Karen Redman

[International Aid, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the government may announce this afternoon a multi-million dollar investment to improve the quality and strengthen the capacity of an early learning and child care education system in Egypt. We have no objection to this CIDA initiative. As a matter of fact, we support it.

If the government can properly support early learning and child care in Egypt, why has it cut $5 billion for such services here in Canada, tearing up good and valid agreements with 10 provinces? Why is federal funding for childhood development rights in Egypt good for Egypt but wrong in Canada?

[Committees of the House, June 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that this vote be deferred to the end of government orders on the next sitting day.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would seek clarity. I would think there needs to be one more vote taken, which we would agree to on division. and then we would certainly concur with the suggestion of the chief government whip. I would not want Canadians to think that we were seeing the clock as 1:30 on division but I want to be clear as to the vote.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the member is a hard-working member of Parliament too, but I disagree. I would tell him that the Conservative budget lowers the rate of how much non-taxable money one can earn, so it has lowered the non-taxable income rate by $400 per annum. I would tell him that the 15% reduction the Liberal government had brought will go up to 15.5%. I think that is a real disservice to low income families.

I would also say that I think the $1,200 should not be paraded as a child care system at all. I am a mother of four children and I recognize how important it is for young families to have a choice. This will not create additional child care spots and that is what we hear parents want. They want to have some kind of variety.

The Liberal government introduced the national child tax benefit, which was something that helped all families with children. While the $1,200 that is given to families may be tax free if one is below the level at which one would pay income tax, the Conservative government did take away the supplementary benefit that went to the poorest of families with very young children so that they could afford formula and diapers.

So I would tell the member, no, I do not believe families are better off. I believe the government is affording families less choice. I come to this place being a clear advocate of child care, but the government ought not to dictate to families how they raise their children. By limiting the choice of young families, the government is limiting how they decide to raise their families.

As far as the Kelowna accord is concerned, I have always been very supportive of the kinds of services we need for urban aboriginals, and as a matter of fact, I have a fairly large component of urban aboriginals in my own riding of Kitchener Centre, but it should not be done at the cost of the Kelowna accord. The accord was landmark and historic because we had aboriginal leaders sitting with first ministers and the Government of Canada to work out a long term framework that would address some of the very serious concerns we see on reserves. I think it is a false dichotomy to pit urban aboriginals against on reserve aboriginals.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in the House today and offer my comments on the recent budget speech.

Preparing a budget, whether it is for a household or a nation, is a delicate balancing act of many worthwhile competing priorities. As a member of the Liberal Party, I have consistently advocated for support for Canadian families while promoting fiscal responsibility in building a solid economic foundation for the future.

The Conservative government's first federal budget presented on May 2 fails to provide a sound economic vision for the future and it also brings Canada dangerously close to being back in deficit. I find the budget to be irresponsible and short-sighted and I will not support it in the House.

Let me be clear. I support affordable tax cuts. I was proud to serve in a government that instigated Canada's strong economic growth with eight consecutive balanced budgets, $61.4 billion shaved off the debt and more than $100 billion in tax cuts, which was a historic record for the country. It was through fiscal prudence and responsible spending of Liberal governments that Canada eliminated its deficit and went on to build one of the strongest economies in the world.

The Conservative government's plan to cut the GST will benefit Canada's wealthiest while leaving lower income Canadians with very little benefit. An average Canadian two-earner income family with children currently earns about $72,000 a year while 48% of Canadian families earn less than $40,000 a year. Canadians earning less than $45,000 a year would have to spend 100% of their disposable income on taxable goods and services in order to save $320. This does not include the money that families would have spent on groceries, prescription drugs, rent or tuition and education.

I cannot in good conscience support a budget where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Lower income families work hard. They make sacrifices to make ends meet and income tax reduction puts money in their pockets. Income tax reductions give them a chance to change their financial situation so they too can flourish as part of our Canadian economy.

Canada as a whole has the potential to flourish in the 21st century global economy but we need to invest in our people and in our brainpower. Waterloo region has become synonymous with technology, innovation and education. The technology triangle contributes to the local prosperity and to job growth.

It is a huge disappointment that the Conservative government is unwilling to partner in research and development as evidenced in its recent budget. Its budget contains virtually nothing to help Canada go forward and to put us at the front of competitiveness, knowledge and innovation.

In my region of Waterloo, we are proud to be the home of several of our country's finest post-secondary education institutions. We have a thriving research and development and technology sector. Our region has reaped the rewards of an economy that is driven by ideas, innovation and technology.

The federal government must be a partner in this growth through investments in research and development. Tomorrow's jobs can be found in today's technologies. We cannot put our nation's future prosperity at risk by abandoning these economic issues.

My constituency of Kitchener Centre has seen a significant decline in employment in the manufacturing sector. These good paying jobs are hard to replace in my riding. I implore the government to revisit its plan. I implore it to develop a strategy for investment in research and development. We are a nation of ideas. Let us support our innovators and our researchers by enabling these ideas to get to the marketplace.

All residents of southwestern Ontario are acutely aware of the challenges of climate change, extreme heat waves contributing to air pollution and smog days. These pose serious health risks to the residents of the area.

Given the reality of climate change and the profound effect it will have, not only on our lives but on the lives of future generations, Canada needs a federal government that will be willing to address the impact of climate change and what that impact will have on our health and well-being.

The Conservative government has chosen to abolish several effective climate change programs and it is set to pull out of the Kyoto accord. A responsible government would recognize climate change as the crisis it truly is and it would increase, not slash, funding to mitigate its impact. The detrimental effects of climate change are expected to increase over time. This in turn will hurt future generations of Canadians.

I cannot support a budget that does not do everything possible to ensure the health and well-being of our children and our grandchildren.

It was a proud day for me when Canada committed to the Kyoto protocol. Good climate change policy contributes to a better quality of life and better health for Canadians today and for future generations. Canadians overwhelmingly support actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, they expect all sectors of our economy, governments, industry and consumers, to be part of that process.

All Canadians got a wake-up call last summer on the quality of life of Canada's aboriginal peoples when we saw the evacuation of the Kashechewan reserve. The Liberal Party responded to that crisis with a historic landmark agreement between first ministers and aboriginal leaders in Kelowna, British Columbia. At that meeting, the government of the day committed to over $5 billion over five years to close the gap between aboriginal peoples and other Canadians in such significant areas as education, health, housing and economic opportunities.

The Conservative government has forsaken this agreement. Not only has it forsaken it but it has provided a mere $200 million to address these very important aboriginal issues.

The Conservative government has disappointed Canadians with a budget that falls short of addressing the real needs of families. It has cut programs essential to the prosperity of our country. It has canceled a national child care plan. In one year it will back away from provincial agreements that our government had forged with all provincial governments. It is cutting virtually all the funding to environmental programs like EnerGuide and REEP, programs which, from the evidence I have from groups in my riding, are effective and have not only taken greenhouse gas emissions out of the air but have saved home owners on average $750 a year.

The Conservative government has raised taxes of lower and middle income families. It truly does have a trickle down mentality, whether it comes to social programs or the economy. It intends to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. It is not ensuring that all Canadians can thrive with the prosperity that Canada now enjoys.

Canadians deserve much better than the first Conservative budget and the things that have been omitted. For all those reasons, I will not be supporting the budget.

[The Environment, May 19th, 2006]

That is one week and no results, Mr. Speaker.

During the last Parliament, the parliamentary secretary repeatedly called on the government to respect the will of the House and to act on resolutions passed by its members. He once famously said, “We live in a parliamentary democracy--not an elected dictatorship”.

Yesterday Prime Minister Howard committed Australia to meeting its Kyoto targets. Now that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister is in government, does he intend to put his money where his mouth was? Will the government respect this week's vote of the House calling for Canada to meet its Kyoto obligations?

[Auditor General's Report, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday at the legislative committee studying Bill C-2, government members grilled the Information Commissioner. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice suggested the Information Commissioner had deliberately leaked his report in an effort to embarrass the Prime Minister. Talk about shooting the messenger, this is one more example of the government's pattern of absolute contempt for officers of Parliament.

As the government is so clearly concerned about leaks, can the Prime Minister inform the House as to the status of the internal investigation into the leak of the Auditor General's report by his office?

[Foreign Affairs, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are shocked and appalled to hear reports today that indicate Iran is about to pass a law requiring non-Muslims to wear coloured badges identifying their religious beliefs. Jews would have to sew yellow strips of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges. This kind of state-run bigotry is both disgusting and frightening to Canadians and all citizens of the world who believe in tolerance and religious freedom.

What steps is the government taking to protest the actions of this rogue state?

[The Environment, May 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, if we dig a little deeper into Canada's submissions in Bonn, we will find all kinds of clues about the government's real hidden agenda. The Prime Minister offers nothing more than lip service on the issue of climate change while the Conservative government backs away from our international obligations and guts real, made in Canada programs that were already helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

When will the Prime Minister just admit that he has no made in Canada plan, only a made in the U.S.A. plan designed by American Republican pollsters?

[The Environment, May 15th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's submission to the Bonn conference suggests that Kyoto should give way to any one of five international forums on global warming, all of them with significant U.S. control, one even headquartered in the United States Department of Energy.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he is happy to take his orders on global warming from the White House and he wants the rest of the world to do the same?