House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • Her favourite word was debate.

Last in Parliament October 2015, as NDP MP for Vancouver East (B.C.)

Won her last election, in 2011, with 63% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Tax Harmonization October 7th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, during this recession the Conservatives have abandoned seniors. With the help of the B.C. and Ontario Liberals, the government is showing contempt for Canada's elderly with an unfair tax shift.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons made it clear today that its members are very worried about the HST. They see through the spin. They know that with HST, big businesses save and ordinary people pay.

Why is the federal government siding with big business again, instead of the people who built our country?

Points of Order October 6th, 2009

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

I would like to say very briefly that today the NDP issued a press release as a result of a vote that took place at committee. In that press release we made an error and spoke about the vote itself which of course we should not have done because it was an in camera meeting. I have advised my colleagues in terms of the government House leader and the other House leaders, and have issued an apology for that.

However, I did want to come into the House to let the members know that the press release that the NDP sent out that did speak about the vote at the in camera committee this morning was issued in error and we certainly apologize to all members because we realize that this is something that should not be done.

Therefore, I would just like to be very up front with members of the House. There was no intention to undermine the committee, its work or what happens in camera. It was done in error and I wish to apologize on behalf of the NDP that that happened.

Tax Harmonization October 2nd, 2009

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell the minister that my constituent and thousands of others have already figured out that the government is shifting the tax burden from big businesses to families.

In B.C. alone, the HST amounts to a $4 billion tax hike. Each year the average B.C. family will pay an estimated $828 more. A senior couple will pay $883 more. A single mom will pay $522 more. Canada's most profitable corporations will be paying $8 billion less.

Again, will the minister explain to British Columbians why they should pay so much more?

Tax Harmonization October 2nd, 2009

Mr. Speaker, HST started with this government.

And the story continues. After a job interview, if the woman in my riding buys a morning newspaper, it will cost 7% more. Then she opens the paper and reads about yet another $8 billion in corporate tax cuts that the minister has engineered. She feels pretty outraged, just like everybody else in B.C. and Ontario.

Why is the government slapping an unfair tax increase on families while cutting taxes for Canada's most profitable corporations?

Tax Harmonization October 2nd, 2009

Mr. Speaker, next July if an unemployed woman in Vancouver goes to JJ Bean for coffee in the morning, ding, it will cost 7% more. If she needs a haircut for a job interview, add 7%. If her car breaks down and she needs a tow, 7% more. If she takes a taxi to the job interview, 7% more. I could go on.

Will the minister explain to the people of B.C. why they need an unfair tax increase when times are already so tough?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet October 2nd, 2009

Mr. Speaker, today Canada's honorary citizen, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, will be travelling from Calgary to Montreal where thousands of Canadians will hear his message of compassion and peace.

He began his visit to Canada at the Vancouver Peace symposium where he was welcomed by many supporters and friends.

His talks and teachings remind us that there are so many in the world who remain committed to achieving peace through dialogue rather than conflict. We are also reminded of the grim situation in Tibet where millions of Tibetans are denied even the most basic human rights.

I am honoured to welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Canada. I wish to urge the government to do all it can to welcome and support the efforts of our honorary citizen so that one day he may return freely to his place of birth, an occupied homeland he has not seen in more than 50 years.

Business of Supply October 1st, 2009

Mr. Speaker, in my earlier remarks I said quite clearly that New Democrats actually never had confidence in the government from day one and we have been its strongest critics on many of the policies it has brought forward.

However, we have also done our very best to make this Parliament work. We think it is most important at this particular time, when people overwhelmingly do not want an election, to say to the Conservatives that if they are prepared to bring something forward that will actually help the unemployed, and we do have the EI bill before committee, we are prepared to consider looking at supporting the bill, and that is what we are doing.

We will continue to look at that bill, and we will not stand in the way of it getting through.

Business of Supply October 1st, 2009

Mr. Speaker, the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley has raised some of the key questions that have been before Parliament and will probably come back in a legislative form.

With respect to the HST, since we came back and learned about the deal between B.C. and the federal government, we have not heard one question from the Liberals on this. The NDP has consistently raised this question, trying to find out when the negotiations began with the federal government and the B.C. government. People in B.C. would like to know whether there were discussions and, as we suspect, whether they were during or prior to the provincial election that was called.

The member is perceptive in outlining the very strange and twisted record of the official opposition, as those members try to manoeuvre around what their position has been.

When the Liberals voted 79 times to support the Conservatives on the budgets in particular, the HST was there. I do not remember hearing a peep out of Liberal members at that time, not even the ones from B.C. or from Ontario, where we now know this deal is under way.

It is the same with softwood lumber. Anybody who has followed the softwood lumber debate and the agreement that was made, knows the NDP members fought that tooth and nail the whole way.

Unfortunately, the official opposition has done this manoeuvring. The Liberals are really dealing with a self-interested, partisan question around the election as opposed to the priorities of Canadians and what we need to work on in the House.

Business of Supply October 1st, 2009

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Timmins—James Bay.

It is not every day that we have a motion of confidence in the House, so it obviously is a very serious matter. It is a matter that New Democrats take very seriously. We have had serious debate not only within our caucus but with our constituents. To put forward a motion that the House has lost confidence in the government is something that needs to be looked at very carefully.

If we look at the record of what has happened since the Conservative government was elected in 2006, it will show very clearly that the NDP has been the toughest critics of the Conservative government and its policies, right from day one.

In fact, we never had confidence in the government. We have been very clear that the overall direction it has taken on the economy, social programs, its attacks on workers, women, pay equity and the billions it has given away in corporate tax cuts have been disastrous courses of action. We have been very tough on the government. I think many Canadians have seen the New Democrats as the official opposition, that we were the ones who took on the direction of the government and stated how wrong it was.

While being the toughest critics of the government, we have also always done our very best to make this minority Parliament work. Again, if we look at the record, it will show a number of bills have come forward that have passed the House, that have gained majority support and the actions that have taken place in committees and the studies that have been undertaken have come from New Democrats.

We have all the statistics to show the number of bills we have put forward, whether it is Bill C-311, the climate change accountability bill, or Bill C-304 for a national housing strategy, which historically passed second reading last night. It only took 12 years to get back from the disastrous course that the Liberals took in the 1990s when they trashed and eliminated the great housing programs that Canada had. Look at the EI bills, some of which are now in committee, or our motion that was passed on the need to protect our seniors.

We feel very good about our work and our record in being very tough critics of the government and the direction it has taken. At the same time, we make every effort, more than 100%, to make this Parliament work for Canadians, to get things done. That is what people sent us here to do.

That is a really important point to make today. For two years the official opposition propped up the Conservatives and gave a complete green light to their agenda, whether it was those billions in corporate tax cuts, or the attacks on pay equity and women, or the attacks on the unemployed and on workers' rights. We know there were 79 substantive confidence votes they let slide.

The big question today, which is left hanging in the air, is what did they get for that? We are here now at this point with a confidence motion. After all of that record, what did the Liberals get for supporting the measures of the direction of the government for two years? We have seen the report cards, the government was put on probation, but what did the official opposition actually get?

The Liberals claimed, over and over again, that EI was their top priority. How many times did we hear this in the House? We know that in the summer they walked away from that, and they got nothing for it. All of sudden, they have decided their first priority is an election.

Clearly the New Democrats are more interested in helping the unemployed than we are in provoking an early election that people do not want. That is a very important consideration.

We talk to our constituents. We go back and we find out what people think. We ask if they think this is the right time for an election. People have clearly said that this is not a good time for an election. We have had four elections in five years. People want to see this Parliament work.

I am very proud of the New Democrats. When we came back on September 14 and the Liberals had taken the disastrous course of saying that it would an election at any cost, that they would pull the plug, we saw that as an opportunity to tell the government if it did not want an election, it had to reach out and put something on the table to make it clear that it was willing to work with the opposition parties to produce the things that Canadians needed.

The NDP are pleased to see that, finally, the Conservative government put $1 billion on the table for the EI bill. That just passed second reading in the House and it has now gone to committee. It will be studied there and come back to the House, at which time we will have a final vote. We saw that as a positive first step.

The NDP leader has been very clear with the Conservative government that the NDP does not support its overall direction and we will continue to be the toughest critic on any anti-people measures it takes. If it slams workers or cuts programs, we will continue to be its critic. However, we are prepared to look at individual proposals it brings forward. In fact, we have been very transparent about what the priorities are.

There have been no back room negotiations or deals. It has been the NDP day after day in the House that has put forward political priorities, whether it is reforming the EI system, providing help for pensioners, ensuring that consumers have protection, asking the government to come clean with its record on the HST and stop trying to duck the issue or coming clean with the people of B.C. and tell us when the negotiations started. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are now trying to run for cover on that one.

We have been very clear that the government needs to be prepared to bring forward other initiatives around EI. The question I raised earlier today with the government was whether it was now prepared to help self-employed workers. This is a very critical question.

I do not know about other members, but when I talk to folks in Vancouver East, the biggest response is from self-employed people who are really hurting because they have no cushion on which to fall. They have no protection during this recession. It is very tough for people who are self-employed, who at one time were doing quite well but in the recession are finding they cannot get the consulting work or contracts. Small businesses are going under, as well as people who are self-employed in other ways. Again, is it prepared to bring forward further changes to the EI system that will help self-employed workers?

New Democrats believe this is a constructive course of action. This is where we need to focus attention instead of playing these political games, like the Liberals now saying it is their way or it is an election.

I heard the Leader of the Opposition state earlier today in his speech, “We use elections to bring people together”. I thought that was very ironic. An election is about accountability for sure, but it is also about ensuring that people do not become weary from dealing with elections and being concerned everyday with what is going on in a recession that it divides people and further turns people off the political system. This is what the leader of the official opposition is now doing.

This election is not about bringing people together. From the Liberal point of view, this election is about serving its own political agenda. We need to call it that and be very clear.

New Democrats are prepared to work in the House and to do it in a genuine way and in good faith. We will take on the government. We will be critical of its policies, but we also want to ensure nothing stands in the way of getting the $1 billion of assistance to people who need it. We think that is a key priority. We want to ensure other measures are brought forward that will help people. That is the priority right now in this recession.

I am glad we are having this debate because it brings everything into the open. New Democrats are very clear that the priority is trying to make Parliament work. As long as that measure exists, we will certainly support it.

We hope other proposals will put on the table by the government that will help the unemployed, seniors and consumers deal with the recession they are facing every day. That is what is really important to people.

Business of Supply October 1st, 2009

Mr. Speaker, I think the minister knows that the NDP members have been very clear about our support for the unemployed and the changes that are needed to the employment insurance system. In fact, we have been supporting the bill and the $1 billion that was recently put forward.

I would like to ask the minister whether or not her government is prepared to bring forward the very necessary changes, particularly with respect to maternity and paternity benefits for self-employed people.

This is a very serious matter. There are millions of Canadians who are self-employed who are suffering because they cannot take advantage of the EI system. This is very important. Is the government prepared to bring forward this change in recognition of the great need that is out there and the reform that is needed to the EI system to help people who are self-employed?