40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 060
CONTENTS
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Persons with Disabilities

Mr. Michael Savage (Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, I am here to talk tonight about the enabling accessibility fund. Serious questions have been raised about the administration of this fund.

The enabling accessibility fund was announced in budget 2008 and the stated purpose of the fund is very noble. It was set up to provide funding for buildings to become accessible. Two different funds were set up, one was called major projects and the other was for smaller projects. This fund provided $45 million over two years, yet $30 million of that was to go to two projects and two projects alone, both in Conservative ridings.

As soon as this project was announced and the application criteria was set out, the disability community knew something was wrong. There were headlines in papers such as “Program 'tailor-made' to send cash to [Finance Minister's] riding: critics”. Another headline read “Critics Claim Finance Minister is in a Conflict of Interest”. The Montreal Gazette stated that the program was geared to the finance minister's riding and critics alleged that the finance minister's wife and aide on board of project stood to benefit from $45 million in funding.

Very clearly, there was a problem with this funding. Why would a fund of $45 million that had been set up for the entire country provide $30 million, or two-thirds, to two projects? As it turned out there were significant problems.

That $30 million went to two Conservative ridings, including the riding of a cabinet minister. The other $15 million was left to be allocated. The first part of that was allocated in 2008-09. Of 166 projects, 107 went to Conservative ridings. That is unbelievable. Of the total dollars allocated for a national project, 5.8% went to all the opposition ridings. There is absolutely no way that makes sense. I can see members opposite aghast at this. They cannot believe these numbers and I do not blame them. It is unbelievable.

This year we found out about the second round of funding to complete the $45 million. This time it was worse. There were a total of 169 projects and 113 of them went to Conservative ridings.

The reasons we heard for this were unbelievable. The minister stood up and asked what I am complaining about because Iona Presbyterian Church received one grant. That seems fair. One for Dartmouth--Cole Harbour in the amount of $50,000, one for the Minister of Finance in the amount of $15 million, and he asked me what I was complaining about. It is probably not a great surprise.

The Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development does not even have an accessible constituency office. We all get a budget for our constituency office. I, like most members I am sure, ensure that my office is accessible. We are dealing with constituents. But it is particularly egregious when the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development does not bother to ensure that her office is accessible. Even six years after being elected she would have had to renegotiate the lease. Then she comes back with this cockamamie story of how under the Liberals some office was not accessible.

This is the biggest abdication of responsibility one can imagine. This is a fund designed for people with disabilities. It is not a fund designed for people with disabilities in Conservative ridings. There is no way that 95% of any fund could be allocated fairly and end up in Conservative ridings. This is taking advantage of many of the most marginalized people in Canada, people with disabilities who deserve a break, who deserve an opportunity, who deserve assistance regardless of where they live. What they received is political manipulation, cronyism. It is an offence not only to the people with disabilities but an offence to all Canadians who believe in fairness.

Mr. Ed Komarnicki (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, that member and members of his party, along with the NDP, voted against successive budgets that contained a number of provisions to help Canadians with disabilities.

We have done a number of things for Canadians with disabilities, including ensuring that there was a fund called the enabling accessibility fund. It was created in 2007 with an investment of $45 million over three years. It has supported over 300 community-based projects across the country, making buildings and vehicles more accessible. Yes, it helped create two comprehensive ability centres, but it has helped Canadians with disabilities all across this country, including, as the member has mentioned, in his own riding of Dartmouth—Cole Harbour.

I would like to point out that the member is complaining about a program that, if it were up to him and the Liberals, would not even exist. They voted against the budget. They voted against the enabling accessibility fund, a fund that has been so well received that in budget 2010 we announced that we would extend it by a further three years and invest another $45 million to ensure that even more communities were able to benefit.

I do not know what the member has against that, but, yet again, the member and his party voted against the budget containing this program and the significant investments to help Canadians with disabilities. Canadians can learn a lot by looking at the record of the different parties in the House and at the actions they have taken when it comes to supporting Canadians with disabilities.

Let me be clear. No federal government has done more for Canadians with disabilities than our Conservative government. We support Canadians of all abilities all across this great country and the proof is in the action we have taken since forming government and the several investments we have made, in addition to the enabling accessibility fund.

He had better look at the full picture because a number of actions have been taken. For example, our government introduced the registered disability savings plan, the most historic savings vehicle since the RRSP was introduced decades ago. The RDSP helps parents and others save for the long-term financial security of a child with a disability.

We also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have increased funding for training to help Canadians with disabilities join the workforce. We have invested $75 million for affordable housing specifically for persons with disabilities. Time does not permit me to go through all the things we have done.

Al Etmanski from the Plan Institute said:

I believe [this] Government is hands down the most effective Federal champion people with disabilities and their families have ever had.

He went on to say, “the...Government's commitments are impressive”. I guess that is why the organization presented the Prime Minister with a lifetime membership for making a positive difference in the lives of Canadians with disabilities.

Let us compare that to the record of the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour and the Liberal Party. They have consistently voted against provisions that would help persons with disabilities. For example, they voted against the RDSP, the enabling accessibility fund and the increased skills training money.

The record is clear. Our Conservative government is providing unprecedented support to Canadians with disabilities while the Liberals have shamefully voted time and time again against all of our support for Canadians with disabilities and their families. I do not know how they can justify that. Those budgets were clear and they had specific provisions in them but they chose, for one reason or another, to oppose them.

Rather than looking at the big picture and the millions of dollars that have been invested, they are trying to make some political hay out of one factor alone that is neither here nor there. They should have been supporting those initiatives because they are good initiatives and they help Canadians with disabilities. He should get behind them and not oppose them.

Mr. Michael Savage:

Mr. Speaker, surely one of the most laughable lines I have ever heard is that no federal government has ever done more for persons with disabilities. That is absolute hogwash. I will give a quotation since he used one.

The national director of the Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres, one of the great organizations in this country, accused the finance minister of “pork-barrel politics”.

That is absolutely true. This fund has become a political weapon, a political tool for the government to use for people with disabilities who are disproportionately poor. The government has refused to even come up with an anti-poverty strategy. It refuses to do anything for people with disabilities unless it suits its own political needs.

People with disabilities across this country need, deserve and warrant assistance but what they get from the government is wedge politics, partisan politics and nasty, pork-barrel politics. That is what people in the communities are saying. It is a disgrace to Canadian society and a disgrace for people with disabilities that they have to put up with that kind of partisan, pork-barrel politics. That is not how it should be.

Mr. Ed Komarnicki:

Mr. Speaker, I will give two quotations. It is that member who is trying to make political hay out of something that should not have political hay made out of it. Al Etmanski of the Plan Institute had this to say. Maybe he will listen to him.

He said:
I believe the Harper Government is hands down the most effective Federal champion people with disabilities and their families have ever had. The Harper Government's commitments are impressive--

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Barry Devolin):

Order, please. The hon. parliamentary secretary knows that he cannot use names of members in this chamber, even when he reads a quote. He cannot do indirectly what he cannot do directly.

Mr. Ed Komarnicki:

Mr. Speaker, the government's commitments are impressive. The establishment of the world's first registered disability savings plan, the establishment of the enabling accessibility fund for community centres across Canada and now the ratification of the convention of the rights of persons with disabilities are all significant actions for Canadians with disabilities. Those who have to do with those organizations say that these actions are good.

The member disagrees with that. I would like to know why he disagrees with the comments that are made here, why he disagrees with what has been said. He should get behind these initiatives and support them, not play politics with them.

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