Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, Canada marks Gender Equality Week this week. From the New Democrats' perspective and women in the grassroots movement, women continue to bear the brunt of successive failures by both Conservative and now Liberal governments to invest properly in women's true equali

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, the pay gap between men and women is 32%. It is even worse for women with disabilities, indigenous women and racialized women. Women are done waiting. We want economic justice now. However, every day we hear heartbreaking stories about women in poverty with the same

Trans Mountain Pipeline Project Act  Mr. Speaker, I oppose the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion of the TMX pipeline, and I have since 2011. It would boost bitumen oil shipments through the Salish Sea in my riding from once a week to once a day through sensitive ecology that cannot handle a spill. That is all downsid

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, because there is unprecedented global awareness about the calamity of the oceans plastics problem and grievous images of entangled sea turtles and drowning sharks, citizens from Nanaimo—Ladysmith petition this House to adopt Motion No. 151 in the name of my NDP colle

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, last week yet another boat was wrecked off the Sunshine Coast. Storm season has hit, but coastal communities are being asked to wait again, despite dangerous abandoned vessels polluting our oceans. The Liberals' program will remove just 23 abandoned vessels this ye

Public Services  Mr. Speaker, people cannot access the federal services they need to live in dignity. Seniors, people with disabilities and in poverty, and new Canadians are frustrated and flooding my Nanaimo—Ladysmith office with desperate calls for help. Whether they are seniors waiting for pen

Women, Peace and Security Ambassador  Madam Speaker, the security of women and the security of the state are deeply intertwined. A 2009 resolution of the Security Council stressed the particular impact that armed conflict has on women, children, refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as other vulnerable c

Firearms Act  Madam Speaker, the correspondence that I am getting in Nanaimo—Ladysmith about Bill C-71 and the amendments to the gun safety process that the Liberal government is proposing are running kind of fifty-fifty. I am very aware that many responsible gun owners, hunters and gun clubs

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, the spin is astonishing. The court completely discredited the government's approach to this. There was no reason for the Liberal government to use the discredited and undermined Harper Conservative review process. In fact, the Prime Minister promised during the campa

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, when I was last debating this issue of paramount importance to the coast of British Columbia and my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, the Minister of Natural Resources said some stunning things, given how deeply the federal government has since invested itself in the Kind

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, seniors are having trouble paying for medications in my riding of Nanaimo--Ladysmith and one in five people is unable to fill prescriptions for financial reasons. We hear stories every day of seniors in particular splitting pills or skipping a dosage in order to make

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, with respect to my colleague on the Liberal side, the gender balanced cabinet, the Status of Women minister, round tables and strategies are all good things, but they are not changing women's lives right now. It is such a huge pent-up demand. With so much good will a

Status of Women  Mr. Speaker, I am recognizing that this week is the 40th anniversary of Haven Society, a domestic violence shelter in the riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, which I serve. For 40 years, it has been keeping women and their children safe. It has been reaching out to police and other publ

Natural Resources  Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister came to Nanaimo the air was choked with smoke. He heard “climate change worsens wildfires”. He heard coastal people warn of increased oil tanker spill risk. Some called it “a national disaster”. He did not listen. Just a week later the Liberal

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to the five proposed anchorages east of Gabriola Island, British Columbia: (a) how many meetings has the Minister of Transport held with Snuneymuxw First Nation, broken down by (i) date, (ii) location, (iii) attendees, (iv) recommendations that were made to the Minist