Rathika Sitsabaiesan

[Navigable Waters Protection Act, June 12th, 2013]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-532, An Act to amend the Navigable Waters Protection Act (Rouge River).

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to introduce the bill, an act to amend the Navigable Waters Protection Act in relation to the Rouge River. Our lakes and rivers deserve the utmost environmental protection, and this bill would ensure that the Rouge River is listed in the act.

The Rouge River is a beautiful component of Scarborough—Rouge River and Scarborough itself. It runs through our local gem, Rouge Park, and it is visited and enjoyed by residents across the GTA. Moreover, it is a vital component of the ecological integrity and biodiversity of Scarborough and eastern Toronto.

Under the Conservative changes, fewer than 2% of our lakes and rivers are left protected. Certainly Rouge River, which runs through what will be Canada's first urban national park, should be among these protected waterways.

Environmental protection is a priority of mine, as it is for the NDP and Canadians across the country. I am proud to introduce a bill that upholds this Canadian value.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Petitions, June 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I stand today to deposit a petition on behalf of environmental activists to protect the Rouge River and the park surrounding it.

This is a 100-square-kilometre public land assembly surrounding the Rouge River and Duffins Creek watersheds in Toronto, Markham and Pickering. The publicly owned, provincial, federal and municipal land is predominately dedicated to a provincial greenbelt and a natural heritage system. It is home to the endangered mixed woodlands and Carolinian forests, and one-third of Canada's endangered species. It is also the ancestral home of the Mississauga, Huron Wendat and Seneca First Nations and their sacred burial grounds and village sites.

The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to protect the irreplaceable 100 square kilometres of public land assembly within a healthy and sustainable Rouge national park; ensure that the Rouge national park strengthens and implements the ecological visions, policies and integrity of the approved Rouge park plan, the provincial greenbelt plan, the Rouge natural heritage action plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine conservation plan. The petitioners are also asking to protect and restore the 600-metre-wide wooded main ecological corridor linking Lake Ontario to the Oak Ridges Moraine in the Rouge national park.

[Malvern, June 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the S.P.O.T, a tremendous organization in the community of Malvern, in my riding of Scarborough—Rouge River. Success, power, opportunity and teamwork are the tenets of this community organization, which had its grand opening in front of the Malvern Public Library this week.

As a safe, youth-led space, this creative and dynamic organization hosts a media lab, dance studio, and recording studio and offers free programming for young people. I have had the privilege of participating in the R.I.S.E. poetry sessions hosted there. This is a Scarborough-bred movement that promotes positive ideas and opportunities for youth to express themselves through the spoken word throughout the community.

In addition, Onelove Malvern is a local youth-led campaign effort that provides a platform to represent the Malvern community in a positive light and showcase our pride in our neighbourhood. This movement highlights the positive contributions Malvern residents have provided to the city of Toronto. It showcases many of the positive attributes and inclusivity of our neighbourhood.

These are just some of the local initiatives in my community, where our youth and others are empowering themselves to celebrate our neighbourhood, promote safety in our community and show the city of Toronto that Malvern is a great place to live.

[Main Estimates, 2013-14, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for looking for some constructive criticism so we can actually do some positive work moving forward.

As he mentioned and as I mentioned earlier, the five provinces in Canada that did have an upper House, as quickly as they could, started abolishing them because they did not feel an upper House was very useful.

What can we do with the dollars that are being put toward the Senate?

As I mentioned, we could be investing in housing, transit, creating jobs for our youth, ensuring that our communities are safe. There is so much that can be done. There is absolutely no place for an unelected, unaccountable Senate in our democracy. It is time to roll up the red carpet and close down the Senate. Let us abolish the Senate.

[Main Estimates, 2013-14, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, once again, this is another bit of NDP history I can share with everybody in the House. For decades, the NDP has consistently voted against funding for the Senate and voted to abolish it. It has been in support of abolishing the Senate for decades.

I am very happy that I have had the opportunity to make that clear yet once again to all the members of the House.

[Main Estimates, 2013-14, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member for Nanaimo—Alberni of some of Canada's history.

When Canada was formed, five of our provinces had senates, had upper Houses. The first thing Manitoba did, for example, was get rid of the senate. In 1876, Manitoba's upper House was abolished. In 1892, New Brunswick abolished its senate. In 1893, Prince Edward Island abolished its senate. Then Nova Scotia and Quebec followed and abolished their senates.

All of these provinces that did abolished their upper House had no constitutional problem. They are not having any problems. There is a way to do it. The Constitution does allow for it and if Canadians have the will, we will accomplish that.

[Main Estimates 2013-14, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise this evening to participate in the debate on this important concurrence motion.

It is a belief of mine, as it is of the rest of my colleagues and many Canadians across the country, that the funding of $58,169,816 under the Senate program expenditures in the main estimates allocated for the funding of the Senate under vote 1 should cease to be provided to the Senate.

We are in the midst of a democratic crisis in this country, and Canadians across the country agree that there is no place for an unelected, unaccountable Senate in our democracy.

The origins of the Senate date back to Confederation. The members of the red chamber were asked to review and scrutinize legislation passed by the House of Commons. It was intended to ensure the representation of minorities and of provinces and regions in the federal legislative process.

As the member for Timmins—James Bay clearly articulated earlier, at the time that the Senate was created, these minorities were the wealthy people of this country. They were concerned that the interests of the wealthy few in this country might not be represented sufficiently in the elected House of Commons and wanted to make sure that people were appointed to represent the interests of the wealthy.

It was also intended to be less partisan. However, the Senate has never really played this role, as senators vote according to the party they represent rather than according to the interests of the regions they are supposed to be representing.

In the past few months, information has come to light about certain Liberal and Conservative senators that raises many questions and concerns about the use of public funds granted to those senators. Constituents and Canadians across the country are wondering about Mike Duffy and his $90,000. Fortunately, we have the Leader of the Opposition asking all the right questions, and Canadians are looking for real answers from the government.

Canadians deserve to know the details surrounding the $90,000 loan from former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright to Mr. Duffy to repay housing allowances he falsely claimed. Despite his permanent residence being clearly in Ontario, Mr. Duffy declared that he lives in Prince Edward Island, where he owns a cottage. The $90,000 loan allowed Mr. Duffy to repay Canadians, and he now no longer participates in the audit. Mr. Duffy left the Conservative caucus, and on May 19 Nigel Wright also resigned for his actions. This transaction between Mr. Wright and Senator Duffy is now with the Ethics Commissioner to evaluate whether there was a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act. The RCMP is also investigating Mike Duffy's expenses.

Then we have Ms. Pamela Wallin, who is supposedly a representative from Saskatchewan, yet primarily resides in Toronto. Since 2010 Senator Wallin has claimed $300,000 worth of travel expenses not related to travel to her province of origin and has been seen at numerous Conservative fundraising events. The senator left the Conservative caucus and chose to sit as an independent as of May 17 of this year.

Then we have Mr. Patrick Brazeau, an even bigger embarrassment, who found himself in the middle of many controversies, including repeated absences from the Senate, an allegation of abuse of his housing allowance and charges of sexual assault. In 2012 Mr. Patrick Brazeau declared that his primary residence was in in Maniwaki, Quebec, which enabled him to receive a housing allowance for a secondary residence in the national capital region. However, we have all learned that media reports indicate the Maniwaki residence is actually the home of Patrick Brazeau's father. On May 9, Deloitte's audit and the report of the Senate committee on the internal economy ordered Patrick Brazeau to repay $48,000 in unjustifiable claims. The senator resigned from the Conservative caucus. We are seeing a trend here.

Abuse of privileges does not rest only with the Conservative caucus but with Liberal senators as well.

These are only some of the abuses of power that we are aware of at the moment. We do not know what else is to come. While we certainly need an independent audit of residency requirements, housing allowances and travel expenses in order to find out whether certain senators are abusing public funds, at the end of the day we need to abolish an institution that no longer serves Canadians.

In any other Canadian workplace, this type of behaviour and lack of responsibility and accountability would result in disciplinary action and, quite possibly, the cessation of the employment relationship, but here what we see are senators stepping away from caucus while maintaining all of their other privileges.

It is outrageous that according to Conservatives, senators are presumed innocent, but unemployed Canadians are guilty by default. It is clear that the Senate is incapable of rectifying its own problems.

While the Senate asked Deloitte to review the expenses of former Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, former Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin, Liberal Senator Mac Harb and former Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau, the firm is still in the process of completing its audit.

The leader of the government in the Senate has stated that the Senate would make the audit public, but we know there is no guarantee that this will actually happen. Moreover, the Senate committee on internal economy removed paragraphs in its report that criticized Mike Duffy because he had reimbursed the amount he owed. It clear that all public funding for this institution must end.

In 2005, the current Prime Minister campaigned on a promise to reform the Senate, to make it the three Es, equal, elected and effective. He went on to table several bills on Senate reform on behalf of this so-called commitment from his government for change, yet the bills went nowhere. They never rose to the top of the priority list. Even further, the Prime Minister broke his promise not to appoint senators and in fact appointed a whopping 59 senators.

The Senate is a fundamentally undemocratic institution, used by both the Liberals and Conservatives to thank their friends, defeated candidates and donors. They are appointed not because of merit, but as a reward for loyal service to the party in power. The Prime Minister's so-called Senate reform is without a doubt, a complete failure. Like the Liberals, the Conservatives are only part of the problem.

It was not until February 1, that the Prime Minister referred the issue to the Supreme Court of Canada. The court will give its legal opinion on the processes to follow under the constitution to limit the terms of senators, elect senators, eliminate the requirements for senators to have a residence in the province that they represent and, of course, the abolishment of the Senate. The Supreme Court decision may take years to come, but Canadians want and Canadians deserve action today.

While the Conservatives and Liberals rise in their places to defend the status quo and their senators, the NDP is proud to stand up for Canadians and their tax dollars.

The Senate is outdated and fundamentally anti-democratic. We have senators who abuse the public purse. Also, that place is supposed to be the place of sober second thought. However, in fact, it is allowing partisan lines, as well as blocking legislation that is passed in the House of Commons a number of times, such as the NDP bill, Bill C-311, which would have ensured responsibility and action from Canada to prevent climate change. It passed the House of Commons, but the Senate stopped it.

Premiers, including Saskatchewan's Brad Wall, and many Canadians across the country, agree with us. It costs $92.5 million a year to run the Senate, over $90 million a year to cover the costs of salaries and travel for political organizers and people responsible for raising funds for the Liberals and the Conservatives. This is outrageous. The Senate is an archaic institution with appointed senators, some of whom, as we know, abuse their privileges and do not represent the interests or values of Canadians.

I know in my riding of Scarborough—Rouge River, this is a lot of money that could be put to much better use, yet it will take the annual taxes of over 8,000 average families to pay the Senate's tab. Senator Duffy will be collecting another $1.3 million in salary, while Patrick Brazeau will be collecting $7 million over the course of the remainder of his appointment.

There are many residents of Scarborough—Rouge River struggling to provide for themselves and their families. There are much more important uses for our taxpayer money. Youth unemployment in the GTA is double that of the national average. Where is the real job creation strategy? Canadians across the country are in need of affordable housing. Investments in housing are what Canadians are looking for. In my riding, greater investment for the crumbling infrastructure and investment in public transit services are needed. This $90 million could go very far in investment in public transit in Scarborough.

Neither the Conservatives, nor the Liberals, are taking this issue seriously.

On one hand, we have the Conservatives' so-called reform that is going nowhere. On the other hand, the Liberals are supporting the status quo. Fortunately—

[Situation in Syria, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is almost midnight and we are here debating because there is a civil war happening in Syria and we do need multilateral engagement and a multilateral solution. However, I find it a little rich for the Conservative government to disengage with the United Nations but now, today, rely on the same body to come up with a solution.

Canada has lost so much ground on the global scene. We have lost our seat on the Security Council. We have lost our ranking among the nations around the world. We used to be known as a peacekeeping nation that was in love with humanitarian aid, a country that was there at the beck and call of the world. We are not that country anymore.

Having said that, we know there is a crisis in Syria. We have heard members of the government say there is a crisis in Syria right now and it requires urgent address from our government.

I would like to speak about one aspect of this war, which is the women and children who are affected by it. As a woman, I am particularly moved by the fact that the majority of the Syrian refugees are indeed women and children.

I would like to share a personnel story.

I was born in the middle of a war, and I am probably one of the few members in the House of Commons who have lived through a war. It is not something a child should ever go through. I was smuggled in the cover of night with my mother and sisters, which was necessary in order to be safe. If one travelled in daylight, as a woman, one would be exposed to rape, which is used as a weapon of war. One would be exposed to extortion for oneself and one's daughters. I know that is not a condition under which anybody anywhere in the world should have to live. Being a child who witnessed people being bombed, and being shot at myself, I know we should not have any child in this world experience that.

Although I experienced being shot at when I was four or five years old, today it is still a vivid memory. It is as if it were yesterday. Since I have had the privilege to live, literally a second chance at life, I have the opportunity today to speak on behalf of those hundreds of thousands of people who remain voiceless, who do not have that opportunity.

Those children and women who are being victimized by this war did not choose to be part of it. It is up to the international community to speak up for them. It is up to us, as parliamentarians who have the privilege of speaking up for them, to actually do so.

We know this conflict has claimed more than 70,000 lives and it has forced more than one million Syrians to flee as refugees. Many are internally displaced people within the country and within the region. Many of these refugees have been recognized by the United Nations; they have UNHCR refugee cards.

It is our responsibility as global citizens to stand up for them. It is up to Canada as a have nation, not a have-not nation, to be the conscience of the world. Canada is a bountiful nation that has so many resources and richness.

It is up to us to be the conscience of the world. That is what Canada is known for. We are known for our history and for our legacy of being the conscience of the world. Having that history of being the humanitarian country, we are duty bound to these hundreds of thousands of people who are now being displaced, who are being affected by war.

We need to ensure there are not more and more children who are being inflicted with lifelong memories of war. It is our responsibility to remove those children from those situations. It is our responsibility to reunite families.

We know there are many people here in Canada of Syrian descent who have sponsored their spouses, siblings, nieces and nephews. We, as responsible parliamentarians, have the duty to ensure we are reuniting these families.

I know that my time is coming to an end, and with that I will leave the House with my last request for the government. My request to the government is that the government respect the wish of this House. When the NDP brought forward a motion, it was unanimously agreed to by this entire House. The motion called for support of the peace-building efforts in Syria; it called for the provision of emergency humanitarian assistance to the Syrians, to the families, to the Syrians who had families in Canada; and it called for us to expedite the process of family reunification for Syrians who have family members in Canada.

This was a motion that was unanimously agreed to by this entire House. My request to the government is that it respect the wishes of this House and that it provide that humanitarian relief, as well as expediting family reunification.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, my question to my colleague is following my meeting last night with many people of the ethno-culturally diverse press as they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day.

We learned that in the budget there are cuts after cuts, of course, but also that the government wants to control crown corporations like the CBC, which is the public broadcaster. It needs to maintain its independence in order for the press to have that freedom.

I would like my colleague to comment a little bit further, if he can, about the importance of the freedom of our press.

[Employment, May 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, tinkering around the edges will not help today's youth find a job. That is not even a plan.

When we actually look at the number of jobs available, the forecasts are even bleaker. For every job vacancy, there are 6.5 unemployed Canadians competing for it.

Canada's economic struggles are being compounded on the backs of Canada's youth. The Conservatives are simply ignoring this fact. Their failed inaction plans have resulted in the continual increase of the unemployment levels of our young people. What will they do today to mitigate the impacts of a sluggish economy for Canada's youth?