Maryam Monsef

[Telecommunications, June 15th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I was congratulating my colleague for his interest in connecting eastern Ontario to high-speed Internet and I was assuring him that the Liberal members of Parliament in the region have been working hard to do just that with the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus since 2015. We are in regular conversations with them around the universal broadband fund. We are working with the Province of Ontario to connect even more households to this essential service, and we will have more news to come.

If my colleagues have additional questions or ideas, I am happy to work with them off-line. Please reach out.

[Telecommunications, June 15th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, again, I appreciate my colleague's concern, but I assure him that Liberal MPs have been working with the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus since before he had a seat in Parliament, and we will continue to do so.

In the coming days, we will have more news—

[Telecommunications, June 15th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome my colleague to the team of Liberal MPs in this region who have been working to connect eastern Ontario to cell service and high-speed Internet since 2015. We have moved forward, we have funded projects and we continue to support Ontarians as they get connected to this essential service. My colleague is misrepresenting that conversation.

I appreciate the work that the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus has done, and I look forward to sharing more news with Ontarians about high-speed Internet service in their backyards.

[Violence Against Women, June 8th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, let me first share my solidarity and condolences with Muslims in London and across the country, particularly my hijabi sisters, who are feeling terror and who are feeling targeted.

As is the case with attacks on Muslims, every life lost to femicide is an avoidable tragedy. Our thoughts are with all the people affected by these deplorable actions. Since we took office, our government has been there to fight gender-based violence, and we will continue to do so.

I thank our 250 partners in Quebec for their hard work. We will continue to be there for—

[Child Care, May 28th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for tenaciously defending women's rights.

This Liberal government is the only one to have a credible plan to help women return to work. We will do so by fighting the COVID-19 pandemic by administering vaccines. We will be providing affordable and universal day care services. We support women entrepreneurs and we provide support to victims of gender-based violence.

Our government will continue to work with all feminists—

[Seniors, May 28th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, in the best of times, living without high-speed Internet is difficult. During COVID, particularly for our elders, it has been incredibly difficult.

Our government continues to work to connect Canadians to this essential service, and it has been working on this since taking office back in 2015. I would say that tens of thousands of Canadians are already on their way to getting connected to this high-speed Internet service because of the investments we have made. We have made 10 times more investments in broadband than all other governments combined. We will not stop until—

[Violence Against Women, May 27th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Government of Canada, let me offer my condolences to every family grieving loved ones lost to an entirely preventable crime.

My colleague's compassion is commendable, but her facts are wrong. Our government has done more to support women in crisis, those living in violent homes, and more to address and prevent gender-based violence than any other government before.

Our response to COVID has been recognized as having the best feminist intersectional lens, and about a million Canadians have received supports in their hour of need through gender-based violence organizations—

[Gender Equity, May 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we are the first government to anchor our economic growth in women's health, women's safety and women's labour force participation. We moved forward with pay equity legislation despite the protests from the Conservative Party of Canada. We will continue to work to ensure that women have equal pay for work of equal value, and are safe everywhere.

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague can appreciate, the issues around gender-based violence are complex and deeply rooted in society. However, sexual misconduct and gender-based violence within institutions like military are even more complex. The work Madame Deschamps did years ago is important. It has allowed the government and the DND to make progress, but far more work needs to be done.

Madame Arbour's work will allow us to move forward. However, we will not wait for a report as she hears testimony. As we continue to hear from survivors, we will be sure to implement measures that improve the safety and well-being of all members in the DND and the armed forces.

Of course, we are also looking for any ideas this chamber may have. In addition to that independent review, what else can we do as parliamentarians to change the conversation about gender-based violence and workplace harassment, not just in the armed forces but in every workplace?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure my colleague that my time is spent listening to experts, listening to survivors who have the courage to come forward and connecting with colleagues in the House as well as defence and armed forces to ensure we get it right this time.