Lost her last election, in 2000, with 32% of the vote.
Aboriginal Affairs December 4th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the land claim agreement for the Nisga'a people is now in the B.C. legislature. It faces bitter opposition from both the Liberal and Reform parties of B.C. So far the only defence and promotion of this agreement has come from the NDP. The minister's department did not acknowledge my request for a briefing.
How would the minister defend and promote this treaty? How will she convince B.C. Liberals that this agreement is essential to move the first nations people out of poverty?
Salaries For Stay At Home Mothers And Fathers December 3rd, 1998
Madam Speaker, in November I asked the Minister of the Environment to make a commitment to clean up the Marwell tar pit in Whitehorse. It has been designated a contaminated site.
Environment Canada file No. 4186-3-19 of September 1989 provided background information on the contamination on this site. It was a U.S. military refinery during World War II. It was sold and then left. There was an attempt to clean up the pit. However, a large bermed storage tank has been left there.
In 1958 Billy Smith was trapped in the pit and died of exposure because he sank into the tar. In 1970 the land was transferred to the commissioner of Yukon. Contrary to the Fisheries Act, the departmental analysis indicated that hydrocarbons, oil, grease and manganese have been released to or near fish bearing waters. The Yukon River runs almost directly through the area.
Yukon has hundreds of contaminated sites. This is just one of them. In 1994 the Yukon government asked the then ministers of the environment and northern affairs to clean up the site. These letters were acknowledged but never answered. More recently the Whitehorse mayor has asked for the clean-up.
Canada negotiated with the United States $135 million to clean up old U.S. military sites. There is also an abandoned DEW line site in Yukon as well. But this agreement does not address or resolve the mess left by the U.S. military.
Will the government commit to protecting the vulnerable northern environment and start by cleaning up the Marwell tar pit. As well there are Conal road, the Haines highway, the pipeline, abandoned airstrips and another Conal pipeline. It is very critical. The northern environment is vulnerable. It has been over 50 years. Will the federal government take its responsibility and clean up the Marwell tar pit?
Violence Against Women December 3rd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, on December 6 we commemorate the terrible massacre of 14 young women. Yet a culture of violence remains pervasive and even flourishes in our federal institutions. Government is at fault for physical and sexual abuse in the military, denying pay equity, and for keeping poor women poor and vulnerable.
It is time for action. On December 6 the government should call for a truce, a truce for one day when no woman is humiliated, sold, hit or killed, no woman is forced to have sex, sell sex or is killed for sex, a day when women can walk and live in peace.
Canada Customs And Revenue Agency Act December 2nd, 1998
Mr. Speaker, the New Democratic Party opposes this new tax agency. We oppose it because it is not needed. The auditor general says we do not need it. It is not wanted. Businesses do not want it. The provinces do not want it and territories do not want it. It should be rejected right now because economically, politically and socially it offers no benefit.
We want a tax agency or a tax system that is more responsive, not less responsive. As an MP many people come to my office for help on issues of taxation. We need it to be responsive because it is important to be able to go to the minister and say this is what is happening, this is how these policies are being applied.
I can give some examples. In Yukon the northern travel deduction has been audited massively. We are talking of thousands of audits of people of the north, and that is quite significant for a small population. We have a local bank manager who was audited three years in a row because he claimed the northern travel deduction. In Dawson City all the employees except for two at one place were audited. They used e-mail to file their tax forms and we can bet they will never do that again. That also brings in the whole issue of privacy and using technology to file tax returns.
The northern travel deduction barely gives enough to walk out of Yukon let alone travel out in any kind of comfortable style, but yet northerners have been audited relentlessly on this. We want a responsive minister when it comes to taxation.
As an example, a 74 year old had to pay back about $6,000 or $7,000 because Revenue Canada had made a mistake six years earlier. It sent him a bill seven years later saying he owed approximately $8,000. He made arrangements to pay back $200 a year, but it turned out that was not good enough and it would garnishee half his pension to get the money back. It made me wonder if it was determined to get all the money out of this man before he passed on. Revenue Canada's other solution was for him to get a bank loan to pay the debt. It would continue to put intense focus on poor people.
In particular, the complaints that come to my office happen to be from first nations people. There was an older couple who had brought up their grandchildren and claimed the family allowance and the child tax benefit through those years. They were told they had to pay this money back because they could not prove they had brought up their children. As MPs we are able to help in situations like that.
If this tax agency comes into effect it will remove that kind of accountability. It will put it at arm's length. That takes it further away from the House and further away from the people who need help to get through problems like that. The agency will have a business mandate and we can only imagine an agency contracting out collections.
It would be truly intolerable for people who already feel they are harassed and who feel they make a huge contribution to the well-being of our country through their paycheques and through their volunteer work in bringing up their families. An agency should not be open to making a profit.
Another reason we should not have this agency is it would be reviewed only after five years. Any new agency should be closely monitored, especially in its set-up. I would say at least every six months rather than waiting five years to review such a massive change in how we look after our tax collection.
It brings into question how fairly we will treat the employees who are transferred over to the tax agency. The union does not support that kind of transfer of authority. It is a stressful trying job for the workers who have to collect the taxes.
I take this chance to compliment the people who look after the northern region. First nations people will now be paying taxes. They have been very proactive. They have come to the north. They have had public meetings, information sessions and have gone through the whole process with the folks who will have to file income tax for the first time in their lives. That is the kind of dedication and service we want from public servants. They were there making sure it happened for those people.
This kind of bill is abdicating political responsibility. I know the IMF has suggested that some countries set up an agency to collect taxes, but those are for the poorest, most unstable countries in the world. Canada does not fit that description. We should not be abdicating our responsibility as a government to be accountable to the people we collect money from.
Supply December 1st, 1998
Mr. Speaker, traditionally the people in the territories, who are the poorest and most vulnerable in this country, have depended on a strong federal presence to equalize their standard of living and their place in the country.
I am really concerned about the member's motion because it has excluded the first nations people of this country from participating in a social union. I would like to know why the member did that because, as far as being vulnerable goes, these people are the most vulnerable. The first nations people are the poorest, they have the highest health risks and the poorest housing conditions. I would like the member to explain that exclusion.
Yukon Air Traffic Control November 30th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, when Navigation Canada was privatized the minister promised there would be no reduction in services.
However, Yukon's only air traffic control tower will be closed down because of this privatization. This will throw all of the employees out of work, as well leave travellers and air traffic workers vulnerable to accidents.
In one way or another, this Liberal government has reduced basic services to the north, such as flood watch warnings. The weather control station is no longer with us. The stay in school initiative has been discontinued and now the air traffic control tower will be closed down.
I would like to let the government know that we want it back.
Manitoba Claim Settlements Implementation Act November 16th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I to rise to support this bill.
Looking at it in the context of the four categories in the minister's statement “Gathering Strength: Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan”, this bill would fit very well in renewing partnerships considering it has been 21 years with very little action or compensation for the first nations that were flooded. It is important to be willing to renew an partnership. It will strengthen aboriginal governance. It will support strong communities, people and economies. But it remains to be seen whether it is a commitment to a meaningful and lasting change for these people.
The minister goes on to say that we have to learn from the past, that we cannot afford to repeat mistakes. First nations people have suffered disproportionately for the last 150 to 200 years. They cannot afford to have government make any more mistakes on their behalf.
The document deals with increased access to lands and resources, that many first nations lands and natural resources offer the most important opportunity for creating jobs and economic development. The government will work with first nations, provinces and territories to strengthen the co-management process and provide increased access to land and resources. This is a very important political document because it reaffirms the commitment to self-government.
My Reform colleague said he did not know what self-government meant and that it should be the same for everyone. But the whole objective of self-government is so that it is not the same. It offers each band within a framework the ability to set its own standards and laws. They develop very differently culturally than Europeans. They have justice systems and access to resources that are very different from ours.
In Yukon land claims are not such a scary idea. Most of the 14 first nations are now implementing self-governing land claims. It has been a real benefit to Yukon. It was a long struggle. Implementation is not easy. Our auditor general has said he does not know if the amount of money settled will be enough to achieve the objective of the claims. But it is still an improvement. It is an improvement in the communities that have self-government. We can see the change. We can see the activity. We can see the determination.
My colleague was also worried about first nations governments not being accountable. By having self-government they are accountable to the people who elect them rather than being accountable to a bureaucracy that doles out money. They have to answer to their people. The first nations leaders I know are very dedicated individuals who have worked tirelessly on behalf of their people.
Bill C-56 is concrete proof of a movement toward living up to the “Gathering Strength” document. It has two parts. Part one of the bill relates to the settlement of matters arising from the flooding of lands as provided for in an agreement concluded with the Norway House Cree Nation which is very specific to it. Part two establishes mechanisms to facilitate the implementation of claims settlement in Manitoba by the creation of reserves or the addition of lands to existing reserves. Some of the first nations were shortchanged when their reserves were developed. This gives them the opportunity to redress it.
Part one pertains to the master implementation agreement signed in 1997 by the Government of Canada, the province of Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro and the Norway House Cree Nation which was affected by the flooding arising from hydroelectric projects.
The first nations affected by the flood were Cross Lake, York Factory, Nelson House, Split Lake Cree First Nations and the Norway House Cree Nation.
Because of the 1997 agreement which was difficult to implement there was very little movement in settling long outstanding problems and compensation. There was a proposed basis for settlement and four out of five first nations have signed the master implementation agreement.
Part two is the reserve establishment. It is related to federal government commitments in Manitoba to treaty land and the entitlement framework agreement of 1997.
On the basis of agreement from the first nations, part two would facilitate the implementation of any Manitoba claim settlement where Canada commits to increase first nations reserve land base.
This document provides a guide to the future. Treaties impose serious obligations and we need to respect those obligations and move forward.
Louis Riel November 16th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, on November 16, 1885 Louis Riel was executed for high treason against the Government of Canada. He died for his convictions, his country and his people.
One hundred years later, we must let Louis Riel take his place among the heroes of this nation. Riel fought and died so his people would have freedom, freedom to determine their lives and their futures. I join my Métis colleague from Churchill River in remembering all the valiant Métis who were killed that day in 1885. It is time to right the wrongs.
Nunavut Act October 28th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, I share the member's concern. It will have to be addressed at committee. The whole area of the judges being federal judges is of great concern because they are not going to be accountable to the people of Nunavut.
Nunavut Act October 28th, 1998
Mr. Speaker, no, that is not what I meant. The laws of Canada are the laws of the territories. It is just the method of making the courts and justice accessible.
A lot of work is being done in the areas of circle sentencing and community justice initiatives. That outcome might be different and I would hope we would move to more changes that way.