Salma Zahid

[Committees of the House, November 26th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first and second reports of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

The committee has considered the main estimates, 2020-21, and reports the same. It has also considered the supplementary estimates (B), 2020-21, and reports the same.

[Public Safety, November 4th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, last year, while Canadians were preparing themselves for the holidays, a then 10-year-old boy named Adam was wrongfully flagged as a possible security threat under the no-fly list. The Harper Conservatives, in a mad rush to promote themselves as tough, clumsily designed a system whereby people were flagged based on nothing more than their name. This unfortunately led to very public instances whereby young children simply travelling to watch a hockey game were singled out. We have heard from groups, such as the no-fly list kids, that the Conservatives' errors must be addressed.

Can the Prime Minister please inform the House when action will be taken to ensure that no more children will be falsely flagged?

[Child Care, October 23rd, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, as the economy has begun to recover from COVID-19, we have seen that women are not returning to the workforce at the same rate as their male colleagues. One major reason is child care.

Without access to safe and affordable child care, it will not be possible for both parents to choose to return to work, and most often it is the woman who will stay at home.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development tell us how the government is going to address this and finally make a Canada-wide early learning and child care system a reality?

[Hellenic Home for the Aged, October 5th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to recognize the residents and the hard-working staff of Hellenic Home for the Aged in my riding of Scarborough Centre. As a long-term care home, it has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first wave was difficult for it. Residents were unable to see their loved ones and, under difficult circumstances and spending much time away from their own families, the staff worked very hard to keep residents safe. I would like to extend my condolences to the Hellenic Home community for the lives lost during this pandemic.

We owe it to our seniors to do everything we can to keep them safe. We need to develop new national standards for long-term care. I look forward to working with organizations in my riding to bring their ideas and their voices to this discussion.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, October 5th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, safety and security of Canadians is the most important thing for us as a government. I am proud that in the last six months we have done our best to ensure Canadians are safe and have those tools available to fight this pandemic. We will continue investing in the health of Canadians to ensure we can get through this pandemic as team Canada.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, October 5th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I am really proud to be part of a government that is committed to and believes in climate change. In the last mandate, we did a lot of work in that regard. We are still committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. As mentioned in the throne speech, we will legislate the targets that we can achieve by 2050.

A few weeks ago, I welcomed the Minister of Infrastructure in Scarborough to make the announcement on electric buses for in my riding. We have invested in Canadians. We have invested $19 billion for a safe restart agreement with the provinces and territories to ensure they have the PPE and money for health care and testing. We have invested heavily to ensure testing is done for more and more Canadians. We will continue investing in Canadians.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, October 5th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for all the work she has done on gender equality.

I am proud to be part of a government that believes in gender-based violence and that for the economy to recover, it is important that we have a she-covery. Just last week, we announced $50 billion for an accelerated investment in shelters and transitional housing to ensure that anyone facing gender-based violence would have a safe place to turn. During the first wave of the pandemic, we also invested $50 million. From talking to constituents in my riding, I know that it really made a difference and many women were able to find a place at shelters when they faced gender-based violence.

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, October 5th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying that I am happy to be back in this place for the first time since March. It is so important that we are able to be here, whether virtually or in person, to represent our constituents in a way that is safe and consistent with public health guidelines. I would like to thank the House of Commons staff who have worked hard to lay the groundwork to allow Parliament to resume safely, and the co-operation of all parties that has allowed us to be back here together.

It has been a challenging time for our country and for the world since many of us were here last in March. Canadians came together to meet the challenges of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As businesses closed their doors and there were those who had to stay home, our government stepped up with programs to support individuals and businesses facing loss of income and loss of business. I am proud of how our public servants responded to quickly design and launch programs like the Canada emergency response benefit to get help to the people who needed it the most. I am proud of how Canadians responded, supporting their local food banks and showing their support for our first responders.

No response will ever be perfect. There are lessons that can and should be learned, and this challenge is not yet over. Parts of the country are now firmly in the second wave of cases. Here in Ottawa and in my home of Toronto, cases are on the rise. We cannot afford to be complacent in following the public health guidelines.

I am here today to respond to a Speech from the Throne that sets out the government's plan, not only for meeting the ongoing challenge of the pandemic, but also to begin looking ahead to the recovery and the kind of a country we will build back: a stronger, more resilient Canada. One thing that is clear to me is that we must apply a gender and intersectional lens to our plans for supporting Canadians and for the recovery, because COVID-19 is not impacting all Canadians equally.

Data from the City of Toronto shows that positive cases are far higher among the city's Black population and among other people of colour. The data also correlates to household income, with those earning under $30,000 reporting far higher levels of positive cases. If an individual is wealthier and has a job that allows her or him to work from home, it is easier to limit that person's exposure. Meanwhile, lower-income residents, often members of minority groups in Toronto, most often have jobs that require them to go in and take the bus to work. Often in those front-line jobs people are relying on, in restaurants, grocery stores and taxis, they do not have the privilege of just staying home.

We must also look at the impact of this pandemic on women. Women have been on the front lines of this pandemic, with fields such as nurses, lab techs, home care workers and personal support workers dominated by women. As people began to go back to work over the summer, women were not returning to the workforce at the same rate as their male colleagues. Economist Armine Yalnizyan has said that Statistics Canada labour force data for May showed we were having more of a “he-covery than a she-covery, that is, more men returning to work than women.” In July the Standing Committee on the Status of Women met to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, and one key message was the importance of child care.

Without access to safe and affordable child care, it will not be possible for both parents to return to work, and most often it is the woman who will stay home to care for their children or their elderly parents. For single parents, there often is no choice. So, I welcome the government's commitment to a significant, long-term and sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system.

We cannot let access to child care be a barrier for parents choosing to re-enter the workforce. I also welcome the commitment to an action plan for women in the economy and to a feminist intersectional response to the pandemic and recovery. We must consider the needs of diverse Canadians and have diverse voices as a part of a task force of experts.

My constituents have also told me that they are concerned about the safety of seniors, particularly in long-term care homes. The government responded to requests from some provinces to send in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Red Cross to help during the worst time of the crisis.

I have a number of long-term care homes in my riding. Despite the hard work of caring staff, we lost members of our community who were residents in these homes. Any loss is tragic, but to pass without one's loved ones by one's side is grief beyond compare. There can be, and there must be, a role for the government here. The safety of our citizens must be paramount. I support the government's commitment to work with the provinces and territories to set new national standards for long-term care homes, as well as to amend the Criminal Code to penalize those who neglect seniors under their care. I will work to bring the voices of the constituents and community groups in my riding to that process, so that we can ensure that workers in those homes have the support they need to give residents the care they deserve.

This pandemic has also underscored the need to move more boldly on our commitment to developing a national pharmacare system. Many Canadians cannot afford access to the medication that they need and many Canadians, who had coverage through their employers' plans, lost it during this pandemic. A person's access to medication should not be dependent on their wallet or their job. We must move forward more quickly to make pharmacare a reality.

We must do more to combat systemic racism in Canada, including rising levels of online hate. Our communities are reeling from a string of recent incidents. Last month, an innocent man, Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, was killed in front of the IMO mosque in Toronto by an individual with apparent links to a neo-Nazi group. During Rosh Hashanah, a father and a son were verbally assaulted with anti-Semitic remarks, outside a synagogue in Thornhill. Sadly, these are not isolated incidents. We must stand together to condemn Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred. Our anti-racism strategy must include an acknowledgement of the dangers of white supremacy and a plan to combat this growing threat to the safety and security of Canadians.

As I come to the end of my remarks, allow me to highlight two areas that have frequently been raised by my constituents that were not directly addressed in the Speech from the Throne, but that I feel must form part of the government's agenda for a stronger, more resilient Canada.

The first is affordable access to the Internet. The speech touched on broadband access to rural and remote communities. I recognize how important that is. My constituents in Scarborough Centre are lucky enough to have access to broadband access to the Internet, but at prices so unaffordable that in reality they have no access at home. The government has committed to lowering wireless Internet rates and has a plan to bring down the price of mobile packages by 25%. Our efforts for affordability must also include wide broadband Internet access. I recognize the infrastructure and capital costs faced by the major service providers, but it is not fair that Canadians pay among the highest prices in the world. Unaffordable access is no access at all. We must do more to bring prices down.

The second is the call for basic income. We have seen during this pandemic the importance of Canadians having access to a base level of support. CERB made a major difference by helping Canadians through the first wave when the economy ground to a halt and many were asked to stay home. The need for support will not go away with COVID-19.

In a country like Canada, people should have the ability to keep a roof over their heads and meet their basic needs. I do not believe a basic income is a silver bullet. No one program can address all of society's challenges and it is not something the federal government can do alone. Our social safety net includes different programs at all levels of government. It would not do if benefits introduced at the federal level were to be clawed back by the provinces. We must take a holistic approach, working with our partners at all levels.

It is time to reimagine our social safety net for the 21st century. It is time for a national conversation about basic income, and I want our government to lead that support.

I will be supporting the Speech from the Throne and I will be the voice for my constituents pushing the government to move forward with its goal for a stronger and more resilient Canada. Let us build that Canada together.

[Petitions, March 11th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present petition e-2391, which is signed by over 4,000 people from across Canada who are concerned about amendments made to the Citizenship Act by the Government of India that make religion a criterion for nationality and discriminate against some religious minorities, such as Muslims. The petitioners are also concerned that the criteria of the National Register of Citizens may make marginalized minorities stateless, as they are more likely to be unable to prove their identity and status.

The petitioners call upon this House to condemn these measures, to demand their withdrawal and to condemn the excessive use of force by the police against the peaceful citizens of India.

[Telecommunications, March 11th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, now more than ever Canadians rely on cellphones for their work, school, finances and health care, making access to high-quality and affordable service absolutely essential. However, cellphone and wireless bills are still putting too much strain on too many Canadian households.

Could the Prime Minister please update Canadians on the latest steps this Liberal government has taken to reduce cellphone prices?