Paul Manly

[Health, March 9th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of viruses like COVID-19 is if people stay home and self-isolate when they are sick, but for many low-wage workers and contractors, missing work is simply not an option. The loss of just a few hundred dollars could mean not feeding their families or potential homelessness.

Will the government extend financial support to all workers who must self-isolate for public safety reasons and will that commitment include workers who do not pay into EI or are not EI eligible?

[Criminal Code, February 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, listening to the debate today, one of the things we need to do as a Parliament is to make sure we have national standards for palliative care and a national mental health strategy that ties the provinces to the Canada Health Act and makes sure provinces spend money in these areas, so that those are not concerns going forward with this act.

My question is about the final consent waiver, proposed subsection (3.2). It seems that it is tied directly to entering an agreement in writing with a medical practitioner or a nurse practitioner. That medical practitioner or nurse practitioner would administer a substance to cause the patient's death on a specific date. I am just wondering whether it is actually tied to that practitioner or whether it could be transferred to another practitioner, in the case where that medical practitioner with whom the patient made the agreement is unable to go forward with those wishes at that time, when the patient needs medical assistance in dying.

[Petitions, February 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition has been signed by residents up and down Vancouver Island.

The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to establish a permanent ban on crude oil tankers on the west coast of Canada to protect B.C. fisheries, tourism, coastal communities and natural ecosystems forever.

[Petitions, February 27th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to put forward two petitions today.

The first petition is from many of my constituents in Nanaimo—Ladysmith. This is a petition that was signed at the The Body Shop at Woodgrove Mall.

The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to ban the sale and manufacturing of animal-tested cosmetics and their ingredients in Canada. This is to get us up to the European Union standards.

[Indigenous Affairs, February 26th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the results of not negotiating with the Wet'suwet'en chiefs led to the RCMP enforcing the injunction and it has led to a reaction across Canada. Nobody should be surprised. Indigenous people across Canada have said that they would stand together when a first nation is attacked. The results are hundreds of protests, blockades and occupations across this country.

Now the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs are demanding that the RCMP completely withdraw from their traditional territory, including the removal of all the expensive infrastructure related to the community-industry safety detachment at kilometre 29 on the Morice West Forest Service Road, and that Coastal GasLink cease all operations in the territory.

The Liberal government must stop failing in its duty to the Wet'suwet'en people. It is time to apologize, meet these demands and meet with the hereditary chiefs.

[Indigenous Affairs, February 26th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, on February 6, the day that the RCMP began raids on the Wet'suwet'en people asserting sovereignty over their lands, I asked why the government had abandoned its duty and allowed the constitutional and legal rights of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to be violated.

Since early January, the hereditary chiefs have been asking for meetings with the federal and provincial governments to help them deal with the issues they were facing with the Coastal GasLink project.

I travelled to Wet'suwet'en territory on January 19 and met with a hereditary chief. I travelled through the territory and learned about the Wet'suwet'en law. I met with the RCMP detachment commander in Smithers and at the community-industry safety office, 25 kilometres off the highway, out in the bush. The RCMP told me that as long as there was dialogue, it would not act on the Coastal GasLink injunction.

The Wet'suwet'en had proposed alternate routes for the pipeline six years ago. Instead of compromising and using an existing pipeline route, Coastal GasLink pushed its project through a pristine and culturally sensitive area.

Coastal GasLink is running its pipeline down the historic Kweese trail, which is thousands of years old. This area contains archeological sites and burial grounds. The area is used for cultural training of the Wet'suwet'en youth. It is an area used for hunting, gathering, trapping and other cultural practices. The Unis’tot’en camp was established in the area 10 years ago to assert sovereignty, and now includes a well-established healing centre.

I have a map on my desk of the alternative routes, a description of these routes provided by Pacific Trails Pipeline, another pipeline company working in the area. I have the documents outlining Coastal GasLink's refusals to consider these alternative routes because of the cost. I have a petition to the Supreme Court of B.C. by the Office of the Wet'suwet'en, outlining a long list of non-compliance by Coastal GasLink of the terms and conditions set out by the environmental assessment office in B.C., including the damage done to archeological sites without a proper assessment of those sites.

A week before the raids, I gave the Prime Minister a letter in person and asked him to take time to meet with the hereditary chiefs. The Prime Minister's response was that this was a provincial issue, not a federal issue. I told him that it was a federal issue. The federal government is responsible for the Indian Act, the reserve system and the nation-to-nation relationship with first nations.

Let us review the constitutional and legal rights of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 states that indigenous title to indigenous lands must first be reconciled before settlement can take place and only the Crown can reconcile indigenous title.

Section 35(1) of the Constitution Act of 1982 recognizes and affirms aboriginal and treaty rights.

The Supreme Court in Delgamuukw affirmed that the Royal Proclamation of 1763 applied and confirmed that aboriginal title was not extinguished by the Wet'suwet'en. It was the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who were the plaintiffs in the Delgamuukw case. They were recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Supreme Court's Tsilhqot’in decision confirmed that land rights were collective and intergenerational, and it was the collective that spoke for the ancestral territory. The hereditary system represents that collective.

The government has had 23 years to work with the Wet'suwet'en First Nation to implement the directives outlined by the Supreme Court in the Delgamuukw decision. The lack of free, prior and informed consent and the RCMP raids are violations of the government's commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The federal government has failed in its responsibility to the Wet'suwet'en people by not negotiating with the hereditary chiefs before the RCMP raids.

[Petitions, February 26th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, this petition calls upon the Minister of Veterans Affairs to remove any statutory limits on back pay eligibility for the disability allowance and to work with individual veterans to achieve just and due compensation for disability allowance in a timely manner.

[Business of Supply, February 25th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, dental care is extremely important to people on low incomes. We know that with proper dental care, a filling that costs $80 could save thousands and thousands of dollars in other health issues, like heart disease. A filling that is not done properly can cause blood poisoning and that person may end up needing much greater interventions by the health care system.

We support this motion. Has the member done the research and looked at how much money will be saved in the health care system by providing basic dental care to people on low incomes? How much money are we going to save by doing this and helping people?

[Transport, February 25th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the waters around the southern Gulf Islands are being used as a free anchorage for freighters waiting to enter the port of Vancouver. The environmental damage, pollution, bright lights and noise from these freighters are impacting Island communities and wildlife. Some of these vessels are waiting to load U.S. thermal coal for export, because Pacific U.S. states refuse to export thermal coal from their ports.

Will the government mandate improvements and efficiencies at the port of Vancouver and ban the export of U.S. thermal coal through Canadian ports?

[Business of Supply, February 25th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his speech and the NDP for putting this motion forward.

This is clearly a good idea. There are a lot of low-income people in my own riding who face problems not just with dental care, but with meeting the basic cost of living. A tax cut for people with lower incomes is a good idea.

My understanding from what I have heard is that the tax cut would not apply to people who earn more than $90,000. It is not completely clear in the motion. I would just like some clarity on that, but I support the idea of ensuring that the funds go toward helping the lowest-income people in our communities.