Government Orders
Madam Speaker, I really appreciate a lot of the comments from my colleague. I too share her frustration. I mean my office right now is getting absolutely inundated by calls from people who are waiting for their passports. As well, the time that they are waiting at airports is completely unacceptable. We know that none of this is a surprise. People were planning on travelling as soon as the travel …
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Madam Speaker, this is a really important issue and we are hearing from many people in my riding. Certainly, we believe that health measures should be informed by health science and not politics. We heard Dr. Tam in March, stating that a full re-evaluation of Canada's pandemic measures would be done and that she would report back to Canadians. We are at the end of May. People have concerns. Trust …
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Madam Chair, they have been requesting leadership. The mandate letter to the minister directs her to “[c]ontinue to procure COVID-19 therapeutics, tests and vaccines, for adults and children, to ensure all Canadians have access to free booster shots and second-generation vaccines as needed”, yet there is no mention of procuring a safer supply to address Canada's other ongoing public health emergen…
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Madam Chair, I would like to ask the minister whether the federal contractors program requires organizations bidding on federal contracts to enter into an agreement to implement employment equity? Is this policy being followed?
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Madam Chair, her colleague, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, told the CBC that safe supply “is going to be the way that we will save the most lives”, yet the minister is not committed to a timeline for expanding access to safe supply, saying that research is needed before it can be scaled up. Why is the government wasting time on pilot programs instead of ensuring that a safer supply …
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Madam Chair, many Canadians who want access to a safer supply cannot get it, so that answer falls short. Does the minister have any idea of the cost of substance use issues in Canada, factoring in health, social services, policing, the justice system, lost productivity and other relevant costs?
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Madam Chair, I live in Port Alberni, where nobody can even get access to detox. It is three and a half hours for a youth to go to Victoria, and there is often a waiting list. In the second report, the expert task force said that current policies are currently costing Canada huge amounts. It recommended significant new investments to reshape the system and address the drug toxicity crisis. Since th…
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Madam Chair, the stigma is not just in the policy; it is in the amount of money that has been spent on COVID-19 and on the toxic drug supply crisis. When will the government respond to the toxic drug crisis with the urgency with which it responded to COVID-19, and in a way that shows it values the lives of people who use drugs, the people who are dying right now in our country and whose lives can …
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Madam Chair, the government says it is taking action while more people are dying. The deaths are mounting. It is not taking action in the way it needs to, like it did with COVID-19. I will change my line of questioning to the minister. As caregivers for children under five eagerly await a decision from Health Canada on Moderna's application for vaccines for this age group, how quickly will doses b…
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Madam Chair, how much funding has she dedicated to this project?
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Madam Chair, what is the timeline for the completion of the accessible government built environment initiative?
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Madam Chair, given the ongoing issues with the Phoenix pay system, why did the budget not allocate necessary funding to help deal with the now years-long backlog of pay problems for federal public servants?
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Madam Chair, the government is increasing spending on expensive consultants to fix the problems of expensive consultants, while public servants are being offered wage increases that do not even keep up with inflation. Does the minister believe hard-working public servants who have delivered for Canadians throughout the pandemic deserve wage increases that account for the rising cost of living?
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Madam Chair, does she believe they should be able to be paid and given wage increases to meet inflation and the new cost of living?
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Madam Chair, is the minister committed to reigning in outsourcing to ensure Canadians are getting value for services and that we maintain institutional knowledge, skills and expertise in the public service?
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Madam Chair, as part of the strategic policy review, will her department be looking at the feasibility of permanently converting unneeded office space into affordable housing?
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Madam Chair, the announcement of a strategic review of the public service and potential cuts of up to $6 billion has prompted concern from hard-working public servants and Canadians who rely on public services. The last time a strategic review happened, the Harper government cut service delivery for veterans, people on EI and many others, while going after 19,000 public service jobs. The lack of d…
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Madam Chair, it was recently reported that the Royal Canadian Air Force is relocating two aircraft from Winnipeg to Vancouver Island to address a gap in search and rescue coverage created by procurement delays. The three-year delay in this case will put a strain on other air force operations. Does the minister believe that defence procurement should be moved to a single minister to increase accoun…
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Mr. Chair, if the provinces and the territories came to the government and asked to procure safer pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic drugs that are killing Canadians, would it act with the same urgency that it did to procure COVID-19 vaccines and supplies?
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Mr. Chair, the government keeps touting a safer supply as how it is going to respond to this crisis. Has the government looked into whether bulk buying harm reduction supplies or a safer supply could help reduce costs for supervised consumption sites, which often face funding challenges?
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Mr. Chair, people are dying in the minister's own community. Parents are losing their children. The drug supply in this country has never been more toxic. We need a paradigm shift in our drug policy and we need a crisis-level response. We can save lives by procuring a safer supply. Will the minister raise this issue at her cabinet table and urge the government to act, and act now?
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Mr. Chair, the government created an expert task force on substance use. It included police chiefs, top medical health professionals, people who work on the front lines, people who use drugs, family members who have lost loved ones and experts on substance use. The minister has not even read the executive summary of its report, which she admitted earlier. My question is this. Will the minister do …
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Mr. Chair, does the minister think that her government is doing a good job in responding to the toxic drug supply crisis?
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Mr. Chair, Canada's target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 requires substantial carbon reductions across all economic sectors. Changing how we look at public infrastructure can unlock previously overlooked pollution-reduction opportunities while supporting Canadian manufacturers and creating the conditions for them to thrive in the low-carbon global marketplace. This government committed t…
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Mr. Chair, when can we see buy clean policies that build climate considerations into public infrastructure and spending that rewards Canadian climate leaders and supports the transition of Canada's industries? I am not talking about TMX here.
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Mr. Chair, I have been fortunate to sit on the OGGO committee, and we have heard that, right now, the federal government does not have a program for airplane recycling or for shipbreaking here in Canada. There are regulations that the EU has when it comes to shipbreaking, for example, and also standards in the Basel Convention. Would the member work with me on getting the government to commit to t…
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Mr. Chair, I would like to thank the minister. It has been four hours, and I want to commend her for standing here and taking very difficult questions. I think we all look forward to working with the minister on the difficult issues facing our country, and I look forward to that collaboration as well.
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Madam Chair, have any of those ministers reached out to the minister for procurement?
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Madam Speaker, I really love my colleague's riding and enjoy talking to him about protecting wild salmon and of course the lobster stocks in his riding. However, today we are talking about a very important issue. We know the bill is not perfect. I am glad to hear that my Conservative colleague is going to be supporting the bill, because we certainly wanted to see the bill come forward as part of t…
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Mr. Speaker, every day 20 Canadians die because of drug poisoning while the current government sits on real solutions. Policies that stigmatize do not prevent people from using drugs; they prevent people from taking steps to reduce risk or seek help. The government ignored its own Expert Task Force on Substance Use, which found that criminalizing simple possession feeds stigma and increases risk f…
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Mr. Speaker, every day, 20 Canadians die from toxic drug poisoning. Every day, 20 families get this devastating news. Last May, Health Canada's Expert Task Force on Substance Use published its report, which clearly stated that criminalizing people who use drugs is causing harm and needs to end. The government has ignored its own experts now for over a year, while thousands of Canadians have died. …
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Madam Speaker, I find it quite amazing that the Conservatives keep stating that human rights violations basically starting happening in China after a regime change in 2015, after they signed the FIPA trade agreement. It certainly was not a condition of FIPA that human rights were a priority in their negotiations, or indigenous rights for that matter. We know who protested from my riding. The Nuu-c…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague from Longueuil—Saint-Hubert talked about the important issues. I talked earlier about the 27,000 Canadians who have died from a toxic overdose and the Conservatives want to ignore the expert task force on substance use and its recommendations, which are science-based and evidence-based, because they do not believe in experts. They do not believe in science. To the motio…
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Madam Speaker, if there was a new committee created under the government, it should be looking at the toxic drug supply crisis in this country. About 27,000 people have died, and the government has not put forward one single piece of legislation to address it. The Conservatives have also not brought forward a single response to that crisis. As to the motion, we know that indigenous people have bee…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague did not answer my question because he does not support the motion. However, should the motion pass, maybe then he could answer the question. Would he then be open to examining the FIPA trade agreement and why the Conservatives signed an agreement that allows foreign companies to sue the Government of Canada for compensation, in private, at the discretion of the party be…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding from Courtenay, Cumberland and Royston. The petition calls on the government to support a national matching program for provincial farmers' market nutrition coupon programs across Canada that would match provinces, like British Columbia, that are already contributing to their farmers' market nutrition coupon pr…
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Madam Speaker, as my colleague probably recalls, Canada signed the FIPA trade agreement under the Stephen Harper Conservatives, which locked Canadians into a trade agreement for over 31 years that cannot be cancelled. Under this agreement, Chinese companies can seek redress against any laws passed by any level of government that threaten their profits. There is a secret tribunal they can use if th…
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Madam Speaker, it was the Conservative Stephen Harper government that did a trade deal that allowed a large oil sands project to be purchased by a Chinese state-owned company. It was that Conservative government that signed the FIPA trade agreement. The Conservatives want us to have amnesia. They want us to forget about those trade agreements, but they locked that trade agreement into 31 years. Th…
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Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague's advocacy for human rights. One thing we know, and that she recalled, is that the Conservatives signed the FIPA, that trade agreement that locked in future generations for 31 years to a trade agreement with China. In this agreement, if the Government of China, state-owned companies or Chinese companies run into social, environmental and economic pol…
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Madam Speaker, this is a motion put forward by Conservatives to look at China–Canada relations. Again, the Conservatives believe that we should have amnesia and that we should forgive them for signing the FIPA trade agreement, for basically allowing the Chinese state-owned purchase of a large chunk of the oil sands and for signing a trade agreement that overrules provincial and local governments a…
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Madam Speaker, I feel it is like a watershed moment this week between the NDP and the Conservatives. We saw the Conservatives actually stand up for the first time in a decade to fight against the big banks on merchant fees, something that we have been fighting since the late Jack Layton and my good friend from South Okanagan—West Kootenay did. We saw the Conservatives stand up to call on the gover…
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Madam Speaker, the member made it very clear that this bill needs to be examined and analyzed properly. We have the Liberals, the Green Party, the NDP and the Bloc who all want to do that. We actually want to get it to committee, but the Conservatives do not want to contribute anything to improve this legislation. We know the Conservatives have been the gatekeepers for the super-wealthy and big oi…
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With regard to the development of a national suicide prevention action plan since May 8, 2019: (a) what resources have been provided to establish culturally appropriate community-based suicide prevention; (b) what guidelines have been established since 2019 for best practices in suicide prevention; (c) what resources have been provided toward the creation of a national public health monitoring pro…
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With regard to Canada’s involvement in the development of regulations, standards and guidelines that would enable mining in the international seabed: (a) what actions is the government taking to promote good governance, environmental stewardship and the precautionary approach; (b) why has Canada not provided written comments at six of the last 10 submission opportunities since 2015; and (c) what i…
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With regard to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s report “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD): A framework for action”, broken down by fiscal year since 2014-15: (a) what measures has the government taken to (i) develop national guidelines for screening and diagnosing FASD, (ii) expand scientific and social knowledge relevant to the prevention of FASD, (iii) build the evidence base and establ…
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With regard to RCMP actions under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, broken down by province, territory, and year since 2015: (a) excluding offenses related to cannabis, how many arrests were made for (i) possession, (ii) trafficking, (iii) possession for the purpose of trafficking, (iv) smuggling, (v) possession for the purpose of distribution, (vi) production; and (b) how many charges were…
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Madam Speaker, it is critical that we get some work done. Certainly, we do not want to be rushing legislation. We want to make sure that we are doing the work. That is why we supported sitting until midnight, so we can have proper debate. I was thinking about how the Conservatives obstructed applying votes yesterday. We could have had applied votes yesterday. We had a vote. Looking at the record, …
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Madam Speaker, maybe my colleague, the government House leader, could speak about the sense of urgency. Cultural workers and artists suffered the most under the pandemic. Many of them could not operate at all for two years, and many of them could not even access the programs that were offered to them. When people have zero revenue coming in, the wage subsidy does not help them, nor the rent assist…
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Madam Speaker, the member talked about average Canadians. My niece, who is a musician, plays in a band called The County Line with her partner, Hayden. I would not call her average. I would say she is above average. She just posted that her first concert, after two years, is going to be on May 14. For two years, she has not earned revenue as a musician. In the meantime, Netflix's revenue has gone …
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition on behalf of people from Courtenay and Cumberland and Royston in my riding. They are calling on the federal government to support and initiate a national matching program for all provincial farmers' market nutrition coupon programs across Canada that would match provinces that are already contributing to their farmers' market nutrition coupon pro…
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