Wayne Marston

[Settlement of International Investment Disputes Act, May 15th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I find it rather ironic to hear the member for Mississauga—Brampton South talking about free trade agreements, particularly when his party opposed the free trade agreement under Mr. Turner in 1988.

When Mr. Mulroney put in free trade we all know that 525,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in Ontario alone during the first two years of the agreement. In 1993, under Mr. Chrétien, that party again opposed NAFTA. Since then, we have seen the ongoing devastation of our manufacturing sector. Therefore, to hear the promotion of free trade from that member is ironic.

It is my understanding that the process under the ICSID Convention, which Bill C-53 would implement, has been here since 1966. Since it has been in place that long, I am very curious as to why it has taken this long for the need to arise.

My party has strong concerns with the bill, particularly under transparency. It is a consent based process. People from labour, who will talk to us about arbitration, will also tell us that, overall, their sense of binding arbitration is that settlements seem to be coming down one-sided.

I cannot understand why the member opposite would use free trade in the supporting arguments for this bill.

[Gasoline Prices, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, one would think that the government would be concerned by the recent spike in gas prices. One would also think that the government would want to get to the bottom of the price gouging of consumers.

Yesterday, however, the Conservatives backtracked on the support they once gave to a committee report calling for these items and voted against a motion to investigate gas prices and to create a monitoring agency to ensure Canadians would know exactly why gas prices increase when they do.

Oil and gas companies are enjoying immense profits but consumers are facing increasing and volatile prices at the pump. Canadians deserve answers.

We know that reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, such as gasoline, and providing incentives to manufacturers and consumers to buy more fuel efficient cars, for example, is necessary. However, regardless of our aim to reduce our ecological footprint, just as we know why and how phone companies justify price increases, Canadians have a right to know the reasons for gas price increases.

Consumers are getting gouged and it is time for the government to get to the bottom of it.

[National Day of Mourning, April 26th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this Saturday, April 28, communities across Canada will be marking the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job and those who have become ill because of workplace problems.

The National Day of Mourning is not only a time of reflection and remembrance, it is also a day to rededicate ourselves to the goal of keeping our workers safe on their jobs.

Every day, three Canadians die on the job and each year another one million are injured. Such statistics are clearly unacceptable but equally staggering is the fact that one in seven young workers is injured on the job. These are our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.

Canadian workers are losing their lives because workplace safety is thrown out the window, down the shaft or derailed in the interests of the bottom line. We see it again and again. When a worker is killed, it is because he or she has been pressured to do unsafe work.

Corporate responsibility is crucial to improving safety for working Canadians. Government plays a key role in legislating and enforcing safe work practices and strict rules for workplace safety.

I will close by echoing the labour movements' most appropriate motto for this day--

[April 24th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am just a little surprised. That sounded to me more like a TV commercial full of buzzwords.

Hamilton Specialty Bar, a plant in Hamilton, needed the government to step up to the plate. It needed both levels of government, provincial and federal, to come together and come up with a strategy of loan guarantees or something that would help entice a buyer into that plant and it has received nothing.

In the response I did not hear anything around a buy Canadian policy for the goods and services of the government.

[April 24th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, sadly, I rise today to follow up on a question I asked in the House before about our manufacturing sector.

Hamilton Speciality Bar is a plant in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. As it sounds from the name, it is a plant that specializes in auto parts and very high quality workmanship. It will be throwing 300 workers out of work in just a few short weeks. The jobs in this plant were decent, union scale jobs, with good wages for the people to raise their families and purchase properties in our community. Third generation people are working in this plant. They are losing their jobs because the government has failed them.

Canada's manufacturing sector is in crisis. In Hamilton in the last year we have lost 11,000 jobs, primarily because of high energy prices, a high dollar and a worsening trade deficit with countries in Asia. It has caused many plants to reduce their output, or to layoff workers, or to close altogether. The value of Canada's manufacturing capital has declined since 2000 because business investment has been unable to even keep up with depreciation.

In the period November 2002 to April 2004, we lost 17,000 jobs in Ontario. However, between the period of April 2004 and February this year, we lost 124,000 jobs.

The government likes to talk about net job creation. In fact, it does create some jobs, but most of those are in other sectors that are low paying or part time jobs. One of the important assets we get from value added manufacturing jobs is they sustain a high number of well paid jobs in our community.

Recently, a delegation, headed by the Canadian Labour Congress, met with our Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Industry. It asked that we immediately implement a buy Canadian procurement policy and that the government tie such a policy to all and any federally funded municipal or provincial infrastructure investments. This would have an immediate impact on the manufacturing sector.

We do not see anything coming from the government in the sense of a strategy. For example, in British Columbia, when it saw it was in trouble a number of years ago, it created the position of a jobs commissioner. My understanding is that of the 125,000 jobs at risk, over 75,000 jobs were saved. There was a significant improvement over what it faced.

Now Canadians across the country, who work in the manufacturing sector, are very concerned. We have another trade deal looming over our heads potentially with Korea. What will that lead to?

To be very clear, we need a strategy in our country that protects jobs in our value added manufacturing sector. What new news can we get from the government today?

[Foreign Affairs, April 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I recall, it started with the Prime Minister making his comments on human rights on an airplane going to the South Asia conference which did nothing to help that individual.

The government has done nothing over the year to secure a fair trial for that individual or legal representation. The government has done nothing to keep him safe from torture, which we know happens in Chinese jails.

Beyond a much needed apology, what is the government going to do beyond today?

[Foreign Affairs, April 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this is the second time today the competence of that minister has been called into question.

Mr. Celil has been in jail for over a year on unspecified charges. Canadian officials have not even been able to speak to him to this point in time, and now we hear the government is taking this kind of action which should have been taken ages ago.

Just yesterday I received a message from a minister that said Mr. Celil had received a nine year sentence. It is clear that hardly anybody knows what is going on in the government.

I am pleased to hear that the--

[Railway Continuation Act, 2007, April 17th, 2007]

It gets a little frustrating here, Mr. Speaker, when we are constantly having someone speak when we are trying to make our best case for a situation.

The reality is that this is an issue of safety--

[Railway Continuation Act, 2007, April 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I will begin with an apology because I was quite heated in my last intervention but the reality is that I have spent time around the rail yards and around the activities where people, on a day to day basis, put themselves in jeopardy with the moving equipment,. When the moving equipment comes together it causes significant damage, particularly if a person is trapped. I was speaking on that a moment ago.

What I am concerned about is that we are being told by the people, through their negotiation process, that there are serious problems. They told us that they chose to go on strike because they tried to use the collective bargaining process to draw those particular concerns to the government and to their management.

I must again apologize because this is so close to my heart, but the reality is that there is a question of safety across this country that must be addressed. Some would like to dismiss it and say that bargaining is not the place to do it. Where else do the workers have the opportunity to put forward their case and to bring it before the Parliament of this country and before the government of this country?

The reality for those workers is that their lives are in jeopardy. The reality, as well, are the derailments that we have heard about repeatedly here today. One need only look south of the border where it deregulated the rail lines down there and then look at the mess it has and at the communities that have had explosions--

[Railway Continuation Act, 2007, April 17th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I will try to be brief. I spent nine years working for the Canadian National Railway. I was a signal maintainer. I saw accident after accident. I was there when the bodies of four people were picked up off the ground. I know the concerns that come from the workers. I speak to these workers back in Hamilton all the time. They are concerned.

The members opposite can talk about the farmers and the wheat. Let us think in terms of how many railcars go off the tracks and how many derailments we have had in this country over the last six months. They should ask themselves what the problem is. The problem is--