Pay Equity  Mr. Speaker, women in Ontario work for 15.5 months to earn what a man earns in one year. Yesterday was equal pay day in Ontario. Women, on average, worked for free so far this year, until today. Canada ranks badly when it comes to the gender pay gap. It is bad for poverty. It

Air Canada Public Participation Act  Madam Speaker, this is an interesting rolling out of history. Just a few years ago the Liberals of the day, when they were the third party, were extremely critical of the Conservative government for not upholding the legislation which was a term of privatization of taxpayer asset

Air Canada Public Participation Act  Madam Speaker, to the New Democrats, the government's proposal on Air Canada maintenance looks as though it would protect corporate interests and not workers' interests. The government's proposal sanctions Air Canada's violation of its commitments to workers. It was a promise of

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, we need a national plan, not a ship-by-ship approach, and not more talking. While the sinking tug that my colleague referred to was removed, it was towed to Ladysmith Harbour, along with dozens of other derelict vessels. Last year, NDP MP Jean Crowder introduced th

Abandoned Vessels  Mr. Speaker, over 400 abandoned vessels pollute Canada's coasts, and Ladysmith has more than anywhere. To make things even worse, the vessel Silver King from my neighbour's riding was towed this week into Ladysmith harbour in my riding. The last time the government towed an aba

Situation in Indigenous Communities  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the dialogue in the House tonight and for all the people watching at home, especially to the front-line workers who are supporting Attawapiskat and other communities in great peril. They are doing hard work. I would like to urge my fellow colleague

Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand with other New Democrats in support of the general direction of this proposed legislation. I commend the court for giving the direction, and I commend the government for taking it up. As far as it goes, we are in support, and we want to talk about

Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act  Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on my earlier concerns about officer safety. The fact that officers work alone in rural areas is a workplace safety issue that may well benefit from being included in collective bargaining. Sexual harassment is another workplace safety issue that

Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act  Mr. Speaker, we on the NDP side appreciate the Supreme Court's pushing the government to extend to the RCMP the same right to collective bargaining enjoyed by every other police force in Canada. That is a good thing. The issues that are front of mind include the shooting of mult

Justice  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister made campaign promises about marijuana reform, but now courts are buzzing with confusion and the Liberals are doing nothing to clear the air. They are spending over $4 million a year prosecuting people for simple possession. There were 22,000 peopl

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  With regard to funding for women’s shelters for the fiscal years from 2010 to 2015: (a) how much funding has the government spent on construction of new women’s shelters and new spaces in women’s shelters annually, in total, and broken down by (i) program, (ii) province; (b) how

Indigenous Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised that no relationship was more important to him than that with indigenous peoples. That relationship has not been respected in the case of B.C.'s Site C dam, where there are three ongoing court cases with first nations. This is a litmus tes

Health  Mr. Speaker, access to safe abortion services is fundamental to a woman's right to choose. It must be equally available to all Canadian women. However, women in places like PEI do not have access to abortion services and they should. A commitment to women's rights must be more

International Women's Day  Mr. Speaker, International Women's Day can celebrate women's achievements and highlight what holds us back, but words ring hollow if there is no follow-through, no action. Our collective work over this next year must be based on action. What can we in this chamber do to end epi

Canada's Contribution to the Effort to Combat ISIL  Madam Speaker, all of the suggestions that I have made and that my fellow New Democrats have made go toward the aim of decreasing the intensity of the fighting in the region, hopefully shortening the fighting in the region, and reducing the exposure of our men and women in servic