About a third of them are from the public sector, to answer the questions about where. The rest will be from the private sector.
House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2015, with 27% of the vote.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act June 12th, 2012
About a third of them are from the public sector, to answer the questions about where. The rest will be from the private sector.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act June 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, my speech will describe the winners and the losers in this budget. Tonight I only have time to talk about the losers. To hear about the winners, members will have to wait until tomorrow after question period.
What does a job mean to an average Canadian? It means earning a salary to put food on the table, pay rent or meet the mortgage on time, buy Christmas presents and have money for pizza day at school for the kids. When a person loses a job, it is devastating. For some people it means losing their self-esteem, self-confidence, friends, and their community of work colleagues.
In the Conservative budget we are debating tonight, we are really talking about the lives of 43,000 Canadians who will lose their jobs directly because of this budget, and there are a lot more than 43,000 Canadians who are going to lose their jobs indirectly.
However, 43,000 Canadian workers will no longer have the money to contribute to the economy. They will suffer the humiliation of being laid off. Some will lose their house. Others will suffer depression. A few may not even recover from being unemployed or ever be able to find a job again.
Some lives will be destroyed. Those 43,000 Canadians are casualties of this terrible budget. The number of 43,000 was the number quoted by the Parliamentary Budget Officer in his analysis of this budget on April 26. He confirmed that this budget would slow the economy down. He confirmed that when combined with prior cuts, there will be a total of 103,000 jobs lost.
Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act June 12th, 2012
Madam Speaker, 800 archives and other heritage institutions across the country are supported by the national archival development program, but the budget cuts to Library and Archives Canada eliminate the program.
This means that Library and Archives Canada will not be able to meet its legislative mandate to support the development of the library and archival communities of Canada. Given that it is eliminating all its support, it will have a devastating impact on Canadians' ability to access their own heritage and learn their own history.
What is the justification for this steep cut of $1.7 million to the archival program?
Tributes to Jack Layton June 7th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, as Parliament will not be in session in August, I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for their support this year. I rise to thank Canadians everywhere for their inspiring tributes to the former leader of the opposition, Jack Layton.
I thank the City of Toronto for naming the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and the Town of Hudson, Quebec, for the Jack Layton Memorial Park.
The Layton family thanks the many organizations that have named buildings, lounges and rooms in Jack's honour, planted trees, created sculptures and mosaics and carried out many other creative forms of commemoration.
There are also many inspiring fellowships and scholarships named to encourage young people to participate in making our country a better place for everyone.
Most of all, I thank the many Canadians, young and old, who have created poems, paintings, songs and films, keeping alive the spirit of love, hope and optimism.
Thank you.
We must continue to work together to build a better world.
The Budget June 5th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, Canadians of all political stripes are now condemning the Conservatives' tactics.
At the convention last weekend in Saskatoon, the FCM passed a motion critical of the Conservative Trojan Horse budget bill. Mayors from coast to coast to coast are voicing their concerns about the gutting of environmental protections, because they know that when something goes wrong, they will be the ones to pay the price.
When will Conservatives start listening to cities and communities and finally agree to split the budget bill?
Rail Transportation May 31st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that the Minister of Transport will not come to the committee to defend his budget. Why? It is because he is afraid he will have to defend the cutting of $20 million a year from VIA Rail services.
The service plans to cut routes from Halifax to Vancouver, including Toronto, Montreal, London, Kitchener and Niagara Falls. This will start a downward spiral.
Why are the Conservatives cutting the train services that link Canadians from coast to coast to coast?
Infrastructure May 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, that is a lot of talk but little comfort to Canadians who are stuck in traffic gridlocks and who have to boil water before they drink it. These are direct results of Conservative government neglect of cities and communities. To make matters worse, the green infrastructure fund has been cut.
The municipalities need to know by the fall of next year whether there will be a permanent program. They need to know whether the gas tax will be indexed so that it will be protected from the ravages of inflation.
Infrastructure May 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities delivered a groundbreaking report today showing the Conservative government takes a lot more tax dollars out of municipalities, cities and towns than it puts in.
To paraphrase a former city mayor from Toronto, “Where is the money? Show us our money”. Municipalities have difficulty fixing their crumbling bridges and have problems dealing with policing costs and building affordable housing.
Will the Conservative government replace the build Canada fund by the fall of 2014 so that municipalities can deal with—
Petitions May 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present hundreds of petitions from Canadians from coast to coast to coast who support a national transit strategy.
They came together last Friday to say that it was time that the government took a leadership role and partner with local municipalities and provinces so there will be good, rapid, accessible and affordable public transit for all. They also note that there is an $18 billion gap in public transit infrastructures needs.
Therefore, the petitioners want the government to adopt a wonderful private member's bill submitted by myself that calls for a national public transit strategy.
Safer Railways Act May 1st, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I agree. We do need a rail costing review.
CN is doing very well. I saw two days ago that its profit went up by 13%. Billions are being made while prairie farmers are not getting the services they need, are being gouged and are losing millions of dollars because their grains are not showing up at the port on time.