House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 43% of the vote.
Committees of the House March 21st, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (C) 2015-2016: Vote 3c under Canadian High Arctic Research Station and Votes 1c, 5c and 10c under Indian Affairs and Northern Development.”
Graham Downey February 23rd, 2016
Mr. Speaker, we are celebrating Black History Month across Canada, so I rise today to acknowledge Graham Downey, a late constituent in my riding of Halifax, who made history. Mr. Downey was Halifax's first African-Nova Scotian city councillor and the city's first African-Nova Scotian deputy mayor.
In September 2015, at 76 years old, Mr. Downey passed away. However, he left an indelible mark. He was first elected to Halifax City Council in 1974, at the age of 35, and served his constituents in the north end of Halifax for 26 years. He was a tireless advocate on matters like upgraded and affordable housing, street lighting, clean neighbourhoods, education, and community recreation facilities.
He was a recipient of the Queen's Jubilee Medal and a Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities citation.
It is an honour to shine a light on the truly inspiring legacy of Mr. Graham Downey.
Resumption of debate on Address in Reply January 27th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, again referring to my long career of public service, I long ago learned that government can give a permit, but only a community can give permission.
I am going to reflect on the commitment of this government to engage Canadians, wherever they are in the country, in the decisions that impact their lives to bring Canadians back into government. I know that the minister in charge of this file is doing just that right now on the journey of this government toward finding a sustainable energy future for this country.
Resumption of debate on Address in Reply January 27th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, during the period of the election campaign and since, I have been in conversations with the aboriginal communities of Nova Scotia, predominantly the Mi’kmaq community. I mentioned earlier in my remarks the time I spent with the director of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in downtown Halifax.
I am in the process of a wonderful, marvellous education at her hands. I have also participated in a new Canadian partnership that was held in Halifax several months ago. I was very pleased to meet Grand National Chief Perry Bellegarde at that meeting. I had a good conversation with him, as well as other aboriginal leaders from across the country.
I am on a journey of learning and I am excited about it. I am profoundly excited to be part of rolling out the Liberal Party's platform on building that new nation to nation partnership.
Resumption of debate on Address in Reply January 27th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, in 10 years of municipal service, I often had to balance the needs of the urban core with suburban and rural areas.
The answer is really quite simple. Over the last 10 or 20 years, Canadian cities have been focusing growth not so much on the urban core but on the fringe. The intention of a national urban agenda is to rebalance that, to make it a more sustainable balance. With strong cities, we can have strong city regions, and that will help all Canadian communities.
Resumption of debate on Address in Reply January 27th, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I would first like to offer sincere thanks to the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville for generously ceding his time to me today and add that I will then be splitting my new found time with the member for Kitchener—Waterloo.
I am honoured to speak for the first time in this House as the member of Parliament for Halifax. As I rise today, I find that I am full of humility in the face of this profound honour, full of enthusiasm with the prospect of what this House will do on behalf of all Canadians, and full of gratitude for all of those who have helped me, and indeed all of us, get elected to this place.
Please indulge me, Mr. Speaker, as I thank my loving wife and daughter, indeed all of my family, and also my extended campaign family, for working so tirelessly and with such purpose. I thank the people of Halifax, who have entrusted me with the privilege of representing them in this government, for all of their trust and support, and I pledge to them that I will toil ceaselessly on their behalf.
There is one other pledge I would like to make. Earlier this week our colleague, the Minister of Democratic Institutions, astutely likened heckling in this House to common schoolyard bullying. She called upon each of us to show proper respect in this place, and to the Canadians who sent us here, and pledge not to heckle when our colleagues are speaking, and I so pledge. Further, I repeat the minister's invitation to all colleagues to also take this pledge.
I am proud to serve in a government that is committed to growing our economy through investments in public transit. I am proud to serve in a government committed to investing in green infrastructure, green tech, clean tech to create the jobs of tomorrow.
I am proud to serve in a government committed to investing in social infrastructure like housing, transitional shelters, and early childhood development facilities. I am proud to support a government that will offer more support for seniors.
I am proud to serve in a government committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, committed to making life better for Canadians by implementing a middle class tax cut, and by offering a hand up to Canadians working hard to improve their situation by implementing the new Canada child benefit.
I am so very proud to serve in a new government seeking to forge a new nation to nation partnership with indigenous peoples in urban and rural communities across this country.
These investments and programs will be transformational for our nation's cities and for the millions of Canadians that reside within them. These investments will also benefit our nation as a whole.
With the proportion of Canadians living in urbanized areas now at more than 80% and growing, we stand on the threshold of the urban century, so when our cities succeed our nation succeeds. That is why this House will grow accustomed to hearing me speak about and advocate for Halifax and other cities across this country.
I would like to share a story about what can happen when we begin to harness the power of cities.
It was only a few short years ago that downtown Halifax emerged from a decades-long period of stagnation. An entire generation grew up without ever seeing a construction crane on the horizon of our city. What growth we did have was happening on the edge of the city, eating up forests and farmland, sprawling ever outward while our urban core atrophied.
The cost of this low density dispersed growth was and remains tragically high: financially high with the capital and maintenance costs of vast new systems of infrastructure, environmentally high with ecological degradation and greenhouse gas emissions, and socially high with increased commuting times and poor health outcomes, to name a few, and all of this completely unsustainable.
In 2006, I became the city of Halifax's first manager of urban design. From that perch, I set out to put my city back on track toward sustainability. I had the pleasure of working with Halifax volunteer extraordinaire Dale Godsoe, fresh off her service on Prime Minister Paul Martin's external advisory committee on cities and communities. Together with a wonderful team of staff and volunteers, and an engaged council, we set in motion a broad, three-year program of community engagement to build a new plan for our city, and our new plan hit a gusher.
In a recent conversation with Halifax mayor Mike Savage, a former member of this House, and now a member of the FCM Big City Mayors' Caucus, and the meeting with our own Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, the mayor revealed to us that downtown Halifax's share of regional growth had ballooned from a mere 16% before our new plan took hold to a share of greater than 40% since the plan did take hold, a stunning public policy victory.
As a result of this plan, cranes now dot the skyline and development activity in the downtown core has increased by 40 times. We are seeing new office, retail, and mixed-use space, and we are on our way toward seeing 5,000 new residential units in the urban core which otherwise would have been built out on those farms and forests.
Because land use and transportation are always two sides of the same coin, the intensification of our downtown has implications for public transit and active transportation, as well. Our transit authority, Halifax Transit, is in the process of redesigning its service, possibly to include commuter rail for the first time, and more and more bike lanes are turning up due, in large part, to the advocacy of groups like the Halifax Cycling Coalition.
However, the jewel in the crown of our downtown renaissance is, surely, the new Halifax Central Library, a project which I am proud to have helped lead, among a cast of other civic leaders.
Our library recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and in the hands of its amazing CEO, Asa Kachan, the library has had nearly two million visitors since it has opened its doors, which is not bad in a province of only a million people. It has exceeded every single expectation we had set for it.
It has become the city's living room. It has become a nucleus of community in our downtown, a place where people come to learn languages, to meet friends, to do business, and even to start businesses. There is a place for every member of our community at the central library.
It has put our city on the world stage of architecture and culture, winning numerous national and international distinctions, and has become a point of deep pride for Halifax.
Although my city still has a tremendous amount of work to do, like many Canadian cities, I will recap some of the things that we have gotten right.
We have authentically engaged with community members, so that they themselves can craft a plan for their downtown, thereby including them in the decisions that impact their lives.
We created progressive public policy that eliminates red tape and allows the private sector to do its work. We are matching these land-use improvements with complementary and necessary improvements to transit and active transportation. In the case of the central library, we made a significant public investment in our community which has given the private sector confidence to initiate multiple and mixed-use projects nearby.
This is a story about the importance of smart public policy and public investment in community infrastructure, such as that referred to in the Speech from the Throne and of how it has helped position Halifax for success: success, with a tremendous opportunity and responsibility of a national shipbuilding contract, with the Irving shipyard already becoming a key economic driver in our city; success with the greatest concentration of ocean-related Ph.D.s of anywhere in the word in capitalizing on our potential of the oceans nearby for research, nutrition, energy, logistics, and even, in the case of the marine research station in Ketch Harbour in my riding, for cutting-edge algae biofuel; success in helping to support our local arts and culture scene with groups like Shakespeare by the Sea, Khyber Centre for the Arts, Neptune Theatre, and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and festivals like Nocturne: Art at Night and North by Night Market, which are just a few examples of the vibrant culture found in our city; success with a rich diversity of food and food security initiatives in Halifax, like Hope Blooms, a modest community garden program empowering at-risk youth in the urban core, or like our urban farms, common roots urban farm, the Spryfield urban farm, and the John Umlah memorial community garden; and success in attracting and supporting diversity in our city.
Just last month, I visited the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in downtown Halifax to discuss with its director, Pamela Glode-Desrochers, how I could help advance its objective of improving the lives of aboriginal people in an urban environment through social and cultural programming.
I visited with Imam Dr. Tayebi and the Muslim community at the Ummah Mosque and Community Centre in Halifax, a group I am proud to call my friends and who have made themselves a pillar of generosity in our community.
Simply put, a smart urban agenda, a national urban agenda, with strategic investment leads to economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and cultural vibrancy.
This is why I am encouraged by the government's urban agenda, as articulated in its Speech from the Throne. These investments in our cities will be transformational. However, we must not stop there.
I implore my hon. colleagues to consider the power of Canadian cities and to work together with me, with the parliamentary secretary for intergovernmental affairs and other colleagues, and with urban groups across the country, such as the Council for Canadian Urbanism, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and, yes, the Big City Mayors' Caucus, to continue to advance a national urban agenda.
On the threshold of the urban century, I believe we have no other responsible choice.