CANADA House of Commons Debates VOLUME 142 Ï NUMBER 005 Ï 2nd SESSION Ï 39th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Monday, October 22, 2007 Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) Also available on the Parliament of Canada Web Site at the following address: http://www.parl.gc.ca 179 HOUSE OF COMMONS Monday, October 22, 2007 The House met at 11 a.m. Some hon. members: Agreed. (The sitting of the House was suspended at 11:05 a.m.) Prayers SITTING RESUMED (The House resumed at 12 p.m.) PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS Ï (1105) [English] NATIONAL PEACEKEEPERS' DAY ACT SPEECH FROM THE THRONE The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill C-287, An Act Ï (1200) respecting a National Peacekeepers' Day, as reported (with amendment) from the committee. [English] The Speaker: There being no motions at report stage, the House will now proceed without debate to the putting of the question on the RESUMPTION OF DEBATE ON ADDRESS IN REPLY motion to concur in the bill at report stage. The House resumed from October 19 consideration of the motion Mr. Brent St. Denis (Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, for an address to Her Excellency the Governor General in reply to Lib.) moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in at report her speech at the opening of the session, and of the amendment. stage. The Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? Mr. Rodger Cuzner (Cape Breton—Canso, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the debate in the response to the Speech from the Some hon. members: Agreed. Throne. Some hon. members: No. I commend our leader on the position he has taken in not voting The Speaker: All those in favour of the motion will please say down the government on the throne speech. I think it is wise, yea. because there really was nothing in the speech overall. It was pretty much innocuous. If we were to change 25 words it could be a past Some hon. members: Yea. Liberal Speech from the Throne. The Speaker: All those opposed will please say nay. For the most part, throne speeches try to be positive. They try to Some hon. members: Nay. set out a bit of a template. This one sort of did it from about 35,000 feet. Nonetheless, I think where we are going to run into trouble is The Speaker: In my opinion the nays have it. where we drill down into the specific issues, where we look at the And five or more members having risen: details of some of the actions and some of the legislation being put forward by the government. The Speaker: The division on the motion stands deferred until Wednesday, October 24, immediately before the time provided for private members' business. It is always contended that the devil is in the details and I think that is what we are going to find. As long as this Parliament lasts, as That therefore concludes private members' business for the long as the session goes forward, I think what we will find is that the moment. people on this side will stand and fight on an issue by issue basis. That has been our contention, to make Parliament work and to make SUSPENSION OF SITTING it work for Canadians, but when we see that the better needs and the The Speaker: Is it agreed that the sitting be suspended until 12 best needs of Canadians are being compromised, that is when we o'clock? will call the government to task. 180 COMMONS DEBATES October 22, 2007 The Address There are certainly a number of issues like this in the throne Certainly we saw the government show a total disregard for the speech. When I look at the statement that the government is going to students of this country when it decimated and gutted the student review aspects of the EI system, I personally am greatly concerned. I employment program last year. It was the opposition parties in the think a number of Canadians somewhat suspect actions taken by the House that fought to have at least a bit more money put back into government in the way it has addressed employment insurance. As that program. Community groups from coast to coast supported that the government brings this forward, we are certainly going to try to program and had offered summer employment opportunities to represent what is best in regard to the needs of workers. students for many years. It was a great program, well served, and was subscribed to by many businesses and not for profit groups from I should state from the outset that I will be splitting my time with coast to coast. Yet it was decimated by the Conservative government. the hon. member for Davenport. This showed a total lack of caring and understanding by the Let us think back to the last time that a Conservative government government about the needs of students in this country and a lack of had control of EI. We can look back to the late 1980s. We know that understanding of the needs of not for profit groups in this country. the EI fund of that time had been exhausted. It was from there, from Giving extra money to students is necessary to help them pay their the Auditor General's report, when we did have a stand-alone EI way through university, but for many of these students this program system, that once that program had been decimated through the late is their first opportunity for a summer job to build skills and to start 1980s because of high unemployment rates and the draw on that developing a resumé. I do not think there is anything better that we fund at the time, the Auditor General said we had to take that can give our youth. That was torn away from them by the program and put it back into the general accounts. That is what was government last spring. done. While on the topic of universities, I note that I come from the We know that through the mid-1990s the unemployment rate province of Nova Scotia, which has a great reputation for having came down. More Canadians got back to work. There was less of a some of the top post-secondary institutions in this country, such as draw on the EI fund. There were changes made to the unemployment St. Francis Xavier, St. Mary's and Dalhousie. The post-secondary insurance act back in the mid-1990s. Over time, the premium rates institutions in Nova Scotia are at the forefront of a lot of research. paid by workers and employees went down. The economy took hold These post-secondary institutions have pretty much been pillaged by and grew. As a country we began to prosper and more money was the Conservative government. That is what concerns me about the paid into the fund. throne speech. I shared some time with my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst on The government is changing the way it supports these institutions an all party committee in the last Parliament. We put forward some in transfers from the federal government to provincial governments. recommendations on changes to EI. Some very worthwhile things It did put in a bit more money, and I commend the government for came out of those consultations and that committee. Certainly the doing so, but when it changes the system from an equity based dropping of the divisor rule and going to the best 14 weeks are things system to a per capita based system, it is the small Atlantic provinces that I think better serve the workers in this country. that are going to be hurt. In this change alone, Nova Scotia will receive $28 million less under the new system that was adopted by We saw the response of the Conservatives at that time. They the Conservative government. Over the 10 year term of this change, wanted no part of that. They wanted an in-out, stand-alone system, Nova Scotians will receive $65 million. The province of Alberta will like an insurance policy. Canadians have come to expect more from receive $3.5 billion. The minister's own province is doing okay, but that system. A great piece of EI legislation came forward in the last where is the equity? Where is the fairness? Why should Nova Scotia session. As a matter of fact, it was put forward by my colleague from be left behind? That is the unfairness that I see. That is pitting one Sydney—Victoria. It would extend sick benefits to those who are region against another. We have seen this time and again from the undergoing cancer treatment or perhaps are debilitated from heart government. There is a true unfairness there. and stroke illnesses. These are devastating illnesses to experience. They sometimes yield catastrophic outcomes for a family. I can assure the government that we on this side of the House, on Ï (1205) an issue by issue basis when that legislation comes forward, will stand and defend the rights of Nova Scotians. We will defend I thought the legislation made sense, but we saw that the fairness. We will make sure that whatever the Conservatives bring government had no use for it. The government saw no purpose in it forward will be scrutinized. If it is going to hurt Nova Scotians and if and voted against it, which was very disappointing. I am sure it was it is going to hurt Canadians, we will stand here and we will defeat it.