House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • Her favourite word was cmhc.

Last in Parliament November 2005, as Independent MP for Mississauga—Erindale (Ontario)

Won her last election, in 2004, with 54% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Brain Tumour Awareness Month October 6th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today at the request of Barbara McGinnis who has asked me to join with the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada in declaring October Brain Tumour Awareness Month.

Every year over 10,000 brain tumours are diagnosed in Canada. By educating the public to the symptoms of brain tumours, detecting tumours at an early stage and continuing with research into the cause and treatment of these tumours, lives can be saved.

It is only through increased public awareness and the participation of responsible community minded citizens that the foundation can continue to achieve success. The foundation's goals are to be found in brain tumour research, providing patient and family support services and educating the public.

I encourage my colleagues in the House as well as all Canadians to support the brain tumour foundation in its efforts to raise public awareness of this serious life threatening disease.

Pearson International Airport September 29th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, it has been announced that a second north-south runway at Pearson International Airport will be completed as soon as possible. This runway has far reaching safety and economic implications.

Can the Minister of Transport assure the residents of Mississauga that the new runway will be used for landings only? Will he assure them that any discussion of further construction in the form of new east-west runways and all such decision making will not occur until the new Canadian airport authority is established to take over the operation of Pearson?

Department Of Industry Act September 26th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-46 is a balanced, streamlined and positive bill. The country is ready for a new industrial, scientific revolution.

I would like to share briefly with members some of the signs that are occurring in Mississauga and I would like to ask for her comments at the end.

Mississauga is the ninth largest city in the country and is a microcosm of Canadian society. The forecast for housing in Mississauga was $600 million. It was revised today to $850

million in new starts. The industrial growth has been revised from 2.2 million square feet to 3.5 million square feet for next year.

Does the member for Beaches-Woodbine believe that Bill C-46 and all this wonderful economic activity going on in Mississauga balance or co-ordinate at all with the election of a sensible, positive Liberal government?

Cultural Centres September 22nd, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to congratulate the parish of St. Maximillian Kolbe in the city of Mississauga, a parish that my family and I belong to, on the official opening of the Pope John Paul II Polish Cultural Centre.

The centre was built by the parishioners using volunteer engineers, designers and site supervisors. It was built entirely with funds raised over the past eight years. It was completed for just over $2 million and carries a very modest mortgage. Not one dollar came from any level of government.

The centre will serve more than 8,000 families of Polish descent and will throw its doors open for use by the whole Mississauga community. This is an excellent example of multiculturalism for the nineties: a self-sufficient ethnic group reaching out to welcome members of the Polish Canadian community while sharing its facilities with the surrounding neighbourhood.

Again my sincere congratulations go to the founders: the president Lottie Misek, Father Stanley Bak, Father Ted Novak and to the 8,000 families that have worked so hard to see their dream come true.

Publications May 6th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the President of the Treasury Board.

Given the frugal style of our current Prime Minister and members of Parliament, with no Cadillacs, no massive redecorating and no Gucci shoes, what plan does the minister have to review the printing budgets of various crown corporations and government agencies so that the publications reflect this image, particularly with respect to cutbacks in the costs of producing flashy annual reports?

Government Publications May 4th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to draw attention to a Tory legacy of waste and gross excess in government publications.

We are all accumulating dozens of annual reports from crown corporations and government agencies for the 1993 fiscal year. Each attempts to outdo the other in flash, ostentation and wanton waste.

One of many flagrant examples of excess is the 1993 report of the Royal Canadian Mint. At only 26 pages it is over one-quarter inch thick on glossy card stock with four colour pictures of management and partial clear coating on select sections. The cover is richly embossed in gold foil. It is impossible to recycle and literally must have broken the mint to produce.

CMHC whose purpose is to maximize housing assistance for Canadians in need produced an annual report that is outrageous with exotic half-page die cuts, expensive graphics and heavy coloured stock.

We must denounce this type of waste. We must encourage simple economical reports that set the tone of this new government and reflect the frugality and practicality that all Canadians are expecting of us.

Iraq April 21st, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rose in the House yesterday to describe the ecological and humanitarian disasters being perpetrated against Shia Muslims.

My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Will our government consider requesting UN peace observers to visit the southern Iraq marshes to report on the following: Measures being taken to stop the free flow of water to the marshes and effectively destroying their ecostructure; a blockade around the marshes which restricts the movement of food, people and medical care; the systematic torture and murder of women, children and the elderly.

Iraq April 20th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn the savage, inhumane and ruthless actions of dictator Saddam Hussein in the southern Iraq marshes perpetrated on the one million marsh Arabs who live there.

As Canadians we advocate and uphold human rights and must protest both a human and an environmental catastrophe which has been well documented and recently aired on CBC.

Water is being diverted from the historic wetland where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet. The delicate ecostructure is being destroyed to provide a huge military base. The native marsh Arabs, Shia Muslims, are being harassed, arbitrarily arrested and detained, tortured, killed and systematically starved to death. Women, children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.

We as Canadians of conscience must uphold the human rights of the Shia Muslims and express our outrage and indignation to the Iraqi government and to the United Nations, immediately addressing this matter of genocide and ecological disaster.

Unemployment Insurance March 15th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, it is becoming a common practice for school boards with up to 15 per cent of their employees voluntarily working 10 months per year to issue severance letters on June 30 and to rehire the same employees in September. They counsel those employees to use school breaks as qualifying time for UIC.

My question for the Minister of Human Resources Development is: Can the UIC rules be altered to make such abuse of the overburdened UIC system impossible by those who are gainfully and securely employed?

Travel By Members Of Parliament March 11th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I stand in the House today to describe a cost saving procedure in which most colleagues can share.

We all travel repeatedly from our ridings to Ottawa. Using a personal example, a regular economy flight from Mississauga to Ottawa is $443.47 return. That same flight when booked from Ottawa to Mississauga with our normal weekend stay over, which includes a Saturday, is $244.26, a difference of $199.21.

The savings per year are well over $10,000 per MP on one of the least expensive routes. For 295 MPs there would be a minimum savings of $3 million per year, a possible savings of $6 million per year.

Many of us book our travel through one agency here in Ottawa with that agency receiving a commission. With the enormous amount of travel booked by the House with MPs spending most weekends in their ridings I am severely disappointed that both airlines have not instructed our travel agent on this considerable saving.

I am also amazed that our travel agent has not instructed our staffs on the savings to Canadian taxpayers.