Niki Ashton

[Aboriginal Healing Foundation, March 9th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, in 2008 Parliament made history with its apology to residential school survivors. This moment set our country on a new path.

Healing has been an integral part of that path for aboriginal peoples. For 10 years survivors and their communities have looked to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation for healing and hope.

In communities in our region, northern Manitoba and across our country, the AHF has broken the silence around one of the darkest times in our history. Its work of counselling, creating awareness, working with young people and bringing communities together has been key to moving forward, but its work is not done.

Yet, the government's budget is silent on its support for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation which is set to fold on March 31. The AHF's work is integral to the spirit of the government's apology, integral to our journey toward truth and reconciliation.

It is not too late to do the right thing and stand by the historic commitment to aboriginal peoples and save the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

[THE BUDGET, March 8th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, the member across referenced some of my colleagues in the House, colleagues who have stood and fought for their constituents, along with all New Democrats, whether it is in terms of employment insurance or pension.

However, if we are talking about seniors, we would like to see a real commitment from Canada's government when it comes to seniors, whether it is looking at support for the guaranteed income supplement, pension plans or standing up for a stronger pension plan in both the private and the public sector. We would like to see a commitment to issues like housing and ensuring there is a national housing strategy and affordable housing when it comes to seniors. Those are the things that matter to seniors all across Canada and this is the area where we do not see the government taking leadership.

[THE BUDGET, March 8th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I found it interesting to hear the member's commitments, on behalf of his party, to research and innovation in the budget.

Over this past year, I have been very involved in working with a number of organizations, certainly students and researchers, regarding the attacks specifically on the social sciences and humanities. While in this budget we do not see an ideological earmarking the way we did pertaining to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant, we see another trend that is extremely disconcerting, and that would be the emphasis on commercialization.

Time and time again throughout this budget, we see that commercialization is the way the government sees the future of research; however, that of course precludes many areas of research that do not focus on commercial or profitable endeavours, and one would certainly say that discourages people who are committing their--

[THE BUDGET, March 8th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I heard the hon. member emphasize investments in science and technology and post-secondary education.

However, we in the NDP feel that even in the area of post-secondary education, this is a budget that fails to help Canada move forward. One way it fails is by not really helping post-secondary students across the board.

When we talk about investments in research councils and investments in research, these are important factors, but we cannot forget that it is students who are going into these programs and it is students whom we need to be supporting.

Unfortunately, the government has not shown leadership in this area. Across the country tuition fees are rising at historic rates and student loans are beyond the $13 billion mark. Students are facing financial challenges at a time when there are no jobs.

While it is important to invest in research, would the member not agree that the really important part is to help students at the bottom level to ensure they will have a better future?

[Aboriginal Affairs, December 10th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, residential school survivors struggle every day with the agonizing trauma of their experience.

The minister knows that the Aboriginal Healing Foundation has been critical in providing support in terms of counselling the survivors and their families. In my riding alone, 18 projects in 17 communities, depend on this funding.

Since healing is a key part of reconciliation, will the government commit to supporting the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and its programs beyond the March 2010 cutoff?

[Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act, December 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, when we talk about democracy, democracy is debate. After all, we have this space to debate, to discuss policies that will go forward. I respect that not all parties feel this is perhaps essential, but from what I understand, in elections, that is the mandate we are given. If there is nothing more important than when it comes to a new tax that is unfair on people who are already struggling to make it work, then what are we doing here?

[Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act, December 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Timmins—James Bay, somebody who, along with many of our colleagues, certainly from northern Canada and northern Ontario, has been very clear about the way in which this is impacting so many of our regions.

He brings up an excellent point. It is shameful the extent to which the Liberal Party members, certainly those from the provinces that will be impacted by the HST, stand against not just the interests, but the needs and the challenges that seniors, students and aboriginal people face in their regions and in their provinces. They should stand to support Canadians.

[Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act, December 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like a broken record in here. Every time we hear a Conservative get up and ask a question, we hear the same thing about respect. As we all know, the carrot that was provided to the provinces of billions of dollars was a clear indication of the way in which the federal government has very much encouraged this process and supported this process. So by no means was it the provinces in and of themselves.

We have also heard that in the B.C. provincial election this was never stated as part of the campaign platform. There has been no time for consultation, no opportunity for consultation in B.C. and Ontario. As for my province, I will tell members what else makes it a problem. We are subsidizing the imposition of this new tax, so it is unfair for all of our provinces and fundamentally for Canadians.

[Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act, December 8th, 2009]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, talking about relevance, why do we not talk to some of the students in our region and find out the costs that they will incur with this new tax and then we can talk about relevance.

I am familiar with the region my hon. colleague represents and I am going to get to aboriginal people which has extreme relevance to this debate, so stay tuned and hopefully he can pay attention.

When we are talking about students not only are we facing increased tuition fees and some of the highest rates of student debt but we are asking them to pay more money when it comes to textbooks and the food they need. We are seeing an increase of food banks at universities. Now we are going to impose a tax to make it more difficult for students who are already going into debt to achieve an education and contribute to our country. We are making it more difficult for them as a result of the HST.

The other group of individuals who have been so sorely missed in this entire debate by the federal government is first nations. I am proud to have stood with many of my colleagues in the House from the NDP to talk about the utter disgrace in the way that the federal government, which has a fiduciary obligation to first nations and a treaty obligation to first nations, has excluded them from any consultation and any debate.

It is shameful that first nations, which under the treaty are guaranteed the right to tax exemption in the case of the GST, will no longer have that right in terms of point of sale. It is absolutely horrendous that we are not only seeing a tax being imposed that would wipe away that treaty right, but we are seeing a complete and utter lack of consultation.

Have we learned nothing, from the way we work with first nations, regarding the most basic practice of the duty to consult? Chief's organizations in Ontario have been extremely vocal in this area. I had the opportunity to speak with chiefs that I have the honour of representing at the Assembly of First Nations congress yesterday. Many of them were also recognizing that this is a dangerous precedent. I am shocked to hear members of the federal government talk about this matter being up to the provinces when we know that federally it is obligated to work with first nations, obligated to respect treaty rights of which tax exemption at the federal level is most definitely one of them.

The challenge is that the substance of the tax does not work, the imposition on many vulnerable people, people who are already struggling to make it through, struggling even more as a result of the recession. We have a situation without consultation.

Before I finish I would like to note how proud I am to come from a province like Manitoba where we have an NDP provincial government that has stated clearly why it does not support a harmonized sales tax. It recognizes that it is unfair to the average Manitoban and notes the benefit that it does not provide to people who are struggling to make it by.

I would hope that across the country we could benefit from voices that are standing just as we are in the House to say no, no to a tax that does not work for Canadians, no to a process that excludes Canadians, and no to something that is going to put us further behind as we try as a country to move forward.

[Provincial Choice Tax Framework Act, December 8th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Burnaby—New Westminster.

People watching, people listening, may be wondering why an MP from Manitoba would be getting up to participate in a debate that is so very much focused on two of our provinces. It is with a real concern and it is in solidarity with my colleagues from B.C. and Ontario that I stand to point out that not only is the process by which the government is ramming through and silencing any opportunity for debate a problem but it is really the substance of the harmonized sales tax that is a real problem.

It is a real problem not just for the people in these two provinces and the provinces that have already had this tax imposed on them but also for provinces like Manitoba, which is the one that has stood up and said no, it is not going to put up with this new tax.

It is about recognizing that Manitoba and other provinces might be, down the line, subjected to even greater pressure if Ontario and B.C. are to accept this tax. It is about joining our voices to say how many ways the process, the substance of this whole harmonized sales tax debate, is flawed.

Many of my colleagues have stood in the House, the vast majority of us, time and time again to talk about how this is the wrong tax at the wrong time, something that has great resonance where I come from. Certainly, it is a regressive tax, as we know. Really, it places the burden on consumers at one of the worst times in recent history to bring in a new tax, a new tax that increases taxes on consumable items, items that people cannot go without: food, basic goods, basic services and transactions that average Canadians must make in their daily lives.

Instead of looking at taxing corporations and private companies that benefit from the labour and the resources in our country, this tax goes after the people who are suffering the most as a result of this recession.

This tax also has a very disproportionate impact on certain parts of our population, and I would like to speak in particular in terms of two areas: students and young people, and aboriginal people.

When we talk about students and young people, I am the critic for youth and also post-secondary education. This House has a pretty pathetic record in terms of talking about the challenges that young people face in general, but nowhere is this more the case than the imposition of the HST.

Young people, as we know in the case of this recession, have suffered much but in a very different way than many other generations. While we hear of the great job losses inflicted upon middle aged income earners, it is young people who have not gotten the jobs because they do not exist anymore. It is young people who are the first to be laid off. It is young people who have to put up with increased temporary, part-time, contract work, more than any other generation.

To have young consumers take on a tax at a time when they are making even less, when they are living in a much more insecure situation and looking at a very insecure job market, is extremely unfair.

If we look at the situation of students, I have had the opportunity to rise in this House on behalf of my party, the NDP, whose members are the only ones talking about the challenges that students are facing. We are seeing tuition fees increase at historic rates in Canada. Ontario, one of the provinces that is--