SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Nov/17/22 10:53:43 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Mr. Speaker, I want to make an important comment in relation to labour, which I think would benefit all members of the House. There is no question that there is in fact a war on workers. We are seeing it in Ontario, and it is going to be happening soon in Alberta. Labour was happy to see the government move on the demands of the New Democratic Party in relation to anti-scab legislation and to the UTIP program, which benefits training centres across union halls in the country. However, one area that is a massive deficiency within this fall economic statement is EI reform. The labour movement has been pushing for this for a long time. In the fall economic statement, we saw comments about an upcoming recession. Now is the most important time for Canadians who are contributing to EI. They need to see that working for them. That program needs to be enhanced. The government promised to do it; it has not done it yet. When will it?

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Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Nov/17/22 11:25:15 a.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. colleague for his important intervention holding the opposition members accountable. I believe as a member of the opposition that it is important to advance our program, the program that New Democrats fight for every single day in this place, which is to make the material conditions of Canadians better. In my community of Edmonton Griesbach, I want to offer a respectful reflection of what they are experiencing. We know that across the country there is a housing crisis. People in my community cannot get ahead. We have 3,400 houseless folks across the city of Edmonton. We have nearly 470 people who died in the last two years of houselessness. These are folks I knew, real people who are affected. To give credit to the government, this fall economic statement does, in fact, help some of those folks with a $500 housing benefit. I know that is going to help Canadians. New Democrats pushed for that and we agree with that. However, it was clear that the national housing strategy detailed by the Auditor General earlier this week is damning. What the government was supposed to build for folks did not hit its targets. It also said that the government would fail to ensure that the proper amount of housing is established by 2027 and 2028. When will the government take housing seriously and when will it increase the supply?

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Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Mr. Blake Desjarlais (Edmonton Griesbach, NDP)

Nov/17/22 12:39:28 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Madam Speaker, as the member would know, health care in Alberta is at a crisis level. Children are going without it. Some hospitals, particularly in Calgary, have wait times of almost 20 hours for children. These are real people. I know the member cares deeply about our province and about the people in it. It has been the position of New Democrats for a long time that when health care, something so critical to Canada, is at risk, we must defend it and we must protect it. Publicly administered, publicly accessible health care was the promise that began in Alberta and went into Saskatchewan and is now across Canada. Will the member defend publicly accessible health care that is publicly administered, which the founders of our province were able to secure?

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