House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2011, with 47% of the vote.
Employment Insurance October 16th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the minister simply has nothing to offer unemployed Canadians except empty words. She talks of jobs but her government put forward a reckless job-killing budget that New Democrats were proud to vote against.
The fact is few will benefit from the minister's changes to working while on claim. The majority will still be worse off now than before the minister started tinkering. People looking for work deserve better. When will the minister get to work and fix the mess that she created?
Petitions October 15th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions today in support of Bill C-322, a bill that was tabled by my friend and NDP colleague, the member for British Columbia Southern Interior.
The petitioners know that horses ought to be kept and treated as supportive and companion animals, but all too often Canadian horsemeat products are now being sold for human consumption despite the fact that the meat is likely to contain prohibited substances that were never intended for human consumption. That is why the petitioners are calling upon Parliament to adopt Bill C-322, An Act to amend the Health of Animals Act and the Meat Inspection Act, which would prohibit the importation and exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption as well as horsemeat products for human consumption.
I am delighted to be able to table this petition in the House dealing with such an important matter of animal welfare.
Employment Insurance October 15th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Conservatives still have not learned from their mistakes. They are still creating talking points instead of jobs. The fact is that the Conservatives have only solved half the problem. Even those Canadians who did get a reprieve are left hanging until January. Their bills are due now. They cannot tell their landlords to wait until January.
All unemployed Canadians deserve fairness from the government, so I will ask the minister one more time: Will she now properly fix the mess that she has created?
Employment Insurance October 15th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, all fall the parliamentary secretary for human resources claimed that all workers would benefit from the working while on claim program. Then, just before Thanksgiving, the minister threw her under the bus, agreed with the NDP and finally conceded that there were problems with her program. Unfortunately, her fix only allows a few to opt for the old rules. Most will still see their income clawed back 50% right from the very first dollar.
Why is the minister creating a two-tiered system? Why will she not just fix the mess that she created?
Business of Supply October 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister's comments, but he has to know that the government's history with respect to foreign takeovers is not a stellar one.
He will know that when the government approved the foreign takeover of Stelco by U.S. Steel in Hamilton, the company made commitments for both employment and production targets, none of which were met. The government then, rightly I would say, took the company to court, was winning every court challenge and then for some still inexplicable reason dropped the court case, rolled over and let U.S. Steel get away with its abysmal record in our community.
This Thursday is the two-year anniversary of the blast furnace being shut down at U.S. Steel. People are still not back to their jobs. I wonder if the minister could stand and explain to the House, but more important to the members of USW Local 1005, what he will do to act now to protect their jobs, when he rolled over so badly just a little while ago?
Employment Insurance October 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative government never misses an opportunity to help the most well off, while continually abdicating its responsibility to the poor.
Yesterday, the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development acknowledged that not everyone was benefiting from the new working while on claim. In fact, it is the lowest income, the most vulnerable Canadians who are losing out. The minister's response is to turn her back.
The minister has admitted there is problem. Why will she not do the reasonable thing, the fair thing, and fix it now?
Employment Insurance October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see the minister backtrack from the comments of her parliamentary secretary, because there is no shame in making a mistake. The only shame is in failing to acknowledge it and correct it.
For days now, we in the NDP have been bringing to the House cases where working while on claim has been detrimental to the lowest income Canadians.
Will the minister do the same thing again and stand up in the House today and say there was an error in the program design and correct it here today?
Employment Insurance October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, two sides of the country, two different stories from two different Conservatives.
In May, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans claimed that the goal of EI reforms was not to force Atlantic Canadians to move away from their home communities, but then last week the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources went to Alberta and said that the goal of the changes was to force unemployed people to relocate.
Why should Canadians trust the government when its story changes according to where its audience lives?
Business of Supply October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is a terrific question, because all too often we focus on the forest instead of the trees in this House. He is absolutely right. The changes that were before us have a profoundly negative impact, not just on the individual families but on communities as a whole. That, of course, includes small business.
When we were debating here in the House how we would deal with the incredible economic downturn in 2008-2009, economists were saying to us that one of the tools at our disposal is to strengthen employment insurance, because if people have more money in their pockets they will spend it in their own local communities. They will spend it in the mom and pop stores in their communities. They are not going to put that money into some savings account. There is no dead money in the homes of people on EI. That money would go to support communities. That is one of the reasons why EI is so important, not just to Canadian families, but indeed to the whole communities in which they live.
Business of Supply October 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I absolutely agree with the leader of the Green Party. The changes that were made in Bill C-38 to the provisions impacting those who are seasonally employed are absolutely outrageous.
The reason we focused on this particular part of the EI system for today's motion is that, one, it is a stand-alone discrete item and, two, we in the NDP kind of want to give the minister the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she did not understand her own program. We want to give her the opportunity, in this one very specific way, to say, “You know what? You're right; there is a mistake in the program design. I recognize it now and I'm prepared to fix it”. That is why we cast the motion as narrowly as we did.
The member is absolutely right. We could spend the entire rest of this Parliament talking about things that need to be fixed with Canada's employment insurance system.