Parliamentary Speeches

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague from Peace River—Westlock talked about ways and the history of our working together, whether it be tackling acid rain; or working with Megan Leslie, the former member for Halifax, who put forward a motion banning microbeads, which has now been implemented; or my own motion, M-151, back in 2018, which my colleague supported and voted for, about reducing single-use plasti…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about the right to a healthy environment, which obviously we support. I come from a coastal community. I can tell the House what it is like in coastal communities today. People cannot go anywhere without finding expanded polystyrene littered and broken apart along coastal shores, whether it be in coastal British Columbia or in Atlantic Canada. We know there are a…

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, this spring, the government had a chance to listen to the experts and act on the toxic drug crisis that is taking a tragic toll on our communities every day. In my riding, in the small community of Port Alberni in the Alberni Valley with just over 30,000 people, we lost 20 people in just the first eight months of this year due to the toxic drug supply. These deaths were preventable …

Adjournment Proceedings

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's speech and his sincerity, and I appreciate that he did not vote against my bill. I need him. We need him. The people and families who have lost loved ones need him. The people who use substances and are looking at death every day need him. They need the government to listen to their expert task force on substance use. He talked about talking to police and…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I find it mighty rich that Conservatives are using all of their stalling tactics to prevent children from getting dental care, while MPs in the House get dental care, Conservative MPs. I find it extremely disturbing and shameful that they are doing this. We need to move forward with this so that children get help so that they can deal with their dental work.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, as much as I appreciate the minister moving forward with this bill and fast-tracking it, I am deeply disturbed by the Conservatives using all their tactics, like concurrence motions and whatnot, to delay children getting help for their dental work. I also feel the Liberals have not done enough to move on their promise on their mental health transfer, the four and a half billion doll…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, we know our health care system is fractured. We do not truly have a head-to-toe health care system. It stops here. We know dental care is finally coming in to ensure that people get access to dental care.

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is because of the NDP, absolutely, to my colleague who is heckling me. We are making sure we have pharmacare so that people who do not have private insurance can access the medicine they need when they need it. Also, when it comes to mental health, we need parity. Mental health is health. Does the minister not agree that we do not have parity between mental and physical health in…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to polling data obtained by the Privy Council Office since January 1, 2016, concerning the decriminalization of possession of controlled substances: what are the details of all such polling, including, for each poll, (i) who conducted the poll, (ii) the start and end dates of when the poll was conducted, (iii) the number of participants, (iv) the complete results of the poll, including…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I certainly send strength to Newfoundlanders as they rebuild from hurricane Fiona. We, as New Democrats, will be there to support my colleague's efforts as well. It is great in this House to see the Liberals come on board and support the doubling of the GST tax credit. Even the Conservatives and the Bloc, all parties, are getting on board so this is an exciting moment. My colleague ta…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for always fighting for Canadians and trying to get them the help they need. Obviously, doubling the GST rebate is something he has been advocating for. He talked about dental care. He talked about really important values around helping people when they need help. We, as New Democrats, want a health care system that is head to toe, universal health care. W…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, we were glad to see the Conservatives finally get on board with the New Democrat idea to double the GST credit for Canadians as a way to get money into the hands of the people most impacted by and most vulnerable to the high inflation we are experiencing right now. We believe as New Democrats that we need solutions that actually support families and help workers deal with inflation an…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, it is great to see the Bloc come on board with doubling the GST, which would provide help to people right now. What I am really concerned about, in the discussion around people who need help, are workers and ensuring seniors get the help they need. I have heard the member speak in support of getting seniors the help they need. Most seniors do not have enough money saved and they rely …

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, I have given notice, under Standing Order 52(2), seeking leave today, Wednesday, October 5, to request an emergency debate on the mental health and substance use crisis in Canada. Yesterday, the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released a joint report on the continuing impacts of the COVID–19 pandemic on the mental health of Can…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, today I table a petition on behalf of constituents of mine from Courtenay. They are stating that over 30,000 Canadians have died since 2016 due to preventable drug poisoning resulting from a toxic drug supply. They say that those who died as a result of the preventable drug toxicity crisis were loved and valued citizens of this country. They were children, siblings, spouses, parents, …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are suffering and even dying, because getting help for their mental health is not affordable and wait lists are months or even years long. This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and mental health organizations are once again calling for the government to recognize that there is no health without mental health. During the last election, the Liberals promised to spend $4.…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, since today we are doing a rerun of Tuesday's motion, I am going to do a rerun of the Conservative government when it talked about what smaller government looks like. It meant a cut to Veterans Affairs of a third of the staff, which has led to a backlog of 50,000 applications. It meant a cut to Phoenix's payroll staff when it brought in Phoenix and made a boondoggle of it: It has co…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I could not agree with my colleague more when he raised that we could be spending today talking about more important issues. Here we are, on the eve of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. What do we hear from the Conservatives? We have a rerun of Tuesday. We had the House leader of the official opposition talking about beer. What are they doing today? They are spending time…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, we are here on the eve of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. I think the House's time could have been better used to talk about the pressing issues facing indigenous peoples, but instead, this is a rerun of the Conservative opposition day we had on Tuesday. I met with the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association this week. Members from her province were in my office, call…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, we see the motion before us today and we hear the Conservatives talk about the CPP as a payroll tax, when we know that in fact the CPP is retirement security. It is deferred wages, but the Conservatives are manipulating workers to believe that they are paying a tax when their CPP goes up so they will have more retirement security. Their employer has to match it. Therefore, who benef…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, we know what happens when we do not look after people. If they do not have good dental care, they end up in the emergency room. If they do not have mental health supports, it drains the whole system. I was just with a first responder, a friend of mine who works for the Ottawa police department. He said that so much of his time is spent dealing with mental health issues. When we do n…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, that is exactly what we have been calling for. The member voted against my bill to have a national strategy and a response to the toxic drug crisis in this country. The same member says we need a plan, but then he votes against the plan. Of course we need investments, but the Conservatives are even afraid to go after the big oil and gas companies that are having record profits while…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, it is not good enough. This is just temporary relief. I totally, wholeheartedly agree with my colleague that greedflation has taken over. We have corporate greed that has run out of control and inequality that is skyrocketing and needs to be addressed. One thing we agree with the Bloc on is that we need to make sure that we are closing those tax loopholes for the super wealthy and t…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I am really glad to see that everybody in this House supports an NDP proposal to double the GST tax credit to help people who have been the hardest hit by inflation. We have been hearing from Conservatives all day about getting rid of the carbon tax, yet they forget to talk about taxing the oil and gas companies, which are having record profits while prices at the pump are skyrocketin…

Emergency Debate

Madam Speaker, first, I also want to send my condolences to the people in Atlantic Canada, and I want to thank my colleague. I know he is very passionate about his home community, where I have family as well. We talk quite often about fisheries and the importance of fisheries. I want to focus my question around first responders and the Canadian military. We have members of the CAF who are there, o…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, I always laugh when I heard Conservatives talking about smaller governments and for the government to get out of the way. We can look at Phoenix. They farmed out the payroll system for the government to save $70 million a year. It is going to cost $2.2 billion by the end of next year. They gutted Veterans Affairs by a third, which has led to a backlog of 50,000 applications for disabl…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition, in particular because it is timely, given hurricane Fiona. This is about volunteer firefighters, who account for 83% of Canada's total firefighting essential needs as well as first responders. In addition, approximately 8,000 essential search-and-rescue volunteers respond to thousands of incidents every year. The petitioners cite that the tax co…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, we are really glad to see the Conservatives finally come on board and support an NDP initiative to get help to Canadians who need help right now. Here we are, doubling the GST tax credit, something we have been pushing for months. Finally, just yesterday, the Conservatives announced that they are going to support us. Here we are: We see rising gas prices and rising telecom fees, gro…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, here we are on the eve of another climate emergency and what are the Conservatives doing? They are asking to get rid of the carbon tax. They are also asking for the government to help fund the climate emergency response, which I think we can all agree on. I, like my colleague, come from British Columbia where a carbon tax was brought in by the B.C. Liberals, supported by all politic…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Victoria. It is a huge honour to rise today on Bill C-30, to help provide relief for the cost of living and double the GST tax credit. It is really great to finally hear that the Conservatives are getting on board with an NDP proposal, as well as the Liberals. We have been calling for this for a long time. Our leader has been calling f…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is a huge honour and privilege to rise to deliver this petition, signed by constituents from Courtenay, Parksville, Port Alberni and Qualicum Beach in my riding. They cite that farmers' markets are a key tool for COVID-19 recovery, as they are small business incubators and builders of domestic systems, food security, local economies and communities. They say that farmers' market co…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, a constituent of mine, Ted, is a senior. He lost his teeth. He cannot get dental care coverage. I raised this in the House and someone from the member's party suggested that Ted should go back to work. He is 77. He should not have to go back to work to get his teeth fixed, and he should not have to eat soup all the time. The member talked about payroll taxes. CPP is not a tax. It is r…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, since COVID, our 25-member NDP caucus has pushed hard to increase the CERB and the wage subsidy from 10% to 75%. We pushed for a commercial rent assistance program and for paid sick leave, which are all things that protected jobs and saved businesses through COVID. Now we are proposing the doubling of the GST credit, increasing the housing benefit, dental care for children and seniors…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, New Democrats are excited that we are finally getting relief to Canadians. For a long time we have been calling for the doubling of the GST credit and for a dental program so that children, seniors and families earning less than $90,000 get the help they need. People are having a difficult time paying their rent. We hear the Conservatives constantly say that these programs are going t…

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, every day 10 Canadians die by suicide and 21 more to overdose. Canada was already facing a mental health crisis. Now, with rising costs, everyday Canadians cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for the help they need. Wait-lists for public services are months or years long. The Liberals promised to spend $4.5 billion over five years to expand mental health services, yet this funding was …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, we are really glad to see the Liberals finally get on board with doubling the GST tax credit to help 11 million Canadians, something the NDP has been pushing hard for, but one thing we believe is that we need to go much further. We have seen oil and gas companies with record profits. Banks have record profits. Grocery store chains have record profits. Telecom and wireless companies ha…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, this week marks one year since the 2021 election and it has been another difficult year for many, with more uncertainty on the horizon. The impacts of the pandemic continue to be felt in our communities. Our health care system is under intense strain and the rising cost of living is adding stress to the daily lives of Canadians. In the last election the Liberals made a promise to Cana…

Adjournment Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the government announced its intention to establish the $10-a-day child care program, and there were deals with provinces and territories in place within a year. Here we are a year later, and when it comes to mental health transfers, the Liberals still have not delivered their 2021 election promise. Too many Canadians cannot access appropriate mental health or subst…

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is a huge privilege and honour to table a petition on behalf of constituents from my riding. They cite that Canada's electoral system, from its very inception, has always been a first-past-the-post system, unfairly resulting in either a Liberal or Conservative government with virtually no impact on the popular vote, leading to distorted Canadian values. They cite that proportional …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about an economy that works for everyone. Well, the PBO put out a report recently and cited that the top 1% of families in this country hold 25% of the wealth while the bottom 40% hold 1.1% of the wealth. Meanwhile, we are seeing grocery store chains, banks and oil and gas and telecom companies make record profits, while groceries, bank fees, gas and wireless fees …

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, not once did my colleague talk about the greedflation that has taken hold in this country. We know in Canada we have the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7. How is that playing out? We have homeless people and people who cannot get dental care. We see big corporations like grocery stores, the big banks, big oil and big telecom all having record profits. Meanwhile, grocery store price…

Government Orders

Mr. Speaker, on that point of order, what is truly criminal is that these big corporations are hoarding all the profits while people—

Routine Proceedings

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table e-petition 3965 signed by 707 signatories. They are petitioning the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, whom they cite aims to restore Pacific herring stocks to enable this keystone species to play its vital role in sustaining Pacific salmon populations and the marine ecosystem. The undersigned citizens call upon the minister to, first,…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the modelling of opioid-related deaths by the Public Health Agency of Canada: (a) since December 15, 2021, has the agency updated its model on a quarterly basis as it publicly committed to do on that date; (b) if the answer to (a) is affirmative, when was the first quarterly update made publicly available; (c) if the model in (b) was not made available to the public, what was the re…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to polling data obtained by the Privy Council Office since January 1, 2016, concerning the decriminalization of possession of controlled substances: what are the details of all such polling, including, for each poll, (i) who conducted the poll, (ii) the start and end dates of when the poll was conducted, (iii) the number of participants, (iv) the complete results of the poll, including…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the investment of more than $800 million in community-led harm reduction, treatment, and prevention initiatives the government has indicated it has committed since 2015 to address the overdose crisis: (a) how much funding has been allocated to date; (b) where has the funding been allocated to date, including, for each project, the (i) organization, (ii) project title (iii) descripti…

Routine Proceedings

With regard to the Shared Health Priorities bilateral agreements, since fiscal year 2016-17, broken down by province or territory and fiscal year: (a) which federal investments have been directed towards (i) increasing the availability of mental health and addiction services in the community, excluding hospital and family physician funding, (ii) improving access to school-based programs for early …

Oral Questions

Mr. Speaker, this summer, 21 families a day buried their loved ones because of the toxic drug crisis. This is devastating but was foreseeable. The Public Health Agency of Canada warned that this crisis could continue to get worse. This is just weeks after the Liberals and the Conservatives both voted against an NDP bill to create a national health-based strategy. Instead of supporting real solutio…

Madam Speaker, it is an honour today to have an opportunity to express my condolences and also, on behalf on the constituents of the people of Courtenay—Alberni, to have the opportunity to rise today in the House to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. My thoughts are with the royal family, for their loss of a mother, a grandmother and great-grandmother, and with millions of others throu…

Government Orders

Madam Speaker, I have a great amount of respect for my colleague. As she knows, the NDP supports the goal of getting military-style assault weapons off the street with a mandatory buyback of prohibited firearms. We also welcome the announcement that the government is getting serious about cracking down on gun crime. However, we received letters and calls from hundreds of concerned airsoft owners a…