Wayne Marston

[Committees of the House, May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin my remarks by commending the member for his speech. It was well informed. He has a clear understanding of the situation. In this place there are members on the government side who just do not seem to understand what is going on. I spoke a few minutes ago about some of the commentary I overheard.

The reality is that we have some significant problems with our immigration system, the CBSA and the removal of people. To some extent, I believe that the approach people have taken to our system has been questionable in the past.

There used to be an expression used in my workplace. When I worked at Bell Canada changes were forever being made. We used to say that if someone digs a hole, somebody else will find a way of filling it. A lot of the so-called abuses fall into that category. There are people who are desperate to stay here with their families and have a tremendous fear of separation.

The member talked earlier about the separation of a mother and child. How can anyone even begin to imagine that? Even more important, how can anyone imagine a country that sees that as the proper thing to do?

[Committees of the House, May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the member for moving this concurrence motion, because this is a significant issue.

In my office in Hamilton, we regularly have cases of people with serious immigration problems and this specific problem. We think about the damage that is done to a family when they are split up.

I commend the current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism very readily, because he has worked with my office on a number of files.

However, the reality is that if a regulation is out of place it should be fixed. The committee has looked at it and it has reached that determination.

One of the things that troubles me is that at the start of this debate the member was reading the story of a couple and somebody from the government side said, “What if they're spies?”

It is not black and white. It is a reality of good, honest, hard-working people who marry Canadians who are in this country legally and then all of a sudden through this quirk they are moved off.

I ask the member what her reaction is to that backbencher's statement.

[Steel Industry, May 7th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it has been 66 days since the layoffs at U.S. Steel, 66 days of instability and worry for steelworkers and retirees in Hamilton, 66 days of fear, while waiting for the minister to act. It is insulting for the minister to pat himself on the back for finally taking action yesterday after waiting two months to do anything.

New Democrats demanded action 65 days ago. Could the minister explain this dithering to those workers who have lived in fear for two months?

[Customs Act, May 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the member opposite on the effort he obviously has put into preparing his remarks and researching this bill.

We hear in our caucus from the member for Windsor West, who has been very concerned with matters relative to protecting our borders and of course with the goods and services that are provided to our country today. We are concerned about counterfeit, illegal and harmful goods being imported into Canada.

I understand that the Customs and Immigration Union is in favour of this bill, as is the Canadian Airports Council and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority as well. Coming from Hamilton, we have one of the busiest inland ports in Canada, relative to Toronto. When we are talking about the chain of goods as they come into our country, we have the ports in the eastern and western parts of the country for ocean-going vessels.

Does the member see, in the provisions of this bill, any impediments to the movement of those goods that would be coming, particularly to Hamilton on the Great Lakes, with some of these ocean-going vessels?

[Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, May 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Western Arctic for his work on this file.

I recall back in the mid-eighties when Mel Hurtig, a publisher from Edmonton, dropped a Canadian flag with a note on a vessel going through our north saying, “You should have asked permission”. That wound up with me being first president of the Hamilton Chapter of the Council of Canadians. I have had a concern about sovereignty for a long time.

The member spoke about vessels going through the north, that the ice flows would break up earlier and there would be more tourism and more vessels going through. Are there any provisions concerning the fouling of the waters by these ships? We know that happens in the main oceans.

[Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act, April 20th, 2009]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-361, An Act to amend the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act (reduced risk).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to put before the House today an act to amend the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act in regard to reduced risk.

I was recently travelling through southwestern Ontario and heard from many seniors and workers who are on the verge of retirement and are very concerned about whether they will have a public pension in place when they retire.

The enactment of the bill would amend the Public Sector Investment Board Act to provide that the board shall only make investments that have a low risk of loss.

It would also enact provisions for additional information to be included in the annual report of public sector pensions for the investment board.

One of the things people said to me was that they were tired of having fund managers treating their retirement savings like chips from a casino. We are going to shine a light on this.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Seniors, April 20th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, last week I began a countrywide tour to hear first-hand from Canada's seniors what it is they expect from their representatives in Ottawa. There is one issue I heard about repeatedly. I was asked, if the NDP's seniors charter was passed in the House of Commons in 2006, even with government members supporting it, why has it not become the law of the land?

The charter was designed to provide the people who built this country with the health and income supports they need to live out their lives with the dignity they deserve. The charter has not been implemented because the Conservative government has chosen to ignore it.

Today our seniors are hurting. According to the Progressive Economics Forum, it would take $1 billion to lift all seniors currently living in poverty out of poverty. Compare that to the fact that the government is planning to spend around $75 billion to bail out our already profitable banks.

I ask the government and the Prime Minister, how did their priorities become so skewed?

[Air Canada, April 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, that is cold comfort for Air Canada workers.

Air Canada has the money to pay that former CEO millions of dollars in bonuses, but not enough for employee pension funds. This is a simple matter of priorities for ACE, and more important, for the government.

We know whose side we are on. Whose side is the government on, the CEO with the millions of dollars in bonuses, or the workers who will lose their pensions that they have been counting on for dignity in their retirement?

[Air Canada, April 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, another week, another group of Canadian workers let down by the government.

ACE Aviation owns 75% of Air Canada and claims the recession has left it with zero dollars for the debt-ridden pension fund of Air Canada's employees. Not only does ACE Aviation have $388 million in cash reserves, but in 2007 it paid its CEO $47 million in bonuses. Where is the fairness for Air Canada workers?

When will the government stop allowing big corporations to hide behind the recession and start standing up to protect the pensions of hard-working Canadians?

[Committees of the House, March 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the NDP and as a member of the subcommittee. I stand in support for the motion to concur in the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on the Baha'i community in Iran.

It is very important for the people at home who are watching the debate tonight to understand first of all that there was consensus, as the previous speaker just said, in our committee. We all understand the importance of this situation in Iran. I also believe it is important to read the motion that is contained in the report. The motion reads:

Whereas, the House of commons recognizes that on 14 May 2008, six members of an informal group known as the Friends in Iran that oversee the needs of the Bahá’í community in Iran were arrested and taken to the political prisoners section of Evin prison in Tehran, where the seventh member was already being held, following her arrest in Mashhad in March 2008.

And whereas, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in October 2005, uncovered a confidential letter from the Command headquarters of the Armed Forces of Iran ordering the identification and monitoring of all Bahá’ís and their activities.

And whereas, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief stated on March 20, 2006, that she “also expresses her concern that the information gathered as a result of such monitoring will be used as a basis for the increased persecution of and discrimination against, members of the Bahá’í Faith, in violation of international standards … The Special Rapporteur is concerned that this latest development indicates that the situation with regard to religious minorities in Iran is, in fact, deteriorating”.

And whereas, the Bahá’í community of Canada is gravely concerned for the safety of these seven Bahá’ís who have been held without formal charges or access to legal counsel or evidence brought against them and being subjected to harsh treatment and interrogation with very restricted visits from family members for more than nine months.

And whereas, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi who announced her intention to defend the Bahá’ís in court has since been harassed and her offices have been closed.

And whereas, the Deputy Prosecutor General has announced that these prisoners will be tried by the Revolutionary court on charges of “espionage on behalf of Israel”, “insult to the sacredness (of Islam)” and “propaganda against the regime” – all of which are capital offences.

And whereas, such charges are frequently used by Iranian authorities to target human rights defenders and religious minorities and there is nothing in the history or teachings of the Bahá’í community to lend any credence to such charges.

And whereas, these arrests have taken place in the context of an upsurge of arbitrary arrests, raids on home, expulsion of university students, harassment of school children, destruction of graveyards, virulent attacks in government controlled media.

Therefore, be it resolved that this House condemns the ongoing persecution of the Bahá’í minority of Iran and calls upon the government of Iran to reconsider its charges against the members of the Friends in Iran, and release them immediately or failing this, that it proceed to trial without further delay, ensuring that the proceedings are open and fair and are conducted in the presence of international observers.

This not one of those debates where members try to score points at the expense of other parties in the House. No, Mr. Speaker, as you have listened, you will have heard unity in the House, unity in support of human rights and security for the Baha'i people in Iran.

Over the last few weeks, the human rights subcommittee has been studying the human rights situation in Iran. At each session, we heard compelling testimony raising grave concerns about the actions of the government of Iran against its own people.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other private individuals spoke of the situation in Iran, which all believe is worsening daily.

Canadians will remember with horror the case of the Canadian, Zahra Kazemi. I would like to share with the House the following letter written by Susanne Tamas following her testimony at the human rights subcommittee which was subsequently published March 9 in the Ottawa Citizen. She wrote:

We are fortunate to live in a country that enables elected representatives and citizens to work together to promote human rights and protect those suffering human rights violations.

Ms. Tamas went on to write about how she recently appeared as a witness before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. She said:

The subject under discussion was the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation of the Baha'is of Iran. The parliamentary subcommittee recognized the threat to the lives of the entire leadership of the Baha'i community in Iran who, after nine months in Evin prison with no access to legal counsel, have been charged with “espionage on behalf of Israel”, “insult to the sacredness (of Islam),” and “propaganda against the regime” and are to be tried before the revolutionary court.

She went on to say:

The baseless charges brought against these seven individuals are capital offences. The gravity of their situation is underlined by the context in which these trials are taking place: the recent upsurge in arrests, incitement to hatred and increasingly violent attacks on the Baha'is of Iran. The parliamentary subcommittee took immediate action and adopted a motion addressing this issue which it sent to the House of Commons standing committee on foreign affairs.

She went on to write:

There, the motion was adopted again and it will be reported to the House. I hope that the motion will be debated and adopted by the House, sending a clear signal to Iran that it must abide by its freely-given commitments to international human-rights standards. It will also send a message of hope to the Baha'i leadership in Iran, whose lives hang in the balance. Every state is sensitive to the court of public opinion. Governments, human rights organizations and concerned citizens in many countries are speaking out against the imminent threat to the lives of the Baha'i leadership and the intensifying persecution of Baha'i community in Iran. If we all add our voices to this appeal -- we might be able to avert yet another tragedy.

That was signed by Susanne Tamas. In her letter, we heard words of hope. We heard hope that this Parliament would come together on this issue and we will see that tonight. The speakers who have preceded me are all saying very much the same thing. The voices in the House are rising together to send a strong message to the government of Iran.

I want to praise the members of the human rights subcommittee and the foreign affairs committee for adopting this resolution. I want to thank the House tonight for the unanimous support for this resolution.