Dawn Black

[Employment Insurance Act, March 28th, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-420, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (special benefits).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a bill to amend the Employment Insurance Act regarding sick benefits to increase them from 15 weeks to 30 weeks.

This issue was brought to my attention by a woman in my community named Natalie Thomas who was recovering from breast cancer surgery and treatment. Although she had not fully recovered from the treatment she had been given, she was forced to return to work because her benefits had ended. This is entirely unacceptable.

People recovering from a serious illness should not have to be so worried about paying their bills that they are forced to return to work before they have fully recovered and are healthy.

Before this Parliament we now have eight private members' bills to extend employment insurance benefits and another 11 that would amend the act. Clearly, there is a problem with employment insurance, something that the government should get busy on and fix. Change is needed. I am pleased to introduce this bill and ask that all members of the House support it.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[The Budget, March 27th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague from Victoria on her excellent presentation on the budget. It was a pleasure to listen to her talk about the issues that are important in Victoria and many of those issues are the same ones that are incredibly important in my riding of New Westminster—Coquitlam.

For instance, we now have homeless people living on the banks of the Fraser River. It is incredible. People are now living underneath the SkyTrain stations. I never thought I would see times like these in British Columbia.

The issue of child care is also an important issue in our community where parents have actually been getting together and having regional meetings to demand action by the government.

My question has to do with flood control. Numerous reports have been done, going back a number of years, on the potential of big floods along the Fraser River. In fact, when the Fraser River flooded in 1948 it devastated all the communities along its banks. Since that time there has been an incredible build up of communities and homes and people are living and working along the banks of the Fraser who were never there. In those days it was mostly agricultural land.

If we were to have a flood today on the Fraser River anywhere near what happened in 1948, the conservative estimates are $6 billion in flood damage. The previous Liberal government pulled out of any support for debris control along the Fraser River and we have seen no action by the present Conservative government, although it has put money into other regions of the country for waterworks, to do anything for British Columbia and the Fraser River. I would ask my friend for her opinion on that.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 26th, 2007]

With regards to defence procurement by the government: (a) for programs planned, but not approved, (i) are funds available to acquire and support the program, (ii) what are the reasons for its non-approval, (iii) if the Department has been waiting for approval, how long has this delay been; (iv) do these programs have a schedule for their future and what are their respective schedules and milestones; (b) for programs approved for which no contract has yet been signed, (i) are funds available to acquire and support the program, (ii) what are their respective schedules and milestones, (iii) have these programs proceeded according to schedule, (iv) what is the budget for these programs, (v) who are the competitors for these contracts, (vi) how much anticipated work will be done in Canada, (vii) where in Canada will this work take place; and (c) for programs for which contracts have been signed, (i) is contract performance proceeding according to schedule, (ii) how is contract performance being monitored, (iii) what has been delivered to date, (iv) what are the next key deliverables and when are they scheduled for delivery, (v) when is the final product delivery scheduled, (vi) how much has been paid to date and, for all payments, is the amount in accordance with the contract, (vii) are there any factors that have increased program cost and, if so, what are they?

[Petitions, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to stand today and present a petition signed by families in New Westminster, Coquitlam and Port Moody.

The petitioners say that high quality child care is a benefit to all children, enhancing their health and school readiness, reducing family poverty and promoting social inclusion and workforce productivity.

The petitioners call upon the government to achieve multi-year funding to ensure that publicly operated child care programs are sustainable for the long term. They are asking the government to bring in a child care act similar to the Canada Health Act.

[Criminal Code, March 21st, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-413, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (leaving province to avoid warrant of arrest or committal).

Mr. Speaker, there is a large problem in Canada with warrants that are issued across the country but are unenforceable because they are non-returnable warrants.

Eighteen months ago, the Vancouver police found on city streets over a three month period 726 people who had a total of 1,582 warrants against them for crimes committed elsewhere in Canada. A quarter of them faced multiple outstanding charges and 84% of them had lengthy criminal records with an average of 19 convictions per person.

My bill would address this issue by amending the Criminal Code of Canada to provide that every person who knows or believes that a warrant of arrest has been issued or will be issued to them and leaves the province of jurisdiction before or after a warrant of arrest or committal has been issued will be guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years less a day.

This is an issue that has been going on for a long time. It is of prime importance in my province of British Columbia where I suppose people travel to a kinder climate to flee these warrants. We must address the issue.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Iran, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month women across the globe gathered to celebrate International Women's Day. The meetings were a chance for men and women to show solidarity with their sisters around the world, except in Iran, where 33 women protesting peacefully were arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned.

Ironically, those women were protesting the violent arrest and detention of five women at last year's gathering. These five women are still in jail. I am extremely concerned about the welfare of these women, who were simply exercising their right to protest against Iran's terrible human rights record and its discriminatory laws. This cannot be tolerated. We should all be outraged.

Arresting women on bogus charges is more than unacceptable. It is disgraceful. Will the Minister of Foreign Affairs commit today to make representations to the Iranian government on behalf of these women and all women in Iran and their human rights?

[Afghanistan, March 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we are getting the same mantra over and over again, which is what he did in the past about the Red Cross.

The minister seems to be saying that his department will not interfere. Why then did the office of the JAG send a letter to the MPCC and to Amnesty telling them that DND would “have no alternative but to proceed” against the investigation?

In an attempt to stop the independent investigation, the JAG may serve legal papers as early as today. Is the minister aware of what is going on in his department this time?

[Afghanistan, March 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative defence minister finally admitted he misled the House regarding the role of the Red Cross and the handling of prisoners taken by Canadians. We thank him for his apology. We are still waiting, however, for an apology from the Liberal defence minister who actually was the one who got us into this mess in the first place.

The Military Police Complaints Commission has started an investigation of all detainee transfers at the request of Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. Will the minister assure the House, without qualification, that his department will not interfere in this independent investigation?

[Afghanistan, March 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday it was reported that Brigadier-General Tim Grant signed a new agreement for the handling of prisoners in Afghanistan. The agreement is reported to include a role for the Afghan independent human rights commission to monitor detainees.

I asked for a new agreement for detainees at the very first sitting of this Parliament, in question period, because the existing agreement did not live up to Canada's human rights obligations.

Will the minister table this new document in the House before the March break? When will he release this new agreement to the Canadian people?

[Business of Supply, March 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, who also sits on the defence committee. I know that all of the opposition members on the defence committee share a real frustration that we do not have a defence capabilities plan. It has been talked about by the defence minister and others who speak for the government, but it just has not come forward. We cannot figure out what the delay is and why it is not coming forward. There must be something going on within cabinet where there is a competition around what eventually will be in that document.

One of my biggest concerns, which I have mentioned at defence committee, is the whole issue of the national security exemption being invoked on this contract, because it then leaves open the opportunity for, if not the reality of politics entering into the equation of how the contracts are awarded, certainly the appearance that it could be possible. We have in Canada an agreement on internal trade that was developed after a past fiasco when Canadians, or certainly western Canadians, became outraged when the CF-18 contract was not awarded to Winnipeg, which put in the lowest bid.

I share the member's concerns around that. I cannot speak specifically to what happened on the committee before I was a member. I do not have access to the memory that the member has, who has served on the committee much longer than I have.

I certainly hope that when we finish our study on procurement we will come to an agreement in committee, with some very hard and clear recommendations to government on defence procurement.