Anita Vandenbeld

[Finance, October 23rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to talk about what really matters to Canadians.

Since 2015, our government has been making important investments to grow the economy, strengthen Canada's social safety net and support Canadians. We introduced the Canada child benefit, which has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. We reinforced the security and dignity of retirement income by strengthening the CPP and increasing old age security for seniors aged 75 and over. We made generational investments in $10-a-day child care, cutting child care costs by at least half already. We also introduced the Canada carbon rebate to maintain an incentive to reduce pollution while putting more money in the pockets of hard-working Canadians in provinces where the federal fuel charge applies. All of these investments have made life more affordable for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

However, we know that Canadians continue to face challenges while the cost of living remains high. That is why, in budget 2024, the government invested in new measures like the national school food program, which will help an additional 400,000 children get the healthy food they need to learn and grow, and the Canada disability benefit, which will help improve the financial well-being of over 600,000 low-income persons with disabilities.

This is also why we continue to invest in the dental care plan, under which two million Canadians have already been approved to get the dental care they need from a dentist or hygienist. We do this so that every generation has a fair shot at receiving the dental care they deserve while making life cost less.

We are also helping to make life cost less through our ambitious housing plan. We have committed to building more homes faster, increasing housing affordability, growing the community housing sector and making it easier to rent or buy a home. Our government recently announced a suite of bold reforms to mortgage rules to make mortgages more affordable for Canadians and put home ownership within reach. We are also expanding eligibility for 30-year insured mortgage amortization to all first-time homebuyers and to buyers of new builds.

Canadians can count on the government to continue strengthening our social safety net while managing the nation's finances responsibly.

In fact, for the past nine months in a row, inflation has been within the Bank of Canada's target range. Inflation fell to 1.6% in September, a 43-month low. Today, the Bank of Canada lowered the interest rate to 3.75%, which is going to help so many Canadians with their mortgage rates, credit cards and other borrowing costs.

These are powerful economic proof points. They show that Canada's economy is strong and resilient. They show that our economic plan is fiscally responsible. That is important because it means that we can afford to make investments and in turn make life more affordable for Canadians.

[Anniversary of International Development Organizations, October 11th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of three unique international development organizations: the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation, the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation and the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation.

For 50 years, these councils have been more than just partners in international development. They have been the architects of change by engaging youth, training educators and strengthening civil society to tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges.

I have met some of the people who have benefited from their work. Whether it is using music therapy for healing, solar-powered breast pumps or digital education, their innovative programs are changing lives. Through their work, so many Canadians have been informed, inspired and involved in creating a more just and equitable world.

I wish them a happy 50th anniversary.

[Olde Forge Community Resource Centre, October 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, this week we celebrated National Seniors Day. Last weekend, I met with a wonderful group of seniors from my riding at Woodroffe United Church, organized by the Olde Forge Community Resource Centre oasis program.

My riding has many buildings where most of the residents are older adults. They call these NORCs, naturally occurring retirement communities. The Olde Forge, with partial funding through the federal government's New Horizons for Seniors program, provides coordinators in these seniors buildings who facilitate social gatherings, food and nutrition events, wellness and physical activities, and anything else the seniors want. These seniors told me that because of this program, they feel less lonely, are healthier and can stay in their homes longer. This pilot project is now in four buildings in my riding, the three Ambleside buildings and the Rosewood.

I want to thank all the staff, the volunteers and the participants for contributing to a better community.

[Situation in Lebanon and Israel, October 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member calling for a ceasefire, for diplomacy and for de-escalation. She also mentioned that we are giving $10 million in humanitarian aid immediately. I wonder if she can tell us why that is so important.

[World Alzheimer's Month, September 25th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, today I am wearing a forget-me-not pin to recognize World Alzheimer's Month and to stand with the more than 700,000 Canadians living with dementia, a number projected to rise to 1.7 million by 2050.

Dementia costs Canadians over $10 billion annually, but the personal toll on individuals and their families is immeasurable. In 2017, the House unanimously supported the national dementia strategy, and it remains vital that we continue to work to address this growing challenge.

I want to thank the Alzheimer Society of Canada for the essential work they do in helping families in our communities and funding research for a cure. I am joined today by colleagues from all parties wearing forget-me-not pins. I wear mine for my oma.

Together, we can work toward a future where Alzheimer's and dementia are diseases of the past.

[Children's Literature, June 18th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a remarkable constituent of mine, Varavadi Monaghan. When she arrived in Canada 30 years ago, the first books her husband, Harry, gave to her were the classic Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. She loved the books so much that she decided to translate them into Thai, her mother language. It took over a year to translate them; it was a true labour of love.

It is a fitting tribute in a year that would have been L.M. Montgomery's 150th birthday. Ms. Monaghan is looking forward to travelling to Cavendish, P.E.I., which is the site that inspired the Anne of Green Gables series. The books will be presented to Thai and Canadian dignitaries as a symbol of the cultural bridge between our two countries. This is a testament to the universality and relevance of the stories of our iconic protagonist, Anne.

Now, thanks to Varavadi, another generation of children can enjoy these inspiring tales.

[Kosovo, May 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 25th anniversary of the arrival of the Kosovo refugees who fled the brutal conflict there in 1999. Today, the Canada-Kosovo Parliamentary Friendship Group welcomed a delegation from Kosovo to celebrate the occasion.

Twenty-five years after their arrival, we celebrate the invaluable contributions of Kosovo Canadians to our society. They are contributing as doctors, business owners, as members of the Canadian Armed Forces, in music and as cultural leaders, as scientists and so much more.

The generosity of those Canadians who welcomed and who helped them has been returned many times over. This anniversary serves as a reminder of our shared humanity and our duty of compassion toward those seeking refuge.

We are committed to continuing to support those fleeing war and oppression and to honour the stories of courage and resilience that inspire us to be more inclusive as a society.

[Srebrenica Remembrance Day, May 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the UN voted to establish the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, when 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were taken by Serb forces from a UN safe zone, shot and buried in mass graves. After years of painstaking documentation, in 2004 and 2007 international courts ruled that the crimes committed in Srebrenica constitute genocide.

I was working in Sarajevo 25 years ago. Every morning, I passed the mothers of Srebrenica holding photos of their lost sons and begging us for justice, like one mother who searched all of the mass graves for the red rubber boots that her little boy was wearing on that day. Those faces haunt me still. I hope that commemorating these atrocities will bring some peace and some healing.

[Petitions, April 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to table petition e-4758.

The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada, particularly IRCC, to develop a list of laws that are known, in repressive regimes such as Russia, to be used to persecute human rights defenders, democracy activists and political dissidents. The petitioners are concerned that such laws, if they are deemed to have a Canadian equivalent, could be used to make someone inadmissible to Canada on the basis of a conviction just for defending human rights.

I would like to thank my constituent, Maria Kartasheva, who is a new Canadian citizen, for bringing forward this petition to make sure that what happened to her never happens to anyone else.

[Foreign Affairs, April 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, our government has been there since day one for Ukraine. Budget 2024 is yet another step in making sure that Ukraine wins in its fight against Putin's illegal invasion.

This budget includes almost $3 billion in additional financing, including for lethal and non-lethal weapons, including funding through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the reconstruction of Ukraine. We will also see how we can use seized Russian assets for the restoration of Ukraine. We have always been there to support Ukraine.