Wayne Easter

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, March 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed my colleague's remarks and the facts that he laid out and how he indicated that maybe the finance minister should take financial literacy 101. He is the biggest spending finance minister with the biggest deficit in Canadian history with more wasted money during the last couple of years, everything from gazebos to whatever, with no open tendering in terms of the F-35s and the list goes on and on. I agree with the member's comment.

Is this just another bill of smoke and mirrors, which we see so often from the government, where it tries to allege it is really doing something, when in effect it is doing nothing? One thing that is clear in the bill is the appointment of another person. We have several boards with patronage appointments where the appointees are virtually doing nothing but spending money.

Is this really another bill in which the government will try to message that it is doing something when it really is not?

[Public Safety, February 17th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, my question is for the government's chief spymaster who is so intent on snooping into Canadians' private emails and the laptops of the nation. However, Conservatives are not stopping at emails. The minister's bill would allow government agents to enter on an Internet service provider when they wanted, without a warrant and demand to see absolutely everything and even to copy it all.

Why does the government see every Canadian as an enemy of the state and why has the minister given Conservative agents absolute power to pry?

[Standing Orders and Procedure, February 17th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I listened to the remarks by the member for Hamilton Mountain. I was especially intrigued by what she had to say about committees. That is one of the most troublesome areas with this very secret and closed door government. It is becoming more and more prominent every week. In fact, some are monitoring how many committees are having in camera or secret meetings on a daily basis. It happens all too often.

For the government to go in camera almost consistently when there is an opposition motion being debated in terms of the motion itself is a denial of the democratic privileges of the country. The Conservatives do not even want to hear the discussion. They go in camera, shut down debate and vote against the motion. Increasingly, we are seeing the same restrictions and dissenting reports. I wonder if the member would comment.

[Canadian Human Rights Act, February 14th, 2012]

It's not happening lately.

[Financial System Review Act, February 14th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, I am amazed at how that member and that party have tried to reinvent history. Yes, we have the soundest banking system in the world, but I can assure everyone it has nothing to do with the current Prime Minister. It goes back to 1995 when the finance minister of the day, Paul Martin, along with the then Prime Minister, was willing to allow mergers with the United States, but a committee of backbench Liberal MPs challenged its own government. I was one of them. We held hearings across this country and made a recommendation that the banks stay within Canada and not be allowed to merge. That is why we have the soundest banking system in the world, because MPs were willing to stand up against the government. It is too bad we do not see some standing up against the government by the backbench on the other side.

I do not really have a question but I am just asking the member to stop trying to reinvent history and to get the facts straight.

[Employment Insurance Act, February 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-291. I congratulate the member for Bourassa for putting the bill forward.

I would also like to recognize the work of Jean-Claude D'Amours and Mike Savage, who in past Parliaments tried to move this serious issue forward.

I would like to provide some background on this issue.

Bill C-291 would amend the Employment Insurance Act by amending the waiting period and maximum special benefits. In summary, the bill states that enactment would amend the Employment Insurance Act to extend the maximum period for which special benefits for illness, injury or quarantine may be paid from 15 weeks to 50 weeks. It would also eliminate the two week waiting period when special benefits for illness, injury or quarantine are paid.

Bill C-291 is an important bill. It would bring the system up to date. It would make us more comparable with many other countries.

The EI act in this regard has not been amended since 1971. This is really a matter of social justice. This is about instilling a better social safety net for people affected by health issues due to factors beyond their control. These changes would improve the lives of workers and their families affected by sudden health issues.

These two improvements follow on two improvements that were made by previous Liberal governments: compassionate care and maternity leave. Those two improvements are widely accepted by the population. They are seen as important aspects of the employment insurance system and Canada's social safety net.

There is an opportunity here for the government to step up to the plate and do the right thing for those people affected by health problems. Even though the private member's bill came from the third party on this side of the House, there is a real opportunity for the government to seize the moment and ensure that this legislation is carried through Parliament because it would improve our social safety net.

I want to talk a bit about the reality of what this amendment to the EI act would do.

I expect every member of Parliament has probably had many constituents in their constituency office talking about the fact that 15 weeks of sick leave under the present legislation is woefully inadequate in terms of assisting those people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves out of the workforce and more than likely in treatment. Cancer is one of the most prominent causes.

One of the most difficult conversations that I have with constituents is when the partner and/or the affected individual tells me that the affected individual has just started chemo or radiation treatment, is out of income and has nowhere to turn. We have to tell those individuals that the reality is the legislation specifies 15 weeks. We all know that 15 weeks is not long enough. What happens to those individuals? Some of them can go into the system within the province.

In our community there are all kinds of fundraisers to assist these people. In fact, we had a benefit for my cousin's son a week ago Friday night. He is 44 years old and has cancer in three spots. The community comes together and raises funds to help these individuals.

We all know in the House that the system is not meeting the need. Going from 15 weeks to 50 weeks is the right thing to do.

If we were to put ourselves in the place of those individuals who are perhaps the breadwinners of the family, starting perhaps their third chemo treatment, now knowing they are out of money, the mortgage has to be paid, food has to be put on the table, the car payment has to be paid and they have to pay for some of their drugs, we can only imagine what that stress does to them. What is the cost of that stress on their ability to get better? What is the stress on that family? It is so unnecessary. This small change could alleviate that concern.

I really think everyone in the House has faced those moments. There is enough on the individual's mind who is taking the treatment. Fifteen weeks is not enough. The EI system itself, as it currently stands, is cruel in its denial. The government, if it would see the way, could overcome that problem. The bottom line is 15 weeks of sick leave is just plain unacceptable.

To improve it would not be really costly. It would bring us up to where many other nations are at the moment. Such a step would improve the ability for an individual to regain his or her health by eliminating that stress and concentrating on health improvement. It would also lessen the burden on provincial resources. It would allow that person to get back into the workforce faster so that that individual could contribute to the economy and provide for his or her family.

Here is a specific example of why I think the EI system in this regard is cruel. I had an individual come into the office in early December. He had Crohn's disease and so had applied for employment insurance. In part, because of the way the Minister of Human Resources has undermined the system by taking away the ability for people to do claims by closing down many of the offices, this person's file had not even been processed yet. It had been eight weeks. The individual firmly believed that as a result of that additional stress of wondering where the dollars were going to come from, he ended up in the hospital for a longer period of time. Part of the reason was that, before he went to hospital, he had cut back on his drugs. It became a problem of whether he would provide food for the table or buy the drugs.

That ends up costing the whole system, including the individual. It is just wrong. Therefore, not only is it the weeks, it is that fact that the minister has undermined the system in terms of its ability to function.

What concerns me is the fact that the spokesmen for the government thus far in this debate, the Conservatives, seem to have stopped speaking. Perhaps they are ashamed of the government's position. I wish some of the backbenchers over there would stand and speak up. The government's excuse is that we are in a time of fiscal restraint. That is an excuse. This would be good for the economy and it would be good for individuals. The government has an opportunity to do something right to support the EI system and make it better. I ask the government to seize this opportunity and support the bill.

[Pensions, February 10th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are standing up against the Prime Minister's attack on pensions. Yesterday, Conservative MPs' offices were occupied by their constituents concerned about how they had been conned. Yet, like trained seals, no one on the Conservative bench is willing to stand up for constituents against the wrong priorities of the government.

The Prime Minister, in 2005, stated, “We will protect public pensions”. He is now breaking his word.

Will the government stop its betrayal of seniors and rethink its budget priorities?

[International Trade, February 9th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, with the Prime Minister's propaganda machine in full flight from China, his record of failure on the United States gets worse.

Expanding trade elsewhere is important but the U.S. market is crucial, yet the government is proposing to close eight consulates in the United States. Destroying the service and information base so important to promote and defend Canada's trade interests makes no sense. Abandoning Canada's exporters in our largest market is plain stupid. It is not mere speculation, it is a warning shot. Just where is the government's head?

[Marie Thiesson, February 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, a celebration of life was held in Saskatoon for Marie Thiesson who passed away on January 26 after a long struggle with cancer.

After working as a stay-at-home mom for 20 years raising four sons and one daughter, Marie returned to teaching at the Saskatoon School for the Deaf. She also gained a Bachelor of Education with distinction from the U of S.

Her interest and specialized training in hearing impaired children led her to the Saskatoon public school integrated program at Brunskill School. As a founding member of the Saskatchewan Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, her help for the hearing impaired continues.

Co-founder of the Hope Cancer Help Centre, she was awarded Women of Distinction Award honours by the YWCA.

During all this time, she stood by her husband Stuart's work as executive secretary of the NFU and therefore had to put up with farm union activists, of whom I was one.

On behalf of Marie's many friends across Canada, we love her and we will miss her.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, February 3rd, 2012]

With regard to the Department of National Defence, since August 14, 2007: (a) how many times has the Minister of National Defence used military equipment for travel; (b) what type of equipment was used; (c) what is the detailed list of each trip; (d) what was the destination of each trip; and (e) what was the cost of each trip?