House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2015, with 36% of the vote.
The Environment September 26th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the changes to environmental assessments affect the communities of all Canadians. They affect water quality and the food people eat. And the people were not consulted. Seismic testing, dams, wind farms and power plants do not require any federal environmental assessment whatsoever.
When the Prime Minister said that he wanted science-based approvals for projects, what kind of science was he talking about? His own?
Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act September 18th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech and heard his ideas about why we should support the bill at second reading and the other things that we should consider at committee when looking at this legislation.
It is important to listen, to debate, to exchange ideas. Here I note the utterly absent contribution to this debate by the Conservatives. We have heard from Liberals and New Democrats, but there have been no speeches, no questions by the Conservatives. There is absolute silence on this issue.
I wonder if my colleague has a comment to make about the failure to engage in real debate on this issue in the House.
The Environment September 17th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, that is not going to work because we have had international scientists who say that this work cannot be replaced. However, the cuts to ELA are just part of a larger worrying trend because the Conservatives are on track to eliminate all funding for contaminants research across all government departments. This is a reckless policy that puts the health of Canadians at risk. Stopping the study of pollution is not going to make it go away.
When will the Conservatives stop acting like 1950s tobacco executives? When are they going to stop downloading the cost of environmental cleanup on the next generation?
The Environment September 17th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives had the entire summer to listen to Canadians and reconsider their decision to close the Experimental Lakes Area. They will be abandoning several years of investment in research, which helped ban phosphates and combat acid rain and could help us better understand the effects of exploiting the oil sands.
We know that the Conservatives do not want to understand, but why deprive Canadians of this expertise?
The Environment June 21st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, we can grow the economy with things like a green infrastructure fund. Today we actually learned from Global News that 80% of the green infrastructure fund has not been spent, showing a total lack of commitment to green infrastructure projects by the government.
But wait, there is more. In fact, the money that has been spent is going to projects like running government offices and pipelines, not exactly top-of-mind environmental priorities.
My question for the parliamentary secretary is: when will they quit with the greenwashing?
The Environment June 21st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment put on her rose-coloured glasses when she spoke about sustainable development.
When we remove those glasses, here is what we see: the Conservatives are not going to meet their own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental assessments are going to disappear while oil pours out of pipelines. What is more, the Conservatives are firing our scientists.
Who will defend this record? Is that why the Conservatives want to sabotage the Rio negotiations?
Tobacco Act June 20th, 2012
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-438, An Act to amend the Tobacco Act (smokeless tobacco and little cigars).
Mr. Speaker, two and a half years ago members of this place passed Bill C-32. That bill was intended to ban flavoured cigarillos because the evidence was clear that young Canadians were consuming these products as a stepping stone to using non-flavoured tobacco products. But Bill C-32 contained a giant loophole that has allowed flavoured cigarillos in a modified form to continue to be sold, something the government has been aware of since the summer of 2010 but failed to take action to correct.
Sadly, the government has also not fulfilled its 2010 promise to ban all forms of flavoured smokeless tobacco, like flavoured chew, in recognition that those products are used disproportionately by Canada's youth.
This lack of action means that I am here again to re-table my bill, which would amend the Tobacco Act to correct both of these issues.
I am honoured that the member for Beaches—East York has stepped up to second the bill.
I urge the government to listen to the experts working on the front lines to protect the health of Canada's youth and adopt the bill as soon as possible.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
The Environment June 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, how can the Conservatives be proud when the international community is calling us out for our inaction?
The last time I announced in the House that we had won the fossil of the year award, the Conservatives were foolish enough to applaud. Spoiler alert: it is not a good thing. We did it again. We won this dubious dishonour at the Earth Summit in Rio for watering down language aimed at protecting fisheries and oceans and trouncing on our environmental record with the Conservative Trojan Horse budget bill.
Will the Conservatives provide real action on environment both here and abroad?
The Environment June 20th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the international community is once again accusing us of systematically obstructing environmental negotiations. The stone-age Conservative government has won yet another fossil of the day award.
Rather than working with our partners, the Conservatives are doing everything in their power to sabotage environmental agreements. A government can either participate and support sustainable development, or it can block progress.
Why not let those who are serious work, instead of blocking them?
The Environment June 18th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, Canadians would have more faith in what the minister was saying if the National Energy Board did not fail to follow up on violations 93% of the time.
The Conservatives are gambling with Canada's west coast, and now we hear that down in Rio, they are reneging on their promise to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. Basically they are doing whatever their big oil friends want them to do. Is there anything that this minister would not do for his big oil lobby friends?