Alexandrine Latendresse

[The New Democratic Party of Canada, September 15th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, my NDP colleagues and I are back in Ottawa in fine form after spending the summer touring our constituencies.

Canadians are exasperated by the partisan attacks and empty rhetoric of the Liberals and the Conservatives. They are calling for a truly progressive government that has solutions to their problems.

When we look at their policies, we realize quite quickly that the red and blue policies are very similar. Just think of the oil port in Cacouna, the Keystone pipeline, the agreement with China and the current war in Iraq.

Canadians deserve better. They deserve real change, not just superficial change.

In the next few weeks, we are going to show that, together, we can fix our health system, create good jobs and set up day care centres that meet our needs.

A year away from an election, the NDP is ready to form the government, a real progressive government that actually listens to people.

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we still do not know how many government-sponsored refugees are here. That is completely unacceptable.

Not only have the Conservatives shown their inability to provide assistance to Syrian refugees, but they have also cut health care services for refugees. The best way to evaluate a government is to look at how it treats the most vulnerable members of society. What the Conservatives are saying is that if you are a refugee as a result of conflict or persecution, you should definitely not get sick.

On this World Refugee Day, will the minister change his attitude?

[Citizenship and Immigration, June 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, three million people have had to flee Syria as a result of the civil war. Instead of reaching out and doing as much as possible for these refugees, the Conservatives would rather argue over numbers. The worst is that they are not even able to tell us how many refugees sponsored by the government are now on Canadian soil. This is yet more proof of the Conservatives' incompetence.

We will give them another chance to give an answer to a very clear question: of the 200 refugees sponsored by the Government of Canada, and not by other organizations, how many are currently on Canadian soil?

[Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, June 17th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Peter principle states that, in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.

The Minister of Justice is a perfect example. After being minister of defence for years, where his disastrous management of the F-35 file forced the Prime Minister to take the department's chequebook away from him, he was catapulted to the Department of Justice.

In his new role, he caused a new crisis by appointing Justice Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court, which then asked him to step back. Yesterday, in the House, we had the perfect example of the confusion that reigns in the minister's mind. Showing his true colours, he started by pointing out how appreciated the talents of Justice Mainville will be in the Supreme Court. The only thing is that Justice Mainville was appointed to the Quebec Court of Appeal. Feeling cornered, he tried to explain that the Superior Court of Quebec is sort of like the Supreme Court in the province, which luckily is as coherent as the remarks of the Liberal Party leader on a good day. With opponents like that, we can feel pretty good about ourselves.

It is a really sad day when the justice minister does not even understand the Canadian court system. If he is the best Conservative in the justice sector, it is no wonder that courts constantly turn down their legislation.

[Father's Day, June 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this Sunday is Father's Day, so I would like to take a moment today to wish a happy Father's Day to all of the fathers in our lives.

I am thinking about all my colleagues in the House who have to balance their work as an MP and being a father. We know that it is not always easy.

I am thinking about my staff in Louis-Saint-Laurent: Yves has five beautiful children and many grandchildren already, and Boris is a new dad who could not be more proud of his beautiful little girl.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that you will be able to celebrate with George and Molly on Sunday.

Of course, I am especially thinking about my father, Germain, who has always been a positive force in my life. My father was there for my sister, brother and me, but he was also there for hundreds of children in need at the youth centres where he worked as a psychoeducator during his career.

Mr. Speaker, my father taught me to be a better person and to do the right thing. Even more importantly, he taught me never to judge others and to always have an open heart and acknowledge the kindness of those around me.

Dad, I love you. When I dream about angels tonight, you will be in the front row.

Happy Father's Day.

[Access to Information, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today the Information Commissioner released a damning new report on the Conservatives' transparency. Complaints are up 30% because of processing delays. Some consultation delays are just ridiculous. For example, the Department of Natural Resources asked for a whole year to consult another department before releasing a document. It takes them a whole year to consult each other. Let us stop pretending that the Conservatives are good managers. What specific plans do they have to shorten these delays and comply with the law?

[Democratic Reform, June 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, after the fraudulent robocalls and after doing everything possible to try to restrict voter participation with their electoral “deform” bill, the Conservatives are still insisting on restricting Canadians's right to vote. The Conservatives are trying to have an Ontario Superior Court ruling overturned so that they can prevent Canadians who have been living abroad for more than five years from voting.

Why is the minister doing his best to prevent one million Canadians living abroad from voting?

[Ethics, June 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives promised to create jobs, they meant to say that soon the courts would not have enough staff to deal with all the Conservative crooks that get caught red-handed. According to our sources, the Minister of Employment is even considering creating a temporary foreign workers program especially for their lawyers.

Michael Sona was nothing more than a pawn in the Conservatives' grand robocall electoral fraud. Bruce Carson was hired to advise the Prime Minister despite Mr. Carson's notorious past. The case of Patrick Brazeau speaks for itself and I have not even gotten into the ongoing investigations into senators like Mike Duffy, who spent like crazy.

Those close to power and friends of the party who have yet to be targeted by the RCMP are glad to be enjoying their semi-retirement in the Senate. Former Conservative MPs publicly admit that they prefer their new lifestyle as senators. Now that they are working only three days a week, they have all kinds of free time.

The Conservatives can divide their time between the schemes and the boondoggles. The NDP is going to get ready to form an honest and hard-working government in 2015.

[Citizenship and Immigration, May 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, that is all well and good, but it is not enough.

The international community is calling on Canada to do its part to help Syrian refugees. Nine million Syrians have been displaced and 160,000 have died. The High Commissioner for Refugees is asking for immediate help in relocating 100,000 refugees.

So far, Canada has done a very poor job of responding to this humanitarian crisis. The former citizenship minister did not even follow through on his commitment to accept 1,300 Syrian refugees.

When will the government shoulder its responsibilities?

[Women's Health, May 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to development assistance priorities, women's and children's health is certainly high on the list.

Yes, I said “women's health”, not just “maternal health”. Women are women before they become mothers, and some women are healthier if they do not have children. International aid must focus on the full range of sexual and reproductive rights, not just those that are ideologically acceptable to the Conservatives.

That means funding access to safe abortion services. Women's and children's health is not limited to just that. Health also means improving access to education for both women and children. However, women's health also includes educating men. Too many women and children who are forced into marriage will become pregnant before they are physically or psychologically ready. Women's and children's health also means improving access to safe drinking water, electricity and decent housing.

The NDP cares deeply about the health of women and children around the world. That is why women's health should be about more than just maternal health.