Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, most of the public service workers on strike are women. Some of them try to raise their family on $40,000 a year. What is the Prime Minister doing? He is announcing funding for international organizations while cutting $150 million from women's shelters here in Canada and refusing to reach a fair agreement with PSAC workers. He has to support women internationally and here at home. He…
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Mr. Speaker, most of the public service workers on strike are women. Some of them try to raise their families on $40,000 a year. Where is the Prime Minister? He is in New York announcing funding for international women's organizations while cutting $150 million from women's—
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Madam Speaker, my colleague and I share a riding border in Manitoba, and I also have the privilege of sharing a border with the community of Saint Boniface, which is a very strong Francophone and Métis community. I am wondering if the member feels the bill is going far enough to protect, for example, communities such as St. Boniface in Manitoba.
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Madam Speaker, we know, with housing, that we are not going to be able to deal with the housing crisis unless we start curtailing inflationary investor activity. The Conservatives are doing a lot of talk about giving money to developers, but we know that developers are not known for social enterprise or for helping out folks; in fact, they are for lining their pockets. Therefore, I wonder why the …
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Madam Speaker, I looked at the budget and was really disappointed to see, once again, a lack of investment in ending the current crisis of gender-based violence. We know that rates of violence have increased since the pandemic, yet the amount that has been allocated in this federal budget is beyond disappointing. It is like women in this place are always a second thought, like we are the last thou…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are going to cut $150 million in funding to women's shelters by September. Six hundred women's shelters will be impacted across the country. Gender-based violence is on the rise. This is unacceptable. Women and gender-diverse folks always seem to be an afterthought for the government. This funding is desperately needed to help those fleeing violence. Will the Prime Minist…
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Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, the remains of Linda Mary Beardy, a 33-year-old indigenous woman, were found in the Brady landfill in Winnipeg. On Saturday, the remains of another woman were found near the Red River. They deserve to be honoured. They deserve justice. This ongoing genocide requires an urgent national response, including creating a nationwide red dress alert program. Should we go missin…
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Madam Speaker, I am really proud to say that Red River College is in my riding of Winnipeg Centre. We know we could recruit a lot more students if the government were more clear about its supports for students, which are very lacking. I am wondering if my colleague would agree with me that we need to have more supports for students and greater investments in education, including moving toward free…
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Mr. Speaker, I know the Conservatives often put down the New Democratic Party for offering much-needed programs to Canadians, like dental care. However, I would have to agree with my colleague from the Bloc that their analysis is quite simplistic. We know where the answer lies, and it is something the Conservatives are never willing to do: go after the ultrawealthy and tax the corporate elite. The…
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Mr. Speaker, Yom HaShoah is a day to remember the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, including members of my own family. All of my relatives were killed by the Nazis, except for five: my grandparents, father and two uncles. My father, Albert Gazan, was two and a half years old when the Germans invaded Holland. He spent the entire war in hiding, being sheltered by Dutch families. …
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Madam Speaker, the Mass Casualty Commission released a scathing report yesterday. It made clear that gender-based violence is not treated with the urgency and seriousness it deserves. To save lives, police must change the way they respond to reports of gender-based violence. We cannot remain idle. Lives are at risk. The government has an obligation to act with meaningful police reform, including a…
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Mr. Speaker, in describing increased rates of crime on the streets during question period, the member for Carleton used the derogatory term “savage”, which is often used to describe indigenous people. Not only is that term racist, but it is also unparliamentary. I want to invite the member for Carleton to retract that word and apologize.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a fact that I have used the word “savage” when referring to the racist colonial history in this country. I wonder if the leader of the King's loyal opposition wants to go back to the time when there were acts with titles like an act to gradually civilize the savage in Canada. I hope we have moved past that in our—
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Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents who are refugees and former refugees are facing major delays in obtaining travel documents even when they provide proof of urgency. Between 2020 and 2021, only 15% of applications were processed within 20 business days by IRCC. Many have been waiting for over a year. The member for Vancouver East and I have written to the minister twice about this issue. When w…
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With regard to the National Research Council buildings located at 435 and 445 Ellice Avenue, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that were declared surplus in 2012: (a) where is the government in the process of selling these buildings; (b) are any federal employees still working at either building, and, if so, how many are working at each; (c) are there any non-federal government tenants who rent space in thes…
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Madam Speaker, I am so pleased to rise in the House today. Before I begin, I will mention that I will be splitting my time with the member for Edmonton Griesbach. We talk about budgets, and I hear rhetoric in the House almost on a daily basis about how people from coast to coast are struggling to make ends meet, with a particular reference to single mothers. The story of the single mother is consi…
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Madam Speaker, in terms of people struggling to make ends meet, I often hear people in the House usurp the story of the single mother, usually men who I know will never experience being a single mom. I was one, as I have mentioned before. If we are going to talk about helping families get ahead, helping moms not have to work three jobs, I am wondering if the hon. member is open to supporting thing…
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Mr. Speaker, we often talk about the support needed for families. My colleagues and I believe in supporting a robust social safety net to make sure families have what they need, including dental care. Our teeth are part of our bodies, and if we want to support good health, we also need to support holistic health, which includes our teeth. I wonder if the member shares my opinion that we need to pu…
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Madam Speaker, we should be clear that this program was not clear to begin with. There were calls to apply for CERB and then we would deal with it after. That is important to point out. A lot of people benefited from support during the pandemic. We know that if we do CERB clawbacks for families that are currently living at lower incomes right now, it is going to result in people ending up on the s…
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Madam Speaker, we need to start talking about the high cost of poverty, not the high cost of a guaranteed livable basic income. We have income guarantees right now. My bill would not offer anything new. What I argue, though, is that the income guarantees we currently have are not livable. GIS for seniors is an income guarantee that is not livable. We know that when we do not look after seniors, or…
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Madam Speaker, what I have offered up is not one solution. We need robust supports and services for families, like dental care, universal child care, pharmacare, guaranteed livable basic income and investment in affordable housing with rent geared to income. We need a comprehensive strategy to tackle social inequality.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people continue to go missing and be murdered at alarming rates. That is why I join family, survivors and advocates in calling for the creation of a nationwide red dress alert program. A red dress alert would notify the public when an indigenous woman, girl or two-spirit person goes missing. This would significantly increase the likelihood that s…
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With regard to the development of a comprehensive violence prevention strategy announced in the Fall Economic Statement 2020: (a) how much of the $724.1 million announced has been spent; and (b) broken down by province and territory, how many shelters (i) have been newly opened, (ii) are currently in construction, (iii) are planned, but the construction has not begun?
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Mr. Speaker, child care workers are leaving the sector and provinces are not recruiting enough staff, making it tougher for parents to find spaces. Why is this? It is because of inadequate benefits, the working conditions and wages that do not cover the bills. This is not a worker shortage. It is a wage shortage, a respect shortage and a dignity shortage. The Liberals promised personal support wor…
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Madam Speaker, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and the BC Humanist Association found that the majority of crisis pregnancy centres post harmful misinformation. These centres present themselves as medical clinics, but feature false information about abortion, contraception and sexual activity. The Liberals promised to revoke charitable status from anti-choice organizations, and two years la…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with my hon. colleague that this government really has failed in terms of protecting security in Canada. Let us look back in history. It was the Harper government that increased the threshold above which a foreign takeover of a Canadian firm would be reviewed in the first place. Would the member support reducing the current threshold for a prospective acquisition of either sta…
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Mr. Speaker, last week, we learned that the Liberals spent just 5% of the $724.1-million violence prevention strategy announced in fall 2020 to address violence against indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. Not one new shelter or transitional home has been built. It is unacceptable. This delay is costing lives. We should not have to beg for our safety. The public wants to know why so litt…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Madam Speaker, February is Black History Month, and this year's theme is “Black Resistance: Remember, Recognize, and Educate”. After two years of virtual programming, I am thrilled that Black History Month events are being held in person again in Winnipeg. I want to congratulate Black History Month Manitoba and its chairperson Nadia Thompson. For over 40 years, this organization has played a criti…
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Madam Speaker, I very much value the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and I know that the intent behind this certainly is to protect Quebec identity and the identity of Quebeckers. I understand the importance of identity, but I also respect the identity of other nations within Quebec, such as indigenous nations, including the James Bay Cree, for example, where Quebec has signed bilateral agreements…
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Mr. Speaker, I have raised this several times in the House before, to refrain from using the words “our indigenous people”. We are not owned. We are independent individuals. We are human beings and we are not owned by anybody. I would like to remind the member not to use the word “our”.
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Madam Speaker, the Harper government increased the threshold above which foreign takeover of a Canadian firm is reviewed from $330 million to $1 billion. I am wondering if the member stands by that decision or if he supports reducing the current threshold to zero so every prospective transaction by either state-owned or state-controlled enterprises triggers a review.
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Madam Speaker, Chinese insurance agent giant Anbang took over B.C.-based Retirement Concepts, a Canadian company that operates senior living facilities. At the time of acquisition, Anbang was a privately owned corporation. After a review by industry Canada, the takeover was approved, and relatively shortly afterwards, the company was seized by the Chinese government, which now holds 98% ownership.…
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Mr. Speaker, in my last question for the Conservatives, I called out their failure to tax the big oil companies. They share that with the current Liberal government. I am wondering why the Liberal government continues to let big oil off the hook while families are struggling. Instead of making big oil and gas pay, why are the Liberals making families and individuals pay what big corporations and b…
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Mr. Speaker, I am also concerned about how difficult it is getting for individuals and families to make ends meet. However, this is the thing. The Conservatives do not support a national child care plan. I put forward a bill for a guaranteed livable basic income, and they do not support that either. They voted against an excess profit tax on oil and gas companies that would have made big oil pay t…
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Mr. Speaker, last week the Liberals announced a deal with Alberta to fund the creation of 20,000 private, for-profit child care spaces, even though the Alberta government has not made clear progress on creating the 42,000 non-profit spaces it committed to build in its agreement with the federal government. In fact, the government's own child care legislation says that public and non-profit provide…
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Madam Speaker, we know that denying bail and using pretrial detention disproportionately impacts black and indigenous people and it makes it more likely that people will reoffend, not that he cares about indigenous peoples or colonization after meeting with the Frontier Centre leading residential school denialists. Just like his opposition to harm reduction, the member ignores the evidence when it…
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to present a petition in the House. Petition e-4166 calls on the federal government to stop the Canada child benefit clawbacks from families that received pandemic supports. This petition was brought forward by Leila Sarangi, and Campaign 2000 gathered 600 signatures. The petitioners call on the government to refund amounts clawed back from the CCB as a res…
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Madam Speaker, being called a radical by folks who hang out with far-right radical extremists and take photos with people like Jeremy Mackenzie, who is now facing criminal charges, threats with criminal harassment, and saying that they stand onside with law-abiding citizens, not victims, is pretty rich. I am pretty complimented about that. The members talk about listening to law enforcement. In th…
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With regard to the Liidlii Kue First Nation’s efforts to open a women’s shelter in Fort Simpson: (a) which federal buildings has the government identified as available to the Liidlii Kue First Nation; (b) for each building in (a), what is the approximate cost to sell it to the Liidlii Kue First Nation; (c) for each building in (a), what are the reasons identified by the government as to why the tr…
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Madam Speaker, I will start by saying how nice it was working alongside the minister in the drafting of this legislation. This is good legislation, but not perfect. One concern I have brought up many times in the House is how early childhood educators historically, and I would say even now, have been underpaid and undervalued. Noting that this is critical work, noting that this is work that is vit…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to work with my colleague on the status of women committee. She spoke a lot about the need for for-profit care. That was a bit concerning for me because research has shown that for-profit care is not good for workers and is paid for on the backs of parents and families. I know that in Ontario, the PC government has quietly removed some of the profit caps, all…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today as the NDP's critic for children, families and social development to address this historic legislation, Bill C-35. Finally, after so many years of struggle, we have a national child care legislation that accompanies a system of national child care. Let me begin by acknowledging the people who made this system and the bill we are debating today possible.…
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Madam Speaker, certainly I am willing to work with any party in the House that is willing to advance the human rights of children and women. Human rights should never be made a partisan issue. This has certainly been recognized by child care advocates who support feminist policy in advancing the rights of women. One cannot support women without a robust public and not-for-profit child care system.…
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Madam Speaker, I do not think that public money should ever be used for profit. Public monies need to be used for not-for-profit, public child care spaces. We know the research shows that in early childhood education for-profit care often makes profit on the backs of children. We have certainly seen this in elder care, in private seniors' homes. We have also seen this in for-profit child care. We …
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Madam Speaker, the member has a good question. I want to reiterate that the federal government has made bilateral agreements with provinces. We are pushing for bilateral agreements with provinces that prioritize not-for-profit public spaces. This is something that Quebec is actually already doing. Quebec has been doing this for a million years. We know that it helps women. We know that it has impr…
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Madam Speaker, I am very thankful that the legislation being put forward is rooted in human rights, including advancing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes the right for children to access accessible and affordable child care grounded in culture, tradition and language. That is absolutely a rural issue. I know many indigenous communities do not even h…
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Madam Speaker, I think it goes beyond me. National child care advocates, unions and families have pushed for a not-for-profit public child care system, something that the NDP fought for and managed to get in the bill. We know that the government cannot be a feminist government, and one cannot support feminist policy, without supporting a robust national child care program that is not-for-profit an…
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands and her compliments to the former finance minister, I want to let her know that indigenous people are still reeling from his cuts to indigenous programs, and when she is talking about Kelowna, with a 2% cap, would have only amounted to a few hundred dollars per nation. We are here now. We have a national child care strategy…
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Mr. Speaker, the suspected for-profit buyer of Lions Place, a 287-unit, non-profit seniors' housing building in Winnipeg Centre, is a company with a history of hiking rents. The province recently announced rental support for current tenants, but this is a band-aid solution that protects residents only for two years while subsidizing rent increases. The Minister of Northern Affairs said he wants to…
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday family members and indigenous leaders wrote an urgent request to ministers. They are asking the government to provide resources for searches of the Prairie Green and Brady landfills to find the remains of loved ones, and to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to oversee the searches after the Winnipeg Police said indigenous people are “on the…
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