Sheila Malcolmson

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, hearing that from the Conservatives makes this such an interesting debate. After the corporate tax rate was lowered to the lowest in the G7 by the Conservatives, when in government, it turns out that rather than leading to a boost in investment, it ended up with Canadian corporations stashing away $200 billion in offshore tax havens. That was not a benefit to Canada.

Then to our great disappointment, the CRA staff was slashed significantly. Instead, those people could have been acting to stop tax evasion and identifying tax cheats, but that did not happen. Instead, jobs were cut, which is partly why we are in this situation.

I am curious how the Conservatives feel their credibility stands up in this debate right now when they did not crack down on tax evasion and tax avoidance?

[Government Services, February 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, unemployment insurance support is fully funded by payments paid by the workers. Therefore, that is not a gauge of the government's commitment to funding and supporting the front-line workers who do this processing.

In Nanaimo, the place that I represent, we have a Service Canada office, but even some at Service Canada say, “Go up the hill to the MP's office.” I have great constituency workers who do an awful lot of casework in my office. However, not every MP offers that service. The system should not be dependent on MPs doing casework that the government is unable to do.

I say this as strongly as I can to my colleague. Constituents say, “I just want to know how long I'm going to have to wait. Why can't I get that reporting?” The stories we hear are heartbreaking. The system is not working as the member describes.

[Government Services, February 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, this is how a young veteran in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith described dealing with Veterans Affairs. We should keep in mind that this is a young man who has served our country and has PTSD. He said that it is like being given a jigsaw puzzle and turning out the lights. How inhumane this is.

My constituency office is one of many across the country flooded with urgent requests for help accessing government services. It is not because these people do not qualify. It is because they simply cannot get through to government agencies or access the necessary information or forms they require. Many tell me that they feel as if they are being systematically stonewalled by the very agencies that supposedly exist to support them. Phone lines are jammed to the point that people are not even permitted to remain on hold or leave a message. Instead, they are advised to call back later, which yields the same result no matter what time of day they pick up the phone.

Insiders readily admit to my staff that some government agency phone trees are designed to send people in circles and eventually drop their call because the systems are too overloaded to handle the number of calls pouring in at any given moment. The agencies themselves are understaffed and under-resourced, leaving the remaining staff stretched so thin that they are scrambling to deal with the ever-growing backlog.

Wait times are stretching from days to weeks to months. Whether it is a simple callback, a much-needed refund, or an anxiously awaited application approval, Canadians are waiting longer and longer, and they are suffering undue stress and financial hardship as a result. I have heard from women trying to access employment insurance when they are on maternity leave or trying to access the Canada child benefit and feeling that they are being cross-examined by agencies for funding they are truly entitled to.

I hear of families separated by refugee status. In one family, the father was thought to be killed in war but has been discovered. His wife, now a refugee in Canada, applied to have the family reunification process take place. This young mother's children are now saying that they do not believe their father is alive because they have been waiting for so many years. Parents tell me that they are missing seeing their children grow up. It is heartbreaking and it is not fair.

Summertime was the worst. It is as if Service Canada did not anticipate that staff would be going away on holiday, and the phone lines were jammed worse than ever.

Canadians accustomed to reliable service are increasingly becoming disillusioned with our ability to help them navigate. The shift to online platforms makes it even worse for Canadians of all ages. Some get kicked back when it turns out they have accidentally filled out the wrong form. It is especially difficult for seniors and people with disabilities who do not have access to a computer or simply are not computer literate. They deeply resent being told they have to go to the web instead of dealing with a person at the front counter. Low-income Canadians and seniors, especially, are the people who should have the support they need from our government.

When will the government restore Canadians' faith in the system set up to serve them, and when will the federal government reinvest in the workers to provide this service?

[Status of Women, February 6th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I would certainly agree with my colleague across the aisle that the government has made very deep commitments to women and to preventing violence against women, but that action is not following.

This was a debate we had in the House four months ago. I asked specifically about campus rape. The minister chose not even to mention students or campuses in her answer.

I note that although the member opposite is describing a survey, not a single witness at our multi-month study recommended that we further survey the problem. They asked the federal government to take leadership to coordinate a national response so that young women across the country have equivalent access to justice.

Why will the government not take leadership to end campus rape?

[Status of Women, February 6th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to stand here tonight. The Canadian Federation of Students is on the Hill today, and I thank its members for their work on ringing the alarm on sexual violence on campus.

We are talking about the federal failure to lead on preventing campus rape. One in five women will experience sexual violence while studying at a post-secondary institution. Young women in Canada face, and we heard this at the status of women committee, a fragmented patchwork of, and often inaccessible, services across the country. In some cases there are non-existent policies in schools and workplaces.

We heard especially why this is a national issue. A woman whose big sister goes to UBC may learn one sort of framework for supporting sexual safety on campus but also the reporting system and the justice system that might accommodate her if it happens, as it so often does, when the woman is most vulnerable, which is her first few weeks away from home. During their first few weeks on campus women are particularly vulnerable to campus rape and sexual assault. That young woman may well go to school at Dalhousie in Nova Scotia on the other side of the country without any family support, and may find a completely different framework, both to prevent assault and then to respond to it both from a health care and a justice system point of view.

That is why it is so important for the federal government to step in, use its good words around feminism and preventing and acting to prevent violence against women, and take that leadership role to coordinate campus and post-secondary responses to prevent and respond to campus sexual assault.

Some of my colleagues and I met with a group named Our Turn, a national student-led association advocating for an action plan to end campus sexual violence. Its report gave Canada a very poor grade. It really showed us that work needs to be done. It talked so much about the impacts, including the mental health impacts, changes in how victims of campus assault view trust. We really do commend that report.

The status of women committee made recommendations 11 months ago, recommendations 7, 8, 9, 10, and observation 1, on actions that the federal government could take. The NDP specifically asked Canada “to lead a national coordination of policies to prevent campus sexual assault”, and that the federal government lead national coordination around policing and in the justice system to ensure equal access to protection and justice across the country for victims of violence against women and girls.

That was more than 11 months ago. The only answer we got from the Minister of Status of Women is:

Preventing and addressing violence is a shared federal and provincial/territorial (PT) responsibility. Currently, all PT [provincial and territorial] governments have initiatives or actions underway that are related to GBV [gender-based violence].

That was it.

Madam Speaker, my question through you to the government is, when are you going to take this leadership role? Do you have anything more to tell us than this highly inadequate response?

[Fisheries and Oceans, February 6th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, come on, really? At his Nanaimo town hall, the Prime Minister said that he is holding B.C. hostage to the Kinder Morgan pipeline. He said the oceans protection plan, which he had been bragging will fix abandoned vessels, oil spills, and bulk commercial anchorages, will not proceed unless bitumen oil tankers do. However, yesterday in committee, the transport minister said the exact opposite, so who is right?

When will the Prime Minister finally stand up for coastal communities instead of blackmailing them?

[B.C. Tuition Waiver Program, February 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, weeks after forming government, B.C. Premier John Horgan came to Nanaimo to keep the election promise that the province would waive tuition fees for children who have been in foster care.

RCMP security detail at the back of the press conference wiped away tears as he talked about how he himself had been unable to get to Trent University without the help and support of his family. He asked whether any parents kick their kids to the curb when they turn 18. They do not. He said that the B.C. government is the responsible parent for children who have been in foster care, and that it would help them get to college or university.

Then Premier Horgan passed the microphone to Ruby Barclay, a young woman from Nanaimo who had gone through Vancouver Island's tuition waiver program. Vancouver Island was the first to offer this. She is now the spokeswoman for this fantastic way to address the epidemic of children in care and give them a better start. It is a good investment.

[Status of Women, January 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, two years ago this week, Parliament voted for the New Democrats' motion on equal pay for women, but we still have not seen any legislation to protect equal pay in law.

Liberals promised pay equity, but shelved it until 2018. It is 2018. Time is up. Words are not enough. Women want concrete action. We have waited far too long already.

Can the Prime Minister explain to women in Canada why they should have to wait another day to be paid the same as men?

[Status of Women, January 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, 51 years ago, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women exposed widespread discrimination against women, yet Canada has since dropped to 25th on the UN Gender Inequality index: Time's Up.

Forty years ago Pierre Trudeau promised women in Canada pay equity. Two years ago, the House voted with the NDP for equal pay. Seven months ago, the Prime Minister missed the all party committees' deadline for legislation: Time's Up.

One year ago The Globe and Mail reported that in one out of 5,500 sexual assault reports, police deemed one in five unfounded, yet no federal action: Time's Up.

All the progress on women's equality has been from women and their allies marching and standing together. Why should women always shoulder the burden of change? Time is up for the government to use its majority to enact real change for women.

[Indigenous Affairs, January 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the member has continued to state the government's commitment, but has failed to explain why its actions do not align with those statements.

Last year, at the United Nations' May session to celebrate UNDRIP, NWAC, the Native Women's Association of Canada, asked to be included. It was not. It was barred from the delegation. It could not even attend the side events.

Last year in December, a president of NWAC, Francyne Joe, said, “[The Prime Minister]...states he’s a feminist, he states indigenous relations are high priorities for his government, and yet he’s specifically excluding a national indigenous group that has been recognized by the courts. Why?”

The Prime Minister has not answered my letter on this. Again, why is the government shutting the Native Women's Association out of its highest level government meetings?