- 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
- Jun/4/24 3:59:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is somebody I have worked with quite closely on a number of different files, and I appreciate her insight and thought process.
I would agree with her that this is a very complex issue. There are some things we can do and other things we can continue to work on. Supporting local producers is vital. Supporting our farmers is a very important role that the government can step into and play. I do not know very well the Quebec program the member is referring to. I am a member of Parliament, of course, from Alberta. I congratulate the Edmonton Oilers.
What we can do to support local farmers is very different from making sure that corporate giants are not taking $6 billion out of the pockets of Canadians and gouging them. Those are two very different things, and we can very much support one without supporting the other.
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- Feb/29/24 1:53:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely.
My apologies for not speaking in French now.
This is something I have stood on in the House multiple times. I raised the issue that, for minority languages outside Quebec, and English in Quebec, we need to make sure that families are able to educate their children in the language of their choice. However, in western Canada, that is very difficult to do. One of the challenges is that we do not have enough training facilities to train the child care professionals and the teachers that we need to ensure that the French language is available.
About one-seventh of those who wish to educate their children in French in Alberta are able to do so right now. We have a massive population who want to ensure that their children get the benefits of being bilingual or having a French education who are not able to access that, because we do not have the capacity to train those teachers. It is a problem and I think the federal government should work as closely as possible with different provincial governments to ensure it happens.
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- Nov/2/23 4:54:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do want to follow up on the question that was just asked by the Bloc.
As the member is a member of the Conservative Party representing Quebec, I am curious how he feels about the fact that his party continues to support big oil and gas companies. We know that five of the biggest oil and gas companies made $38 billion in combined profits last year, but when we asked whether they should be asked to pay simply what they owe, the Conservatives voted against that.
I agree with my colleague from the Bloc that it feels to me like this is a Quebec member of Parliament who is standing up and touting the party line from the Conservatives that big oil can do whatever it wants as long as Albertans keep voting for Conservatives.
How is that vote helping his constituents in Quebec?
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- Oct/31/23 4:21:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, many people may be surprised to know that my riding includes the French Quarter in Edmonton. It has a huge francophone community.
I know that this member will not be surprised because he has helped me practise my French many times, and I have told him all about my community. For me, the biggest strength we have is that there are communities across the country that are francophone, and they can incorporate the francophone immigration numbers we want to have. My concern, of course, is that we do not have the housing, and the cost of living is very extraordinary.
Does he not agree that, if we stopped the profiteering of big corporations and fixed some of those other problems, we would be able to take in more of these francophone immigrants, who I think make our community so much richer across the country, not just in Quebec?
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- Jun/13/23 10:08:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize very much to my colleague that I am not speaking French, but it is late in the House tonight, and my French is not up to the task. However, I work very well with the member on the ALS caucus, and I appreciate the work she does in the House very much.
Obviously, I do not agree with some of the things that the member has brought forward, but one of the things I am worried about is the health of our interpreters and the health of the people who are working to support us. It is a challenge for me and something that I struggle with, because I do not understand how the Parliament of Canada cannot adequately resource the committees for the work that we need to do. This is something that we need to get to the bottom of, and I think that there are solutions there.
I strongly believe in a hybrid Parliament, because I strongly believe that it makes it easier for women and others for whom it may not be as easy to be in this place. It makes it easier for them to be represented here. I think that is one of the most important things that we can do as parliamentarians.
I wonder if the member could talk about the fact that we do not have the resources necessary. Quebec is a lot closer to Ottawa than Alberta is. Certainly, for me, having a hybrid Parliament is really important. Is there a way for us to come up with the resources necessary to make sure that a hybrid Parliament could work?
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Mr. Speaker, this is difficult for me because I understand why the member from Quebec does not like everything about this bill. However, I am a member from Alberta, where we have a Conservative government. That is very important. I would like the member for Lac-Saint-Jean to understand why I want conditions imposed on the Government of Alberta, particularly when it comes to language.
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- Jun/15/22 7:59:08 p.m.
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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.
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Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask my hon. colleague about immigration because, of course, for a place like Edmonton, Alberta, immigration is a key component for ensuring that the vitality of the French language is able to be maintained.
In 2003, the government set an objective to maintain the demographic weight of francophones outside of Quebec and that was meant to ensure that 4.4% of immigration settled outside of Quebec in the rest of Canada and that they could speak French. We have never made the target. The government, in 20 years, has never reached that 4.4%. This bill has no catch-up clause.
What would the member say about the potential for adding in something to catch up for all of those years that we missed our target of 4.4% immigration?
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague will know that in Edmonton Strathcona we have a large francophone population, and we are home to the only francophone campus in western Canada, Campus Saint-Jean. I know that the government has failed in its obligations, as found by the Federal Court of Appeal twice, by not meeting its obligations to French speakers outside of Quebec and not protecting minority language rights.
We have seen our Alberta government not support Campus Saint-Jean. We have seen the federal government step up to provide that support. However, what else can the federal government do to make sure that provinces like Alberta provide those French-language teachers that are required?
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