Brigitte Sansoucy

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, of course I wish to join everyone in wishing my colleague a happy birthday.

In my constituency office, I get emails, letters and calls. Every time I attend an event, there is sure to be someone who tells me that they are deeply offended about the use of tax havens in Canada. They are offended that last year the Liberal government signed new agreements with other tax havens, such as the Cook Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada.

I cannot imagine that my colleague does not also meet constituents in his riding who are offended by these tax havens. Working people fill out their tax returns and pay their taxes, while Canada’s wealthiest pay tax experts to find ways to put their money in tax havens in order to avoid paying tax.

[Employment Insurance, February 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, seasonal workers in Quebec and Acadia will not have any income as of this week, as a result of the EI gap. Although unions and organizations have made unanimous appeals, the Liberals refuse to take action and are leaving these families without any income.

When will the government create a pilot project or find any other solution to extend benefits and give these seasonal workers a bit of stability?

[Health, February 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, despite what the parliamentary secretary might say, I believe that the government is underestimating the extent of the crisis our country is faced with. For months now, a number of my NDP colleagues and I have tried to alert the government to this very serious public health crisis. As I said, we are not the only ones. Thirteen of Canada's largest cities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities also called on the government to implement a real pan-Canada program to address this crisis, but the government is doing precious little.

In the meantime, thousands of people are dying every year. I am calling on the government to set aside funding in the upcoming 2018 budget to combat this crisis. It is imperative to take action to prevent more of our constituents from dying.

When will the government abandon the failed war on drugs and adopt a health-based approach to addiction and drug use? When will the government finally—

[Health, February 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, on October 17, 2017, I rose in the House to ask a question about opioid overdoses.

I want to remind members that almost 3,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016. Unfortunately, these terrible numbers will continue to rise, as the Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that the number of deaths caused by opioids in 2017 will exceed 4,000.

Those are the statistics. In 2017, a staggering 4,000 Canadians died from an opioid overdose, including an unprecedented 1,400 in British Columbia alone.

However, this is neither an opioid crisis nor an overdose crisis. It is a crisis of social isolation exacerbated by a bad drug policy.

I believe that it is high time the government addressed this serious situation by putting in place an effective response that will resolve this very serious public health crisis.

For several months now experts have been calling on the government to declare a state of emergency and acknowledge the gravity of this crisis. The magnitude of this crisis cannot be ignored. Last year, in the City of Vancouver alone, the number of opioid overdoses increased by 43% compared to 2016. In other words, 335 people died, or roughly one death a day.

In Quebec, the crisis is growing as well. Recently, a 22-year old young man from the Eastern Townships died after ingesting a cocktail of powerful synthetic opioids.

I want to thank all the organizations and frontline workers in our country who have to deal with the major issue that is the opioid crisis. I want to commend the incredible work of the Maison l'Alcôve treatment centre in my riding. Since 1985, that centre has been working with and treating people with alcohol and drug addictions. Maison l'Alcôve is an addiction treatment centre with in-patient accommodation for adults with substance abuse or gambling problems. They do incredible and important work. I sincerely thank them for it.

Front-line workers and partners all tell us that we must work together to get to the root of addiction by offering housing with support services and combatting homelessness by providing access to essential social services.

The mayor of Vancouver recently asked this government to create a national strategy in response to the magnitude of the crisis. Although many steps have already been taken, mainly at the municipal level, to prevent opioid overdoses, there is still a lot of work to be done.

That is why I am calling on the government to implement an ambitious pan-Canadian action plan, as called for by a task force launched by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, representing 13 cities, including Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto.

When will the government heed these cities' calls, or should I say cries, for help? The time has come to do everything we can to contain this crisis before it becomes a national epidemic.

Jagmeet Singh has proposed the only credible solution: treating addiction as a health care problem and not as a criminal justice problem.

[Public Services and Procurement, February 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board has said that the federal government failed to meet its obligations under the law. Because of the Liberal government's Phoenix fiasco, over 100,000 public service employees are not getting the pay increases that they so deserve. It is completely unacceptable.

Will the Liberals commit to compensating these public servants?

[Infrastructure, February 2nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Canada Infrastructure Bank is really starting to look like the public-private infrastructure partnerships dictated by the Harper government. It will line the pockets of Bay Street investors by making Canadians pay extra tolls and user fees.

Can the Liberal government reassure the provinces and municipalities that infrastructure projects will not have to go through the bank if what the stakeholders want is genuinely public infrastructure?

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

Another important aspect of Bill C-4 introduced by the Harper government that we need to talk about is division 5, which amended the Canada Labour Code provisions dealing with dangerous situations. As defined, it narrowed the scope of what were considered situations of imminent danger. The Liberal bill provides a new definition for danger. However, it is important to make sure that the bill, which will pass in the end, properly supports health and safety officers within the process to help them refuse any work that is dangerous. At present, that can be difficult if they have to appeal directly to the Minister of Labour.

I would like to hear my colleague's thoughts on the importance of having people to support us on occupational health and safety matters.

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I know that my colleague is quite fond of constitutional questions. I have one for him.

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Saskatchewan's essential services law as unconstitutional. That law contains provisions that are similar to those in Bill C-34 and Bill C-62.

Does my colleague agree that it is important to have essential services legislation that respects the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada and, accordingly, that we should update the measures of the previous Conservative government?

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very important issue, as we have been saying since this discussion started.

This is indeed a step in the right direction, but the government, as is often the case, is not going far enough. Amending the definition of “danger” is certainly important, because according to the Conservatives' definition, there was not really any such thing as danger. The new definition is clearer for sure.

However, removing health and safety officers from the process of refusing unsafe work is something really important that we have to keep because otherwise things become arbitrary. The way this is set up, there is no real way to assess a situation accurately. That is why we need to do more to give workers all the tools they need to really work safely and avoid unsafe situations.

[Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, February 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about two different approaches, as we clearly heard in the House this morning. On the one hand, we heard members say that they were going to help workers and, on the other hand, we heard my Conservative colleagues say that this is instead a bill that caters to union bosses instead of workers.

I will point out that workers are at work, providing a service every day. To be represented, they appoint a union representative who negotiates with the government. The people who sit across from the government to negotiate collective agreements represent all public service workers. They are given a mandate by the union members. Therefore, it is wrong to say that we are not really helping workers.

Let us be clear: creating the right conditions for negotiating fair and equitable collective agreements helps all workers, and the people negotiating with the government represent those workers. They are duly mandated to negotiate on their behalf.

As we know, it is by coming together collectively to defend our rights that we make progress in our society. That is why, at the start of my speech, I spoke about the pillars of our democracy, that ability to come together to defend our rights.

Regarding Phoenix, I will close by saying that, in addition to harming workers, it harms even retirees in my riding, people who dedicated their lives to the federal public service and who must now mortgage their homes because of the problems with Phoenix.