House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2006, with 47% of the vote.
Social Programs December 10th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, Canadians need more than a fiscal dividend from government. Canadians need a country with vision, unified by common purpose, unified by health care, educational opportunities for our young people, and freedom from the fear of poverty. These are the real guts of national unity.
When the Prime Minister meets the premiers, will he work with them to reinvest in medicare and our other social programs that make Canada Canada?
Social Programs December 10th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the prime minister.
Yesterday, in an outburst of generosity, the Minister of Finance recognized that the budget surplus belonged to Canadians. Canadians have made sacrifices to create that surplus. Now they want what is owed to them.
Is the prime minister prepared to reinvest the people's money in health and education?
Social Programs December 9th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, there are no new dollars and no more cash and the prime minister knows it. Despite all his comforting words and his soothing reassurances, report after report shows that our children are at greater risk, slipping deeper and deeper into poverty.
Is the prime minister ready to stop the double talk? Is he ready to go to the first ministers conference with specific proposals to help our kids? Is he ready to show them the money, new money?
Social Programs December 9th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the prime minister.
Reuse, reduce and recycle are not normally fundamentals of Liberal economics. Yesterday the finance minister reused one of his old decisions. He tried to reuse it to fool Canadians into believing he is investing new money in health and social programs.
Today we invite the prime minister to practice the remaining r principles. Will he reduce the $2.4 billion in social transfer cuts he has made this year and will he recycle his worn out red book promises into something Canadians can use?
Youth December 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, why does the minister not tell Canadians the truth, that there are 14,000 more youth unemployed since the day that youth strategy program was launched?
The prime minister meets in Ottawa next week with the provincial and territorial leaders. Will the minister ensure that the prime minister goes to that meeting and makes it into something more than a photo op? Will he push the prime minister to show genuine leadership by taking to the meeting a comprehensive youth employment strategy with precise targets and timetables and come away from the meeting with our own target 2000 plan for Canada's youth?
Youth December 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the minister responsible for Canada's youth.
There are 400,000 young people in Canada today with no job prospects. That is 400,000 youths facing squeegee futures.
In the U.K. leaders have put their political futures on the line with Target 2000, a program with specific targets and timetables that promises 250,000 new jobs, real jobs for young people.
Do the minister responsible for youth and her colleagues have the courage to do the same?
Auditor General's Report December 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a free ride for the banks, not small business.
The auditor general found that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is mathematically challenged as well. ACOA apparently cannot count how many jobs it has created and maintained either. Instead it has fun with figures by assuming incredibly that each job lasts 10 years.
Will the minister responsible for ACOA stop boasting about assumed jobs and start working with Atlantic Canadians to set targets and achieve targets for an increase in real desperately needed jobs.
Auditor General's Report December 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the industry minister.
The banks have spent millions to plant one question. Can a bank change? It turns out the question should be can a bank count. The federal government, through small business loans, funnelled $6 billion in risk free loan business to the banks. The government claims to get 37 jobs for every $1 million lent because that is what the banks tell it. The auditor general has revealed that the actual count is a paltry seven jobs per $1 million.
Will the minister end this risk free ride for Mr. Banker and ensure—
Committees Of The House December 1st, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to say a few words about this report, specifically to draw attention to the dissenting opinion filed by the NDP finance critic who quite correctly is concerned about the priorities reflected in the report.
I think the point of view he has presented on behalf of our caucus is summed up by the words “the federal books may be in balance, but the economy is out of kilter”.
For that reason, the New Democratic Party has put forward a dissenting view in which we have outlined the priorities that we think more accurately reflect the concerns, the voices and the values of the broad majority of Canadians that simply do not find expression in the government's majority report.
We have had an opportunity to set forward what we think the priorities ought to be, starting with making jobs the number one priority, first and foremost, which is still not reflected in the prebudget report.
Finally, the overall priority in addition to finally setting timetables and targets with respect to job creation is to be given to investments which raise our long term social and economic well-being, investments in education, in health, in tackling poverty and in the sustainability of our natural environment.
Westray December 1st, 1997
Mr. Speaker, the sun did not rise in Nova Scotia today for Myles Gillis or Johnny Halloran. It never will. Dawn will never come for any of the 26 miners killed in the Westray mine.
Today is day 2,160 of their long night that never ends. Nothing we can do will ever change that. Nothing we do here on the surface in the sunlight will ever again let them feel dawn, a child's hug, the warmth of their wife asleep in their arms.
No report, no heartfelt apologies can ever make what happened to them all right. Killing workers can never be all right, but we can remember. We must keep their memory burning bright in our hearts and we must not squander their lives.
Regardless of party or politics, we must do all we can to make sure their fate never becomes the fate of any other woman or man who goes off to work every day. It is the least we can do for those 26 men and those who loved them. It is something to look forward to, like the dawn.