Karen Vecchio

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, May 30th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. It is always a joy to listen to you.

[Federal Sustainable Development Act, May 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, we have talked a lot in the House about the carbon tax. Some people have said it is going to create sustainability, that it is going to do this or that. I would like the member's personal view on that.

From what we have seen in the last couple of days with $4.5 billion going to Kinder Morgan and things like that, does the member think that the government is going to take the money from the carbon tax and put it into technologies that will make development more sustainable? Many Canadians are hoping that is what the government will do with their hard-earned dollars. Does the member think the government will put that money aside, or does he believe the money will just go into the coffers and be ill-spent?

[Criminal Code, May 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to change the channel and look at some facts on victims. One thing that I have been studying as I have been writing my speech for Bill C-75 is about human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

We know that the average age is from 11 to 14. We know that this is a growing epidemic. We also know that there were a number of cases in 2012 and 2014, and we put in hard legislation, but these perpetrators, these pimps that allow this to happen to our children, are going to be provided a summary conviction. I am wondering why we are taking the side of criminals and not the side of victims who are like our children.

[Federal Sustainable Development Act, May 29th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I want to read a newspaper quote that came out within the last month. Right now we are having some really nice fluffy things to talk about on how wonderful everything is, but maybe the minister could explain to me why we have a 1.5 out of 7 rating on this.

Here is the quote, and maybe the minister will take off her rose-coloured glasses because these are the facts: “Overall, the commissioner found that the Canadian government is not adequately prepared to do its part for this ambitious global agenda. The commissioner noted that the Canadian government, as of the end of the audit period, had no governance structure for SDG implementation; no system to measure, monitor, and report on national progress; and only limited national consultation and engagement.”

That is the information that I am providing from the commissioner, as of May 2.

Could the minister share with me how this plan is going to work when it is given an extremely terrible failure rate?

[Committees of the House, May 28th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 11th report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, entitled “Main Estimates 2018-19”.

[Democratic Reform, May 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, 86 is the number of hours that were debated under the Fair Elections Act under the previous Conservative government. Now after just two hours, the Liberals have shut down debate and are attempting to rig our election system. Liberals can talk all they want about respect for Parliament and Canadians, but allowing only two hours of debate is anything but respect for our democracy.

Will the Prime Minister instruct Elections Canada to stop implementing these changes to the Elections Act before this bill has had a chance to be reviewed?

[Elections Modernization Act, May 23rd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, there is a lot of dialogue currently going on here, and we have an NDP member who is very concerned. I am watching the member for Winnipeg North, and we have pages and pages of quotes of him where he is being extremely hypocritical. Let me just read this simple quote, and maybe the democratic institutions minister can explain to me how all of a sudden, when they switch from that end to over there, the government members forget everything they ever said before. This is something that was said back on June 5: “The government has invoked time allocation on this important budget bill, thereby limiting the amount of time members of Parliament will have to speak to it.”

Could my colleague explain why the Liberal majority today are using mechanisms to pass laws that not only abuse the rules but are also not in the best interest of Canadians? The minister is saying that they are going to take it from here, where there are 338 members of Parliament who get to debate legislation and be the voice of their constituents, down to a level where—being a chair—I recognize that 10 people are going to make the choices for all Canadians. Is that the right thing to do, and can she explain why this is not extremely hypocritical of the government?

[Hemochromatosis Awareness Month, May 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, May is Hemochromatosis Awareness Month across Canada. Hemochromatosis is an iron-overload disorder that can lead to many health complications and even premature death. One in 300 Canadians has the genetic predisposition for hemochromatosis. Many of them do not know it.

Hemochromatosis is underdiagnosed. This is partly because public awareness of the condition is low, but also because its symptoms, including fatigue, depression, and joint pain, are confused with a range of more commonly known diseases. Let us use this opportunity to raise awareness of hemochromatosis.

I invite all hon. members to join me at the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society reception tonight, at 5 p.m. in Room 256-S Centre Block, to learn more.

[Mental Health, May 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the tremendous work of one of my constituents, Kristin Legault-Donkers.

Kristin is in her third year of university and is pursuing a career in clinical psychology. When she was 13, she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Undeterred by illness, Kristin used the opportunity to advocate for better mental health services. In 2016, she wrote and published a series of children's books on depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and ADHD. She then teamed up with a local teacher and created a comprehensive education package for use in classrooms.

For her work, Kristin is being honoured by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health during its annual Champions of Mental Health Awards on May 8. There, she will be presented with the Sharon Johnston Champion of Mental Health Award for Youth.

It is essential that we recognize and support mental health champions like Kristin. The work she has done has been a tremendous support for one in five Canadians who suffers from a mental disorder.

[Employment, May 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is communication. At the very beginning, it was not the Conservatives who came out about the attestation; it was people in our communities calling us. The Liberal government had to start backpedalling because of the information it had put out there about women's rights, talking about it and actually putting it into the attestation. Was that the right move? Maybe that is something the parliamentary secretary can address. When we know that Canadians do not understand, is it not our job to make sure we accept those phone calls and things like that?

When I was in Cobourg, Ontario, a variety of people came to me saying that their member of Parliament would not answer their calls, write them back, or take their visits. Part of the problem was that nine faith-based organizations in that community did not have the respect of their own member of Parliament to discuss it. We saw the same thing in London, where constituents in one of the London ridings came to us because the member of Parliament representing that riding stopped answering their calls.

If the parliamentary secretary could help me there, that would be fantastic.