The House is back and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government says the economy is its No. 1 priority, but critics say the Tories need to move beyond the rhetoric and take decisive action. "I don't think this government is looking at Canadians' interests," Liberal House Leader Marc Garneau (Westmount-Ville Marie, Que.) told The Hill Times last week. "The IMF just very clearly said their projection for Canada's growth this year has been downgraded from 2.8 to 2.1 and next year from 2.6 to 1.9 and unemployment will go up. Do they talk about that part of it? No, they just spin that we're doing better than the others. Well, it's time for Canada to stop going for the simple out and say simply hey we're doing better than the others, so let's be happy."
Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski (Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, Sask.), Parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, dismissed Mr. Garneau's comments, saying "that's not true," and that "it's just political spin" from the third party's House leader.
"They have to do whatever they can to criticize our actions, but clearly the economy is still our No. 1 priority," Mr. Lukiwski said, noting that there are still parts of the 2011 budget that still need to be implemented. "We'll be doing that quickly."
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) said last Thursday before meeting with his G20 colleagues in Washington, D.C., that a second recession similar to 2008's could happen if prudent measures are not taken in light of stock market drops, the potential for Greece to default on its debt and the Canadian dollar falling below parity with the U.S. dollar.
"We need to resolve the situation in Europe, because it is causing a great deal of uncertainty, and uncertainty is the enemy," Mr. Flaherty told reporters in the House of Commons foyer. "We'll run into the kind of crisis situation that we ran into in October 2008, so one wants to get ahead of the issue rather than react to another crisis."
During Question Period last Wednesday, Mr. Flaherty said, however, that "Canada is doing relatively well."
In response to a question from NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel (Hull-Aylmer, Que.), he said, "We have the best fiscal position in the G7. We have the lowest total government net debt to GDP ratio in the G7. We have the best growth in the G7. We have the best banking system in the world. Canada is the best place to invest and do business in the next five years according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. We have the best job creation in the G7 since the recession. All of this is true, and that is why we are doing relatively well."
Mr. Garneau said that the government should be more cautious on Canada's economic outlook because there will be more layoffs and unemployment in the near future, especially with the United States' "Buy America" policy.
"This is a major trading partner for us, and we all know that if things slow down and if [U.S. President Barack] Obama persists with a 'Buy America' policy, this is going to have a serious effect on Canada as well," he said. "We're going to see companies that were hoping to get in on some business in the United States be cut off because of 'Buy America,' and meanwhile, we've already signed on the dotted line with the security perimeter, so we've lost our maneuvering room there."
In a response to a question from Liberal interim leader Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Ont.) on the issue, International Trade Minister Ed Fast (Abbotsford, B.C.) said last Wednesday: "The border vision initiatives are about deepening and strengthening the world's greatest trade relationship. Given our strong and mature relationship with the United States, we can separately address our concerns regarding the buy American provisions. This government will stand up for ordinary, hard-working citizens."
Mr. Garneau said the government needs to do more. "I think the government has talked a lot about the economy but it's just talking in generalities. It's not actually showing us any specific measures that it's undertaking in this very, very preoccupying times, it's very worrying times at this point," he said.
The government will release its economic update and introduce the remainder of its 2011 budget measures in legislation later this fall.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lukiwski said the government's law and order agenda is also a priority, having introduced its omnibus crime bill, C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, last Tuesday. The Conservatives campaigned on passing this legislation within 100 sitting days of Parliament. That means the government has until Tuesday, April 3 to pass the bill.
The omnibus bill combines several pieces of crime and justice legislation that died on the Order Paper of the last Parliament. Its aim, as Justice Minister Rob Nicholson (Niagara Falls, Ont.) described during debate last week, is to: "deter terrorism by supporting victims of terrorism and amending the State Immunity Act," "target sexual offences against children and serious drug offences, as well as prevent the use of conditional sentences for serious violent and property crimes," "increase offender accountability, eliminate pardons for serious crimes and strengthen the international transfer of offenders regime," "better protect Canadians from violent young offenders," and "better protect vulnerable foreign workers against abuse and exploitation, including through human trafficking."
"We have a duty to stand up for these victims, which we are doing by bringing in this legislation," Mr. Nicholson told the House. "The objective of our criminal law reform agenda over the past few years has been to build a stronger, safer and better Canada. This comprehensive legislation is another important step in the process to achieve this end."
NDP MP Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.), his party's justice critic, said that the debate on this bill will be historic because the Conservative government is trying to reverse 40 years of Canada's criminal justice system.
"The current government is driven entirely by ideology, never by fact, never by solid evidence," he said. "They say they will do something to reduce crime by the use of punishment, by the use of deterrence, by the use of putting thousands and thousands more people into jail. Not one study, not just in Canada, but any place in the developed world, any place in the democracy we can go to and find a study, says deterrence works. We are about to spend an additional, depending on whose estimates we want to use, anywhere from at least $2-billion to $11-billion, $12-billion and $13-billion over the next five years on a philosophy, on an ideology on criminal justice that does not work."
Last Wednesday, Liberal MP Sean Casey (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) moved a motion in the House to kill the bill at second reading. The motion states that the House should not give second reading to C-10 because "its provisions ignore the best evidence with respect to public safety, crime prevention and rehabilitation of offenders; because its cost to the federal treasury and the cost to be downloaded onto the provinces for corrections have not been clearly articulated to this House; and because the bundling of these many pieces of legislation into a single bill will compromise Parliament's ability to review and scrutinize its contents and implications on behalf of Canadians."
Mr. Lukiwski said although the government has a majority, it is still listening to and cooperating with the opposition.
"While they may not agree with a lot of our legislative initiatives, they also understand the fact that with a majority, we can pass those pieces of legislation when we want," Mr. Lukiwski said. "They appreciate the distinction between a minority and majority government and I think they'll do what they can of course to be an effective opposition, but at the end of the day, a majority government means we will be able to pass far more bills in these next four years than we probably have done in the last five."
Mr. Lukiwski said he is also "pleased" with the decorum, tone, and tenor of the House since MPs returned from their summer breaks.
"I think many members have spoken, many times in the past that it's almost an embarrassment to have school children attend Parliament in the gallery because of the rancour, the heckling, the cat calling so this improved level of civility I think is a very good thing for all of us, and I think it improves relations between parties as well," he told The Hill Times. "It's a very positive mood, and I hope it continues."
Mr. Comartin agreed that the level of civility has increased in the House, with the exception of the Liberal Party. He said while the NDP is honouring the late Jack Layton's wishes for civility, the Liberals continue to heckle.
"I don't think Question Period has been quite as raucous as it was in the last Parliament and where it has been, it's because the Liberals are constantly heckling or cat calling way out of proportion to what's reasonable," he said.
But Mr. Garneau said his party has "no problems with occasional playful heckling" as long as it doesn't get personal. "We don't get personal. We think we must show signs of life. We're not going to roll over and be quiet for the next four years," he said.
Origin
Source: Hill Times
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