is sheltered from these new taxes? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, our government is proud to be investing in communities of all sizes, including $2 billion dedicated funding for small communities. Last month, we announced more than $11 million for 77 projects in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador to provide clean water, and recreational and cultural amenities. We will continue to work with our partners to make these investments to build strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, I cannot comment on an individual employment process case, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates possible. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians understand that a healthy democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens who have a relationship of trust with an open and transparent government.Next week is Canadas Right to Know Week. Some 40 countries and 60 non-governmental organizations around the world will celebrate Right to Know Day on September 28.Can the President of the Treasury Board tell us what he is doing to promote government openness and transparency?
Mr. Speaker, I would like to reassure my colleague that the Liberals will always be on side with farmers. We are listening to them to ensure there will be no unintended consequences.Farm family members can continue working. Farmers will continue to have the lowest tax rate in the G7. They can continue to invest and reinvest in their farms. We want to make sure that this does not affect intergenerational transfers. We are listing to Canadians, we hear what they have to say, and we want to do things properly. Our goal here is to create a fairer tax system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, our government is working with Canadians to make sure that federally regulated aerodrome building projects take the public's safety and interest into account.Thanks to the regulatory changes made by the minister, which are already in place, Canadians can now voice their concerns before the decision to build or modify an aerodrome is made.
Mr. Speaker, Françoise and Gordon are the owners of a company that provides agricultural services. They have worked hard all their lives, 10 hours a day, every day, and employed some 30 people in that time. Why should they have to pay higher taxes once they reach their well-earned retirement? Why has the Minister of Finance designed a system that will force Françoise and Gordon to pay a lot more taxes, while the Prime Minister's family fortune and the Minister of Finance's family business are left untouched? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, NAFTA's track record is certainly one of economic growth and middle-class job creation.The three countries are firmly committed to modernizing NAFTA. As part of that modernization, we are in the process of reviewing chapter 11, which is being negotiated as we speak. We have the opportunity to improve an agreement that is good for Canada, and that is what we are going to do.
Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, due to federal privacy laws, I cannot speak to this specific individual employment process, but I can advise that the Canadian Armed Forces seeks to recruit, hire, and retain the very best candidates for available positions. The Canadian Armed Forces recognizes the importance of actively looking to recruit candidates with different views, experiences, and skill sets needed to meet the needs of our members. The process for hiring is designed in the best interest of the organization and in order to make our military strong and resilient.
Mr. Speaker, developing Canada's early learning and child care system is one of the most crucial investments a government can make. I am pleased that shortly before the House rose in June, our government announced a historic framework agreement with the provinces and territories on early learning and child care. The agreement builds on investments announced previously in budgets 2016 and 2017 that support and create more child care spots across the country. Could the government advise the House on the progress in implementing the framework with the provinces and territories to improve the lives of Canadian children?
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear. What police forces actually said was that they needed access to the resources and the training in order to do the job. Our government has responded. We have committed $274 million to ensure they have what they need to do the job.The cost of delay is continued jeopardy to our children who are using cannabis at the highest rate of any country in the world and billions of dollars more to organized crime. That is unacceptable to us; we believe it is unacceptable to all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, education is a good equalizer, and today a good post-secondary education is essential to land a good job. However, recent data from Stats Canada shows that going to college or university is now more expensive than ever. Average tuition is now more than $6,500 a year, and that does not include additional fees, books, food, or housing. The Liberal government says it wants to lower the cost of post-secondary, but overall, government investment continues to go down. When will we see tuition fees decrease so that students can afford their education?
Mr. Speaker, the fact is, our current tax system has some inherent inequities that we want and need to address. That is why we have brought forward these proposals and why we are listening to Canadians. We want to do this right.Yes, it is and was legal, but we do not think it is necessarily fair that someone who makes $300,000 a year can save $48,000 a year simply by creating a private company, especially when that is the average salary in Canada. We think we can do better and we can a have a fairer, more equitable system for all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, my constituent Lana wrote: As a young woman with a professional corporation...I know first hand how hard I have to work to earn every penny that I make.... No maternity leave, no sick days, no overtime, no bonuses, no paid vacation time, no pension, variable income between pay checks, and so on.... these...changes will make it even more difficult for us. Why do the Liberals want Lana to pay significantly more in taxes, while the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance will not be touched? How is that fair to Lana?
Mr. Speaker, Rick and Paul, from Woodville, Ontario, own a family farm, where margins are already tight and the financial risks are high. To make matters worse, the finance minister is planning a system where farmers like Rick and Paul will pay significantly higher taxes and might not be able to pass on their farm to the next generation.Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance's system will protect his family fortune and that of the Prime Minister. How is that fair?
Qujannamiik uqaqti, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Since last fall, I have visited 23 of Nunavut's 25 communities. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my constituents face to face. What I heard unanimously were concerns about the nutrition north program. Since the release of the What we heard report five months ago, people in my riding have been patiently waiting for the changes recommended in the report. Can the minister inform the House when Nunavummiut can finally expect these changes to be implemented? Qujannamiik uqaqti.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that agrifood is one of the most important sectors for Canada's economy. We are making investments in agricultural research, and we consistently stand up for the agrifood sector, both domestically and internationally. What we are proposing today is a fairer tax system. That is why we have come up with proposals that will not affect small farms run by middle-class families. All we are trying to do is correct certain inequities in our current tax system.
Mr. Speaker, in brief, yes we will. We welcome the modernization of NAFTA in support of our middle class. Our overarching objectives are clear: to protect NAFTA's record of job creation and growth and, of course, to introduce contemporary progressive policies. By the way, the Americans and the Mexicans both support this idea.Vis-à-vis the water, absolutely. We will uphold the elements of NAFTA that are key to our national interests both now and in the future.
Mr. Speaker, I want to assure my colleague that we are listening and that, on this side of the House, we would never, ever, adopt any measures that would put women at a disadvantage relative to men. That is why we are listening to all Canadians to get this right and make sure there are no unintended consequences. Our sole objective is to make our tax system fairer where it needs it.
Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not being paid the money they are owed, and resolving this is definitely a priority for our government. We have taken a number of steps toward resolving this issue, including investing $142 million to recruit, hire, and train more employees; initiating emergency pay advances; implementing technological solutions; improving business processes; and taking a whole-of-government approach by creating a working group of ministers.Make no mistake, this will be fixed and we will leave no stone unturned.
Mr. Speaker, we will always stand behind our farmers and small business owners. That is why we are maintaining the lowest tax rate in the G7. We recognize how important SMEs are to the Canadian economy. That is all we want, and that is why we have brought forward proposals to create a tax system that is fairer and more equitable, one that asks everyone to pay their fair share, while keeping tax rates low for small businesses and for the middle class. That is our goal, and we are continuing our consultations to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to this free trade agreement, 17,000 tonnes of European cheese is flooding into our country to compete directly with cheeses made by our own producers, who have been abandoned by the federal government. After promising to compensate our producers for their losses, all the government has done is offer them a feeble modernization program that ran out of money within seven days. The Quebec government is now calling on the federal government to do its job. Will the government commit to meeting the Quebec government's demands and making the program improvements that dairy producers are calling for?
Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps saying that his tax reform targets the wealthy. The Liberals believe that plumbers, restaurant owners, and florists are millionaires.What planet is the Minister of Finance living on? Guy, an international industrialist from PortneufJacques-Cartier, texted me and said that, when the Liberals' tax reform takes effect, he is going to transfer his company abroad, putting 24 middle-class families out of work. This reform will have major collateral damage for the middle class.Will this government show some respect for these job creators, our SMEs?
Mr. Speaker, I think most Canadians, and certainly Canadian students, know the actions undertaken by this government to help them get that very necessary education they need to provide them jobs of today for the future. Last year, we increased the amount of support for Canadian students by 50% to help those in low and middle-income families. We have helped persons with disabilities and indigenous Canadians by increasing the number of grants they receive. This government is absolutely committed to helping students get that opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that Stéphane Dion has fought long and hard for a better and more just Canada, and he continues to play a key role in advancing Canada's interests abroad in Europe, working with our European partners on this government's progressive international agenda. Ambassador Dion's role demonstrates Canada's commitment to Europe and to Germany, which is Europe's biggest economy. Ambassador Dion will continue the vital and important work of ensuring that Canada's interests and values are shared in the world.
Mr. Speaker, the committee overseeing the appointment process for the next official languages commissioner is currently evaluating the applications received. At this point, the official opposition has not yet been consulted. The Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes has stated that it is concerned and will wait to see what happens.Will the next commissioner be non-partisan, or will he or she be a Liberal Party donor? How many people have applied? When is the deadline for the evaluation process? Can the government enlighten us on the process that is under way?
Mr. Speaker, essentially, what we want is to make sure that our artists have the support they need.That is what our government is doing. We have allocated $22 million to Telefilm Canada, $13.5 million to the National Film Board, and $550 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. Those are tangible actions that support our artists without further taxing the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, as a former page of the House of Commons myself, I would like to begin by welcoming the new cohort of pages that we are lucky to have here with us. I thank the member for Willowdale for his hard work on behalf of his constituents. Our plan will give Canadian children the best possible start in life and provide support to families who need it most. We have now signed agreements with Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and Nunavut. We are working very hard to achieve similar outcomes with other provincial and territorial partners. With each agreement we are getting closer to achieving our goal of affordable, high-quality, and fully-inclusive child care for all Canadian children and families.
Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem here.Commissioner Buller said, I'm happy to share those [ideas about eliminating obstacles to the process] with the government if and when they ever ask.How can it be that the government has never asked how it might help eliminate obstacles to the success of the inquiry? That is what we all want.When will the government stop paying lip service and actually do something to remove those obstacles in order to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa WestNepean for her question.As we head into Canada's Right to Know Week, today, we are debating Bill C-58, the first major reform of the Access to Information Act in 30 years. Recently, our leadership was internationally recognized when I accepted the role of co-chair of the Open Government Partnership on behalf of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will be unveiling her Canadian cultural policy next Thursday, and there is every indication that it will be at odds with Quebec's needs.If Ottawa does not want to tax Netflix, Quebec will. European states and Quebec will step up in the new digital environment to protect their culture, their artists, and their authors. Canada, in contrast, is counting on the free market, which will do nothing to protect Quebec culture.If the Minister of Canadian Heritage is not interested in protecting and promoting culture, then what exactly is her role?
That is the CETA that was negotiated by the former government.The objective of the AgriInvest program states that it encourages producers to set money aside which can be used to recover from small income shortfalls, or to make investments to reduce on-farm risks. For years it has allowed farmers to get by when times are tough or to make investments to save up for costly equipment. Does the minister really think it is fair to encourage farmers to open these accounts, previously taxed at 15%, and to now tax these funds at almost 53%? How is that fair?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians small business owners and their employees are worried because the Liberal government is calling them spoiled rich people who use their businesses to avoid paying taxes. All week, the Minister of Finance has been trying to demonize these men and women by suggesting that they are tax cheats.This despite the fact that Canadian small businesses are the reason Canada was able to withstand the last economic crisis. Why is the Minister of Finance punishing them for things that his own Prime Minister has done to shelter his family fortune without creating a single job? That is not fair.
Mr. Speaker, we were elected on a very clear promise to the middle class. That is why the first thing we did was to raise taxes for the wealthiest 1% and cut them for nine million Canadians. That is why we moved forward with the Canada child benefit, which will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.That is also why we are proposing to make our tax system a little fairer so that a Canadian who earns $300,000 a year and decides to incorporate to save $48,000, the average income in Canada, does not have access to more benefits than the middle class. We want the tax system to be fairer.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the minister said that we have been debating the marijuana issue for two years, but the bill was only introduced in the spring.The police are telling us that they cannot enforce the law when it comes to plants grown at home, and that they do not have the specialists required for roadside tests. Even worse, the provinces are complaining every day that they cannot be ready for July 1, 2018.Can the Prime Minister explain why legalizing marijuana is his government's top priority and why he continues to ignore all the experts?
Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague agrees with us that the program for northerners and the struggles they have in trying to feed their families are completely unacceptable. That is why our government has expanded the program to include 37 other communities. We have also invested $65 million a year over the next five years.Most importantly, we know that the previous program failed northerners. We intend to get it right this time. We are hoping that we will be able to launch the new initiatives under nutrition north that are culturally sensitive to the people who need the program.
Mr. Speaker, 95% of small businesses believe that the reform will have a negative impact on them. In Saskatoon yesterday, dozens of people hit the streets to protest a reform that is going to jeopardize their business, their farm, their practice, their retirement, or the transfer of their business to their children.Here is what one of them had to say about the reform proposed by the Minister of Finance:This is take over, it almost feels like we're under attack.How is it fair to protect the private fortunes of the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, while raising taxes for small businesses and farms, forcing them to pay more?
Mr. Speaker, over the summer I met with families across Saskatchewan that raised concerns with how the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women is offloading some responsibility onto community-based organizations. With cuts to the STC, it is almost impossible for families to reach the inquiry's registration, community meetings, and hearings.If a nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous people is the most important relationship to this Prime Minister, why is he not removing all barriers to ensure the inquiry's success?
Mr. Speaker, under the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act, the federal government has delegated the economic regulation of interprovincial bus carriers in federal jurisdiction to the provinces and territories, including establishing conditions of entry or exit, and regulating rates and routes of interprovincial bus carriers. Intercity bus services within Canada, such as Greyhound, operate on a commercial basis with no support from the federal government. Nonetheless, our government encourages Greyhound to continue consulting with indigenous groups, stakeholders, provinces, and territories.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the opposition member for her question. I was hoping that I would not be forgotten today and that I would be asked at least one question. This gives me the opportunity to rise for the first time as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and remind the opposition that our government's objective is a fairer tax system.The current system is inherently unfair and allows wealthy Canadians to incorporate so they pay a lower rate of tax than the middle class.We think that we need to keep taxes low for the middle class and SMEs, while asking all Canadians to pay their fair share.
Mr. Speaker, for the first time in 35 years, the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver was forced to close family and civil chambers for a whole day. Real families are facing issues of access, child support, spousal support, and are being hurt by the Liberal government and its inaction. The Conservatives have been calling for action on judicial appointments and with this closure, the Liberals have failed. If the minister cannot get the job done in her own back yard, will the Prime Minister finally take some action and find a minister who will get it done for B.C.?
Mr. Speaker, I invite my hon. colleague to very carefully read the proposals that have been put forward and to share his opinions, because we are in the midst of consultations.However, the SME tax rate, which is the lowest in the G7, remains unchanged. Small businesses will still be able to reinvest in the growth of their companies, which we encourage because we know how important entrepreneurs and small businesses are. Our goal is to make the tax system fairer. That is why we presented the proposals to Canadians and are listening to what they have to say.
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals seem to think that throwing money at the problem is going to fix it. Well, so far, it is not working. Not only has the Privacy Commissioner found 11 cases in which employees names and salaries have been leaked, but we also learned this week that the cost to fix Phoenix has now tripled and that has still not been fixed. The NDP has repeatedly demanded that the government fix the issue and there is no end in sight.Does the government actually have a plan or just a box of Band-Aids?
Mr. Speaker, Clearly you are...just the kind of person we need to help move our yardsticks. This is what our Canadian Forces first wrote to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm for a position to assist the troubled Joint Personnel Support Unit. However, this was the response before that veteran wrote to the Prime Minister himself to expose the failure to our most wounded soldiers. He was then turned down. Will the minister confirm that veteran Westholm was canned because he was critical of the Liberal government inaction?
Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable how tone deaf they are to what is going on out there.Throughout this week, we have heard countless stories of small business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, and their employers who will be devastated by these Liberal tax increases. We know that these tax increases have been designed to specifically protect the family fortunes of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance.Why are the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance putting their own well-being and self-interest against middle-class Canadians?
Mr. Speaker, this summer, seven women's advocacy organizations wrote to the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Transport, and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs about losing STC and leaving many people, especially women, vulnerable and stranded. We cannot let the history of B.C.'s Highway of Tears repeat itself in Saskatchewan. The government claimed Greyhound would run service to these communities, but this week Greyhound clearly stated it would not.Without the safe service of the STC, what will the federal government do to protect vulnerable women and girls in Saskatchewan?
Mr. Speaker, energy is Canada's second biggest export. With global oil demand increasing to 121 million barrels a day by 2040, new energy infrastructure is crucial for Canada, but the Liberal chaos, not prices, is putting projects like energy east at risk. Meanwhile, the U.S. is removing red tape, ramping up exports, and rapidly pursuing its energy independence. The Liberal delays, uncertainty, and anti-energy agenda are threatening Canada's position as a global leader.When will the Liberals reduce red tape, kill barriers, and finally show the world that Canada is open for business?
Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on delivering results for Canadian farmers.We tabled a budget that treats agriculture as one of Canada's key industries and that sets a target of $75 billion in exports. We improved the grains legislation with Bill C-49, something the previous government never did. We signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which will help boost agricultural exports to the tune of $1.5 billion annually. That is what our government has done for agriculture.
Mr. Speaker, energy east is a $15.7-billion project that would create thousands of jobs for all of Canada, but it is at risk, all because the Liberals keep changing the rules. In January 2016, the Liberals said that they might require emissions testing for energy approvals with no details, yet last month, TransCanada was blindsided by the NEB's sudden direction to do so a year and a half into the new review for energy east. Obviously, we are two years into reviews of reviews, no clarity, no confidence, and no end in sight.When will the Liberals be clear to investors and finally champion Canadian energy?
Mr. Speaker, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started accepting applications for the program on August 22, 2017.The dairy industry welcomed this program. In fact, its reaction was so positive that the program stopped taking applications on August 29, 2017, probably because all of the funds had been allocated for phase one. Sometime in the next few months, the government will announce when it will start accepting applications for phase two.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we will always support our small and medium-sized businesses. That is why our tax rate remains the lowest in the G7. We are fully aware of the importance of small businesses, and we want to encourage them to continue stimulating growth in Canada.However, there are still some loopholes in the tax system that unfairly allow some of the wealthiest Canadians to incorporate so they can access tax benefits that are out of reach for the vast majority of middle-class Canadians. That is the problem we want to tackle. That is why we have launched a consultation and tabled proposals. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we get this right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection and security of employees' personal information seriously.Any time the department experiences an incident, we follow a systematic approach to immediately contain the breach and implement corrective measures, including notifying the Privacy Commissioner and affected employees. This process was followed after privacy breaches related to Phoenix and we have implemented recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
Mr. Speaker, we are engaged on this file, we have listened to farmers and we have met with agricultural representatives. I can assure my colleague that we will take their perspectives into account as we move forward and come up with our plan.Our priority is to ensure tax fairness, while avoiding all unintended consequences for our farmers. I want to assure my colleague that our government will not change any tax benefits that support the growth of family-owned businesses.
Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member just said is both false and fallacious.We are not raising taxes for small businesses. Their tax rate remains unchanged and is the lowest in the G7. We support our SMEs. We are not attacking small businesses or farmers. Our only goal is tax fairness. That is what we are trying to accomplish, and that is why we are holding consultations on our proposals in order to make sure we are doing things right.
Mr. Speaker, our government takes the protection of the personal privacy of Canadians extremely seriously, which is why we proactively reached out to the Privacy Commissioner to answer any questions he might have had. We thank him for his very thorough report and we accept those recommendations unconditionally. MyDemocracy.ca engaged Canadians in a national conversation in which individual responses that were received online remained anonymous. Paragraph 43 of the summary of investigation notes that the Privacy Commissioner found no evidence that individual responses to the MyDemocracy survey questions were disclosed to third parties. We will continue to protect and uphold the privacy of Canadians as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, this weekend, most people will be having fun in the sun, but not the people living along the water near the flight schools in Saint-Hubert because of the incessant noise of the planes constantly flying overhead. Despite desperate pleas from those affected and my repeated interventions with the minister, Transport Canada refuses to enforce the flight restrictions that all parties had duly agreed upon. Transport Canada is completely absent on this issue and worse yet, the department has the nerve to tell us, after three months of hemming and hawing, that it has never received an official request on the matter of limiting flying hours. Does the minister find that acceptable?Can he finally commit to providing his support to ensure at the very least that this does not happen again next year?
Mr. Speaker, in addition to having to deal with the botched Phoenix pay system, public servants have now learned that their privacy was breached because of the glitches in this system. Commissioner Therrien found at least 11 privacy breaches, including leaked names, employee numbers and salaries. Enough is enough. The Liberals have mismanaged this file from start to finish. When will the problems with the Phoenix pay system finally be fixed?
Mr. Speaker, Quebec is asking the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to do his job.His job is to take the taxes we pay and to automatically transfer them to Quebec so that we can build our roads, schools, and hospitals. It is not to set conditions and conduct negotiations that slow everything down. It is not his job to create a bank to privatize our infrastructure.When it comes right down to it, the minister's job is to do as little harm as possible, but is he capable of doing that?
Mr. Speaker, when they stand behind those small businesses, they put a knife in their back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Dorothy Keating, chair of the St. John's Board of Trade, said that her members were extremely disappointed after meeting with the finance minister. She likened the Liberal tax plan to building a leaky boat and promising to fix it only after putting it in the water. Will it take a full mutiny of his own caucus for the Prime Minister to realize his plan to raise taxes on small business just will not float?
Mr. Speaker, we on this side of the House recognize that small and medium enterprises are crucial to the vitality of the Canadian economy. That is why the small business tax rate, the lowest in the G7, is not changing. We are on side with farmers. We are on side with small businesses. We have their backs. We want to make our tax system a little fairer.That is why we put forward our proposals and why we are holding consultations about those proposals now. We are listening to Canadians because we want to make sure we are doing things properly. We are not trying to go after small businesses or the middle class. All we want is a fairer tax system.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we learned that the Liberal survey on electoral reform, MyDemocracy.ca, was a privacy nightmare. The Privacy Commissioner reports that the website automatically disclosed IP addresses, web activities, opinions, and lifestyle data from the 360,000 participants without their consent, to third parties such as Facebook. For months we asked the Liberals about this issue and they said that everything was just peachy. Were they lying to Canadians or was this just their usual incompetence?
Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with the commissioners from the missing and murdered indigenous women inquiry in Canada and to hear first-hand from the commissioners about the work they are doing.Our government has launched a truly national and independent inquiry. At the heart of that inquiry are the families that have been affected and those who have been victimized through the process. The inquiry has told us, the commissioners have told us, that they have a plan, that they are dedicated to learning and adapting as the inquiry progresses and to finding the solutions to address the families' needs.
Mr. Speaker, recently I travelled to Embree, a small town in my riding. If members do not know where that is, it is next to Little Burnt Bay; they cannot miss it. It has a population of around 700 people. I had the honour of announcing close to $300,000 in federal money for its water system. After years of neglect, I joined the Newfoundland and Labrador government's local MHA, Derek Bennett, to bring the residents an announcement for their drinking water system, which has been a need now for 12 to 15 years. These are the types of investments we are doing, not just for the larger centres but the smallest communities as well. Could the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities please comment on that and other small communities across the country?
Mr. Speaker, retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm used to volunteer to help his fellow soldiers who were dealing with operational injuries. At first, the door was wide open to him at the Canadian Forces. However, when he wrote to the Prime Minister to complain about how our flawed system is failing our most seriously injured vets, the Canadian Forces slammed the door in this face.Whether on mefloquine or our seriously injured soldiers, the Liberals turn a blind eye and ignore the facts. Why the cover up? Why shoot the messenger? Veterans do not want selfies, they want action.
Mr. Speaker, Chris Neal is a chartered accountant employing five people in Saint John. He fears the Liberals' proposed tax plans could hurt his small business and has called the Liberal rhetoric on this highly insulting. Chris is not alone. Over 50 small businesses in New Brunswick have joined a coalition opposed to the Liberal tax plan. Supporters of the coalition include the Liberal MPs for Saint JohnRothesay and AcadieBathurst.If the Prime Minister will not listen to small businesses in New Brunswick, will he at least listen to the members of his own caucus and stop this Liberal tax grab?
Mr. Speaker, recently released documents showed that Global Affairs, diplomats, and our allies were confused by the decision to appoint the Hon. Stéphane Dion as Canada's ambassador to the EU and Canada's ambassador to Germany, a country within the EU. Confusion, hundreds of documents, and months of that have shown that the decision was ill-conceived, and Canada has been looked on poorly by our allies.Canadians know that it is not easy for Mr. Dion to set priorities. Will the minister inform the House whether his priority will be the ambassador to the EU or ambassador to Germany? Which is it?
Mr. Speaker, these changes at not fair and they are hurting the middle class.Serious concerns have been raised by experts, business leaders, and small business owners, not just by us but by experts in Canada. These are not frivolous complaints. They are legitimate questions.However, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister just do not care. They are arrogantly ignoring these real worries and real questions.When will they admit that this tax increase is a terrible idea? It is unfair and it needs to stop.
Mr. Speaker, the Union des producteurs agricoles, the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and Quebec's minister of agriculture all criticized the funding shortfall in the Minister of International Trade's plan to help dairy producers, yet he had the nerve to say that the reason the program ended after just one week was that it worked so well.To farmers in my riding and all across Quebec, that is outrageous. The program ended because there was not enough money.Does the minister even listen when dairy producers tell him that the program is not good enough?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the third round of NAFTA renegotiations start in Ottawa. Just this week, an Ekos poll found that 76% of Canadians said that we should not accept a bad deal if negotiations result in worse conditions for Canadians and our environment, and 80% said that NAFTA clauses that leave our water vulnerable to export and privatization should be removed. We agree. Bulk exports of our water resources do not serve the public interest.Will the Liberals stand up for Canadians and protect our water?
Mr. Speaker, former Liberal finance minister John Manley is saying that the damage is already being done. Manley says business owners are moving assets outside of Canada to avoid these Liberal tax hikes. In his words: You wont know about it because theyre not going to buy ads or report ittheyll just go. Since we know that the Minister of Finance is not listening or believing middle-class Canadians, will he at least believe John Manley and scrap these devastating tax increases?