Niki Ashton

[Business of Supply, June 10th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand in the House and defend our opposition day motion that opposes the government's regressive proposal to bring in income splitting, a proposal that will not benefit the vast majority of Canadians, a proposal that will help turn the clock back on women's equality in our country.

Canadians need a break financially. My constituents tell me this often. They work hard and they try their very best, but at the end of the month they still struggle to pay their bills, or afford adequate child care, or afford the rent and sometimes to put food on the table and clothes on their kids' backs. The bottom line is that we must do more to make life more affordable.

The median income in my riding is $45,961. That means half of the people in my riding in Northern Manitoba earn more than that and half earn less.

I represent many people who live in poverty and people who live in communities with chronic and historic unemployment.

The reality is that the Conservative income splitting scheme will not put even $1 back into the pockets of most of the people who I represent. In fact, 62% of Manitobans will not benefit from income splitting one bit.

Income splitting would not be a gift from the Conservative government to taxpayers. It would be a gift to their wealthy friends. It would cost Canadians billions of dollars to implement the income splitting plan and every Canadian would be paying for it while the same could not be said about the benefits. The question that New Democrats are asking is, how is this possibly fair?

The New Democrats know that we can build a robust economy that will bring shared prosperity to all Canadians. Income splitting reveals, yet again, that the Conservatives only want to give tax breaks to their wealthiest of friends.

As the critic for status of women and as the member of Parliament for Churchill, I would call the Conservative income splitting plan nothing more than a smoke screen. It would not help lower income families, single parents or the majority of first nations and Métis people across our country. Not only would it not help the majority of women, it would have the potential to damage gender equality in our country.

I will discuss the many ways that income splitting has the potential to hurt the status of women in our country.

First, income splitting would not help single parents or single people. We know that many single parents, particularly many who live in poverty, are women. In some ways, income splitting would reward married people and punish single people, divorced couples, lone parent families and intergenerational families, meaning families that raise their children with the help of grandparents and other relatives.

In my experience in my visits across my constituency, I meet many kinds of loving, supportive families. The last thing that non-nuclear families need is the federal government promoting a thinly veiled moral bias against them in the form of bad policy and regressive taxes.

This tax break effectively tells people that only if they are married and only if they are in a marriage where one spouse earns considerably less than the other, do they deserve a tax break.

Many days in the House we wonder, given the policies put forward by the government, if we are going back to the 1950s or the 1850s. In the case of the income splitting proposal, the Conservative government is putting forward the classic vision of the 1950s family, one that might be modelled on June and Ward Cleaver. Earlier in the House I heard talk of Don Draper.

The reality is that Canadians have moved on from the 1950s. It is 2014. The reality of the Canadian family is not that of the 1950s. We should be looking at what we need to do to support today's Canadian families rather than imposing a moralistic view of how the government sees families now.

Furthermore, 88% of lone-parent families are headed by women, and women, on average, earn 19% less than men, so when we talk about who benefits from income splitting, we are not only talking about wealthy people, we are often talking about men who are wealthy.

As I mentioned, income splitting will cost the Canadian public $3 billion each year and will deliver no benefit whatsoever to 85% of Canadians. This is a kind of reverse taxation system, where the large majority will pay their taxes into the pockets of the wealthy minority. As well, it would cost our provinces a further $1.9 billion every year.

I have one major question for the government. What else could we possibly be spending that money on? For starters, there could be a national child care strategy that would see every child in Canada receive high-quality, affordable care that could be established for a fraction of what the government wants to spend on income splitting. A truly national early learning program would cost $5 billion over four years.

Child care is currently costing the average family between $900 and $1,200 a month, a debilitating cost that too many Canadian families in this day and age cannot afford.

Let us think of what it would be like to put most of that money into the pockets of Canadian families. Let us think of what it would mean for women to truly have the choice to continue their careers and care for their children as they saw fit, without economic duress being a contributing factor.

I raise this example, because income splitting is not a take it or leave it program. With its price tag, it is either/or. We could either have our government spend our money on income splitting for the wealthiest, or we could have a national child care program, university tuition subsidies, a national housing strategy, or increased health transfers. Indeed, for the price of income splitting, we could have a bit of all of these things, and each one of these factors would contribute vastly to people's individual finances, their family's well-being, and the strength of our economy as a whole.

We know that increasing women's equal participation in the labour force has a multiplier effect on the economy that would increase our GDP by billions of dollars. Child care is not only the right thing to do to give parents choices but is the economically smart thing to do for our communities and our country.

Income splitting would hurt the status of women in other ways the Conservatives do not want us to know about. When higher income earners, mostly men, transfer a larger portion of income to a spouse, it makes it look as if the lower-income person is actually earning more than they are. Statistically, as I noted earlier, in Canada, due to the gender wage gap, this would likely be the female spouse. Income splitting would work to artificially inflate a woman's income. This would give us a false sense of data. We would lose sight of the persistent challenge women have in this country: earning equal wages. It would get even worse. When a couple broke up, it would seem as though one spouse earned more than they did throughout the partnership. This could have an effect on how much alimony or child support they would earn and could also have an effect on their child tax benefit once they were single. I can see this placing thousands of women in financially precarious situations, brought to them entirely by the government's plan for income splitting.

For these reasons and more, I am proud to stand alongside my New Democrat colleagues in opposition to the government's plan for income splitting. We want our taxes to work toward the collective good and for the health and prosperity of all Canadians.

Conservatives, it is clear, want a system that benefits the few, not the many, and I believe that Canadians understand fundamentally how unfair that is.

[Committees of the House, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

Our dissenting report starts off with that same observation. As the official opposition, we wanted to focus on sexual harassment in the RCMP, since this is a serious issue that has caused a lot of harm to women in the RCMP.

Canadians want the federal government to show some leadership. This is a spectacular example of how the government refused to show leadership and did everything it could to conduct a much broader study and avoid putting the focus on the RCMP.

It is even more shocking that we spent only one session hearing testimony from the RCMP. That is unacceptable, in light of how serious the problems are within the force. Worst of all, the committee did not make a single recommendation specifically about the RCMP.

It means nothing for the federal Conservative government to say that it supports our police officers if it does not take action and focus the study on cases of sexual harassment in the RCMP.

[Committees of the House, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. It was a pleasure to work on this study with her and the other committee members. She is absolutely right: we need the government to show leadership so that we can change the culture and eradicate sexual harassment.

I am glad she raised a point that we heard about repeatedly during our study: retaliation can be the worst part.

We must learn from the examples people gave about departments that mishandled sexual harassment cases. We heard about people who had been harassed being punished, not those who did the harassing. That makes no sense. That has to change.

The RCMP harassment cases are shocking. Those who repeatedly committed sexual harassment were simply sent home for a few days or transferred to another posting. Unfortunately, there have been no punitive measures yet.

Over the past few months, we have started seeing some things that could deter people from sexually harassing co-workers. This is something concrete that we have to act on. We are asking the government to do so as soon as possible.

[Committees of the House, June 9th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her question. Many of the recommendations are centred around prevention. I would also like to add that measures need to be implemented and we need to acknowledge the reality of sexual harassment in federal workplaces. That is not happening right now because the government is not taking action.

In order to prevent harassment, we need to know where it is happening, what it looks like and in which department it is the most prevalent.

As I said, one aspect of prevention is changing the federal workplace culture. That includes increasing the number of women in managerial positions and positions of power. We know that can help change workplace culture.

Training programs also need to be improved. We heard that, because of cuts, the federal government was trying to impose online training as opposed to in-person training. We feel that is unacceptable.

Many other measures were mentioned during the testimony we heard as part of the study. The federal government has decided to disregard these measures, which is disappointing. We hope that the government will look at them and take action as quickly as possible.

[Committees of the House, June 9th, 2014]

moved:

That, the Second Report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, presented on Thursday, February 6, 2014, be concurred in.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise to speak to a study on sexual harassment in the federal workplace by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. This is a study that we embarked on a while ago. It took a considerable amount of time because we took the topic of this study seriously. It is a form of violence that, sadly, too many women face in their workplaces. It is a kind of violence that we know as sexual harassment.

Like any other committee, our committee embarked on a study that we felt was very serious. We extended invitations to many witnesses who represent the range of workplaces. We did so with some concern and trepidation. The reason was that the initial aim of the study, and there is no way of denying it, was to study sexual harassment in the RCMP. That initial sense came from the serious situation that we know has existed in our national police force for some time. We have heard of numerous cases of sexual harassment aimed at women police officers. It includes a range of examples, but has also in some cases led to sexual assault.

We know that many of these RCMP officers, including former officers, have put together a class action lawsuit against the RCMP to achieve justice because of the harm that was done to them. We know the sexual harassment that they experienced, and in some cases the sexual assault, has led to mental trauma, psychological, emotional, and of course physical trauma as well.

As I rise in the House to speak to this very issue, I am reminded of interactions I have had, and my colleagues, the critic for public safety and our deputy critic for public safety, have had as well, both in and out of the committee, talking with RCMP members who have experienced sexual harassment. The irony is not lost on us that the people we depend on for our safety, our familes' safety and our communities' safety, have themselves been put in harm's way as a result of the culture that prevails in their workplace and the inaction that has existed for far too long.

Some measures have been taken in the recent year with the aim of putting an end to sexual harassment and sexual assault in the RCMP. However, what we found in the study conducted in our committee was that it is very clear that a lot more needs to be done in the RCMP, and across the federal workplace.

I would point to our supplementary report that indicates we in the NDP noted that instead of focusing on the RCMP, the committee undertook a general study of sexual harassment in the federal workplace. While we believe that this study is important in its own right, we are concerned that the gender-based violence affecting women in the RCMP has not been thoroughly examined by the committee. In fact, we only spent one meeting hearing from RCMP officials. Through the limited witness testimony we heard regarding the RCMP, we learned that there are systemic issues within the federal police force that require investigation and action.

Astonishingly, in spite of hearing this testimony, the report tabled does not include a single recommendation relating directly to the RCMP. As parliamentarians, we are responsible for the RCMP, and we find this report and subsequent recommendations to be insufficient. Therefore, it was our recommendation in our supplemental report, and it continues to be the direction, that the status of women committee move to conduct a comprehensive study on sexual harassment in the RCMP in order to complete the task of ending the widespread harassment suffered by women in our national force.

So it was that the government ensured that we would take on a much broader study. It was something we were concerned to see. We felt that in undertaking such a broad study, we had to do justice to all the women and men who are sexually harassed in the federal workplace.

We engaged 40 witnesses, who testified before the committee. People travelled from across the country. They spoke to us through teleconferencing. We heard from experts in other countries around the world. We got a very full picture of the range of challenges women, and some men, face when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace. We also found out that, once again, the federal government is grossly inactive in addressing these issues. While some measures have been taken at the bureaucratic level, and I am thinking particularly of the Treasury Board, a lot more is needed to put an end to sexual harassment in the federal workplace.

Given the inaction of the federal government, we came up with key recommendations. They are not difficult recommendations, but they require the federal government to take some leadership, leadership it is currently not taking when it comes to ending sexual harassment in the federal workplace. For example, we recommended that Status of Women Canada work with the Government of Canada to develop a national action plan on violence against women. This national action plan would address sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.

This is not a difficult undertaking. First I put forward a motion about a year ago, motion No. 444, calling for a national action plan. It would be a comprehensive action plan, which in its current form called on the government to take various steps to prevent violence against women and to support survivors of violence. It also called on the government to invest in critical factors that we know lead to women's insecurity. We are talking about the workplace, but we know that the violence women face in the workplace contributes to the overall insecurity that too many women face in our country. In particular, we called for action when it comes to housing, education and training, shelters, counselling services, and policing.

When we talk about the workplace, we recognize that violence against women is something that exists in the form of sexual harassment, and it is something that needs to be stopped. It is not enough for departments to leave it to the Treasury Board to make some commitments to ending sexual harassment in the workplace. We need real leadership. We all know that leadership is best practised by those who know an issue well. What better department to take leadership on the issue of sexual harassment in the federal workplace than Status of Women Canada? That is why we in the NDP recommended that Status of Women Canada take the lead in working with experts to study the extent of under-reporting in the federally regulated workplace and commit to taking action immediately. Status of Women Canada is a department that has so much to provide in this area. Sadly, it is not being given the space and encouragement to take leadership in ending sexual harassment in the workplace.

The committee heard that workplace culture, particularly in male-dominated hierarchical organizations such as the Department of National Defence and the RCMP, presents a significant barrier to reporting and preventing sexual harassment and discrimination. Therefore, we in the NDP recommended that Status of Women Canada partner with federal and federally regulated workplaces to increase the number of women in managerial positions and positions of power, including by establishing benchmarks and goals to help promote a workplace reflective of a society that does not accept harassment, including sexual harassment.

We need look no further than the House to recognize the benefit when Parliament is more representative of society. We in the NDP have always been a party that has been committed to gender equality. We do not just make that commitment verbally; we make it through our practice. Canadians certainly rewarded us, and for the first time in history, the official opposition has a high percentage of women MPs, thanks to the election of 40 NDP women. We know that Canadians certainly appreciate that kind of leadership and know that when Parliament looks more like our country, the kinds of decisions we make reflect us better. Sadly, the same cannot be said about the other side of the House or the Liberal Party, where, if we take an average, only 17% of the caucus is women.

We call on departments and institutions such as the Canadian Forces and the RCMP to appoint more women to managerial positions. We are asking them to recognize how having women in leadership and decision-making positions actually helps change the culture. I would point government members to our study. We heard from experts who indicated a very strong correlation between a higher number of women in managerial positions in the public service, particularly, and lower levels of sexual harassment and harassment overall.

We also pointed to the fact that this study indicated a complete dearth of data collection when it comes to sexual harassment. This falls in line with a pattern we have seen with the government, with its cuts to Statistics Canada, its cuts to research in various departments, and basically an ignorance and a neglect of research and its importance in guiding future actions. If we do not know what the extent of a problem is, how can we strive to solve it?

The same, sadly, is the case when it comes to sexual harassment. It may be shocking for Canadians to know that there is a complete lack of data regarding the presence of sexual harassment in most federal workplaces. This was uncovered by the committee. While the public service employee survey asks about harassment in general, we found that there is no question in the survey about sexual harassment specifically. If we are not asking the question, we are not getting the data. We are talking about a problem we know exists across all departments and exists in greater numbers in certain departments and institutions, yet we have no way of tackling it effectively, because we do not know the extent of it.

We can only speculate about what percentage of harassment is sexual in nature, and we are concerned by the knowledge that harassment of all sorts is under-reported. Therefore, we in the NDP recommend that Status of Women Canada work with Statistics Canada to take the lead in establishing a framework whereby consistent data on sexual harassment can be collected by all workplaces and compared accordingly.

I will note that the government's response indicates that there will be a sub-question in the upcoming public service employee survey. While that is encouraging, having not seen the actual text of the sub-question, I certainly would not be able to comment. I hope that in devising the language for that sub-question, and frankly, it should be an entire question, given the severity of sexual harassment, I hope the question is being developed with the help of experts, including the Public Service Alliance of Canada and other labour experts who deal with sexual harassment first-hand in their work.

In conjunction with the complete absence of a question on sexual harassment and therefore a lack of information on the extent of sexual harassment in the federal workplace, we also expressed grave concern that the last time Statistics Canada undertook a national survey to collect data on violence against women in general was in 1993. I was 11 years old in 1993. It is alarming to know that in most of my lifetime we have yet to revisit this tragedy of violence against women in our country and to understand what it looks like today.

I rose in the House last week to say that even though violent crime in our country is decreasing, sexual crime, particularly against women, remains stagnant. This indicates that we have to undertake a study and understand the reality women face when it comes to violence. We need to ensure that this understanding of violence includes an understanding of violence in our workplaces. Therefore, we recommended that a follow-up survey be conducted and that Status of Women Canada use the information to establish a baseline understanding of sexual harassment in the workplace in Canada.

I have mentioned the lack of leadership, the lack of data collection, and the lack of understanding of the current state of violence against women in our country. Another theme we found to be very alarming, which I am sure will not surprise any member of this House, particularly the government member, is the strain being placed on the public service because of the major cuts of public sector workers through the budgetary cuts. The fear of job loss is creating a difficult work environment.

One of the points that was raised, and I want to particularly acknowledge the Public Service Alliance of Canada and members who work so hard fighting for public sector workers and frankly the rights of all Canadians, is that they are seeing, and are fearful, that women will be less likely to report sexual harassment because of the fear of losing their jobs in the times we live in.

Many women in the public service do not feel that their jobs are secure enough to risk reporting harassment. The committee heard that precarious employment in the public sector has grown since 20,000 have been cut from the public sector since 2006.

Therefore, we as New Democrats recommend that Status of Women Canada study the impact of job insecurity, including recent and pending budget cuts, on sexual harassment and the possible under-reporting of sexual harassment.

In conclusion, we felt compelled to write a dissenting report on this study, because we felt that the government, sadly, was showing real inaction on the issue of sexual harassment. In their response to our recommendations, we continue to see a failure to act and a failure to show leadership.

We are proud to stand up on behalf of women and men in the federal workplace, in federally regulated workplaces, calling for an immediate end to sexual harassment.

[Instruction to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (violence against women), June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, women have the right to full equality and women have the right to live their lives free of violence. These two principles are inseparable because with the threat of violence there can be no substantive equality. The government can and must do more to support women's equality, especially when it comes to addressing violence against women. It is everyone's responsibility to reduce violence, but it is the particular responsibility of parliamentarians to take substantive action in this direction.

Motion No. 504 is well intentioned, however, when one realizes how widespread violence against women is in Canada, we feel it does not go far enough. Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16 and this number has remained stagnant over the past 40 years.

In first nations, the statistics are worse. Women are much more vulnerable with homicide rates seven times higher than that of non-aboriginal Canadian women. In the recent reports by the RCMP, there are nearly 1,200 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada.

Both Amnesty International and the United Nations have called upon the Canadian government to take action on this issue without success. Women in countless organizations across Canada have called upon the government to take action.

The Conservative government has claimed to have taken real action to combat violence against women, yet it has refused to develop a national action plan. In fact, in 2006, the government changed the Status of Women Canada women's program, making it impossible for Status of Women Canada to fund the work of organizations when it relates to advocacy, lobbying, or general research on women's rights issues. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has expressed concern on the impact of changes to the Status of Women agency, in particular on access to services by aboriginal and rural women.

The minister who changed the women's program mandate at the time, Bev Oda, said, “"We don't need to separate the men from the women in this country. This government as a whole is responsible to develop policies and programs that address the needs of both men and women."

First and foremost, the government must recognize that gender inequality is the root cause of violence against women. We know that women are 11 times more likely than men to be a target of sexual offences and three times more likely to experience criminal harassment. With these facts in mind and with the prevalence of violence against women stagnant in Canada while all other violent crime rates drop, does the government still believe that we do not need to work toward meeting the needs of women in this country?

As parliamentarians, we have the ability to enact a national action plan that would address the severity of violence against women, yet the government has taken no action in this direction despite the recommendations numerous organizations have made. In the absence of a national action plan, responses to violence against women, including education and prevention programs, are fragmented and inconsistent.

In order to fully address the root causes of violence against women, I urge the government to immediately pick up Motion No. 444 and consult with civil society in order to create a multi-sector national action plan. With Canada in the international spotlight, we must respond. We call upon the government to immediately commit to funding legal aid, shelters, transitions houses, social housing, health services, advocacy, and research in order to prevent and treat violence against women for all women in Canada.

In regard to Motion No. 504, I urge the government to make the necessary provisions that would allow for the issues associated with violence against all women to be addressed. First, we ask the study to include the examination of programs as well as policy. Second, we ask that the study look at best practices in Canada and abroad. Other countries like Canada, such as Australia, have taken strident steps toward a national action plan and their methods are working. We should take this opportunity to learn from them.

There is near consensus among Canadian civil society and violence against women service providers that a national action plan is urgently needed. Indeed, the Canadian Network of Women's Shelters and Transition Houses is spearheading meetings to discuss the creation of such an action plan. However, civil society, women's advocates, and service providers cannot accomplish this task alone. The federal government must be a leader at the table. It is incumbent upon the House to listen to what experts and front-line workers are telling us. Right now they are saying the same thing: we need a national action plan.

The Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses wrote in its report:

It is clear that in the absence of a National Action Plan, responses to VAW in Canada are largely fragmented, often inaccessible, and can work to impede rather than improve women’s safety....A strategic and sustainable step toward meaningfully addressing VAW in Canada is to establish a multi-sectoral NAP that adheres to the guidelines and principles set out by the UN Handbook for Legislation on Violence Against Women...and the UN Handbook for National Action Plans on Violence Against Women...

The fact is we can study component pieces of the solution to violence against women and it will only be a drop in the bucket of the work that must be done, right now, to end violence in women's lives. Education and prevention are critical, but we must move beyond that.

A national action plan would be coordinated with governments across the country. It would set out a framework to be followed over the course of many years. It would uphold Canada's commitments to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as well as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. It would be based in evidence, new research and extensive consultation with experts and communities. The plan would include evaluation and accountability measures for government and civil society alike.

With all of this working together, it will have a real effect on women’s lives and the lives of all of those who depend on the well-being of women in our society.

We have international examples of national action plans. Belize, Liberia, Peru, France, Australia, Spain and many more have comprehensive and coherent programs of activity.

I have spent the past year travelling to different parts of the country in order to hold consultation sessions with the people in Canada who are at the front lines of fighting violence against women. I sat down with the directors of emergency shelters, transition houses and drop-in centres. I listened to lawyers, advocates and social workers. I heard the concerns of sexual assault service providers and rape crisis line workers. I met with women who were survivors of violence themselves. Across the board we heard the same thing: the government does not provide enough funding or support to even come close to ending violence against women.

I cannot name or quote these individuals, for fear that the government may slash what little funding their organizations are receiving, but I will paraphrase some of the messages we heard.

Service providers are subsidizing the government with unpaid hours of labour. Two people work for one person's salary in order to provide desperate women with the bare minimum of what they need to exit violence. One of the organizations said, “We tell women that it is possible to leave a violent relationship and start her life again, but the reality is that without sufficient housing, legal aid and welfare that simply is not true”.

I heard from others that, “Repeated cuts to this sector have devastated our capacity to work together as a community to provide the best services”, and “We cannot advocate for women to the government when we are barely able to keep our doors open”.

We heard again and again about how frustrating and insufficient the Status of Women Agency was since the Prime Minister made those substantive changes to its granting system. Short term, two year grants ensure that best practices will necessarily end with no hope of renewal. It means that service providers are in constant grant-writing mode instead of working to help women. The fact that organizations are explicitly forbidden from applying for advocacy and research means that all their work is short-sighted and never allowed to address the major systemic barriers.

Perhaps most telling is that for a time, the government took the word “equality” out of the Status of Women's mandate. The absence of that one word speaks volumes about the regressive attitude the government has taken toward women.

I also want to point to the most recent bill, Bill C-36, which aims to save prostitutes. We in the NDP have expressed our high concern that this new legislation places sex workers in danger and we believe it does not uphold women's charter rights.

For a government that constantly claims to be standing up for victims, it refuses to give vulnerable people what they need to achieve equality. Therein lies the fundamental difference between the NDP and the Conservative approach to women. The government paints women as victims who are in need of protection, but we know women must be empowered to claim their full rights. Women in Canada deserve better. We deserve commitment and leadership from the government to end violence against women.

In conclusion, I move, seconded by the member for LaSalle—Émard:

That the motion be amended by replacing the words “education and social programs” with the words “education programs, social programs, and policies”.

[Instruction to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (violence against women), June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's speech was insightful. I thank him for the initiative he has taken on an issue that means a lot to me and my colleagues. As a member of the status of women committee, I look forward to embarking on this work. We will also propose a friendly amendment a bit later.

I also particularly appreciate the focus that the member brought at the beginning of his speech about women living in the north. As a woman from the north and who represents the north, I have a very clear understanding of the particular challenges in terms of violence that women in northern Canada face and the needs that are not met, including by the federal government.

In terms of this motion, could my colleague speak, perhaps more specifically, to the kinds of recommendations he hopes to see in this study? I know he has mentioned a bit about the range of focus, but I would certainly appreciate hearing more about what he hopes to see in the study.

[Public Safety, June 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the only way the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety could pretend to justify Conservatives spying on Canadians was to bizarrely imply that if a peaceful protest turned unpeaceful, the NDP would call on the government to take action.

Let us be clear about what we are talking about. This is about the ministry of public safety maintaining a registry of demonstrations to spy on Canadians who protest. How can the minister justify turning the ministry of public safety into a spy agency that keeps tabs on peaceful protesters?

[Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's points, but moving away from the theory to the practice, let us look at the example of Colombia, a country that has very similar struggles on the political level. Canada signed a free trade agreement. What we have seen is that Canadian companies, with great gusto, have gone into that country and have developed particularly the resource extraction sector and have treated people in similar ways, sadly, as some of the state agents we hear about in that country. We hear of security groups. We hear of vigilante groups that attack indigenous activists, peasant activists, and labour union leaders who are seen as threatening to Canadian companies.

Sadly, some corporations that have head offices in Canada, and I would not call them Canadian corporations, benefit from free trade agreements like the one with Colombia. They will certainly benefit as a result of the one with Honduras and will sadly disrespect the human rights of the people in these countries in a way that would never be acceptable in Canada. Therefore, we cannot accept this free trade agreement before us today.

[Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is critical that tonight we do not talk in the abstract. I have clearly indicated our prioritization of three considerations in deciding on the free trade agreements we are looking at.

It is very important that we focus on what is in front of us, which is a trade agreement with a country that is under a military coup, where people are involved in a fight for fundamental human rights. We are talking about journalists, labour activists, and LGBT activists. We are talking about people who here in Canada have made our country a better place. These people are killed in Honduras. Their human rights are not just not respected; these people are persecuted.

It is not okay for Canada to engage in a relationship that we know will not benefit the Hondurans and that will legitimize and strengthen a regime that continues to attack the human rights of people in their own country. We cannot support this free trade agreement, and we would hope that the government would see the light on this one and refrain from going forward.