Don Davies

[Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, September 27th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I note that this bill would suspend the GST on purpose-built rental housing, but the 2015 ministerial letter on this issue talked about giving tax breaks for the building of purpose-built affordable rental housing. Can my hon. colleague explain to the House why the present bill drops the word “affordable”?

[Petitions, September 27th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by people in Vancouver Kingsway and all over the Lower Mainland of British Columbia who are profoundly concerned about the climate crisis. They understand and want the House to know that they view the climate crisis as an existential issue that requires a top-priority response from governments across the world, and particularly from this one.

They are calling on the government to adopt a number of measures, including meeting the targets of reducing emissions by at least 60% below 2005 levels, assisting the global south, and making sure we have a just transition program to ensure that, as we move to a low-carbon economy, there are good, family-sustaining jobs for all workers, particularly those who will be displaced as we make that necessary transition to save our planet.

[Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, September 26th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, in Vancouver Kingsway, we have an intense housing crisis and have had for several decades.

I would say that one of the most successful models of affordable housing has been co-ops. We had a very successful federal co-op program in this country that started in the 1970s and 1980s. It built tens of thousands of units across this country, many of which in my riding still exist today. This was thanks to CMHC long-term financing combined with provincial government support. The municipalities contributed land and were helped by non-profit societies that did the building.

I am just wondering whether my hon. colleague would agree with me and the NDP that we need a vibrant, robust, modern co-op program to build hundreds of thousands of co-op units for Canadians. Does he think that would help solve the problem? Would he support that?

[Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, September 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my hon. colleague from British Columbia, and I usually find her speeches to be informed and interesting, but she, like a lot of her Conservative colleagues, keeps referring to eight years of an NDP-Liberal coalition. She knows that the confidence-and-supply agreement signed between the two parties is two years old, and prior to that, there was no formal or informal arrangement of any type between the NDP and the Liberals.

I am wondering if this is the kind of thing that we would see from a future Conservative government, where there would be active exaggeration to, if not outright misleading of, Canadians about the goings-on in Parliament? Does she agree with me that it is important to speak with integrity and accuracy in the House?

[Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, September 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, like many members in this House, the people of Vancouver Kingsway are experiencing unprecedented high prices for food. People are going to supermarkets and finding that the price of three apples is about $5. I am not sure how anybody can eat nutritious food with the kinds of prices we are being charged in this country.

There has always been a problem in our schools with children not having access to healthy food and it is even worse today. The Liberals and the NDP campaigned last election on having a billion dollars over five and four years respectively to get started on a national school nutritious food program. We are the only country in the G7 that does not have one.

Would my hon. colleague not agree that, at a time of unprecedented high prices for food and when so many families are struggling, this is the ideal time for the federal government to bring in this long-overdue program to make sure that kids, when they go to school, get at least one nutritious meal, so they can learn better and help relieve the strain on family budgets across this country?

[Health, September 25th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian children have been going to school hungry for years. Skyrocketing grocery bills are making things worse, yet Canada is the only G7 country without a national school food program. New Democrats have been calling for one for years. Despite their promises, the Liberals have only delayed action and disappointed families. Children are going hungry on the Liberals' watch.

Why is the government not delivering a national school food program to help our kids learn?

[Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, September 19th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, the provincial Conservative government in Nova Scotia is moving aggressively to establish a significant footprint in power supply from offshore wind. Clearly, it sees the benefits of tapping into the enormous potential of renewable energy. As New Democrats, we see there is enormous potential for a thriving offshore renewable energy industry in Atlantic Canada. We need to seize this potential, while making sure it is done right.

Will the government guarantee that benefits from offshore wind projects will flow directly to local workers and that local fishing communities will be supported?

[Criminal Code, September 18th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague's speech was pretty wide-ranging and touched on a number of things. It contributed to the debate, but in some cases it did not.

We are talking about bail conditions and how we deal with people who commit crimes on bail. The member raised the tragedy outside the Starbucks in Vancouver, where Mr. Schmidt was knifed to death. However, that was by a person who was not out on bail, so I am not sure what that has to do with the legislation that is under consideration.

The current bail law in this country is that bail can be denied when an accused's criminal record is taken into account, particularly if they have failed to comply with past bail conditions or court orders. It is the law now that bail can be denied by a judge if someone has failed to comply with bail conditions in the past or if they have a repeat criminal record.

Could the member explain to us why she thinks the current law is not sufficient to keep those people in jail pending their trial, when that is the law right now?

[Criminal Code, September 18th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I think the average person on the street would probably agree with the principle that someone who has repeat offended at some point would require a reverse onus for bail. However, I am thinking of one of the cornerstones of the rule of law system in our country, which is the presumption of innocence. We have a right to walk the streets and have liberty, and if the state charges us with a crime, we have a right to be presumed innocent and not to be deprived of our liberty.

I am wondering how my hon. colleague squares that notion with the concept of reverse onus, where somebody who is accused would have to justify why they would retain liberty instead of being incarcerated pending a trial and pending conviction of the crime, which has not yet occurred. Does he have any concerns in that regard?

[Questions on the Order Paper, September 18th, 2023]

With regard to the government's treatment of Egyptian refugees: (a) does the Minister of Public Safety consider (i) Canadian citizens, (ii) permanent residents, (iii) foreign nationals, who joined or participated in Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, to participate in Egypt's democratic elections to be a danger to the security of Canada; (b) why has the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) deemed FJP-affiliated refugees inadmissible to Canada; (c) will the Minister of Public Safety grant ministerial relief to those Egyptian refugees who have been deemed to be inadmissible to Canada because they joined or participated in the FJP after the 2011 Egyptian revolution to participate in Egypt's democratic elections; and (d) will the Minister of Public Safety issue a directive to resolve the CBSA's inconsistent treatment of Egyptian refugees with FJP affiliation to ensure that all refugees are treated equally, impartially, and consistently?