Sheila Malcolmson

[Canada Pension Plan, November 17th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, New Democrats want to get back to work on this. We do not want to have another closure debate. We do want to debate the CPP bill. The debate already has identified serious flaws that would interfere with access to the CPP by persons with disabilities and women who choose to stay at home and do unpaid work. The debate has already raised important issues that we need to further discuss and to hear that the government wants to resolve. We oppose the closure motion.

I will recycle the words of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, the member for Winnipeg North, who in April of last year, when the Conservatives were proposing closure motions, said, “My question to the government House leader is this: How does he justify any sense of democracy and respect for the House when he continues to bring in time allocation only to get the government agenda across? At the end of the day, it is denying Canadians...their voices”.

[The Environment, November 16th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport's announcement last week left us hopeful for real action on abandoned vessels and wrecks, but it is now clear that the Liberal plan does not go nearly far enough. There is nothing to prevent abandoned vessels from becoming a hazard in the first place. Will the plan really leave taxpayers and local governments on the hook for action? Is the government really excluding any preventive measures? Why are the Liberals wasting this opportunity to clean up our coasts?

[Status of Women, November 15th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the number of Canadians using food banks approaches one million people. That kind of hunger should not be happening in Canada. The government should take real action.

Many users of food banks are women fleeing domestic violence. So far, the Liberal government has failed to deliver a comprehensive strategy to end violence against women.

As this evening Parliament is illuminated in purple, marking Woman Abuse Prevention Month, we call on the government to turn its feminist rhetoric into real feminist action.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2, November 15th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, there are certainly measures in the budget bill that I support, that our party supports, and the community supports.

I would appreciate getting the member's feedback on some of the community-oriented disappointments that I have heard. One is the Liberal failure to reduce the small business tax cuts to 9% as they indicated in their election platform that they would. That has an impact on local spending and on job creation.

We are disappointed that there are no child care spaces created with the bill, disappointed that the value of the new child benefit tax is eroded over four years, taking a significant amount of money out of family pockets in year four, compared to the first year. There was a failure to close the stock option loophole for the wealthiest CEOs. Right from the municipalities, there was a great disappointment that the newly announced privatization bank will actually take money away from the pool that municipalities would have been able to draw directly on.

Those are all immediate impacts. They affect the environment, family, and the economy. I would like to know if the member shares my concern that the budget does not live up to those promises.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2, November 15th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, to hear the Liberal House leader say this budget implementation bill is a reflection of the Liberals' campaign commitment to Canadians is hard to square with the government's failure to live up to its commitment to reduce the small business tax to 9%.

Its failure to do that in the March budget was a broken promise to Canadians. The parliamentary budget officer estimates that this cancellation, this broken promise, will cost small and medium-sized enterprises more than $2.1 billion. Small business was looking forward to those promised tax reductions as a way to stimulate the local economy and create jobs. We know that 80% of new jobs are created by small business.

In what way does the small business tax cut broken promise square with the Liberals' election commitments to Canadians? As well, why is the government unwilling to allow further debate on this broken promise?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 14th, 2016]

With regard to the application of the Health Canada Food and Drug Regulations, Division 24: (a) is it prohibited from carrying the Nutrition Facts table; (b) is it exempt from labelling sugar grams; (c) what is the most recent date of approval for a product in accordance with the Division; (d) what is the most recent date of a food producer attempting to gain approval, in accordance with the Division; (e) what is the rationale for specifying that a protein source must be whey or casein; (f) what process exists to allow for a (i) vegan option, (ii) vegetarian option; (g) what is the amending process for the Division; (h) can exemptions to the Division be granted and, if so, what is the process for acquiring an exemption; (i) are formulated liquid diets prohibited from advertising; (j) what research is available about the use of mono- and di-saccharides vs. poly-saccharides; and (k) what research is available about the long-term use of commercially produced formulated liquid diets?

[The Environment, November 14th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the summit of the 22nd United Nations climate change conference begins today in Marrakech, but there are many worrying signs that the international community may not be able to prevent catastrophic climate change. The Liberals have adopted Stephen Harper's weak emission reduction targets, and now the election of Donald Trump threatens to dismantle the entire Paris agreement.

What will the government do to protect the Paris agreement, and when will the government commit to strong targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

[Criminal Code, November 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, this is such a good idea that it is distressing it has not happened already. I was at a conference last week and spoke with women who suffered disabilities. They told me that 40% of women who were incarcerated had suffered a brain injury. Of course, they would have volatile, unexplained behaviour that would get them in trouble and very much go down the path that the member described.

I am in full support of the bill. I hope the member can give us some indication of why we are so far behind on the science of understanding how injuries to the brain affect behaviour and then intersect with the criminal justice system.

[Business of Supply, November 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Ethics Commissioner has called these cash for access arrangements, where people pay $1,500 to get access and lobby a minister in the guise of fundraising, “unsavoury”, and has said, “One wonders whether people are getting unfair access.”

Is it enough to say that the Ethics Commissioner was consulted, or to ask the minister to simply give the money back?

[Status of Women, November 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, today Amnesty International released a troubling report on resource development in northeastern B.C. and the resulting risk of violence against indigenous young women and girls. This report is consistent with what I heard from indigenous leaders directly when I travelled to the Peace River Valley this summer. To make matters worse, there are no federally funded domestic violence shelters on reserve in northeastern B.C.

Did the government consider these impacts when it approved the Site C dam, and what support will the government provide to women who face violence in these areas?