Old Age Security Act  Madam Speaker, I am very happy to be here today to speak on this really important issue, especially for the many seniors across our country who are relying on us to get this piece of legislation passed. I will be sharing my time with the amazing member for Nunavut, who has some

Old Age Security Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minister, through you, for her speech, and for working with the NDP to actually make some of these things happen a lot more rapidly. I know that seniors across the country have been devastated by this decision. They have lost more than we can ever

Government Business No. 8—Proceedings on Bill C-10  Mr. Speaker, as we move forward with making sure that people have the rapid tests they need to continue to address the realities of COVID, we know that in Canada we are still not seeing the investment that we need to support local businesses in being able to provide PPE and other

Seniors  Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government made a huge mistake when it cut some of the most vulnerable seniors off the GIS, which they rely on to purchase basic things like housing, medication and food. They feel hopeless and they feel abandoned. The New Democrats have been asking the g

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, it is incredibly important. It is frustrating to be in the House debating a motion that is already too late. Seniors have already lost their homes and are already struggling and unsure. One group said to me that a lot of seniors are borrowing money from loved ones,

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, a lot of Canadians are wondering why we had this election, especially when the NDP was committed to working with some concise guidelines with the government to continue the work that needed to be done. We knew so many vulnerable people had been challenged by the pa

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, I really appreciate the continued discussion in here about how quickly we need to move for seniors. I definitely understand that the government at any point could have taken the steps necessary to prevent this in the long run. As we move forward, I hope all of us h

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, as we move forward through these, I do hope we have continued conversations about how we make sure to support people in our country so they do not reach this bar of disparity and poverty. We are seeing too much of it across our country in people who are working job

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, I talked a lot in my speech about why the most vulnerable have to wait while the most wealthy in our country get off scot-free with anything they do. We need to have a really important discourse in this country. We know that, when we look at the disparity over the

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, I would like to remind the member that the debate we are having today is actually not about him and the feelings of his conscience. It is about the seniors who have lost everything already. At the end of the day, we have to be accountable to the people. I am not g

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, before I speak to this motion, I want to take a moment to recognize a veteran in my riding. On November 22 of last year, at the age of 96, World War II veteran Carl Kolonsky passed away in Campbell River. He is survived by his sons Don and Darryl, his grandchildren

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Madam Speaker, I agree with some of the member's speech, especially around the reality that it was known a very long time ago that the pandemic benefits were going to have significant impacts not only on seniors and the GIS, but of course on families and the child tax benefit. It

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12  Mr. Speaker, back in May 2021 the NDP sent a letter to the government outlining very clearly that we saw this as a huge risk and that action needed to be taken immediately. When the minister talks about the government moving quickly, I simply do not buy it. We were very clear. W

Seniors  Mr. Speaker, many seniors have been struggling as part of the working poor for their whole lives. Bill C-12 proves that the Liberals made a colossal mistake with the GIS clawback, and still these seniors are being told that they have to wait until May for help to come. We are h

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, one of the things, as the seniors spokesperson for the NDP, that I have been fighting for that I did not see in this fiscal update was an actual commitment to the seniors who lost their GIS because of the clawback by the government. The most vulnerable seniors, worki