Mario Silva

[Refugees, November 24th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, over the years Canada has generously opened its door and its heart to the Vietnamese boat people. Over the years that generosity has been repaid manyfold and these people are now a strong part of the Canadian social fabric.

Sadly, for 17 years, 151 of these people still remain stateless with no durable solution in the Philippines. They are spread around the country earning a living, many as illegal street vendors. Most of them earn less than 80 pesos a day and it costs 160 pesos to buy a cup of coffee.

The Canadian Vietnamese community has clearly expressed its willingness to sponsor and help absorb these refugees. The 23 people who arrived in May and June of this year are very well adjusted. I implore the Prime Minister to allow the remaining 151 stateless people to find a home in Canada.

[Literacy, November 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, that is the minister and the government that said the cuts were an exercise in fat trimming. That is the minister who dismissed more than $150 million cuts to her department as equal to going without a cup of coffee a week.

Instead of callous remarks, will the minister do the right thing, apologize to literacy students who are here today and restore the full $17.7 million in funding cuts from adult literacy?

[Literacy, November 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, literacy students and workers from across Canada in Ottawa today for the annual literacy action day.

Unfortunately, they are not here to celebrate, but to protest the loss of $17.7 million cut by the minority government. The cuts are forcing literacy organizations across the country to close their doors to adults who want to learn how to read and write.

What does the minister have against students and organizations here to help these adults learn to read and write?

[Petitions, November 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to table petitions from across Canada protesting the incompetence and irrational cuts to adult literacy programs by the Conservative government.

It is my sad duty to present the first of several petitions which is from Haldimand—Norfolk, the HRSD minister's own riding. Hundreds of petitioners note the importance of literacy for social and economic development and the impact it has on our society. I stand with the citizens of Haldimand--Norfolk in calling for the reinstatement of literacy funding, since their own MP will not.

I also have the sad duty to present a petition from the Minister of Health's riding on the same subject. Hopefully, the minister will stand up for literacy programs.

Finally, I have the duty to present the same petition, this time from the Ontario Literacy Coalition. These people are on the front lines fighting for literacy. I am honoured to support their efforts, along with their call to government to reinstate funding, so they can keep doing their vital work.

[November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, with an answer like that, no wonder they could not get anybody elected in the three largest cities in this country.

I understand that the government either cannot or will not make a commitment here and now to truly fix the immigration system. Therefore, instead, I am asking the minister if he would be willing to set up a task force that would meet regularly to discuss the issue and include in these meetings the stakeholder groups, including union representation and community groups.

Many will say that the place for this work is the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. It is my experience that in terms of this portfolio and the ministry, the minister must be aware that the issue goes beyond just his ministry. It includes issues of justice, finance, labour and skills development, as well as many others. The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration is already busy and there are many other groups and partners that need to be brought in, including many unions who continue to work hard on this issue, municipal governments, community service organizations and so on.

If the minister has other suggestions, I am open to hearing them. Will he join me in setting up such a task force? If not, what are the alternatives? How does he see the resolution of this issue taking place? What is he planning to do to resolve the issue of undocumented workers?

[November 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, last week I asked the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration about what he intended to do with regard to the issue of undocumented workers. Sadly, the response, as has been his habit, simply did not address the issue.

Let us be clear. There is a serious problem with our immigration system. The points system for assessing new immigrants to Canada is undeniably flawed. The points system clearly favours professionals who apply at a time when this country has a significant demand for tradespeople. The government actively recruits professional employees and has in place programs that facilitate a grant of citizenship to them. There is no such program for tradespeople.

Canada needs more labourers and skilled workers. Labour and management representatives, along with elected officials in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, have clearly voiced the need for more construction workers. We now know that rather than raising target levels in response to these realities, the minister has in fact cut the number of skilled workers his government will permit to enter Canada.

Indeed, rather than allowing foreign workers who want to work in the needed industries to immigrate legally to Canada, he is actually creating a situation where they are forced to come through the back door. Having come to Canada to work hard in jobs where they are so desperately needed, they are then forced to live in hiding. There are some instances outside of the protection provided by union membership where, without this union support, these workers find themselves vulnerable to such despicable practices as blackmail in the workplace and having to work in unsafe conditions.

Despite having to live and work in this way, they continue to participate in our economy. They and their families become a part of our communities. They have children who are Canadians and they raise them here in this country. Over time, they become the embodiment of the Canadian work ethic, embracing Canadian values and immersing themselves in this country's cultural life.

There are as many as 200,000 undocumented workers whom we need as workers in this country and who desperately want to become Canadian citizens. They contribute to our society and are trying to do the right thing, yet they are being forced from this country. Opponents may try to claim that these people are breaking the law. In reality, the problem in this instance is the law itself, not the people. Our immigration system needs to be fixed now.

The previous Liberal government had begun the process of fixing the immigration system. The Liberal government set reasonable immigration levels for 2005 and subsequently admitted thousands more than the set goal.

We invested significant energy in and attention to the immigration system and were willing to invest even more effort. Before the last election, the Liberal government was moving forward to make some of the important and needed changes. A plan was created to regularize undocumented workers.

Today we have a Conservative government that does not have to begin the process of change all over again. A plan is already written. The various concerns that have delayed a solution in the past are already addressed. All that remains is for the plan to begin implementation.

This issue goes beyond the usual party politics. This issue is about what kind of nation we want to be. Let us work on building a better future for these people and, as a result, for this country. We should strive for a stronger economy that will create better cities and a real sense of justice and fair play within our borders.

The Canadian Labour Congress tells us that documented and undocumented foreign worker in low-skilled occupations represent an increasing proportion of the Canadian workforce.

This June, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration passed a motion to halt the deportation of undocumented workers until a humane and logical solution is found. The minister chose to disregard this motion, so my question for the minister is simple. What can we do to help regularize these workers and overhaul the immigration system? Will the government commit to setting up a task force to work across party lines to build a better immigration system and find a solution for the issue of Canada's undocumented workers?

[November 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for bringing this issue before the House. Bill C-269, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act deals with fundamental questions of fairness in regard to the current Employment Insurance Act.

I believe that the basic principle of any law and the true measure of its success is directly related to, among other things, the actual successful implementation of the legislation. I am of the firm conviction that all government programs must start with a clear goal as well as attainable objectives that allow for the success of the program to be effectively measured.

Therefore, I would simply ask the member from the Bloc Québécois this question: What is the actual objective of these amendments? Perhaps more specifically the question might be: What exactly is the impact he expects should these changes be adopted?

If we were to pass this bill, how would we measure its successful effectiveness? It has recently been suggested that these types of bills represent patchwork solutions to the challenges faced by Canadians. I disagree.

Let me be very clear, I absolutely support the bill we are discussing here today. I say to my colleague that we must always look for ways to improve our programs, strive for more social equity, and always be willing to overhaul well-intentioned programs that may not meet their fullest potential.

I will be supporting this bill at second reading, so that we might see it reach the committee phase and then we can hear what the logic is behind each change the member is recommending. We will be able to clarify the specific goals and targets the bill hopes to reach.

Do I think that the bill is perfect? No. However, I do want to see if there are ways to make the bill stronger, more effective and more efficient.

To the members of the House, most notably the Conservatives who plan to vote against the bill, I ask this: Why not bring the bill to committee? I ask those members what they find so ideologically unpalatable about employment insurance that they are not even willing to let a committee consider how to improve it?

I would like to turn to the issue of poverty and social justice. One of the oldest and most revered tenets of social justice is the concept many of us have heard growing up and that is the so-called golden rule, “do onto others as you would have them do to you”. In other words, take care of those in need. We must ensure that our programs and policies reflect the basic tenet of social justice.

Earlier in this debate it was mentioned that many people who pay into the EI fund never receive a penny from it. If we can ensure that those who truly need help get the assistance they require, then we can be justifiably proud that fellow Canadians are helping each other in their times of need.

We should be proud that those of us that are better off, lucky enough never to need the EI fund, are helping those who are not as fortunate. That goes to the heart of what it means to be a Canadian.

I know that each and every one of us receives countless emails lobbying against poverty. It is sad that such lobbying should even have to take place. Such actions should come naturally to us, without need for lobbying. With the revisions contained in this bill, I believe it will go part of the way to help alleviate poverty in our society. Will it do the whole job? Probably not, but it is a step in the right direction.

Increasing the number of people who benefit from EI will undoubtedly help some of those on the cusp of poverty to indeed be able to help themselves.

Let us also take a moment to discuss the question of election promises. During the last election the Conservatives ran on a commitment to set up an EI program that would be independent of the government with an autonomous fund. We already see that the Conservatives have abandoned this promise just like the one they shattered on income trusts.

We hear nothing about the health care wait times even though it is supposedly one of the five mystical priorities. Especially upsetting is the government's assertion that it is the opposition that has somehow gridlocked this Parliament. This may come as news to the government, but debates, amendments and committees are all a part of a parliamentary democracy.

[Petitions, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have again another petition that calls on Parliament and the government to halt the immediate deportation of undocumented workers and to find a humane and logical solution to this situation.

I also received a message on November 1 from CAW Local 252 that Patricia Grant, a woman who has lived and worked in Canada for 13 years, was just recently deported, again another example of the need for action. We cannot be deporting people who are contributing to our society and to our economy.

[Federal-Provincial Relations, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, once again Torontonians and Ontarians have been let down by the government. The Minister of Indian Affairs refuses to meet to help deal with Caledonia. The Prime Minister snubs the premier and now the government has failed to provide funding for Expo 2015 in Toronto. This is proof that the government simply does not care about Ontario.

Given the government's failure to support Expo 2015, will the government now commit to secure stable funding for Toronto's waterfront redevelopment?

[Refugees, November 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of people from eight moratorium countries who live in Canada for years in legal limbo. These individuals are unable to return to their home country because of insecurity there, a danger explicitly recognized by the Canadian government. They are unable to get on with their lives because they are denied permanent residence under Canada's immigration and refugee system.

The impacts for those in limbo are dramatic and painful. They cannot reunite with their family members, even spouses and children. They have limited job prospects. They cannot pursue their education. They are ineligible for federal child tax benefits, even if they work and pay the same taxes as Canadians. They have access only to emergency health coverage. They cannot travel outside Canada. They struggle with profound feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness.

Keeping hundreds of people in long term limbo is not only inhumane but clearly is also unproductive for Canadian society. These people are asking for measures to be implemented to allow them to become permanent residents. I join the Canadian Council for Refugees in supporting these communities in its efforts.