- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council
Whip of the New Democratic Party
Member of the panel of chairs for the legislative committees
- NDP
- Edmonton Strathcona
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $141,604.97
- Government Page
- Nov/2/23 11:12:29 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am confused. We have heard the opposition talk about the fact that the Alberta NDP has been pushing back against what the government has done, yet the Alberta NDP put forward an emergency motion in our legislature that said that the legislative assembly recognized that carbon dioxide emissions contributed to a changing climate. They talked about wildfires, evacuations and extreme weather events. Then they went on to talk about the fact that we needed to apply the same programs across the country for home heating. However, the Conservatives in Alberta voted against it because it had references to the need for a climate plan.
We have not heard this from the Conservatives yet. What is their climate plan? Could the member tell me what they plan to do to deal with the biggest crisis of our time right now, the climate crisis? As far as I could tell from her speech, she does not even admit it is real.
162 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/8/22 1:05:30 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for listing all the initiatives that the NDP have brought forward, like dental care and the rent subsidy, but my question for him is a bit more concrete. I have been sitting in the House all week, listening to the Liberals asking Conservatives how they can face their constituents when the Conservatives promised to put a price on pollution and are now against it.
I am wondering how the member faces his constituents when the Liberal government promised to put that price on pollution and promised to deal with our climate crisis and has done so in such a poor way that we have met none of our targets and are at the bottom of the barrel for actually dealing with the climate crisis in this country.
On one side, we have some Conservatives who have been, frankly, very dishonest with their constituents. On the other side, we have the government, which has actually done nothing for our climate crisis.
How does he face his constituents?
175 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, my colleague's intervention was very interesting. I noticed that she is wearing a sustainable development goals pin. One of the things that I find most frustrating is that we have a government that claims to have a feminist international assistance policy. We have a government that speaks about being a feminist government that will perhaps, one day, provide a feminist foreign policy, yet we know the impacts on women and girls from climate change around the world are deeply disparate.
Can my colleague talk a little about those impacts and ways in which Canada and the Canadian government could do more to protect those who are most vulnerable, women and girls around the world?
117 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/15/22 8:07:13 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am asking the government to invest in Alberta's future by helping to diversify our economy. The Canadian critical drug initiative is the perfect example of a project that should be funded by the government. This initiative comes out of the University of Alberta in my riding of Edmonton Strathcona and it is led, in part, by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Dr. Michael Houghton.
This initiative would address the critical gap in Canadian capacity for development and manufacturing of the majority of medication used in Canada. This would allow the government to address Canada's vulnerability when it comes to global pharmaceutical supply chains, at the same time that it creates jobs and economic opportunities for Albertans. The government has invested in life science capacity in Montreal and elsewhere in Canada, but it has not addressed the critical vulnerability. This is an opportunity to invest in Alberta.
Will the government provide this funding?
157 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/15/22 7:59:08 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, as always, it is a pleasure and privilege to rise in this place.
Today, I want to talk about Alberta and our economic recovery. For decades, Alberta has played an oversized role in Canada's economy, largely in part due to the oil and gas sector. During boom times, Alberta's GDP was the largest in Canada, the largest in North America and among the largest in the world. Even during the busts, Alberta workers were contributing more per capita to the building of Canada than any other province. For over 50 years, Alberta workers have helped make Canada a prosperous country. Now, Alberta workers need help and this government needs to be there for them.
Albertans know that climate change is real, and we know that our future cannot depend on oil and gas. Even now, when postpandemic demand is rising and Russia's illegal war in Ukraine is driving up the price of oil and natural gas, even now when fossil fuel corporations are making record profits while gouging Canadians at the pumps, even now we know that our future is not in oil and gas, because the jobs are simply not there.
When Alberta Conservatives were handing billions in corporate tax cuts to the sector over the past three years, oil and gas companies were laying off workers. When this government gave billions for oil well cleanup, it did nothing to create jobs or to mitigate pollution. Every day the evidence becomes clearer and clearer: Handing out public money to these massive corporations does not create jobs and it does not help workers. All it does is line the pockets of foreign investors.
Instead, this government needs to help Alberta. It needs to invest in Alberta to diversify our economy. For Canada to meet its climate obligations, for Canada to have a sustainable economy, for Canada to build an equitable and prosperous future for all, Canada needs to invest right now to help diversify Alberta's economy before it is too late.
This government has made multiple promises to workers for a just transition. We heard promises in 2019, and we heard promises in 2021, but we just have not seen it yet. I stand in this place and say that it is not unusual for us to hear the right words from this government and not see the work follow through to make the actions happen.
There have been massive investments in Quebec's and Ontario's economies, but when it comes to Alberta, this government is missing. If it needs help determining what to do, I am here to help. There is a lot of opportunity in Alberta to develop a greener and more diversified economy. There is opportunity to create jobs right now and to bridge to the jobs of the future.
Right now, oil and gas workers need financial support through the transition and targeted education and retraining. Rachel Notley did it with coal by listening to workers and their communities. The formula is there.
Many of the impacted communities are indigenous where investment in post-secondary education and indigenous-run programs would have the greatest impact, programs like the Peace Athabasca Delta Institute, which needs federal investment to build an environmental monitoring and research facility. Instead of throwing money at oil companies for site cleanup, those funds should be directed to the Indian Resource Council's first nations site rehabilitation program to create jobs and economic opportunity where it matters the most. The Building Trades of Alberta's path forward program needs to retrain indigenous workers as well.
598 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/8/22 11:30:10 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we will never achieve the government's net-zero plan if we leave Albertan workers behind. Yesterday's budget was an opportunity to invest in Alberta workers, to help them transition to a new economy. Instead, the government continued the approach of giving billions to wealthy companies with no strings attached.
Albertans cannot wait any more. Where is the funding for a clean jobs training centre, and when is the just transition legislation coming?
76 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/7/22 2:53:05 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, Alberta families want to do their part to help Canada meet its emissions targets, and they deserve good-paying jobs in the new economy, yet the government continues to abandon them. Instead of diversifying our economy, the government gave billions of dollars to big oil companies on vague promises to reduce emissions. Guess what? Those billions resulted in almost no reductions.
In today's budget, will the government finally invest in Alberta workers and families?
77 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/16/21 10:24:36 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is my great honour today to table a petition that is asking the Government of Canada to enact legislation to provide just transition.
Recognizing that we are in a climate emergency and a a climate crisis, the petitioners ask that we address the crisis to reduce emissions in Canada and in the global south, that we commit to a jobs plan to help people transition to new jobs in a new economy, that we expand the social safety net and that we tax the ultrawealthy and corporations to help pay for that just transition.
97 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/7/21 2:16:18 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the impacts of climate change in Canada, from the recent floods and mudslides in British Columbia to the storms that have threatened Atlantic Canada and the wildfires, floods and droughts that have wrought havoc in Alberta.
However, Albertans are actually facing two crises. One is the climate crisis and the other is the economic crisis. Albertans are caught between the need to reduce emissions and our reliance on the oil and gas sector. A total of 140,000 Albertans work directly in the sector, and hundreds of thousands more jobs rely on it. If we do not support workers in Alberta, Canada will not be able to meet its climate obligations.
After decades of Alberta's contributing to building Canada's economy, it is time for federal leadership to help Alberta secure a lower-carbon future. We need targeted investment to reduce emissions within the sector and targeted investments to create jobs outside the sector. Alberta has the knowledge base, and we just need the federal government to invest in Albertans. This cannot wait. The government must invest in a federal jobs plan now.
189 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
