House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2011, with 32% of the vote.
Pay Equity February 25th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, this government is trying to use pay equity to abolish human rights.
The Conservative government's much touted infrastructure plan ignores women, especially working women.
Can anyone guess how much of the Conservatives' infrastructure spending plan goes toward building child care space facilities? Zero. All this on the heels of a UN report that blasts Canada for its failure to publicly fund child care spaces.
Why is the Conservative government refusing to help women--
Pay Equity February 25th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, women have been brushed aside by this government. Canada now ranks 83rd on the gender equality index. Women earn only 70¢ for each dollar earned by men, and the recession is serving only to widen the gap. Yet this government is doing nothing.
Why is the government sitting on its hands instead of helping women during the recession? Why?
The Economy February 23rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about here, what really matters, are the people those numbers represent. Decreased retail sales in December mean people out of work in January. As we know, women will be particularly hard hit as they are overrepresented in the retail sector, they are overrepresented in part-time jobs, and they are underrepresented as EI recipients.
What will the Conservatives do now to make up for their pathetic paralysis since the crisis first hit months ago?
The Economy February 23rd, 2009
Mr. Speaker, in Quebec, retail sales plummeted 4.4% in December alone. Three years with this Conservative government have meant three years with decreases in this sector, and we are expecting another decrease in 2009.
Can the Prime Minister explain why, despite his so-called expertise in economics, the numbers show that his policies are failing one after the other?
The Economy February 9th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, the people in my constituency are paying an unfair price for the Conservative inaction. Seven hundred employees at the Bombardier plant in Dorval have just been laid off. These 700 people are asking how they will meet the needs of their families.
How can the Minister of Industry tell these 700 workers—today—that the aerospace industry is fine? How could he say that?
The Economy February 9th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would love to forget the month of January, since 129,000 of them lost their jobs. It is unprecedented in Canadian history. And now, economists are doubting the reliability of the Conservative government's financial forecasts. Canadians have the right to hear the truth.
How can Canadians believe this Conservative government when its numbers are always contradicted by experts?
Privilege February 5th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, as you know, I am the one who rose in this House yesterday to raise this matter of privilege. I spoke briefly on it at that time and I would just like to acknowledge the statement by the hon. member for Ahuntsic.
The hon. member admits in this House that she has failed in one of the fundamental duties of a member of Parliament, which is to act and to work with diligence and care and to make use of the human and material resources allocated to us by the House so that we may fulfill our responsibilities as members. Each of us, therefore, has a duty to ensure that the resources of the House are used, as I said, with diligence and in such a way as not to violate the privilege of either our other colleagues in the House or the House itself.
We have heard the admission, the statement by the hon. member for Ahuntsic. In it she admits that: first, she did indeed distribute all this information by email to the members' personal Blackberry addresses; second, that some of the information and images contained in the material she distributed incited hatred toward a religious group, namely the Jews, and glorified certain organizations that have been declared legally by legislation passed in this House as terrorist organizations; and third, that she has been remiss in her duties as a member of Parliament. This breach of her duties is at risk, first of all, of being prejudicial to all other members but also—and even more important—of discrediting the House itself.
On January 29, 2003, another independent member, Jim Pankiw, who was at the time representing Saskatoon—Humboldt, raised a question of privilege. He alleged that his privileges had been violated by deputy ministers of various departments because they had given directives to their staff not to respond to an email he had sent to everyone—in excess of 200,000 public servants—and in fact to simply delete the message. His messages in fact were blocking the computer operations of those departments. Mr. Pankiw claimed this was in violation of his rights.
Mr. Speaker, you yourself brought down a ruling at that time indicating that the sending of spam using resources—such as computers, Internet service and so forth— provided to members by the House to enable them to assume their responsibilities and do their job as members of Parliament constituted a violation of privileges. It was indeed spam that the hon. member was sending. You gave the directive at that time to all members to use these resources with diligence and care and said that if a member persisted in acting in such a way, the House would sanction him by disconnecting his computers and Internet service.
We have heard the statement by the hon. member for Ahuntsic indicating that she failed in her fundamental duty as a member of Parliament, that is to use the resources allocated to her—as they are to us all moreover—carefully so as to ensure that their use did not cast discredit on the reputation of the House itself and did not violate the privileges of other members. This merits a sanction. I would suggest that sanction take the form of a warning, namely that if, in future, any member committed this same type of action, his or her services would be cut off, as you ruled in the case of Mr. Pankiw.
This action by the hon. member for Ahuntsic goes far further than what was done by Mr. Pankiw, and is far more serious. The spam he sent out blocked certain systems for a period of time, but did not incite any identifiable group to hatred nor glorify any organizations which the government has labelled as terrorist under legislation enacted by this House.
Canada-EFTA Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act February 4th, 2009
Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to the speech from our hon. NDP colleague. She mentioned that she met with representatives from Dairy Farmers of Canada, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
I also met with representatives from the Quebec group yesterday. One of the points they raised was about yogourt production and how it is regulated. I imagine the representatives that the member met with also raised this question.
Did the farmers she met with suggest, as those from Quebec did, that the federal government adopt a national strategy and regulations, using Quebec's standards—which are the highest in Canada—as a model? Quebec produces 90% of Canada's yogourt. And if they were to make such a proposal, would her political party agree? I can say that we would.
Business of the House February 4th, 2009
(Motion agreed to)
Business of the House February 4th, 2009
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions with all parties in the House and I believe that if you were to seek it, you would find that there is unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:
That during the debate pursuant to Standing Order 52, following the first intervention of each of the recognized parties, members rising to speak may indicate that the period of debate be divided in four.