Matt Jeneroux

[Bill C-10, May 5th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am here in Ottawa today specifically to push back and fight against the government's bill, Bill C-10, which is an absolute attack on the freedoms we as Canadians enjoy online. This legislation would give sweeping power to the CRTC to regulate the Internet with no clear guidelines of how that power would be used.

The government has now said it would introduce an amendment to make it clear that the content uploaded on social media sites would not be regulated by this bill. However, Canadians still have the right to be concerned. This is unacceptable in a society such as ours that values its freedom.

It could not have been said any better than by the former chairman of the CRTC, who stated that this bill, “doesn’t just infringe on free expression, it constitutes a full-blown assault upon it and, through it, the foundations of democracy.”

This bill has no place in a free and fair society like Canada's, and I will work tirelessly to oppose such a bill becoming law.

[Canada Labour Code, April 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, that really has been the key question all along, about getting that next step, the EI benefits, to follow the bereavement leave. The member for Elmwood—Transcona has been supportive throughout this process and has also asked those key questions throughout in trying to get this to the next stage. I have no updates on my end, unfortunately. I hope we will see something soon, if not in the budget, but I hope we will be able to move that more quickly. The member is right that it is a logical next step that needs to happen, EI supports to follow along the bereavement supports.

[Canada Labour Code, April 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to sitting down with the member for Kingston and the Islands and having a further chat about some of these amendments. He is absolutely right. What we cannot do as private members, and I know he knows this as well, is impact the public purse whatsoever. We cannot impact EI benefits. We cannot push for the government to spend more money. As private members, all we can do is move forward policy legislation.

The conversations the minister is engaged in with her cabinet in terms of what the opportunities are to expand EI are, again, what the future of this could go to. Unfortunately, we cannot do that as private members.

Speaking to how the amendments came forward, that is actually a fascinating backstory to the bill. This is the first time, from my understanding, that at a committee there was a joint Liberal and Conservative amendment put forward. It was brought forward by me and the member for Mount Royal, and it passed unanimously at committee. Again, that commitment to non-partisanship on this issue has really been the tremendous backstory that we have seen throughout the debate on the bill.

[Canada Labour Code, April 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, that is a key question that came up throughout the conversation of the debate. According to the department, there is already, within the policy declaration, opportunity to expand this legislation within the department. It is not specifically written in our legislation, and that is perhaps an opportunity for either an improvement to our legislation, or maybe the member would like to bring forward another private member's bill specifically on that. In seeing what New Zealand did, that is the right direction. It certainly has a lot of support from a lot of the stakeholder community, and if we are serious about bereavement supports, that would be a logical next step.

[Canada Labour Code, April 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, the scope of the bill originated as compassionate care leave, something that was near and dear to many members in the House of Commons.

That is where we were in second reading, after going through the committee stage, and, honestly, with support from the member for Mount Royal and the Minister of Labour, we were able to amend this bill to allow for 10 days of bereavement after the death of a loved one.

Initially we were looking at three weeks after the death of a loved one, which would only apply to a caregiver. What we decided to do, again with support from the Minister of Labour and the member for Mount Royal, was to expand that to 10 days past the death of a loved one, so essentially the agreement is for two weeks.

It is not just for people who have taken compassionate care leave. It is for any individual who has suffered the death of a family member or a loved one.

[Canada Labour Code, April 13th, 2021]

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

Mr. Speaker, we made it. We are finally at third reading. I have to say this has been quite a remarkable journey.

I want to start with a huge thanks to so many people who have helped along the way. These include my friend and consistent champion of this legislation, the hon. member for Mount Royal, who has worked extremely hard to make this a reality, and the Minister of Labour, who has been incredibly accessible throughout this fight and really is personally committed to seeing better bereavement supports in this country.

I also want to thank the member for Beaches—East York for agreeing to a trade with a member from across the aisle so that we could continue to move this legislation at lightning speed through the House of Commons, and the entire HUMA committee, chaired by the member for Charlottetown, at which I testified. Together we made a better bill.

I also want to thank my seconder on this, the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon; my friend who spoke so passionately on this at second reading, the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry; my friend from the New Democrat caucus, the member for Elmwood—Transcona, who let me bend his ear on these amendments; the member for Thérèse-De Blainville for her support from the very beginning; and of course the House leaders from all parties, especially the government House leader, who has consistently helped to support this bill moving forward.

Our stakeholder community has also been amazing through this process and is always quick to drop everything to meet on short notice. Specifically I give huge thanks to the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Grief Alliance, both of which testified at committee with me; the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, the MS Society of Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association, and particularly Kristi Puchbauer, who first came to me with the idea that we needed to do better.

I am going to keep the rest of my comments brief, as Canadians have unfortunately had to face much hardship and loss in the past year, and this bill has given so many a chance at hope.

Amendments to this bill would allow Canadians whose workplace falls under the Canada Labour Code 10 days off work following the death of a family member. This amendment allows more workers time to grieve before returning to work, including those who have used the compassionate care leave program. I also believe this extra time off would be especially helpful for workers after a sudden death in the family.

Ultimately, this amended bill would help more Canadians. Again, I thank the Minister of Labour for her collaborative approach to making this change happen. The pandemic has made clear that we need to do some things differently, and bereavement support is one area where we can do better for Canadians.

We just saw New Zealand extend its bereavement laws to parents who have suffered a miscarriage. Imagine that. These are important steps, and I hope passing our bill means we will see further policy changes on bereavement supports in the future.

I truly hope that we can continue in what I think has been inspiring to so many Canadians: Parliament can work. I hear regularly that the non-partisanship we have all collectively shown is inspiring more young people to consider politics and to consider getting involved in the policy process.

I thank my colleagues from all parties again for their continued fight, their support and feedback on this bill. It has truly been an amazing honour to see our bill get to this stage: one step closer to helping millions of grieving Canadian families.

[Pensions, February 26th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, we have heard from many across Canada that the pensions of thousands of U.K. expats are frozen, despite the government's negotiating a new trade deal. These U.K. state pensions are not operated when the pensioner lives in a country that does not have a reciprocal operating agreement with the United Kingdom, like Canada. As a result, thousands of British pensioners living here are not able to access the pensions they have earned.

Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to negotiate an agreement that will unfreeze these pensions?

[Canada Labour Code, February 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded division.

[Canada Labour Code, February 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I am humbled by a lot of the comments made in the chamber today, but also during the first debate. I will get to my thanks in a minute, but I want to address what we have been hearing, which is an outpouring of support from people who are caregivers now, people who have been caregivers, people who think they will potentially be at the point of taking care of a loved one or people grieving after a loved one has passed away. I want to share two comments we received from two individuals in particular.

Before I get to that, I want to also recognize that today is World Cancer Day. I could not have done a lot of the work without the support of the Canadian Cancer Society. I remember the first meeting we had. Its representatives came on board and said that they could not wait to support my private member's bill. They have been there since day one. It is fitting on World Cancer Day to be able to finish the second hour of debate.

We spoke about some of those individuals who were taking care of their loved ones. Among the hundreds of emails we have received since first reading, I want to point out two.

One comes from Leslie Allen from Alberta. She took care of her husband Don, who battled colorectal cancer for six years. In June of 2018, he was told that he only had two to six months to live. Let us think about a spouse being told that he or she has only two to six months to live. Imagine the shock it must have been to Leslie.

A nurse advised Leslie to use compassionate leave. Leslie said that she had no idea compassionate leave existed. She said, "My greatest challenge with all of it was that I was emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally drained. Having resources to tap into to support me was essential.”

The second email is from Elaine Klym from western Canada. She took leave to care for her sick father who lived across the country in Ontario. After he passed away in November 2014, she called her workplace back in Alberta to notify her manager of the death. Elaine wrote, “My manager sat on the phone and counted out the days I was allowed to have off, five. Yes, you get five because he's out of province.”

Elaine went back to work less than two weeks after hearing the silence of her dad's heart. She kept reminding herself she had done the right thing, but she was mentally and physically exhausted. Elaine then wrote that she wanted all parliamentarians to know the need of having time to grieve after a loved one's death.

She finished her letter by saying,“I was grateful for a team and employer who understood, but returning to work so soon resulted in me taking more lost time later on due to the energy I put in caring for my dad. I would do it all over again and will probably seek a leave to provide the same care to my mom when it's her time, but my hope is I will have the benefit of a bereavement period for compassionate care by the time that happens.”

For Elaine and Leslie who took time like hundreds of others did to email us, the conversation we have had here today and a few months back is a win. It is a win in itself to be able to talk about the need for bereavement leave, the need for compassionate leave.

I want to close by thanking the Canadian Grief Alliance, the Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, the MS Society, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, ALS Society of Canada, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, Parkinson Canada, Alberta Caregivers Association especially and the Canadian Lung Association.

In particular, I really want to thank the minister and her staff. She has been incredibly open and thoughtful throughout this process of drafting the legislation. I do not have enough kind things to say about the parliamentary secretary or else I would be here for another 10 minutes. He has certainly been nothing but available to me at any time. We spoke at lengths about possible amendments. I look forward to bringing forward those amendments along with the parliamentary secretary. The conversations we continue to have about bereavement and grief are important for not only this chamber but Canadians across the country. I look forward to doing that in due course and I look forward this becoming law within Canada.

[Business of Supply, February 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, we request a recorded division.