Christine Moore

[National Volunteer Week, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is National Volunteer Week, and I want to take the time to thank the 13 million Canadians who generously donate their time to help their communities. In Canada, volunteer work represents the equivalent of more than one million full-time jobs, for a contribution valued at $56 billion, or 2.6% of GDP. Despite all the numbers, we strongly believe that volunteering brings priceless value to our communities.

In many rural communities across Canada, essential services ranging from health to culture and even education depend on volunteers to survive. Let us not forget that, without these volunteers, some villages would wither away, doomed to disappear completely.

However, we also volunteer in order to bring our neighbours together and celebrate. For example, the village of Dupuy in Abitibi West, where I live, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year thanks to the dedication and hard work of many volunteers, made up of virtually the entire local population. Since this week is National Volunteer Week, I want to take a moment to honour these volunteers and thank them for their efforts. Volunteers are amazing.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, April 16th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I have a short question. My daughter is turning one on Saturday. I was wondering, if the Liberals are allowed to continue down the same path, will there be balanced budgets and pay equity by the time my daughter turns 18?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, April 16th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, people come to my office every week because they are unable to access the benefits to which they are entitled. These people are often poor and unable to get the Canada Revenue Agency to process their files. It is maddening to see the number of documents they are asked to produce, for example, to prove that their children really do live with them. I really do not know where they would be if not with their parents. In every case, these people are poor and could have used that money.

Some people have not received any benefits since 2009, and the government has never helped them get that money. These people come to my office and I help them as best I can to figure out their file with the Canada Revenue Agency. In some cases, they have missed out on $20,000 in benefits.

The member believes that the Canada child benefit lifts all children out of poverty. However, the reality is that many parents never access these benefits and the government is not doing anything to help them. They do not even have access to in-person services and are forced to fight for these benefits. We try to help them as best we can but, sadly, some cases are overlooked because the Canada Revenue Agency does not send me a list of those who might need help.

What are my colleague's thoughts on that?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, April 16th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I was very surprised to see that this budget implementation bill amends the Parliament of Canada Act. That is one of the measures that I fought for, particularly at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. These are recommendations that I made. They seek to recognize motherhood and new parenthood as valid reasons for members to be absent from the House without penalty. Unfortunately, the government included those recommendations in an omnibus budget bill, when they have nothing to do with the budget.

Past amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act were always made in an open and transparent manner. They were never made surreptitiously. Since members must abide by the measures set out in that act, they cannot be amended in secret. To amend the Parliament of Canada Act in a way that is not open and transparent would be an insult to Canadians' intelligence.

I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the transgression that the Liberal government dared to commit in the budget, namely planning to quietly amend the Parliament of Canada Act as part of an omnibus bill.

[Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities Act, April 16th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to have an opportunity to speak to this bill, which is important to understanding the situation many people face on a daily basis. For instance, some couples, when one of them has a disability and is not currently working, have to crunch the numbers before accepting a job. A number of considerations come into play when deciding whether it is worth it to go to work. Transportation costs, for one, are a factor that must considered and so are day care costs, if the couple has children, since staying at home saves on this expense. A number of factors come into play in the calculation. Furthermore, many benefits are lost once a certain income bracket is reached. For instance, the amount of family allowance payments goes down as income goes up. This can have a significant impact considering all the benefits. In Quebec, the public drug insurance plan covers people who are not working. People who work are obligated to join the drug plan offered by their employer, and that plan is sometimes a lot more expensive than the government plan. Choosing to go to work can have significant financial consequences.

When you add up all the money people do not have to spend when they are not working but do have to spend when they are, and then you factor in lost benefits, the tax rate, and rising costs of various services they need, unfortunately for a lot of people, it is not worth having a job. That is just so sad.

Right now, we have an unprecedented labour shortage. In Abitibi—Témiscamingue, people are tearing their hair out trying to come up with ways to find workers. Many of these jobs require minimal skills, and employers are even hiring people who are not qualified at all. For many of these jobs, the only requirement is willingness to work. The situation is so dire that employers have no choice. Right now in Abitibi—Témiscamingue, businesses are closing and restaurants are cutting back their hours because they cannot find workers.

We need to figure out how to help everyone with the ability and the desire to work find those opportunities because the labour shortage is having a major impact on regional economies like mine. A bill like this one would guarantee that people with disabilities benefit from making that decision to work. I think that is so important.

Employers are left with no choice. They have to resort to non-traditional labour pools. When people do the math and realize it is not worth it to go to work, then we lose out on potential employees. Countless studies have shown how effective persons with disabilities are at work.

I will be pleased to continue my speech when we resume debate on this bill.

[Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities Act, April 16th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as everyone probably knows, there are costs associated with working, such as the cost of transportation and, for working parents, the cost of child care. Does my colleague believe our tax system should be set up to ensure that working never costs more than not working and that working is always worthwhile, regardless of an individual's personal circumstances? Unfortunately, sometimes that is not the case.

Does my colleague believe that basic principle of taxation should inform all our policies?

[Rural Crime, March 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is especially important to me because I still live in the rural area where I was born and raised.

I sometimes have the impression that people do not really understand our reality. One-size-fits-all policies are often imposed without a proper understanding of our reality.

In my region of Abitibi West and, really, any time police are responding to calls at night, there are about two teams on patrol. This means that we count on four police officers to cover a territory larger than some countries. This presents specific challenges. For instance, a traffic accident involving two vehicles can block traffic, which would require our entire police force to mobilize for a car accident, so those officers would not be available to respond to other calls. This can cause some rather difficult situations, since crimes are sometimes committed and people are sometimes injured. In such situations, an ambulance might not be available to get that individual to hospital, because there are only so many ambulances at night. This is just part of rural life.

Indigenous police forces face even more challenges because they have smaller staffs. If an officer is sick, someone else will have to work overtime, and it is complicated to find replacements. These police officers also face significant social challenges.

When talking about rural crimes, we cannot ignore the underlying social problems. Looking at these social problems is part of the overall solution, and it is extremely complicated.

In talking about indigenous police forces, I cannot ignore the death of Thierry LeRoux. His death sent shockwaves through my region. Thierry LeRoux was a police officer who was working in Lac-Simon when he was killed as he was responding to a person in distress.

I spoke to his father after the events. This is a very strong man. He told me that, even if it would not bring back his son, it was important to do everything possible to make sure that this never happens again.

This is why a motion like the one my colleague moved will help us find concrete ways to make indigenous police forces more tactically and operationally effective. These officers must have the necessary tools to better respond and serve the public.

Yes, we need to invest money, but we also need to develop a strategy and consider our thought process. We need to be open so that we can understand what police forces need, and then we can look at how much that will cost.

The additional funding has obviously been appreciated, but we must determine whether needs are still being disregarded, and we must give these police forces the appropriate operational capabilities.

I spoke to the chief of police in Pikogan, in my riding. I have known him since I was a little girl; his sisters babysat me. Now, we talk about what is going on. It is hard for him to respond, since the situations are so unique. This reality is often difficult to explain. We must obviously take a closer look at the operational capabilities of these police forces.

There is another specifically rural problem that has to do with rehabilitation. In a large urban centre, a person can get out of jail and choose to never again see the people who led him or her down the wrong path. It is easier to avoid former associates. However, when you come from a village of 300 people, how can you avoid seeing them or being around them? It is nearly impossible. The only choice is to leave town.

That is a unique problem because it is very difficult for people released from prison to avoid getting involved with the same people again. We need to make sure rehabilitation services available in prisons are effective so that people from rural areas who get out do not get drawn back in. We have to look at everything related to rehabilitation because persuading these people to avoid the bad influences that led them to crime in the first place is a major challenge.

The other big difference when it comes to crime in rural areas is the victims. Victims in rural areas are much more likely than those in big cities to encounter their aggressor again while doing things like grocery shopping. That is very hard for victims of violent crime. People who are unfortunate enough to be in that situation may experience chronic post-traumatic stress syndrome because they relive the events every day and cannot fully heal.

I should also point out that some women never come forward because they are afraid their aggressor will be released on their own recognizance and will remain in the community, which does not solve the problem. In many cases, it is easier to keep the incident quiet. That is a huge problem for victims who cannot move on with their lives because they are constantly reliving those experiences.

We are talking about violent crimes that take a tremendous toll on victims, but we should also consider the victims of minor crimes. How is a person supposed to react when they see the person who stole from them daily, but that person was not charged because of a lack of evidence and the police did not arrive on time? What are we supposed to do in that case? It is an extremely complicated matter. It is hard to know what that is like if you do not understand what rural life is like.

That is why I am proposing an amendment to Motion No. 167.

I move:

That the motion be amended by adding, after the words “emerging crime rates,” the following:

“(v) measures to increase the tactical and operational effectiveness of Indigenous police forces, (vi) strategies and resources dedicated to the judicial and rehabilitation systems in rural areas, (vii) improved support for victims of rural crime,”.

[Rural Crime, March 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleague to comment on the recent announcement of investment from the Alberta provincial government by the justice minister, Kathleen Ganley, of $10 million to fight rural crime, and she announced a seven-step plan at the same time.

[Veterans, March 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague said in her speech that veterans will have to wait until April 1, 2019. I still do not understand why they have to wait. Why that date? Why will it take a year for the Liberals to keep a promise they made during the election campaign? Why were they not already prepared to do this?

My colleague's speech did not mention any action or measures the Liberals plan to take to address all the red tape veterans have to cut through time and time again. It is a real problem.

For veterans who have a pension for life but cannot access it because they go crazy trying to deal with the department and bureaucrats, that is extremely problematic.

It is important to remember that these men and women are often accustomed to fighting with their hands and the physical skills they have learned. These are men and women of action. They are not specialists in dealing with government red tape—

[Veterans, March 23rd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I asked a question about veterans because I wanted to find out whether the Prime Minister and the Liberal cabinet intend to keep the election promise they made to restore lifelong pensions. Unfortunately, at the time, all they gave me was another general answer. They said that more details would follow.

They have given us those details, but unfortunately, veterans will have to wait until April 1, 2019, to get what they were promised during the election campaign. That seems like a long time to me. I would like to remind the parliamentary secretary that the election campaign took place in 2015. The Liberals will not fulfill their promise until 2019 and even then there will be a choice to make. The Liberals seem to want to save money at the expense of veterans by failing to implement the promised measure.

I think that the government's attitude toward this situation is totally unacceptable. During their careers, veterans became accustomed to discipline and structure, and when they are faced with such an unbelievable amount of government red tape, they always get discouraged. It saddens me that veterans always have to lug around three or four binders full of information about their case. They always have to fight to have their sacrifices recognized, even though they gave up dozens of years of their lives to serve our country. I will never understand this government's attitude.

It is high time the government kept its promises and perhaps it could do better than waiting until a year from now do to so. It is time to do some housecleaning. We need to stop forcing veterans to fight against their own government and against the country that they served with a pride and willingness rarely seen in other occupations. The government is making them wait and is not addressing the real problem, which is the endless red tape at the Department of Veterans Affairs. These men and women deserve better.

I would therefore like the parliamentary secretary to show that she is prepared to find solutions so that veterans are never again kept waiting and are shown more respect. The government has to stop keeping veterans waiting because many of them are suffering.