Tracey Ramsey

[International Trade, April 30th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow our time will be up on the temporary tariff exemptions, and our steel and aluminum industry still has no idea what our government is doing about the Trump administration's deadline. We are talking about a 25% tariff on exports to the U.S., starting in less than 24 hours, and yet we have heard nothing about whether the government has reached a deal with the Americans. Workers and communities that depend on the 146,000 steel and aluminum jobs have spent too many sleepless nights worrying about their futures.

Can the minister reassure them that they will not be slapped with U.S. tariffs tomorrow?

[Public Services and Procurement, April 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Quebec Superior Court handed down a very important ruling for workers burned by the Phoenix fiasco. This ruling allows them to file a class action lawsuit against the federal government for damages, but this process will be long and expensive.

In budget 2018, the Liberals committed to compensating all federal public servants for psychological and emotional damage they have suffered. Workers have waited long enough. Instead of fighting them in court, will the government compensate all workers now?

[International Trade, April 25th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, farmers know the truth. CETA, TPP, every deal the Liberals sign they are betraying supply management.

Key environmental advocates in all three NAFTA countries have published a report warning that the current deal locks the whole continent into high carbon futures. This will absolutely prevent us from meeting our Paris agreement commitment. Two decades of aggressive energy proportionality provisions and it is clear what we must do to fight climate change.

Would the Prime Minister assure Canadians that energy proportionality will be removed from NAFTA?

[International Trade, April 19th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk numbers: 146,000 direct and indirect, good-paying steel and aluminum jobs, family and community-supporting jobs that we could lose as a result of American tariffs. Here is another number: 12. That is how many days Canada has before a temporary tariff exemption expires and we become a target for dumping.

We need action now to show we are serious about fighting global steel dumping in North America.

When will the finance minister increase CBSA staff on the ground, and fix our trade remedy system to ensure that Canada gets a permanent exemption?

[Petitions, April 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table a petition from English language teachers who are highlighting the removal of the teach English as a second language accreditation requirement from its funding agreement with the federally funded language instruction for newcomers to Canada programs in Ontario in October 2013, which has resulted in some service providers hiring individuals who lack TESL training.

They note that current practices fail to deliver high-quality language instruction to newcomers participating in federally funded programs in Ontario and that they bring up significant language teaching inconsistencies and underestimate and underutilize the skills of the over 4,500 TSEL Ontario accredited teachers who care deeply about the high-quality language instruction they provide.

They ask that the government reinstate the funding agreement that requires federally funded programs to hire only TESL Ontario accredited teachers and to designate language instruction for newcomers to Canada instructors in a national occupational classification.

[International Trade, April 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is holding its breath as Donald Trump threatens to remove steel and aluminum tariff exemptions on May 1 unless NAFTA is signed to his liking.

The minister is headed to Washington with only six out of 30 chapters negotiated and the idea of an agreement in principle being floated. What exactly is an agreement in principle and what will we give up to achieve it? Will it be brought before the House to be debated and voted on, or will Canadians be bound for another 25 years with a NAFTA that puts profits before protection of our environment, our sovereignty, and working people?

[Status of Women, April 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, as a New Democrat, I am used to fighting for fairness, and we will never stop fighting for women in our country to be treated equally. Women in Canada have been fighting for pay equity for decades and continue to receive only empty promises from the federal government. This is beyond disrespectful, and I, together with my NDP colleagues, will not stand for it.

In 1977, the federal law dealing with equal pay for work of equal value, in section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, was established, yet here we are in 2018 with statistics showing that women earn 31 cents less than men on the dollar.

Women have been waiting three years for the government to table pay equity legislation, and in this year's budget there is zero funding for its implementation. “Progressive” and “feminist” are words that mean something. They are not meant to be co-opted and manipulated for political gain.

Women have spent the last 40 years fighting, and we are done waiting. Enough is enough. It is time for the Liberal government to end the empty promises and to get pay equity done.

[International Trade, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, the Liberal member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek and co-chair of the steel caucus said on national television that the American threats to Canadian steel and aluminum were a ploy, and that everybody knows it is a joke.

The potential impacts are far too serious for us to dismiss them as a joke.

Last week, I requested an emergency debate on tariff threats from the Trump administration. With the May 1 deadline now looming, when exactly will the government act to protect these Canadian industries and the workers whose jobs depend on them?

[Automotive Industry, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, auto manufacturers remain united in their opposition to the TPP, and believe the side letters with Japan do nothing to help Canada gain market access. The Liberals refuse to acknowledge that this trade agreement will harm the auto industry and the good-paying jobs that it supports.

Auto's major stakeholders have called the side letters useless, and the ministers claims laughable. Auto workers, auto manufacturers, and Canadians have real and fair concerns about their future.

The minister claims he is Canada's chief marketing officer, so why does he continue to ignore the very real fears of Canada's second largest exporter?

[The Environment, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, Cape Town, South Africa is about to completely run out of water within the next several weeks. With 20% of the world's freshwater resources, we may not think in Canada that we would ever find ourselves in a similar situation, but this essential resource is under serious threat from both the effects of climate change and our irresponsible management of it.

In my region of southwestern Ontario, black shale, which can contain dangerous heavy metals like arsenic, has been tainting our well water. In Essex, extreme rainfall has been causing flooding across the community, and the growth of dangerous algal blooms on Lake Erie shut down Colchester Beach this past September.

Throughout Canada, pollution and toxic chemicals leach into our waterways, extreme weather overstresses our aging infrastructure, and drinking water quality varies from province to province, but is most appalling in indigenous communities.

Climate change will only make these current problems worse. We can no longer rely on our abundance of water resources as an excuse for our lack of action. Canada must become a better steward of this precious public resource.

Today, on World Water Day, we must recognize that Canadians deserve better.