SoVote

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Jun/7/22 5:53:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, one of the issues the member raised is affordability and the cost of living for Canadians. Many Canadians are, in fact, struggling and are trying to recover from the COVID pandemic. The reality is that big banks are making billions of dollars. In fact, Scotiabank netted $10.1 billion in profit and gave out billions of dollars in dividends to its shareholders. For BMO, it is the same thing. Other big, wealthy corporations are also netting huge profits, and Loblaws is one of them. In fact, it even refused to increase wages by a whole two dollars for its workers. My question for the member is this. Will she support the NDP's proposal for the government to increase the GST rebate, along with increasing the Canada child benefit by $500?

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Jun/7/22 7:48:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the hon. member is correct in the sense that urgent action is needed to address the climate crisis. The IPCC, scientists and, more broadly, Canadians already know that. However, what we saw, as the member has mentioned, is the government and, more specifically, the Prime Minister decide to buy a pipeline, one that is actually not economical at that. They are being particularly secretive about the cost implications related to it. On top of that, they are not moving forward and taking real action to stop the subsidies for big oil. From that perspective, I would like to ask the member what she thinks the top priorities would be for the government to address the climate crisis?

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Ms. Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, NDP)

Jun/7/22 11:41:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to enter into the adjournment debate on a question that I raised with the government on March 4 related to Afghans who were fleeing Putin's war and other minorities who are trying to get to safety. I ask members to imagine this: We have an individual who fled the Taliban and made it safely to Russia. They were in the refugee camp when the war broke out. It is an unprovoked war, initiated by Putin, and as a result, people there are frantic. This individual had been pregnant and had just given birth. She is fleeing again to try to get to safety. She treks for miles, carrying her baby, trying to get to a border, only to be rejected and not be able to get through. This happens over and over again. This is what has happened to this particular individual and her family. They could not get to safety. The government said that we would welcome individuals who are being persecuted and people who are fleeing the war, yet we have not extended immigration measures to them. They actually tried to apply under the special immigration measures that the government announced for Afghans and they were not accepted. They were rejected. I have to ask how it is possible for someone who has fled the Taliban and made it to another country, only to be fleeing again with nothing on her back, and with a new baby. They have all the hopes and all dreams, and want to get to safety, but when they look to Canada to see if that could happen, lo and behold, the Canadian government rejects them. This is what people are struggling with. I am calling on the government to do the right thing, to support this family and accept them as refugees under the special immigration measure. I would also call on the government to extend those special immigration measures to other minorities who are in similar situations. In fact, as the days pass and as these numbers get filled up for the 40,000 Afghans who are fleeing persecution, who are fleeing the Taliban and who are trying to get to safety, there are so many people who have been left behind. They are people who served the country, who were referred by the Department of National Defence or by GAC, and the women and girls who have been fighting and advocating for women's rights and democracy in Afghanistan. We need to make sure that we do everything we can to bring them to safety. In addition, I would also say the government needs to do everything it can to bring the family members of those who served Canada to safety as well. I hope the government will act because people's lives depend on it.

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Context: House Hansard - 83 - Jun/7/22

Ms. Jenny Kwan

Jun/7/22 11:47:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary knows as well as I do that the reality is that the Department of National Defence had referred 3,800 applications to IRCC and only 900 of them have been confirmed. The rest of the 2,900 applications files are lost somewhere in the system. The same applies to the GAC referrals. IRCC cannot seem to find these files. As much as the parliamentary secretary and the government would like to say they are doing a great job, I am sorry to say they are not. Too many people have been left behind. They cannot even find their files. How is that even possible? I would say to the Liberals that, if they think they are doing a good job, they had better look harder. They need to find those files and bring those family members here to Canada. We need to honour them. We need to make sure that they get to safety.

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