Peter Julian

[Wage Earner Protection Program, September 29th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Windsor West.

I am very happy to bring forward discussion on Bill C-55 today, the first part of the NDP's plan to address the issue of workers' wages in the event of bankruptcies. I will come back to that in a moment.

Bill C-55 is in large part a result of the NDP's negotiation for a better balanced budget last spring where we saw for the first time in some time a federal budget that actually responded to the needs of ordinary Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Part of our agenda has been wage protection. The other part of our agenda is pension protection. I have to flag the member for Winnipeg Centre's Bill C-281 which would protect pensions in the event of bankruptcy. We need to see is both wage protection and pension protection. We are happy to see that initial addressing of the NDP's concern, which we have had for some time, in Bill C-55.

Ordinary Canadians are having a harder and harder time of it. Over the past 15 years most Canadian family incomes have eroded. Lower income Canadians, working Canadians, Canadians in the middle class have lost 5% to 10% in real terms in family income over the past 15 years. That is the unfortunate legacy of both the Conservative government and the current Liberal government. Over this 15 year period Canadians are having a harder and harder time of it. Real income has declined at the same time as we have seen overtime charges and longer and longer working weeks. It is skyrocketing up to 33%. Canadian families are working harder and harder for less and less. They are working longer and longer weeks for smaller and smaller real income.

In addition, they have had no protection in the event of bankruptcies. That is why the NDP caucus pushed very hard last spring to change the budget to eliminate the corporate income tax cuts put forward by the Liberal government and to put in place wage earner protection. We will be working equally hard to put in place pension protection.

I would like to briefly work through the four key elements of the bill, most of which we support and some of which needs to be modified. We are hoping in committee to push forward those amendments. These are the kinds of changes that will help make a difference on the main streets of the country, from coast to coast to coast. We have seen Bay Street receive a lot of attention over the last 10 or 15 years. Now it is main street's turn. As a result of pushing forward these amendments, we hope to make Bill C-55 better.

First let us talk about the key elements. I would like to address the issue of the threshold of $3,000 that would go to wage earners in the event of bankruptcy. That is an important first step in addressing workers' concerns in the event of bankruptcies. We have 10,000 bankruptcies a year in our country. We need to ensure that workers are protected. However, we believe the $3,000 threshold is not high enough to address the valid concerns that come out of bankruptcies and how workers are impacted.

We have seen a couple of elements that are very positive. For example, the change that does not allow judges to arbitrarily change collective agreements any more is an important step in recognizing collective bargaining rights. Now we finally have union and management sitting down and if there is mutual agreement to make changes through a collective bargaining process, that may take place. It is not to be imposed by an outside judge. It is not to be imposed on the workers. That is a important key improvement in Bill C-55.

We also are strongly in support of closing the loopholes that we have seen in the tax system, particularly for wealthy Canadians.

We saw with the George Radwanski affair where a wealthy civil servant started a new job at $230,000 a year and saw back taxes of $630,000 basically rubbed out with the stroke of a pen. It is a type of income tax system where ordinary Canadians are paying their taxes, ensuring that their responsibility to their community and country is kept. Yet wealthier Canadians have had the option to simply have their back taxes written off, even in the case of somebody like Mr. Radwanski who was starting a job which paid almost a quarter of a million dollars a year. It is very important that we close this loophole.

We in the NDP have been fighting the types of loopholes that exist. The member for Winnipeg Centre has been one of the strongest proponents in this regard. We need a tax system that is fair to all Canadians, where all Canadians pay their fair share. That is our collective wealth and our collective resources to deal with things like our health care system, to help support new child care programs, to help support working families. It is extremely important that we do not have these loopholes. It is extremely important that we not allow certain wealthy individuals to get off from paying taxes that they owe to the nation, to our country, to all Canadians.

We are certainly in favour of these key elements. There are other elements as I mentioned that need to be addressed in committee. As we adopt this bill in principle and send it to committee, we need to pay particular attention to these key issues, such as the threshold which I mentioned is too low, and particularly the elements affecting students.

What we are saying right now with the current bill, if there are no amendments, is that a student who undertakes student debt because of the current chaos in the post-secondary education funding in the country is chained to that debt for a 10 year period. Yet we know that inadequate funding for post-secondary education and inadequate supports for students across the country have led to the debt crisis among students. Many students have had no other option because there has not been the support in place for post-secondary education.

Our post-secondary critic, the member for Halifax, has been front and centre in this regard, pushing forward an agenda that meets the needs of students. We need to make sure that this bill does not handcuff students and does not treat them differently from how other Canadians are treated in the event of bankruptcy.

Still, it is important that certain elements of this legislation be adopted. We know full well that workers all over Canada have been suffering for the last 15 years because of policies put in place by this Liberal government and the Conservative government that came before it. Indeed, family incomes were reduced by 5 to 10%. A majority of Canadians have been hit.

It is important that we amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in order to help workers who lost their job because their company went bankrupt. This is what the NDP tried to negotiate last spring.

First, we want to deal with the issue of the money owed by these businesses to their employees. Second, with Bill C-281, we want to deal also with pensions lost because of the bankruptcy of businesses. The NDP member for Winnipeg Centre raises the issue of pensions and the CPP and the fact that we must protect the pensions of workers. This is the second aspect of the proposal that the NDP will make to this Parliament.

Consequently, we support Bill C-55, at first, in principle, so that, later on, in committee, we can improve it and ensure that it better protects the interests of all Canadians.

[Petitions, September 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present two petitions with several dozen names from petitioners in the Campbell River region of British Columbia in the northern part of Vancouver Island. The petitioners are concerned about the increasing incidence of autism in the country and the fact that in Canada we have no national autism strategy.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the Canada Health Act and corresponding regulations to include IBI/ABA therapy for children with autism as a medically necessary treatment and require that all provinces provide or fund this essential treatment for autism and that Parliament contribute to the creation of academic chairs at a university in each province to teach IBI/ABA treatment so every Canadian with autism will have the best treatment available to them.

[Gasoline Prices, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.

It is beyond understanding that the government did not act since we know that there is a crisis right now and we know how it affects all Canadians.

The position of the NDP is well known. We also know that the Bloc has proposed the creation of a monitoring agency. We just heard the Conservative Party member. All that is interesting. The member from the Conservative Party said that he too found problems in the industry. Two years ago, Liberal members said the same thing and argued for a monitoring agency.

It is hoped that by the end of tonight's debate, a concrete solution will have been found. That could very well be the creation of a monitoring agency to protect Canadians from what has been going on in recent months and more precisely in recent weeks, where we saw unjustified price increase.

[Gasoline Prices, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I actually agree with the two points my colleague from the Conservative Party made. He said that there was something seriously wrong in the industry and I agree. That is why we have been calling for a watchdog, a petroleum prices review board, a monitoring agency to ensure that this kind of price gouging and profiteering in the industry is held in check. That is government responsibility. We have to have balance in the sector. We cannot simply have the law of the jungle where large oil companies are extremely profitable. They have had record profits because they are able to do whatever they want to manipulate pricing.

Those who set public policy have to be responsible and tell Canadians that these things will be monitored through a watchdog agency. Since he made the comment that there is something seriously wrong in the industry, I would hope he would agree with us and our caucus and push forward the idea of a watchdog. We have been pushing it for a couple of years. I hope this is the time where the rest of the House will listen and agree with that point.

I also agree with his second point that the Liberal government has done nothing to address the issue. It is just one of a whole series of issues where the Liberals have done nothing.

On the softwood lumber issue, which is near and dear to my heart because the British Columbia industry is bleeding $4 million a day in punitive tariffs, we have seen nothing but empty words and posturing from the government rather than taking the kinds of measures that should be taken. I agree with his two points and I hope he will join me and my colleagues in pushing for the watchdog, the petroleum prices monitoring agency, so this kind of thing cannot happen to Canadians again.

[Gasoline Prices, September 26th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Winnipeg North for giving me the opportunity to share this time with her.

As we are all aware, gas prices are an issue of extreme importance right across the country. In Burnaby—New Westminster it is equally an issue of extreme importance.

With the approach of winter we will be seeing the consequences of this sharp and sudden spike in gas prices, much of this taking place with old stock. After hurricane Katrina we saw a rapid spike upward that has meant consequences, particularly for low income Canadians, that we have to be very conscious of.

I heard a program on the radio the other day advising seniors on the best methods for making that desperate choice between eating or heating. I find it deplorable that in a country as wealthy as Canada we are asking lower income Canadians, Canadians who have suffered the most from the stagnation of the past 15 years, to actually choose between buying groceries or going to the food bank at the end of the month or heating their homes or apartments.

We are also talking about the fundamental impact on those who must drive as part of making their living. This sudden spike in gas prices is having an impact on truckers, taxi drivers and rural route postal workers.

Over the past 15 years 80% of Canadian families have seen a reduction in income in real terms. We are talking about a desperate situation that is being made much worse.

What is the solution? The NDP, as my colleague from Winnipeg North has pointed out, has put forward a very sensible three point plan to address these issues immediately. We cannot afford to wait. The first and primary point in this three point plan is the issue of accountability in pricing. We have believed and have been pushing for many years in Parliament to have a watchdog over the type of price manipulation and profiteering that we have seen most recently.

I heard who attended the industry committee hearings last week. A consultant in the oil and gas industry said to committee members that the profit margins for refining had been spectacular over the past few weeks. When we say spectacular in the hands of the oil companies we know what impact that has been for Canadians across the country, in particular low income Canadians.

We have seen record profits. I will mention just a few of them for the record because it is important. Exxon's worldwide profits increased by 32% in the second quarter of this year, up to $7.64 billion; Royal Dutch/Shell profits are up to $3.9 billion; Esso profits are up to $539 million; Shell Canada profits are now up over half a billion dollars.

At the same time as we have seen these record profits in the oil and gas industry, and we are not talking about the mom and pop shops that existed across the country, in refining with the big oil we are seeing record levels of profit and we have seen the Liberal government pushing down the corporate income tax rates for the oil and gas sector. It was 28% in the year 2000 and it will be down to 21% in 2007.

At the same time as we are seeing record profits in the oil and gas sector and we are seeing huge price increases for heating oil and for gas, it is important to note the extensive subsidies that come out of the taxpayer's pocket.

Pembina Institute produced a report on government spending on Canada's oil and gas industry. What the Pembina Institute concluded was that the Government of Canada provided the oil and gas industry with $1.446 billion in subsidies in 2002. I am quoting from the report summary.

The increase in subsidies between 1996 and 2000 was 33%. Total expenditures between 1996 and 2002 inclusive were equal to $8.3 billion. The federal government expenditure on oil sands alone was estimated to be over $1.1 billion.

We are talking about a heavily subsidized industry with corporate tax rates that are actually declining and corporate profits that are at a record rate and yet there is no accountability for pricing. It is unbelievable that while Canadians are facing these sharp price increases it has only been the NDP calling for a watchdog on the industry. Only the NDP has said that there must be accountability in pricing. Only the NDP is standing up for consumers and saying no to the oil and gas companies. We are the ones telling them that they cannot gouge the public and that we will stand up and fight for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. That is the first point in the three point plan.

The second point is greater energy efficiency. We saw this last spring when 19 NDP caucus members forced through major changes to the finance minister's budget. As a result of that, $900 million will be going to rapid transit and energy efficiency. We would like to expand that program. We also called for mandatory fuel efficiency. We are the only party in the House to actually call for mandatory fuel efficiency. The Liberals and Conservatives were opposed. Mandatory fuel efficiency helps Canadians.

The third point, equally important to others, is cost relief for the most vulnerable Canadians in Canada. We are pushing for rebates through the tax system so we can help those Canadians who are facing the choice this winter between eating and heating.

Those are the three key points that we have put forward in the public and which we are now putting forward in the House to deal with what is an emergency. This evening's debate is an emergency debate and it is an emergency for low income Canadians, for seniors on fixed incomes, for single parent families and for Canadians who are already suffering from the loss of real income that has taken place over the last 15 years. This is no small issue. This is an emergency which is why we have called for a watchdog agency and for increased energy efficiency. We need to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

In getting back to the issue of the watchdog, I should mention the petroleum monitoring agency that would monitor prices to avoid the kind of sharp increase in price that we saw on old stock that was produced at the lower prices but was charged at the higher prices. While we have been calling for this, the industry committee in 2003 actually agreed with the idea of having a watchdog agency and the NDP pushed that issue forward. Members of the Alliance Party at that time, now the Conservative Party, were fundamentally opposed to any overseeing of Canadians' interests through a petroleum monitoring agency. Members of the Liberal Party said that they were in favour of this but, as we can see two years later, the issue is much worse and nothing has been done. For two years now we have continued to call for that watchdog which is of fundamental importance in protecting Canadians' interests.

We also have been raising the issue of proportionality. We know through NAFTA and the dispute settlement mechanism that was ripped up by President Bush just a few weeks ago that what Canada gave away in those negotiations was proportionality on our energy. If we reduce supply, even in the event of a national emergency, we are now forced to reduce domestic supply proportionate to the exports that we may reduce. Other countries have a dual pricing regime in place. Countries like Saudi Arabia have a dual pricing regime in place. We do not have dual pricing to benefit Canadians. We have a proportionality where we continue to export most of our energy to the United States, even in a situation where to all intents and purposes the dispute settlement mechanism and the signature for NAFTA have been ripped up and the signature that the United States applied to NAFTA has basically been disabused.

Those are our solutions in our three point plan. We are hoping through the debate this evening that other members of the House will take note of our three point plan to help Canadians deal with this emergency so that we can start helping Canadians through this winter and help them cope with these high gas prices.

[Canada-U.S. Relations, June 27th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we have seen over the past decade lower standards of living and a lower quality of life for most Canadians. Most jobs created are now part time or temporary and the average Canadian worker has lost 60¢ an hour in real terms.

While we have seen no progress on softwood lumber and BSE, now we find out that this government is prepared to make even greater concessions to the Bush administration through its backroom deep integration talks. Canadians did not vote for that.

Will this government commit to stop making concessions in secret and ensure that Parliament can openly debate the issue, so Canadians can judge what these talks will cost them?

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member just gave his voice to the House of Commons. I think there is a bit of a contradiction there.

I think it is important to note the past irresponsibility of the Conservatives and the fiscal record we saw under Mulroney. We saw the social deficit under the Liberals and that is what the NDP is trying to correct, but under Mulroney we saw record financial deficits at the federal level.

Last year we saw the most expensive political platform in Canadian history at $86 billion. That was before the Conservatives threw in the aircraft carrier, the HMS Mulroney . They threw that in with no idea of how to pay for it. There were all those assorted promises.

We definitely have a different approach than the Conservatives. We believe in a balanced budget and we believe in addressing the social deficit. That is what we are doing tonight with Bill C-48.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we will not really know. I do not think the Conservative members even know what the public says. As we know, a few weeks ago the leader of the Conservatives would not let the members of his party talk about what the public reaction was in their ridings to a possible election. It is just shameful that this public input, that responsibility of members of Parliament to do the door to door, to do the phone calls, to speak with individuals in their ridings, was cut off from the kind of caucus debate that should have taken place.

I do not know what the reaction of Conservative constituents will be, but we can certainly see in the polls that the Conservatives have been going down and down. They are now in third place in Ontario. They are now in third place in Nova Scotia. In many other parts of the country, their support is crumbling.

I would certainly hope that members of the Conservative Party would be reflecting on the message that their constituents are sending them through those polls, which is that they do not want to see an election right now. What they want to see is the NDP's better balanced budget.

I should add too that it is extremely clear to me that investing in housing and education is important to Quebeckers. Individuals and organizations from throughout Quebec have said this over and over in e-mails, letters and telephone calls to us. Quebeckers have also made it clear that, ultimately, they want investments in key sectors. So, I hope that the members of the Bloc Québécois will support the NDP's balanced budget.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to speak about this important document because the NDP's balanced budget document brings hope to Canadians.

Over the past 10 years the number of homeless has been growing in the cities across the country. We have seen the growing number of poor children. We know that the NDP's balanced budget document is going to start addressing these issues by allocating $1.6 billion to housing to help poor families.

I am proud to stand for this document because we know that $1.5 billion will be allocated to post-secondary education. We know that over the past number of years it has become a crisis in this country. We need to lower tuition fees. We need to provide affordable education to our youth and young adults. The NDP's balanced budget document does just that.

I am pleased to speak for this document, Bill C-48, because it also addresses the environmental crisis that we are living through. There is $900 million that will go to start addressing the problems that we see across the country, the increasing smog, greenhouse gases and all of those issues. As a result of the NDP's balanced budget document $900 million will now be allocated to that.

We live in an unstable world. There is more and more violence and more instability. We know, and I think it is the shame of members in all four corners of the House, that today 29,000 children will die of hunger and preventable diseases in the world. Tomorrow 29,000 more will die and another 29,000 the day after that.

The NDP's balanced budget document allocates half a billion dollars in foreign aid so that we are finally going to start working around the world to supply fresh water, food and medicine, and health care to people, to start to address that instability. We know full well it is not by providing more guns and weapons that we have more stability on this planet. It is by having safe water, food and housing, education and health for all the world's people.

I am also proud to speak to this document because for too long workers have been at the bottom of the list when a company goes bankrupt. In many case we have seen people lose their life savings. The NDP's better balanced document finally provides $100 million to protect those workers in the event of bankruptcy.

I am very proud to speak to this document because it addresses a whole series of issues that the NDP in this corner of the House have felt for years need to be addressed in this country. Tonight if we adopt this budget, we will be bringing hope to Canadians across the country from coast to coast to coast. In the main streets Canadians see the need for more funding for education. Canadians see the need for more housing to address poverty and the increasing number of poor children. Canadians see the need to address environmental issues. Canadians see the need to provide some stability in the world through governmental funds. The NDP's balanced budget document is addressing all of these critical issues.

It must be said too that this document, which gives Canadians hope, also meets the needs of Quebeckers. This is extremely important. Since the NDP moved passage of this budget, organizations across Quebec have been telling us that it is vital C-48 be passed. FRAPRU and other organizations fighting poverty are calling on Bloc members to pass this budget. Organizations for persons with a disability are telling the Bloc it has to pass this budget. Municipalities in Quebec and environmental organizations are saying yes to the NDP budget. It is extremely important.

Given that organizations and Quebeckers are calling on the four parties in this House to adopt the NDP budget, we hope it will have the support of the Quebec members.

We know there are extremely important matters addressed in this document. However, we also know that the NDP will continue to work on other tasks. We are very concerned about saving our public health care system in Canada.

We saw of course a few weeks ago an indictment, tragically, of Liberal health care policies. It is important to mention that the Supreme Court judgment is not a call for privatization. It is an indictment of the Liberals' policy on health care, I am sorry to say.

We need more action provided to public health care to support public health care. We need to start to address the effectiveness of the system. Members in this corner of the House have called for a more effective system of health care. We have called for the saving money on things like evergreening, where we are simply providing money to pharmaceutical companies, the most profitable industrial sector in North America. We believe we can save money by having a more sane evergreening policy that would allow us to save money, divert it from the pharmaceutical companies to patient care and bring down waiting list times.

We would also continue to work on bringing in a home care policy, because we know that every dollar invested in home care saves $2 in health care costs elsewhere in the system. We are going to continue to work for that in this corner of the House.

We are also going to continue to work to make sure that we build quality jobs for Canadians. Canadians have seen over the past decade continued diminishment in the quality of jobs that are offered. We saw that in the Statistics Canada study that came out in January. Most jobs in Canada now are temporary or part time in nature. Most jobs in Canada now do not have access to pensions. Most jobs in Canada now do not have basic benefits. Because of that, because we have seen that decline in the quality of jobs, we also know that the average Canadian worker is earning 60¢ an hour less than he or she was earning a decade ago. Because of all those facts, we in this corner of the House are going to continue fighting for a jobs policy that makes sense, that makes good quality jobs for Canadians and for Canadian families across the country. We will continue to work on that.

We are pleased to see tonight the opportunity to finally adopt the budget that the member for Toronto—Danforth authored, brought forward and built to improve the lives of Canadians.

There is hope in this country tonight. If we adopt this budget, we can move on to deal with other serious issues that Canadians want us to deal with. They want a better quality of life. They want better health care. They want better education. They want to see homelessness go down and housing go up. They want to see access to education go up and tuition fees go down. They want to see international aid go up and the poverty numbers and the shocking numbers of children who die every day on this planet go down. They want to see all those things. From tonight onward we will be working on these other issues.

We are hoping that tonight this House will adopt the NDP's better balanced budget at third reading and give hope to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

[An Act to Authorize the Minister of Finance to make Certain Payments, June 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to share my time with the author of this document, the NDP budget.