Ryan Cleary

[Remembrance of the Ocean Ranger, February 14th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, much of the island of Newfoundland is being battered today by a winter storm. It is a sombre reminder of this day 32 years ago when a vicious blizzard struck the province, eventually bringing down the indestructible drilling rig Ocean Ranger in the early morning hours of February 15. Eighty-four men lost their lives.

Hearts are always heavy in my province on Valentine's Day. The tragedy of the Ocean Ranger highlights the terrible price we pay as a seafaring people. It also highlights how fast and badly things can go wrong and reinforces our need for the highest of health and safety regulations.

I end with a quote from the great Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot that captures the waiting for word of life or death: “Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?”

[Petitions, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I stand today to present a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl. The petition contains 1,551 signatures of people calling on the Conservative government to reverse recent cuts to Canada Post services, including home delivery, and to look instead for ways to modernize operations.

The signatures were gathered in a two-and-a-half hour blitz on January 25 and reflect my riding's overwhelming support of a treasured public service.

[Business of Supply, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in my previous life before politics, I was a journalist. I was a newspaper editor. I will never forget this story. My newspaper at the time, The Independent, carried a story about a Newfoundland and Labradorian veteran who had served in Afghanistan. At one point he held the record for the longest shot, the longest kill. I cannot remember the range, but it was an incredible shot. I think the record was beaten the year after. This veteran talked about what he experienced in the war zone and what he experienced when he was fighting. The point of the story was that when he came back he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. When he reached out for help that he so desperately needed, it was not there.

Too often what happens is members of the military are hesitant. They do not want to step forward because the moment they do step forward and seek help they are removed from the military. The clock starts ticking on their leaving the military. They are basically signing off on the end of their career, so they are hesitant to do that. That is one problem, and when they do leave the military the help is not there for any mental health issues they may have.

[Business of Supply, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. The member is absolutely right. There are 600 points of contact, but those 600 points of contact are Service Canada offices. Will they be able to help the veterans in their time of need? My answer to that is no. In a lot of cases they will be referred to the Internet, for example, and in too many cases that we have heard about veterans who are seniors of 80 or 90-plus years of age cannot use the Internet or the telephone. Theirs skills are not there on the Internet. Their hearing is not there for the telephone.

The member for Sackville—Eastern Shore mentioned a story in his speech earlier. He spoke about how one veteran recommended that when people call these Service Canada outlets, they actually have a lunch with them, because they are going to be on the telephone that long. Also, veterans who are in immediate need of help are being referred to 911. Therefore, the short answer is no. Those 600 points of contact will not do.

[Business of Supply, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I stand in support of this motion put forward by the hon. member for Châteauguay—Saint-Constant. The motion would immediately address the mental health crisis facing Canadian soldiers and veterans by hiring appropriate mental health professionals, by reversing the decision to close veterans offices, and by prioritizing and concluding more than 50 outstanding boards of inquiry on military suicides, so that grieving families might have answers and closure.

I want to begin with the story that I tell every November 11, Remembrance Day. I share the same story every July 1. July 1 is known far and wide as Canada Day, but in Newfoundland and Labrador July 1 is also Memorial Day. Canada Day does not begin in my province until noon on July 1. Until then it is Memorial Day.

July 1, 1916, is known as the bloodiest day in Newfoundland and Labrador history. On that day, near the small town of Beaumont-Hamel, France, during the Battle of the Somme, 801 Newfoundland and Labrador officers and soldiers, most of whom were in their late teens or early twenties, went over the top. The next morning, only 68 answered the roll call, out of 801. The rest were either killed, wounded, or missing.

A general wrote this to the then prime minister of Newfoundland, Sir Edward Morris, about the courage and discipline displayed by the members of the Newfoundland Regiment in their first battle on the western front at Beaumont-Hamel:

It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further.

I see that statement as the highest compliment to any soldier.

For the small nation of Newfoundland, the loss was absolutely devastating. It was felt in every town, every outport, and every family. The Newfoundland Regiment was renamed the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in 1917, the only time in the history of the British army that such a designation has been given during a time of warfare.

Our First World War soldiers were known as “fighting Newfoundlanders”, a designation that carries over to this day, mostly in reference to the spirit of the fighting Newfoundlander.

Our contribution to the First World War was not just in blood. The debt we took on as a nation to supply a regiment is partly to blame for our financial crisis of the 1930s, which led to Newfoundland surrendering its democracy in 1933 in favour of government by commission. It is the only time that a democracy has been voluntarily surrendered.

Be it the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Gulf War, or Afghanistan, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have always stepped forward. When Canadians agree to serve in the forces, they accept what is called unlimited liability, that they may be killed in service. Without question, it is the ultimate sacrifice for Canada. In return, we owe them the best care possible. Our veterans are not getting the best care possible.

Why do I say that? Why do veterans say that? Let us start with mental health. The question of whether Canadian Forces personnel receive timely and appropriate mental health care has been a long-standing concern, especially in light of the fact that Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan is coming to a close and thousands of soldiers are returning home with mental injuries. Many of our soldiers and their families say that they cannot get the help they need.

There have been eight suicides in the past two months alone. As it stands, there are at least 50 outstanding boards of inquiry into suicides of members of the Canadian Forces.

On January 31, tomorrow, eight regional veterans offices will close, including the veterans office in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, my home province. The Corner Brook office provides front-line services to 1,500 veterans on the west coast of the island.

Once the office closes, veterans who are in desperate need of in-person, front-line service will have to travel eight, nine, or ten hours by car to get to the nearest office in St. John's on the east coast of Newfoundland. That is eight, nine, or ten hours.

The Conservatives say there is always the Internet; there is always the telephone. Back in November during a rally outside the veterans office in Corner Brook, Hedley Smith, a legionnaire from the west coast city, had this to say about the Internet and telephone:

A lot of these [veterans] are deaf, old and crippled and can't understand anything they hear on the telephone. They need one-on-one service. That's the way that it's got to be.

Nineteen-year-old Bertram Hillier was among the soldiers in the last draft of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who went overseas to fight in the Second World War. He had this to say about the closure of the Corner Brook office:

I haven't got that much education and they help me a lot with filling out forms and things like that.

Everything I want, I come here and there's no problem.

There is a problem now.

Veterans who accepted the unlimited liability, who served their country knowing and prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, now feel abandoned by the current Conservative government.

Veteran members of the Canadian Forces serve our country with courage and distinction. Our responsibility, our duty, is to be there for them in their moment of need, not to abandon them to budget and service cuts. I call that the ultimate insult.

The Conservative government's treatment of our veterans and forces is disgraceful, and it manifested itself this week when a delegation of veterans from across the country, including a veteran from Corner Brook, came to Ottawa for a meeting with the Minister of Veterans Affairs. They came here in a last-ditch bid to persuade the Conservative government to reverse its decision to close the eight remaining Veterans Affairs offices across the country.

What did the Minister of Veterans Affairs do? He left the veterans waiting for 70 minutes, and then he turned his back on the veterans when they got frustrated. The minister has since apologized, which is a start. As the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore said earlier today, “...it was not the minister's finest day.”

In the end, the west coast of Newfoundland will still be without a Veterans Affairs office, effective tomorrow.

Corner Brook veteran Paul Davis was a member of the delegation that came here to Ottawa this week. I met with him myself. Mr. Davis is 66, and he had this to say:

We have 1,500 veterans on the west coast who depend on the DVA office in Corner Brook. Now we have nowhere to go with our problems, no one to talk to now.

While there will be one dedicated person at the local Service Canada office to deal with veterans, that one dedicated person will have to do the work of the seven people who worked at the Veterans Affairs office, and that is not going to cut it.

What should happen? Hire long-promised mental health professionals to assist soldiers and veterans. Hire them now. Reverse the decision to close Veterans Affairs offices and prioritize and conclude the more than 50 ongoing boards of inquiry on military suicides. That is what should happen now.

The men and women of our military left heaven on earth—Canada—to serve in what was “hell on earth” in many cases, as the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore said.

The men and women of the Canadian Forces stood on guard for us. They stand on guard for us. Our veterans, seniors in many cases, are now forced to stand on guard for their own because the current Conservative government is not standing on guard for them.

[The Environment, January 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it has been more than nine months since the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed the source of oil washing up on the shores of Newfoundland's northeast coast, the sunken paper carrier Manolis L. She went down in 1985 with 500 tonnes of oil aboard. The Coast Guard has made attempts to plug the leaks, but the government must move to stop this environmental disaster once and for all. Everyone agrees that plugging the leaks is a Band-Aid solution.

Will the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans tell the people of my province when this oil will be removed?

[Business of Supply, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, there is a fabulous community within my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl known as Shea Heights. It overlooks the broader city of St. John's. There was a proposal just a little while ago to cut back Saturday mail service at the postal outlet in Shea Heights.

The truth of the matter is that people in rural parts of Canada, in rural parts of my riding, have seen such a steady erosion of the postal service over the past number of years that this is almost like water off a duck's back in terms of expectations. There have been such consistent cuts to rural postal service that people almost do not notice anymore. At the same time, the people who do speak out, the people with home delivery, those with problems with super mailboxes, and those who have a problem with cuts to the rural post office hours, are speaking up more and more. Again, if MPs get out and do consultations and actually ask at the door for input, these are the types of things they will hear.

[Business of Supply, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member of Parliament says that he has not heard any complaints. I would advise the member of Parliament to go out and knock on doors in his riding. Go out and do a blitz, like I did this past weekend. Again, there were 40-odd volunteers. We knocked on thousands of doors, and the overwhelming majority of the people we spoke to said that they do not want to live without home delivery. As for the people who have super mailboxes, I also have collected dozens of pictures on my BlackBerry, just from the past week or two alone. The pictures are of mountainous snowbanks in front of super mailboxes, which people cannot get to. In my speech, I mentioned that one constituent spoke about having to use a blowtorch to get the key into the keyhole in the super mailbox.

There are complaints. There are complaints about super mailboxes and about the loss of home delivery. If the member takes the time to ask and the time to listen, he will hear them.

[Business of Supply, January 28th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time.

I rise today in support of the motion by the hon. member for Trinity—Spadina, which reads as follows:

That, in the opinion of the House, door-to-door mail delivery is a valuable service provided by Canada Post, and that this House express its opposition to Canada becoming the only country in the G7 without such a service.

It should be the opinion of the House that door-to-door delivery of regular mail is a valuable service provided by Canada Post. It is the opinion of the overwhelming majority of the constituents of St. John's South—Mount Pearl, in my province of Newfoundland and Labrador. How do I know that? I know that because I asked them. What a novel idea: to ask Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, Canadians, what they think. That is not what happened with these proposed changes to Canada Post.

The crown corporation carried out consultations by invitation only with comments submitted beforehand. In other words, it was not a public process. A public process involves the public, but the public, by and large, was forgotten and ignored. However, there was consultation with the Conservative government.

The proposed changes at Canada Post were announced on December 11, the day after the House of Commons closed the fall session. Is it a coincidence that Canada Post announced the elimination of home delivery, the termination of 6,000 to 8,000 jobs, raised the price of a stamp up to $1, and cut the hours of rural post offices the day after the House closed? There was no discussion, no debate, no questions, and no answers. Do I believe in coincidence? I do not with the Conservative government. Sidestepping democracy is the Conservative government's modus operandi. Not only was the public not widely consulted but the people's representatives here in the House were not consulted either.

Beyond that, the minister responsible for Canada Post released one written statement in support of the cuts and then refused to answer any questions, period. Could it be that the minister is taking the time to write us all a letter about the changes to Canada Post? It is not likely, given the price of a stamp.

After the proposed changes to Canada Post were handed down, the chief executive officer said seniors were happy enough to lose home delivery because it will give them an opportunity to exercise, an opportunity to get fit. The CEO has obviously never had to climb the summit of a snowbank in front of a super mailbox and use a blowtorch to unfreeze the keyhole to get the mail, which is how one senior put it to me.

Not one senior or disabled individual I consulted in my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl mentioned exercise as a plus to the cancellation of home delivery. Not one. They brought up questions like how they will get their mail in the snow and the ice and the sleet and the slush and the horizontal rain when a gale is blowing.

A public meeting organized by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers was held in mid-January in my riding. I am going to read some of the comments that I took down from that meeting. For example, “Home delivery is our right. Do not put me in danger by forcing me to a super mailbox. And as for seniors needing our exercise; yes we do, and we are going to get it in the next election”.

That means they are not going to be voting Conservative, in case it was not obvious.

Another quote was, “What should happen is they should scrap the Senate and save our post office.”

That is an interesting idea.

A further one was, “Unless I become superwoman and learn how to fly, I won't be receiving any mail between December and April”.

That quote is from a disabled woman in St. John's, a member of the Council of Canadians With Disabilities.

Here is a quote from Ralph Morris, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Sector Pensioners' Association: “For seniors, direct deposit of cheques should mean at the post office located at their front door”.

Then there was a quote from a young person: “My generation isn't expecting less. We're going to demand more”.

Those quotes are from the public meeting, and a lively public meeting it was.

Let me read an example of some of the mail that my office has received:

I live in St. John's in a 50-plus condominium. Like several people here, I have a mobility problem. This curtails my walking any distance. If it is very windy, or in the winter there is snow ice, I am unable to walk anywhere. I do not have a car, and there are several people in the condominium here who no longer drive. With the new plans for mail to be no longer delivered to one's home, I wonder how I will obtain my mail.

That is a good question.

Another comment I received was actually a question:

Would you please ask Canada Post if they are going to deliver my mail during the winter, as I am unable to go and get it. The CEO has no idea what I want or need unless he asks me, and that was not done.

I have gone out of my way to use as many quotes in this speech as possible. I have done that because there was such limited consultation, and the Conservatives need to be delivered a message.

This past Saturday, I organized a petition blitz in Mount Pearl. Dozens of volunteers spent two and a half hours knocking on doors, asking people to sign the petition. The petition calls on the Government of Canada to reverse the cuts to services recently announced by Canada Post and to look instead for ways to modernize operations. At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour blitz, we had gathered more than 1,400 signatures. The response was absolutely overwhelming. People do not want to lose their home delivery. Not a single one of the 1,400 people thanked Canada Post for the opportunity to get more exercise, not one.

The municipal councils of St. John's, Mount Pearl and Petty Harbour, all within my riding, also agreed to carry the petition in their municipal offices. This is a quote from the mayor of St. John's, Dennis O'Keefe, who is also vehemently against the cuts:

The elimination of home delivery and the exorbitant increase in postal rates will impact severely on all residents of St. John's and, in particular, on seniors and those with disabilities. Canada Post and the Conservative government need to recommit to their responsibility of government to provide a public service.

Those are key words, “public service”. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in general, those who live in urban areas, and Canadians across the country do not want to lose home delivery service, a treasured service that they have enjoyed for decades, while at the same time, paying more for postage.

The management plan of Canada Post seems to be to eliminate services, raising prices and cut jobs. That is no way to modernize operations of Canada Post. That is no way to manage Canada Post. There seems to be a problem at the very top. The Prime Minister appointed Deepak Chopra months before the lockout in 2011, with a salary of half a million dollars a year and a 33% bonus. Five months after the CEO was appointed, Canada Post cut drug coverage and other benefits to all employees, including those on sick leave and those on disability, and then it cut back on services to the public. Canada Post made a profit of $1.7 billion in 16 of the last 17 years. The one year it did not make a profit was the year that Canada Post locked out its employees.

There is a crisis within Canada Post. It is an invented crisis. It is a crisis of management. Is change inevitable? Yes, it is. The number of letters may be down; that is undeniable with social media and with the Internet, but the number of packages is up.

Are there other opportunities for Canada Post, postal banking, for example? Yes, there are. Were Canadians consulted? No, they were not.

New Democrats want to protect home delivery, improve services, attract new customers and raise revenues for Canada Post. That is what we want.

However, announcing changes with little or no input from Canadians, announcing changes the day after the House of Commons closes, telling seniors to swallow the changes and get more exercise is not the Canadian way.

No, it is not the Canadian way; that is the Conservative way, and it is on the way out.

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 27th, 2014]

With regard to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador: (a) what programs does the Fish, Food and Allied Workers’ (FFAW) union administer for DFO; (b) does the FFAW have any contracts with DFO; (c) does the FFAW administer the Dockside Monitoring Program for DFO; (d) does the FFAW receive any money for administering this contract; (e) does the FFAW administer the Stewardship Fisheries for DFO; and (f) does the FFAW receive money for administering this contract?