Laurel Collins

[Online Streaming Act, February 16th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, Canadian cultural workers, our creators and our artists, as well as our broadcasters, have suffered because of the unfair competition from streaming web giants and big corporations such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.

For years, the NDP has been calling for an end to this unfair system. I support the first steps in Bill C-11 to level the playing field. It is especially important to ensure that these corporations have obligations to fund and ensure discoverability of Canadian cultural content. However, web giants, including some of most profitable corporations like Netflix, Google, Amazon and Facebook, still do not pay their fair share of taxes on the profits they make in Canada.

The government likes to talk about tax fairness, but it continues to protect the profits of these big web giants by delaying the implementation of the digital services tax. Does the minister know how much these web giants have avoided in taxes since 2015?

[World Thinking Day, February 16th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, every year on February 22, Girl Guides celebrate World Thinking Day. It is an opportunity to speak up on issues that affect girls and young women, commemorate the founding of Girl Guides and celebrate with the over 10 million members of the Guiding movement around the world.

In my province of British Columbia, thousands of Girl Guides light up their communities year-round through leadership, community service and efforts to create a better, more equitable world.

Thinking Day is usually marked with large gatherings, campfire singalongs, community events and special camps, but due to the ongoing pandemic, instead this year Girl Guides will celebrate the sisterhood of Guiding in a COVID-friendly way, through Guiding Lights across Canada.

Outdoor landmarks, bridges, buildings and stadiums will be lighting up in Guiding blue in support of girl empowerment. In Victoria, one can admire the lights at City Hall, Government House, the Legislative Assembly and the Steamship Terminal.

I invite all Guiding members this World Thinking Day to shine their Guiding lights.

[Old Age Security Act, February 15th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for her speech. The member spoke powerfully about the profound injustice that low-income seniors face.

It made me think about some of the incredible organizations in our region. She may be familiar with some of them, including Senior Entitlement Service, Silver Threads service for seniors and James Bay New Horizons. I sat down with the James Bay community project in January; it is supporting seniors who are facing immense challenges with isolation and food insecurity. Staff there spoke about how these challenges are increasing and the inequality is increasing.

These organizations are doing such powerful, incredible work and are working tirelessly to support seniors. Our government could be tackling this and taking the burden off volunteers and service providers. Scarcity, inequality and poverty are all policy choices. They are not elements of the human condition.

Can the member speak more about how pharmacare and a guaranteed livable income would ensure seniors and all community members could live in dignity?

[Old Age Security Act, February 15th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, the member so clearly laid out the structural challenges that the federal government has created and that Nunavummiut face. Every time I hear her speak in this chamber, I am always struck by what a strong and powerful advocate she is for her territory.

In my riding there are seniors who have lost access to provincial benefits because of the GIS clawback. For example, the rental assistance program SAFER requires recipients to be on GIS. However, the impact of CERB repayment requirements on people who are on income assistance have an even more dire impact because of the government's miscommunication on CERB.

Could the member speak a bit more about the difference it would make for Nunavummiut seniors and elders to have amnesty when it comes to CERB repayments?

[Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12, February 15th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I think the first step is a guaranteed livable basic income, having the government start actually ensuring the wealthiest pay their fair share and investing that money into supporting seniors and supporting everyone in our communities who is struggling.

[Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12, February 15th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, it is so essential that we increase health transfers to the provinces. It is something premiers across the country have been asking for. In my home province of British Columbia, we are experiencing critical health care shortages and critical staffing shortages. In Victoria, we have lost three walk-in clinics in the past few weeks. People are struggling to find a family doctor. We need to make sure the provinces have the funding from the federal government. It is their responsibility to provide the resources so we do not see the crisis that we are currently seeing in our health care system.

[Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12, February 15th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his interest in a guaranteed basic livable income. It is heartening to hear that he is interested in exploring this idea.

I believe that we need to consolidate and create efficiencies, absolutely. The Parliamentary Budget Officer showed that would be the case, if we were to put forward some kind of guaranteed livable income. There are efficiencies to be found. More than that, we need to increase the income of people living below the poverty line.

People are struggling. People in my community are struggling to access food and medication. It is beyond time that we provide the support necessary for people to live in dignity. I encourage the member to move beyond wanting to explore the idea. Whether it is universal dental care or universal basic income, the government speaks about wanting to explore or talk about this. Let us get it done.

[Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12, February 15th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, we are here because Canada's poorest working seniors have been cruelly punished by the government simply for receiving legitimate pandemic supports, as any other working Canadian received.

My New Democrat colleagues and I have been tirelessly raising this issue in the House. I am grateful that the government is finally beginning to address this issue, but it is important to acknowledge the impact that the government's inaction over the past year has had, and the dire circumstances that seniors are currently facing because of the government's mistake and because of its inaction following it.

We have heard stories from across the country. I have spoken to many seniors in my riding of Victoria who have been impacted. I have shared a number of their stories in the House about the struggles they have faced. They have been unable to afford rent. Seniors have been living in motels or living in their cars and experiencing homelessness, hunger and the inability to pay for essential medication because the government spent months knowing that this problem existed but refusing to take urgently needed action.

The Liberal government has known about the GIS-CERB conflict since May, 2021, but it did not bother fixing it until New Democrats raised the issue, again and again, for months. Even before the government called an unnecessary election, we raised the urgency of this issue. We kept raising it, week after week and month after month. With each passing week, and each passing month, more seniors in our ridings were unable to meet their basic needs.

Seniors have shared that this is not just a financial issue. It is also a health issue. When seniors have to choose between medication and food, when they are forced to sleep out in the cold, when they cannot afford transportation to appointments or when they are living with the ever-present threat of eviction, they experience financial hardship, but they also experience medical and mental health crises, depression and suicide.

I support this bill because it finally begins to address the issue, but I am compelled to speak for the seniors who have suffered over the past year.

I think it is also important to acknowledge the fact that the government is not addressing the same conflict that exists with the Canada child benefit. Bill C-12 fixes the GIS clawback for vulnerable seniors, but for low-income families who received pandemic income supports, such as CERB or CRB, the Canada child benefit will still be clawed back next year because Bill C-12 is specific to GIS and not for income-tested benefits.

We are going to have to spend months pushing the government to address how this impacts families. We need a similar solution to the clawback for low-income families. I am glad this bill will be moving forward, because it is going to support seniors. However, it is important to also acknowledge that the guaranteed income supplement does not lift seniors out of poverty. Seniors receiving the GIS are still considered to be living below the poverty line. The GIS, except in some very rare cases, does not actually bring income above the poverty level.

This is why my NDP colleagues and I are pushing for a guaranteed livable basic income. It is why the member for Winnipeg Centre introduced Bill C-223, which, if passed, would establish the first national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income. I want to give a shout-out to Basic Income Victoria BC and UBI Works for their advocacy on this critical issue. We have a responsibility to lift people out of poverty and to ensure that seniors, people with disabilities and single parents can meet their basic needs and live in dignity.

We need a basic guaranteed livable income that would make a world of difference for seniors on fixed incomes. We should also create a pension advocacy commission to increase and enhance CPP, OAS and GIS.

I want to take a moment, also, to talk about an organization in my riding. Fateh Care started operating during the pandemic. It provides support for seniors, those living with disabilities, people quarantining and people who are looking for a helping hand when they do not know where else to go. Fateh Care was founded by an incredible family, Harjas and Dr. Navneet Popli. It is one of a kind in Canada. It is a free mobile food bank, and it is available to all those who are struggling to afford or access food, who often do not have transportation to go out and buy it.

I went with Harjas to help deliver food in the mobile food bank, and it was so clear that people in our community are struggling. I want to thank Fateh Care for all the support it gives to seniors in need.

I also want to call on the government to address the underlying causes of food insecurity for seniors, and to commit to a guaranteed livable basic income. Earlier today, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons mentioned the need to move this expeditiously through Parliament, and this is what we are debating right now. He said he wished this had been done earlier. Wow. I wish that he had felt that urgency months ago.

The government knew about this issue a year ago. The Liberals failed to address it. We raised this issue many times in the House. After learning about the problem, and after hearing from the NDP advocating for seniors and hearing about the impacts on seniors across the country, the government called an unnecessary election. When we came back to the House, we raised it again and again.

There is a senior in my riding who lost their apartment because of this delay. There is a senior who lost their provincial rental assistance because of this mistake. It requires them to be on the GIS to receive these benefits. There are seniors struggling to pay for essential medication. How can the government explain the delay when speaking to these seniors?

The need for this bill underlines the fact that the government made a mistake. I understand that mistakes happen, but what I do not understand is why the government waited this long to correct its mistake. Why was the government okay letting seniors suffer for a year? More than that, why is the government okay letting seniors suffer year after year?

Even with this fix, too many seniors are living below the poverty line. There is a solution: Ensure they have a guaranteed livable basic income. Close loopholes in offshore tax havens. Ensure multi-millionaires are paying their fair share, and ensure seniors and all members of our communities can live in dignity.

[Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C‑12, February 15th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for his speech and for sharing our desire to quickly address the mistake the government made. It knew about this back in May of 2021, and seniors have suffered because of the delay. I also thank him for his comments on how seniors need supports more broadly and his support for the member for Winnipeg Centre's bill on a guaranteed basic income.

Seniors are living in poverty. Could the member speak to what a guaranteed basic income would mean for the residents in his riding?

[Opioid Crisis in Canada, February 8th, 2022]

Madam Chair, the toxic drug supply is taking lives. There has been a lot of talk tonight about the Portugal model. It has decriminalized the use of all drugs and unleashed a major public health campaign to tackle substance abuse, investing significantly in treatment and recovery. Crucially it decriminalized and, ever since, drug addiction in Portugal has been treated as a health issue and a social justice issue, not a criminal justice one.

I know the member of Parliament for Beaches—East York supports decriminalization. He just gave a scathing indictment of his government's lack of action on this issue. The member for Vancouver Centre just said that decriminalization has nothing to do with it. Experts disagree and the science disagrees. The member says that provinces are too scared to act, but her own province, my province, is asking the federal government for an exemption so that we can have a safe supply.

When Dr. Bonnie Henry, the public health official, is advocating for decriminalization, when chiefs of police are advocating for it, how can she say this has nothing to do with it?