- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Courtenay—Alberni
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67
- Government Page
Mr. Speaker, where I come from, in my riding of Courtenay—Alberni, we see it as a duty and responsibility to build a diverse economy and build resilience in our communities. I think about the Port Alberni Port Authority wanting a floating dry dock. There are the Coulson Group, which is a global leader in firefighting aviation, wanting to expand and do more work here, and there is Nova Harvest in Barkley Sound wanting to expand. I also think of Tla-o-qui-aht, which is building run-of-the-river and clean energy projects. We see it as a duty. We would see it as irresponsible to not be fighting for the creation of more jobs when it comes to clean energy.
Does the minister not see that it is a duty of all members of the House to build resiliency, a cleaner future and a more sustainable future, especially for workers, who have been advocating for this very bill to be seen through?
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Madam Speaker, this debate is important to my riding. I met with Terry Farrell from the Comox Valley Record and Peter McCulley from PQB News. They talked about the sense of urgency right now, because they cannot compete with Google, Facebook and so on. PQB News had to lay off Scott Stanfield, one of the top local reporters in the Comox Valley, who has covered really important and critical stories. Now it is short-staffed and does not have the capacity to cover as much as it would like to make sure that the people in our communities are well-informed and not at a disadvantage.
What we are seeing from Conservatives and finding out is that they are the gatekeepers for Google, Facebook and the big web giants.
Scott Stanfield has lost his job, and we know there are going to be more if we do not make sure that local media outlets can produce good local media in our communities. Can the minister speak about the sense of urgency to get this legislation passed, so local media outlets get the proper financial supports?
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Mr. Speaker, I just went to the Boys and Girls Club in Parksville and met with the staff there. They shared with me that there are 45 kids on their wait-list and talked about the impact of child care and the agreement with British Columbia and Canada and how critical it is that we continue to move forward.
This is also well supported by the chambers of commerce and the business community in my riding. It is absolutely critical in helping to solve the labour market shortage. As cited by my colleague from Winnipeg Centre, the biggest challenge is the workforce and to make sure there are early child care educators who are trained and will be able to be paid well and receive a living wage. That was absolutely essential. Of course, affordable housing came into the mix.
Is the minister going to come back with a comprehensive strategy on how she is going to resolve these differences? Absolutely, the situation is urgent in all the communities in my riding, and it is urgent that we move forward rapidly.
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- Nov/15/22 3:17:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There have been consultations and I believe, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following motion that, given that, first, the mental health of Canadians has been negatively impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic; second, the toxic drug crisis has worsened during the COVID–19 pandemic and continues to have a tragic impact on communities; third, too many Canadians are unable to access mental health or substance use supports in a timely manner and economic conditions are exacerbating financial barriers; and fourth, lack of timely access to community-based mental health and substance use services is adding to the immense strain facing our hospitals and primary care providers; the House call on the government to take the necessary steps to bring a comprehensive range of mental health and substance use services beyond physician and hospital settings into our universal public health care system.
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- Nov/1/22 3:13:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There have been consultations and I hope that if you seek it, you will find consent for the following motion: That given that: one, that the mental health of Canadians has been negatively impacted by the pandemic; two, that economic conditions are exacerbating financial barriers to mental health supports; and, three, that our public health care system is under immense strain, the House call upon the government to put into place a Canada mental health transfer without delay.
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Madam Speaker, we know that there are critical needs right now for wild Pacific salmon. This is in the budget, as well as really important investments for child care and for co-op housing. We have had a vacancy in investments for co-op housing. Both Conservatives and Liberals have abandoned non-market housing, and now we are finally seeing a step forward. It is not exactly what the NDP would like, but these are critical investments that are good for people and good for the economy. They are absolutely essential right now for people in our country today.
The Conservatives are not just trying to block this bill; they are trying to block everything. Maybe my colleague, the minister, could speak about how important it is to get these investments through the House so that we can start helping people who need help today, especially critical investments for our environment like those on wild Pacific salmon.
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Madam Speaker, maybe my colleague, the government House leader, could speak about the sense of urgency. Cultural workers and artists suffered the most under the pandemic. Many of them could not operate at all for two years, and many of them could not even access the programs that were offered to them. When people have zero revenue coming in, the wage subsidy does not help them, nor the rent assistance program. The sense of urgency is real.
In the meantime, the big web giants had record profits. They took all the gas out. There was a massive economic leakage happening in our country. Maybe the House leader could talk about how critical it is that we plug the economic leakage to the big web giants and that we get to this work rapidly and quickly and get this to committee.
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Madam Speaker, it is critical that we get some work done. Certainly, we do not want to be rushing legislation. We want to make sure that we are doing the work. That is why we supported sitting until midnight, so we can have proper debate.
I was thinking about how the Conservatives obstructed applying votes yesterday. We could have had applied votes yesterday. We had a vote. Looking at the record, we had another vote for which we wanted to see an applied vote, but the Conservatives wanted to vote on division, which they did. They voted on division not just once but twice, which delayed all of the committees that were sitting yesterday afternoon, so they sat later. Most members had previous engagements and commitments, so we had shortened committees on really important issues.
I sit at OGGO, and we had some really important witnesses on the biggest spend in Canadian history on navy and air force procurement. We had really important witnesses to talk about that. Instead, we had a shortened meeting because the Conservatives would not apply their votes.
That is the kind of obstruction that we are seeing here. We need to get to work, and we need to get to work now.
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- Mar/30/22 4:16:39 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Mr. Speaker, does the minister support and agree that it is important for us to get this bill to committee so we can have a conversation there on how we can improve this piece of legislation and offer the suggestions that have been brought to our attention?
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