Blake Desjarlais

[Indigenous Affairs, February 10th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, millions of Canadians are grappling with the reality of our country's colonial past and present, but our institutions are not, and this House is the worst among them.

Yesterday I sat at the public accounts committee and listened to the Auditor General plead with the government to finally do what is right and end the systemic racism present in the federal prison system. It is no secret that indigenous people make up the vast majority of those in our prison system while only making up a minority in Canada. These are shameful results.

Instead of holding the government truly accountable, the Leader of the Opposition is only making things worse, with reckless rhetoric and failed tough-on-crime policies that harm Black and indigenous communities without making things safer.

I call on the Minister of Public Safety and the Leader of the Opposition to sit down and listen to the indigenous people who are living the consequences of this colonization.

[Business of Supply, February 7th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for what I think is a really important moment for Conservatives, and I hope they are listening. They are acknowledging the fact that climate change is real. That is a good place to start.

In this place, I seek a consensus, I hope, on issues that are affecting everyday Canadians, and one of them is the environment. The other is the cost of living. There seems to be a red herring when we are talking about the carbon tax because we can in fact do both: We can ensure that we do good by Canadians by making sure we put a price on carbon and returning some of that to the Canadians who need it the most. However, it is not a silver bullet. I agree with the member that the government is failing our environment. It is failing, hands down. It is not a silver bullet and the Liberals are treating it as such.

On the other hand, we have the cost-of-living crisis, and New Democrats fought in this House and tabled an amendment to make sure that we would tax excess profits and have windfall tax on corporations. Why did the member vote against it?

[Health, February 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, that answer may be good enough for wealthy investors, but it is not good enough for those waiting in line at Alberta's ERs.

Tomorrow, the Prime Minister is sitting down with the premiers, and that includes Alberta premier Danielle Smith, an advocate for slashing the public health care system, while this winter Edmonton's children's hospital was being overwhelmed.

The solutions are clear: hire more health care workers and rebuild public health care. Will the Prime Minister, yes or no, ensure every single dollar that goes into the provinces' hands is going to the public coffers for health care?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2023]

With regard to government policies on funding directed towards First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, broken down by department since fiscal year 2015-16: (a) what policies, processes, and protocols exist to validate claims of Indigenous ancestry or Indigenous community; (b) what reviews or audits have been conducted to ensure that government funding has not been delivered to individuals, organizations, or companies that falsely claim an Indigenous identity; (c) is the government aware of any funding that has been allocated to individuals, organizations, or companies that falsely claimed an Indigenous identity; and (d) for each funding allocation in (c), how much funding has been recalled on the basis of false claims of Indigenous identity?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2023]

With regard to federal spending in the constituency of Edmonton Griesbach, broken down by fiscal year and department or agency: what are the details of all grants, contributions and all loans to any organization, group, business or municipality, broken down by the (i) name of the recipient, (ii) date the funding was received, (iii) amount received, (iv) program under which the grant, contribution or loan was made?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2023]

With regard to federal government investments in housing, for each fiscal year since 2015-16: (a) what was the total amount of federal funding spent on housing in the city of Edmonton; (b) what was the total amount of federal funding spent on housing in the federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach; (c) how much funding was allocated to each of the following programs and initiatives in the city of Edmonton (i) the Rental Construction Financing initiative, (ii) Proposal Development Funding, (iii) Investment in Affordable Housing, (iv) Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, (v) nonprofit on-reserve funding, (vi) prepayment, (vii) Reno & Retrofit CMHC, (viii) renovation programs on reserve, (ix) retrofit on-reserve and seed funding; (d) how much funding was allocated to each of the following programs and initiatives in the federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach (i) the Rental Construction Financing initiative, (ii) Proposal Development Funding, (iii) Investment in Affordable Housing, (iv) Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, (v) nonprofit on-reserve funding, (vi) prepayment, (vii) Reno & Retrofit CMHC, (viii) renovation programs on-reserve, (ix) retrofit on-reserve and seed funding; (e) how much federal funding was allocated to housing subsidies in the city of Edmonton for (i) nonprofit on-reserve housing, (ii) co-operative housing, (iii) Urban Native Housing, (iv) non-profit housing, (v) index linked, (vi) mortgage co-operatives, (vii) rent geared to income, (viii) and Federal Community Housing Initiative; (f) how much federal funding was allocated to housing subsidies in the federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach for (i) nonprofit on-reserve housing, (ii) co-operative housing, (iii) Urban Native Housing, (iv) nonprofit housing, (v) index linked, (vi) mortgage co-operatives, (vii) rent geared to income, (viii) Federal Community Housing Initiative; (g) what was the total amount of federal housing funding distributed as grants in the city of Edmonton; (h) what was the total amount of federal housing funding distributed as grants in the federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach; (i) what was the total amount of federal housing funding distributed as loans in the city of Edmonton; and (j) what was the total amount of federal housing funding distributed as loans in the federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, December 9th, 2022]

With regard to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program, broken down by province and territory, and by fiscal year: (a) what is the total amount of student debt owed; (b) what is the total amount of interest charged on student loans, since November 2015; (c) what is the total amount that the government has collected in repayments of student loans; (d) what is the total amount of new loans delivered to students who (i) are full-time and part-time, (ii) are from low-income and middle-income families, (iii) have dependents, (iv) have permanent disabilities; (e) what is the total amount of new grants delivered to students who (i) are full-time and part-time, (ii) are from low-income and middle-income families, (iii) have dependents, (iv) have permanent disabilities; (f) how many new applications have been received under the (i) Repayment Assistance Plan, (ii) Repayment Assistance Plan for Borrowers with a Permanent Disability; and (g) how many borrowers have defaulted on their student loans since November 2015, broken down by fiscal year?

[Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, December 7th, 2022]

Madam Chair, I want to be quite frank. We have heard a lot of discussion today, and for indigenous people, whether it was yesterday or tomorrow, their lives will largely remain the same, and I am angry because of that. I am upset and angry that we have to have this discussion in this place constantly, and that the lives of indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people continue to be ignored constantly. I am angry about that, but I also know that, when an indigenous person like myself gets loud, people stop listening.

I want to be as clear as possible. We cannot continue to wait, but there is a long history here. This did not happen overnight. Colonialism, racism and, to be frank, misogyny are the reasons we are here today. Indigenous women are not the problem. Colonialism and violence against these women are the problem.

Can the member speak about the root cause of the tragic losses of indigenous women, girls and two-spirit folks that is so deeply rooted in our history here in Canada?

[Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, December 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to be able to rise today in this place to recognize so many indigenous women in my life, including my mother, my sisters, and people in the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement and across all of Alberta, and the work they continue to do every single day to make sure that women and girls are alive. They, not the government, are the front line.

What my mom, aunts and sisters and the people in my community have done to serve that community, to make it whole and strong, is they took care not just of themselves. Oftentimes they put the members of the community way ahead of themselves in order to keep that community and, oftentimes, children alive. These are the real heroes, and I want to thank my colleagues for recognizing the important work of indigenous women.

I have a question for the member in relation to action. We are talking about action here today. I want to hear from the member exactly what he is going to do tomorrow. Will he heed the calls from the survivors who made direct asks of the government? One is a moratorium on use of the landfill. What will the government do tomorrow to make that happen? I want to hear the member talk about that.

[Health, December 7th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, the Alberta Children's Hospital is operating at over 120%. Children's hospital staff are being overwhelmed, and as emergency rooms fill up, families are forced to wait outside in trailers to get the care they need. Can members imagine that?

The government points fingers at everyone else and is letting Premier Smith do whatever she wants to our public health care system. Canadians are fed up being told that it is someone else's problem. When will the government do its job and uphold the Canada Health Act?