Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this week, the Prime Minister claimed that Trump's war in Iran was “worth it.” Thousands were killed, including schoolchildren. Schools and hospitals were destroyed. Families and entire communities were displaced. Billions of dollars were wasted, and higher energy costs made life more expensive for Canadians who are already struggling. The world is no safer today than it was before th…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take a moment, on behalf of New Democrats, to thank all the people who make the work that we do in the House possible. We all often come here thinking that we are the most important people in this place, and after just a very short amount of time here, we all realize that it is, in fact, all of those who do not stand in the House of Commons, all of those who do th…
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Mr. Speaker, I also have petition e‑6990. This is a petition that has been signed by over 6,000 Canadians. They are asking the government to amend the Canada Pension Plan act so that any province, including my province of Alberta, would require at least two-thirds of the other provinces to agree with that plan. They are asking for that to be applied because it is similar to other parts of the Cana…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, more than 3,000 volunteers helped collect over 200,000 signatures from Albertans who are determined to protect our mountains, our rivers and our drinking water from the threat of coal mining. Albertans have spoken loudly and clearly. They know coal mining threatens critical watersheds, harms our wildlife habitat and risks contaminating the water that communities, ranchers, farmers and…
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Mr. Speaker, I am so proud today to stand and table petition e‑6783, which was signed by 10,182 Canadians. These Canadians are asking the government to apply the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act consistently for all those Canadian citizens returning from conflict zones. They are asking the Canadian government to initiate investigations and lay charges if warranted, and to co-operate with…
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Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford wants to force through a $5‑billion Billy Bishop expansion that the people of Toronto do not want. It is a good thing the Ontario NDP is fighting back, but where are the Liberal members of Parliament? They are nowhere to be found. In fact, they are hiding behind a sham consultation that community groups say is a waste of time, with no business case, no environmental assessme…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, it is very clear. A good union that represents workers' rights is elected democratically by the members, and it answers only to the members. That is the definition of a good, democratic union. I stood today with Siobhán Vipond, the vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, and she spoke about the democracy within the labour movement. I think it is important for us to recognize…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, this is an excellent question. These principles of democracy that protect workers' rights are fundamental. She is absolutely correct in that the attacks on worker rights are not just happening by our federal government in Canada. They are happening around the world. Corporations are undermining workers' rights. Governments in Canada and around the world are undermining workers' righ…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, the 25% threshold is a screening threshold. It is not a decision threshold. I think that is important to clarify. It ensures that a meaningful number of workers support a review before the board is asked to investigate allegations of employer domination. At the same time, it is significantly lower than the threshold required to remove a bargaining agent or trigger a representation v…
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moved that Bill C-259, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (fair representation), be read the second time and referred to a committee. Madam Speaker, it is a great honour to stand today to debate this piece of legislation I have brought forward. I want to start by thanking my colleague, the member for Courtenay—Alberni, for seconding this bill. As a new Democrat, I can say I am so proud of our …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, steel is not just another commodity in a trade ledger. Steel is the backbone of our economy. It builds our bridges, our transit systems, our housing, our energy projects and our manufacturing capacity. It is quite simply economic sovereignty in physical form, and if we cannot make it here, we are not economically sovereign. Steelworkers were in Ottawa recently to remind the government…
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Mr. Speaker, that response shows that the government is not acting with the urgency that workers require. Instead of a place at the table, and instead of an actual strategy, the government is giving announcements without accountability and consultations without inclusion, and it is getting public dollars without finding guarantees. This is why New Democrats are very clear: Every federal dollar spe…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support of Bill S-227. I want to thank Senator Mohammad Al Zaibak for introducing the bill, and I want to note that this legislation, an identical bill, was brought forward and passed unanimously in the previous Parliament but of course died on the Order Paper before receiving Senate consideration. Canada's Arab communities have contributed enormously to our…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I also present petition e-6834 signed by 1,444 Canadians. These Canadians are concerned by the anti-Palestinian racism they see on clear display with the Liberal government. The petitioners note that since the beginning of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, over 21,000 Palestinian children have become disabled, since October 7, 2023. They are calling on the government to create a spec…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, happy Pride Month. This month, we celebrate the joy, courage and resilience of queer, trans and two-spirited communities across Canada. Pride is a celebration, but it is also a protest. It was born from people standing up and demanding dignity, equality and freedom to live openly as themselves. That is why I am especially proud to congratulate Pride Corner in my constituency. For five…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions that I would like to present today. The first petition is e-7157. It has been signed by 1,443 Canadians. These Canadians are alarmed by the fact that the Iranian regime is carrying out executions of political prisoners, protesters and Iranians who are exercising their fundamental freedoms. Detainees face imminent risk of execution after unfair trials, and petition…
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Mr. Speaker, the federal government is not living up to its obligations, and this is one of the things that are irritants to people across this country. The way we solve issues of separatist sentiment is to make sure the federal government is proving to citizens across this country that there is real value in staying part of our country, by making sure we are investing in the health care system, m…
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Mr. Speaker, I think you were in the chair and the member was across the hall when we had this exact same exchange yesterday. Bill 11 breaks the Canada Health Act; the Canadian Health Coalition has a legal opinion that makes it very clear that it does. Therefore, I do not understand why the Liberal government continues to say, “We have received assurances from the UCP government.” That assurance i…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time today with the member for Madawaska—Restigouche. I wanted to start today by giving my best regards to Albertans who are standing up for the “Fight Back Now” day of action that is taking place across Alberta today. It is being organized by the Alberta Federation of Labour. I really wish I could be there today. I want to congratulate the workers, union members,…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague as well. She is somebody I have learned a lot from in the House, and I appreciate her mentorship. The fact of the matter is that every single budget is about choices. Every bill that comes forward to the House from the government is about the choices the government is making. Time and time again what we are seeing is a Liberal government that is putt…
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, Canadian citizens were subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse while illegally detained by Israeli forces last week. Canadians report being beaten and stabbed, while other international detainees report torture and rape by Israeli forces. This week, The New York Times and the UN confirmed wide-ranging sexual abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees, and this abuse is b…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Bourassa. I want to start by talking about the workers who this impacts. I want to talk about the grip in Sudbury, the indigenous filmmaker in Winnipeg and the French-language screenwriter in Rimouski. I want to talk about my friend Marcus, who is a boom operator in Vancouver. I will state this very plainly: New Democrats will cont…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I represent the riding of Edmonton Strathcona. We are a hotbed of arts and culture in the province of Alberta and across the country. I am extraordinarily proud to support people within the arts sector. One thing I will say, though, is that the member talked about appeasement, about appeasing Donald Trump, and how disappointing it is for many of us in the House to see the Conservative…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, Albertans are tired. They are tired of hearing talking points while their public health care system collapses around them. I asked the minister whether she is deliberately allowing public health care to erode or whether she simply does not care enough to protect it. What I got in response was another vague non-answer and more platitudes about working with provincial partners. Meanwhil…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I feel as though that was one of the most dishonest speeches I have ever heard in this place, to be honest. The member talks about the minister's having dialogue with her counterpart and says that they have been assured. Is this similar to when the Liberal government asked grocery stores to behave better, and they got an assurance? Is it the same thing as when the L…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, let us be very clear that this is part of legislation that was passed years ago. This is making the playing field more fair for Canadian content creators. I think about things like Heated Rivalry. We are all so impressed and so proud when we are able to have productions like that in our country. Now there is this idea that we would allow somebody like Donald Trump to decide what our c…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we really need to acknowledge with this motion is the threat that it puts forward towards French content and indigenous content in this country at a moment when we are seeing such pressure from the U.S. administration to undermine our sovereignty in just so many ways. There is the idea that we are appeasing Donald Trump on so many fronts. The fact of the matter …
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, today, despite serious concerns raised by local communities, workers and public health experts about the future of Toronto's waterfront, Ontario's Conservative government forced through legislation to control and expand the Billy Bishop airport. Canada's airports are critical public infrastructure built through public investment. There, and in airports across the country, the federal …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, one of the things I saw in this budget that alarmed me was the change to the contributions for the Canada pension plan. I have been very concerned about the Canada pension plan because in my province of Alberta there has been a serious attack on it by the Conservative government in that province. I brought forward legislation, Bill C-207, that would protect the CPP, but the government…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about the fact that, right now, Canadians across this country are really struggling to pay for groceries, to pay for rent, to find housing and to pay for gas. The Liberal government brought forward a spring economic statement that completely missed an opportunity, an opportunity for the government to show that it understood what Canadians were dealing with, the cha…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, on National Day of Mourning, we honour those who went to work and never came home. Every year, hundreds of Canadian workers are killed on the job and hundreds of thousands more are injured or become sick, left to fight for the compensation they have already earned. These workers are parents, daughters, sons and neighbours. They are the people who keep our country running, and right no…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is not listening to steelworkers. The government left USW off its CUSMA advisory council. It also shut out the Canadian Labour Congress and the over three million Canadian workers it represents. Instead, the government gave seats to more than a dozen CEOs, prominent Conservatives and just two labour representatives. How can the government claim to be there for workers w…
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Mr. Speaker, steelworkers were in Ottawa this week reminding the government that steel is the backbone of our economy and our economic sovereignty. The Prime Minister has said that Canada will use Canadian materials in Canadian projects, but Canada does not yet have that capacity. Will the government take advantage of this incredible opportunity to build Canadian capacity, to grow our industry and…
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Mr. Speaker, 130 students from Gaza have been waiting over two years to continue their studies at 26 Canadian universities, including the University of Alberta. These brilliant graduate students have survived genocide. They have lost family members. They are trying to get into universities to continue their study, despite the fact that the Israeli forces have destroyed every university in Gaza. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, 42 years ago today the Canada Health Act was passed, making it the law across Canada that health care must be provided based on need, not the ability to pay. However, the current Liberal government keeps letting Conservatives break the law. Danielle Smith's latest plan for two-tiered health care is letting the ultrarich book themselves expensive diagnostic tests and jump the line. Oth…
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Mr. Speaker, while the government lets oil companies rake in record profits and gouge Canadians at the pump, Imperial Oil is now reporting another major spill of 843,000 litres of toxins, salt and bitumen. Meanwhile, indigenous leaders are waiting for action on more than a trillion litres of toxic tailings leaking into watersheds in northern Alberta. What will it take for the government to protect…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have to say I am very disappointed by that response. The member spoke about the idea of fixing the system. I would like him to say that to the senior who called my office because they could not access OAS. When we call the government to get help, we are told, “Don't worry. Don't worry. This senior can wait. When they do get their benefits, they will get many months at one time.” It …
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, for decades, governments in this country have chipped away at the public service. When the Liberals came to power, they ran on not cutting jobs of hard-working public servants who provide these services, and yet that is exactly what they are doing across the country right now. This is about having a government that works for the people they represent. This is about whether Canadians c…
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Mr. Speaker, the Canada Health Act guarantees Canadians universal access to public health care, but Danielle Smith is creating a private system that will hollow out health care in Alberta and spread to other provinces, making the crisis across the country even worse. At the same time, Canadians in nine provinces and territories still have no access to national pharmacare, and the health minister w…
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Madam Speaker, this week the NDP government in Manitoba took over a failing for-profit care home to protect seniors. Meanwhile, the federal government owns Revera, Canada's second-largest for-profit long-term care chain. In Edmonton Strathcona, 10 seniors died and 84% of the residents tested positive during COVID-19. Despite the efforts of hard-working staff, corners are cut and tragedies like thi…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is cutting thousands of public sector jobs, like those of the people who process EI, OAS and CPP claims and passports; agricultural researchers; and 1,300 food inspectors. These are not numbers on a CEO's spreadsheet. They are real people. They work to help Canadians. They support family farmers. They keep our food safe. Instead of giving his friends a tax break on thei…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Canada is in a national housing emergency. Rents are skyrocketing, home ownership is slipping out of reach and encampments are growing in every city. This did not happen by accident, and it is not inevitable; it is the result of a government that has failed to act with the urgency and the scale that this crisis demands. Housing is a human right. We need public builders, real investmen…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I asked a question of the government on the privatization of health care in Alberta. I want to be very clear: This is something that is starting in Alberta but something that I am deeply worried will have impacts across this country. I also want to be clear: This is not a theoretical issue. This is a debate; it is a conversation that Canadians need to have. On December 22, a father of…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, that was not a response to my question about when the government is going to step in to tell Danielle Smith to adhere to the Canada Health Act. I want to talk about one other piece that Danielle Smith is attacking, which is the rights of trans kids and trans people in my province. She is interfering in the relationships that trans people have with their doctors. There are three people…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-259, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (fair representation). Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table the fair representation act. This law protects workers' rights. This legislation would protect workers' fundamental right to organize freely and know that they are being represented by an independent and democratic union. The CLAC is the largest example of a com…
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Mr. Speaker, families in Edmonton Strathcona and across the country cannot wait until June to get help with their groceries. In 2022, the House passed legislation and there was an emergency payment done in weeks. Instead of making Canadians wait for months, will the Prime Minister work with the NDP to get help for Canadians immediately? If the Liberals are interested in lowering the rate for groce…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, Canadians are living through a housing crisis. Families are being priced out of their neighbourhoods. Young people cannot imagine owning a home. Seniors are being pushed into impossible situations. This crisis is not abstract; it is urgent, it is national, and it is getting worse every single day. When I was in Sudbury this week, I heard directly from local housing experts, who told m…
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Mr. Speaker, Danielle Smith is making an unprecedented attack on health care in this country. If she is allowed to get away with privatization, it will be the beginning of the end of public, universal, single-payer health care in this country, which is central to Canadian identity. Alberta health care workers are calling for the government to protect health care and to enforce the Canada Health Ac…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians do not want coal mines destroying our cherished Rocky Mountains. Four years ago, the minister promised new coal mine selenium regulations that would protect our rivers and lakes from toxic pollution. Now we discover that instead of providing protection, the Liberals are allowing a dramatic increase in the pollutants going into rivers and lakes. The government is betraying it…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I have another petition as well. This petition was signed by 850 Canadians. Knowing that the population of Gaza is enduring an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, including forced starvation, displacement and systematic attacks on civilians, in blatant violation of international law, and knowing that the Gaza temporary resident visa program, launched by Canada, has been an incredi…
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