Hoang Mai

[Rail Transportation, November 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cannot simply take rail companies like MMA at their word. They need to ensure that risk management is taken as seriously as it should be. That is not the case right now. Over the past three years, the government has not even audited the safety plans of three out of four railways. The minister is responsible.

What additional resources will she give Transport Canada so that all of the safety audits are carried out?

[Respect for Communities Act, November 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his compliments. He paid me so many that they cannot all be deserved.

InSite has many advantages. As I have already mentioned, some of the advantages have to do with health and safety. This is about saving lives. This is about something that works. Studies show that 35% of the lives have been saved.

I find it very difficult to listen to the Conservatives pushing their ideological agenda. On this side of the House, we look at facts. Experience in the field shows that this saves lives. All opposition members are against the Conservative government's position.

[Respect for Communities Act, November 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I feel that the hon. member opposite did not listen to my speech. I said clearly that we are talking about detoxification. Programs exist and we hope that they will succeed in getting people to stop using illegal drugs.

In this case, things have gone too far. The people have tried to get help, but it did not work. We want to find a solution. The preferred solution has been studied around the world and is supported by experts in the field. I know the member wants to make everyone afraid by saying sites like that are going to be established.

As the hon. member mentioned, only one site of this kind presently exists in Canada; it is located in Vancouver.

I remind the hon. member that, according to a study done by Boyd et al. in 2008, 80% of the people surveyed, those living or working in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, supported InSite, so there is community action. Clearly, if the City of Vancouver or the provincial government were opposed to it, the site would not exist.

Some people seem to be unaware of what is really going on. They seem to be blind to what we actually have. We really must study what is already in place. Once again, unfortunately, this is an ideological approach on the part of the Conservatives.

[Respect for Communities Act, November 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today in connection with Bill C-2, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which I oppose. We will definitely be proposing amendments. Prior to prorogation, the government had introduced Bill C-65, which has now become Bill C-2.

In my speech, I would like to explain how we got to where we are, and why we are examining this bill. The intent of the bill, which is largely hidden because the Conservatives have been actively fundraising since introducing it, is to put a stop to supervised injection sites like InSite. At the moment, the only such site is InSite, in Vancouver. In this bill, the government has introduced an interminable list of criteria to deter people from applying for an exemption.

I am going to put this in context. With the support of the community, scientists and experts decided to set up a supervised injection site. The term "supervised" is very important here. The government decided to challenge the site and intervened, taking the issue to court. InSite won and the government lost. The case went to the appeal court, and then all the way to the Supreme Court in 2011. The Supreme Court ruling is called Canada v. PHS Community Services Society. I strongly encourage my colleagues to read this important ruling, because it explains the state of the law. It is a matter of fundamental rights and the charter.

This government is known for being extremely good at introducing bills and taking action that is contrary to the charter. The government says that it is concerned about the taxpayers' money, and yet it continually pushes cases all the way to the Supreme Court. This costs the taxpayers and the stakeholders a great deal of money. If I have time later, I would like to explore the legal aspects. For the time being, I will focus on the public safety aspect and in particular on public health.

The government acts without paying attention to scientific research or the opinions of experts who have commented on the matter. We in the official opposition are beginning to get used to seeing the government introduce scientifically groundless ideological bills. When the government acts, it is only to be expected that it will exaggerate and oversimplify without really addressing all the important points or taking scientific considerations, or the experts, into account. The purpose of all this is simply to raise funds. This is clearly what it is doing at the moment.

Back to public health. Why is it important to consider that aspect? Of course we want heroin addicts to stop using drugs. There has already been preventive work and education around that. From the community standpoint, it is very important. Sometimes, no matter what we do, we cannot help these people. A centre like InSite provides a supervised environment where doctors and experts can ensure that people are not injecting drugs in the street.

In terms of public health, there are tangible results. Studies indicate a decrease of 35% in overdose-related deaths. If the government cared and if it sought the well-being of the public, it would take these figures to heart. Unfortunately, the Conservatives do not do so. They do not look at this aspect, and they oversimplify the problem.

As a member of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, I have had an opportunity to see that the Conservatives always adopt the same ideological approach. They imply that we are with them or against them, and if we are against them, they call us every name in the book. We are in the same situation here.

When we talk about public health, we have to look to the research. And there is research. Canada is not the only country to have studied this issue. Thirty studies have been reviewed by experts, and there are 70 supervised injection sites in Europe and Australia. Studies have also been published in such highly respected international journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and the British Medical Journal. Actual studies have been carried out on this, and they clearly support the position taken by the NDP, which is that of the InSite people and British Columbia.

We should not forget that all of this has received community support. I am anticipating the question my colleague asks every time. There is support from the community and the authorities in the health care field on this issue. We should therefore pay careful attention.

This is not a free-for-all place to shoot up. In this facility, there is supervision and follow-up, and children are not allowed. The result is that people do not do it in the streets. We must stop burying our heads in the sand. Saying that we do not want this in our backyard will not stop people from doing it. People will continue to do it, and that is a problem. Naturally, there are efforts in the area of education and prevention. In this case, however, we have to rely on facts, and in this respect, the government is turning a blind eye.

Let us talk about public safety. If people do not have access to supervised sites like InSite to inject themselves with drugs, they will do it in the streets, in the parks and in all the other places where it can cause problems. We could have needles lying around, cases that are not monitored, people dying and people doing it in an unsafe manner, reusing needles from other users. This will lead to an increase in blood-borne diseases, and will have a direct impact on the health of those concerned.

The Conservatives tend to say that if we are against them, we will automatically say anything. I would nevertheless like to say that the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association and many other organizations support the NDP's position on protecting the health and safety of these people.

In closing, I would like the government to support the amendments the NDP will be proposing, but above all to realize that it has to stop acting ideologically and must finally begin to take the facts and the science into consideration.

[Crisis in the Philippines, November 20th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I think that my colleague may not have heard my answer to his Liberal colleague, who asked me the same question.

Since I already answered that question, I would like to go back to what is important to me and to the community of Brossard—La Prairie.

I will say once again that the action being taken right now is quite important.

I would also point out that this Saturday, November 23, there will be a fundraiser. The Filipino-Canadian community of the south shore of Montreal has organized a brunch to bring people together and raise funds. It is important to do this right now.

I thank my colleague for his question, because that gives me the opportunity to remind people that they have to contribute by December 8. They have to make sure that their donations go to charities recognized by the government.

[Crisis in the Philippines, November 20th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, just last week, I was asked by a group of students what Canada should do. My response was that we should act as an older sibling in showing, first of all, that we do things right and then help other people. This is basically what we are talking about with other countries.

When the minister asks that type of question, he does not listen to what the consul general of the Philippines in Toronto says. I invite him to read the CBC article. The title is “Philippines vulnerable to climate change, consul general says”. It says:

The consul general for the Philippines in Toronto says her country's economy, devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, has long been held back by the many tropical storms that come ashore every year.

Now, we have the official for the Philippines in Warsaw, saying that climate change has an impact on the country's economy.

Again, I am not saying that we are going to change everything, that we are going to act on climate change in a way that will help the Philippines right away. First of all, we have to look at what is happening here in Canada. We see that nothing much is happening. We have to help other countries work together to find solutions.

Ignoring the problem does not help. That is what I see from this minister.

[Crisis in the Philippines, November 20th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister and congratulate him on his new role.

This is not a partisan debate and, of course, we agree on that. The minister does not understand what is happening when someone tries to send a message saying that climate change is a problem. We have said that we agree with what the government is doing and we are even congratulating it on the measures it has taken.

However, the minister is saying that we cannot do two things at once and this shows the government's real vision or rather its lack thereof. The government is unable to consider the long term and anticipate the outcome.

We would rather not have people on hunger strikes, but that person would not be doing that, especially in the important role that person is playing, if there was not a problem. From what I understand from the question, it feels like the minister does not believe in climate change. I think the idea was to bring the issue forward.

In the short term, we agree with what the government is doing, in terms of helping and putting the money there.

However, we still have to understand what the reasons were for the typhoon and that climate change does have an impact. One of the consequences of climate change are typhoons and some of the things that we are seeing happen, such as floods in Canada. There are concrete things happening.

Unfortunately, what we have just seen from that question is that the government does not want to act on climate change.

[Crisis in the Philippines, November 20th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.

First, it is important to recognize the government's action in this regard. We also need to ensure that the money that was promised is given out. We need to listen to what the international community has to say on the subject too.

There will be consequences, and we must react to them. On this side of the House, we are open to doing anything we can to help the Filipino community as soon as the government can get involved. There are a number of ways of doing this. Should the government intervene directly to help? I know that in the short term, money is important, but we also have to think about rebuilding. We need to help the people of the Philippines in any way that we can.

[Crisis in the Philippines, November 20th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to rise today to speak to the crisis in the Philippines.

This was an unfortunate and tragic event. Typhoon Haiyan hit hard, and everything we are talking about this evening has to do with helping Filipinos.

I will try to take partisanship out of this as much as possible, and I want to commend the government's actions to help the people of the Philippines through the financial assistance people have mentioned. The government has promised that it will match Canadians' donations to recognized charities dollar for dollar.

I am of Vietnamese origin and I have been particularly moved by this situation. The Philippines holds a special place in my heart. I used to work in Asia, and have been to Manila, in the Philippines. I also vacationed in the Philippines and took diving lessons there. That is the first place I learned to dive. I have tangible and very real ties to the country.

The Filipino community living in Canada is so close. It has tremendously good values when we talk about family and support. That is something with which I am always impressed.

I remember a couple of events in my riding. When we celebrated Valentine's Day, that was an occasion for me to actually see the culture and how they celebrated. There is a love of life that is tremendously strong. That is why my heart goes out to the people in the Philippines and also their families living in Canada which are going through tragic and difficult times right now.

I want to tell them that Canada is behind them. We are working together, all parties, the government and opposition, to try to help people in the Philippines move forward.

I definitely want to mention, for instance, what is happening in my riding of Brossard—La Prairie. On November 23, which is this coming Saturday, there will be a fundraising brunch for the benefit of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, organized by the Filipino Canadian community of the south shore. It is a community I work with a lot. It is organizing it at Good Shepherd Church community hall at 7900 Naples Street in Brossard. I obviously will be there. There will be three servings. One is at 8 o'clock in the morning, 9:30 a.m. and I think the last one is at 11 a.m.

Hopefully we will work together to try to find other ways to bring the community together. It is all communities, not just the Filipino community, not just the Asian community, but all Canadians together, so we can actually raise a lot of funds to help people in the Philippines.

This type of help is short term. Obviously there are so many things we need to do. A lot of people here have seen some of the coverage and images and they are haunting. We need to work together to change things and make things better for the people in the Philippines.

The government has acted quickly, but there will be some challenges ahead.

The government has stated that it will take some measures, including some related to immigration. Once again, I do not wish to be too partisan in this case, but I hope that the government will do more than it promised in terms of family reunification in particular.

In my office in Brossard—La Prairie, we have had many problems with wait times in the past. Since I was elected two years ago, wait times for visas and other things have gotten longer.

We have heard the government's promises and, with all my heart, I really hope that they will take shape, that concrete action will be taken to help people come here and to help people over there. Money is certainly important for short-term and medium-term reconstruction. However, we then have to make sure that long-term measures are in place.

When we see the extent of the destruction, we certainly think about everything that must be done to rebuild. Unfortunately, it also makes us think about what happened in Haiti. The international community came together. I am very proud that Canada showed initiative and rose to that occasion.

I want to highlight the generosity of Canadians in general. Canadians from every part of the country have come together to help the people of the Philippines. I repeat that it is very important for people to make sure that the money goes to government-recognized charities so that the government can make a matching contribution. We also have to come up with long-term solutions.

Clearly, in the case of the Philippines, the biggest typhoon in a long time is a direct consequence of climate change.

I will mention an article that came out today in the CBC News. It talks about the impact that the Philippines specifically is suffering because of climate change. The article is titled, “Philippines vulnerable to climate change, consul general says”, and that is the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto.

The article notes that the Philippines is very vulnerable to typhoons and the destruction has slowed down its economy.

If we want to help other countries, we have to take our role seriously. One of the things we have to do is combat climate change. It is very important, and I am not just saying that as a partisan issue.

I will quote from the article, which says:

A Philippine official launched a hunger strike last week to pressure a UN climate change conference to come up with concrete steps to fight global warming. Naderev Sano, a member of the Philippine Climate Change Commission, told the Washington Times he was fasting “in solidarity with my countrymen who are now struggling for food back home”—including his own brother, whom Sano said “has been gathering bodies of the dead with his own two hands.”

It is real. It is happening and we have to do something about it.

One of the reasons I came into politics, became a member and got involved, was because of climate change. We need to protect the environment, and this is a consequence of what is happening globally.

I read another report that came out of Europe that said Canada had the worst climate change policy in the industrialized world. We came in 55th out of 58 countries, and that is very shameful. I think the three last countries were Iran, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. This makes us think of how we move forward.

We need to think about the future, but of course we also need to react immediately. Once again, I tip my hat to the government for acting quickly. I hope that in the medium term, the government will look at everything related to immigration, aid to people in the Philippines and rebuilding.

The hon. member for Ottawa Centre spoke about cash for work programs. Investment is needed so that the people in the Philippines can rebuild their country themselves. We need to help them do that. We also need to have a long-term vision for what we can do. That is the most important issue.

When people talk about climate change, among other things, it is important to take action. I hope that is what the government will do.

I do not want to be partisan in this debate. Our sincere thoughts are with the people in the Philippines. I am very pleased that we can discuss what we can do and what we can improve to help the people of the Philippines.

I need to tell the Filipino community in Brossard—La Prairie that I am very proud of the work they do and that I will continue working with them.

[Crisis in the Philippines, November 20th, 2013]

Mr. Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. I would also like to hear more of what he has to say about this topic.

This is not a partisan debate. The people of the Philippines are in our thoughts. I would like to know what medium- and long-term plans the government has to help the Philippines, especially since we know that the Philippines has been particularly affected by climate change.