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Crucial Fact

  • Her favourite word was information.

Last in Parliament May 2004, as Liberal MP for Brant (Ontario)

Won her last election, in 2000, with 56% of the vote.

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Statements in the House

Persons with Disabilities December 3rd, 2002

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, the theme of this year's International Day of Disabled Persons was independent living and sustainable livelihoods, which was proposed by our own Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres and supported by our Prime Minister.

Today, I am pleased to release the first comprehensive report entitled “Advancing the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities: A Government of Canada Report”, and the preliminary results of the “Participation and Activity Limitation Survey” completed by Statistics Canada. Both of these documents will help Canadians better understand disability issues and help all stakeholders work together to eliminate the barriers, to full inclusions of persons with disabilities.

Human Resources Development November 27th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary. If the hon. member would take the time to look at the results of some of the pilot projects that are now in place in her own province she would see that this approach is making sense.

We look at the particular circumstances surrounding an incident in a region, as I said, or with an employer, and focus specifically on the needs of individual employees. We find that this approach works well. It is a strong partnership with the government of the province in support of Canadians who are living in that province, and others.

Human Resources Development November 27th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, on this side of the House we do not discount employees who are 55 years old and assume that they cannot go on to other work. On this side of the House we believe that Canadians can make a contribution through the course of their lives.

Specifically with regard to older workers, however, we have a program in place and have transferred considerable moneys to the province of Quebec so that it can develop pilot programs specifically designed region by region, incident by incident, to deal with the challenges faced by older workers.

Child Poverty November 26th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the government has taken action on the issue of child poverty and there is more that we will do.

I am pleased to refer the hon. member to a recent report by Campaign 2000, a group that integrates stakeholders focused on children and their circumstances. They have identified that for the fourth consecutive year the level of child poverty in Canada has reduced. This is as a result of programs like the national child benefit and our contributions to the provinces and territories for early childhood development.

We will do more, and the hon. member need only read our Speech from the Throne to see our commitment there.

Human Resources Development November 26th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is making reference to our employee base and I have said earlier in the House that we use term employees from time to time to deal with the peaks and valleys of the cycle.

We do have obligations and responsibilities to our budgetary numbers as well. As such, we have to make decisions that will allow us to continue to provide good service with the staff that we can afford to employ.

Softwood Lumber November 26th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary. Many of those in the softwood lumber industry recommended that we provide additional opportunities so that they could upgrade the skills and capacities of their employees.

We know that the softwood lumber industry is a high tech industry, like so many others, and there is an advantage to the workers to have the opportunities to develop their skills through the course of this dispute.

Softwood Lumber November 26th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that we do have a specific program for workers in the softwood lumber industry. The government announced $246 million directly in support of the trade dispute there because we are concerned about the workers and communities that may have to deal with this trade dispute for a long period of time.

Specifically, $71 million is going to those workers through my department, providing them with opportunities for increased training and different solutions that will assist them through this difficult time.

Human Resources Development November 25th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and the House will understand that I cannot comment on the details of a particular case that is before the courts, but there are two points that I would make. First and foremost, there is a full appeal process associated with government programs such as the old age security system. Second, Canadians expect the Government of Canada to ensure the integrity of those programs. As such, we take actions to ensure that is the case.

Question No. 22 November 18th, 2002

The Nova Scotia Compass program was funded under the federal strategic initiatives program. This program ended in December 1996.

Compass was delivered by the N.S. Department of Community Services and was designed to provide employment opportunities and/or work experience to job ready clients from both provincial and municipal social assistance caseloads. Total expenditures were $12.5 million over two years from October 1994 to December 1996.

A summative evaluation was conducted in the winter of 1997 to measure labour market outcomes of program participants as compared to a comparison group. In addition to the participant/non-participants surveys, an econometric analysis was conducted to determine program impact.

Program outcomes at time of survey: 56% of participants were working as opposed to only 37% of non-participants; 33% of participants were on social assistance while 57% of non-participants were on social assistance; 25% of participants were on EI compared to 12% of non-participants.

Econometric analysis: Evidence showed that the Compass program increased participants proportion of time spent working by 12% to 14%; participants showed reduced reliance on social assistance.

Persons with Disabilities November 6th, 2002

Mr. Speaker, working with the provinces and territories, we have a plan of action that will increase employability for Canadians with disabilities and focus on income as well as disability supports.

It is my hope that at the next meeting of social services ministers in November this will continue to be on the agenda and that together we will build an active labour market strategy specifically for Canadians with disabilities, responding to the hon. member's question.