Libby Davies

[Marine Liability Act, October 6th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in the House today on behalf of the New Democratic Party to speak to Bill S-17.

I have been listening to the debate and I must say I was very taken aback by the very outrageous comments of the member for Calgary West. His comments on the bill were as bizarre and outrageous as his assault on bilingualism and the comments he made about whether or not new Canadians have a right to vote in nomination meetings.

We have to question what the member is debating. I wonder if the member for Calgary West has talked to the Alliance member from Surrey Central who has lived in Canada for maybe three years and is now an MP. Today's debate is about Bill S-17. The comments of the member for Calgary West were out of order and had nothing to do with it.

[Marine Liability Act, October 6th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I stayed here this afternoon to debate Bill S-17. I implore you to rule the member out of order. He is now talking about gun registration which has nothing whatsoever to do with this bill. The member is abusing the rules of the House. He should be called for that and should be told to shut up, leave the House or stick to the bill.

[Marine Liability Act, October 6th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I have no idea what the member is talking about. This has nothing to do with the bill. I would ask the member either to speak to the subject or to leave the House. It is insulting to the House.

[Human Resources Development, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the HRDC minister told the House that the majority of debt in her department was related to the Canada student loan program.

Is the minister satisfied to just write off the debt, or will she face the music and own up to the fact that her own government, after seven years of neglect, has caused a staggering increase in tuition fees which is related to the student debt load?

There is a very clear choice. Is it tax breaks for the big banks and big businesses? Or, will she help students by pulling together her provincial counterparts to roll back tuition, to give students—

[Petitions, October 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, my fourth petition is signed by Canadians who are calling on the WTO to be more open, inclusive and democratic.

The petitioners want to see an alternative model of globalization, one that is designed to help citizens in Canada and around the world achieve a stable rules based economy which protects the rights of workers and the environment.

[Petitions, October 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce my third petition from veterans against nuclear arms.

They draw our attention to the fact that the Government of Canada has uncritically offered support for U.S. bombing of Afghanistan, Khartoum, and for the further ongoing bombing of Iraq in previous conflicts, and that this is done in violation of international law and the UN charter.

The petitioners pray and request that parliament returns Canada's foreign and defence policies to a full respect for and full compliance with international law and the UN charter.

[Petitions, October 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition is signed by many people across the country who call upon parliament and the Government of Canada to end the two tier American style health care system in Canada. They also call on the government to take action to stop bill 11 in Alberta.

It is signed by many people across the country who are very concerned about the state of our public health care system.

[Petitions, October 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to introduce four petitions today. The first is from a local resident of east Vancouver who has collected 89 sheets of signatures of people in Vancouver very concerned about the cruelty, waste and unlawful behaviour that are documented features of the Canadian commercial seal hunt of harp and hooded seals.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to enact legislation to stop the commercial seal hunt in Canada.

[Criminal Code, September 27th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House again today to call on the government to honour its stated commitment to provide decent housing for every Canadian.

During question period, on my first day back, I asked the minister responsible for housing what the government intended to do at the meeting of Canada's housing ministers, the first meeting in five years.

On September 18, I was somewhat encouraged by the minister's response to that question. He said that on that night and the next day they would be discussing how they could improve the situation and how they could give Canadians some relief and make sure that every Canadian had decent housing. He said that he looked forward to the meeting in Fredericton.

I was somewhat encouraged to hear the minister's words, because it led me and many others to believe that finally the federal government was paying attention to this very critical issue facing millions of Canadians who are either homeless or one step away from being homeless.

The minister attended the meeting. The following day I raised the matter in the House again and asked the finance minister, because it really comes down to a question of money, how he could feel so good about a massive revenue surplus of $12 billion that had accumulated in the past fiscal year when many Canadians were denied the basic necessities of life, the right to shelter and housing.

In following the meeting of first ministers I have to say that there was huge disappointment in the lack of response from the federal government. I would like to quote from one of the most outspoken advocates for the development of a federal housing strategy, Mr. Michael Shapcott who represents the National Housing and Homelessness Network.

He was at the meeting in Fredericton with many other activists. In coming away from that meeting this is what he had to say: “The federal government had an historic opportunity this week to take leadership in ending Canada's nationwide housing crisis and homelessness disaster, and it fumbled the ball”. He went on to say that there were high hopes that the minister would use the housing summit to take the next step and announce a federal housing initiative.

The federal minister is reported as saying after the meeting that housing is a complex issue and there would need to be months of consultations with stakeholders. These so-called consultations had already taken place a year earlier when the minister responsible for homelessness had travelled across the country.

In response to tough questions from the media, the minister responsible for housing for the federal government admitted that the government had no new money for desperately needed social housing, no new programs to offer and no timetable for bringing in solutions.

Today I again call upon the government to recognize the magnitude of the problem before us. There is no question a crisis exists across the country which demands a national solution.

In my open letter to the minister and the provincial housing ministers I called upon the ministers to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem and commit to a multi-level government strategy that incorporates the knowledge and expertise of our not for profit housing sector.

I also called upon the minister to agree to a national housing strategy that focuses on a not for profit housing supply program. The government has not responded to this issue, and as a result there are still people who are homeless on the street tonight.

[Child Care, September 26th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know why the minister is celebrating. She avoids the question. She knows that the child tax benefit did not create child care spaces. Even in this recent agreement there is no binding commitment that will guarantee child care spaces.

The real issue is that at the end of the day the government is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on political propaganda for ads, never mind the cost of running those ads, but not one child care space has been created. How does the minister justify that? Where is the celebration?