44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/15/22 10:05:41 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I am honoured to rise to present a petition on behalf of many Canadians, in particular, many Afghan Canadians, who are deeply concerned that the Government of Canada has failed to meet its obligations to the people of Afghanistan. Today marks six months since Kabul fell. This is six months that Afghans have struggled under a brutal Taliban regime.
The signatories to this petition call upon the Government of Canada to do more to resettle the promised 40,000 Afghan refugees. They urge the government to work with the Afghan-Canadian community to increase resettlement, remove barriers and increase channels for Afghans to come to Canada. Canada must act urgently. Six months is too long.
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Madam Speaker, I just have to ask this, and it is very similar to other questions that have been asked in the House today: Why did it take the government so long?
What do I say to the seniors in my riding who raised this with us in August. I know the NDP brought this to the minister in August. In August, the government knew that it had made a mistake and that there were serious problems. My staff has had to deal with seniors who have lost their homes, who no longer can pay for their medication and who are at risk of losing their lives because of the government's mismanagement of this. To say that it is acting with speed and as fast as possible just seems so incorrect.
We brought this to the government in August. Why did it take so long? Why are we sitting here in February and dealing with this?
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Mr. Speaker, like my colleague, I am deeply frustrated that we are in a situation that has taken us so long to get to.
I do not want to go back to seniors in my riding of Edmonton Strathcona and say that we delayed this any longer than we had to. Of course the Liberals took too long to fix this mistake. Of course seniors are in such desperate straits right now that we have to act as fast as we possibly can.
Fixing this problem and looking forward, I did appreciate how the member talked in her intervention about the things we need to do for seniors. The things that would make seniors' lives better are investments in making our long-term health care centres public, in having a guaranteed livable basic income and in having things like pharmacare. Things like this would help seniors, but they would also help so many Canadians. Would the member be supportive of these calls that the New Democratic Party has put forward for things like a guaranteed livable basic income, like public long-term care centres and like pharmacare?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke about giving seniors the opportunity to age with dignity. I have met with many seniors in Edmonton Strathcona who speak about that very thing. They speak about wanting to age in place and wanting to ensure that the care they get when they do transition into long-term care is adequate. However, what we have seen in Alberta is a real problem with for-profit centres, which basically use a profit mandate rather than a care mandate.
Would the member support making sure that there are no dollars in long-term care and that it is, in fact, a public service that is provided? What steps would she see the government taking to ensure that seniors have the opportunity to age in place longer before they go into long-term care?
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- Feb/15/22 2:50:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what about Alberta? Yesterday the RCMP arrested 13 extremists blockading the border at Coutts. They seized guns, ammunition and body armour, including assault weapons with thousands of rounds. This comes after convoy leaders raised millions of dollars from foreign donors, with a stated goal of overthrowing the government. While I am happy to see that the blockade appears to be ending in Alberta, the fact remains that we had an armed militia active in Alberta. This is unthinkable.
Why did it take 18 days and proof of an armed threat to make the government act and protect Albertans and Canadians?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member on her speech today. It was thoughtful, smart and extremely well done.
I want to follow up on some of the things that she mentioned and ask her a quick question.
Earlier in February, I was talking about seniors' issues and the GIS clawback and raised that issue with the government. One of the members from the government stood up and said he was quite concerned with respect to a senior person in his riding who was a babysitter. He thought she was taking more than was due to her. He was trying to blame a vulnerable senior who needed to do some work to supplement her income and had no thoughts at all about the idea of holding to account corporations or extremely wealthy folks who have taken some of these benefits during COVID.
Does the member have any concern that what we are seeing right now is just a further example of the Liberal government's choosing to always privilege and prioritize big business and the wealthy on the backs of the most vulnerable people in this country?
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Madam Speaker, I am in Alberta right now, my colleague's home province, so it is a bit earlier for me. I am a little lucky for that.
I would also like to thank him for his words on Ukraine. It is something that all of us are seized with at the moment.
I agree with the member when he talks about the cruel delays the Liberals have put our most vulnerable seniors through. As we go forward, I think everyone in this House wants to move as fast as we possibly can for seniors. One of the times that I was most proud of being a member of Parliament during this particular sitting was when the Conservatives moved all stages of the conversion therapy ban. The Conservatives were the ones who made the motion so that we would ban conversion therapy. I was so proud of the Conservatives then.
We have this moment where they could do the same thing and move fast for seniors. Why do they not see that this is an opportunity to use the powers that we have as parliamentarians to get help to seniors as fast as we can?
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