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Core 1..188 Hansard (PRISM::Advent3b2 17.25) House of Commons Debates VOLUME 147 Ï NUMBER 202 Ï 2nd SESSION Ï 41st PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Speaker: The Honourable Andrew Scheer CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 13091 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, April 28, 2015 The House met at 10 a.m. The petitioners call on this House to ensure that support for this project from the Conservative administration be withdrawn. Mr. Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby—Douglas, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition to the Government of Canada on the Prayers proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion of the new pipeline running from Edmonton to Burnaby. The signatories object to this pipeline and ask the Government of Canada to immediately act to ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS prevent this new oil pipeline from proceeding through Burnaby. Ï (1005) The reasons are numerous. For example, the petitioners state that the pipeline would only create 50 permanent full-time jobs and [English] would most likely be built using temporary foreign workers. Also AUDITOR GENERAL OF CANADA they are upset that this new pipeline would not bring oil to be refined in British Columbia or be sold to Canadian consumers but instead The Acting Speaker (Mr. Barry Devolin): I have the honour to would be shipped by tanker to foreign markets. lay upon the table the spring 2015 report of the Auditor General of Canada, pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g). This document is PUBLIC TRANSIT deemed to have been permanently referred to the Standing Ms. Rathika Sitsabaiesan (Scarborough—Rouge River, NDP): Committee on Public Accounts. Mr. Speaker, I rise to present petitions on behalf of constituents in *** Scarborough—Rouge River who understand the struggles because of gridlock and the importance of the creation of a public transit COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE strategy nationally in this country. Canada is the only OECD country that does not have a national public transit strategy, and it is HEALTH estimated that over the next five years, there will be an $18-billion Mr. Ben Lobb (Huron—Bruce, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I have the gap in transit infrastructure needs. honour to present, in both official languages, the tenth report of the Standing Committee on Health, entitled “The Statutory Review of The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to enact the Pest Control Products Act, 2015”. a Canada public transit strategy that seeks to provide permanent investments to support public transit; to establish federal funding *** mechanisms for sustainable, predictable, long-term, adequate fund- ing for public transit; and to ensure that all levels of government are PETITIONS working together. PUBLIC SAFETY GENDER SELECTION Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Mr. Speaker, Mr. Leon Benoit (Vegreville—Wainwright, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present two petitions. I have three petitions to present today. The first petition relates to the bill currently before this House, Bill Two of them are on gender selection abortion. C-51. The petitioners call for equal treatment for males and females Petitioners from Saanich—Gulf Islands as well as Whitehorse and before birth, asking that the practice of aborting those fetuses Mississauga wish this House to reject Bill C-51 as a dangerous bill determined to be female because they are female be ended. that intrudes on constitutional rights. HUMAN RIGHTS THE ENVIRONMENT Mr. Leon Benoit (Vegreville—Wainwright, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Mr. Speaker, the third petition is with regard to displaced Christians in Iraq. the second petition is from residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands who are concerned about the proposal for what is described as the The petitioners call on our government to continue to pay careful northern gateway pipeline. attention and to do what we can to help displaced Christians in Iraq. 13092 COMMONS DEBATES April 28, 2015 The Budget PALLIATIVE CARE In Scarborough, we are a fast-growing community. In 2011, there Mr. Marc Garneau (Westmount—Ville-Marie, Lib.): Mr. were about 616,000 people living in Scarborough. As an area, our Speaker, this petition deals with palliative care. average household income is below the provincial average, and so is per capita income. There are many people struggling to make ends Recognizing that hospice and palliative care is an essential meet in our community. We have many small and medium-sized component of national health systems, the petitioners ask the businesses that are the real job creators. We have been waiting for a Government of Canada to call for the inclusion of hospice and budget that meets our needs and priorities, but frankly, this is not the palliative care in the United Nations' sustainable development goals. budget we need. DEMENTIA Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP): Mr. Canada's economy is not strong without a strong middle class, and Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today from dozens of Scarborough is home to many in the middle class. From this budget, residents of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia from Delta, it is clear that the Conservatives either do not understand the realities Richmond, Surrey, and Burnaby. of middle-class Canadians or just do not care. Instead of taking action to help Canadians get ahead, the Conservatives are stubbornly These petitioners call on the Minister of Health and the House of pushing their schemes that would help only the richest 15% of Commons to pass Bill C-356, sponsored by the member of Canadians. Parliament for Nickel Belt, to put in place a national dementia strategy, including a comprehensive national plan to address all aspects of Alzheimer's disease and to ensure that we have national objectives to fight what for many people is one of the profound The Conservatives simply do not understand the priorities of health issues in our country. Scarborough and the priorities of Toronto. This region has lost hundreds of thousands of good manufacturing jobs, yet the *** Conservatives have offered the bare minimum of support for manufacturing and have failed to build a balanced economy. Toronto QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER alone has lost 24,600 jobs in the last six months and nearly 100,000 Mr. Tom Lukiwski (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of manufacturing jobs since the Prime Minister took office. The the Government in the House of Commons, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I Conservatives have failed to build a balanced economy that works ask that all questions be allowed to stand. for our city. The Acting Speaker (Mr. Barry Devolin): Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed. Looking at the budget, it is clear that it would not address our city's looming affordable housing crisis either. It would fail to extend funding for social housing. The $150 million in the budget would GOVERNMENT ORDERS not address the scope of the challenges facing our cities. Right now, there are 167,022 people on the City of Toronto's affordable housing [English] wait list. Our city is committed to working on social housing, but it needs federal support to meet this glaring need. THE BUDGET FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF MINISTER OF FINANCE However, something we do see in this budget is the government's The House resumed from April 22 consideration of the motion income-splitting scheme, which the former finance minister, Mr. that this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the Flaherty, strongly opposed. Financial experts have warned that 85% government and of the amendment. of Canadians would get nothing at all from the Conservatives' Ms. Rathika Sitsabaiesan (Scarborough—Rouge River, NDP): income-splitting scheme, yet this is what the government has put Mr. Speaker, from the outset I would like to let you know that I will forward. This wasteful and unfair policy would take billions from be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Hochelaga. middle-class Canadians, who need the help the most, and hand it over to the richest 15%. This makes no sense at all when one in two I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak today on this Canadians lives paycheque to paycheque and countless others work budget and on the NDP amendment. So many times in the House we full time but still fall below the poverty line. have seen the movement of closure and time allocation, so I have not been able to speak on all of the motions and bills before the House, and I am very grateful that I have this opportunity today. For ten long years of the Conservative government, we have seen In an age of growing inequality, it seems that the Conservatives billions dumped into tax giveaways to the largest corporations and just want to help accelerate it. In Scarborough, my office hears about tax loopholes for CEO salaries. With rising inflation rates and storm the need for jobs, the need for affordable and reliable transit, and the clouds looming for our economy, most of us would not benefit from need for fairer immigration policies, among many other issues. this income-splitting scheme, which is really there just for the Across Canada, communities are struggling to cope with major job wealthy few, or from the doubling of the TFSA limit, or from the tax losses. loopholes for CEOs. These would not benefit most Canadians. April 28, 2015 COMMONS DEBATES 13093 The Budget Where are the measures in this budget that support middle-class security from 65 to 67, and the Conservatives have blocked progress Canadians? We know that people are going to need strong supports if to boost CPP and QPP benefits. this storm materializes and our economy faces a further downturn. We could benefit from closing the tax loopholes to fund the recent Finally, the budget accepts the long-time NDP proposal on the commitment to eliminate child poverty.
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