Lisa Marie Barron

[Committees of the House, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am happy to hear the member talking about the importance of affordable housing. I also think it is important that we focus on this. I want to point this out, though: When the Conservatives were in power, they lost 800,000 affordable homes. I also want to point out that, when the current leader of the Conservative Party was the housing minister, he built zero affordable homes in British Columbia.

Exactly how would the member suggest we do it? Why does he never talk about the fact that both the former Conservative government and the current Liberal government have allowed rich CEOs to swoop in and buy up affordable homes, leaving people without the basic human right and dignity of a home, a roof to put over their head?

[Committees of the House, September 19th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, there is so much to say, but I will try to keep it short and simple.

I kept thinking about one thing while the member was talking about his time in government under the Harper government. While the Harper government was in power, while the current Leader of the Conservative Party was the housing minister, 800,000 affordable homes were lost.

We know that we have lost affordable homes under the Liberal government as well. I do not know if we want to ask who is doing worse here, but we did not get here overnight. It has been consecutive Conservative and Liberal governments that have led us to the position we are in now.

My question for the member is as follows. In that plan, does he talk about large corporate greed swooping in and buying up affordable homes?

[Committees of the House, September 19th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, we are all very aware there is a huge housing crisis happening right now. In my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, people are being particularly hard hit. For example, a two-bedroom in Nanaimo right now costs $2,459 per month. Who can afford that? Not many Canadians can.

Unfortunately, a problem that both the former Conservative government and the Liberal government have been allowing is for large corporations to swoop in and buy up affordable homes, yet the Conservative member is now saying he has the solution. When the leader of the Conservatives was the minister of housing, he built zero affordable homes in British Columbia.

When will the Conservatives actually take the problem seriously and build affordable homes that people can live in, not just allow rich developers to be propped up?

[National Framework for a School Food Program Act, September 17th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I am incredibly appreciative to be here for this particular debate.

As we all know, we are the only G7 country that does not have a national school food program. Now, I never like to make this about me, but I have to share.

I was one of those parents who could not afford to keep healthy, nutritious food on the table for my children, and I would have loved to have given them healthier options when sending them to school, but I just could not afford it. I became an EA in the school district and worked directly in the schools, and I realized I was not alone. Too many children were showing up to school who were unable to learn effectively. They were having a hard time with relationships. The impacts were just tremendous on children of not having access to the food that they so desperately needed.

I then went on to work as a community school coordinator. I applied for programming and funding to get kids the essential programs and food that they needed and saw the difference in the kids when they had a healthy breakfast in the morning and when they had access to a lunch. I went on to become a school board trustee to fight for these school food programs across Canada. Now I am here.

I say this because I do not understand why it has taken us so long to get where we are now when children are hungry, and they are even worse off now today than they were before—

[Citizenship Act, September 17th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for speaking to this very important issue and the real impacts on Canadians and those who are denied their citizenship as a result of the outdated rules that were put into place by the Harper government.

I have an interesting point. I was given a response by the leader of the Conservative Party to a family that was asking about his stance on this exact legislation. His response, which I find is interesting, was this: “Conservatives will help preserve what it means to be a citizen of this country and fundamentally what it means to be Canadian. Please be assured that they will continue to support and advocate for this legislation to reach its third reading in the House of Commons.”

We know this is blatantly false. We know that the bill has been stalled, basically, eight times since last October by the Conservatives to prevent it from reaching third reading. Can the member please speak to why he believes the leader of the Conservative Party is misleading families that deserve to have their basic human rights met?

[Citizenship Act, September 17th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it is clear at this point that, among the Bloc, the Liberals, and the NDP, we have a lot in common with respect to seeing this important work go forward. Unfortunately, we are not seeing the same coming out of the Conservatives, and the member has spoken about this quite a bit.

We know that the Conservatives voted against provisions that would have rectified the unconstitutional second-generation cut-off amendments. The Conservatives filibustered the bill for 30 hours, which I believe the member also spoke about, at committee. They stalled third reading debate for the bill eight times. Instead of seeing the actions required for us to come together to help the exact people whom we are elected to represent, we are seeing the Conservatives playing with people's lives. Could the member please speak to that?

[Citizenship Act, September 16th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I will try to be as brief as possible. Something that was shared with me, and I want to ask the member his thoughts on it.

We know that at least 1.48 million Canadians here and abroad are being violated by the current law. Justice Akbarali, in her June decision, talked about the estimated 170,000 women born abroad who are within the age range when people often start families being affected by this law. She talked about the impacts of this, with children becoming “stateless”. It leads “to women having to make choices between their financial health and independence...and their physical health”. It separates families and forces “children to stay in places [where they] are unsafe”. Justice Akbarali goes on from there.

What are the member's thoughts on these comments?

[Citizenship Act, September 16th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the member for Vancouver East, for all of the work she has been doing on this. It is incredibly disappointing to see that the actions of the Conservatives, which began before the summer, are continuing. We know that it is vital work for us to restore the rights of Canadians.

For the Conservatives, unfortunately this is a trend. They voted against provisions that would have rectified the unconstitutional second-generation cut-off amendments. They then, as my colleague mentioned, filibustered the bill for 30 hours at committee. They punted third reading debate eight times.

As the member said, actions speak so much louder than words. I wonder if the member can share her thoughts on why the Conservatives are saying one thing to families yet doing something very different in the House of Commons.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 16th, 2024]

With regard to the national inventory of wrecked, abandoned or hazardous vessels, broken down by fiscal year since 2011-12: (a) what is the total number of vessels added to the inventory located (i) on the Pacific coast, (ii) on the Arctic coast, (iii) on the Atlantic coast, (iv) in the Great Lakes, (v) in the St. Lawrence Seaway; (b) what is the total number of vessels removed from the inventory located (i) on the Pacific coast, (ii) on the Arctic coast, (iii) on the Atlantic coast, (iv) in the Great Lakes, (v) in the St. Lawrence Seaway; (c) what risk categories does the government use to prioritize the removal of vessels; and (d) what is the current number of vessels in the inventory, broken down by risk category?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 16th, 2024]

With regard to funding programs managed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, broken down by fiscal year since 2015-16: (a) what are the details of each funding program, broken down by (i) name of the program, service, fund, or initiative, (ii) amount of funding allocated for funding of the program; (b) which of the funding programs in (a) have been identified by the department as part of budget 2023’s commitment to refocus government spending; and (c) what is the total amount of funding reduction that each program or grant in (b) will experience?