Parliamentary Speeches
1,167 speeches by Heather McPherson — Page 21 of 24
Government Orders
Madam Speaker, my colleague spoke a lot about filibustering. I sat on the committee and listened to the Conservatives filibuster over and over again. At one of the meetings, the heavy hitters of the Conservative Party, the filibuster specialists, came to the meeting to share their filibustering with us. I know that is their right and that is what they are able to do, but the concern I had is that …
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Madam Speaker, from mid-April through the end of May, Alberta saw the highest rate of infection in North America from COVID-19. Fourteen separate outbreaks at oil sands work camps made the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, home to a mere 70,000 people, the epicentre of COVID infections in Canada. Jason Kenney blames the high infection rate on indigenous people's vaccine hesitancy despite the …
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Madam Speaker, unfortunately, I do not think the parliamentary secretary listened to what I had said. However, I will ask again. Canadian governments have discriminated against indigenous children for decades. Indigenous children have been denied the social, educational and medical support that they need, support that non-indigenous children readily receive. Today, the First Nations Child and Fami…
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Mr. Speaker, last month, Edmontonians grieved the death of three men who died in a downtown park in broad daylight after a suspected overdose. In 2020, Alberta had record numbers of drug-related deaths. In 2021, this horrifying trend continues. EMS responded to 55 overdose calls in just 48 hours last week. The UCP has cut safe injection sites and funding, and this week it announced a nasal naloxon…
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Madam Speaker, on February 1, Laurentian University declared insolvency, taking many by surprise. We have since learned that Liberal members of Parliament and the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages were aware of the issue at Laurentian University prior to this announcement. This begs the question: Why did the government choose to sit on the sidelines and watch Laurentian Unive…
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Madam Speaker, budget 2021 allocated $121.3 million over three years to Canadian Heritage to make high-quality post-secondary minority-language education available across Canada. We already know that a significant portion of these funds must be earmarked for the Université de l'Ontario français, an institution that will see its very first cohort of students this fall. As the government has already…
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moved for leave to introduce Bill C-308, An Act to amend the Impact Assessment Act. Madam Speaker, I rise today to table my bill, Bill C-308, an act to amend the Impact Assessment Act. It is a great privilege to table this legislation on behalf of the incredible community members, activists, indigenous people, farmers, ranchers and Albertan who has raised their voice against coal mining in the Roc…
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Mr. Speaker, Alberta's United Conservative government has opened up the Rocky Mountains for new coal mines. Fences, roads and drill sites are going up in areas designated as critical habitat for species at risk. Benga Mining has applied to mine the Grassy Mountain site without a plan for controlling selenium pollution, and more new mines that avoid federal oversight are being pitched to investors.…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I thank the chief opposition House leader for his question of privilege. I wish to inform the Chair and the House that the New Democratic Party will be intervening on this question of privilege as well. We hope to make our contribution to this important question of privilege as soon as is feasible.
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Madam Speaker, there are young people who will be watching what is happening in the House of Commons. There will be young people who will be listening to the member talk about conversion therapy and her failure to support people as they go through conversion therapy. Does she worry about what the impact will be on children who hear parliamentarians talk about how they will not support a conversion…
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Mr. Speaker, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission requested $1.5 million for research for mass burial sites, it was a Conservative government that denied the request. This member was given an opportunity to vote in favour of UNDRIP just days ago, but neither he nor his Conservative colleagues voted in favour of the legislation. Just this week, Conservative Premier Kenney made such a despic…
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Mr. Speaker, ALS is a devastating disease that affects thousands of Canadians. Today, on Lou Gehrig Day, we think about the brave people who faced ALS with profound dignity and strength, people like Gehrig, Stephen Hawking and jazz great, Charles Mingus. Today, I would like to recognize those who tend to remain unseen and unheralded, the caregivers. the ones caring for their parents, spouses and c…
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Madam Speaker, I asked a question some time ago and today, on Lou Gehrig Day, I want to share my discontent with the answer I received. I owe my life to our public health care system. I simply would not be here today without it, so, like most Canadians, I cherish our public health care system. It is a system that is based on the principle of “access to health services without financial or other ba…
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Madam Speaker, with all due respect, there was an opportunity for the Liberal government to support pharmacare when a bill was brought forward. The member will forgive me if I am cynical about the government's commitment to pharmacare, as the Liberals voted with the Conservative Party not to support a pharmacare program. My colleague will forgive me if I feel that he is likely, as with so many oth…
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Mr. Speaker, I have spent the last few days reaching out to folks in my community. So many survivors and descendants of survivors have been re-traumatized. They have broken down and are struggling to deal with pain and grief. One of the people I communicated with was Steven Crowchild, an incredible leader and human being, who told me about his friend who lived with her mother. She was going to put…
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Mr. Chair, I am going to start by asking some questions that I do not think will surprise the minister. Canada's official development assistance continues to be well below the international standard. Canada currently invests approximately 30¢ for every $100 in gross national income. Under the Harper government, aid levels were almost exactly the same as the level we are at now. Of course, I am ver…
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Mr. Chair, can the minister tell me why Canadian organizations, particularly small and medium-sized organizations, those that are run by Canadians located in communities across our country, get such a small proportion of the aid envelope? What is the plan to increase that proportion?
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Mr. Chair, in 2020, the government responded to the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis by allocating around $1.4 billion toward the global COVID-19 response. This year, the United Nations is warning of “famines of biblical proportions” in 20 countries, affecting 20 million people. Against this backdrop, budget 2021 foresees only $375 million of additional funding. Does the minister have rea…
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Mr. Chair, the minister launched the “together for learning” campaign and has committed to refugee education, yet neither of these commitments was mentioned in budget 2021. Are there plans to back these development commitments with financial resources?
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Mr. Chair, I am now going to ask some questions of the Minister of International Trade. I have spent many years working to ensure that Canadian companies working abroad uphold Canadian values of fairness and justice. Of course, I was understandably excited when the government established the CORE ombudsperson. However, I was also understandably devastated when we learned that once again the Libera…
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Mr. Chair, what is the CORE's annual budget?
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Mr. Chair, I would like to clarify that I know the answer to the question, but there are zero cases that the CORE has actually resolved. Since you announced the CORE three and a half years ago, there have been zero cases. Therefore, when you can share the amount that we have now paid for zero cases to be resolved, that would be great.
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Mr. Chair, even Harper had a similar office in place that had no power to compel testimony or documents, called the National Contact Point. How is the CORE position under this government different than under the Harper Conservatives?
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Mr. Chair, is the minister aware that a witness testified when we did a study at the international human rights subcommittee? Is she aware that a witness who testified on the CORE's study has had her life threatened and has been placed in grave danger as a result of her testimony in the House of Commons?
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Mr. Chair, does the minister feel that Canada has an obligation—
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Mr. Chair, does the minister feel that Canada has an obligation to protect and support witnesses who testify before parliamentarians?
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Mr. Chair, could the minister tell me how she proposes to protect this witness?
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Mr. Chair, in February 2020, the Liberal government announced that it would develop a coherent feminist foreign policy. Our global allies are increasingly moving toward a single approach consisting of interrelated and mutually reinforcing agendas of trade, international diplomacy, co-operation and peacekeeping. However, Canada has proven to be a wholly unreliable global partner, and we saw the res…
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Mr. Chair, the ministry indeed triggered consultations for a white paper on feminist foreign policy, but it is only looking at diplomacy and international assistance components. Are there plans to commence a broader process on feminist foreign policy? If so, when can we expect this to happen?
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Mr. Chair, an example of the incoherentness of our foreign policy is when we provide humanitarian funds to Yemen and still sell arms to Saudi Arabia to use against the Yemeni people. In fact, Canada's foreign policy is so incoherent that Canada was condemned by the United Nations for contributing to grave human rights abuses. Will the government stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia?
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Mr. Chair, does the minister honestly believe that Canada will ever be considered for a Security Council seat and will ever be considered as a legitimate peacekeeper when it fuels conflict and war, as it is doing in the Yemeni conflict?
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Mr. Chair, according to Human Rights Watch there are 47 Canadians detained in camps in northern Syria. Of those 47, 26 are children. They are innocent Canadian children. They are not responsible for what their parents have done and are being held in deplorable, abhorrent conditions. They have no access to clean water, they have barely enough food and there is no medical care. They are Canadian cit…
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Mr. Chair, the Afghan peace talks are crumbling. There has been an increase in violence. Canada has, of course, contributed an awful lot to Afghanistan over the years. What is the government doing to ensure women and girls are protected and that their voices are included in the peace talks?
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean, the only francophone campus in western Canada, is ailing. The Liberal government promised $121 million for post-secondary minority-language education across Canada. It already promised Ontario $60 million. Now, it is asking Albertans to wait. Will the minister commit to supporting Campus Saint-Jean before it is too late?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is someone I have worked with on committee and someone whose insight I appreciate quite a bit. I am an Albertan and he is a Sasketchewanian, but as an Albertan, one of my biggest concerns is jobs and jobs for people in my constituency. He, of course, will know that Alberta has suffered greatly over the last few years. Even before COVID, our economy was in free fall. It wa…
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Mr. Speaker, I was delighted to hear my colleague speak about the importance of child care. I know she has worked very hard on supports for families and for women in particular. It plays an important role in that committee. She talked about the idea that a universal child care program is something that we need to make sure the provinces are onside with. She will know that Premier Kenney in my prov…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep concern with the Liberal government's failure to support the request by South Africa and India to temporarily waive intellectual property rights through the TRIPS waiver. By failing to support the TRIPS waiver, and by failing to ensure that all people and all countries can get vaccines to their populations as quickly and efficiently as possible, the gov…
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Mr. Speaker, experts tell us that 30% more people will die if we do not act. Experts tell us that the cost of the extended pandemic could top $4 trillion if we do not act. The government will have to bear the burden of history remembering what its decision was. For the Liberals to say that they have not been able to make a decision, that they cannot make a decision, is irresponsible and incorrect.…
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to join all of my colleagues in the House, albeit virtually from my riding in Edmonton Strathcona. Today, we are talking about Bill C-30 and the budget that the Liberal government has brought forward. I will begin by talking about the things that I support and was happy to see within the budget. I was delighted to see that child care was included in the budget. The N…
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Madam Speaker, first of all, I have to apologize to you. I do seem to struggle to remember that the Prime Minister shall not be referred to by name. The question that the member brought up today is problematic for me because it talks a lot about the commitments that the government has made. What about the commitments the government has not made? What about the commitments to supporting all seniors…
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Madam Speaker, the best strategy for a national plan is that it be universally accessible. We saw our previous premier Rachel Notley put a plan in place in Alberta for $25-a-day daycare. It was a massive success, and it contributed to cutting child poverty in half in the province. When we make child care universal, and when we make child care available to all working families, it becomes something…
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Madam Speaker, if I had had two or three hours, I certainly would have been able to address more within the budget. Time constraints limited me. I can tell members that I have many more notes I would have liked to have spoken to in terms of things we would have liked to have seen with EI and sick leave. There are a number of different things. In terms of the member's first question on child care a…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to compliment my colleague on his very attractive tie. I appreciate that his speech had a lot to do with fiscal responsibility, making sure that those dollars that are being spent are being spent wisely, and I agree with him on that. One of the concerns I have is that some of the programs we have spent money for have had huge gaps in them. In my riding, we have an examp…
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Madam Speaker, I have met with many people who have asked for child care, whether it be parents, child care providers, advocates for child care or the business community. I find some of the member's comments a bit curious. The question I have today is on the extreme wealth some of Canada's billionaires have accrued during this pandemic. When we talk about being fiscally responsible and when we tal…
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Mr. Speaker, we are all heartened to see that the ceasefire in Gaza is holding, but the humanitarian crisis in the region is dire and urgent. Over 100,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes, thousands have had their homes destroyed and hundreds of families are mourning the loss of a loved one. UNICEF and other organizations are on the ground providing humanitarian relief, distributing f…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, the opioid crisis is one of the most deadly public health emergencies of our lifetime. Heartbreakingly, the death toll has soared in 2020 and 2021, with twice as many overdoses. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Alberta has seen overdose deaths outpace COVID deaths. Overdose deaths are premature and preventable, and they are the leading cause of death in Alberta for 15- to 59-year-…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Bloc for bringing forward this motion; I think it is vitally important. My colleague from La Prairie talked just now about the emergency debate we had in the House of Commons regarding the COVID-19 situation in Alberta. It is very scary and very dire here right now. It would be completely irresponsible to have an election right now, and we in the NDP would …
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Mr. Speaker, this member started his discussion today by talking about being crystal clear. He then went on and talked about how the committee can do this work, even though the Liberals are filibustering it. I have a very simple question for this member. Yes or no: Will he very clearly commit, 100%, that the Liberal Party will not trigger an election unless it loses a confidence vote? It is very s…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the Canada emergency wage subsidy was intended to help both employers and workers, allowing businesses to retain workers on their payroll when they lost revenue due to COVID-19 and allowing workers to maintain employment during the public health crisis. As members know, my colleagues and I from the NDP were, and continue to be, ardent supporters of the wage subsidy. We advocated for…
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Madam Speaker, that response was absolutely outrageous. How am I supposed to go back to the guys on the picket line at CESSCO and tell them that this was the response when I said that there was a problem with the program, and I have raised it time and time again. I guess the government is not going to fix this issue. CESSCO is not the only company that is taking money from the Canadian emergency w…
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