Thomas Mulcair

[Ethics, April 12th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, after years of ethically challenged Conservative rule, the Liberals promised to do things differently.

[Public Service of Canada, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, no less an authority than Cindy Blackstock, who brought this case forward, has confirmed that the Liberal government is failing to live up to the court-ordered investment in first nations child welfare. The minister knows that.

Let us also look at what the Liberals are up to today. There are 1,685 public service jobs on the chopping block. The Liberals' explanation is, “We are not going to outsource everything.” That is supposed to reassure people.

Was firing thousands of workers what the Liberals really meant by repairing the broken relationship with the public service?

[Indigenous Affairs, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the law did not need to be clarified. It needed to be enforced and respected.

Let us look at another recent example of where those in need are not respected by the Liberals.

The courts ruled that first nations children are victims of racial discrimination and yet the Liberals are refusing to provide equitable funding for first nations child welfare, as specifically required by the courts. Why is the Liberal government failing to respect that court decision?

[Air Canada, March 24th, 2016]

No, Mr. Speaker, we are not delighted with a Liberal government that believes that the rich and well-connected can get off without obeying the law. No we are not.

The Liberals have gone so far as to change the law retroactively. It is Orwellian. It says that the provisions are deemed never to have come into force and are therefore repealed. They broke the law. Those thousands of workers lost good-paying jobs. Thousands of Canadian families were thrown out in the streets.

How can they live with themselves by letting the rich, the powerful, the well-connected off the hook, to whom the law no longer applies?

[Air Canada, March 24th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, when Air Canada came to Parliament looking for public investment, the answer was yes. However, Parliament set down in law a very specific condition: maintenance work had to be done in Canada. The courts have repeatedly ruled that Air Canada broke the law. Thousands of Canadian workers lost their jobs.

Today, instead of upholding the rule of law, instead of enforcing this legislation, the government is retroactively changing the law to let the scofflaw Air Canada off the hook. Do they not understand that the foundation of democracy is that the law has to apply equally, even to the well-connected?

[Jim Hillyer, March 23rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, it was with great sadness that we learned today of Jim's passing, and it is with equal sadness that I rise today to pay tribute to that colleague of ours, Jim Hillyer, a husband, a father, and a parliamentarian taken from us far too soon.

Catherine and I wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Livi, and their four children.

Today our parliamentary family is grieving the loss of our colleague, Jim Hillyer. Catherine and I wish to extend our deepest condolences to his wife, Livi, and their four children.

Jim was a family man, passionate in his political convictions, who enjoyed overwhelming support from his constituents. His voice will be sadly missed.

He helped the people of his riding so well that his office was even honoured with an award for exemplary service, and his remarks about that work are a tribute to his conviction that people matter. Politics, Jim said, can really be about making the world a better place.

He was also given an indigenous name by the Blackfoot Canadian Cultural Society: Api Stamiik. It means “white buffalo bull” and was given to him for his strong work with first nations.

Jim leaves behind a loving family, a legacy of hard-working public service, and a profound commitment to his faith. These are qualities that will define his memory in this place.

On behalf of all members of the NDP, I want to extend our deepest condolences to his entire family, to his constituents, and to every one of his Conservative caucus colleagues on this extremely sad day. He will be deeply missed.

May he rest in peace.

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, in fact it is federal government money. The infrastructure minister's office announced just last month that Saskatchewan will get millions more in fast-track federal infrastructure spending. Therefore, despite the fact that the Treasury Board president claims it is not a problem, actually it is a federal issue, and the people in Saskatchewan want to know what happened to the money spent by Ottawa in Saskatchewan.

Will the government immediately call in the RCMP to look at how Canadian tax dollars were spent in the Global Transportation Hub land scam?

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2016]

That would be from the heart out, Mr. Speaker.

Federal infrastructure money flowed to Saskatchewan for the Global Transportation Hub, where there are serious allegations of massive overspending on shady land purchases that benefited the ruling party's bagmen. When asked yesterday if he would look into whether federal tax dollars were wasted, the Treasury Board president was arrogant and dismissive; so let us try again.

Why is the Liberal government protecting the Saskatchewan Party?

[The Budget, March 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, with just hours until its first budget, the Liberal government has been leaking like previous Liberal governments, and all the leaks point to the same thing. The Liberal budget will not include many of the Liberals' campaign promises. We know the minister is legally bound not to share the contents of his budget, but can he simply tell Canadians which of their campaign promises will not be in the budget?

[The Budget, March 22nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals spent the election campaign promising people the sun, the moon, and the starlit sky, but now, just hours before delivering the budget, they are trying to lower the huge expectations that they themselves created for people.

Can the Prime Minister confirm that he will keep every one of the solemn promises he made to Canadians during the last election campaign?