Irene Mathyssen

[Status of Women, February 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative budget mentions women zero times, not one word about women even though they are most likely to be the ones who will suffer most from the recession: no pay equity, no change to employment insurance eligibility. The government is leaving women out in the cold.

Extending benefits for five weeks does not help the two-thirds of working women who do not even qualify for benefits. Why does the government continue to ignore women at a time when they need the support most?

[The Budget, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, today the Leader of the Opposition has called the Prime Minister misguided and castigated his fiscal policy, his November economic update and a lack of genuine financial support for the vulnerable, the jobs of the present and the jobs of tomorrow.

In his speech he said that yesterday's budget was a “flawed document”. He berated the government for failing to keep its promises, the policy on pay equity and the lack of child care. As late as January 20 of this year, the Leader of the Opposition told the Ottawa Citizen that the attack on women and pay equity was “mean-spirited, pernicious, ideological and unprincipled”. He said, “It is shameful that our country is moving backwards instead of forward. It is time for all Canadians to stand up and say together: 'we have had enough'.”

With the Liberal-Conservative alliance, the Liberals refuse to change and have given up hope. First the Liberals hid behind the curtains, then they walked out. Now they have given up and for the 45th time plan to support the Conservatives.

Is this the Liberal definition of leadership and courage? Is it how the Leader of the Opposition stands up to a mean-spirited and misguided government?

[The Budget, January 28th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative budget has failed Canadians. There is not a single mention of women in the entire document and no funding for issues that directly affect them.

The budget maintains the attack on women's ability to pursue pay equity complaints. New Democrats have repeatedly called for a pay equity commissioner to ensure complaints are dealt with effectively and efficiently.

The budget contains no mention of new child care spaces. Without a national child care program, there is a chill for women who wish to contribute to the economy.

Two-thirds of women still do not qualify for EI. The call for crucial changes to the system was ignored, leaving many women without any benefits despite having paid into the fund.

The tax cuts in the budget will be of little or no benefit to the poorest 68% of women. In tough economic times it is crucial that the government invest in protecting the most vulnerable.

The budget has failed women and their families. It has failed them miserably.

[Economic and Fiscal Statement, December 4th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, for the past week, or perhaps even longer, I have been thinking of a line from Dante who said that the hottest parts of hell were reserved for those who in times of great national crisis refused to act.

This has been coming back to me over and over again. The Prime Minister had a throne speech. He had an economic update. Last night he had an opportunity to tell the nation that he had an economic plan which would include stimuli so we could have infrastructure, so we could address the needs of the automotive, manufacturing and forestry sectors, so we could protect citizens and ensure that those who were laid off would have employment insurance benefits and so we could improve the lives of families by increasing the child tax benefit.

Why did the Prime Minister and his government refuse to act?

[Petitions, November 24th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my final petition is from a number of Canadians who are profoundly concerned about the 400,000 people who have lost their lives and the 2.5 million who have been displaced in the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur.

These Canadians call upon the Government of Canada to play a leading role in ending the despair, rape and killing by engaging with the international community for the purpose of pursuing whatever action is necessary to end these atrocities.

[Petitions, November 24th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition is from members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada who wish to draw to the attention of the House of Commons the fact that federal public sector workers, retirees and their families do not have access to a health drug card under the Public Service Health Care Plan.

The petitioners ask that Parliament direct the Treasury Board of Canada to provide PSHCP members with a health drug card by December 31, 2008.

[Petitions, November 24th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, my first petition is from a number of Canadians who ask the Parliament of Canada to take responsibility for the error made in 2001 by Statistics Canada in the calculation of the Consumer Price Index. Because of this error, recipients of the Canada pension plan, old age security and guarantee income supplement have been under-compensated by a compounded half percentage point a year and have lost benefits totalling over $1 billion.

The petitioners wish the government to take the necessary steps to rectify this error and help our seniors.

[Resumption of debate on Address in Reply, November 20th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate you on your election and thank the people of London—Fanshawe for putting their trust in me once again. I congratulate the member for Sudbury as well.

I have a question with regard to some of the issues that he has brought forward. We know that Canada and Canadian families are on the edge of a serious economic time. Families are worried. My riding of London—Fanshawe has lost about 1,200 jobs in the last few months. People are frightened. They are hoping they have a government that is willing to invest in communities, child care, affordable housing and pay equity, but they have heard nothing in the Speech from the Throne.

My question for the hon. member is about employment insurance. Over and over again people come to my office. They are desperate because they have been cut off employment insurance or they do not qualify. They are very clear that we need new rules.

Has the member encountered this and would please comment on it?

[Committees of the House, June 18th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am a little lost to understand exactly the full connection here. Basically, I understand that when a divorce happens, when families are split apart, there is pain and suffering on both sides of the equation. However, over and over again we found in our committee that, by and large, women had not benefited from the court systems, or tax policy or social expenditures.

In the 2006 budget, once again, women were denied access to the courts. We saw support for women, in terms of their access to the courts, reduced by the loss of the court challenges program. We also saw reductions in spending for support for women who needed—

[Committees of the House, June 18th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the member is quite right. I did speak generally about the impact of tax cuts and the fact that they did not benefit women. In fact, 68% of women will not benefit at all from the 2008 budget. We have heard that over and over again. It is largely because they do not make enough income to pay income taxes and cannot collect on those non-refundable tax credits.

Also, in so many cases the tax regime is based on the family unit as opposed to the individual. The $5,000 tax-free savings account is a good example of that. It does very few women any good at all. First, they cannot scrape up $5,000. Second, the non-taxable benefits tend to accrue to those who can, and those tend to be men. Other examples of these family tax cuts that do not advantage women are income splitting. It is an absolutely disaster. Even pension splitting does not help women who are single and alone.

In terms of the revenue, if we are giving away $14.5 billion to oil and gas, there is nothing left for the women and the kids.