House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2025, with 46% of the vote.
Allegations Against Government of India September 19th, 2023
Madam Chair, our national anthem says, “stand on guard for thee”, and I think it is important that we stand on guard for each other, that we protect each other and that when one of us is hurt or one of us killed, we stand up and we show up. That is the very basic thing that Canadians expect from us, that we rally together, show up, support each other and stand in solidarity.
Allegations Against Government of India September 19th, 2023
Madam Chair, when our ally, Ukraine, was attacked viciously by Russia, all of us rose in the House of Commons to speak, to show our solidarity. We were here for late night take-note debates and emergency debates. We were here; we stood up and we cheered on the Ukrainian allies when they were under assault. We said, slava Ukraini, yet here we are and one of ours, a Canadian citizen, was killed and there are serious significant allegations that it is tied to a foreign agent and a foreign country, and where is the official opposition? Where is the Conservative Party, in terms of its voice? They are not here. We have not heard from them. That is absolutely appalling, and it is something I hope my colleagues across the way will reflect upon. I am sure Canadians will reflect upon that as well.
Allegations Against Government of India September 19th, 2023
Madam Chair, it is one party, and that is the Conservative Party. Its silence is absolutely deafening, and it is absolutely telling.
Allegations Against Government of India September 19th, 2023
Madam Chair, I want to thank my hon. colleague for his incredible work and for being the voice of immigrant communities and new Canadian communities from across the country, coast to coast.
Solidarity means that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us as Canadians. It is up to all of us in this House to stand together and to stand firm against this type of assault. This is an attack on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is an attack on who we are as Canadians, and my hon. colleague is absolutely right.
The silence from the opposition members is absolutely deafening—
Allegations Against Government of India September 19th, 2023
Madam Chair, Canada is home to the largest proportion of Sikhs on Planet Earth: more than in India, more than in the United States and more than in any other nation in the world.
We think of the many vibrant Sikh communities that now exist across Canada, in Vancouver, Surrey, Brampton, Calgary, Montreal and many more cities. With each passing day, more and more Sikh Canadians are calling my community of Windsor—Essex their home. They design and build cars at Stellantis and Ford. Sikhs care for seniors and residents at Windsor Regional Hospital and Hôtel-Dieu Grace hospital. They open businesses and restaurants, and share their culture and tradition with us.
On County Road 42, there sits a beautiful gurdwara where Sikhs in my community have gathered for more than two decades. It is a place of peaceful worship. It is a place of community, where families come together, where young Sikh Canadians go to Punjabi school and attend Khalsa Camp in the summers, where international students come to share in a meal and get a taste of home and where, in fact, the community prepares meals for each other, for the hungry and homeless in my community and for visitors like myself.
I have been to the gurdwara many times to celebrate Vaisakhi, to light a candle for Diwali, to share in the grief when three international students from St. Clair College lost their lives in a tragic car crash, and to speak with the incredible truck drivers who, day after day, deliver the food, medicines and car parts that make our community go.
More recently, this summer I visited with my friend, the hon. member for Brampton West, the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, herself a Sikh, to meet with young Sikh Canadians attending Khalsa Camp. On another occasion, the Minister of Housing and the Minister of National Defence joined me at the gurdwara. There were three ministers, a Sikh, a Muslim and a Hindu, all welcomed warmly at the gurdwara. That is the best of what Canada is about.
To think for even one second that a member of my community could be killed just steps away from the gurdwara for their political beliefs, by a foreign agent working for a foreign country, is abhorrent to me. It is an offence to every single Canadian who believes in democracy, freedom of speech and the sovereignty of our laws and our country, Canada.
This is not new. For Sikh Canadians, such intimidation is not new. In the last 24 hours, I have had a chance to speak with members of my Sikh community, and they tell me the same thing. They worry that if they protest the treatment of farmers in Punjab, that they or their families could be targeted.
I see protests and rallies on Parliament Hill almost every single day, for all sorts of issues. Just today, I attended a union rally calling for the elimination of replacement workers. Peaceful protest is what Canada is all about. It is how we expand our freedoms. It is how we improve quality of life for all of our citizens. I cannot imagine someone fearing for their life because they are expressing their political view, but here we are.
My family knows this fear. In the old country, in Poland, my father was a local leader of the solidarity movement that fought for the rights of workers in communist Poland. Just after midnight on December 13, 1981, the police came to our door and arrested my father. Thousands of solidarity leaders were rounded up and imprisoned. For weeks, we did not know whether my father was alive or dead, all because he dared to speak up and stand up for justice and rights. Like so many immigrants, my family came to Canada to flee oppression and political persecution.
Canada accepted my family as political refugees and gave us safe harbour. That is the dream for millions of immigrants and new Canadians. That dream has been shattered with the news of the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
I had a chance tonight to speak with the family of Mr. Nijjar, who call my community home. To them, and to all Sikh Canadians, including those back home in Windsor-Tecumseh, we stand in solidarity. The Sikh faith compels us to speak out against injustice, and so we must and so we will. We will pursue the truth. We will bring justice, but let us do so together, united as Canadians.
Questions on the Order Paper June 21st, 2023
Mr. Speaker, ESDC reviewed all grants and contributions within the skills for success program by conducting data searches within the common system for grants and contributions, CSGC, as well as conducting internal consultations.
The skills for success, SFS, program was launched in May 2021. The department developed an investment strategy that included five investment approaches: expansion of some existing projects; funding of 12 unsolicited proposals that met the objectives of the program; solicited call for organizations that was launched in 2021; solicited call for provinces and territories that was launched in 2021; and call for proposals that was launched in January 2022 and closed in March 2022.
The first three of the investment approaches are complete and all projects stemming from those approaches are now advancing. Funding decisions for the final two approaches are being finalized, i.e., projects are still being assessed. It has been assumed that the questions relate specifically to the call for proposals, therefore, a full list of applications to respond to parts (d) to (h) cannot yet be provided. Final funding decisions are expected to be confirmed by early summer 2023.
With regard to part (a), under the skills for success 2021 call for proposals, approximately 433 applications were received for stream 1, tools and training stream; and 120 applications were received for the stream 2, research and innovation stream.
With regard to part (b), under the skills for success 2021 call for proposals, approximately $904,092,567 was requested under stream 1, tools and training stream, adult learning literacy and essential skills program, skills for success, contribution; and $197,652,753 was requested under stream 2, research and innovation, national essential skills initiative, skills for success, employment insurance, EI, part II.
With regard to part (c), under the skills for success 2021 call for proposals, please note the following. The following funding was requested under stream 1, tools and training, adult learning literacy and essential skills program, skills for success, contribution: Alberta: $0; Newfoundland and Labrador: $23,360,911; Nova Scotia: $27,431,518; Prince Edward Island: $5,420,630; New Brunswick: $26,362,514; Quebec: $51,788,867; Ontario: $432,564,687; Manitoba: $35,862,467; Saskatchewan: $25,038,378; Alberta: $137,992,934; British Columbia: $116,716,438; Northwest Territories: $19,776,998; Yukon Territory: $1,566,225; and Nunavut: $210,000.
The following funding was requested under stream 2, research and innovation, national essential skills initiative, skills for success, EI, part II: Newfoundland and Labrador: $1,974,762; Nova Scotia: $4,697,655; Prince Edward Island: $755,111; New Brunswick: $2,362,673; Quebec: $7,562,772; Ontario: $112,304,390; Manitoba: $5,205,579; Saskatchewan: $8,147,682; Alberta: $32,978,421; British Columbia: $18,636,406; and Northwest Territories: $3,063,302.
With regard to part (i), no third parties, outside of ESDC, have been given any responsibilities for the skills for success program related to the application process or administration of the program.
Questions on the Order Paper June 21st, 2023
Mr. Speaker, ESDC reviewed all grants and contribution programs by conducting data searches within the common system for grants and contributions, CSGC, as well as through conducting internal consultations.
With regard to part (a), the skills for success, SFS, program launched a new model in May 2021. Following this, the department developed an investment strategy that included five investment approaches: the expansion of some existing projects; the funding of 12 unsolicited proposals that met the objectives of the program; a solicited call for organizations that was launched in 2021; a solicited call for provinces and territories that was launched in 2021; and a call for proposals, CFP, that was launched in January and closed in March 2022. The first three of the intake approaches are complete and all projects stemming from those approaches are now advancing. Funding decisions for the final two approaches are being finalized, i.e., projects are still being assessed. Therefore, a full list of applications that have received funding with additional details cannot yet be provided.
With regard to part (b), on the CFP specifically, funding decisions are being communicated at varying times, depending on whether proposals sought to support persons with disabilities, racialized Canadians or Canadians from one or more of the other identified underserved groups. As a result, some organizations have received a funding decision under the training and tools or research and innovation streams of the CFP; however, final notifications are expected to be fully confirmed by early summer 2023.
With regard to part (c), the SFS program uses the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies survey data results to help guide policy direction for the program. This survey includes measures of literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments on a scale of 1 to 5.
Persons with Disabilities June 14th, 2023
Mr. Speaker, the passing of Bill C-22 will be a major milestone in our strong and unwavering commitment toward creating a barrier-free Canada.
I assure the member for Kitchener Centre that we share his sense of urgency in seeing Bill C-22 passed into law. We are doing everything we possibly can to ensure Bill C-22 is passed before the summer recess. We are working with all parties to get it done.
Again, I thank the member for his question and his advocacy.
Persons with Disabilities June 14th, 2023
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Kitchener Centre for his continued advocacy on behalf of Canadians with disabilities.
All of us are working hard and working together to make sure we restore the pride the member had mentioned, and restore financial security for Canadians with disabilities.
I would like to especially acknowledge the work and advocacy of the hon. Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. The minister has been working tirelessly throughout her career to promote the rights of persons with disabilities.
I assure my colleague that we share his sense of urgency in seeing Bill C-22 passed into law. We are doing everything we can to ensure it is passed before the summer recess. We are working with all parties to get it done.
The passage of Bill C-22 will be a major milestone in our strong and unwavering commitment toward creating a barrier-free Canada. That work began in 2015, with the appointment of Canada's first-ever minister responsible for persons with disabilities.
In 2016, Canada became the 20th country to sign the Marrakesh Treaty, and did so with the support of all provinces and territories.
In 2018, Canada acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In 2022, Dr. Laverne Jacobs was elected to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was the first time that a Canadian has held a seat at this important international table.
In 2019, the Accessible Canada Act came into force. The passing of this landmark legislation has undoubtedly been one of the most significant achievements for disability rights in the history of our country. The act has been the foundation for National Accessibility Week and for the establishment of Accessibility Standards Canada.
In October 2022, we released Canada's first-ever disability inclusion action plan. The action plan has four pillars: employment, accessible and inclusive communities, a modern approach to disability and financial security.
Throughout all of our consultations we kept hearing the same thing, that financial security is by far the most urgent priority for persons with disabilities. It is through the pillar of financial security that we will create the historic Canada disability benefit to help significantly reduce poverty and improve financial security for hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities. That is why we need to get this legislation passed quickly.
I would once again like to thank the member opposite for his question, his continued advocacy and his teamwork.
The Environment June 14th, 2023
Mr. Speaker, we are taking concrete steps to protect the marine environment while supporting economic growth. This includes Canada's oceans protection plan, which is providing over $3.5 billion to protect Canada's coasts and waterways. The budget also announced the renewal of Canada's whale initiative, committing $152 million to the protection and recovery of the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.
We look forward to continued collaboration with Indigenous groups, marine stakeholders and communities to reduce the risks vessel traffic poses to the marine environment, while balancing our commitment to the safe and efficient movement of people and goods.