Linda Duncan

[Petitions, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, my final petition is from residents of Ontario, calling on the Government of Canada to institute and support a carbon tax.

[Petitions, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I have an additional petition to present from people in Edmonton on behalf of the people suffering in China who practise Falun Gong. They petition that we take action to address the Chinese practice of detaining, torturing, and killing and seizing the organs of people practising Falun Gong.

[Petitions, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition to present from Canadians asking that Parliament take action so that all unsolicited mail and flyers will be produced on recycled paper, and by 2012, use hemp paper. That is from residents of Saskatoon and Edmonton.

[Petitions, June 17th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising in the House to present the signatures of more than 1,000 students across the country. They petition Parliament to act on climate change, which they say is a crisis facing the country.

They are concerned that the government has not responded to its international obligations. They want to increase funding for public transit, meet our Kyoto commitments and beyond, and adopt official sustainability standards for buildings, public buildings in particular.

[Petitions, June 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition to support the protection of boreal songbirds in the boreal forest of Canada.

This petition, signed by a number of Canadians, is on behalf of 60,000 signatories from 117 countries, calling upon Canada to take action to protect what is known as North America's bird nursery.

Many species, including the endangered whooping crane, very recently even more endangered, make the boreal forest their home, as well as many endangered species such as wolves, grizzlies and the very endangered woodland caribou, and we are waiting for action for their protection.

It is one of the most important storehouses of carbon. Only 10% has been set aside for protection, while 30% has been designated for industrial development.

The petitioners are calling upon the House to take action in response to this profound request by Canadians and people around the world.

[Business of Supply, June 11th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, the issue the member has raised is much broader. Indeed, we should be revisiting the advisability of having this board.

There is a pattern that we have been seeing for quite some time in the federal government. Instead of taking responsibility for the proper management of our resources, taxpayers' dollars and our budget, the government has been allowing people other than elected officials in the House to take over that responsibility. Another example is the appointment of people from the resource industry to give us advice on how we should be managing greenhouse gases.

It is time that members in the House took responsibility. We are elected to make the hard decisions and we should take responsibility for them. If people are going to advise us, they should be from across broad sectors. Let us hear from Canadians rather than the ones who are obviously investing our money unwisely.

[Business of Supply, June 11th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I think the drift of the member's question is much broader. It is something that concerns me.

Members of my family have always been private entrepreneurs. My brother runs his own small landscape business. I have a lot of friends who have their own enterprises. That is what Alberta is all about; we are entrepreneurs. It is definitely the case right across Canada. It is the backbone of the economy.

It is time that the government stood back and took a look at where we are headed in this country. Now the government is encouraging Canadians to save, at a time when people do not even have money to pay their rent and utilities let alone save for a house. They are already depleting their retirement savings plans. Who, except for the very wealthy, have the luxury of actually thinking about opening a tax-free savings account?

It is critical for us to stand back and take a look at what we are offering this country for income security, and particularly for seniors later in life. They worked hard. We honour our veterans, but we are not really thinking about our veterans staying in their homes. We need to be thinking about the soldiers who are working overseas right now. What kind of security are they going to have for their homes and families?

I agree that we need to revisit these policies. We also need to be putting a lot more money into affordable housing. Let us not just do all of this on the backs of Canadians. Let us take a broad look at how we are spending taxpayers' money.

[Business of Supply, June 11th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River.

This motion, tabled by the member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, speaks to the concerns of Canadians from all walks of life that the security they thought they would have in their retirement may be at risk, or worse, gone.

The motion supports expanding and increasing the CPP, old age security and the guaranteed income supplement to ensure a dignified standard of life for our seniors. It supports establishing an insurance program for workplace sponsored plans so that in the event of an economic downturn or some other financial crisis, as we are suffering today, workers' pensions would be protected. It makes the pensions of workers a priority. If a company becomes insolvent and declares bankruptcy, the promised pensions would be paid out before other creditors, including banks, before banks could deplete the remaining business assets.

This motion also addresses the Canada pension plan. It ensures that the directors of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ensure that their investments are sound, that the compensation is based on competitive rates across the industry rather than allowing for overly generous performance benefits, especially as the pension fund continues to lose money.

Why is this important for my province of Alberta?

Our seniors population has been growing steadily. Between 1974 and 2005, the number of Albertans over 65 years increased by 162%. In 2005, seniors comprised over 10.5% of our population. At present, one in ten Albertans is a senior. This number rises by 1,000 people per month. The total population of seniors is forecast to double in less than 20 years.

Coupled with this exponentially rising seniors population, we are faced with the economic recession. In Alberta, as with the rest of the country, we have experienced large job losses and with that, rising personal and business bankruptcies. The past mismanagement of the CPP has made matters worse.

This motion tabled by my colleague presents solutions to address both the current problems faced by Canadians and reforms to avoid future challenges.

Why do New Democrats support expanding the CPP, old age security and the guaranteed income supplement? In Canada, the federal government provides two key supports for seniors: the old age security program and the guaranteed income supplement. These are not generous. They provide only a basic level of support premised on personal income, and where Canadians have been able to save for retirement, these benefits are further reduced.

In the past 15 years, the average pre-tax income of seniors families in Alberta increased by more than 27%. However, much of that growth was based on non-government sources, including RRSPs, RPPs and private investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds or T-bills.

In the good times, about 60% of seniors' average income came from sources not related to government transfers. The majority of this was from private pensions, employment earnings and investments. Approximately 62% of seniors had some form of private investment income. Almost 55% of seniors received income from other pensions outside of Canada pension plan or old age security benefits.

These sources served us well when the economy was strong. People could save and benefit from high interest rates. The stock market was bullish. Businesses were prospering, contributing to pension funds and paying out to retirees. In the past year, however, this has not been the case. Many people have lost their life savings as the markets have tumbled, leaving them without a cushion and reliant on government programs.

With a high proportion of Albertans reliant on private pensions outside of the CPP, the population is extremely vulnerable to market downturn. Because of this, we are also calling on the government to establish a self-financing pension insurance program to ensure the viability of workplace sponsored plans in tough economic times.

Canadian small businesses are the backbone of our economy. In fact, 98% of Canadian businesses are small businesses. They employ nearly half of our private sector workers. Small businesses are responsible for about 20% of all Canadian exports. They create employment, generate wealth, and serve as the anchors for our communities. In tough economic times, these businesses are suffering. Workers and the owners are left out in the cold when bankruptcies occur.

In Alberta, consumer bankruptcies jumped near 61% this past year. In Edmonton, sadly, one of the few growth industries now is bankruptcy trustees.

When businesses are forced to shut down and owners and workers lose their livelihoods, entire communities lose. Federal leadership is needed to work with the provinces to institute a pension insurance regime to ensure workers actually receive the retirement benefits they have earned, even if their employer goes out of business. Such a system could be funded by contributions from federal workplace pension plan sponsors, administered by the federal government and designed to ensure efficiency and fairness for all parties.

What happens when a business goes bankrupt and there are assets left? Should the managers continue to collect large bonuses while those who worked for years for that company are left without the pension they worked for and paid into?

We believe that workers' pension funds must go to the front of the line of creditors in the event of bankruptcy proceedings.

I know of a case personally where a couple moved into a new area which had grown up around a new company. They raised their family while dad went to work each day for 40 years until he retired. He worked hard and paid into his pension all his life. Sadly, shortly after retiring, he succumbed to cancer, leaving his wife behind to survive on his pension. Just a year later the company declared bankruptcy and the pension she had counted on could be gone. She could now lose her house. Is this fair? No.

It is for this reason that employee pension plans should come first. It is the workers who created the value of the company, and they should be first in line to receive a share of the benefits that their dedicated work produced.

Finally, we must ensure that the CPP Investment Board protects the CPP from imprudent investment practices. Measures are needed to ensure the board ends the practice of awarding managers performance-based bonuses. We need to take all necessary steps to recover the bonuses granted in 2009, and ensure that in the future, managers are only paid appropriate industry competitive salaries.

The measures provided for in this motion are critical to the security of all Canadians and are worth the support of every member of this House.

[Artists, June 10th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I, too, rise to support the motion by the hon. member for Verchères—Les Patriotes.

My constituents have long been supporters, defenders and contributors to our own vibrant arts community. Edmonton—Strathcona is home to a wealth of arts, theatre companies, galleries and events such as, to name a few, the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival; Catalyst Theatre; the Varscona Theatre; Timms Centre for the Arts; la Cité francophone; and Walterdale Playhouse. The TransAlta Arts Barns host countless theatre events for adults and children alike. The University of Alberta drama and fine arts departments in my riding nurture new and emerging talent, and Convocation Hall hosts a myriad of fine music events every year.

My riding is home to countless award-winning film production companies, writers and journalists. For decades, Edmontonians have come to Old Strathcona to enjoy fine jazz at the Yardbird Suite.

Each summer, Edmonton—Strathcona hosts the annual Art Walk, Nextfest, Edmonton Fashion Week, the Improvaganza theatre festival and the Edmonton International Jazz Festival.

On behalf of my constituents, I want to express my appreciation to the government for the marquee tourism events program grant provided to Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. It is an award well deserved, for this theatre event attracts performers and tens of thousands of people every summer from across Canada and across the globe.

I am choosing to ignore the pettiness of the government in not inviting me to the event announcing this grant to this wonderful theatre company based in my constituency and in my very neighbourhood. I always attend, and I intend to this summer.

Last summer I joined 400 artists, painters, poets, actors, filmmakers, musicians and dancers and supporters of the arts who rallied against cuts to arts funding. I continue to support the efforts of Edmonton's arts community in calling for increased funding, respect for and support to the arts. I laud the theatres programs in our schools and regularly attend their theatre performances.

The arts communities contribute substantially to our economy in Canada. They decried the Prime Minister's claim that artists are a privileged lot and the cuts to federal supports for the arts. It appears some of that effort has finally paid off.

In Alberta, the average artist earns about $24,000, less than the poverty line. They have no access to pensions or benefits, yet they write, produce and perform for the love of arts and share those with Canadians.

I look forward to participating in the discussion panel on arts funding sponsored by the Nextfest Emerging Artists Festival this Friday in my constituency.

The community benefits from investments in the arts. The community also benefits from the patrons of the arts who support the local economy by spending dollars in restaurants, cafés and shops throughout the theatre district.

I have been approached by award-winning filmmakers in my riding deeply concerned about the implications to the Canadian independent film production industry by the changes to their funding programs. They expressed concern that in killing the Canadian Television Fund, which historically supported Canadian independent film production, and rolling the dollars into the Canada Media Fund, their work may be jeopardized.

The board of this new fund will apparently include only the cable companies and the federal government. Broadcasters, producers and creators previously represented are being excluded.

Rather than incenting Canadian programs, the new arrangements and policies impose new barriers. In this time of economic recession, the government should be pursuing measures to incent and reward Canadian programming, local programming and our revered CBC.

In closing, I wish to congratulate Roland Pemberton, an Edmonton rap poet and recording artist known as Cadence Weapon, for his appointment as Edmonton's new poet laureate. This 23-year-old is the grandson of the beloved Edmonton Eskimo football star Rollie Miles.

I concur with Edmonton's mayor, Stephen Mandel, who has enthusiastically endorsed the appointment, which The Globe and Mail described as “clearly designed to bring Edmonton poetry from bookshelves to city streets.” It quoted Mayor Mandel as saying:

This guy will bring poetry to a whole new audience, and challenge the rest of us on our conventional perception of what it means to be a poet....

So I say to the government, bring back the funding that was cut to the arts. Restore the funds. In this time of economic recession, we need to be supporting all forms of employment. If we revere the arts, we should give it its due support.

[Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, June 10th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for her long-term efforts at protecting consumers. They are very much appreciated.

I have had the opportunity of working in the environmental field for some time, and part of that was with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. One of the issues we were looking at was the ability of the enforcement officers in the field to actually detect problems, everything from the illegal trade in endangered species to the detection of hazardous products.

When I was the chief of enforcement, we faced a serious issue of importation into Canada of contaminated fuels. There are a lot of issues where we have hazardous substances we may not have presumed in products and that may not be easily regulated.

One of the things we did while we were at the commission is to run training programs for customs officials. Customs officials are overwhelmed with checking a myriad of laws at the federal level. Unfortunately, with the preoccupation with 9/11, I think we have probably backed off in giving attention to things like training and attention to the detection of contaminated products.

I wonder whether how we are actually going to enforce this act was looked at in committee. Where are we going to put our resources to actually prevent these contaminated substances from coming into the country?

I am glad the member raised the issue about disposal. Even with the preoccupation of these better light bulbs, people do not realize they are full of mercury and we have simply passed the problem of disposing them to the municipalities.

I thank the member for her comments, and I look forward to her reply.