Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, as we enter the third year of this pandemic, Canadians are feeling exhausted, frustrated and anxious about the future. Instead of divisive political pandering, they deserve honest answers and responsible leadership from their elected officials. Far from feeling this pandemic is over, Canadians are deeply concerned about what is coming next. People are worried about the emergence of ne…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure that Quebeckers are so grateful to the NDP for working co-operatively with the Liberals in the 1960s to bring them public, universal, comprehensive health care, which he clearly supports because he wants more money for it. That is because the NDP, unlike the Bloc Québécois, works constructively and positively in Parliament in order to deliver for Canadians, which is somethin…
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Mr. Speaker, I agree completely. There is really a number of fundamental flaws in this motion before the House today. Again, it assumes that politicians should be making public health policy. I personally do not agree with that. The Conservatives seem to think that should be the case. Second of all, I believe that the decision should be data-driven and it should be accurate. Again, this motion, as…
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Mr. Speaker, as a person interested in science, I am sure my hon. colleague is also interested in the accuracy of numbers. It is not 90% of Canadians who are vaccinated. It is 81.6%. Of course, as I pointed out in my speech, only 46% of Canadians have had their third booster, which, in my view, now ought to be considered required to be considered fully vaccinated. We know, based on the science, th…
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Madam Speaker, I very much agree with my hon. colleague that Canadians are experiencing a dramatic hardship due to the high cost of living, whether it is for food, housing, services or, as this motion speaks to, gas at the pumps. As the member said, we are facing record-high gas prices. The problem I see with this motion is that it would do nothing about the excessive profits being made by oil and…
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Madam Speaker, I am trying to understand the Conservatives' position on affordability. I was in the House when the Conservatives voted against raising the minimum wage for Canadians, when the Conservatives voted against raising corporate taxes on the windfall profits of corporations making billions of dollars per year, when Conservatives voted against pharmacare that would save the average family …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
With regard to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s designated quarantine facility (DQF) program: (a) of the $200 million or more spent to house incoming travellers at DQF sites, what is the complete and detailed accounting of how much Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has spent, from March 2020 to August 2021, broken down by (i) hotel property, (ii) monthly revenue per hotel, (iii) daily room…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for an extraordinary speech, one that displays a progressive view of politics that I think is refreshing to be heard in this chamber. It is funny. Anybody who understands history knows that in the 1950s and 1960s in this country we had a period of unprecedented growth and we had tax rates that were far fairer. Of course, then we had the 1980s and the…
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Madam Speaker, there are a few spectacles more offensive than someone trying to profit off another's misery. The third part of this motion under debate today is a thinly disguised attempt to exploit the crisis, the vulnerabilities and the suffering of the Ukrainian people to advance the interests of Canadian oil and gas companies. This is one of the most crass, self-centred political schemes I hav…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-256, An Act to amend the Financial Administration Act (composition of boards of directors). Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce an important bill to Parliament. This legislation would amend the Financial Administration Act to require gender parity on the board of directors of Crown corporations and agencies. I would like to thank the hon. member for Winnipeg …
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal environment minister recently said, “The solution to global energy problems is not to increase our dependency on fossil fuels”. He continued that the best way to improve the energy security of European countries is to simply reduce dependence on oil and gas “regardless of where it's coming from”. I am glad to see that the minister recognizes that increasing our dependenc…
Read full speech →Private Members' Business
Madam Speaker, I am deeply honoured to rise today to speak to Bill C-216, the health-based approach to the substance use act. I would like to thank my colleague, the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni, for introducing this legislation and for his tireless efforts to advance compassionate and evidenced-based drug policy in this country. In the shadow of COVID-19, the overdose epidemic has rapidly wo…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, we come together today at a precarious moment in our nation's history. Over the last month a cascading series of intelligence, policing and governance failures have resulted in an unprecedented situation that no Canadian of any persuasion is contented with or approves. We have all witnessed a siege of our nation's capital, an economic blockade of our international borders and threat…
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Madam Speaker, I think the Emergencies Act is relegated to specific circumstances, and every time it is possibly invoked, it needs to be carefully studied. I wonder if my hon. colleague is worried that the provinces might use the notwithstanding clause more often. Is he worried about a slippery slope? Of course, the notwithstanding clause is only engaged when there is an acknowledgement that the c…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague raises a very important point, which is that the Emergencies Act is only supposed to be triggered when the current laws in Canada have proven ineffective in dealing with the current situation. I think the word “ineffective” is very important, and I will note two examples. The current laws, for instance, have proven ineffective in stopping the flow of funds, money a…
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Madam Speaker, I hear two main points. The first one gives us an opportunity to again thank all of the frontline workers and health care workers in this country who, while we debate this legislation, are tasked with the critical job of dealing with vulnerable people, helping patients and getting us through what is still a pandemic. I think that is always important to keep in mind as our attention …
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Madam Speaker, I know my hon. colleague is a trained lawyer, as am I. We have all heard some concerns raised by the general public that the invocation of the Emergencies Act may set a precedent, so I am curious about his thoughts on that. I would particularly be interested in his views on the converse of that, which is if we did not act in these circumstances, what kind of precedent does he think …
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Mr. Speaker, I listened with care to my hon. colleague. She gave a very interesting description of the rural-urban divide in this country. I am not sure that it accurately reflects the full diversity of opinion in this country. I agree with her that there have been many jobs lost in the pandemic, due to the virus itself and some of the policy responses. One of the ironies is that the impact of the…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, I would like to start by wishing my hon. colleague's mother a very happy birthday. I want to thank her for what I consider a measured speech. I must say I have always respected the tone that she brings to the House and the reasonableness and decorum that she shows. I want to thank her for that. I want to shift gears a bit. About a week before the opposition day motion calling for a …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, my hon, colleague paints a picture of the blockade participants in Ottawa as 90% of the people we would see at our local arena or Costco. In 24 hours, there have been over 100 arrests, described as intense clashes with the police, of those who refused to leave the area. Ottawa police are accusing protesters of assaulting officers and attempting to remove officers' weapons. Blockade or…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague says he has difficulty seeing what basis there might be for the Emergencies Act, so I want to put some of the facts to him: a serious border closure at the Ambassador Bridge, jeopardizing $330 million in trade a day and a threat to Canada-U.S. trade; interruptions to Canada's auto industry and our manufacturing sector in the Golden Horseshoe; a cache of weapons and…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-255, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act and the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce an important bill to Parliament, the post-secondary education financial assistance for persons with disabilities act, with thanks to the hon. member for Edmonton Griesbach for seconding it and his tireless advocacy for diversity and inc…
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Mr. Speaker, a very common theme throughout my hon. colleague's speech was concern for seniors, particularly low-income seniors and seniors living in poverty. It is now widely regarded in Canadian society that one of the best ways to deal with poverty is with strong, universal programs, including our public health care system, which means everybody gets access to quality health care regardless of …
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Madam Speaker, I agree very much with my hon. colleague about the importance of the Canada Health Act and federal spending. I also worked for a union for 16 years, so I appreciate her contributions to working people. However, I must take issue with the member's inaccurate statement that health care is provincial. I am going to read from the Library of Parliament paper on the jurisdiction. It state…
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Madam Speaker, I served on the Standing Committee on Health for two years and remember when the Conservatives were championing the delivery of rapid tests to Canadians, and properly so. We have a bill before us to authorize an expenditure of $2.5 billion, which I am told would purchase about 400 million rapid tests, and Conservatives seem to be opposed to it. It is almost as if they cannot take ye…
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Madam Speaker, I am very perplexed by the position of the Conservative Party. They opposed mandatory vaccination in the chamber 90 days ago, instead proposing rapid testing of MPs as a secure method of our attending here. As I listen to my hon. colleague, he seems to be calling into question the very efficacy and validity of testing. He seems to suggest that testing should be a decision made by th…
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Madam Speaker, this bill is two paragraphs long. I agree with my hon. colleague that we need more money in the health care system. I believe in further transfers, but this would give $2.5 billion to buy rapid tests that would then be distributed to the provinces. I am just wondering whether my colleague agrees with that. Does he think there is any reason why this should be slowed down? Does he see…
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Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to speak to Bill C-10, an act respecting certain measures related to COVID-19, and I am particularly delighted to be splitting my time with my hon. colleague for Winnipeg Centre. This legislation is very straightforward. In fact, in my time in the House of Commons over the last 14 years, I have rarely seen a bill that is shorter. It is two sections long a…
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Madam Speaker, the NDP has the broadest policy on this. We recognize the important role that the private sector plays in producing all sorts of products and equipment in this country. What we want to do is broaden the private sector to include the public sector. Private enterprise is important and so is public enterprise, and we see the importance of having a Crown corporation with the same model …
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Madam Speaker, I also enjoyed serving with my hon. colleague on the health committee. However, I must, with respect, disagree with many of the premises of her question. The Conservatives did not call for rapid tests a year ago. They started calling for rapid tests a year ago and continued month after month. As I remember, right up until November of this year they wanted rapid tests for themselves …
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Madam Speaker, where I think the New Democrats and the Bloc join together is on our position that we need the federal government to play a proper role in funding health care in this country. Notionally, 50% is what the federal government should be paying. Where I disagree with my hon. colleague is on what role the federal government plays. The federal government has shared jurisdiction in health, …
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Mr. Speaker, I would also like to wish my lovely wife Sheryl Palm a happy Valentine's Day, since I do not want to be left out in this. She is my sweetheart. We have known from the beginning of the pandemic that testing and tracing are critical components of dealing with it, and I think that is still true today. We know that the authorization for $2.5 billion would purchase about 400 million tests …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague on her speech. I think she gave a very accurate and compelling case for why the federal government needs to increase its Canada health transfers to the provinces. I think we all, on this side of the House, in the NDP, join in that feeling that the 22% share of federal health spending in this country is not sufficient. I know the NDP and t…
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise tonight to speak to this important bill. I am particularly pleased to split my time with the brilliant member for Elmwood—Transcona. This legislation is extraordinarily straightforward and simple. It would authorize the Minister of Health to do two things: first, to make payments of up to $2.5 billion out of the consolidated revenue fund for any expenses incurred…
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague raises something very important, which is that health policy in this country should and must be driven by data, science and evidence. It should not be driven by political interests or wedge issues. I was very disappointed to see members of the Liberal caucus stand up and accuse the Prime Minister of using the COVID pandemic as a partisan wedge issue. I think members …
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Mr. Speaker, the major difference, with great respect, is that the people in the Bloc Québécois continually misconstrue the Constitution. They think health care is exclusively a provincial jurisdiction, but it is not. It is a shared jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Canada said the federal government has the spending power, the criminal law power and other powers to enter into this area. We will …
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad my hon. colleague called my speech “great”. There are a number of reasons for this. I think I speak for all Canadians when I say that we are entirely fatigued by COVID. Everybody wants to see a return to normal as soon as possible. However, we in the NDP believe that should be based on science and data, not on politics. We saw the interim leader of the Conservative Party mov…
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Madam Speaker, I must say, parenthetically, that I sat on the health committee for the last two years and my hon. colleague, the member for Calgary Nose Hill, a year and a half ago, was hammering at the need for this government to provide rapid tests. Here we have a bill before us, a two-section bill, that would allow this government to provide rapid tests to Canadians, and the Conservatives are s…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-254, An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (change of political affiliation). Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to address the issue of floor crossing, with great thanks to the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley for seconding this bill. Elections are an essential opportunity for voters to express their democratic preferences, but when parliamen…
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Madam Speaker, we have known since the beginning of the pandemic that testing and tracing were key components of dealing with COVID. We knew that back in early 2020, yet by the end of 2021 the federal government had procured only 120 million rapid antigen tests for that whole time. That sounds like a big number, but it is not when we consider we have 38 million Canadians. That is about three or fo…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Madam Speaker, during the recent election, many issues were raised by the great people of Vancouver Kingsway, but none came up more often than the housing crisis. To respond to this, I recently held a town hall to focus on one concrete measure to provide affordable homes to Canadians: co-op housing. This was born out of my visits to the many thriving co-ops in my riding that were built through the…
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Madam Speaker, as my hon. colleague pointed out, we are talking about the most vulnerable citizens in the country. We are talking about retirees, people in their twilight years and people who make so little money that they qualify for the GIS, which is reserved for seniors at the lowest income level. These are people who still have to work to make ends meet. The NDP was very proud of the fact that…
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Mr. Speaker, the member said that we are dealing with a federal mandate and I appreciate that, but the opening words of the Conservative motion are, “That, given that provinces are lifting COVID-19 restrictions”, and it goes on to use that as the basis of the motion. I know my hon. colleague is from Alberta and we know that Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is removing restrictions very soon, so I want…
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Madam Speaker, there has been a legion of policy reversals from the federal government since the beginning of the pandemic. I will itemize a few. In January, 2020, Dr. Tam told the House of Commons health committee that asymptomatic transmission was a rare event, and that epidemics are not driven by that kind of transmission. In February, 2020, the then health minister claimed that closing the bor…
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to serve with my hon. colleague on the health committee. I think that as a physician, he will be interested in this quote from Dr. Katherine Smart, the president of the Canadian Medical Association. She says: The lack of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines raises significant ethical concerns in addition to increasing the risk of new variants. Vaccines are critical to…
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Mr. Speaker, early in the pandemic, epidemiologists observed that this virus knows no borders. They warned that if we did not have a global vaccination program, then what they described as “immune escape variants” would undoubtedly emerge and make their way even to places like Canada that have very high vaccination rates. One of the responses to this is to allow countries around the world to have …
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Mr. Speaker, I have spoken to that very important question about patents. I agree with the member that the position of the Canadian government is unconscionable, in that it continues to be a barrier to waiving the TRIPS waivers at the World Trade Organization. We are standing in the way of other countries being able to vaccinate their citizens. I want to speak for a moment about patents in this co…
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Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my hon. colleague on the health committee as well. I agree with much of what she said. I also talk to my constituents and share not only their fatigue, frustration and desire to return to normalcy, but also a desire for a more mature discussion of the issues in this country. I spoke to that in my speech. It is time for us to recognize that there are legi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his leadership and support across party lines for a better policy for the Canadian government to ensure vaccine equity around the world. It is also a delight to serve with him on the health committee. He is exactly right. It is true that billions of dollars of taxpayer funds went into the development of vaccines. In Moderna's case, I believe $2 billion, 100…
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Madam Speaker, we stand at a pivotal time in our country's history. Canadians in every corner of our land have been profoundly affected by what has been described as a once-in-a-century global pandemic. I think it is uncontroversial to assert that no one could ever have envisioned the sweeping and dislocating health, economic, political and social ramifications of COVID-19. Over three million Cana…
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