- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Port Moody—Coquitlam
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $129,260.13
- Government Page
- May/9/24 9:07:51 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I know there has been a lot of rhetoric in this House from the Conservatives about declining productivity. That is of no surprise when the oil and gas industry in Canada, one of the largest contributors to the economy, is not reinvesting in R and D, is not reinvesting in innovation, but instead is skimming profits and redistributing them to wealthy shareholders.
I am wondering what the member thinks about that.
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- May/9/24 5:08:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am going to take the opportunity to talk about all of the not-for-profits, and I am sure there are many in his riding as well, that do this work around harm reduction, especially with youth.
In my riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam, we have an organization called Access Youth. Every single Friday and Saturday night, every weekend for years and years, it is out offering harm reduction to youth. It is educating and offering harm reduction to youth, things like naloxone kits. This is important work. We are talking about young lives, sometimes as young as 12 and 13 years old, who need safe supply and need to be protected from harm.
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- May/2/24 2:50:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people in Port Moody—Coquitlam are struggling to keep up with skyrocketing rents and grocery prices.
Meanwhile the Conservative leader is schmoozing with Canada's wealthiest at a $3,500-a-year wine club. This is the guy who said he would cut dental care and pharmacare in favour of keeping billion-dollar corporate handouts. The Liberals are no better. They are letting big grocery CEOs rack up obscene profits while Canadians go hungry.
When will the Liberals stop this corporate greed?
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- Mar/19/24 3:32:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what is on my mind is persons with disabilities. What is on my mind right now is the fact that persons with disabilities are not receiving the Canada disability benefit yet and that persons with disabilities are experiencing very high levels of housing need, rent and food pricing.
I wonder if the member from the Liberals could share why the government is holding back on the Canada disability benefit and why it refuses to tax outsized profits from those large organizations that are making money hand over fist while persons with disabilities suffer.
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- Mar/18/24 11:21:21 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Cons are always on the side of oil giants who are making record profits. Why have the Cons always given space to big polluters, giving them a free ride and refusing to tax the corporate greed to help Canadians?
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Madam Speaker, I am so happy to be standing up for Canadians today on Bill C-352. This is finally addressing the anti-competitive behaviour that has been going on in Canada for decades, which has been supported by the present Liberal government, and the Conservative and Liberal governments before it.
These governments have been back and forth, ping-ponging the government status in this country for decades, and they have done nothing about the fact that consumers have been getting ripped off in the market. I want to thank the member for Burnaby South for raising this important debate in the House of Commons to finally address the lack of competition in this country and the overpriced goods and services that Canadians need to survive.
Canadians woke up this week to the news that corporate control of their medication was a reality. Loblaw and Manulife have potentially colluded together to limit access to life-saving medication for people in this country. Galen Weston is involved in Loblaw. We all know that. Galen Weston has been to committee many times about the skyrocketing price of groceries. We all know that Mr. Weston made the statement that these kind of profits are fine and there is nothing wrong with taking these kind of profits. Meanwhile, Canadians, people in my riding, are struggling to put food on the table.
Galen Weston, as an individual and as an influencer in the Canadian economy, has already got a disproportionate amount of control over people's ability to eat in this country. Now, we are in a situation where Galen Weston and the Loblaw company are going to have even more control over whether or not people, their family members and their friends have the medication they need to stay alive. This is serious business.
Although the competition board oversees anti-competitive behaviour, it has not had the teeth to enforce or make changes. I have been in this House all morning, and I heard the Conservatives say that they are there to create a business climate. This is the moniker of the Conservatives, and this is how they have won elections in the past. They talk about how smart they are on the economy, how smart they are on business and how they are going to make business so great.
I can say that the Conservatives are complicit in the fact that people are paying too much for their groceries, too much for their cellphone bills and too much for their medications. I could go on. The Conservatives work for corporations, and they have no idea how to run an economy.
There is something that bothers me as a woman standing in this chamber. I am a woman who spent 25 years in the grocery industry, many of those years as a business analyst, and many of those years out in the field as a salesperson working in Europe, the United States and Canada. However, because I am a woman, my voice is not heard and they think I do not know what I am talking about. The Conservatives, on their bench, have a number of members who are men, who talk down to me and speak to me like I do not know what I am talking about, when they have never had a job outside of a fast food restaurant chain.
I do not appreciate it. Canadians do not appreciate it. The Conservatives now and in the past, and the Liberals now and in the past, have been hoarding the profits that belong to Canadians through their taxes, and those Canadians should have access to medication and dental care when they need it.
In addition, they should have a national food program, so no child in this country goes to school hungry. Conservatives like to say that kids go to school hungry because their parents cannot afford food. It is true. Families are having a hard time affording food. Do members know why? They are starved of time and wages because of the policies of five decades of Conservatives and Liberals.
I know amazing parents who do not have time to get their children a healthy meal in the morning, at lunchtime and in the afternoon, because the capitalist-driven Conservatives and Liberals made the decision that they wanted those parents to work 12 to 14 hours a day. I think about the nurses and women who are working in the care economy, in long-term care homes. I think about the immigrants who come to this country to work in families, in people's homes, and are paid the minimum; they do not get status for themselves or their family, and their work is precarious. If they dare speak up and talk about the terrible working conditions they are forced into, they might get deported. It is tragic, yet Conservatives have the gall to stand up in this House today and say they are creating a good business climate and are concerned that too many people are going to the food bank. This is legislated choice and legislated poverty that was perpetuated by the Liberals, started by the Conservatives and continues today.
I will go to the Canada disability benefit. I cannot believe that I am the only one who receives daily messages from people with a disability in this country who are living in poverty and getting displaced by these corporate Conservatives and Liberals, who have decided that the best thing we could do is to upzone every property in this country, give it all to the developers to build luxury condos and stick seniors out in tents on the street. I note that the member for Edmonton Griesbach has been talking about this for a very long time. People are living in tents in -35°C weather. I think about the member for Nunavut, who talks about no investment in housing. People in Nunavut are sleeping in shifts in a two-bedroom home where 12 people live.
It is disgusting that these governments, Liberal and Conservative, have done this for decades. As the Prime Minister walks down Sparks Street or Wellington Street, he can see that people are homeless and struggling. What does the government do? It starts to claw back people's CEBA. For low-income people, who needed CEBA and their government benefits, the government has decided to claw back the government benefits now so that they can repay their CEBA. However, the corporate CEOs who are not paying their fair share of taxes, who took the wage subsidy and gave it to their shareholders, are fine.
Members can see that I am a bit upset, because I listened in the House today to some of the debates and I even heard my Bloc colleague say that this debate did not matter. For Canadians, this debate matters. The anti-competitive law is an antiquated law. It has not been looked at. It is putting Canadians at risk.
I can tell members that it would not stand in any other country in this world that one person, someone like Galen Weston, could have so much influence over what we eat or what medications we can take and, in general, control the narrative of what Liberals and Conservatives will say in this House.
Therefore, today I am going to stand up for the NDP and say that we are there, working for Canadians. No other party in this House is.
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- Nov/23/23 10:47:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy the speeches from the member from the Bloc. I always learn a lot and I really appreciate the research that is done.
Just in the closing remarks, the member talked about the oligopoly of the grocery chains in Canada. Really, only three families take so much profit away from Canadians and leave Canadians hungry.
I wonder if the member would not mind sharing whether they would support the NDP's ask for an excess profits tax on big grocery chains.
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- Feb/14/23 2:48:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals said they would defend public health care, and now they are not.
Another example of Liberals putting the interests of corporate profits over people is the flailing Canada Infrastructure Bank. The bank has failed to deliver the climate-resilient infrastructure needed by communities, and Liberals do not want people to know this. The government is keeping that information secret and out of the hands of Canadians.
Why are the Liberals protecting a bank that is not delivering for Canadians?
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- Dec/8/22 5:17:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will start by recognizing, as the member said, that families and all people are suffering right now with the rising prices of food and inflation. It is true; it is happening, and unfortunately, as families and regular Canadians are suffering, large corporations are taking home outsized, massive profits that are not being fairly taxed.
Does the member agree with the NDP that large corporations should pay their fair share and that those outsized profits that grocery chains and the oil and gas sector have gained over this time should be redistributed to people to help pay their bills?
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- Oct/20/22 3:51:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, definitely people are worried about upcoming heating bills.
My question for the member is about fair taxation. Does the member believe there is a lot of work to do to close the loopholes here in Canada for the ultrarich and corporations that are making outsized profits during this pandemic?
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- Jun/7/22 4:25:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I can tell the hon. member that seniors, single moms and persons with disabilities do not need a lecture from this government on inflation. What they need is food on the table for their families this summer.
My question is this: Will the Liberal government finally start taxing outsized profits so that we can share some of this prosperity with the community?
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- Jun/7/22 4:08:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if the Liberal and Conservative governments would have had courage in the past, and if taxation was fair in this country, we would not be in the mess we are in right now. We would already have pharmacare, affordable child care and affordable housing in this country.
Will the Liberals tax the outsized profits from big box and grocery retail?
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