House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2015, with 22% of the vote.
Radiocommunication Act November 2nd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his leadership with the bill and for his excellent speech. I would also like to add that, since being elected, I have heard from constituents about their desire to have their voices heard in the process of the development of telecommunication towers in their communities.
I am curious to know if my colleague heard that from his own constituents as well as from across Canada when he did his own consultation for the bill.
Jobs and Growth, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his pertinent question, because the government has proved it is willing to split the bill when it brought out the pensions portion from the bill. The NDP has requested time and time again the unanimous consent of the House to do that exact same thing and to break up this humongous bill of over 400 pages.
The debate is now under time allocation, so we do not have the opportunity as members of Parliament to have the full debate necessary to go through these 400 pages. It is our fiduciary duty to our constituents to ensure that there is adequate and appropriate debate in this House, and that is exactly what the government is ensuring will not happen.
The government is muzzling scientists and parliamentarians. It is muzzling everyone. The government is not allowing us as members of Parliament to perform our fiduciary duty to our constituents.
Jobs and Growth, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, my colleague again proves my point that if the government wants to talk about the Navigable Waters Protection Act, then it should include it in its budget. We know that the word “navigable” was not included in the budget presented by the minister in March, yet this budget implementation bill has navigable all over it. How is it that the government is being truthful, honest and transparent to Canadians when it is changing the Navigable Waters Protection Act in a budget implementation bill whereas the budget itself does not even talk about that act?
My suggestion to the government through the member is to be open and transparent with Canadians. If the transport committee had expert witnesses who said we should talk about the Navigable Waters Protection Act, then let us do that, but let us do it openly and transparently, not the secret backdoor way.
Jobs and Growth, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to continue my speech. Ironically entitled the “jobs and growth act”, Bill C-45 completely lacks measures to create jobs and stimulate growth in the long term for Canadians. In fact, the budget plans for unemployment to rise. The tax credits provided in the bill to small businesses are small and only for a very short time period. Additionally, Bill C-45 cuts support for business research and development. This does not seem to make any sense at a time when Canadian businesses need to increase innovation and productivity to be able to succeed in our knowledge based local economy and the ever changing global economy. Moreover, the changes in the bill will hurt the manufacturing sector, which provides many good jobs to my constituents in Scarborough--Rouge River, as firms will be more likely to move their R and D activities to other countries with better incentives.
What we need is a long-term Canada-wide strategy to create good jobs for the 1.4 million Canadians who are still unemployed, not a budget bill that the Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated will cost 43,000 Canadians their jobs, with a projected total of 102,000 jobs lost when combined with the previous rounds of cuts. It is simply outrageous.
The changes in Bill C-45 to public service pensions creates a two-tiered workforce where younger people will have to work longer for the same retirement benefits. Along with little action on crippling student debt and youth unemployment, younger Canadians cannot rest assured that the government is looking out for their best benefits.
Moreover, statistics show that women are overrepresented in Canada's public service, so the government's proposed changes to public service pensions will disproportionately and negatively affect women across the country. Additionally, changes to the method of calculation for payment for holiday work in Bill C-45 will negatively affect those who change jobs often, and those who work part-time or on a commission basis. Once again, these are predominantly youth, newcomers and women, who usually do not have many other options than to take on these more precarious forms of employment.
Canadians want us to take action to protect our environment and grow a sustainable economy for the future, yet the Conservatives are shamefully focused on gutting environmental protection regulations.
Bill C-45 continues down the road of this spring's Trojan horse budget by further weakening our ability to protect our environment. The budget implementation bill guts the Navigable Waters Protection Act and further erodes the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. If one were to do a search for the word “navigable” on the online version of the budget, the word “navigable” does not even appear once. The word does not appear in the budget, yet it is all over the implementation bill of the same budget. The changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act will leave thousands of waterways without protection and result in fewer environmental reviews by Transport Canada.
While the removal of “waters protection” from the name of the act and the change in the name to the “Navigation Protection Act” may appear very simple, it is quite revealing of the government's intentions. This name change demonstrates to Canadians just how out of touch the Conservatives are when it comes to the environment, as well as their lack of concern about Canadians' call for its protection and the need to build a sustainable economy.
In addition, the bill makes little effort to support clean energy generation equipment. There are two minor expansions of tax credits for certain types of equipment. However, these are hardly noteworthy, totalling just $3 million in the next fiscal year.
Bill C-45 is one more nail in the coffin when it comes to environmental protection by the government. Under the Conservatives, Canada's environmental ranking has dropped to among the worst in the world. The 2011 climate change performance index ranks Canada 57th out of 60 nations surveyed, well behind G8 countries like the U.K., France and Germany, which all scored in the top 10.
I am outraged by the bill and Canadians are outraged by the actions of the government. I have received countless emails from constituents demanding that we oppose this bill. While families and communities are struggling, the bill certainly shows the government's priorities with the tens of millions of dollars spent on propaganda and advertising while at the same time Conservatives are telling Canadians there is just not enough money for employment insurance and old age security. With all of these flaws and more, it is no wonder that we, along with Canadians across the country, oppose this bill.
The NDP will always be proud to stand up for transparency and accountability. We actually listened to our constituents and consulted Canadians across the country. We will proudly stand up for environmental protection. We will also continue to be the leader in the House in standing up for retirement security and health care. We stand up for Canadians, and Canadians deserve something much better than what the government is offering.
New Democrats are committed to fighting for the real priorities of Canadian families: jobs, health care, pensions and protecting our environment. We have a plan to support these priorities by improving health care services; rewarding the job creators; encouraging our youth; fighting climate change; and supporting seniors, not attacking their benefits.
I urge the government to take these concerns into consideration as well as the concerns of Canadians from coast to coast to coast and accept amendments to this bill or split it and have its components studied by all committees.
There are over 400 pages in this budget implementation bill. Let us actually have some time to study the bill.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I proudly rise today to oppose Bill C-45, a second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012, and other measures.
We oppose budget 2012 and its implementation bill unless it is amended to focus on the priorities of Canadians: creating good quality jobs; protecting our environment; strengthening our health care system; protecting retirement security for all; and ensuring open and transparent government.
On March 29, the Minister of Finance presented Bill C-38, budget 2012, that recklessly cut services Canadians rely on, including old age security, health care transfers to the provinces and environmental assessment.
Despite the government's claims of job creation, it is also suggested that these cuts would lead to 19,200 job losses in the public sector.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that the budget would cost 43,000 Canadians their jobs. Combined with the previous rounds of cuts, the PBO projects a total job loss of 102,000 jobs.
Not only did the budget gut services to Canadians, its omnibus nature was an attack on transparency and democracy. The Trojan Horse budget bill outraged Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
I personally received large numbers of emails from constituents of Scarborough—Rouge River who were angry about the undemocratic processes and the concealed method the government used to spend their tax dollars. By introducing yet another massive omnibus bill, the Conservative government continues to keep Canadians in the dark by ramming it through Parliament without allowing a transparent, open process of consultation.
By avoiding a thorough study of their second 400-plus page budget implementation bill and its implications, the Conservatives certainly have not learned their lesson. The official opposition, the New Democrats, will not let them quietly pass their new omnibus legislation. Canadians deserve better.
The massive omnibus bill makes amendments to a wide range of acts. Over 70 different pieces of legislation are being changed. It further erodes government transparency and accountability by dismantling a series of commissions and giving more power to the ministers, another recurring theme from the government.
Ironically titled the “jobs and growth act”, Bill C-45 completely lacks measures to create jobs and stimulate growth in the long term for Canadians. Actually, we are seeing more and more cuts to jobs. As I mentioned earlier, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said that over 102,000 jobs will be lost because of this budget—
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 30th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague for being an excellent advocate for her constituents from Halifax by actually reading into the record what they have been writing.
I read the budget that was tabled in March. Recently I did an online search of the budget for the word “navigable”. It resulted in zero results, because the word “navigable” does not exist in the budget. However, we are being told by members of the government over and over again that in this budget implementation act, the word “navigable” apparently exists. Maybe they have put a different version of the budget on the Internet for the public to see. I am not sure, but I searched online and could not find it.
Conservatives seem to be changing a lot in the Navigable Waters Protection Act. If my intelligent colleague can help me understand, I would very much appreciate that.
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns October 29th, 2012
With regard to the MV Ocean Lady and MV Sun Sea migrants: (a) how many passengers since 2009 were detained, broken down by (i) age, (ii) sex, (iii) location of detention centre, (iv) average number of cells per detention centre, (v) average number of detainees per cell, (vi) average length of detention; (b) how many migrants since 2009 have been deported, broken down by (i) country of origin, (ii) destination country, (iii) rationale; (c) how many migrants since 2009 have been found guilty of criminal offences, broken down by (i) type of offence, (ii) location of crime; (d) how many migrants since 2009 have submitted applications for refugee status, broken down by those whose claims are (i) approved, (ii) rejected, (iii) in the queue; and (e) how many migrants since 2009 have submitted applications for permanent residency status, broken down by those whose claims are (i) approved, ii) rejected, (iii) in the queue?
Questions on the Order Paper October 26th, 2012
With regard to new jobs created in Scarborough—Rouge River from January 2009 to June 2012: (a) what is the total number of new jobs created by (i) sector, (ii) regional location; (b) how many of the total number of new jobs created are classified as (i) full-time status; (ii) part-time status, (iii) contract status, (iv) student status, (v) seasonal status; (c) how many of the total number of new jobs created are filled by (i) women, (ii) youth, (iii) visible minorities, (iv) Aboriginals, (v) people with a disability; and (d) what are the pay ranges of these jobs?
Regional Development October 24th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, hosting the 2025 expo could have meant billions in economic activity for the city of Toronto, but thanks to the government, we will never know. The Conservatives just cancelled Canada's membership with the Bureau international des expositions, scuttling Toronto's bid for the expo in 2025 and killing any other Canadian city's chance at hosting an expo in the future.
Why is the government undermining efforts to promote Canadian cities and culture to the world?
Combating Terrorism Act October 19th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent for her excellent speech.
Following from the previous question, I would like to ask a supplementary to that.
We know that the government is introducing provisions that have already been voted down by the House in 2007 and that these provisions were introduced just after September 11, 2001.
The government's response to everything is, “Let's change the Criminal Code and add something else”. We know that it writes legislation for anything that is happening in the country, saying, “Let's change the Criminal Code”.
Is this because the government thinks that there are more criminals in this country than there are good-quality Canadian citizens? I do not understand. We should be writing legislation and making policy for the norm in the country, for the majority of the people in the country, not for the exceptions. We know that these provisions were not used when they were put into place.
Would my colleague please comment?