Jasbir Sandhu

[Employment Insurance, June 20th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as the Conservatives put the finishing on their irresponsible changes to employment insurance, I would like to remind Conservative members across the aisle about our youth, minorities, people with disabilities, temporary foreign workers and seasonal workers. These are all hard-working Canadians who will be hurt this summer by the changes to EI.

My question is simple. As the Conservatives head back to their ridings, how will they justify these harmful changes to their constituents?

[Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act, June 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives talk about procedure and rules of the House, one of the rules I learned in a hurry, because I am fairly new here, was this thing called time allocation. The first time someone mentioned that we were having a time allocation motion, I asked what it was. I was told that it was basically shutting down debate on the very legislation that was in front of us. Not only that, the government has used that over 25 times now to shut down debate in Parliament.

Now the Conservatives are lecturing us about the due process that we have in this place, yet they are the ones who have been constantly using time allocation to shut down debate. In addition to that, if debate is being shut down, how am I supposed to represent my constituents from my riding?

That is one part of it. The other part is the amendments. That is where in committee people bring forth good ideas that could work better for the laws that we are making here. However, there has not been a single amendment from the opposition that the Conservatives accepted.

When the Conservatives talk about due process or the process in this place, are they speaking out of both sides of their mouth?

[Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act, June 19th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is very troubling, because Conservatives say one thing and do the opposite.

I have been sitting in the House for over a year now, and Conservatives would have us believe that they actually support our veterans and our military. However, when it comes to the budget for veterans and military personnel and their medical needs, Conservatives do the opposite. They cut those budgets.

Over the year, and my colleague could enlighten me on this, I have seen many bills introduced in this House, and I have seen many amendments offered by a number of opposition parties, including the NDP. Not one amendment to any of those bills has been accepted.

I would like to ask my colleague this question: am I on the right track when I say that Conservatives do one thing and say another thing?

[Bill C-38, June 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, today all members of this House will begin voting on amendments put forward by New Democrat colleagues and other opposition members of this House to delete sections from and to attempt to stop this grossly undemocratic Conservative Trojan Horse budget bill.

People from across this country and in my riding of Surrey North are outraged that the Conservatives are trying to sneak through hundreds of sweeping changes, including cutting OAS, environmental assessment and fish habitat protection.

This is an attack on democracy that is masquerading as a budget bill. I know people are outraged because, unlike the Conservatives, the New Democrats went out and listened to the concerns of the Canadians and they are speaking out in incredible numbers against this bill. We are fighting on their behalf inside and outside of the House.

Today I am asking Conservative members to do the right thing and vote to respect the will of Canadians and the basic principles of democracy.

[Petitions, June 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, present a petition signed by many people around Canada who cite a report of the Secretary-General's panel of experts on accountability in Sri Lanka which found credible allegations that, if proven, indicate that during the final stages of Sri Lanka's war a wide range of serious violations under international humanitarian and human rights law were committed both by the government of Sri Lanka and LTTE, some of which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to urge the United Nations to immediately establish an independent, international and impartial mechanism to ensure truth, accountability and justice in Sri Lanka.

[Extension of Sitting Hours, June 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I will ask my colleague a fair and hopefully tough question. I am sure he has a lot of experience in the House. There are many rules and procedures that he has talked about in this House.

One of the procedures or rules that I have learned from my friends the Conservatives is time allocation. They have certainly used it enough times. I know backwards and inside out how the motion is put together. My Liberal colleague talked earlier about how that is used to stop debate in the House. I will go even further. I think the Conservatives really do not want to talk about what is in Bill C-38 so we cannot get to the bottom of it.

Therefore, my question to my colleagues is this. What are they hiding? What do they have to hide that we cannot have a proper discussion in the House on Bill C-38?

[Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, June 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of debating bills in the House is to come up with informed decisions. When the Conservative government shuts down debate, I do not think that leads to informed decisions being made in the best interests of Canadians. When we debate bills, we gather information from experts and constituents. That would lead to better decisions being made in Parliament.

We like to see trade agreements that will have net benefit to Canadians. Why are the Conservatives so afraid to debate these very fundamental issues in the House, so we can make decisions that are based on information and facts?

[Business of Supply, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have also had an opportunity to take my young family out on the Burrard Inlet where a lot of recreational boating happens. It was reassuring a few years ago, when I knew there was a Coast Guard available, in case something did happen. It is very critical now. Because summer is coming up, there is going to be a lot of boating on the Burrard Inlet.

We have ministers wasting tens of thousands of dollars on photo ops, and others taking limousine rides, where are the government's priorities?

[Business of Supply, May 18th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, the Liberal record is pretty clear on this. It had a majority government for 13 years and petitions were presented during that time. It had a chance to provide an official apology in the House of Commons and it failed to do so. However, I do welcome the fact that the Liberals will support this motion that there should be an official apology in the House of Commons. I welcome the change in their policy.

The Conservatives are calling the announcement in the park an apology. Why will the Conservatives not offer an official dignified apology to the South Asian community that has been demanding this apology for many years so that we can close this chapter, put it to rest and reconcile this tragic event in our history?

[Business of Supply, May 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech. There is a lot of misinformation contained in it.

I was at the 2006 and 2008 consultations that the member talked. Every single one of the members who spoke at those consultations unequivocally said they wanted an apology in the House of Commons, yet when the report came out, it was slammed by the entire community, the very organizations the member talked about.

I was at the stage when the Prime Minister made the political statement in the park. At the same time, the very organizations that the Prime Minister thanked rejected the apology right at the stage at the time when the Prime Minister could not even wait to hear the “thank you” note from the president of the organization. Every single one of those people present at the event, when the so-called apology was made, rejected it with their arms up.

I want to know from the member why the government is not apologizing in the House of Commons in order to have a dignified closure to this tragic event in our Canadian history. Why Is it refusing to do it in the House--