Murray Rankin

[Housing, November 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, housing is unaffordable for nearly half of people in Victoria. Rental vacancy levels remain below 1%, one in five Victorians is spending more than half his or her income on rent and utilities and owning a house is virtually a fantasy. Between 2000 and 2016, the median income for a family in Victoria increased by 64% and the price of a single family home by 340%.

In 1993, the then Liberal government cut the national affordable housing program, which would have supported the construction of 100,000 units in B.C. between then and now and the current Liberal government refuses to spend 90% of its promised funding for housing until after the next election.

Affordable housing is a fundamental right. I will be holding a town hall this Saturday to discuss what the government is refusing to do: make affordable housing a reality for Canadians.

[Committees of the House, November 2nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 22nd report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights concerning Bill C-75, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other acts and to make consequential amendments to other acts.

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House, with amendments.

[The Environment, November 2nd, 2018]

Madam Speaker, a report out this week says that over the last 25 years the earth's oceans have retained 60% more heat than scientists had thought. Also this week, a glacier in Antarctica lost a section of ice five times the size of Manhattan, but the Liberals do not seem to get the urgency of climate change. They think following Harper's targets is just fine. Our oceans are warming, our icebergs are melting. We need urgent action now.

Why do the Liberals not ditch their grossly inadequate plan and come up with something consistent with the urgency of climate change?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 1st, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to the member who spoke just now about transparency. I would like to ask him if he considers the following to be a transparent debate. We had a 850-page bill dropped on Parliament on Monday. Today is Thursday. There have been 4.5 hours of debate, only one speech allocated to the NDP, and the government has just announced time allocation on this bill of over 1,000 sections.

How is that transparent? How can we do our jobs as parliamentarians in scrutinizing such a mammoth omnibus bill?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2, November 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in my friends impassioned speech, he referenced the fact that the House on Monday received a document 850 pages long, with literally thousands of clauses and subclauses dealing with budget matters, the guts of how we regulate our economy and other matters. Of course, it is not just about that. It is an omnibus bill covering much more.

It is said that a budget is the truest reflection of a government's priorities. I do not have a clue what they are.

Does the member share my concern that as parliamentarians, we cannot do our job when we are given a bill 850 pages in length on Monday and on Thursday are asked to dissect it? How can we possibly do our job as parliamentarians?

[Physician-Assisted Dying, November 1st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Audrey Parker of Halifax is dying today. She has stage 4 cancer and lives in terrible pain. She has chosen to end her life much sooner than she would like. Audrey was forced to make this agonizing choice because our existing medical assistance in dying law does not allow for advance requests. She worried that if she waited, she would not be able to give the consent required.

Soon the government will be receiving an expert report on this law. Will it introduce legislation before the next election so people like Audrey never again have to make this agonizing choice?

[Sikh Heritage Month Act, October 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, in April of this year, for the first time in more than 100 years, the Sikh community of Victoria celebrated Vaisakhi with a parade. Over 1,000 people came out. It was full of light. It was full of colour. It was full of energy. That summarizes what the Sikh community has brought to our community.

I was so pleased to second my friend's bill when he brought it forward to recognize the contribution of the hard-working people of Sikh ancestry who live in our community. It is particularly relevant on Vancouver Island, because so many of that community came here in the early part of the 20th century to establish themselves and create a new life for their family.

In fact, we have had a community of Sikh immigrants, who first established themselves in our community of Victoria in 1904. People forget just how long they have been an integral part of our community. We have had a few gurdwaras, especially the Khalsa Diwan Sikh temple on Topaz Avenue, the Punjabi Akali Sikh temple on Graham Street and the Gurdwara Singh Sabha temple on Cecelia Road. We have a large and vibrant community, heirs to that tradition of which I spoke, people who come to make a better life for themselves in our community.

During his remarks, my friend for Surrey—Newton properly paid tribute to the history and success of this community. Through hard work, it has made such a difference in our community.

For example, he talked of some of the travails of that community, which I would also like to refer to, such as the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. However, some of the successes also need to be celebrated. The hard work of that community has led to success in so many different fields.

I would like to pay tribute to the Jawl family, which is famous in the business community for its work in development and is celebrated for what I call a “handshake” business. A handshake from the Jawl family is all one needs to create multi-million dollar enterprises. It is revered and loved in our community for its charity as well.

I always tell the story when new Canadians are sworn in. Mr. Gordy Dodd, a gentleman of Sikh tradition from south India, came here. Mr. Dodd sat in the parking lot of his furniture store business, on a platform about 100 metres over that. He had people come and donate money to the Red Cross to help the victims of the flooding in Calgary. When I asked him why he was doing that, he said, “Because we're all Canadians and we stand together”. I am proud to call that community the Sikh community of Victoria.

I am also proud because I had the opportunity to teach Moe Sihota when he was at law school. He will not remember that. He was the first Sikh elected to a federal or provincial seat in all of Canada, when he was elected in British Columbia. He served until 2001. In 1991, he became the first Sikh cabinet minister anywhere in our country. He has made enormous contributions not only to my party, but to the people of British Columbia as well, for example, the major expansion of B.C. parks. His commitment to the environment is legendary in our community.

We have another Sikh leader who is seeking to join us in the House of Commons. His name is Jagmeet Singh. He is the first visible minority to serve as leader of any of the major parties and is of course a proud Sikh himself. I was buoyed by the comments of my hon. friends about the efforts that the government would soon make to allow him to join us in the House of Commons and continue the tradition of service for which the Sikh community is so noted. I was pleased to hear the word “days” not “months” being used by the hon. member in his remarks.

I must mention the travesty of the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. Just as we are soon going to give a long overdue apology to the Jewish community for the MS St. Louis incident, this was the subject of apologies that were long overdue.

Imagine hundreds of people on a boat, British citizens, as part of the Empire, who were coming to establish themselves as Canadians but were unable to do so essentially due to racism against what were then called Asiatics. Rules were made in 1908 by the Canadian government to stop them from coming here. They were required to pay an enormous sum of $200. They were required to come to Canada via a continuous journey from India, even though there were very few ways to continuously journey from India in order to get to Canada. All sorts of fraudulent hurdles were put up in order to stop them. What they have contributed since that community finally established itself is legendary.

I am so proud to stand here today and support my friend for bringing to the attention of the House the need for Sikh heritage multiculturalism to be established.

I point out that in 2005 former NDP leader Jack Layton said, “It will be a wonderful day when a motion could be adopted in the House of Commons to recognize the five Sikh symbols.” Also, former NDP member the hon. Judy Wasylycia-Leis moved a motion in Parliament that year to give proper recognition and respect for Sikhism and an equal place for Sikhs in Canada. Therefore, I can say that our friend is continuing a proud tradition that our party has worked with. It is not a partisan issue. We all want to see this established.

I salute my friend for bringing this bill forward. I look forward to enthusiastically supporting it when it comes to a vote.

[Sikh Heritage Month Act, October 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking my friend from Surrey—Newton. I had the honour of seconding his bill. I appreciate very much what he has brought forward to the House to celebrate the importance of the Sikh heritage to our democracy.

Moe Sihota was the first Sikh elected to federal or provincial office anywhere. I am proud that he comes from my province of British Columbia. In 1991, he became the first Sikh minister.

Does the member agree that having Mr. Jagmeet Singh, the first Sikh and visible minority leader of a national party, in this House would be another historic event? I wonder if the member will work with us to make sure that happens just as soon as possible.

[Elections Modernization Act, October 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, through you, I would like to ask my colleague for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford why he thinks the Liberals chose to not go ahead with getting receipts to prove there has been no fraud in an election, and why they took that out of the bill at the eleventh hour.

[The Environment, October 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, last week dozens of constituents came to my community office. They shared their profound concerns about the sobering report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change on limiting global warming to one and a half degrees.

Canada has a climate plan that falls far short of what science says we need. The latest climate change performance index has Canada ranked a woeful 51st out of 60 countries. That index refers to Canada as one of the largest producers of absolute greenhouse gases, as well as of per capita emissions.

Canada could be a leader in fighting against climate change, but instead we have become an international embarrassment. We must strengthen our international climate commitments and begin to build a 100% renewable energy economy that respects indigenous rights.

Also, there is no way Canada will meet its Paris commitments if it goes ahead with the Liberals' Trans Mountain expansion. We need real leadership to address climate change, and we need it now.