Niki Ashton

[Excise Tax Act, June 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I speak today in support of the bill in front of us. It is an important bill that would allow for mental health services to be more affordable in the sense they would be exempt from a point of sales tax.

I want to acknowledge the important work leading up to this point, not just by the member who put this bill forward, but also by my colleague, the MP for London—Fanshawe, who had a bill that touched on this issue some time ago and worked closely with many advocates and stakeholders across the country.

I also want to acknowledge the advocacy of my colleague, the member for Courtenay—Alberni, who has been a steadfast champion for mental health supports and has been clear that Canada needs to do much better when it comes to mental health and ensuring that Canadians have the mental health supports they need.

We know that physical health services, such as optometry, chiropractic and physiotherapy services, are already exempted from federal sales tax. Eliminating federal sales tax from psychotherapy and mental health services would be a step forward toward parity when it comes to mental and physical health. We know that the tax exemption would reduce the cost of these services, directly increasing access to them.

However, we also know that the tax exemption would not help Canadians who cannot afford these services in the first place. More importantly, it would not increase the availability of these services, which is far below the existing need. We believe, in the NDP, that Canadians deserve timely access to a full range of mental health treatments and services regardless of their ability to pay. Mental health care is not included in Canada's universal health care system, and Canadians are prevented from accessing mental health services because of long waits and unaffordable bills.

We in the NDP have been pushing for parity between mental and physical health with free access to mental health treatments and have also tabled a similar bill to remove GST from psychotherapy, which is again the work of my colleague, the MP for London—Fanshawe. While this bill does not go far enough in removing barriers to mental health care, it is one step in the right direction. Eliminating federal sales tax for mental health services would reduce their cost and increase access.

I have spoken about the importance of this bill and that it is one step, but clearly we in the NDP believe that there is a role for the federal government to go much further. We know that there is a mental health crisis in our country today. According to a report by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, almost 35% of respondents reported moderate to severe mental health concerns. Fewer than one in three people with current mental health concerns are accessing mental health services. We know that key barriers to accessing these services include financial constraints and long waiting lists. We have seen that counselling is the most unmet need of Canadians who are seeking help with mental health. We also know that the mental health concerns of Canadians have worsened throughout this pandemic.

Let us be clear that the reality of the mental health crisis right now, in many cases, did not just happen. We know that the current reality that so many Canadians face contributes to the mental health crisis. We can see contributing factors, like the increased cost of living.

We in the NDP, just a few days ago, put forward a motion calling on the federal government to take bold action to reduce the cost of groceries. We know that the inaffordability across our country is pushing more Canadians toward food banks, pushing more Canadians into food insecurity. This contributes to the mental health crisis.

We know that the lack of affordable housing contributes to the mental health crisis. Here, in northern Canada, where we have a lack of affordable housing, we know that many people are struggling. They are often floating from one home to another, trying to stay with relatives, to make things work, and in many cases, end up homeless because of the lack of affordable housing in communities across the country.

We also know how the lack of good jobs contributes to mental health. A number of years ago, I was the first member of Parliament to talk about the rise in precarious work, particularly in my generation. We know that many young people increasingly face precarious work, contract work or temporary work and not the kind of permanent, stable work that many in our parents' generation had. We know that means a lack of benefits, a lack of pension and a lack of stability, which also contribute to mental health.

However, perhaps nowhere is the way in which the federal government has neglected the challenges people face more evident than in how the mental health crisis is reflected in first nations, including the first nations I have the privilege of representing. In Manitoba, many first nations have declared a state of emergency, particularly around mental health, as well in reference to the opioid crisis, very much making it clear that there is a lack of mental health supports in first nations and in indigenous and northern communities across our region.

According to the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, compared with other children in Manitoba, first nations children in Manitoba had a higher prevalence of mental health illness and disorders. We know hospitalization rates for suicide attempts were twice as high for on-reserve than off-reserve first nations. When the comparison cohort was restricted to only other children in low-income areas, a higher prevalence of almost all disorders remained for first nations children.

This did not just happen. This is because of Canada's history of colonization. This is because of the persistence of intergenerational trauma, whether it be through residential schools, the child welfare system or the ongoing institutional racism that exists in our country. It is also because of poverty. Nowhere is the housing crisis more acute than on first nations here in our country. Here in our region, many first nations face third world living conditions when it comes to housing.

In fact, one first nation in our region, St. Theresa Point, has taken a leading role in a class action lawsuit against the federal government because of what the housing crisis is doing to the community. There is a waiting list of 700 families waiting for a home.

I point to the cuts made by the Paul Martin government in the nineties when it came to housing for first nations, and we know the government of Stephen Harper and the current Liberal government have done very little to invest in first nations housing.

We also know how the enforced isolation of first nations contributes to the mental health crisis. I think of first nations on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, who are less able to rely on the winter roads because of climate change, and who have made it clear that having access to all-weather roads will not just make life more affordable and allow people to get out and access the services that they need, but also contribute to better mental health.

I will never forget former chief George Kemp from Berens River, who said that when the all-weather road was built into his first nation a few years ago, because of the work of the NDP government at the time here provincially and the work of his first nation, one of the most noticeable impacts of that road was the fact there has not been a suicide since that road went in. This is a first nation that dealt with suicides over the years.

I also know that the lack of recreation on first nations, such as Cross Lake and others, also contributes to the mental health crisis. I will never forget speaking with Amber, a young leader from Cross Lake, who, after friends of hers took their own lives and others tried to take their own lives, said that they need a safe place for them to go. She said that they need mental health supports, but they also need a drop-in centre. Amber said that they need recreation opportunities for them to come together in a good way.

My message is that, while we do support this bill, it is clear the federal government has a lot of work to do to be able to deal with the mental health crisis on first nations, to be able to deal with the mental health crisis that so many Canadians face. The federal government has a clear role to play, and we in the NDP will continue to fight for the people we represent. It is clear that first nations, Canadians, deserve better when it comes to their mental health.

[Emergency Preparedness, June 5th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the government is playing with fire. Last week, it was reported that the chief of defence staff, Wayne Eyre, complained that the use of military personnel to assist in wildfire operations is wickedly wasteful. Is it wickedly wasteful at a time of a climate emergency?

As a Manitoban, I know just how much of a difference the Canadian military has made in fighting major floods and wildfires when all other resources have been exhausted. Now, when we are sending more troops to Latvia, our key military leaders are essentially saying that, when it comes to forest fires and floods in Canada, good luck.

This is unacceptable, as is the response of the Prime Minister. When I asked him about this in question period, he responded with a series of indecipherable platitudes. The Prime Minister should take a stand and make it clear that his government will reject any idea that helping is wasteful when it comes to forest fires and floods.

Finally, we need to reject the way in which we are increasingly sleepwalking into major policy decisions without considering their consequences. At a time when nothing less than the future of our planet is at stake, Canada is increasingly being part of the problem, not the solution, when it comes to international conflicts and catastrophic climate change. Canadians deserve better.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the MP for Nunavut, has been a steadfast champion for accountability when it comes to nutrition north and for her constituents on all issues, including the food insecurity and price gouging they face when it comes to The North West Company and Liberal action on this front.

In fact, one of our first joint press conferences called for action from the federal government on this very issue. The impacts are devastating. Just a few weeks ago, I was in the Island Lake region and spoke with people. I was in the northern stores and they talked about their inability to buy healthy foods because they were too expensive. Everybody knows that it is a federal government subsidy, but people are saying that it is simply not working.

They also know that in communities like ours, isolation plays an important role and it needs to be addressed through government investment in infrastructure, like all-weather roads. The airport in Wasagamack is critical as well. The reality in communities in northern Manitoba, and I know in Nunavut, is that things are not getting better. Things are getting worse. As prices go up in southern Canada, they are going up even further in the north. We need Liberals to snap out of it, act to reform nutrition north and even call a public inquiry into how it is run.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying that we invite the Bloc Québécois to support a motion that seeks to put an end to what is going on with the biggest companies in the commercial food sector. We hope that such measures will also be taken in other sectors in the future.

Now that we know from experience that the price of bread, for example, was fixed by companies in Canada, we need to take far bolder action. We know that economists support such measures. This motion is clear. We need to act in a more concrete and far bolder manner to put an end to the enormous profits of companies that are exploiting consumers across Canada.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's concern about what measures would benefit northerners. Let me cut to the chase. He is part of the Liberal government that has refused to reform nutrition north, refused to invest in ways to ensure that healthy foods are truly affordable, a Liberal government that has refused to work with first nations like Wasagamack to build an airport and communities on the east side of Lake Winnipeg to build all-weather roads that would directly have an impact on lowering prices.

I am not going to take any lessons from the Liberals with respect to what it is going to take to make food available in communities like mine. They need to stop giving subsidies to The North West Company the way they are and look at reforming nutrition north based on what works for northerners and make the investments in indigenous communities to bring prices down now.

[Business of Supply, June 4th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak to our NDP opposition day motion, calling on all parties in the House to stand with Canadians, to stand with us in the NDP, and push for measures to go after greedy grocery CEOs, lower food prices and reform nutrition north. Canadians are struggling. Costs are going up across the board. Nowhere is that more obvious than when it comes to grocery prices.

Grocery stores are out of control, and it is Canadians who are getting screwed. On top of it, wealthy CEOs like Galen Weston are raking it in, while Liberals ask them to meekly stop and Conservatives cheer them on. All the while, a couple of CEOs thrive as they live off public money, while northerners, indigenous peoples and all Canadians get screwed.

Over the last three years, the cost of food has increased by over 20%. Food bank usage is at a 35-year high. One in five Canadians is skipping meals. At the same time, the grocery sector made record profits in 2023, raking in $6 billion. It is an unfair system, and Canadians are paying the price.

Nowhere is this clearer than in communities across our north, especially ones that depend on the nutrition north program. Grocery prices in our north are routinely two to three times higher the cost compared to more southern communities. The profits of the largest grocery chain in the north, The North West Company, have gone up 10% since 2022. Its CEO earned just about $4 million in compensation in a single year, which is 98 times what his employees earned. With all those profits, it receives $67 million in subsidies through nutrition north. Are those savings being passed on to northerners? Of course not.

In fact, in larger communities with more than one store, corporate grocers pass only about 67¢ of every subsidy dollar on to consumers. In smaller communities with a single grocery store, greedy grocery CEOs are keeping 67¢ out of every dollar they should be passing on to consumers. The more isolated a community is and the less people have to spend the more they get gouged. It is unacceptable, and that is why we in the NDP have called for a public inquiry. However, we know that the Liberals and the Conservatives do not want to do that, preferring to keep northerners and Canadians in the dark.

This reality did not just happen. The corporate greed that we are seeing has been aided and abetted by successive Liberal and Conservative governments and their policies. It goes beyond food prices in our north. Canada is forcing first nations like Garden Hill, St. Theresa Point, Wasagamack, Red Sucker Lake, Oxford House, Gods River, God's Lake Narrows and others to live in forced isolation. Instead of working with Wasagamack to build a desperately needed airport, instead of funding all-weather road infrastructure for the first nations that need it, they are forced to rely on winter roads to ship everything in, including food. With catastrophic climate change shortening the window for these ice roads, a period in which things can be shipped in, things are only getting more expensive and only getting worse.

Northern and indigenous communities already have to deal with greedy CEOs' price gouging. Adding the collaboration of successive Liberal and Conservative governments, which refuse to fight to make their lives better, only increases people's struggles. The sad reality is that not one politician would tolerate these prices if he or she were the one who had to pay them.

We can be sure that if the Prime Minister lived in Norway House, a cereal box would not cost $17.99. If the leader of the official opposition lived in Wasagamack, a can of soup would not cost four times what it costs in Ottawa. If anyone here paid over $35 for a six-pack of canned salmon like people in Garden Hill do, he or she certainly would not be rushing to hand out $25.5 million to Loblaws and Costco over four years, like the Liberals did. We would not see the type of corporate coalition support that these successive Liberal and Conservative governments gave out, $2.35 billion in subsidies, to grocery giants if the deputy leaders of the Liberals or the Conservatives were paying $25 for a four-pack of Ritz crackers. No, it would be outrageous, and they would be helping people.

This is Canada, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, where we are seeing this kind of unacceptable exploitation, deprivation and inequality grow. Indigenous and northern communities deserve better. Canadians deserve better. That is why this NDP motion is so important. It reflects what we in the NDP have been calling to happen for a number of years, which is much-needed reforms to nutrition north so indigenous and northern communities can afford healthy foods, lower the prices of essential food at corporate grocery stores and end the Liberal and Conservative handouts to big corporations.

Speaking of oligopolies and the unbreakable bond between successive Liberal and Conservative governments and the CEOs they cater to, I would be remiss if I did not bring up another corporation, Bell. We will find few Canadian companies that better exemplify this corporate arrogance than Bell Canada.

I have heard from the VP of Bell, Robert Malcolmson, a number of times since we in the NDP summoned the Bell CEO to come to committee on April 11 to explain why Bell cut 6,000 jobs and slashed programming in eight months. We held the CEO to account on behalf of Bell workers, on behalf of Bell customers and on behalf of Canadians.

Curiously, instead of getting to work to make amends with Canadians, Bell Media has been spending its time monitoring my social media and has chosen to send me a number of unsolicited letters that show just how much it does not get it. Let us be clear: It is a company that is an industry setter when it comes to tax avoidance. According to a report from Canadians for Tax Fairness, Bell used a series of loopholes and schemes to avoid paying over a billion dollars in taxes over a four-year period, ranking it as one of the 20 worst companies in the country in that regard.

In terms of corporate salaries, Mirko Bibic, Bell Canada's CEO, in 2023, earned $2.96 million in compensation, despite falling short of Bell's 2023 financial goals. Dividends to shareholders increased by 3.1% during this time. As always, it is workers who pay the price while wealthy CEOs profit.

When the CEO of Bell was at our committee, I confronted him about the reality in my constituency, where most people have little to no choice and have to look to Bell MTS for service. I pointed out how Bell bought out our once proudly publicly owned telecom provider, privatized by the Conservatives in the 1990s, Manitoba's MTS, and promised cheaper rates and better service. Instead, Bell shrunk the workforce and jacked up the rates, leaving many communities still waiting for that better service.

I raised two particular issues. One was the landlines in Dallas, Manitoba, that were not working reliably, forcing Susann Sinclair to communicate with her 89-year-old veteran father by walkie-talkie, landlines not working in 2024. I know for a fact that, following this exchange with the CEO, Bell MTS kicked it into high gear. It contacted Susann Sinclair repeatedly and, most important, it replaced the obsolete equipment servicing landlines in the Dallas area. It replaced it with new equipment that was sitting in storage. Finally, Susann's landlines have been working as they should.

Sadly, the VP of Bell refused to refer to any of that and has, in his two recent letters, incorrectly confused service issues in Bloodvein and Dallas. Bloodvein and Dallas are two different communities. They are not even close geographically. It is time for Bell executives to look at a map of our province and understand where their customers live.

Let us be clear that the service issue in Dallas was resolved, but not in Bloodvein. What is most surprising with my communications with Bell is its continuing refusal to take responsibility. When Bloodvein First Nation needed cellphone service during a wildfire for evacuation purposes, it was told by Bell that it would need to pay $652,000 to turn on a tower that was on its land.

In their letters to me, Bell disputed this even happened and referred to a temporary tower it put up. I was aware of that temporary tower, but the Bell executives got it wrong. It was not in Bloodvein; it was in Loon Straits to service natural resources fighting the fires. The signal did not reach Bloodvein at all. Three years later, and even after our April 11 hearings, Bloodvein still does not have cell service.

I make no apologies for fighting for my constituents. I make no apologies for holding to account greedy CEOs and executives who are making profits on the backs of first nations, rural communities, Manitobans, consumers across the country and workers who have been laid off.

I hope the grocery store CEOs, big oil and telecom giants at Bell Media and the rest are paying attention. Rest assured, we will be working hard to go after them, to go after the profits they make on the backs of Canadians. We will continue to bring the fight for an excess profit tax so they can finally pay their fair share.

While billionaires and CEOs know they can count on the Liberals and Conservatives, northerners, first nations people, people on fixed incomes and Canadians know they can count on us in the NDP to fight for them.

[National Strategy on Flood and Drought Forecasting Act, May 31st, 2024]

Madam Speaker, today I am speaking to C-317, an act to establish a national strategy respecting flood and drought forecasting. Let us be clear. In Canada, we are facing a climate change crisis that is leading to more and more severe floods, and more and more severe wildfires. Let us also be clear that the government is failing, not only to deal with climate change, but to deal with the impacts of climate change.

The proposed bill requires the development of a national strategy to forecast floods and droughts. The bill is peak Liberal: It consults and forecasts, but it would do nothing to deal with climate change. It is yet another attempt to pathologize what is wrong with the patient instead of doing everything we can to bring the patient back to life, but what is worse is that the bill is a Liberal private member's bill. It is associated with a government whose actions are making climate change worse. Despite all of the PR stunts, the greenwashing and the lofty commitments internationally, Liberals have failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. The reality is clear: We are facing a climate emergency.

Earlier this month, we saw major wildfires on the west side of our constituency, by Cranberry Portage, Wanless and Flin Flon. We have never seen such aggressive wildfires so early in this part of the country. The fires moved as fast as they did because of the drought conditions, because of climate change. Hundreds of people were evacuated. Tens of thousands of hectares burned. Power and telecommunication lines were destroyed.

This is just the beginning. This is happening not just across Canada, but around the world. Let us be clear that many communities in our region are being impacted disproportionately by climate change. When we talk about floods, no community knows this reality better than Peguis First Nation, the largest first nation in Manitoba and a community I am honoured to represent.

Peguis was forcibly relocated to a flood plain by the federal government, but it is now bearing the brunt of climate change. Just over two years ago, the community once again faced extreme flooding, destroying homes and forcing over 2,000 people to flee to Winnipeg. At the time, Chief Hudson said that he had never seen flooding that bad and called on the military to step in. This a community that knows what it is talking about, having dealt with flooding that led to evacuations in 2011, 2014 and 2017.

I supported the call to bring in the military. The federal government refused to listen. It did not provide the supports needed then, and it has not since, and Peguis has had enough. They filed a $1-billion lawsuit just a few weeks ago against the federal government, the Province of Manitoba and two municipalities. The lawsuit is seeking damages caused by a “breach of duty and care and negligence...which has made living conditions on the reserve land...intolerable and which led to a wholesale evacuation.”

I was in Peguis a few weeks ago. Highway 224 and the roads in the community are torn up. Houses are abandoned and families are still evacuated. Peguis is asserting that the federal government breached its treaty obligations by not providing Peguis with a “sustainable and tolerable living environment, safe and secure from flooding disasters, through adequate permanent flood protection for the reserve land.”

The lawsuit also claimed that the federal government failed to build adequate flood protection at the reserve. So much for reconciliation from the Liberals. Peguis deserves action now. First nations and northern communities on the front lines of the climate crisis deserve action now. Let us be clear that the Liberal government has done the exact opposite of what needs to be done to keep communities safe. Only one-third of all money spent on disaster relief is for long-term solutions. The government would rather fund evacuation efforts than help prevent them. It is band-aids for all when what is really needed is surgery. This is life or death for the communities in our region, but the Liberals refuse to do the work.

Last summer was the worst wildfire season recorded in Canada. It was so bad that Canada accounted for 43% of people displaced by wildfires globally last year. This summer could be even worse, which is why Canada needs to think long and hard about how we are keeping communities safe and who has our back.

This brings me to the news of this week. This week, a story in the Ottawa Citizen shed light on deeply concerning comments made by the chief of the defence staff, Wayne Eyre, who has complained that the use of military personnel has become “wickedly wasteful”. He said, “I made it quite clear to other departments that our capacity to do what we did last year is not the same, especially with reduced readiness [and], increased deployments to Latvia”. Eyre told senior officers during an April 23 video conference, “We're not going to have the same forces available...for the scale and duration of response.”

Regarding “wickedly wasteful”, let us be clear. I know first-hand as a Manitoban and as a Canadian just how much of a difference the Canadian military has made when all other resources have been exhausted in fighting major floods and wildfires. Much of this deployment occurred when Canadians were serving overseas, whether it was in former Yugoslavia or even Afghanistan. Now, when we are sending more troops to Latvia, a key military leader is essentially saying that if it comes to forest fires and floods in Canada, good luck.

Describing these types of deployments as “wasteful” is absolutely unacceptable. However, what is even more unacceptable is the response from our Prime Minister. When I asked him about these comments in question period earlier this week, he responded with a series of indecipherable platitudes. He did not deal with the key question. Will he and his government assure Canadians that when it comes to our military, they will put the interests of Canadians first, responding to floods and forest fires when all other resources have been exhausted, or will the Prime Minister politically play with fire and once again try to have it every which way, trying to stand for everything but in the end standing for nothing?

I want to be clear. When it comes to our military and to the Prime Minister, I am proud of the service of so many women and men. I know first-hand from my family, from my partner, what that service means. That includes being there for Canadians when needed. That, in particular, means being there for northern and indigenous communities when needed. My message to the Prime Minister is to take a stand and make it clear that his government will reject any idea that helping in terms of forest fires and floods is wasteful, and to give the military the resources and the funding it needs to continue that work here at home.

Finally, I want to appeal to this House to take seriously what we are dealing with in Canada and around the world. We must reject the way in which we are increasingly sleepwalking into major policy decisions without considering their consequences. The government's escalation of troop deployment and weapons supplies without debate or discussion, when the military is now saying that it will be incapacitated in its ability to respond to Canada's needs, is not acceptable.

This bill talks about forecasts. I would like to make a forecast: If we do not consider the consequences of our actions right now, we will increasingly be part of the problem, not the solution, when it comes to international conflicts and catastrophic climate change. This would have an impact not only on Canadians today and in the near future, but on the very future of our planet.

[National Strategy on Flood and Drought Forecasting Act, May 31st, 2024]

Madam Speaker, while I appreciate the member's efforts on this critical issue, I am concerned about the fact that it reinforces a pattern we have seen from the Liberals and the Liberal government. That pattern is a lot of concern about the impacts of climate change but a lack of action.

Here, in our part of the country, we have seen a record wildfire season already, with much more aggressive fires and much earlier than normal, because of the drought conditions resulting from climate change.

Most recently we have heard very concerning statements from the military. They see the kind of support they provided as recently as last year as “wickedly wasteful”.

Does the member support the Liberal government not taking bold action on climate change? Does he believe that the federal government should be able to call on the military when needed, to keep communities such as mine and others across the country safe in the face of climate emergencies?

[Taxation, May 31st, 2024]

Madam Speaker, Canadians are struggling, while the government lets rich oil and gas corporations off the hook. The recent Parliamentary Budget Officer's report on corporate taxes is clear: Oil and gas corporations pay among the lowest federal tax, by industry, in Canada. As they jack up our carbon emissions and our country burns, oil and gas corporations made a record $120 billion in profits in 2022.

When will the Liberal government stand up for working Canadians and bring in an excess profit tax on greedy oil and gas corporations that are clearly not paying their fair share?

[National Defence, May 29th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, here in northern Manitoba, we have seen the wildfire season start much earlier because of climate change. Frontline forest firefighters are giving it their all, but they cannot do it alone. The military has had to help with firefighting operations across the country in the past, but now military leadership is warning that their capacity to help Canadians evacuate will be limited, calling that help “wickedly wasteful”. Let us be clear. We are facing a climate emergency, so if these domestic operations are not a priority for our military, then what is?

Can Canadians count on the government to call in the military when we need help?