- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Courtenay—Alberni
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 66%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67
- Government Page
- Oct/20/23 12:25:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is not a surprise that I am tabling this petition, given that there were forest fires across my riding, that divided my riding this summer.
The petitioners cite that there is a climate emergency crisis in our country and that Canada's temperatures are rising faster than overall global temperatures. Extreme weather events, including unprecedented droughts, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, like those I cited that occurred in my riding, are destroying lives, homes, communities and our forests. There are 120,000 Canadians who have been driven from their homes and young people are grieving. They are feeling hopeless and anxious about a frightening future. They feel abandoned by a government that is failing to act decisively to counteract the worsening climate catastrophe.
The petitioners are urgently calling on the government to legislate and swiftly enact an economically prudent oil and gas emissions reduction plan. The target of this plan would be to reduce oil and gas emissions by 40% to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. They want to do this by placing a legislated emissions cap that delivers absolute emission reductions that includes methane; removing all publicly financed tax exemptions to the oil and gas sector and eliminating all inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by January 1, 2024; redirecting this money to the urgent development of proven clean energy; and, lastly, stopping all government assumption of transfer of risk and provision of goods and services to fossil fuel companies and prohibiting those fossil fuel companies from using offsets or exemptions on exported fuels.
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- Jun/8/23 10:08:47 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is timely that I table this petition on behalf of youth from Qualicum Beach in my riding. They cite that children born in 2020 will face, on average, two to seven times more extreme weather events than their grandparents. Clearly, we are on the higher end of that. In a 2021 report in The Lancet, 83% of children worldwide reported that they think people have failed to take care of the planet. Those most affected by climate change are the youngest generation, as they will live to see the worst effects of this crisis.
Youth discussion has proven crucial to successful climate action and policy creation. However, dozens of climate-related decisions are made without input from youth. Statistics around the world show that if youth were making these decisions, the representation in Parliament outcome would be different. Children under 18 are not legally allowed to vote and are therefore without legal voice or action.
They are calling on the Government of Canada to require all members of Parliament, regardless of party line, to consult with secondary or elementary school leadership, a student council or an environmental youth group in their ridings before Parliament holds the second reading of any bill that directly affects Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of the consultation will be to listen to the viewpoints of those directly affected by the specified bill who do not already have representation in Parliament.
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- Mar/23/23 1:10:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a huge honour to table a petition today that has been gathered by youth in my riding in the town of Qualicum Beach, climate activists who cite that children born in 2020 will face on average two to seven times more extreme weather events than their grandparents.
In a 2021 report in the Lancet, 83% of children worldwide reported that they thought people had failed to take care of the planet. They note that those most affected by climate change are the youngest generation as they will live to see the worst effects of this crisis; that youth discussion has proven critical to successful climate action and policy creation, however, dozens of climate-related decisions are made without input from youth.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to require all members of Parliament, regardless of party lines, to consult with a secondary or elementary school leadership, student council or environmental youth group of their riding, such as under-18 youth representatives, before Parliament holds second reading of any bill that directly affects Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions; and that the purpose of the consultation will be to listen to the viewpoints of those directly affected by the specified bill, but who do not already have representation in Parliament.
I thank those youth for this very important petition.
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- Dec/1/22 10:08:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition on behalf of constituents from my riding of Courtenay—Alberni. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to enact just transition legislation that reduces emissions by at least 60% below 2005 levels by 2030, to make significant contributions to emissions reductions in countries in the global south, and to create new public economic institutions that expand public ownership of services and utilities across the economy to implement this transition; that create good, green jobs, driving inclusive workforce development led by and including affected workers in communities and ensuring decent low-carbon work for all workers; that protect and strengthen human rights and workers' rights; that respect indigenous rights, sovereignty and knowledge by including them in the creation and implemention of this legislation; and that pay for the transition by increasing taxes on the wealthiest corporations and financing through a public national bank.
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- Oct/24/22 4:55:06 p.m.
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- Re: Bill S-5
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for talking about refitting buildings, especially, and lowering energy there, which is something we certainly agree on as New Democrats. Even the Conservatives had it in their platform, so it is something we all agree on.
The government, through Natural Resources Canada, put out the greener homes grant so people could retrofit their homes, lower their emissions and save money when it comes to home heating. However, I got an email from Tom, in my riding, who is one of many. He said, “Greener homes is a great program on paper and helps to motivate homeowners with energy-efficient upgrades, but if I knew the process would be this long and arduous I likely would not have applied. It needs to be fixed. Please help.” He cannot even get a call back. He has been waiting for months for his refit program.
Can my colleague speak about how important it is that when people do the right thing, the government follows through and makes sure they get the rebate quickly so they are encouraged to invest in clean energy?
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- Jun/13/22 3:47:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a huge honour to present this petition today on behalf of constituents who are calling on the government to address the climate emergency.
They are calling on the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada to enact just transition legislation that would reduce emissions by at least 60% below 2005 levels and make significant contributions to emissions reductions in countries in the global south. They want to see the wind-down of the fossil fuel industry and related infrastructure, an end to fossil fuel subsidies, and a transition to a decarbonized economy.
They cite that this would create good green jobs, drive inclusive workforce development and expand the social safety net through new income supports. It would pay for the transition by increasing taxes on the wealthiest and corporations, and financing through our public national bank. It would protect and strengthen human rights, worker rights and respect for indigenous rights, sovereignty and knowledge, by including them in creating and implementing this legislation. It would ensure migrant justice and emphasize support for historically marginalized communities.
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- May/19/22 10:50:40 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, Canada's target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 requires substantial carbon reductions across all economic sectors. Changing how we look at public infrastructure can unlock previously overlooked pollution-reduction opportunities while supporting Canadian manufacturers and creating the conditions for them to thrive in the low-carbon global marketplace.
This government committed to buy clean in the last election, and creating a buy clean strategy was identified as a priority in the mandate letters of three ministers. However, creating a buy clean strategy is not mentioned in the minister's departmental plan for 2022-23. Can she speak to that?
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