2018-02-28

Mr. Speaker, nobody believes that there was a single person in the Prime Minister's Office who was not provided a list of invitees. Nobody believes this ridiculous assertion that the responsibility lies with rogue elements or factions in the Indian government. By having an independent national security official brief the media anonymously right in the middle of a negative 24-hour news cycle, the Prime Minister has implicated the independent public service in his disastrous trip. Will the Prime Minister confirm or deny that anyone in his office orchestrated the briefing to shift the blame on this?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is sullying the reputation of one of those fine public servants. I will use an example from 2010, when CSIS suggested foreign agents were at play in Canada. The MP for Ajax, now the parliamentary secretary for public safety, said at the time that it was wrong for a cloud to be hanging over the head of an entire community. Well, now the Prime Minister's actions and those of his office are hanging a cloud over one of the biggest countries in the world and our friends in India.Will the Prime Minister finally table one shred of truth to this crazy India conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister identify who it was who briefed the media? Will the Prime Minister identify, so that we can have confidence in what was said, who in his office orchestrated the media briefing? Will the Prime Minister provide a modicum of proof for these assertions that it was the Indian government that was behind his embarrassing fiasco? I doubt that he will. Last year, he met with someone who is the vice-president of a listed terrorist organization. In December, he met with Joshua Boyle, who, days later, was charged with sexual assault and unlawful confinement.Why is it always that the Prime Minister seems to be identified with these kinds of people?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should know that the homeless cannot wait for years and years until the Liberals get around to funding housing in this country. It is the same with pharmacare. Liberals tried a big build-up around the budget, but what it turned out to be was yet another Liberal study. For 21 years, all they do is study. If he wants to steal NDP ideas, steal them, but put them into practice. Do not just stare at them; that is weird. After 21 years, the evidence is clear, why does the Prime Minister continue to refuse to implement pharmacare now in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. On the one hand, a Liberal MP apologized for inviting a terrorist to attend an event with the Prime Minister in India. On the other, the Prime Minister is insinuating that the Indian government tried to sabotage the trip by inviting the terrorist to India with him. As anyone would expect, the Indian government reacted strongly to those insinuations by the Prime Minister and his chief adviser.If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he should table his evidence in the House.

Mr. Speaker, the budget delivered yesterday literally leaves Canadians out in the cold and we see the homeless crisis every day in British Columbia. Tens of thousands of Canadians are sleeping out in the parks and main streets of our country and the Prime Minister says wait until the next election, wait for a few more years, wait until Liberals are good and ready to put adequate funds into housing.Homeless Canadians have waited two and a half years while the government is focused on loopholes for the super-rich. Why does he not take action? Why do the homeless always finish behind the super-rich for the Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, there is just one problem. Yesterday, the Prime Minister confirmed that the theory put forward by one of his national security advisers was true. He has also said that it was the member for Surrey Centre acting alone that resulted in this embarrassing incident. How can the Prime Minister, at the same time, blame rogue elements in the Indian government and the member for Surrey Centre?

Mr. Speaker, every year almost one million Canadians give up food and heat to afford the medicine they need. The high cost of prescription medication means that sometimes sick Canadians must do without. As part of budget 2018, we are creating an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare which will recommend options on how best to move forward together on this important issue to ensure every Canadian has access to the medicine they need. This builds on significant actions over the last two years to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible.

Mr. Speaker, “baseless and unacceptable” is how the Indian government described the Prime Minister's bizarre theory that a convicted terrorist's presence on the trip was somehow the fault of agents working on behalf of the Indian government. Now the Prime Minister's incompetence has severely damaged Canada's relations with the world's largest democracy and an emerging power in Asia. Will the Prime Minister finally do the right thing and produce some kind of proof of his conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing partisan about this. It was the Prime Minister's trip that turned into a disaster. It was the Prime Minister's Office that mishandled the invitation that went out to a convicted attempted murderer, and then for the first time in history they decided to use an independent public service as a human shield for his terrible news cycle.If the Prime Minister is so sure about what he is saying, will he confirm that no one in the Prime Minister's Office or in the public service under his control organized the briefing that was provided for the media laying out this allegation?

Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite do not trust or believe our national security agencies, they should simply come forward and say so. On this side of the House, we have faith in our professional public servants, particularly in the intelligence and security areas, who do extraordinary work every day to keep Canadians safe, and the members opposite should stop disrespecting them.

Mr. Speaker, we hope that it will not take 10 years for the plan to be implemented. Two years ago, the Liberal government made the bad decision to implement the Phoenix pay system even though it knew about the extent of the problems it would create. The Liberals ignored the concerns of the Treasury Board and senior officials, and the example of Australia, which was well documented. The government's bad decision and poor management needlessly created thousands of victims.Will the government compensate affected employees for all the harm they have suffered?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister told the House that the conspiracy theory that security officials spun for the media about convicted terrorist Jaspal Atwal was true. Now the Indian government is contradicting him. Either he is lying, or this government is not telling the whole truth.Which is it?

Mr. Speaker, in 1986, I was one of the first officers on the scene of the shooting of Indian minister Sidhu. I helped him and his wife into the ambulance. It is a day I will never forget.Jaspal Atwal was convicted of attempted murder in that shooting. The victims of terrorism have names, they have faces, and they have families. Why would the Prime Minister ever meet with Jaspal Atwal?

Mr. Speaker, two months into its mandate, the government got a Treasury Board memo warning of significant risks with the Phoenix pay system. Obviously the government did not pay attention.In my riding, too many employees are among the many in the Phoenix ashes. One is still waiting for $40,000 in severance pay. It has been two years. Our workers do not deserve this financial and emotional stress. They deserve to get paid for work done. It is simple. When will the government pay its workers?

Mr. Speaker, it is troubling to hear how much the members opposite do not trust or believe in the professionality and non-partisan nature of our public service. Our professional public servants, particularly in the security and information areas, work very hard to keep Canadians safe. To hear members opposite trying to score cheap political points by politicizing them is really disappointing.We take the responsibility of working with partners around the world very seriously to keep Canadians safe, and that is what we will continue to do.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to address the disrespect shown to this member by members of the government while he was talking about this. This is the House of Commons, where we are all equal. This House belongs to all of us. It does not belong to the government. When the government tries to control how the public can access the galleries, that is not the job of anyone in the executive branch. It is not the job of the Department of Finance.Mr. Speaker, we look to you. It is your job to protect our rights and privileges to ensure that there is equal access for every member of Parliament, our staff, and the public we invite. We would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to take this very seriously. This is not a partisan issue. It is an issue for all members of Parliament, despite what these Liberals are saying right now, when it does not matter if it does not affect them. This affects all members of Parliament. We look to you to protect our rights and privileges, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand and defend the integrity of our public servants who accomplish incredible work. Canadians rejected the Conservatives' approach of disrespecting and bashing the hard-working men and women of our non-partisan public service.Since the member opposite has used the name of Daniel Jean, it is important to remind them all that Daniel is a distinguished public servant who has served governments, regardless of their political stripe, for over 35 years. In fact, I remind the member opposite that the previous Conservative government so valued Mr. Jean's service that it chose him to represent Canada when he addressed the UN General Assembly—

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his question and I thank him for his service, as I do all men and women who serve in uniform to keep our communities and our country safe. As I have said a number of times, the invitation never should have been extended to this individual. As soon as we found out about it, we rescinded the invitation. The MP responsible for it has apologized, and we will continue to work to stand against violent extremism and terrorism wherever it rears its head around the world.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the theory his national security advisor gave to the media was true, and that rogue members of the Indian government conspired to embarrass Canada. However, the Liberal member for Surrey Centre also took responsibility for the Prime Minister's international embarrassment. He was punished for that yesterday.How can both of these versions be true?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals talk non-stop about being a feminist government but will not put their money where their mouth is.Once again there is a proposal in the budget for a legislative framework to ensure pay equity, but there is no money to back it up. None. For years, women's groups have been calling for a universal child care system, affordable housing, and shelters for women who are victims of violence. It takes money to implement all these measures.When will the government put words into action?

Mr. Speaker, once again, the spectacle continues. The Leader of the Opposition asked the question 11 times, and the member for Richmond—Arthabaska asked it twice. I will start over with the time I have left.First of all, the Prime Minister of Canada confirmed yesterday here in the House that the Indian government was complicit in sending the invitation to Jaspal Atwal. At the same time, the member for Surrey Centre is being thrown under the bus because he is being blamed for issuing the invitation. Which is it?If the Prime Minister stands behind what he said yesterday, he needs to bring us the evidence.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say they are a feminist government but will not put their money where their mouth is. This was evident in yesterday's budget. Pay equity was promised by the Liberals over 40 years ago, and again in 2016, but now? The Liberals put no money for pay equity in yesterday's budget, making women wait yet again. Immediate funding is needed now to bridge the funding gap for women in Canada. How much longer will the government make women wait to have equal pay for work of equal value?

Mr. Speaker, it disrespects Canadians for the Prime Minister to not even answer questions on the India trip, so I will ask for a specific aspect of that trip.On February 22, the national security adviser and his counterpart in India signed a co-operation agreement on countering violent extremism. The next day the Prime Minister's Office forced that adviser to blame the Indian government for Canadian extremism.My question on the trip is this. How is that co-operation agreement with India going?

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives seem to think it is a problem that the headline is “Prime Minister stands by his officials”. This is something that we need to understand.On this side of the House our government will always stand by the professional public servants who work hard, regardless of the government stripe of the day, to serve Canadians, to keep Canadians safe, and to give us the information and the understanding of the world that we need to have.We will always stand by our non-partisan professional public service. It is a shame that they do not.

Mr. Speaker, is the Prime Minister actually saying that the member for Surrey Centre has taken sole responsibility for a scheme concocted by the Indian government? Is that the assertion that we are led to believe? How can they both be true? If, on the one hand, it is the Government of India that has implicated itself into Canadian government affairs, that is a profound allegation that has serious consequences that cannot be thought about lightly just to get through a 24-hour news cycle. Why is the Prime Minister so irresponsible about this very important bilateral issue?

Mr. Speaker, when it was revealed that the Prime Minister had brought a convicted terrorist along on his trip, he claimed that it was a backbench MP who had arranged it. Now he claims that it was the Indian government that did it through a conspiracy. Is he alleging that his own backbench MP is part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Indian government?

Mr. Speaker, there is no question the Prime Minister has inherited great fortune, a strong world economy, and a doubling of oil prices, our American customers south of the border driving up demand, and the government is blowing every penny of it. The deficit is three times what the Liberals promised. The deficit will continue for a quarter century, and amount to almost half a trillion dollars in new debt.I will ask for a third time, and maybe this time the Prime Minister can answer the question. In what year will the budget be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expected real action from this government, but this budget once again left them feeling underwhelmed.The government keeps telling us that the economy is doing well, but most of the Canadians we talk to are wondering who exactly is benefiting because they cannot make ends meet.This budget is timid and does not help Canadians. There are desperate needs that need to be addressed right now, and yet most of the funding will not be allocated until after the next election.When will this government stop making promises and start taking action?

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to explain this to the members opposite, who did not learn this through 10 years of government. We saw that regularly in their behaviour in the Harper years.Professional public servants, particularly those in the national security and information areas, do extraordinary work based on their professional qualifications and based on their analyses. When they make recommendations, or when they make statements to Canadians or to this government, we, on this side of the House, choose to believe them. On that side of the House, who knows?

Mr. Speaker, indeed, we will continue to focus on the Prime Minister, because his performance has been a diplomatic disaster.While his national security adviser was suggesting that the Indian government wanted to sabotage the Prime Minister's visit because he was not happy with the media coverage he was getting of his family trip to India, the Prime Minister made some serious accusations. The Indian government has denied all the allegations, calling them baseless and unacceptable. This is all very serious.If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he needs to produce the evidence to support his allegations.

Mr. Speaker, there has never been a government, Liberal or Conservative, that has used a national security official to clean up an embarrassing mess that was self-inflicted by the Prime Minister. I have a quote I would like to read for the Prime Minister. It is by a senior correspondent who has followed these issues for years. It says, “In 10 years of Harper, never saw a bureaucrat sent out to clean up a mess made by a politician. But it just happened with [the Prime Minister].”Why is the Prime Minister using independent officials to clean up his mess?

Mr. Speaker, we woke up today to headlines from around Canada. “[The Prime Minister] stands by official who suggested Indian factions sabotaged trip.” “PM doesn't refute 'conspiracy theory' that Indian government factions sabotaged his trip.” In response, India has said that the assertion is baseless and unacceptable.The Prime Minister leads a G7 nation. This is a diplomatic matter. What will he say to the high commissioner to Canada from India in response to its missive?

Mr. Speaker, perhaps it would be helpful to folks here if the member opposite actually were to state whether or not he believes that the professional public servant, who functions in a non-partisan way, was not telling the truth or was not clear on what he was saying. This is the issue that the member opposite seems to be getting at, that he does not believe our professional public servants in what they tell Canadians. If that is the case, then the member opposite should say so.

Mr. Speaker, it seems these Harper Conservatives never learn. For 10 years they spent their time disrespecting public servants, using them for partisan gains, and making sure their political partisan aims were always front and centre in everything they did. We respect the independence, the professionalism, and the non-partisan nature of our professional public servants. We will always listen to them, follow their advice, and defend the integrity of our Canadian public service.

Mr. Speaker, as we know it, here are the facts.Daniel Jean, on his own, called together the members of the press gallery travelling with the Prime Minister in India to tell them that it was factions within the Indian government that were sabotaging the Prime Minister's trip. The Prime Minister has told us that he believes Daniel Jean.We heard today that the India high commissioner has communicated publicly that the Indian government refutes this, and also says that these accusations are baseless and not appropriate.The question is this. It seems that the ball is in Canada's court. What is Canada's diplomatic response to this?

Mr. Speaker, that is just great. Canadians watching today can see that this Prime Minister does not take anything seriously in Canada.Yesterday, the theory put forward by the national security advisor was that the Indian government was involved in inviting Jaspal Atwal. However, today, the Indian government, through a foreign affairs press release, confirmed that that was absolutely false and that there was no truth to the claim.If the Prime Minister is maintaining his position, he should give us the evidence now.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps contradicting himself, yet Canadians deserve a sincere response from him.Yesterday, he fired the MP for Surrey Centre as the B.C. caucus chair. Today he said that the person was personally responsible for inviting Mr. Atwal. Yesterday he also said that he supported his national security adviser's contention that the Indian government was responsible for the Atwal scandal.Both things cannot be true, Mr. Prime Minister. Which one is true?

Mr. Speaker, when Liberals presented a plan for investment instead of the austerity plan the Conservatives were presenting, Canadians supported us because they knew we would invest while maintaining fiscal discipline.We have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, better than the U.S., better than the UK, better than Germany, and it is decreasing every single year. That is fiscal responsibility. At the same time, we are investing in Canadians, in their communities, in the future that Canadians need. That is the choice Canadians made two years ago, and that is what is delivering for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, governments organize media briefings all the time. It is only the Conservatives opposite, who consistently for 10 years torqued the public service to their own partisan ends, who see anything nefarious in it. Unlike the previous government, we respect in particular the ability of the public service to provide non-partisan advice and support to the government.All Canadians can be assured that the only interest on which our security agencies focus is the interest of Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, as is usual, the Prime Minister was wrong in the choice he presented them.He said that the deficit this year would be $6 billion; instead, it is $18 billion, three times bigger. He said that next year the budget would be balanced, and now we learn that it will not be for another quarter of a century, during which time he will add, or some future government will add, a half a trillion dollars in debt, presuming there is no more spending.Once again, when will the budget be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with our investments in the Canada child benefit, the Canada workers benefit, and our national housing strategy, we are keeping our promises in Quebec and across the country. As for tax evasion, we invested over $1 billion within the first two years, and there are now more than 1,000 offshore audits and more than 40 criminal investigations with links to offshore transactions under way. To date, we have imposed $44 million in penalties on individuals promoting tax avoidance schemes, and yesterday we announced more than $90 million over five years—

Mr. Speaker, unlike the member opposite, we will always defend the integrity of our senior security and intelligence officials and the excellent work that they do. Unlike the previous government, we will always listen to them and respect them. We respect their ability to provide impartial advice to the government, and we know that everything they do is in the best interests of Canada. All Canadians should be proud of the non-partisan work our security officials do every single day.

Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that the Prime Minister accomplished very little on his eight-day trip in India with a dozen MPs, all at the expense of taxpayers. He could have raised some issues that are important to Canadians, but no, all he managed to do was to create tension with a very important country in the region.Is this how the Prime Minister wants to put Canada back on the world stage?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would have us believe that an independent national security officer took it upon himself to brief the media right in the middle of a terrible news cycle that was embarrassing the Prime Minister. If that is not the definition of politicizing national security officials, then I do not know what is. Nobody is believing it.The Prime Minister needs to learn that there are serious consequences to these types of allegations, that governing is more than just Instagram posts, and that when one makes this kind of allegation, there are consequences.Will the Prime Minister identify who in his office orchestrated this media briefing?

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered those questions. What we are focusing on is ensuring a better future for Canadians on the labour market. It is unacceptable that a wage gap still exists in 2018. We therefore announced that we are going to introduce new proactive pay equity legislation. By promoting greater equality for women, we could inject $150 billion into the national economy by 2026. This shows that it is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do.

Some of it will be done after the next election, Mr. Speaker.Let us talk about pharmacare for a minute. The Liberal government is making a big deal about setting up an advisory council, but this morning the finance minister said that the government will only be moving toward means-tested pharmacare. To quote him, he said that they are dealing with the people who don't have it. We in the NDP believe that everyone should have access to affordable medication. The time for universal pharmacare is now. Why is the Prime Minister even bothering with another long consultation, when his finance minister has already spilled the beans on the outcome?

Mr. Speaker, this ongoing situation is unacceptable, and people doing work for the federal government, or anyone, deserve to get paid. We did not create this mess, but we will fix it. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to fix it.In budget 2018, we announced an investment of over $430 million over six years to continue addressing existing pay challenges. We will increase the number of employees working on pay issues, and hire more HR advisers within departments to assist employees with payroll issues. We have a plan to stabilize the pay system that we will continue executing, while working with experts, unions—

Mr. Speaker, I am sure no one will be surprised to hear that I will continue to defend and believe in our professional, non-partisan public service. We will always defend the integrity of our public servants, who are doing an exceptional job. Unlike the previous government, we respect the non-partisan nature of the public service, especially those who serve in our national security agencies. In particular, we respect their ability to provide impartial advice to the government, and we know that the actions they take are always in Canada's best interests.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing in the budget for the 800 Davie workers who are out of a job, but a government that runs an $18-billion deficit can hardly plead austerity. This is a political choice, and the government can take action if it wants to. It is even giving up revenue by protecting tax havens for the super-rich and allowing Internet giants to avoid collecting taxes.Why is the Prime Minister working harder for tax havens than for Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Davie shipyard, we know what great work Davie workers have been doing for a long time. That is why we are happy to be in talks for the new icebreakers the Canadian Coast Guard needs.With respect to Internet giants, we will not make taxpayers pay more tax no matter what the opposition wants. We will keep making sure that we are helping middle-class Quebeckers and Canadians because that is what we said we would do. That was our election promise to Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, like most Canadians on this side of the House, we respect and appreciate the work done by our professional public services, and particularly in regard to our national security agencies and information agencies. We believe them when they put forward their information and their recommendations to us. At the same time, the member for Surrey Centre has taken responsibility for his role in the invitation extended to this individual and has apologized.

Mr. Speaker, it is my duty to inform the Speaker of the House of an incident that occurred yesterday when the budget was tabled in the House by the Minister of Finance. The House of Commons is not an instrument of government. The House of Commons is not a place where the Minister of Finance has permission to control who has or does not have the right to be present in this place.A guest from my riding wanted to be present when the Minister of Finance made his presentation and opposition members subsequently made their statements. She therefore requested an access card in order to attend the budget presentation. She was very surprised to learn that all seats, including those reserved for opposition members, had been reserved by the Minister of Finance. I still asked her to attend, in case a seat became available.Mr. Speaker, you and I noted that there were many seats available in all the galleries yesterday, so I told my guest to come and attend the budget presentation.To her astonishment, the finance department official denied her access to the House and would not give her an access card. My guest is the manager of my constituency office. She came all this way to attend the budget presentation. She has an ID card that allows her to move about on the Hill. She then went to the Parliamentary Protective Service and asked them to let her in. However, they had orders not to admit anyone without a pass from the Department of Finance. She then went back to the rotunda and reminded the finance department official that there were seats available, but she still denied her access to the House.My guest then sent me a text message to inform me that she was unable to attend. I had to leave the House and miss several minutes of the finance minister's speech to go meet my employee and accompany her to the gallery, where she was finally able to see the presentation.Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable.Members will recall that last year, on budget day, there were two incidents. The first one involved the distribution of the budget documents. The documents were distributed before the Minister of Finance rose in the House to present the budget, and even more offensive was the fact that the documents were distributed to Liberal members only. The second matter involved the vote that preceded the budget presentation. The members for Milton and Beauce were prevented from attending that vote because security was holding the buses that carry members to the House on account of empty cars from the Prime Minister's motorcade. Mr. Speaker, both of those cases and the case before you today have involved the interference of the executive branch with the administrative responsibilities of the House. It is your duty, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that the Department of Finance gets out of our way and allows us to control our own affairs. You, Mr. Speaker, are responsible for the distribution of documents in the House, access to the House, and access to the galleries, not the Department of Finance.Last year, the matter of access to the House was settled through a question of privilege, and the distribution of documents was dealt with by you personally, Mr. Speaker. I am asking you to intervene again this year and to once again rein in the executive branch. This place belongs to us, not them.Speaker Fraser summed it up this way when he was faced with the behaviour of the Department of Finance in 1989. He said, on October 10, 1989: I expect the Department of Finance...to study this ruling carefully and remind everyone within the Public Service that we are a parliamentary democracy, not a so-called executive democracy nor a so-called administrative democracy.

Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of the Prime Minister's botched trip to India, he has actually managed to make things worse by blaming so-called factions in the Indian government for the invitation extended to Jaspal Atwal, a claim that was swiftly denounced by India's foreign affairs ministry as “baseless and unacceptable.”Is the Prime Minister trying to create an international diplomatic crisis?

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, over the past two years we have made significant investments in helping the most vulnerable in our country. We brought forward the Canada child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty and reducing child poverty by 40%. In this budget we are moving forward with a Canada workers benefit that is going to lift tens of thousands of low-income workers out of poverty. On top of that, we are moving forward with a national housing strategy of $40 billion overall that is going to go to homelessness, is going to help affordable housing, and help with housing affordability.

Mr. Speaker, for 10 years, the Conservatives opposite torqued our public service every chance it could get for partisan advantage, so I can understand they think everyone behaves that way. We do not. Every day, whether in this case, or in their everyday work, all the non-partisan security agencies do an exceptional job in the service of Canada's national interest, and Canadians can be reassured that beyond the partisan nature of this House, our professional public servants are—

Mr. Speaker, too often working mothers pull double duty, working a full-time job during the day, then going home and doing the bulk of parenting duties at night. Moving away from this second shift will take time, and it begins by helping parents share the work of raising their children more equally with the new parental sharing benefit. Greater gender equality is the smart thing to do for the economy and the right thing to do for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for raising these important issues in the House of Commons. It is very frustrating, and quite alarming, to see the members of the government laughing about such an important issue. I would like to take the opportunity to confer with my colleagues and bring back concerns we would have on the same point of order.

Mr. Speaker, the allegations and insinuations made by the members opposite are based on their own experience of torquing our professional—

Mr. Speaker, under the Harper government, the Conservatives added $150 billion to our national debt and had no growth to show for it. The worst growth rates since the Great Depression were under Stephen Harper.We chose investment. Canadians chose investment in them, in their communities, in their futures, and it is delivering with the highest growth rate in the G7. We have the best record on job creation in a long time, with over half a million jobs created in the past two years, and the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Canadians made the right choice, not the Conservatives' choice.

Mr. Speaker, I share my opposition colleagues' opinion, so I will join the debate. I agree that it is not right for the government to start controlling access to the gallery. I would also like to add that my constituency office received requests to reserve seats in the gallery on budget day, but we were turned down. I felt exactly the same frustration as my colleague who spoke earlier when I saw the empty seats yesterday. I want to thank him for his point of order, and I fully support his efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered those questions.What the opposition does not understand is that it should be focusing on Canadians. That is what Liberal MPs did when they told us we needed to help workers in seasonal industries. We listened, and we are delivering.For those working in seasonal industries, we announced $10 million in immediate income support, and over $200 million over the next two years through federal-provincial labour market development agreements.This is what we can accomplish when we focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it.

Mr. Speaker, once again, the member opposite is not being clear. He has not come forward to say whether or not he actually believes—

Mr. Speaker, achieving gender equality is the smart thing to do to grow the economy. Over the past 40 years, the rising number of women participating in the workforce has accounted for about a third of Canada’s economic growth. However, there are still barriers that prevent women from achieving their full potential. Our government has committed to making gender equality the focus of its decisions.Can the Prime Minister tell the House how budget 2018 will meet that commitment and enable more women to take advantage of the opportunities they deserve?

Mr. Speaker, one day after the federal budget, Quebec remains unsatisfied. Although expectations were high, Quebec got only crumbs. The budget offered no details on phase two of infrastructure projects like Montreal's blue line, had nothing for Davie shipyard in Quebec City, and, most importantly, it had nothing about taxing web giants like Netflix. They are doing nothing. Despite strong grassroots support, there are no measures for fighting tax evasion or the tax havens robbing us of billions of dollars. What use are the Liberal members from Quebec if they cannot keep their promises to Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered that question.However, I understand that the opposition members want to keep to this line of questioning because they prefer talking about anything other than budget 2018, which includes so many positive initiatives for the middle class and those working hard to join it. One of these is the Canada workers benefit, which we are not only strengthening but are also making accessible to an additional 300,000 low-income workers.The opposition will stay focused on us, but we will continue to focus on Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, as I have often said, those of us on this side of the House have faith in our security and information services. We have already answered all these questions, but as everyone knows, the opposition would rather talk about anything but budget 2018, which is full of great initiatives for the middle class and those working hard to join it.One of those initiatives is the Canada workers benefit, which we are enhancing by making it available to another 300,000 low-income workers. The opposition is focused on us, but we are focused on providing the best possible support to Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing to hear the member opposite disparage a national housing strategy because in addition to housing investment from budget 2016, it represents a 12-year commitment to housing and 30% of that 12-year investment will be spent in the first four years of our mandate. Investment then increases gradually over time because unlike previous governments, we believe the community housing sector should grow, not sink. That is why we are moving forward on things that matter to Canadians in concrete, tangible ways and delivering on all our promises.

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we have full confidence in the work that our national security agencies and professionals do, and we support them in their professional, non-partisan work. We will continue to respect and support the work that our intelligence agencies do, because that is what Canadians expect of their government, and that is what Canadians expect of all of us.

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with budget 2018, we are taking the next steps to improve equality, competitiveness, sustainability, and equity in Canada. Our budget plan will allow us to continue to invest in strengthening and growing the middle class and to lay a stronger foundation for our children's future.By closing the gender wage gap, supporting shared parenting, and introducing a new entrepreneurship strategy for women, we are also making significant progress toward equality. Canadians can all be very proud of this budget.

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we recognize that India's thriving economy presents some significant opportunities to strengthen Canada's middle class.We secured more than $1 billion in investments from deals between Canadian and Indian companies, which will help create more than 5,800 quality jobs for Canadians. The investments will stimulate the growth of Canada's economy, will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and will increase co-operation.

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered those questions. What the opposition fails to understand is that it should be focusing on Canadians. That is what Liberal MPs did when Canadians told us that we should do more to help workers in seasonal industries.We announced the immediate payment of $10 million in income support for workers, as well as more than $200 million over the next two years through labour market development agreements. We listened to seasonal workers and we are working to deliver on our promises.

Mr. Speaker, Canada and India have a long tradition of bilateral relations, built on the traditions of democracy, pluralism, and strong people-to-people ties. Indo Canadians, including those of the Sikh faith, have made immense contributions to Canada.We believe that freedom of speech and expression are at the core of democracy, both at home in Canada and around the world. These rights are universal. We will work and collaborate with people all around the world to advance those rights.On this side of the House we take that very seriously.

Mr. Speaker, we have been putting words into action for the past two years.We announced $7 billion to address early learning and child care needs. We announced a total of $40 billion for a national housing strategy, with 25% going directly to women and families. We increased parental and maternity benefits, implemented flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees, and more. We invested in emergency housing for women in crisis. We will continue to make investments.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget was a monumental step toward building an equal, competitive, sustainable, and fair Canada where all Canadians can thrive. It was an immense step forward, a specific chapter dedicated to indigenous peoples in the budget. However, on the path of reconciliation, the Métis Nation has long been forgotten by Canadian governments.May I ask if the right hon. Prime Minister would please update the House as to our government's commitment to reconciliation and inclusion of the Métis Nation and Canada's growth and prosperity?

Mr. Speaker, once again, we support and accept the counsel, the recommendations, the extraordinary work, and the advice of our national security agencies and information agencies. We support our professional public services and accept the information and recommendations they give to us. At the same time, as I have said, the member for Surrey Centre has taken responsibility for having extended the invitation to this individual and has apologized.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister wants to talk about the budget. In what year will it be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question. We know that the middle class cannot grow without the full involvement of women in the labour market. We announced an apprenticeship incentive grant for women. This five-year pilot project will provide a maximum of $6,000 over two years to women who choose a male-dominated Red Seal trade. Through measures like this, we will continue to move forward, help women, and grow our economy.

Mr. Speaker, we are determined to do what is necessary to fix the problem. We announced more than $430 million over six years to continue addressing existing pay problems. We will increase the number of employees working on pay issues and hire more HR advisers within departments. We have a plan to stabilize the pay system. We will also work with experts, unions, and technology providers in anticipation of a new pay system.

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians were given a choice between investment and austerity. Canadians chose investment, and it worked.Over the last two years, the Canadian economy has created more than half a million jobs. Canada has the best debt-to-GDP ratio of all G7 countries, the highest growth of any of the G7 countries, and the lowest unemployment in 40 years. As is usually the case, Canadians were right in their choice.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I have answered these questions, but while the opposition chooses to focus on me, we remain focused on Canadians.We want to do more, across government, to support women. The opposition voted against the idea of making the Minister of Status of Women a full minister, but with budget 2018, we are going even further to ensure that Canada can always view its actions through the lens of gender equality and diversity. We are going to make Status of Women Canada an official department.

Mr. Speaker, reflecting commitments in the Canada-Métis Nation Accord, budget 2018 proposes to invest $516 million over 10 years for housing, post-secondary education, and health strategies. President Chartrand of the Manitoba Métis Federation said, “Since Confederation, the Métis Nation has been left out in the cold. With this announcement, we can begin to see the change.” We have brought the Métis Nation back into Canada. These investments in Métis Nation priorities will support their vision of self-determination.

Mr. Speaker, the new EI parental sharing benefit represents a major step forward in helping parents balance work and parental responsibilities, as they welcome new children into their family.Could the Prime Minister explain how this greater choice and flexibility in parental and maternity benefits will help parents provide their children with the best possible start in life?

Mr. Speaker, over the past two years we have taken many different actions to help address the wage gap and support women's labour market participation, including $7 billion to address early learning and child care needs, increasing parental and maternity benefits, and implementing flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees, and yesterday we announced that we would introduce pay equity legislation as part of the budget implementation act. We know there is much more work to do, and we intend to get it done.

Mr. Speaker, we hope that it will not take 10 years for the plan to be implemented. Two years ago, the Liberal government made the bad decision to implement the Phoenix pay system even though it knew about the extent of the problems it would create. The Liberals ignored the concerns of the Treasury Board and senior officials, and the example of Australia, which was well documented. The government's bad decision and poor management needlessly created thousands of victims.Will the government compensate affected employees for all the harm they have suffered?

Mr. Speaker, it disrespects Canadians for the Prime Minister to not even answer questions on the India trip, so I will ask for a specific aspect of that trip.On February 22, the national security adviser and his counterpart in India signed a co-operation agreement on countering violent extremism. The next day the Prime Minister's Office forced that adviser to blame the Indian government for Canadian extremism.My question on the trip is this. How is that co-operation agreement with India going?

Mr. Speaker, reflecting commitments in the Canada-Métis Nation Accord, budget 2018 proposes to invest $516 million over 10 years for housing, post-secondary education, and health strategies. President Chartrand of the Manitoba Métis Federation said, “Since Confederation, the Métis Nation has been left out in the cold. With this announcement, we can begin to see the change.” We have brought the Métis Nation back into Canada. These investments in Métis Nation priorities will support their vision of self-determination.

Mr. Speaker, indeed, we will continue to focus on the Prime Minister, because his performance has been a diplomatic disaster.While his national security adviser was suggesting that the Indian government wanted to sabotage the Prime Minister's visit because he was not happy with the media coverage he was getting of his family trip to India, the Prime Minister made some serious accusations. The Indian government has denied all the allegations, calling them baseless and unacceptable. This is all very serious.If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he needs to produce the evidence to support his allegations.

Mr. Speaker, as is usual, the Prime Minister was wrong in the choice he presented them.He said that the deficit this year would be $6 billion; instead, it is $18 billion, three times bigger. He said that next year the budget would be balanced, and now we learn that it will not be for another quarter of a century, during which time he will add, or some future government will add, a half a trillion dollars in debt, presuming there is no more spending.Once again, when will the budget be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, nobody believes that there was a single person in the Prime Minister's Office who was not provided a list of invitees. Nobody believes this ridiculous assertion that the responsibility lies with rogue elements or factions in the Indian government. By having an independent national security official brief the media anonymously right in the middle of a negative 24-hour news cycle, the Prime Minister has implicated the independent public service in his disastrous trip. Will the Prime Minister confirm or deny that anyone in his office orchestrated the briefing to shift the blame on this?

Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of the Prime Minister's botched trip to India, he has actually managed to make things worse by blaming so-called factions in the Indian government for the invitation extended to Jaspal Atwal, a claim that was swiftly denounced by India's foreign affairs ministry as “baseless and unacceptable.”Is the Prime Minister trying to create an international diplomatic crisis?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is sullying the reputation of one of those fine public servants. I will use an example from 2010, when CSIS suggested foreign agents were at play in Canada. The MP for Ajax, now the parliamentary secretary for public safety, said at the time that it was wrong for a cloud to be hanging over the head of an entire community. Well, now the Prime Minister's actions and those of his office are hanging a cloud over one of the biggest countries in the world and our friends in India.Will the Prime Minister finally table one shred of truth to this crazy India conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered those questions.What the opposition does not understand is that it should be focusing on Canadians. That is what Liberal MPs did when they told us we needed to help workers in seasonal industries. We listened, and we are delivering.For those working in seasonal industries, we announced $10 million in immediate income support, and over $200 million over the next two years through federal-provincial labour market development agreements.This is what we can accomplish when we focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it.

Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing to hear the member opposite disparage a national housing strategy because in addition to housing investment from budget 2016, it represents a 12-year commitment to housing and 30% of that 12-year investment will be spent in the first four years of our mandate. Investment then increases gradually over time because unlike previous governments, we believe the community housing sector should grow, not sink. That is why we are moving forward on things that matter to Canadians in concrete, tangible ways and delivering on all our promises.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should know that the homeless cannot wait for years and years until the Liberals get around to funding housing in this country. It is the same with pharmacare. Liberals tried a big build-up around the budget, but what it turned out to be was yet another Liberal study. For 21 years, all they do is study. If he wants to steal NDP ideas, steal them, but put them into practice. Do not just stare at them; that is weird. After 21 years, the evidence is clear, why does the Prime Minister continue to refuse to implement pharmacare now in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing partisan about this. It was the Prime Minister's trip that turned into a disaster. It was the Prime Minister's Office that mishandled the invitation that went out to a convicted attempted murderer, and then for the first time in history they decided to use an independent public service as a human shield for his terrible news cycle.If the Prime Minister is so sure about what he is saying, will he confirm that no one in the Prime Minister's Office or in the public service under his control organized the briefing that was provided for the media laying out this allegation?

Mr. Speaker, I share my opposition colleagues' opinion, so I will join the debate. I agree that it is not right for the government to start controlling access to the gallery. I would also like to add that my constituency office received requests to reserve seats in the gallery on budget day, but we were turned down. I felt exactly the same frustration as my colleague who spoke earlier when I saw the empty seats yesterday. I want to thank him for his point of order, and I fully support his efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his question and I thank him for his service, as I do all men and women who serve in uniform to keep our communities and our country safe. As I have said a number of times, the invitation never should have been extended to this individual. As soon as we found out about it, we rescinded the invitation. The MP responsible for it has apologized, and we will continue to work to stand against violent extremism and terrorism wherever it rears its head around the world.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing in the budget for the 800 Davie workers who are out of a job, but a government that runs an $18-billion deficit can hardly plead austerity. This is a political choice, and the government can take action if it wants to. It is even giving up revenue by protecting tax havens for the super-rich and allowing Internet giants to avoid collecting taxes.Why is the Prime Minister working harder for tax havens than for Quebeckers?

Some of it will be done after the next election, Mr. Speaker.Let us talk about pharmacare for a minute. The Liberal government is making a big deal about setting up an advisory council, but this morning the finance minister said that the government will only be moving toward means-tested pharmacare. To quote him, he said that they are dealing with the people who don't have it. We in the NDP believe that everyone should have access to affordable medication. The time for universal pharmacare is now. Why is the Prime Minister even bothering with another long consultation, when his finance minister has already spilled the beans on the outcome?

Mr. Speaker, Canada and India have a long tradition of bilateral relations, built on the traditions of democracy, pluralism, and strong people-to-people ties. Indo Canadians, including those of the Sikh faith, have made immense contributions to Canada.We believe that freedom of speech and expression are at the core of democracy, both at home in Canada and around the world. These rights are universal. We will work and collaborate with people all around the world to advance those rights.On this side of the House we take that very seriously.

Mr. Speaker, once again, the spectacle continues. The Leader of the Opposition asked the question 11 times, and the member for Richmond—Arthabaska asked it twice. I will start over with the time I have left.First of all, the Prime Minister of Canada confirmed yesterday here in the House that the Indian government was complicit in sending the invitation to Jaspal Atwal. At the same time, the member for Surrey Centre is being thrown under the bus because he is being blamed for issuing the invitation. Which is it?If the Prime Minister stands behind what he said yesterday, he needs to bring us the evidence.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to address the disrespect shown to this member by members of the government while he was talking about this. This is the House of Commons, where we are all equal. This House belongs to all of us. It does not belong to the government. When the government tries to control how the public can access the galleries, that is not the job of anyone in the executive branch. It is not the job of the Department of Finance.Mr. Speaker, we look to you. It is your job to protect our rights and privileges to ensure that there is equal access for every member of Parliament, our staff, and the public we invite. We would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to take this very seriously. This is not a partisan issue. It is an issue for all members of Parliament, despite what these Liberals are saying right now, when it does not matter if it does not affect them. This affects all members of Parliament. We look to you to protect our rights and privileges, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would have us believe that an independent national security officer took it upon himself to brief the media right in the middle of a terrible news cycle that was embarrassing the Prime Minister. If that is not the definition of politicizing national security officials, then I do not know what is. Nobody is believing it.The Prime Minister needs to learn that there are serious consequences to these types of allegations, that governing is more than just Instagram posts, and that when one makes this kind of allegation, there are consequences.Will the Prime Minister identify who in his office orchestrated this media briefing?

Mr. Speaker, perhaps it would be helpful to folks here if the member opposite actually were to state whether or not he believes that the professional public servant, who functions in a non-partisan way, was not telling the truth or was not clear on what he was saying. This is the issue that the member opposite seems to be getting at, that he does not believe our professional public servants in what they tell Canadians. If that is the case, then the member opposite should say so.

Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister identify who it was who briefed the media? Will the Prime Minister identify, so that we can have confidence in what was said, who in his office orchestrated the media briefing? Will the Prime Minister provide a modicum of proof for these assertions that it was the Indian government that was behind his embarrassing fiasco? I doubt that he will. Last year, he met with someone who is the vice-president of a listed terrorist organization. In December, he met with Joshua Boyle, who, days later, was charged with sexual assault and unlawful confinement.Why is it always that the Prime Minister seems to be identified with these kinds of people?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for raising these important issues in the House of Commons. It is very frustrating, and quite alarming, to see the members of the government laughing about such an important issue. I would like to take the opportunity to confer with my colleagues and bring back concerns we would have on the same point of order.

Mr. Speaker, once again, the member opposite is not being clear. He has not come forward to say whether or not he actually believes—

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals talk non-stop about being a feminist government but will not put their money where their mouth is.Once again there is a proposal in the budget for a legislative framework to ensure pay equity, but there is no money to back it up. None. For years, women's groups have been calling for a universal child care system, affordable housing, and shelters for women who are victims of violence. It takes money to implement all these measures.When will the government put words into action?

Mr. Speaker, the budget delivered yesterday literally leaves Canadians out in the cold and we see the homeless crisis every day in British Columbia. Tens of thousands of Canadians are sleeping out in the parks and main streets of our country and the Prime Minister says wait until the next election, wait for a few more years, wait until Liberals are good and ready to put adequate funds into housing.Homeless Canadians have waited two and a half years while the government is focused on loopholes for the super-rich. Why does he not take action? Why do the homeless always finish behind the super-rich for the Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives seem to think it is a problem that the headline is “Prime Minister stands by his officials”. This is something that we need to understand.On this side of the House our government will always stand by the professional public servants who work hard, regardless of the government stripe of the day, to serve Canadians, to keep Canadians safe, and to give us the information and the understanding of the world that we need to have.We will always stand by our non-partisan professional public service. It is a shame that they do not.

Mr. Speaker, that is just great. Canadians watching today can see that this Prime Minister does not take anything seriously in Canada.Yesterday, the theory put forward by the national security advisor was that the Indian government was involved in inviting Jaspal Atwal. However, today, the Indian government, through a foreign affairs press release, confirmed that that was absolutely false and that there was no truth to the claim.If the Prime Minister is maintaining his position, he should give us the evidence now.

Mr. Speaker, it seems these Harper Conservatives never learn. For 10 years they spent their time disrespecting public servants, using them for partisan gains, and making sure their political partisan aims were always front and centre in everything they did. We respect the independence, the professionalism, and the non-partisan nature of our professional public servants. We will always listen to them, follow their advice, and defend the integrity of our Canadian public service.

Mr. Speaker, is the Prime Minister actually saying that the member for Surrey Centre has taken sole responsibility for a scheme concocted by the Indian government? Is that the assertion that we are led to believe? How can they both be true? If, on the one hand, it is the Government of India that has implicated itself into Canadian government affairs, that is a profound allegation that has serious consequences that cannot be thought about lightly just to get through a 24-hour news cycle. Why is the Prime Minister so irresponsible about this very important bilateral issue?

Mr. Speaker, there has never been a government, Liberal or Conservative, that has used a national security official to clean up an embarrassing mess that was self-inflicted by the Prime Minister. I have a quote I would like to read for the Prime Minister. It is by a senior correspondent who has followed these issues for years. It says, “In 10 years of Harper, never saw a bureaucrat sent out to clean up a mess made by a politician. But it just happened with [the Prime Minister].”Why is the Prime Minister using independent officials to clean up his mess?

Mr. Speaker, once again, we support and accept the counsel, the recommendations, the extraordinary work, and the advice of our national security agencies and information agencies. We support our professional public services and accept the information and recommendations they give to us. At the same time, as I have said, the member for Surrey Centre has taken responsibility for having extended the invitation to this individual and has apologized.

Mr. Speaker, under the Harper government, the Conservatives added $150 billion to our national debt and had no growth to show for it. The worst growth rates since the Great Depression were under Stephen Harper.We chose investment. Canadians chose investment in them, in their communities, in their futures, and it is delivering with the highest growth rate in the G7. We have the best record on job creation in a long time, with over half a million jobs created in the past two years, and the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Canadians made the right choice, not the Conservatives' choice.

Mr. Speaker, it is troubling to hear how much the members opposite do not trust or believe in the professionality and non-partisan nature of our public service. Our professional public servants, particularly in the security and information areas, work very hard to keep Canadians safe. To hear members opposite trying to score cheap political points by politicizing them is really disappointing.We take the responsibility of working with partners around the world very seriously to keep Canadians safe, and that is what we will continue to do.

Mr. Speaker, we have been putting words into action for the past two years.We announced $7 billion to address early learning and child care needs. We announced a total of $40 billion for a national housing strategy, with 25% going directly to women and families. We increased parental and maternity benefits, implemented flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees, and more. We invested in emergency housing for women in crisis. We will continue to make investments.

Mr. Speaker, for 10 years, the Conservatives opposite torqued our public service every chance it could get for partisan advantage, so I can understand they think everyone behaves that way. We do not. Every day, whether in this case, or in their everyday work, all the non-partisan security agencies do an exceptional job in the service of Canada's national interest, and Canadians can be reassured that beyond the partisan nature of this House, our professional public servants are—

Mr. Speaker, governments organize media briefings all the time. It is only the Conservatives opposite, who consistently for 10 years torqued the public service to their own partisan ends, who see anything nefarious in it. Unlike the previous government, we respect in particular the ability of the public service to provide non-partisan advice and support to the government.All Canadians can be assured that the only interest on which our security agencies focus is the interest of Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered that question.However, I understand that the opposition members want to keep to this line of questioning because they prefer talking about anything other than budget 2018, which includes so many positive initiatives for the middle class and those working hard to join it. One of these is the Canada workers benefit, which we are not only strengthening but are also making accessible to an additional 300,000 low-income workers.The opposition will stay focused on us, but we will continue to focus on Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to explain this to the members opposite, who did not learn this through 10 years of government. We saw that regularly in their behaviour in the Harper years.Professional public servants, particularly those in the national security and information areas, do extraordinary work based on their professional qualifications and based on their analyses. When they make recommendations, or when they make statements to Canadians or to this government, we, on this side of the House, choose to believe them. On that side of the House, who knows?

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, over the past two years we have made significant investments in helping the most vulnerable in our country. We brought forward the Canada child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty and reducing child poverty by 40%. In this budget we are moving forward with a Canada workers benefit that is going to lift tens of thousands of low-income workers out of poverty. On top of that, we are moving forward with a national housing strategy of $40 billion overall that is going to go to homelessness, is going to help affordable housing, and help with housing affordability.

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expected real action from this government, but this budget once again left them feeling underwhelmed.The government keeps telling us that the economy is doing well, but most of the Canadians we talk to are wondering who exactly is benefiting because they cannot make ends meet.This budget is timid and does not help Canadians. There are desperate needs that need to be addressed right now, and yet most of the funding will not be allocated until after the next election.When will this government stop making promises and start taking action?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say they are a feminist government but will not put their money where their mouth is. This was evident in yesterday's budget. Pay equity was promised by the Liberals over 40 years ago, and again in 2016, but now? The Liberals put no money for pay equity in yesterday's budget, making women wait yet again. Immediate funding is needed now to bridge the funding gap for women in Canada. How much longer will the government make women wait to have equal pay for work of equal value?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question. We know that the middle class cannot grow without the full involvement of women in the labour market. We announced an apprenticeship incentive grant for women. This five-year pilot project will provide a maximum of $6,000 over two years to women who choose a male-dominated Red Seal trade. Through measures like this, we will continue to move forward, help women, and grow our economy.

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered those questions. What the opposition fails to understand is that it should be focusing on Canadians. That is what Liberal MPs did when Canadians told us that we should do more to help workers in seasonal industries.We announced the immediate payment of $10 million in income support for workers, as well as more than $200 million over the next two years through labour market development agreements. We listened to seasonal workers and we are working to deliver on our promises.

Mr. Speaker, like most Canadians on this side of the House, we respect and appreciate the work done by our professional public services, and particularly in regard to our national security agencies and information agencies. We believe them when they put forward their information and their recommendations to us. At the same time, the member for Surrey Centre has taken responsibility for his role in the invitation extended to this individual and has apologized.

Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite do not trust or believe our national security agencies, they should simply come forward and say so. On this side of the House, we have faith in our professional public servants, particularly in the intelligence and security areas, who do extraordinary work every day to keep Canadians safe, and the members opposite should stop disrespecting them.

Mr. Speaker, achieving gender equality is the smart thing to do to grow the economy. Over the past 40 years, the rising number of women participating in the workforce has accounted for about a third of Canada’s economic growth. However, there are still barriers that prevent women from achieving their full potential. Our government has committed to making gender equality the focus of its decisions.Can the Prime Minister tell the House how budget 2018 will meet that commitment and enable more women to take advantage of the opportunities they deserve?

Mr. Speaker, it is my duty to inform the Speaker of the House of an incident that occurred yesterday when the budget was tabled in the House by the Minister of Finance. The House of Commons is not an instrument of government. The House of Commons is not a place where the Minister of Finance has permission to control who has or does not have the right to be present in this place.A guest from my riding wanted to be present when the Minister of Finance made his presentation and opposition members subsequently made their statements. She therefore requested an access card in order to attend the budget presentation. She was very surprised to learn that all seats, including those reserved for opposition members, had been reserved by the Minister of Finance. I still asked her to attend, in case a seat became available.Mr. Speaker, you and I noted that there were many seats available in all the galleries yesterday, so I told my guest to come and attend the budget presentation.To her astonishment, the finance department official denied her access to the House and would not give her an access card. My guest is the manager of my constituency office. She came all this way to attend the budget presentation. She has an ID card that allows her to move about on the Hill. She then went to the Parliamentary Protective Service and asked them to let her in. However, they had orders not to admit anyone without a pass from the Department of Finance. She then went back to the rotunda and reminded the finance department official that there were seats available, but she still denied her access to the House.My guest then sent me a text message to inform me that she was unable to attend. I had to leave the House and miss several minutes of the finance minister's speech to go meet my employee and accompany her to the gallery, where she was finally able to see the presentation.Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable.Members will recall that last year, on budget day, there were two incidents. The first one involved the distribution of the budget documents. The documents were distributed before the Minister of Finance rose in the House to present the budget, and even more offensive was the fact that the documents were distributed to Liberal members only. The second matter involved the vote that preceded the budget presentation. The members for Milton and Beauce were prevented from attending that vote because security was holding the buses that carry members to the House on account of empty cars from the Prime Minister's motorcade. Mr. Speaker, both of those cases and the case before you today have involved the interference of the executive branch with the administrative responsibilities of the House. It is your duty, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that the Department of Finance gets out of our way and allows us to control our own affairs. You, Mr. Speaker, are responsible for the distribution of documents in the House, access to the House, and access to the galleries, not the Department of Finance.Last year, the matter of access to the House was settled through a question of privilege, and the distribution of documents was dealt with by you personally, Mr. Speaker. I am asking you to intervene again this year and to once again rein in the executive branch. This place belongs to us, not them.Speaker Fraser summed it up this way when he was faced with the behaviour of the Department of Finance in 1989. He said, on October 10, 1989: I expect the Department of Finance...to study this ruling carefully and remind everyone within the Public Service that we are a parliamentary democracy, not a so-called executive democracy nor a so-called administrative democracy.

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. On the one hand, a Liberal MP apologized for inviting a terrorist to attend an event with the Prime Minister in India. On the other, the Prime Minister is insinuating that the Indian government tried to sabotage the trip by inviting the terrorist to India with him. As anyone would expect, the Indian government reacted strongly to those insinuations by the Prime Minister and his chief adviser.If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he should table his evidence in the House.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget was a monumental step toward building an equal, competitive, sustainable, and fair Canada where all Canadians can thrive. It was an immense step forward, a specific chapter dedicated to indigenous peoples in the budget. However, on the path of reconciliation, the Métis Nation has long been forgotten by Canadian governments.May I ask if the right hon. Prime Minister would please update the House as to our government's commitment to reconciliation and inclusion of the Métis Nation and Canada's growth and prosperity?

Mr. Speaker, we woke up today to headlines from around Canada. “[The Prime Minister] stands by official who suggested Indian factions sabotaged trip.” “PM doesn't refute 'conspiracy theory' that Indian government factions sabotaged his trip.” In response, India has said that the assertion is baseless and unacceptable.The Prime Minister leads a G7 nation. This is a diplomatic matter. What will he say to the high commissioner to Canada from India in response to its missive?

Mr. Speaker, this ongoing situation is unacceptable, and people doing work for the federal government, or anyone, deserve to get paid. We did not create this mess, but we will fix it. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to fix it.In budget 2018, we announced an investment of over $430 million over six years to continue addressing existing pay challenges. We will increase the number of employees working on pay issues, and hire more HR advisers within departments to assist employees with payroll issues. We have a plan to stabilize the pay system that we will continue executing, while working with experts, unions—

Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that the Prime Minister accomplished very little on his eight-day trip in India with a dozen MPs, all at the expense of taxpayers. He could have raised some issues that are important to Canadians, but no, all he managed to do was to create tension with a very important country in the region.Is this how the Prime Minister wants to put Canada back on the world stage?

Mr. Speaker, over the past two years we have taken many different actions to help address the wage gap and support women's labour market participation, including $7 billion to address early learning and child care needs, increasing parental and maternity benefits, and implementing flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees, and yesterday we announced that we would introduce pay equity legislation as part of the budget implementation act. We know there is much more work to do, and we intend to get it done.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand and defend the integrity of our public servants who accomplish incredible work. Canadians rejected the Conservatives' approach of disrespecting and bashing the hard-working men and women of our non-partisan public service.Since the member opposite has used the name of Daniel Jean, it is important to remind them all that Daniel is a distinguished public servant who has served governments, regardless of their political stripe, for over 35 years. In fact, I remind the member opposite that the previous Conservative government so valued Mr. Jean's service that it chose him to represent Canada when he addressed the UN General Assembly—

Mr. Speaker, there is just one problem. Yesterday, the Prime Minister confirmed that the theory put forward by one of his national security advisers was true. He has also said that it was the member for Surrey Centre acting alone that resulted in this embarrassing incident. How can the Prime Minister, at the same time, blame rogue elements in the Indian government and the member for Surrey Centre?

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians were given a choice between investment and austerity. Canadians chose investment, and it worked.Over the last two years, the Canadian economy has created more than half a million jobs. Canada has the best debt-to-GDP ratio of all G7 countries, the highest growth of any of the G7 countries, and the lowest unemployment in 40 years. As is usually the case, Canadians were right in their choice.

Mr. Speaker, two months into its mandate, the government got a Treasury Board memo warning of significant risks with the Phoenix pay system. Obviously the government did not pay attention.In my riding, too many employees are among the many in the Phoenix ashes. One is still waiting for $40,000 in severance pay. It has been two years. Our workers do not deserve this financial and emotional stress. They deserve to get paid for work done. It is simple. When will the government pay its workers?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister wants to talk about the budget. In what year will it be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, there is no question the Prime Minister has inherited great fortune, a strong world economy, and a doubling of oil prices, our American customers south of the border driving up demand, and the government is blowing every penny of it. The deficit is three times what the Liberals promised. The deficit will continue for a quarter century, and amount to almost half a trillion dollars in new debt.I will ask for a third time, and maybe this time the Prime Minister can answer the question. In what year will the budget be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, too often working mothers pull double duty, working a full-time job during the day, then going home and doing the bulk of parenting duties at night. Moving away from this second shift will take time, and it begins by helping parents share the work of raising their children more equally with the new parental sharing benefit. Greater gender equality is the smart thing to do for the economy and the right thing to do for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure no one will be surprised to hear that I will continue to defend and believe in our professional, non-partisan public service. We will always defend the integrity of our public servants, who are doing an exceptional job. Unlike the previous government, we respect the non-partisan nature of the public service, especially those who serve in our national security agencies. In particular, we respect their ability to provide impartial advice to the government, and we know that the actions they take are always in Canada's best interests.

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we have full confidence in the work that our national security agencies and professionals do, and we support them in their professional, non-partisan work. We will continue to respect and support the work that our intelligence agencies do, because that is what Canadians expect of their government, and that is what Canadians expect of all of us.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the theory his national security advisor gave to the media was true, and that rogue members of the Indian government conspired to embarrass Canada. However, the Liberal member for Surrey Centre also took responsibility for the Prime Minister's international embarrassment. He was punished for that yesterday.How can both of these versions be true?

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered those questions. What we are focusing on is ensuring a better future for Canadians on the labour market. It is unacceptable that a wage gap still exists in 2018. We therefore announced that we are going to introduce new proactive pay equity legislation. By promoting greater equality for women, we could inject $150 billion into the national economy by 2026. This shows that it is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do.

Mr. Speaker, when Liberals presented a plan for investment instead of the austerity plan the Conservatives were presenting, Canadians supported us because they knew we would invest while maintaining fiscal discipline.We have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, better than the U.S., better than the UK, better than Germany, and it is decreasing every single year. That is fiscal responsibility. At the same time, we are investing in Canadians, in their communities, in the future that Canadians need. That is the choice Canadians made two years ago, and that is what is delivering for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, one day after the federal budget, Quebec remains unsatisfied. Although expectations were high, Quebec got only crumbs. The budget offered no details on phase two of infrastructure projects like Montreal's blue line, had nothing for Davie shipyard in Quebec City, and, most importantly, it had nothing about taxing web giants like Netflix. They are doing nothing. Despite strong grassroots support, there are no measures for fighting tax evasion or the tax havens robbing us of billions of dollars. What use are the Liberal members from Quebec if they cannot keep their promises to Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, in 1986, I was one of the first officers on the scene of the shooting of Indian minister Sidhu. I helped him and his wife into the ambulance. It is a day I will never forget.Jaspal Atwal was convicted of attempted murder in that shooting. The victims of terrorism have names, they have faces, and they have families. Why would the Prime Minister ever meet with Jaspal Atwal?

Mr. Speaker, as we know it, here are the facts.Daniel Jean, on his own, called together the members of the press gallery travelling with the Prime Minister in India to tell them that it was factions within the Indian government that were sabotaging the Prime Minister's trip. The Prime Minister has told us that he believes Daniel Jean.We heard today that the India high commissioner has communicated publicly that the Indian government refutes this, and also says that these accusations are baseless and not appropriate.The question is this. It seems that the ball is in Canada's court. What is Canada's diplomatic response to this?

Mr. Speaker, every year almost one million Canadians give up food and heat to afford the medicine they need. The high cost of prescription medication means that sometimes sick Canadians must do without. As part of budget 2018, we are creating an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare which will recommend options on how best to move forward together on this important issue to ensure every Canadian has access to the medicine they need. This builds on significant actions over the last two years to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible.

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with our investments in the Canada child benefit, the Canada workers benefit, and our national housing strategy, we are keeping our promises in Quebec and across the country. As for tax evasion, we invested over $1 billion within the first two years, and there are now more than 1,000 offshore audits and more than 40 criminal investigations with links to offshore transactions under way. To date, we have imposed $44 million in penalties on individuals promoting tax avoidance schemes, and yesterday we announced more than $90 million over five years—

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister told the House that the conspiracy theory that security officials spun for the media about convicted terrorist Jaspal Atwal was true. Now the Indian government is contradicting him. Either he is lying, or this government is not telling the whole truth.Which is it?

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I have answered these questions, but while the opposition chooses to focus on me, we remain focused on Canadians.We want to do more, across government, to support women. The opposition voted against the idea of making the Minister of Status of Women a full minister, but with budget 2018, we are going even further to ensure that Canada can always view its actions through the lens of gender equality and diversity. We are going to make Status of Women Canada an official department.

Mr. Speaker, we are determined to do what is necessary to fix the problem. We announced more than $430 million over six years to continue addressing existing pay problems. We will increase the number of employees working on pay issues and hire more HR advisers within departments. We have a plan to stabilize the pay system. We will also work with experts, unions, and technology providers in anticipation of a new pay system.

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with budget 2018, we are taking the next steps to improve equality, competitiveness, sustainability, and equity in Canada. Our budget plan will allow us to continue to invest in strengthening and growing the middle class and to lay a stronger foundation for our children's future.By closing the gender wage gap, supporting shared parenting, and introducing a new entrepreneurship strategy for women, we are also making significant progress toward equality. Canadians can all be very proud of this budget.

Mr. Speaker, the allegations and insinuations made by the members opposite are based on their own experience of torquing our professional—

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps contradicting himself, yet Canadians deserve a sincere response from him.Yesterday, he fired the MP for Surrey Centre as the B.C. caucus chair. Today he said that the person was personally responsible for inviting Mr. Atwal. Yesterday he also said that he supported his national security adviser's contention that the Indian government was responsible for the Atwal scandal.Both things cannot be true, Mr. Prime Minister. Which one is true?

Mr. Speaker, “baseless and unacceptable” is how the Indian government described the Prime Minister's bizarre theory that a convicted terrorist's presence on the trip was somehow the fault of agents working on behalf of the Indian government. Now the Prime Minister's incompetence has severely damaged Canada's relations with the world's largest democracy and an emerging power in Asia. Will the Prime Minister finally do the right thing and produce some kind of proof of his conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, as I have often said, those of us on this side of the House have faith in our security and information services. We have already answered all these questions, but as everyone knows, the opposition would rather talk about anything but budget 2018, which is full of great initiatives for the middle class and those working hard to join it.One of those initiatives is the Canada workers benefit, which we are enhancing by making it available to another 300,000 low-income workers. The opposition is focused on us, but we are focused on providing the best possible support to Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we recognize that India's thriving economy presents some significant opportunities to strengthen Canada's middle class.We secured more than $1 billion in investments from deals between Canadian and Indian companies, which will help create more than 5,800 quality jobs for Canadians. The investments will stimulate the growth of Canada's economy, will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and will increase co-operation.

Mr. Speaker, the new EI parental sharing benefit represents a major step forward in helping parents balance work and parental responsibilities, as they welcome new children into their family.Could the Prime Minister explain how this greater choice and flexibility in parental and maternity benefits will help parents provide their children with the best possible start in life?

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Davie shipyard, we know what great work Davie workers have been doing for a long time. That is why we are happy to be in talks for the new icebreakers the Canadian Coast Guard needs.With respect to Internet giants, we will not make taxpayers pay more tax no matter what the opposition wants. We will keep making sure that we are helping middle-class Quebeckers and Canadians because that is what we said we would do. That was our election promise to Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, unlike the member opposite, we will always defend the integrity of our senior security and intelligence officials and the excellent work that they do. Unlike the previous government, we will always listen to them and respect them. We respect their ability to provide impartial advice to the government, and we know that everything they do is in the best interests of Canada. All Canadians should be proud of the non-partisan work our security officials do every single day.

Mr. Speaker, when it was revealed that the Prime Minister had brought a convicted terrorist along on his trip, he claimed that it was a backbench MP who had arranged it. Now he claims that it was the Indian government that did it through a conspiracy. Is he alleging that his own backbench MP is part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Indian government?

Mr. Speaker, when it was revealed that the Prime Minister had brought a convicted terrorist along on his trip, he claimed that it was a backbench MP who had arranged it. Now he claims that it was the Indian government that did it through a conspiracy. Is he alleging that his own backbench MP is part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Indian government?

Mr. Speaker, unlike the member opposite, we will always defend the integrity of our senior security and intelligence officials and the excellent work that they do. Unlike the previous government, we will always listen to them and respect them. We respect their ability to provide impartial advice to the government, and we know that everything they do is in the best interests of Canada. All Canadians should be proud of the non-partisan work our security officials do every single day.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Davie shipyard, we know what great work Davie workers have been doing for a long time. That is why we are happy to be in talks for the new icebreakers the Canadian Coast Guard needs.With respect to Internet giants, we will not make taxpayers pay more tax no matter what the opposition wants. We will keep making sure that we are helping middle-class Quebeckers and Canadians because that is what we said we would do. That was our election promise to Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, the new EI parental sharing benefit represents a major step forward in helping parents balance work and parental responsibilities, as they welcome new children into their family.Could the Prime Minister explain how this greater choice and flexibility in parental and maternity benefits will help parents provide their children with the best possible start in life?

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we recognize that India's thriving economy presents some significant opportunities to strengthen Canada's middle class.We secured more than $1 billion in investments from deals between Canadian and Indian companies, which will help create more than 5,800 quality jobs for Canadians. The investments will stimulate the growth of Canada's economy, will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, and will increase co-operation.

Mr. Speaker, as I have often said, those of us on this side of the House have faith in our security and information services. We have already answered all these questions, but as everyone knows, the opposition would rather talk about anything but budget 2018, which is full of great initiatives for the middle class and those working hard to join it.One of those initiatives is the Canada workers benefit, which we are enhancing by making it available to another 300,000 low-income workers. The opposition is focused on us, but we are focused on providing the best possible support to Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, “baseless and unacceptable” is how the Indian government described the Prime Minister's bizarre theory that a convicted terrorist's presence on the trip was somehow the fault of agents working on behalf of the Indian government. Now the Prime Minister's incompetence has severely damaged Canada's relations with the world's largest democracy and an emerging power in Asia. Will the Prime Minister finally do the right thing and produce some kind of proof of his conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps contradicting himself, yet Canadians deserve a sincere response from him.Yesterday, he fired the MP for Surrey Centre as the B.C. caucus chair. Today he said that the person was personally responsible for inviting Mr. Atwal. Yesterday he also said that he supported his national security adviser's contention that the Indian government was responsible for the Atwal scandal.Both things cannot be true, Mr. Prime Minister. Which one is true?

Mr. Speaker, the allegations and insinuations made by the members opposite are based on their own experience of torquing our professional—

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with budget 2018, we are taking the next steps to improve equality, competitiveness, sustainability, and equity in Canada. Our budget plan will allow us to continue to invest in strengthening and growing the middle class and to lay a stronger foundation for our children's future.By closing the gender wage gap, supporting shared parenting, and introducing a new entrepreneurship strategy for women, we are also making significant progress toward equality. Canadians can all be very proud of this budget.

Mr. Speaker, we are determined to do what is necessary to fix the problem. We announced more than $430 million over six years to continue addressing existing pay problems. We will increase the number of employees working on pay issues and hire more HR advisers within departments. We have a plan to stabilize the pay system. We will also work with experts, unions, and technology providers in anticipation of a new pay system.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I have answered these questions, but while the opposition chooses to focus on me, we remain focused on Canadians.We want to do more, across government, to support women. The opposition voted against the idea of making the Minister of Status of Women a full minister, but with budget 2018, we are going even further to ensure that Canada can always view its actions through the lens of gender equality and diversity. We are going to make Status of Women Canada an official department.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister told the House that the conspiracy theory that security officials spun for the media about convicted terrorist Jaspal Atwal was true. Now the Indian government is contradicting him. Either he is lying, or this government is not telling the whole truth.Which is it?

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, with our investments in the Canada child benefit, the Canada workers benefit, and our national housing strategy, we are keeping our promises in Quebec and across the country. As for tax evasion, we invested over $1 billion within the first two years, and there are now more than 1,000 offshore audits and more than 40 criminal investigations with links to offshore transactions under way. To date, we have imposed $44 million in penalties on individuals promoting tax avoidance schemes, and yesterday we announced more than $90 million over five years—

Mr. Speaker, every year almost one million Canadians give up food and heat to afford the medicine they need. The high cost of prescription medication means that sometimes sick Canadians must do without. As part of budget 2018, we are creating an advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare which will recommend options on how best to move forward together on this important issue to ensure every Canadian has access to the medicine they need. This builds on significant actions over the last two years to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible.

Mr. Speaker, as we know it, here are the facts.Daniel Jean, on his own, called together the members of the press gallery travelling with the Prime Minister in India to tell them that it was factions within the Indian government that were sabotaging the Prime Minister's trip. The Prime Minister has told us that he believes Daniel Jean.We heard today that the India high commissioner has communicated publicly that the Indian government refutes this, and also says that these accusations are baseless and not appropriate.The question is this. It seems that the ball is in Canada's court. What is Canada's diplomatic response to this?

Mr. Speaker, in 1986, I was one of the first officers on the scene of the shooting of Indian minister Sidhu. I helped him and his wife into the ambulance. It is a day I will never forget.Jaspal Atwal was convicted of attempted murder in that shooting. The victims of terrorism have names, they have faces, and they have families. Why would the Prime Minister ever meet with Jaspal Atwal?

Mr. Speaker, one day after the federal budget, Quebec remains unsatisfied. Although expectations were high, Quebec got only crumbs. The budget offered no details on phase two of infrastructure projects like Montreal's blue line, had nothing for Davie shipyard in Quebec City, and, most importantly, it had nothing about taxing web giants like Netflix. They are doing nothing. Despite strong grassroots support, there are no measures for fighting tax evasion or the tax havens robbing us of billions of dollars. What use are the Liberal members from Quebec if they cannot keep their promises to Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, when Liberals presented a plan for investment instead of the austerity plan the Conservatives were presenting, Canadians supported us because they knew we would invest while maintaining fiscal discipline.We have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, better than the U.S., better than the UK, better than Germany, and it is decreasing every single year. That is fiscal responsibility. At the same time, we are investing in Canadians, in their communities, in the future that Canadians need. That is the choice Canadians made two years ago, and that is what is delivering for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered those questions. What we are focusing on is ensuring a better future for Canadians on the labour market. It is unacceptable that a wage gap still exists in 2018. We therefore announced that we are going to introduce new proactive pay equity legislation. By promoting greater equality for women, we could inject $150 billion into the national economy by 2026. This shows that it is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the theory his national security advisor gave to the media was true, and that rogue members of the Indian government conspired to embarrass Canada. However, the Liberal member for Surrey Centre also took responsibility for the Prime Minister's international embarrassment. He was punished for that yesterday.How can both of these versions be true?

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we have full confidence in the work that our national security agencies and professionals do, and we support them in their professional, non-partisan work. We will continue to respect and support the work that our intelligence agencies do, because that is what Canadians expect of their government, and that is what Canadians expect of all of us.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure no one will be surprised to hear that I will continue to defend and believe in our professional, non-partisan public service. We will always defend the integrity of our public servants, who are doing an exceptional job. Unlike the previous government, we respect the non-partisan nature of the public service, especially those who serve in our national security agencies. In particular, we respect their ability to provide impartial advice to the government, and we know that the actions they take are always in Canada's best interests.

Mr. Speaker, too often working mothers pull double duty, working a full-time job during the day, then going home and doing the bulk of parenting duties at night. Moving away from this second shift will take time, and it begins by helping parents share the work of raising their children more equally with the new parental sharing benefit. Greater gender equality is the smart thing to do for the economy and the right thing to do for Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, there is no question the Prime Minister has inherited great fortune, a strong world economy, and a doubling of oil prices, our American customers south of the border driving up demand, and the government is blowing every penny of it. The deficit is three times what the Liberals promised. The deficit will continue for a quarter century, and amount to almost half a trillion dollars in new debt.I will ask for a third time, and maybe this time the Prime Minister can answer the question. In what year will the budget be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister wants to talk about the budget. In what year will it be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, two months into its mandate, the government got a Treasury Board memo warning of significant risks with the Phoenix pay system. Obviously the government did not pay attention.In my riding, too many employees are among the many in the Phoenix ashes. One is still waiting for $40,000 in severance pay. It has been two years. Our workers do not deserve this financial and emotional stress. They deserve to get paid for work done. It is simple. When will the government pay its workers?

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, Canadians were given a choice between investment and austerity. Canadians chose investment, and it worked.Over the last two years, the Canadian economy has created more than half a million jobs. Canada has the best debt-to-GDP ratio of all G7 countries, the highest growth of any of the G7 countries, and the lowest unemployment in 40 years. As is usually the case, Canadians were right in their choice.

Mr. Speaker, there is just one problem. Yesterday, the Prime Minister confirmed that the theory put forward by one of his national security advisers was true. He has also said that it was the member for Surrey Centre acting alone that resulted in this embarrassing incident. How can the Prime Minister, at the same time, blame rogue elements in the Indian government and the member for Surrey Centre?

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand and defend the integrity of our public servants who accomplish incredible work. Canadians rejected the Conservatives' approach of disrespecting and bashing the hard-working men and women of our non-partisan public service.Since the member opposite has used the name of Daniel Jean, it is important to remind them all that Daniel is a distinguished public servant who has served governments, regardless of their political stripe, for over 35 years. In fact, I remind the member opposite that the previous Conservative government so valued Mr. Jean's service that it chose him to represent Canada when he addressed the UN General Assembly—

Mr. Speaker, over the past two years we have taken many different actions to help address the wage gap and support women's labour market participation, including $7 billion to address early learning and child care needs, increasing parental and maternity benefits, and implementing flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees, and yesterday we announced that we would introduce pay equity legislation as part of the budget implementation act. We know there is much more work to do, and we intend to get it done.

Mr. Speaker, it is quite clear that the Prime Minister accomplished very little on his eight-day trip in India with a dozen MPs, all at the expense of taxpayers. He could have raised some issues that are important to Canadians, but no, all he managed to do was to create tension with a very important country in the region.Is this how the Prime Minister wants to put Canada back on the world stage?

Mr. Speaker, this ongoing situation is unacceptable, and people doing work for the federal government, or anyone, deserve to get paid. We did not create this mess, but we will fix it. We are committed to doing whatever it takes to fix it.In budget 2018, we announced an investment of over $430 million over six years to continue addressing existing pay challenges. We will increase the number of employees working on pay issues, and hire more HR advisers within departments to assist employees with payroll issues. We have a plan to stabilize the pay system that we will continue executing, while working with experts, unions—

Mr. Speaker, we woke up today to headlines from around Canada. “[The Prime Minister] stands by official who suggested Indian factions sabotaged trip.” “PM doesn't refute 'conspiracy theory' that Indian government factions sabotaged his trip.” In response, India has said that the assertion is baseless and unacceptable.The Prime Minister leads a G7 nation. This is a diplomatic matter. What will he say to the high commissioner to Canada from India in response to its missive?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's budget was a monumental step toward building an equal, competitive, sustainable, and fair Canada where all Canadians can thrive. It was an immense step forward, a specific chapter dedicated to indigenous peoples in the budget. However, on the path of reconciliation, the Métis Nation has long been forgotten by Canadian governments.May I ask if the right hon. Prime Minister would please update the House as to our government's commitment to reconciliation and inclusion of the Métis Nation and Canada's growth and prosperity?

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. On the one hand, a Liberal MP apologized for inviting a terrorist to attend an event with the Prime Minister in India. On the other, the Prime Minister is insinuating that the Indian government tried to sabotage the trip by inviting the terrorist to India with him. As anyone would expect, the Indian government reacted strongly to those insinuations by the Prime Minister and his chief adviser.If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he should table his evidence in the House.

Mr. Speaker, it is my duty to inform the Speaker of the House of an incident that occurred yesterday when the budget was tabled in the House by the Minister of Finance. The House of Commons is not an instrument of government. The House of Commons is not a place where the Minister of Finance has permission to control who has or does not have the right to be present in this place.A guest from my riding wanted to be present when the Minister of Finance made his presentation and opposition members subsequently made their statements. She therefore requested an access card in order to attend the budget presentation. She was very surprised to learn that all seats, including those reserved for opposition members, had been reserved by the Minister of Finance. I still asked her to attend, in case a seat became available.Mr. Speaker, you and I noted that there were many seats available in all the galleries yesterday, so I told my guest to come and attend the budget presentation.To her astonishment, the finance department official denied her access to the House and would not give her an access card. My guest is the manager of my constituency office. She came all this way to attend the budget presentation. She has an ID card that allows her to move about on the Hill. She then went to the Parliamentary Protective Service and asked them to let her in. However, they had orders not to admit anyone without a pass from the Department of Finance. She then went back to the rotunda and reminded the finance department official that there were seats available, but she still denied her access to the House.My guest then sent me a text message to inform me that she was unable to attend. I had to leave the House and miss several minutes of the finance minister's speech to go meet my employee and accompany her to the gallery, where she was finally able to see the presentation.Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable.Members will recall that last year, on budget day, there were two incidents. The first one involved the distribution of the budget documents. The documents were distributed before the Minister of Finance rose in the House to present the budget, and even more offensive was the fact that the documents were distributed to Liberal members only. The second matter involved the vote that preceded the budget presentation. The members for Milton and Beauce were prevented from attending that vote because security was holding the buses that carry members to the House on account of empty cars from the Prime Minister's motorcade. Mr. Speaker, both of those cases and the case before you today have involved the interference of the executive branch with the administrative responsibilities of the House. It is your duty, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that the Department of Finance gets out of our way and allows us to control our own affairs. You, Mr. Speaker, are responsible for the distribution of documents in the House, access to the House, and access to the galleries, not the Department of Finance.Last year, the matter of access to the House was settled through a question of privilege, and the distribution of documents was dealt with by you personally, Mr. Speaker. I am asking you to intervene again this year and to once again rein in the executive branch. This place belongs to us, not them.Speaker Fraser summed it up this way when he was faced with the behaviour of the Department of Finance in 1989. He said, on October 10, 1989: I expect the Department of Finance...to study this ruling carefully and remind everyone within the Public Service that we are a parliamentary democracy, not a so-called executive democracy nor a so-called administrative democracy.

Mr. Speaker, achieving gender equality is the smart thing to do to grow the economy. Over the past 40 years, the rising number of women participating in the workforce has accounted for about a third of Canada’s economic growth. However, there are still barriers that prevent women from achieving their full potential. Our government has committed to making gender equality the focus of its decisions.Can the Prime Minister tell the House how budget 2018 will meet that commitment and enable more women to take advantage of the opportunities they deserve?

Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite do not trust or believe our national security agencies, they should simply come forward and say so. On this side of the House, we have faith in our professional public servants, particularly in the intelligence and security areas, who do extraordinary work every day to keep Canadians safe, and the members opposite should stop disrespecting them.

Mr. Speaker, like most Canadians on this side of the House, we respect and appreciate the work done by our professional public services, and particularly in regard to our national security agencies and information agencies. We believe them when they put forward their information and their recommendations to us. At the same time, the member for Surrey Centre has taken responsibility for his role in the invitation extended to this individual and has apologized.

Mr. Speaker, we have already answered those questions. What the opposition fails to understand is that it should be focusing on Canadians. That is what Liberal MPs did when Canadians told us that we should do more to help workers in seasonal industries.We announced the immediate payment of $10 million in income support for workers, as well as more than $200 million over the next two years through labour market development agreements. We listened to seasonal workers and we are working to deliver on our promises.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for his question. We know that the middle class cannot grow without the full involvement of women in the labour market. We announced an apprenticeship incentive grant for women. This five-year pilot project will provide a maximum of $6,000 over two years to women who choose a male-dominated Red Seal trade. Through measures like this, we will continue to move forward, help women, and grow our economy.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals say they are a feminist government but will not put their money where their mouth is. This was evident in yesterday's budget. Pay equity was promised by the Liberals over 40 years ago, and again in 2016, but now? The Liberals put no money for pay equity in yesterday's budget, making women wait yet again. Immediate funding is needed now to bridge the funding gap for women in Canada. How much longer will the government make women wait to have equal pay for work of equal value?

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expected real action from this government, but this budget once again left them feeling underwhelmed.The government keeps telling us that the economy is doing well, but most of the Canadians we talk to are wondering who exactly is benefiting because they cannot make ends meet.This budget is timid and does not help Canadians. There are desperate needs that need to be addressed right now, and yet most of the funding will not be allocated until after the next election.When will this government stop making promises and start taking action?

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, over the past two years we have made significant investments in helping the most vulnerable in our country. We brought forward the Canada child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty and reducing child poverty by 40%. In this budget we are moving forward with a Canada workers benefit that is going to lift tens of thousands of low-income workers out of poverty. On top of that, we are moving forward with a national housing strategy of $40 billion overall that is going to go to homelessness, is going to help affordable housing, and help with housing affordability.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to have to explain this to the members opposite, who did not learn this through 10 years of government. We saw that regularly in their behaviour in the Harper years.Professional public servants, particularly those in the national security and information areas, do extraordinary work based on their professional qualifications and based on their analyses. When they make recommendations, or when they make statements to Canadians or to this government, we, on this side of the House, choose to believe them. On that side of the House, who knows?

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered that question.However, I understand that the opposition members want to keep to this line of questioning because they prefer talking about anything other than budget 2018, which includes so many positive initiatives for the middle class and those working hard to join it. One of these is the Canada workers benefit, which we are not only strengthening but are also making accessible to an additional 300,000 low-income workers.The opposition will stay focused on us, but we will continue to focus on Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, for 10 years, the Conservatives opposite torqued our public service every chance it could get for partisan advantage, so I can understand they think everyone behaves that way. We do not. Every day, whether in this case, or in their everyday work, all the non-partisan security agencies do an exceptional job in the service of Canada's national interest, and Canadians can be reassured that beyond the partisan nature of this House, our professional public servants are—

Mr. Speaker, governments organize media briefings all the time. It is only the Conservatives opposite, who consistently for 10 years torqued the public service to their own partisan ends, who see anything nefarious in it. Unlike the previous government, we respect in particular the ability of the public service to provide non-partisan advice and support to the government.All Canadians can be assured that the only interest on which our security agencies focus is the interest of Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, we have been putting words into action for the past two years.We announced $7 billion to address early learning and child care needs. We announced a total of $40 billion for a national housing strategy, with 25% going directly to women and families. We increased parental and maternity benefits, implemented flexible work arrangements for federally regulated employees, and more. We invested in emergency housing for women in crisis. We will continue to make investments.

Mr. Speaker, it is troubling to hear how much the members opposite do not trust or believe in the professionality and non-partisan nature of our public service. Our professional public servants, particularly in the security and information areas, work very hard to keep Canadians safe. To hear members opposite trying to score cheap political points by politicizing them is really disappointing.We take the responsibility of working with partners around the world very seriously to keep Canadians safe, and that is what we will continue to do.

Mr. Speaker, under the Harper government, the Conservatives added $150 billion to our national debt and had no growth to show for it. The worst growth rates since the Great Depression were under Stephen Harper.We chose investment. Canadians chose investment in them, in their communities, in their futures, and it is delivering with the highest growth rate in the G7. We have the best record on job creation in a long time, with over half a million jobs created in the past two years, and the lowest unemployment in 40 years. Canadians made the right choice, not the Conservatives' choice.

Mr. Speaker, once again, we support and accept the counsel, the recommendations, the extraordinary work, and the advice of our national security agencies and information agencies. We support our professional public services and accept the information and recommendations they give to us. At the same time, as I have said, the member for Surrey Centre has taken responsibility for having extended the invitation to this individual and has apologized.

Mr. Speaker, there has never been a government, Liberal or Conservative, that has used a national security official to clean up an embarrassing mess that was self-inflicted by the Prime Minister. I have a quote I would like to read for the Prime Minister. It is by a senior correspondent who has followed these issues for years. It says, “In 10 years of Harper, never saw a bureaucrat sent out to clean up a mess made by a politician. But it just happened with [the Prime Minister].”Why is the Prime Minister using independent officials to clean up his mess?

Mr. Speaker, is the Prime Minister actually saying that the member for Surrey Centre has taken sole responsibility for a scheme concocted by the Indian government? Is that the assertion that we are led to believe? How can they both be true? If, on the one hand, it is the Government of India that has implicated itself into Canadian government affairs, that is a profound allegation that has serious consequences that cannot be thought about lightly just to get through a 24-hour news cycle. Why is the Prime Minister so irresponsible about this very important bilateral issue?

Mr. Speaker, it seems these Harper Conservatives never learn. For 10 years they spent their time disrespecting public servants, using them for partisan gains, and making sure their political partisan aims were always front and centre in everything they did. We respect the independence, the professionalism, and the non-partisan nature of our professional public servants. We will always listen to them, follow their advice, and defend the integrity of our Canadian public service.

Mr. Speaker, that is just great. Canadians watching today can see that this Prime Minister does not take anything seriously in Canada.Yesterday, the theory put forward by the national security advisor was that the Indian government was involved in inviting Jaspal Atwal. However, today, the Indian government, through a foreign affairs press release, confirmed that that was absolutely false and that there was no truth to the claim.If the Prime Minister is maintaining his position, he should give us the evidence now.

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives seem to think it is a problem that the headline is “Prime Minister stands by his officials”. This is something that we need to understand.On this side of the House our government will always stand by the professional public servants who work hard, regardless of the government stripe of the day, to serve Canadians, to keep Canadians safe, and to give us the information and the understanding of the world that we need to have.We will always stand by our non-partisan professional public service. It is a shame that they do not.

Mr. Speaker, the budget delivered yesterday literally leaves Canadians out in the cold and we see the homeless crisis every day in British Columbia. Tens of thousands of Canadians are sleeping out in the parks and main streets of our country and the Prime Minister says wait until the next election, wait for a few more years, wait until Liberals are good and ready to put adequate funds into housing.Homeless Canadians have waited two and a half years while the government is focused on loopholes for the super-rich. Why does he not take action? Why do the homeless always finish behind the super-rich for the Prime Minister?

Mr. Speaker, once again, the member opposite is not being clear. He has not come forward to say whether or not he actually believes—

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals talk non-stop about being a feminist government but will not put their money where their mouth is.Once again there is a proposal in the budget for a legislative framework to ensure pay equity, but there is no money to back it up. None. For years, women's groups have been calling for a universal child care system, affordable housing, and shelters for women who are victims of violence. It takes money to implement all these measures.When will the government put words into action?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for raising these important issues in the House of Commons. It is very frustrating, and quite alarming, to see the members of the government laughing about such an important issue. I would like to take the opportunity to confer with my colleagues and bring back concerns we would have on the same point of order.

Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister identify who it was who briefed the media? Will the Prime Minister identify, so that we can have confidence in what was said, who in his office orchestrated the media briefing? Will the Prime Minister provide a modicum of proof for these assertions that it was the Indian government that was behind his embarrassing fiasco? I doubt that he will. Last year, he met with someone who is the vice-president of a listed terrorist organization. In December, he met with Joshua Boyle, who, days later, was charged with sexual assault and unlawful confinement.Why is it always that the Prime Minister seems to be identified with these kinds of people?

Mr. Speaker, perhaps it would be helpful to folks here if the member opposite actually were to state whether or not he believes that the professional public servant, who functions in a non-partisan way, was not telling the truth or was not clear on what he was saying. This is the issue that the member opposite seems to be getting at, that he does not believe our professional public servants in what they tell Canadians. If that is the case, then the member opposite should say so.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister would have us believe that an independent national security officer took it upon himself to brief the media right in the middle of a terrible news cycle that was embarrassing the Prime Minister. If that is not the definition of politicizing national security officials, then I do not know what is. Nobody is believing it.The Prime Minister needs to learn that there are serious consequences to these types of allegations, that governing is more than just Instagram posts, and that when one makes this kind of allegation, there are consequences.Will the Prime Minister identify who in his office orchestrated this media briefing?

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to address the disrespect shown to this member by members of the government while he was talking about this. This is the House of Commons, where we are all equal. This House belongs to all of us. It does not belong to the government. When the government tries to control how the public can access the galleries, that is not the job of anyone in the executive branch. It is not the job of the Department of Finance.Mr. Speaker, we look to you. It is your job to protect our rights and privileges to ensure that there is equal access for every member of Parliament, our staff, and the public we invite. We would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to take this very seriously. This is not a partisan issue. It is an issue for all members of Parliament, despite what these Liberals are saying right now, when it does not matter if it does not affect them. This affects all members of Parliament. We look to you to protect our rights and privileges, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, once again, the spectacle continues. The Leader of the Opposition asked the question 11 times, and the member for Richmond—Arthabaska asked it twice. I will start over with the time I have left.First of all, the Prime Minister of Canada confirmed yesterday here in the House that the Indian government was complicit in sending the invitation to Jaspal Atwal. At the same time, the member for Surrey Centre is being thrown under the bus because he is being blamed for issuing the invitation. Which is it?If the Prime Minister stands behind what he said yesterday, he needs to bring us the evidence.

Some of it will be done after the next election, Mr. Speaker.Let us talk about pharmacare for a minute. The Liberal government is making a big deal about setting up an advisory council, but this morning the finance minister said that the government will only be moving toward means-tested pharmacare. To quote him, he said that they are dealing with the people who don't have it. We in the NDP believe that everyone should have access to affordable medication. The time for universal pharmacare is now. Why is the Prime Minister even bothering with another long consultation, when his finance minister has already spilled the beans on the outcome?

Mr. Speaker, Canada and India have a long tradition of bilateral relations, built on the traditions of democracy, pluralism, and strong people-to-people ties. Indo Canadians, including those of the Sikh faith, have made immense contributions to Canada.We believe that freedom of speech and expression are at the core of democracy, both at home in Canada and around the world. These rights are universal. We will work and collaborate with people all around the world to advance those rights.On this side of the House we take that very seriously.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing in the budget for the 800 Davie workers who are out of a job, but a government that runs an $18-billion deficit can hardly plead austerity. This is a political choice, and the government can take action if it wants to. It is even giving up revenue by protecting tax havens for the super-rich and allowing Internet giants to avoid collecting taxes.Why is the Prime Minister working harder for tax havens than for Quebeckers?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his question and I thank him for his service, as I do all men and women who serve in uniform to keep our communities and our country safe. As I have said a number of times, the invitation never should have been extended to this individual. As soon as we found out about it, we rescinded the invitation. The MP responsible for it has apologized, and we will continue to work to stand against violent extremism and terrorism wherever it rears its head around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I share my opposition colleagues' opinion, so I will join the debate. I agree that it is not right for the government to start controlling access to the gallery. I would also like to add that my constituency office received requests to reserve seats in the gallery on budget day, but we were turned down. I felt exactly the same frustration as my colleague who spoke earlier when I saw the empty seats yesterday. I want to thank him for his point of order, and I fully support his efforts.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing partisan about this. It was the Prime Minister's trip that turned into a disaster. It was the Prime Minister's Office that mishandled the invitation that went out to a convicted attempted murderer, and then for the first time in history they decided to use an independent public service as a human shield for his terrible news cycle.If the Prime Minister is so sure about what he is saying, will he confirm that no one in the Prime Minister's Office or in the public service under his control organized the briefing that was provided for the media laying out this allegation?

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister should know that the homeless cannot wait for years and years until the Liberals get around to funding housing in this country. It is the same with pharmacare. Liberals tried a big build-up around the budget, but what it turned out to be was yet another Liberal study. For 21 years, all they do is study. If he wants to steal NDP ideas, steal them, but put them into practice. Do not just stare at them; that is weird. After 21 years, the evidence is clear, why does the Prime Minister continue to refuse to implement pharmacare now in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing to hear the member opposite disparage a national housing strategy because in addition to housing investment from budget 2016, it represents a 12-year commitment to housing and 30% of that 12-year investment will be spent in the first four years of our mandate. Investment then increases gradually over time because unlike previous governments, we believe the community housing sector should grow, not sink. That is why we are moving forward on things that matter to Canadians in concrete, tangible ways and delivering on all our promises.

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered those questions.What the opposition does not understand is that it should be focusing on Canadians. That is what Liberal MPs did when they told us we needed to help workers in seasonal industries. We listened, and we are delivering.For those working in seasonal industries, we announced $10 million in immediate income support, and over $200 million over the next two years through federal-provincial labour market development agreements.This is what we can accomplish when we focus on the middle class and people working hard to join it.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is sullying the reputation of one of those fine public servants. I will use an example from 2010, when CSIS suggested foreign agents were at play in Canada. The MP for Ajax, now the parliamentary secretary for public safety, said at the time that it was wrong for a cloud to be hanging over the head of an entire community. Well, now the Prime Minister's actions and those of his office are hanging a cloud over one of the biggest countries in the world and our friends in India.Will the Prime Minister finally table one shred of truth to this crazy India conspiracy theory?

Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of the Prime Minister's botched trip to India, he has actually managed to make things worse by blaming so-called factions in the Indian government for the invitation extended to Jaspal Atwal, a claim that was swiftly denounced by India's foreign affairs ministry as “baseless and unacceptable.”Is the Prime Minister trying to create an international diplomatic crisis?

Mr. Speaker, nobody believes that there was a single person in the Prime Minister's Office who was not provided a list of invitees. Nobody believes this ridiculous assertion that the responsibility lies with rogue elements or factions in the Indian government. By having an independent national security official brief the media anonymously right in the middle of a negative 24-hour news cycle, the Prime Minister has implicated the independent public service in his disastrous trip. Will the Prime Minister confirm or deny that anyone in his office orchestrated the briefing to shift the blame on this?

Mr. Speaker, as is usual, the Prime Minister was wrong in the choice he presented them.He said that the deficit this year would be $6 billion; instead, it is $18 billion, three times bigger. He said that next year the budget would be balanced, and now we learn that it will not be for another quarter of a century, during which time he will add, or some future government will add, a half a trillion dollars in debt, presuming there is no more spending.Once again, when will the budget be balanced?

Mr. Speaker, indeed, we will continue to focus on the Prime Minister, because his performance has been a diplomatic disaster.While his national security adviser was suggesting that the Indian government wanted to sabotage the Prime Minister's visit because he was not happy with the media coverage he was getting of his family trip to India, the Prime Minister made some serious accusations. The Indian government has denied all the allegations, calling them baseless and unacceptable. This is all very serious.If the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, he needs to produce the evidence to support his allegations.

Mr. Speaker, reflecting commitments in the Canada-Métis Nation Accord, budget 2018 proposes to invest $516 million over 10 years for housing, post-secondary education, and health strategies. President Chartrand of the Manitoba Métis Federation said, “Since Confederation, the Métis Nation has been left out in the cold. With this announcement, we can begin to see the change.” We have brought the Métis Nation back into Canada. These investments in Métis Nation priorities will support their vision of self-determination.

Mr. Speaker, it disrespects Canadians for the Prime Minister to not even answer questions on the India trip, so I will ask for a specific aspect of that trip.On February 22, the national security adviser and his counterpart in India signed a co-operation agreement on countering violent extremism. The next day the Prime Minister's Office forced that adviser to blame the Indian government for Canadian extremism.My question on the trip is this. How is that co-operation agreement with India going?

Mr. Speaker, we hope that it will not take 10 years for the plan to be implemented. Two years ago, the Liberal government made the bad decision to implement the Phoenix pay system even though it knew about the extent of the problems it would create. The Liberals ignored the concerns of the Treasury Board and senior officials, and the example of Australia, which was well documented. The government's bad decision and poor management needlessly created thousands of victims.Will the government compensate affected employees for all the harm they have suffered?