Peggy Nash

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 13th, 2012]

moved:

Motion No. 518

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 315.

Motion No. 519

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 316.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 13th, 2012]

moved:

Motion No. 506

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 304.

Motion No. 507

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 305.

Motion No. 508

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 306.

Motion No. 509

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 307.

Motion No. 510

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 308.

Motion No. 511

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 309.

Motion No. 512

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 310.

Motion No. 513

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 311.

Motion No. 514

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 312.

Motion No. 515

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 313.

Motion No. 516

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 314.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 13th, 2012]

moved:

Motion No. 418

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 219.

Motion No. 419

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 220.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 13th, 2012]

moved:

Motion No. 410

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 214.

Motion No. 413

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 215.

Motion No. 414

That Bill C-38 be amended by deleting Clause 216.

[Employment Equity, June 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, this budget does not put people back to work. It cuts jobs, cuts growth and hurts seasonal industries.

This budget bill also quietly deletes employment equity rules for federal contractors, provisions brought in by the Mulroney government. These rules are not a problem for bidders, yet Conservatives are recklessly dismantling a program that helps businesses tackle discrimination.

Why is the Prime Minister using a Trojan Horse budget bill to go after some of the most vulnerable Canadians? Why would he do that?

[Employment Insurance, June 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are dismantling employment insurance without even consulting those who contribute to it.

Thousands of women already have a hard time accessing EI. Two out of three women who lose their jobs are not eligible for employment insurance, and the Conservatives' Trojan Horse is only going to make matters worse.

When will the Conservatives start consulting workers instead of attacking them?

[The Budget, June 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there are six times more cuts than job creation measures in this budget.

When faced with an economic crisis in 2008, the Minister of Finance tried to deny the crisis, and he brought forward a budget that dramatically cut spending, attacked collective bargaining rights and destroyed pay equity. The only thing that stopped Conservatives was a threat of losing their jobs.

With today's shaky world economy, why is the minister so hell-bent on a budget that does nothing to help growth, but instead cuts services and creates austerity, services that Canadians rely on?

[The Budget, June 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in light of the growing economic concerns around the world, the Conservatives have chosen to present a Trojan Horse that attacks employment insurance, old age security and the environment. None of the bill's measures deal with growth.

The economic measures in Bill C-38 could have been adopted already if the Conservatives had agreed to split the bill, but in these times of uncertainty, they prefer Euro-bashing and cutting services.

How will this help the economy?

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there we have it. Suddenly democracy, this House and the public debate are dismissed as “process”.

I have to say how profoundly offensive that is, because we have, for example, changes that will result in people being in poverty or being forced onto welfare, and we have not had open discussion and debate. The government did not even talk to the Atlantic premiers before tabling these changes on EI, changes that will have a drastic impact on seasonal workers in those provinces.

To dismiss this as “process”, to me, is profoundly offensive. Democracy is what this House is about. It is not just about process. It is about what we do here and why we are elected.

I am proud to stand with my NDP colleagues and I will defend democracy. I will defend open debate. I defy any member of the Conservative Party to say otherwise, to say that we should not be defending democracy, parliamentary debate and open hearings with Canadians.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right that in this massive omnibus bill of 753 clauses, one small part of it attempts to lock in the take-it-or-leave-it offer from the government to the provinces for the future of health care funding.

There will be increases to funding going forward, but over time they will continue to be less than the cost of inflation, less than growth, less than population growth. What we are going to see over time is like a noose around the neck of the provinces that will gradually squeeze them on health care costs.

Canadians are going to see the impact of this on their health care services. Will there be more privatization? Will more services be cut?

We think that this is a very dangerous step forward, and it has been done with a take-it-or-leave-it offer rather than through a collaborative approach of working with the provinces that deliver health care.