Laurin Liu

[Petitions, April 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, today, I have the pleasure of presenting a petition that calls on the Government of Canada to develop a national urban workers strategy in order to find solutions to the challenges facing those workers.

[Business of Supply, April 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we know that the Conservative government has really mismanaged this issue. However, the NDP has a number of proposals to help workers access the job market.

Can my colleague comment on how the NDP would help Canadians access the job market? For example, can he talk about our proposal to create a tax credit for training young workers?

[Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP would obviously like to change a number of things in the bill. Honestly, I must say that we do not have a lot of trust in the government, because it has rejected all the amendments proposed by the NDP in committee. I do not believe that the government will work with us on improving this bill and ensuring that the bill truly meets the needs of people who are bullied.

I would like to ask the following question. Why did the government not support the bill introduced by my colleague from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour? He introduced Bill C-540 to address cyberbullying. Why did the government wait for months instead of simply supporting my colleague's bill, which would have helped speed up the process?

[Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues have already said in the House, we have some reservations about this bill. We would certainly change a number of things.

I would like my colleague to tell us what he would like to change about this bill and whether he has confidence in the committee process given the Conservative majority in Parliament.

[Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, everyone in the House agrees that this is a crucial issue. There have been some very serious tragedies across Canada, including what happened to Rehtaeh Parsons last year. We all want to work together.

Why did my Conservative colleague not support Bill C-540, introduced by my colleague from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, which would have achieved the consensus of the House and would have allowed us to tackle the bullying problem right away?

[Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, April 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague on the tireless work he does on behalf of transgendered people.

I feel it is important to mention during this debate that the NDP has tabled bullying prevention measures. I would like to mention the initiative of my colleague from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, who introduced Bill C-540, as well as the work done by my colleague from Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, who moved Motion No. 385 to create a national bullying prevention strategy.

We asked the Conservatives to work with us but, unfortunately, they played petty politics with this very important issue.

As my colleague mentioned, the government often uses its bills to impose measures that have nothing to do with the bill's objective. We have seen the same thing with omnibus bills.

Could my colleague explain the link between cyberbullying and the fact that this bill includes a two-year sentence for stealing cable signals?

[Petitions, April 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am presenting has to do with the cuts that the Conservative government recently made to Canada Post. The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to reject Canada Post's service reduction plan and explore other avenues for updating the crown corporation's business plan.

[Petitions, April 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present two petitions today.

The first petition is from Canadians who are asking the Government of Canada to support Bill C-558, a private member's bill introduced by my NDP colleague Kennedy Stewart in order to create the independent position of parliamentary science officer.

[Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1, April 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, once again the government is introducing an omnibus bill.

This 350-page bill contains a number of measures that the official opposition lament, including the one whereby the government would reduce access to the guaranteed income supplement, creating more uncertainty for seniors who live below the poverty line.

A government minister even bragged about saving $700 million on the backs of seniors. It is deplorable. The government has slipped in a number of other harmful measures in this private member's bill.

Could my colleague comment on that?

[Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, March 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his comments, and I would like to reiterate what he mentioned: the fact that the Conservatives and Liberals are actually of the same stripe on the issue of negotiating an agreement with a country with such an atrocious human rights record.

The approach of the Conservative government is to negotiate the trade agreements behind closed doors, and we should just trust it. However, we know this cannot be the case. We have seen it negotiate free trade agreements in the past in bad faith with civil society.

We can only mention the fact that Amnesty International last week revealed that the Conservative government limited the online consultation process to only six working days for the Canada-Colombia FTA human rights report, thus preventing any civil society groups from participating. Amnesty International also mentioned in committee last week that it had not been consulted by DFAIT on human rights implications to the trans-Pacific partnership, particularly considering that countries such as Vietnam may have lower human rights standards than Canada.

We see that the Conservative government, on the issue of human rights and free trade agreements, has consistently worked in bad faith with civil society.