Andrew Cash

[Citizenship and Immigration, October 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are back at it, fighting a Federal Court ruling that struck down what the court called “cruel and unusual cuts” to refugee health care. The court said that these cuts jeopardized the lives of children in a manner “that shocks the conscience and outrages our standards of decency.” This is a recurrent theme for the government.

This is about saving the lives of kids. This is about providing prenatal care for women. This is about our shared values.

Will the government do the right thing and drop this court challenge?

[Petitions, October 1st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the people of Davenport from streets like Via Italia, Dufferin and Lansdowne.

The petitioners call on Parliament to enshrine in legislation the inalienable rights of farmers and other Canadians to save, reuse, select, exchange and sell seeds. They also call on Parliament not to make changes to the Seeds Act or to the Plant-Breeders' Rights Act through Bill C-18.

[Social Development, September 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have completely bungled the Social Security Tribunal. A former member has confirmed what we already knew: that the government is hiring people whose main expertise is donating to the Conservative Party. Then they are pressured to ignore due process, and all the while waiting times continue to grow. Conservatives are throwing fairness out the window. It is vulnerable seniors and unemployed Canadians who are paying the price.

When is the government going to finally fix the mess that it has created with the Social Security Tribunal?

[Rosh Hashanah, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as Jewish families come together today, I would like to offer my best wishes on behalf of the NDP to all those observing Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday for celebration and reflection and is an opportunity for families to remember the past and rejoice in the year to come.

I would also like to take the opportunity of the high holidays to acknowledge the profound contribution people in Canada's Jewish community have made and continue to make to enrich Canadian society.

On behalf of the NDP and the official opposition, I wish Jewish families across the country a year of peace and prosperity.

[Energy Safety and Security Act, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, my apologies. I would just like to ask the minister if he will come to Toronto to a public meeting on nuclear fuel safety and pipeline safety. He would be most welcome, and he would probably meet a lot of people that he has not had the pleasure of encountering before.

[Energy Safety and Security Act, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, a short while ago, the minister suggested that I did not quite have my facts right and he said that the NDP were on a fact-free diet. The fact is that nuclear fuel facilities are a federally regulated sector.

I would invite the minister to come to a town hall meeting in my riding. In fact, I did have a town hall meeting in my riding and I asked your predecessor to come and he chose not to. I welcome you. I think you have opened your arms—

[Energy Safety and Security Act, September 25th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as has been underlined, this is the 77th time now that the government has moved time allocation, in effect limiting debate on incredibly important issues about which the public is very concerned.

When we talk about the nuclear liability component of the bill and the minister's claim that it is modernized, to a certain extent it is I suppose. When we start with a liability component that has not been updated in something like 40 years, anything is an improvement to that. However, does it hit the mark? Absolutely not.

In Toronto, for example, my riding has a nuclear fuel facility that most of the residents who live near it had no idea was there. The reason I bring this up is because it speaks to transparency and the openness and willingness to engage the public in these important public safety, public policy debates. That is what we are supposed to do in this place and that is why we reject the continual use of time allocation to limit debate on these incredibly important issues.

I would ask the minister to respond to the thousands of people in my community in Toronto who were shut out of the process around the Line 9 pipeline consultation. They did not know there was a nuclear fuel facility in their community. How does all that square with a government that does not want to fully debates these issues? There is a pattern here and I would like the minister to speak to that pattern.

[Citizenship and Immigration, September 22nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, first the federal government cuts health care to pregnant refugees and sick children. Now it wants to cut income support, that crucial lifeline that helps refugees land on their feet in Canada. Not only is the government downloading services, it is downloading Canadian values.

Will the minister pull his support for this private member's bill, or at least own up to it and table it for what it is, another cruel and callous piece of government legislation?

[Business of Supply, September 16th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for York South—Weston will likely not be surprised when he hears that I do agree.

Let us go back to youth unemployment for a second. If young people are watching this debate today, they are going to be hard-pressed to find anyone on the government side who really understands what they are going through.

If people are working in the telecom sector, if they are working for some of our Canadian companies, the Rogers and the Bells out there, they are going to be looking at this debate and saying “Yes, finally, someone is fighting for us in the House of Commons.”

That someone is the official opposition.

[Business of Supply, September 16th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, what I would like to say first is that given the importance of youth unemployment, the real question is why the government has not done its homework.

I would also like to note that it is true that the government did put some money into internships. That is important. I am glad to see that once in a while the government listens to the New Democratic Party of Canada, the official opposition. I thank the government for that.

On the subject of the minimum wage, of course we have done our homework, of course we have seen the data, and of course, the commission in 2006 recommended that the government establish a minimum wage. The body of research out there that shows that this works, that this is good, that this is important, and that this should be done is resounding.