- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Courtenay—Alberni
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67
- Government Page
- May/30/24 12:07:05 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, we know that housing is integral in supporting people with substance use disorder. The government announced $250 million for emergency funding in the budget. That could create tiny homes in communities like Port Alberni and we could trust the province to support wraparound supports and the city to provide land. How quickly can the government get that money out the door? It is an urgent situation, an emergency.
70 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/29/24 11:57:45 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, the member does not need to declare an emergency, then; she needs to act like it is an emergency. That is what we are looking for. That is what the moms and families who have lost loved ones are looking for, or those who are struggling and the families that are impacted.
We know that across the country, indigenous peoples, first nations, Inuit and Métis communities feel like they are being left out of the government's response to the toxic drug crisis. They are seeing their communities suffer from loss and increased crime. In fact, last week, Alberta announced that first nations and Métis people represent 20% of all apparent unintended opioid deaths despite representing only 3.4% of the population.
Can the minister tell this House how Health Canada is working with Indigenous Services Canada and indigenous leadership across the country to take a health care-focused approach to the toxic drug crisis? Is the minister willing to intervene if Conservative premiers like Danielle Smith and Scott Moe let preventable deaths from toxic drug poisoning continue at this rate?
187 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/29/24 11:56:46 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, that is not “meeting the moment”. That is not responding to a health emergency. We look to Portugal on how it responded to a health emergency, and it treated it as that.
The federal government controls to whom and how supervised consumption services are provided. These services remain unavailable in most locations across the country, especially in more rural and remote locations. When will this government get rid of the red tape and ensure these services are available and funded nationally?
85 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/24 12:57:03 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I wanted to learn about this issues, because it is causing so much harm in my home community and I am so deeply impacted by it as well.
I travelled the country, going to 13 different cities. I met with moms at very stop and at every stop, they said the same thing: That we needed to listen to the experts and that this needed to be grounded in evidence. They want the government to act like this is a national health emergency, to declare a public health emergency and to reinstate the expert task force.
We have not had a summit, a first ministers' meeting, on this crisis; 42,000 people have died. We have had an auto theft summit. I am not saying that is not an important issue, but clearly this is a health emergency.
Where is the emergency action from the Liberals? What did the moms say about the Conservatives? They want to meet with the Conservative leader. He is afraid to look them in the eye and hear the truth. He is afraid because he knows what he is doing is immoral, the disinformation he is spreading. He knows it is not grounded in evidence. The moms have the evidence; their kids are dead.
211 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/9/24 1:01:45 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, the way the motion reads, it calls it a “carbon tax emergency”. Right now, we are seeing global ocean temperatures higher than ever in history. We had 100 dormant fires in northern Alberta for the first time in our history. On Vancouver Island, where I live, we are 54% below the average snowpack, like most of British Columbia. There are drought-like conditions right across the Prairies. That is an emergency. That is called a climate emergency.
I am going to read a quote from Sandy Garossino. She was at the energy talks in Parksville. She stated on X, “Please stop talking like a teenager trying to get out of family chores.” That comment was directed at Conservatives.
Is my colleague going to offer any solutions today to tackle the climate emergency, or is he going to continue to try to get out of doing his chores, like everybody else?
156 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/9/24 11:04:55 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, in the motion, it calls this a “carbon tax emergency”. We know the PBO and the Governor of the Bank of Canada have said that the carbon tax has about a 0.15% impact on inflation. It is about 15¢ on a $100 bag of groceries. The real emergency is the corporate greed emergency that is happening, the runaway corporate greed, but that is not being dealt with.
We keep hearing the word “emergency”. We saw the Liberals host a summit on auto theft. That is not an emergency; it is a serious issue. An emergency is the 42,000 people who have died from a toxic overdose. The government still has not convened a meeting with first ministers to deal with that. It is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 19 and 59 in my home province of British Columbia. It is spreading across the country. There are skyrocketing deaths in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. However, the government has not even convened a summit on this crisis.
When will the government convene first ministers to deal with the health emergency? We have lost as many people as we did to COVID-19. The government spent less than 1% in response to the toxic drug overdose crisis than it did to COVID-19. When will it do that?
230 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/9/24 11:45:19 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, in just two days, Belleville has seen 23 drug poisonings. It has declared a state of emergency. The mayor says that emergency services and funding are stretched too thin. The toxic drug crisis keeps getting worse, while the Liberals take a patchwork approach. Then there are Conservatives, who spread harmful disinformation instead of offering real solutions. There are 42,000 people who have died since 2016. We need a coordinated, compassionate and integrated response.
When will the minister finally declare the toxic drug crisis a national public health emergency?
91 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/14/23 3:11:46 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, my riding is cut in half. Highway 4 has been closed for over a week because of wildfires. With the closure, local food banks are suffering, as people are trapped. This is impacting people who were already struggling with food insecurity. They are worried, and many do not know where their next meal will come from.
Will the federal government provide emergency funding to local food banks, small businesses and the community and provide emergency unemployment insurance to help people who are cut off by the wildfires?
89 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/18/23 10:12:17 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition mere days after the seventh anniversary of British Columbia's announcement of a public health emergency regarding the toxic drug crisis.
This petition was led by Moms Stop the Harm. I want to thank the moms. I want to thank the dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, children and community members of those who have lost loved ones due to the toxic drug crisis. They are calling on the government to act, to join British Columbia in taking action in what is one of the most deadly public health emergencies in our lifetime and which is claiming approximately 21 deaths and lives every day.
The undersigned call upon the Government of Canada to declare the toxic drug crisis a national public health emergency. They want the government to take steps to end the toxic drug deaths and overdose injuries immediately and collaborate with provinces and territories to develop a comprehensive pan-Canadian overdose action plan, including treatment on demand, decriminalization, provision of a safer supply of substances and investments in education recovery. They want to ensure this emergency is taken seriously with adequately funded programming and supports.
195 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/22 6:34:47 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I am really glad we are here to talk about the mental health emergency that is taking place.
On October 5, I asked the Speaker if we could have an emergency debate and I was not granted permission to do that. I am grateful that all parties have come together to have this important conversation.
I am going to read a quote from Ellen Cohen and Kim Hollihan from the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health, CAMIMH. They state:
Mental health is an integral part of health, and Canada cannot pride itself on a universal healthcare system that does not include universal mental healthcare. The development of national standards for mental health and substance use services cannot delay the introduction of the Canada Mental Health Transfer. Instead, these standards must go hand in hand with the creation of the Canada Mental Health Transfer, rather than the sequential approach that the government is currently taking.
Since 65 national health organizations sent an open letter to the minister saying that the time is now for the government to fulfill its campaign promise, will the minister finally listen and deliver the help that Canadians desperately need and deliver on the transfer?
202 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
