SoVote

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Feb/3/22 11:01:06 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, my colleague started off today talking about how much the steps the government has taken to help Canadians have cost, and I agree with him. What I disagree with him on is the fact that the New Democrats will always say that we should be supporting Canadians to get through this pandemic and we should continue to support Canadians as this pandemic carries on. One of the things I struggle with is that he and his party voted with the government, with the Liberals, against a wealth tax to make revenue, to have that be more balanced. Why did he vote with the Liberals? Why did the Conservatives stand with the Liberals again against a wealth tax?

119 words

Context: House Hansard - 23 - Feb/3/22

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Feb/3/22 12:35:44 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, I was happy to hear the member's comments today. I was also delighted to see section 4 of this bill about getting ventilation into schools. I think that is very, very important. I have a constituent who reached out to me just today to make sure that this was raised and prioritized. Members will recall in August 2020 I brought forward a unanimous consent motion asking for $2 billion to make schools safer for teachers and students. We are now two years into the pandemic. We know there is no downside to improving ventilation in the schools to make them safer for teachers and students. Why has it taken the government two years to finally decide that this was something it could do? Following on that, will the government also work with manufacturers to develop rapid tests that are more effective for detecting the omicron variant?

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Context: House Hansard - 23 - Feb/3/22

Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Feb/3/22 1:33:54 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-8

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, as it was very easy to hear him from this end of the House, so I was able to not need my headphone. That is great. I thank him. He did speak a lot about the programs that were put in place by the Liberal government, and while I know that some of them worked, many of them did not. We many times brought up in the House those places where there were holes and gaps. For example, he talks about business loans and how they supported businesses, but they did not support new businesses. They did not support businesses like ones in my riding that started right during the pandemic or right before the pandemic, through no fault of those entrepreneurs. There is a business in my riding called Cessco that used the wage subsidy program to actually pay for scab labour and lock out their unionized workers. There were these gaps in these programs, and Bill C-8 would not address those. As such, I do not want the member to feel that the Liberals can take all the credit for these, when we have been asking them to fix these programs and they have not fixed them.

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