House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • Her favourite word was kind.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as NDP MP for Newton—North Delta (B.C.)

Lost her last election, in 2015, with 26% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Employment May 26th, 2014

Mr. Speaker, even when abuses are reported, the Conservatives do not do anything. The minister is refusing to take responsibility for his own mismanagement. From cooks in B.C. to fish plant workers in P.E.I., hairdressers in Ontario, and hotel clerks in Alberta, they are all minimum wage workers all granted by the Conservatives.

If the government is letting companies import cheap labour, why hire a Canadian? Why did the minister allow his department to repeatedly disregard the rules?

Employment May 26th, 2014

Mr. Speaker, the minister keeps promising new rules, but his department is not even following the existing ones. Documents obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour show thousands of businesses were permitted to hire temporary foreign workers for minimum wage jobs even though most of them failed to comply with the rules. The result is higher unemployment, lower wages for Canadians, and the exploitation of foreign workers.

Will the minister now agree to an independent review of this very broken program?

Employment May 14th, 2014

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Employment and Social Development claimed that postings on the job bank expire after six months. That would be nice were it true. Many of the postings are a year old, or even older. The labour market information system should be a valuable resource, but it is broken. Pages and pages of old and useless postings are not helping Canadians get any closer to a job.

Why is the minister refusing to fix the problem so we can start helping Canadians get back to work?

Employment May 13th, 2014

Mr. Speaker, after claiming otherwise, the Minister of Employment and Social Development now admits that he knew all about the low wages, terrible working conditions, and abuse of the foreign workers program for years and yet failed to fix it. When he did act, it was based on faulty data.

No one is buying the minister's weak attempt to change the channel from his mismanagement. Why is he failing to protect jobs for Canadians and why is he refusing a full and independent program audit?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns May 12th, 2014

With regard to federal grants and contribution programs: (a) how many programs expired at the end of fiscal year 2013-2014; (b) what are the names of the programs that expired for fiscal year 2013-2014, their total spending authorities and total amount spent for fiscal year 2013-2014; (c) how many programs were renewed for fiscal year 2014-2015; (d) what are the names of the programs that were renewed for fiscal year 2014-2015 and total spending authorities; (e) how many programs will expire at the end of fiscal year 2014-2015; and (f) what are the names of the programs that will expire at the end of fiscal year 2014-2015 and total spending authorities for the current fiscal year?

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns May 12th, 2014

With regard to the Social Security Tribunal: (a) what is the recruitment and hiring budget for fiscal year (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2013-14, (iii) 2012-13; (b) when is the Tribunal expected to be fully staffed; (c) have any appointees left their positions and if so, how many; (d) who is responsible for deciding whether to hire part-time members, what criteria will that decision be based on, and what steps must be taken for that decision to be made; (e) how many Appeal Division members are (i) English speakers, (ii) French speakers, (iii) bilingual; (f) how many Income Security Section members are (i) English speakers, (ii) French speakers, (iii) bilingual; (g) how many Employment Insurance Section members are (i) English speakers, (ii) French speakers, (iii) bilingual; (h) how is workload allocated among members; (i) is region taken into account in assigning cases to members; (j) what kind of performance standards are members expected to meet; (k) when will the Tribunal finalize its policies and procedures and will it make them public immediately; (l) when will the Tribunal finalize its timelines and standards and will it make them public immediately; (m) what is the Tribunal doing to integrate feedback from stakeholders and appellants in its policies, procedures and standards; (n) what kind of office budget is available for members who are not located in Ottawa; (o) what kind of appeal process is available to appellants who would like to have a hearing conducted in person but are told their hearing will take place in writing or over the phone; (p) what kind of medical expertise is required of members who will be assigned Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefit cases; (q) what kind of training in medical issues is being provided to members who will be assigned Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefit cases; (r) what kind of training is being provided to members on local labour market conditions around the country; (s) what kind of sensitivity training is being provided to members to assist them in dealing with members of the public in difficult financial circumstances; (t) what is the Tribunal’s policy and standard practice regarding Third Party representatives; (u) will the selected decisions posted on the Tribunal’s website be searchable by keywords; (v) how frequently will the selected decisions posted on the Tribunal’s website be updated; (w) how many people are employed as administrative support staff for the Tribunal, how many people does the Tribunal intend to employ as administrative support staff when the Tribunal is fully staffed, and what is the budget for administrative support; (x) how many Tribunal members are receiving a salary (i) between $90,000 and $105,000, (ii) between $105,000 and $125,000; and (y) how are funds from the Employment Insurance Fund and Canada Pension Plan Fund being allocated to cover the costs of employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan appeals?

Employment May 12th, 2014

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives took a broken program and made it even worse. The data used to determine whether a company can employ temporary foreign workers is unreliable. Some post ads in the job bank just to qualify for the program. The program needs to be fixed.

Will the minister agree to an independent review so we can stop using bad data, stop allowing abuses, and start giving Canadians confidence that this program will do what it was meant to do?

Employment May 12th, 2014

Mr. Speaker, time and again the minister points to job vacancy numbers from the Canada job bank, data that is used to determine labour market opinions. However, that data is often old and postings are not removed when filled. In other words, decisions to permit temporary foreign workers are based on false information. Will the minister fix Canadian labour market data collection to ensure Canadians have first access to Canadian jobs?

Employment May 8th, 2014

I can see that hit a nerve, Mr. Speaker.

There is a lot of hypocrisy on display today, just like when the minister chastised the Liberals for allowing in exotic dancers, yet the Conservatives did the same thing for over six years. The Conservatives allowed adult entertainment businesses like strip clubs from coast to coast to coast to bring in temporary foreign workers.

When will the minister stop these mindless attacks on the opposition and agree to an independent audit? When will he fix this broken program once and for all?

Employment May 8th, 2014

There is a lot of hypocrisy on display today, Mr. Speaker, just like when the minister—