Tracey Ramsey

[Justice, May 13th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians deserve a transparent and open legal system. The Norman case has been anything but.

We know that the Prime Minister's Office, the Department of Defence and the Privy Council Office withheld important documents in this case. How is it that Gerald Butts got his old texts and emails within days of quitting, but Vice-Admiral Norman has waited a year and a half?

Liberals have interfered with yet another judicial process. If they value the rule of law, why are Liberals blocking Canadians' access to this information?

[The Environment, May 13th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, what if I told you we could produce plastic-like products made from natural agricultural waste fibres that are 100% compostable? I am proud that this exact innovation has been created by two of my constituents from Kingsville. Last week Mike and Victor Tiessen received the 2019 National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Synergy Award for Innovation. They helped create a biomass product created from coffee plants that is 100% compostable.

Prism Farms partnered with three Ontario companies to develop biodegradable materials that are a substitute for petroleum-based plastics. They use natural fibres and resins found in non-food, agricultural material and waste streams to create these bio-composite materials. One of their materials is now used in single-serve coffee pods by companies like McDonald's and Club Coffee.

This innovation will reduce our dependency on single-use plastics and the waste that is building up in our landfills and oceans. Canadians like Mike and Victor are working hard to create cutting-edge, enterprising solutions that could truly change our world for the better.

[International Trade, May 7th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, again I hear these ridiculous Liberal talking points about fully supporting supply management. Nothing could be further from the truth, and that is insulting to farm families, who are getting in touch with me every single week because that is not the truth. No matter how many times someone repeats something, it does not make it true and farm families are being hurt.

I want to talk about U.S. oversight, which was given up in the new NAFTA. The Dairy Farmers of Canada have asked the Prime Minister not to sign the USMCA until the U.S. oversight clause has been removed. What they say on their press release is that Canada’s sovereignty is at stake.

Basically, the Liberals are giving power to the United States in this agreement. The United States will be able to determine and dictate how Canadian dairy is operated in our country. How on earth can the Liberal government say that this is protecting supply management? How on earth can it say that it is maintaining our sovereignty? The dairy farmers themselves are saying that this is not the case and that the government should not sign the agreement with this provision in place.

The government has given up the tariffs. That is bad enough, but this provision alone—

[International Trade, May 7th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I rose months ago to ask a question about the Liberals' decision, when they signed the new NAFTA, to give up a percentage of our supply management, specifically dairy.

We know that we have given access to the United States that compromises our supply management and that, quite frankly, hurts farmers. That is something we have heard consistently. I have dairy farmers in my riding of Essex. It is something that, as New Democrats, we have stood against. We believe strongly that we should not be giving up supply management, certainly our dairy, in agreement after agreement. The question really is why the Liberals have betrayed farm families and our food security in Canada. That day I posed the question to the Prime Minister.

The NDP strongly believes that we should be defending our supply managed sectors, not sacrificing them in trade deal after trade deal.

I do not know how much more our dairy farm families in this country can bear. They are continually thrown under the bus in every trade agreement, and enough is enough. In CETA, CPTPP and now the new NAFTA, we have conceded 8.4% of our dairy production in Canada. To put that in perspective for Canadians who are watching at home, that is 800 million litres of milk that will be permanently removed from our farms. That will have a very serious impact on farm families across our country.

We know that this is an erosion of our supply managed dairy farm families' livelihoods and the communities they live in. The Liberals have the nerve to stand in this House, and the Prime Minister on that day, repeating the line that we have heard over and over, which is just a complete and utter falsehood, which is that they, of course, will protect supply management and defend supply management in some way. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Do Liberals not understand that dairy farmers are not falling for their claims that they are protected in any of these agreements? When the agreements come out at the end, dairy farmers can see in black and white that they were sacrificed. In fact, the previous minister of agriculture himself admitted that, saying that we had to give it up. We had to do something.

I am not sure how this goes along with the rhetoric that the Liberals will protect supply management and that they have in the USMCA, because nothing could be further from the truth. It is very disrespectful, I have to say, to our farm families. My farm families locally are tired of hearing it. It is Liberal spin. It does not make any sense. It is not the truth. I think the Liberals have to start being honest about that.

I want to talk about supply management and what protecting it means. There are three pillars of supply management: import control, pricing mechanisms and production. In production, we have a quota system in Canada. We make sure that we are only making as much as the market demands. What is being thrown away in every single trade agreement is the pillar of import control. When we start to have, in this case American milk, which is not up to the standard of Canadian milk, we can certainly talk about health standards, bovine growth hormones, antibiotics and the fact that Canadians will not know if their milk is 100% Canadian, with the little blue cow. We know that the U.S. system is not working, and their farmers are looking for a place to dump their milk. Quite honestly, Canada should not be that place.

I live in a border city. I live in a border area, down in Essex County. Canadians are not going across and purchasing milk, because they are aware of the different standards and the different health impacts of the milk in the U.S. compared to Canada.

Why have Liberals betrayed farm families and our food security in Canada?

[International Trade, May 7th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the Liberals' definition of “working” is. The Liberals promised to defend the Canadian steel industry when they signed the new NAFTA, but the number of layoffs we have seen over the past six months tell a different story. There were 12 layoffs at Nova Tube in Montreal, 50 layoffs at Iavaco Rolling Mills in Ontario, 228 layoffs at EVRAZ in Calgary and 230 layoffs at Tenaris in Sault Ste. Marie.

These are not just numbers. These are real people, and they are struggling to make ends meet. How many more Canadians will have to lose their jobs before the Liberals take action to end Trump's tariffs on steel?

[Ethics, May 6th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, so basically, the best Liberal wins.

The Liberals are so arrogant that they do not even realize the harm they are doing to the Canadian system of government. Canadians expect us to put the partisanship aside when it comes to the nomination of our judges, senators and officers of Parliament. We depend on the integrity of our institutions for a democratic and fair society.

The Prime Minister promised to do politics differently. Will the Liberals commit right now to Canadians not to use their partisan database for future appointments?

[Ethics, May 6th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals were elected, they promised to do politics differently. How things have changed. We have now learned that they are using a partisan tool to fill influential positions in our country, like judges and senators, just like the Conservatives appointed their friends when they were in power. These appointments must be based on merit and not party alliance. Experienced people are being overlooked for those with big red lawn signs and even bigger cheques.

Why does the government care more about its wealthy supporters than the crucial requirement that our courts be independent of politics?

[Petitions, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to present a petition today that was given to me at the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women that serves Windsor-Essex. I visited with the women at the shelter, and they presented me with this petition. They are asking for better funding for feminist women's organizations.

They spoke about the fact that they have been struggling for decades to keep the lights on and the doors open due to a lack of federal core operations funding. They also talked about the fact that they are the most underfunded in Canada's non-profit sector, but they are the single most effective means for building better lives for women.

The petitioners say that the current Government of Canada's program funding is insecure and competitive and takes workers' time away from helping more women. They also say that direct federal funding of women's organizations represents less than .01% of total federal program spending. That is only about $1 for every woman in Canada.

The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to immediately provide secure, multi-year core operational funding to feminist women's organizations and set national standards to ensure quality of access to services and protection of all women.

[Telecommunications, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, nearly six million people do not have access to high-speed Internet, and the Liberals are telling them to wait until 2030. All people should have access to a strong Internet connection no matter where they are, whether in downtown Toronto or in Essex County on a farm.

Internet and cellphone bills are ridiculous in Canada. We pay more than most countries in the world. In Essex, people need access to reliable, affordable Internet and cell service for work, education and safety.

Why are the Liberals denying rural Canadians, like the people in Essex, affordable, reliable Internet? My question is simple: Why are the Liberals ignoring the needs of rural communities?

[First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Act, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, it is stunning to hear the difference in the Conservative Party of this Parliament versus the Conservative Party of the past. The Conservative government fought first nations child and family services and fought indigenous kids in court.

Why did the Conservative government never act to reform the first nations child and family services program, instead fight it in court for years?