House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2015, with 36% of the vote.
The Environment November 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as a result of repeated pipeline project failures, yesterday, in British Columbia, the Minister of Natural Resources adopted what he himself would describe as a radical approach. He said that natural resource development projects must be blocked as long as they are not subject to independent and objective reviews by experts.
How will the minister meet his objectives when he is eliminating all of our scientist and expert positions?
The Environment November 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it would not kill Conservatives to add a few facts to their answers from time to time, so let me help them out. The fact is that we have been waiting for years for regulations on oil and gas. The fact is that Conservatives have not taken climate change seriously. The fact is that Conservative inaction means we are now lagging behind in the global community. The fact is that the minister refuses to share the details of his costly and ineffective sector-by-sector approach.
Does the minister even know what the price tag will be?
The Environment November 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the height of hypocrisy for a minister is making up a policy to attack his adversaries and claiming that it will increase the price of everything and will even make families disappear, and then presenting a plan that will essentially increase the price of all cars. The fight against climate change costs money, but inaction costs more.
How much money will people have to pay for their car tax?
The Environment November 27th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, while the world gathers to act, the minister and the government are simply AWOL on one of the most important issues facing us today. The world meets in Doha and they are working together to fight climate change, but Conservatives are re-announcing made in the U.S.A. standards for vehicles that will not even take effect for four years. Yet, of course, his oil and gas buddies are free to emit as much as they want.
Why is the minister refusing to work with the international community on tackling climate change?
The Environment November 27th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, while the world gathers in Doha to fight climate change, the minister is merely re-announcing a made in the U.S.A. policy that will not come into effect for four years; yet climate change does not wait. The minister's failure to act is tarnishing Canada's reputation, which will also affect foreign investments.
What is the minister's plan for the Doha meeting, to sabotage another climate change agreement?
Petitions November 27th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to table a petition organized by the Grandmothers' Advocacy Network.
The grandmothers point out that in sub-Saharan Africa their sister grandmothers are burying their adult children and caring for many of the 15 million children who have been left orphaned by AIDS.
The petition talks about Canada's access to medicines regime and says that CAMR was intended to provide affordable life-saving generic medicines to developing countries, but because its provisions are unnecessarily complicated, it has been used only once since 2004.
The petitioners are asking that the new bill that is before the House, Bill C-398, which would correct these problems, be passed with support from across the House. The petitioners are calling upon all MPs to do that work.
The Economy November 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives just cannot get their budget stories straight. The Minister of Finance says that the budget will not be balanced as promised, but then the Prime Minister says that it will. The Minister of Finance says that there will not be more cuts, but the Prime Minister says that maybe there will. Now the Minister of Finance says that he has contingency plans to deal with the threat of another recession, but he gives no details.
Will the Minister of Finance table these details or should we just wait for the Prime Minister to correct him?
The Environment November 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we will always vote against reckless Conservative budgets that gut our environmental laws.
The Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C. will cross over 300 waterways and will affect the habitat of over 100 species at risk. However, after the Conservatives are done gutting environmental protections like the Navigable Waters Protection Act, this massive project will not even face an environmental assessment.
How can Conservatives claim that cancelling environmental assessments for projects like GasLink have nothing to do with the environment?
The Environment November 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the latest Conservative budget attacked the Fisheries Act. Conservative attacks on environmental protection were so harsh that the recent budget implementation bill helped fix the mess, at least in part.
The Conservatives rejected all of the NDP amendments that would have fixed the mistakes still in the bill. Why rush bills through Parliament when they know they will have to change everything six months down the line?
The Environment November 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, a mischaracterization? We have the transcripts.
The minister seems to know a lot more about made up NDP policies than he does about his own portfolio. Experts confirm that his sector-by-sector approach is not working. It is the least effective and the most expensive approach to GHG reductions. Six months ago we asked the minister how much the plan costs. There was no answer. Yesterday, he said that to him the numbers really are not that important.
Is the minister hiding the answer or does he really not know the cost?