- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Churchill—Keewatinook Aski
- Manitoba
- Voting Attendance: 61%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $142,937.96
- Government Page
- Oct/26/23 12:10:27 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I think we are all here because we hope that we can change things for the better. I hope that the Liberals will see there is a desperate need to transform the bank. They made some cosmetic changes in the recent budget, in terms of a focus on indigenous communities. It is nowhere near enough.
We know the climate crisis is only deepening. Our communities' needs for infrastructure and investment are only deepening. The time to transform the infrastructure bank is now.
84 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 12:08:17 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the testimonies at committee were damning when it comes to the track record of the infrastructure bank. Again, the strongly worded recommendation to get rid of the bank is deeply rooted in that testimony.
What New Democrats have said is that we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Do we need a Crown corporation that has as a focus to partner with communities in building the infrastructure they require? Yes, we do. Do we need it the way it is right now, where it seeks to gain profit for private partners, where it is not transparent and where it is not committed to infrastructure that is resilient in the face of climate change? No, we do not.
Despite some of the cosmetic changes, there are still very serious concerns about the infrastructure bank's existence. As I said, New Democrats certainly put forward a transformative vision for the bank. We hope that it could still be applied; if not, we should get rid of it.
170 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 12:06:51 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, as I said in my speech, current departmental programs, particularly under Indigenous Services Canada, are clearly inadequate when it comes to meeting the needs of indigenous communities on infrastructure. Time and time again, I have raised with Liberal counterparts the need to invest in the all-weather road on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, and they have patently refused to do that.
The Liberals talk a good talk when it comes to reconciliation. Part of reconciliation is addressing the housing crisis and the infrastructure gap in indigenous communities. The gap is only growing. I certainly hope the Liberals do not think that what they are currently doing is sufficient, because it is not. We need to transform the infrastructure bank to make the difference that Canadians, indigenous and northern communities deserve. If that is not going to be the case, then we should get rid of it.
150 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 11:59:00 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed that Conservatives did not support my bill, Bill C-245, which sought to transform the Infrastructure Bank in such a way that it could make a difference in the lives of Canadians, when it comes to the major infrastructure needs in our communities.
It is not a bad thing to have a Crown corporation that is committed to building desperately needed infrastructure in our country, particularly as we face the climate crisis. We know that our infrastructure needs are significant on various fronts, but we also know that we are particularly deficient when it comes to climate-resilient infrastructure and ensuring our communities have the kind of infrastructure they need to face the climate crisis.
I want to acknowledge that the Bloc supported our bill at second reading, and I am thankful for that support, as well as that of the Green MPs.
The reality is that, in ditching Bill C-245, Canada missed an opportunity to transform a Crown corporation, an infrastructure bank, in such a way that it could meet the needs of our communities.
My bill was rooted in the experience of communities like the ones I represent, communities that are on the front lines of the climate crisis and are facing record wildfires and flooding. Communities such as the first nations on the east side of Lake Winnipeg do not have all-weather road access. They have to rely on ice roads for shorter periods of time to access medical services, shop more affordably and bring in the materials they need to build the homes they desperately require and other necessary infrastructure. I have heard time and again from first nations and northern leaders. As a northerner myself, it is clear to me that the infrastructure gap in regions like ours is only getting worse.
In talking about Bill C-245, I heard stories from first nations. One first nation was refused funding to upgrade a community home that was in desperate need of fixing because it could not show Canada's Infrastructure Bank how it was profitable. A northern community that was trying to switch from diesel fuel was told to apply for solar panel funding in the middle of winter. There are serious concerns from indigenous leaders that Indigenous Services Canada may help out once things are really and truly broken, but not a moment before.
Prior to Bill C-245 coming to the House at second reading, I acknowledged at the time that communities in my riding were facing immense challenges, as communities were becoming isolated with the melting of the ice roads. One of the projects we talked about needing investment was an all-weather road on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, connecting a dozen first nations that right now are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of the impacts of the climate crises.
We also talked about the transfer from diesel reliance to more sustainable forms of energy. Four of the communities I represent in the far north of northern Manitoba still depend on diesel fuel. We know that many communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are in the same boat. This is unnecessary, given our ability to invest in sustainable energy. That requires government involvement, and the Canada Infrastructure Bank would be well placed to be involved in this kind of work.
As the climate crisis becomes more serious, it is clear that our infrastructure is not up to snuff. It is clear that our communities desperately need a partner in the federal government to invest in the infrastructure we need. Currently, we know that Indigenous Services Canada is not meeting the needs, by a longshot, of indigenous communities when it comes to infrastructure. The housing crisis in communities, for example, is acute. There is a need for critical infrastructure, whether it is health centres, or water and sewer, or roads in the communities or roads connecting communities that currently do not exist.
Indigenous Services Canada is not meeting the needs of indigenous communities. The Canada Infrastructure Bank could play that kind of role. It is not playing that role right now.
Since Bill C-245, we have noticed that the Canada Infrastructure Bank has paid greater attention to the needs of northern and even indigenous communities. I want to acknowledge the work being done on the airport here in Thompson and the Canada Infrastructure Bank's involvement there. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Keewatin Tribal Council in pushing the visionary Pusiko development and hope that the infrastructure bank will be a willing partner in terms of investing in this kind of legacy project.
However, I am deeply disappointed that we are still not seeing the kind of significant investment in northern and indigenous communities or communities across the country, underscoring the work of the transport committee. What is the point of an infrastructure bank that is not making a difference to communities? On that, I want to end by saying that many of us are in Parliament because we want to better the lives of our constituents, people across our country and people around the world.
To that end, I would like to finish my speech by stating clearly that Canada must call for a ceasefire now in Israel and Gaza. Canada must be a voice for peace and justice. As the representative of UNRWA said, “History will ask why the world did not have the courage to act decisively and stop this hell on Earth.”
921 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/26/23 11:54:41 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House to speak to an important report put forward by the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities that takes on the Canada Infrastructure Bank, a Crown corporation that the Liberals have touted as a real model for years and unfortunately has very little to show for it.
I want to acknowledge the work of my colleague from Skeena—Bulkley Valley, as well as other MPs from other parties who have been very clear that the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which, over a year ago was sitting on $25 billion, had very little to show for the work it was supposed to be doing.
I also want to share on the record, as colleagues of mine have said, that I am proud of the work we did to put forward a private member's bill, Bill C-245, that would transform the Canada Infrastructure Bank for the better for Canadians. In essence, our private member's bill, Bill C-245, aimed to make three major changes: first, to remove the private-for-profit model; second, to prioritize indigenous and northern communities that we know have the greatest infrastructure gap in the country, particularly around climate-related projects; and third, to shift the governance model, requiring indigenous representation on the governance board.
I am very disappointed that both the Liberal and Conservative MPs voted against my private member's bill. I want to acknowledge the support of northern MPs from the Liberal side, the MP for the Northwest Territories and the MP for Yukon, and others who abstained, recognizing the desperate need for infrastructure investments in northern indigenous communities facing the climate crisis.
For all the Liberals who voted against Bill C-245, it is not wrong to admit to their mistakes. This is the legacy of Bill Morneau, who is long gone from the House. The model of the Canada Infrastructure Bank as it exists right now is not making a difference for Canadians. It is not bettering the lives of Canadians across our country.
For the Conservatives, who we know, with great fury, opposed the Canada Infrastructure Bank, it was telling that they refused to support Bill C-245, which sought to transform—
375 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, it is my honour to rise today in support of Bill S-219, an act respecting a national ribbon skirt day.
I want to echo messages shared by NDP colleagues, including the MP for Nunavut, who said in the House that this is an important opportunity to recognize indigenous cultures and the prominence of indigenous women.
I also want to make clear that while we in the NDP support this bill, we are also keen to put forward amendments to further improve it. That is something I will get to in a few moments.
It is important to recognize that ribbon skirts are a symbol of strength, pride and hope. They symbolize a direct connection to Mother Earth and her sacred medicines. Ribbon skirts have become a symbol not just of indigenous women's empowerment but also of the struggle for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women.
I think of the many young women, young indigenous women, first nations and Métis, here across our region in Manitoba who make their own ribbon skirts, who gift ribbon skirts, who sell ribbon skirts and who wear them to ceremonies and to powwows. They wear them as a symbol of pride and, I would say, resilience, but also of reclaiming culture and traditions that were forcibly taken away by colonizers. It is important to recognize the empowering elements of the ribbon skirt symbol and find ways to make sure that it is a formal part of our national narrative.
We also need to be clear that if we are going to talk about reconciliation, yes, we need to be looking at symbols but we also need to go much further than that. As we talk about the importance of female empowerment and indigenous female empowerment, we must also act in concrete ways to support indigenous women across Canada.
I have the honour of representing 41 first nations. I have the honour of working with indigenous women, leaders, activists, advocates, elders, young people and indigenous women who hold up their communities, who hold up a region and who, day in and day out, in the face of immense challenges, do everything they can to keep their communities moving forward.
In order for them to continue to do that work and to do that work effectively to meet the needs in their communities, there is no question that we need a federal government that is willing to step up and support that work. Unfortunately, we do not have that in the current Liberal government.
Let us take one of the biggest crises that indigenous women, indigenous communities and, I would say, Canada faces, that of missing and murdered indigenous women, which truly is a national tragedy.
There is not one community, first nations, Métis or urban, here in our region that has not been devastated by the loss of an indigenous woman or girl. As others have said, it is unconscionable that, in a country as wealthy as Canada, we see on a regular basis notices on social media and in our communities of yet another indigenous woman or girl who is missing or who has been taken.
We know that somewhere between 1,600 and 4,000 indigenous women and girls have been lost in this country in the last 20 years. We also know that this did not just happen. The historic inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women uncovered many of the contributing factors. Thankfully, it also made very clear what we need to be doing to put an end to the tragedy that is missing and murdered indigenous women through their 231 calls to justice.
I want to speak to some of those key areas that we need to be pursuing if we are going to talk about ending violence against indigenous women and empowering indigenous women.
We need to put an end to the housing crisis that exists in first nations and urban centres, which indigenous women face disproportionately. On reserve here in our region, it takes the form of third world housing conditions. I have spoken in the House about women and their families that live in remote first nations here in northern Manitoba, in homes held together, in a way, by tarps in the middle of winter.
I have talked about homes that are overcrowded and mould-infested, homes that are making people sick, and homes that have devastating mental, physical and emotional impacts. We know those impacts are disproportionately felt by women. We also know that housing insecurity can contribute greatly to gender-based violence and can prevent women from leaving abusive relationships, even though they would like to. We need to get serious about dealing with the housing crisis that exists in first nations and indigenous communities across the country, and the Liberal government is not doing that.
We also need to be very clear about the fact that indigenous women face disproportionate levels of poverty. I acknowledge the important work of my colleague, the member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre, who has called for a basic annual income, not only for indigenous women, of course, but for Canadians who are on the margins. However, we know that many indigenous women are disproportionately facing poverty in our communities.
There are many ways that we can empower indigenous women and indigenous communities economically, but right now we are not taking that seriously. I would say the investments that are necessary to create jobs and opportunities in indigenous communities across our region are simply not being taken advantage of, despite the fact that many first nations are very clear about the ideas they would like to bring forward to create jobs and opportunities in their communities.
There are also other areas where the federal government is woefully inadequate in terms of action, such as addressing addictions and the need for treatment and healing supports for indigenous women in indigenous communities. Some time ago, I was in touch with the minister about yet another first nation in the region, God's Lake Narrows, which issued a state of emergency calling for federal action to deal with the addictions crisis and the suicide crisis in its community.
A few weeks before that, I spoke out on behalf of Red Sucker Lake First Nation, which also called a state of emergency because of the suicide crisis it is facing. Red Sucker Lake is a first nation that for some time now, along with other first nations in the Island Lake region, has been calling for a treatment centre that the federal government, while it acknowledged it, has done nothing to make happen.
Red Sucker Lake is also part of the Island Lake region, a region of over 13,000 people, a remote region accessible only by plane throughout the year, that also does not have a hospital, forcing people to go out for relatively basic medical care. Again, we know that reality has a disproportionate impact on women.
If we are speaking about infrastructure, a clear way to empower indigenous women is to make sure that they have access to the services and the kind of infrastructure that many take for granted outside of indigenous communities: proper schools, post-secondary opportunities closer to home, proper hospitals and health centres that can provide the services that are required.
Looking beyond that, I would say tracking with the reality, many first nations are disproportionately now impacted by climate change, further isolating first nations, rendering crisis situations more and more serious. I have worked with first nations that have been rocked by wildfires and flooding, clear results of the climate emergency that we are facing. These are communities that have little capacity, if any, to deal with the climate crisis. As research has pointed out, this has a disproportionate impact on indigenous women as well.
It is clear that the federal government needs to move beyond symbols and commit to action when it comes to reconciliation and empowering indigenous women.
I briefly want to share that we are keen to make amendments indicating that indigenous women not be put in a generalized category and recognizing that first nations, Métis and Inuit women have different ways of affirming each other's strength. Also very importantly, this bill needs to include indigenous persons whose identities are outside the gender binary and who choose to symbolize the importance of wearing ribbon skirts. Inclusion and creating a safe space for gender discussions for indigenous peoples must be a priority, and I point to the work of Dr. Alex Wilson, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, who has devoted her career to understanding two-spirit identity.
There is much work to be done to recognize the strength of indigenous women, but certainly concrete action is necessary to truly respect indigenous women and empower them as they are pursuing—
1480 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Jun/22/22 2:57:23 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals face a test today. Will they take a good idea in my bill to fight climate change or side with their rich friends at the Infrastructure Bank, a corporate welfare scheme? Today we will find out as MPs vote on my bill to support indigenous and northern communities to get the infrastructure they need to survive climate change. During this week's debate, we had to listen to a Liberal MP support public-private partnership scams and push more privatization.
The climate crisis is here, and northern and indigenous communities are paying the price. Will the Liberals stand with northern and indigenous communities or their billionaire friends?
111 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I rise today for the second time to proudly speak to my bill, Bill C-245, an act to amend Canada's Infrastructure Bank, with a plea.
Time is running out, and our communities need help. It is clear the climate emergency is here. Our region is already being hit hard. Yesterday, in Winnipeg, we saw record high temperatures. Over the last month, Peguis first nation has seen unprecedented flooding. First nations such as Tadoule Lake had winter storm warnings in June, and we are already experiencing extreme forest fires, which have caused extensive damage. In parts of Ontario and Quebec, tornados and severe storms have been wreaking havoc the last number of weeks.
The bill is rooted in this reality, the reality that communities on the front lines, particularly indigenous and northern communities, need action to survive climate change now. Since I tabled this legislation, I have heard from many indigenous and northern leaders across the country who have advocated tirelessly for federal support, support they have yet to receive. I have also heard from many who have reached out to the Canada Infrastructure Bank only to be rejected.
I have heard stories of first nations that were refused funding to upgrade a community hall in desperate need of fixing because they could not show the Canada Infrastructure Bank how it would be profitable, and of a northern community that was trying to switch off from diesel and were told to apply for solar panel funding without any recognition of the infrastructure needed to transition the community.
Communities do not need band-aids. They want to work with government to build infrastructure that mitigates and adapts to the increased precarious realities they face. Two first nations in our region, Poplar River and York Factory, have been left stranded in the last few weeks. It is clear they need all weather roads.
The government might show up to put a on band-aid for a short-term solution, but that is it, and we continue slowly and surely down a path, and we know where it ends. This is not how the federal government should be governing. Canadians deserve better. Communities at the forefront of the climate crisis deserve better. Time is running out and communities need our help.
Instead of getting that help, indigenous and northern leaders, and advocates can tune into this debate and hear the Liberals tell us that the Infrastructure Bank is doing great and that nothing needs to change. It is business as usual.
What we heard from the Liberals today on the bank is pure fiction. Communities know it. Canadians know it. The bank is a corporate welfare scheme. It is not doing the job the Liberals promised it would. Ironically, this week marks five years since the bank was founded. Five years later, the bank does not have a single success story to point to. It has given plenty of ammunition to those that were critical from the beginning, and it reinforces what many of us believe, which is that Liberals are more concerned with helping their wealthy friends than standing with Canadians.
In committees, in the House and in private meeting with Liberal MPs, I have consistently heard an acknowledgement that the bank is not what the government hoped for. We in the NDP have made serious propositions to fix it so it is there for the communities that need it most. We believe that public ownership is a critical tool in taking on the climate crisis. We believe that reconciliation ought to mean investing in critical infrastructure in indigenous and northern communities.
We cannot afford to miss this opportunity. When this historic agreement between the NDP and the Liberals was signed, there was talk about our shared principles on the environment and reconciliation. The Liberal opposition to our bill flies in the face of the spirit of that agreement. It used to be that the Liberals would steal good ideas from the CCF and the NDP. Now they cannot even see the value of a good idea in front of them.
The bill has unprecedented support, and for that I am thankful, from indigenous and northern leaders, climate activists, labour leaders, economists and Canadians from coast to coast to coast. We need to wake up. The world is burning. Indigenous and northern communities are fighting to survive. We do not need the Liberal greenwashing.
Indigenous and northern leaders are fighting for a better future. We cannot miss the opportunity to create a livable future for the communities that are already on the front lines. I hope that members of Parliament will read the hundreds of letters they have received from constituents and communities on the front lines. Time is running out. Our communities need help. Bill C-245 is a step in that direction.
805 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, York Factory First Nation has lost its lifeline, its ferry, for longer than expected. The community is now isolated and needs immediate assistance. It also needs an all-weather road. Climate change is already wreaking havoc here, as the ground-breaking report from the Canadian Climate Institute indicates. Urgent federal action is needed now across our north, including by building all-weather roads.
My bill, Bill C-245, supports this work. Will the Liberals invest in all-weather road access for York Factory and support my bill to invest in our communities that are on the front lines of climate change?
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/17/22 1:04:48 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, it is pretty rich to hear the Liberals defending the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Not one of its projects has seen completion. It is sitting on $35 billion and has been around for over five years now. There is not much to point to, except for projects that it is interested in or is approving.
As I expect my colleague to know, the reality is that first nations and northern communities have been consistently left out from many pockets of infrastructure funding, including at the Infrastructure Bank, and they are paying the highest cost of climate change. We can look at Peguis First Nation. It knows what it needs and it has been clear with the federal government, but the federal government is nowhere to be seen when it comes to long-term mitigation efforts. This is not acceptable.
The Infrastructure Bank ought to be part of the solution, and the federal government needs to step up with some sense of urgency to support Peguis and first nations and northern communities that are already paying the price of climate change.
181 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/17/22 12:54:08 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to debate our NDP motion to call on the Liberal government once again to end subsidies to its buddies in big oil. The best time to do this was years ago. The second best time to do it is today.
Time is running out, yet the Liberals continue to hold on to the strange idea that we are just another couple of billion dollars to big oil away from solving the climate crisis. It is wrong, and they know it is wrong, but they continue to maintain this fallacy and hope no one will notice that they are doing the opposite of what they are saying.
They may say they care about reversing catastrophic climate change, but they do not get to say they care while propping up the same companies that are wrecking our environment with our tax dollars to fund their bonuses. They do not get to say they care when Cenovus recently announced its best first-quarter profit ever, raking in almost a billion more than it did one year ago, or Imperial Oil tripling its 2021 earnings, or Suncor quadrupling its. These companies are not self-made. They are doing it with the government's help and with our tax dollars.
Meanwhile, it is workers, indigenous peoples, young people and northerners who are paying the price in every way while the government sits back. These are the people who are getting ripped off at the pump and may no longer be able to even afford to drive to their jobs, or are struggling to pay rent or pay for groceries, people who are consistently left behind by a government that likes to cosplay as the plucky hero saving the environment.
It is not heroic to give billions to big oil. It is not brave. It is not challenging the status quo. It is the status quo, and it is going to get our planet destroyed.
It is funny. The government regularly talks about listening to science, but it rarely does so when it comes to climate change. The IPCC has been clear on the need to end oil subsidies, yet the government pretends that this is not the case. The IPCC has said that countries like Canada need to increase investments in renewables by at least a factor of three to meet our climate goals, yet the government still has not done this.
It goes without saying that I would never accuse members of the government of misleading the House or even Canadians while in the chamber, but it does beg the question, what would we call a government that says it is tackling climate change by giving billions to big oil? What do we call a government that presents itself as an environmental champion on the international stage and to the public while consistently missing every target it has ever set? I will leave that question to Canadians.
The facts are clear. Canada has the worst record in the G20, handing out 14 times more financing to the oil and gas sector than to renewables. It is no surprise that big oil has always had the ear of the government, which I guess is easy to do when the government has had 6,800 recorded meetings with big oil. It has worked, having successfully lobbied the Liberals for a $2.6-billion tax credit for unproven carbon capture technologies that allow them to justify increased production and higher emissions.
In total, the government gave $8.6 billion last year to oil companies already raking in record profits. It is always the same with the government: help for those at the top and nice words for everyone else.
Those words have been nice. In 2019, we heard about the just transition act. The government failed to deliver, and the environment commissioner recently had to call it out over its lack of a plan to support workers and communities through the transition to a low-carbon economy.
At COP26 in November, we heard nice words again from the government, to phase out public financing of the fossil fuel sector. We heard nice words in the mandate letters for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Natural Resources. Every single one had nice words about phasing out public subsidies for big oil, but recent testimony from Finance and ECCC officials at the environment committee showed that it is not much more than nice words.
Let us be clear. Nice words do not help people afford their basic needs. Nice words will not stop the climate catastrophe.
My home is here in northern Manitoba, where long drives between communities are a daily reality of life. People here in Thompson regularly drive eight hours to our capital, Winnipeg, to pick up supplies and things they need. For many surrounding communities, Thompson is where many people come in for health care, to access other services, to pick up groceries and to shop for necessities. This morning, the cost of gas here in Thompson was $1.85; in Cross Lake, $1.89; in Lynn Lake, $2; in Churchill, $2.56.
How are people expected to have money left over for anything else when gassing up costs this much? Where do these people turn? Who is standing up for them?
A better way does exist. It is not too late for the government to reverse course from the path toward climate disaster it has put us on. It starts with ending subsidies to big oil and reinvesting that money toward both renewable energy and help for Canadians struggling with the cost of living. This is what our motion calls for today.
There is no reason the Liberals cannot start by eliminating tax credits for oil and gas exploration and development immediately. This would bring in almost $10 billion in the next four years. We ought to include profitable oil and gas companies in the Canada recovery dividend to tax their excess profits and redistribute that money to help Canadians struggling to get by. We must suspend the GST on residential energy bills, double the GST tax credit and increase the Canada child benefit for all recipients now.
I urge this House to support our motion, but there is so much we need to be doing. We must go further. We must do more.
My other question is, why have we not activated all the tools at our disposal, like our Crown corporations, and used public ownership in the fight against climate change? Why have we not made the types of investments necessary to support communities in need to fight back?
Indigenous peoples and northerners are already paying the price for climate change. How many catastrophic floods or fires before we take it seriously? How many evacuated communities, destroyed homes and livelihoods gone before we finally do what we need to do to save people, communities and our planet?
It seems that every year somewhere in the country there are record temperatures, floods or forest fires. Every evacuation, every destroyed community is a proverbial canary in the coal mine of climate change. Communities are crying out as they are being destroyed by our indifference. The worst part is that as long as we continue to give billions of dollars to big oil, we are subsidizing our own destruction. Every climate disaster, flood or fire is on our hands. We are doing this.
Today we are witnessing here in our part of the country the devastating flooding in Peguis First Nation, a community to which the current government and governments before it promised they would fund flood mitigation efforts, a promise unmet. Now, Peguis is dealing with the catastrophic impacts: a total evacuation of the community of over 1,870 members, and more than 700 homes impacted. We are talking about a community that has flooded five times in the last 16 years. It knows how to deal with floods, but it is getting worse.
The feds and the province may show up with sandbags, but when it comes to long-term support, the federal government has been nowhere to be seen. When asked about this by the CBC, the federal government refused to commit to long-term supports, leaving communities like Peguis in the lurch. Why? Imagine if there was a place for communities like Peguis to turn to in order to get the funding they need for the infrastructure they know they need that would help with climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
My bill, Bill C-245, an act to amend the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act, is motivated by the communities in my riding and across the country that have nowhere to turn to get the support they need to survive climate change. This is about standing with communities. It is ultimately about saving lives.
If this House is truly serious about supporting indigenous and northern communities, if we are truly serious about taking on catastrophic climate change, I invite all members to stand with communities like the ones I represent by supporting this bill when the time comes. For too long, this House, the government, has shown its loyalty to those at the top, those who need the least amount of help.
It is time this House, the government, stood with everyone else. It is time the government stopped being part of the problem and started being part of the solution. It is not too late, but soon it will be. Let us get to work now.
1596 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/13/22 11:46:32 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, Peguis and communities across Manitoba are being devastated by unprecedented flooding, with homes destroyed, roads washed out and livelihoods gone. More rain is in the forecast. This is climate change.
Peguis has been pushing for long-term mitigation work for over a decade. The federal government has not lived up to its commitments. There is no time to waste. These investments are about the survival of communities.
Instead of padding the pockets of corporate Canada at the Infrastructure Bank, when will the federal government get serious about climate change mitigation and adaptation infrastructure? It is time to stand up for Peguis.
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, let me be clear. This monster was created by the Liberal government. It is clear that the bank's very foundations need to be changed.
I believe this is not only possible, but necessary in order to tackle the climate crisis.
43 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I want to be clear that this bill would reform one of our Crown corporations, which has a stated objective of addressing the infrastructure crisis in our country, an objective it clearly is not fulfilling. It is sitting on $35 billion, but has not produced any final results to show for it.
What we are saying is this: Let us leverage public investment, along with other levels of government and public institutions, to meet the urgent infrastructure needs, particularly in the face of climate change. Other countries do this kind of work. Canada is way behind, and it is time that we show leadership, including through the effective use of the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
116 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I think we can all agree that, no, communities certainly do not have what it takes, but what we do know is that the federal government has incredible resources to do the work that needs to be done.
We saw during the COVID pandemic the extent to which Canada's federal government stand up and made historic investments, and certainly part of this was the work that we did in the NDP, to keep people in our communities safe in the face of this devastating pandemic, which is ongoing.
Climate change is the greatest threat we are all facing, so let us see that same kind of bold investment. Let us use our Crown corporations. Let us do everything we can to invest boldly and take the action necessary to fight the climate crisis. That starts with supporting our communities and with seeing federal leadership on that front.
150 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
moved that Bill C-245, An Act to amend the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
She said: Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in the House to speak to my private member’s bill, Bill C-245. It is a bill that would amend the act of the Infrastructure Bank of Canada, a bill that would use public ownership in the fight against climate change, and a bill that would give hope to communities like the one I come from, the ones I represent and the ones across our country that are already paying the price for climate change.
This bill would provide a new avenue for indigenous communities, northern communities and all Canadians to develop the infrastructure they need right now.
The climate crisis is on our doorstep, and what we are hearing back home in the north is alarming. The permafrost is melting and jeopardizing our municipal infrastructure. Thousands of people rely on temporary winter roads to receive deliveries of heavy equipment, but the season for using them is getting shorter and shorter. These communities need help dealing with climate change before it is too late.
Meanwhile, the Canada Infrastructure Bank has failed. Not a single project has been completed, and billions of dollars are sitting unspent.
As the UN Secretary-General said this week, time is running out. We must use all of the tools at our disposal to tackle the climate crisis. The bill I am proposing today is part of the solution.
This past September, I sat with the chief and council of Pauingassi First Nation at the hotel in Winnipeg where they had been evacuated. They were into the third month of their forced evacuation from wildfires raging in eastern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. This was their third evacuation in four years. This time it lasted four months.
We sat in one of the hotel meeting spaces that had been converted into a makeshift school. The leaders and principal of the school shared their concerns. “These fires are only getting worse,” they shared. “We need support to keep our communities safe,” they said. Pauingassi is one of two first nations in Manitoba that, despite years of advocacy, does not even have an airport. They have no all-weather road and no airport. “We felt trapped,” they said.
Pauingassi lost community members during the time of the evacuation. Many community members were desperate to go home, and when they got home, they found hectares of their traditional lands devastated. Traplines were gone and cabins had burned to the ground. A way of life was under threat.
Last summer saw a series of devastating climate events. Perhaps the one that received the most attention was the burning to the ground of Lytton, in British Columbia. The excruciatingly high temperatures of the heat dome created the conditions of a fire that engulfed a village, a community, lives and livelihoods. As Edith Loring-Kuhanga, school administrator for Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, said, “The extreme temperatures of 49°C-plus leading up to June 30 contributed to the Lytton Creek fire that destroyed the Village of Lytton in 25 minutes and burned many homes and businesses on IR 17, 18 and 22 of Lytton First Nation and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. Our lives were forever changed on June 30. Nine months later, those who lost their homes continue to be homeless and struggle with high anxiety and PTSD as they continue to reconnect with their families, culture, way of life and the land.” To this day, Lytton is still waiting to be cleaned up and rebuilt.
Pauingassi, Lytton, Little Grand Rapids, St. Theresa Point, Shamattawa, Thompson, Iqaluit, Old Crow, The Pas, Fort Chipewyan, Prince George, Pinaymootang First Nation, Peguis, Inuvik, Uashat-Maliotenam and Happy Valley-Goose Bay: this bill is for all of our communities. These communities have been sounding the alarm on climate change for some time. They have been clear on what they need and what we need to mitigate and adapt, and they are communities that have been ignored. This must change. Time is running out.
Just this week, the IPCC came out with a damning report highlighting the absolute urgency needed to fight climate change. The report outlined the need to ditch fossil fuels. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the report, but just as easily could have been talking about the Liberal government record on climate change, as a “litany of broken promises” and “a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unlivable world”. He said, “The jury has reached a verdict. And it is damning. We are on a fast track to climate disaster.”
There have been many reports and many words, but not enough action. The Liberals continue to maintain the anti-science fallacy that fossil fuel investments will pay for a clean-energy transition. The government has given more to oil companies than even the previous Conservative government could have dreamed of. We are, shamefully, the worst G7 country when it comes to GHG emissions, and at a time when we should be supporting the transition to green energy, dozens of northern communities in our country are running on dirty diesel.
Time is running out. We must act now. It is time that we commit to investing in indigenous and northern communities and all our communities in supporting their efforts for a just transition by supporting this legislation, because it is that important. The infrastructure needs are that important.
A recent report claimed that the infrastructure gap for first nations is conservatively estimated at $25 billion to $30 billion, yet many of the infrastructure needs we see are for projects between $1 million and $25 million. Bluntly speaking, slapping a profit requirement on Infrastructure Bank projects locks communities like the ones I represent out of these dollars. Do their infrastructure needs not matter?
Chief Owens of Pauingassi First Nation said, “We have already seen the effects of climate change over the last few decades. It’s real. I was surprised in conversations with Niki to even hear of Canada’s Infrastructure Bank. We’ve never heard of it. We’ve never been able to use it. Investments to connect us with the rest of the country or help us deal with fires we would like to see, and this bill would help with that.”
Chief Redhead is from Shamattawa First Nation, a community that as been failed by Canada time and time again. It deals with massive infrastructure gaps, a housing crisis, tuberculosis outbreaks as a result of the housing crisis and a recent COVID outbreak that was so bad that the military had to be sent in. In regard to this bill, he said, “One of the benefits of seeing this bill pass would be the ability to connect Shamattawa to the main hydro line. Right now we’re dependent on burning dirty diesel for the entire community. It’s 2022 and it’s time to bring communities like Shamattawa into 2022. I’d really like to see this bill pass and for all parties to support it so we can make real change in the fight against climate change.”
Chief Flett of St. Theresa Point has talked about the need for an all-weather road system to the Island Lake Region, given the melting ice roads and the chance to cut down on the carbon footprint that comes from an absolute reliance on air travel.
We have heard from leaders about water pipes breaking down in their communities because of melting permafrost, radio towers snapping because of the weight of record snowfalls, historic droughts and unpredictable flooding.
In discussions with indigenous, territorial and northern leaders, we repeatedly heard about how they want to move forward with mitigation and adaptation. We also heard how hard it was for them to access any federal dollars. Overwhelmingly, there was a sense that the federal government existed to serve the needs of the southern part of the country, if that.
In conversations with some of my Liberal colleagues in advance of today, I heard concerns that there are other federal institutions that can do this work, that can fund these type of projects, but the reality is that they are not. That is why so many of these communities are in such dire straits.
If we acknowledge that the need is great, if we acknowledge that current institutions are not getting the job done, why do we not use Canada’s Infrastructure Bank to do the job we originally wanted it to do? We cannot afford to wait in terms of climate, and we certainly cannot afford to wait when it comes to people. If not now, when?
It is clear that the Canada Infrastructure Bank is not living up to its promise. We are talking about a Crown corporation with a budget of $35 billion dollars that has yet to complete a single project in almost five years of existence. A recent PBO report said it would not even spend half its money. In the infrastructure committee study called for by my colleague, the MP for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, witness after witness made it clear that the bank in its current form does not and cannot work, yet when the bank was first established, many folks were excited. Robert Ramsay, senior research officer at CUPE, described the excitement when they thought that they were hearing about the creation of a public infrastructure bank that could invest in desperately needed infrastructure across the country. This has not been the case. The reality is that the bank is refusing to do the work that it promised to do.
At committee, the PBO reported that the Canada Infrastructure Bank had only approved 18% of the projects it considered, with one of the most common reasons given for rejection being that the projects themselves were not considered big enough. This bill would fix that. It would prioritize the infrastructure needs of the communities the bank claims to be working for.
The bank's privatization agenda has been a key part of the problem. There was a consistent feature of testimony at committee from witnesses, including Canadians for Tax Fairness, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Council of Canadians, that public-private partnerships, particularly ones that include private operators collecting revenues through user fees, inherently raised questions about which projects are selected. They questioned whether Canadians can be satisfied that an infrastructure project is being funded because it serves the greatest public interest and not because it offers the highest rate of return for private equity providers.
Mr. Sanger testified:
The only purpose that P3s fill is to engage in some off-book financing and provide private finance with lucrative low-risk investment opportunities that taxpayers will cover for decades to come. If these projects are really privatized, we will undoubtedly end up with some really inadequate infrastructure....
In Mapleton, Ontario, it took public outrage to stop the Infrastructure Bank from privatizing water services.
As Angella MacEwen, a senior economist at CUPE, said, “The most critical infrastructure needs in Canada aren’t ones that work with a profit attached to them. It’s basic infrastructure that is needed for communities to go about their daily lives. It should be publicly financed and publicly owned so it benefits the most people. I’m really excited to see this bill. This is what we’ve been asking for at CUPE and the broader labour movement: for the bank to move in this direction.
Along with its privatization agenda, there is a lack of transparency from the bank. At committee, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux discussed the bank's refusal to share information, saying that the bank was probably less transparent than the Department of Infrastructure. He also pointed out that parliamentarians had yet to receive a full status update on the bank because the government has not kept track of information on all funded projects. This is obviously unacceptable.
Through this bill we are also calling on the bank to include first nations, Inuit and Métis voices in its governance. If we acknowledge that the greatest infrastructure gap in the country is within these communities, it is frankly inconceivable in 2022 and in an age of reconciliation that these communities do not have a say in what is happening on their land.
It is clear that the foundations of the Canada Infrastructure Bank must be rebuilt. We can do this work. We know that the fight against climate change requires bold collective action. It requires the leveraging of public investment in historic ways. Crown corporations are key tools in this fight. Our Crown corporations belong to us, the Canadian people, and they ought to be leading players in the fight against climate change. Today we can start with the Infrastructure Bank. The Infrastructure Bank can be the solution and not a tepid part of the problem. I urge my Liberal colleagues and indeed all members of the house to be part of that solution. The bank should be issuing green bonds, as many have called for. Let us let the CIB be a driving force in the fight against climate change, in the fight against the infrastructure gaps our communities face.
Rather than allocating public funds to be used by the private sector, which will prioritize profits, let us direct that money to the communities that are struggling to survive in the midst of a climate emergency. Let us use all levers of government and put them to work for the people. Let us create green jobs. Let us join forces with indigenous peoples who are experiencing the climate crisis firsthand. Let us identify all of the government's underperformers, like the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We need to do this for the survival of our planet.
My message to the Liberals is clear: If they want the Infrastructure Bank to live up to its promise, make these changes.
My message to all MPs in the House is clear: If they believe communities across our country deserve federal investment as they take on the climate crisis, vote for this bill. If they believe we need bold action to take on the climate emergency, vote for this bill.
2427 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, 2030 is quickly approaching, and the Liberals still do not get it when it comes to climate change. They refuse to meet the urgency of this moment. They are still handing out billions to big oil, and it is no surprise that emissions continue to go up. We cannot wait any longer. We need infrastructure investments for indigenous and northern communities that are already paying the price for climate change.
Canada's infrastructure bank is just sitting there, literally, because it has yet to complete one project. That is why we in the NDP want to put it to work with my bill, Bill C-245.
Will the Liberals stand with indigenous and northern communities by voting for this bill?
122 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/21/22 5:54:46 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is clear that more and more Canadians are tuning in to the fact that one of our Crown corporations that was created to meet the infrastructure crisis across the country is simply not delivering. It has turned into a corporate welfare model pushing disastrous PPP projects with a for-profit agenda, and ultimately the result is that we have not seen one project brought to completion. This is unacceptable from a public entity or Crown corporation that is sitting on money that is ours as Canadians, an entity that we desperately need to do the work of meeting Canada's infrastructure needs, particularly in the face of the climate crisis. That is why I am proud of my private member's bill, Bill C-245, which I hope MPs will support, which would allow us to reform the bank so that it works in support of Canadians and Canadian communities in the fight against climate change.
159 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/21/22 5:42:08 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, almost two-thirds of the children living in northern Manitoba live in poverty, the highest number in the country. For them there is never enough. There is not enough food. There is not enough housing, and there is not enough medical care. There are communities such as Shamattawa, which in the last couple of years has dealt with a lack of clean drinking water, a COVID outbreak, a tuberculosis outbreak and an acute lack of housing. There are few communities in the country that better represent our collective failure as a country than Shamattawa does.
There is a stain of settler colonialism and an uncaring government that leaves people and communities like these to die. Garden Hill, York Factory, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and Red Sucker Lake are all communities, just from our part of the country alone, that the government has turned its back on. They are communities that do not know week to week whether the water they depend upon will be clean enough to drink or bathe in, whether there will be access to the medical care they need in their community if a loved one gets sick. These are communities that, during the H1N1 pandemic, were sent body bags and, during the COVID pandemic, were sent tents in the middle of winter.
For isolated communities like these, how can we ever talk about affordability when people's basic needs are not being met? These are communities that do not have enough doctors. These are communities that have a third world housing crisis. We are talking about 12, 15 or 20 people living in a home that is often infested with mould and inadequate for our climate. Fundamentally, these are communities that successive Liberal and Conservative governments will not stand up for, and it is everywhere.
In my hometown of Thompson, we see the struggle every day. It is a working class town that has lost most of its good jobs. They were sold off by successive Liberal and Conservative governments. People are worried they cannot make their rent or pay for their medication. People are out of work and they cannot make ends meet. These are people who have seen government rely on platitudes rather than supports they desperately need.
This is repeated in communities across the country. The ever-increasing concentration of wealth with the one percent while more and more are lost and struggling. It is a rigged system and the government shows its true colours every day.
The Liberals will say that we are all in this together to a family who just lost their job and cannot afford to fix the broken fridge, but they will actually give $12 million to Loblaws to buy new fridges. The government said that nurses and grocery store clerks were the real heroes of the pandemic, but they never got disaster pay, while wealthy CEOs used the wage subsidy to fund their bonuses. The Liberal government does not care about struggling people. It just plays that role on TV.
During the last election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to raise income tax on the most profitable big banks and insurance companies. We are still waiting for the Liberals to do that. Canadians expecting their government to stand up for them are still waiting. The reality is that in the six and some years they have been in power, the Liberal plan has made life easier for the wealthiest and largest corporations while everyone else is worse off. Time and time again, people who have so little have had to watch the government cater to those who have so much while people suffer. They are indigenous people, northerners, working people and the poor.
The billionaire class, not just from Canada but from all over the world, benefits from the government's inaction on tax fairness. Canada's reputation is used to advertise to oligarchs around the world, showing how generous Canadian tax laws are to help them develop their tax avoidance schemes. This was demonstrated in the latest report from Transparency International Canada, Canadians for Tax Fairness and Publish What You Pay Canada, which quotes:
Canada is a new player in the world of offshore companies...it has no negative offshore reputation and no association with tax avoidance or evasion. It is by far one of the best neutral jurisdictions, providing offshore benefits without any of the traditional offshore drawbacks.
This is Canada. We got to this point by design, not by accident. Canada's tax laws were left untouched despite a flurry of scandals and leaks from the Panama papers to the Pandora papers and more. These should have been a wake-up call the world over, but the Liberals have not budged. Despite losing tax case after tax case, and despite clear evidence that Canadian laws are not up to the task of dealing with tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax havens, we have yet to see the desperately needed overhaul of the tax system.
What should we expect from the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party who regularly fundraise off the billionaire class? Of the 100 richest families in Canada, each of them worth over $1 billion, 56 of them have contributed to the coffers of one or the other of Canada's ruling parties. Last week's report made it clear that they are getting their money's worth. The capacity of the Canadian tax code leaves the door open for tax dodgers to do as they please. As private companies can be owned anonymously, the shareholders, partners and other beneficiaries can act in darkness, sheltered by Canada from paying their fair share. There is no oversight as financial reporting is not mandatory.
Acting now is a matter of fairness and justice. There needs to be more transparency and disclosure in order to close this gaping tax loophole. These companies that act as fronts for tax havens must be brought to light and made accountable. Beneficiaries must be named. Disclosure must be required, to know on behalf of whom these companies are operating. There must be accountability requirements as well as real enforcement in case of false declarations and non-compliance.
Given that Canada has failed to successfully mount any cases against major tax cheats with its existing laws, and given that Canada is failing at prosecuting major corporate tax cheats despite regularly promising to add to the CRA's capacity to do so, we need to make sure that there is real enforcement of those needed changes to Canada's tax laws. We are not asking for much. Canadians are not asking for much. They are just asking for the Liberal government to live up to its rhetoric rather than continue along the path it always has, which is one of catering to the billionaire class rather than standing up for people.
With respect to big banks, big-box stores, insurance companies and oil companies, I implore my Liberal friends to trust me: These do not need their solidarity. In a time of record profits, they do not need the Liberals' help. A 3% surtax on these industries would still mean record profits and bonuses, but it would be world-altering for communities and people on the margins. They are the ones the government should be helping out. They are the ones who need our solidarity. They are the ones who want and need to see a plan from the government. It is time we stopped standing idly by and refusing to fix the loopholes that allow these companies to take the wage subsidy and, instead of investing it in workers, hand out million-dollar bonuses to those who do not need the money.
We must start taking seriously the issue of tax evasion and bring in a beneficial ownership registry in the upcoming budget to help tackle tax evasion and money laundering in real estate. Approximately $130 billion in illicit funds is laundered each year in Canada, mostly through businesses. This is not surprising, as Canada has some of the least transparent corporate laws in the world.
At a time when the Liberal government is not doing enough to build more affordable housing, billions of dollars in laundered money through home purchases put upward pressure on prices. That is why the government needs to accelerate the adaptation of transparency tools that discourage money laundering by criminals and the wealthy, including a nationwide publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry.
We must start investing in communities' infrastructure needs. Indigenous and northern communities that are at the forefront of the climate crisis need a partner in the federal government. We must use the Canada Infrastructure Bank to prepare communities that need it most to take on the climate crisis. The Infrastructure Bank, with its $35-billion budget, has yet to complete a single infrastructure project almost five years into its existence.
Today, what we are asking is for the government to match its rhetoric with its actions, to stop talking about standing with communities and actually stand with them, to stop being part of the problem and to start being part of the solution.
1520 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, the Canada Infrastructure Bank is broken. Liberals know it. Canadians know it. Everybody knows it. However, the IPCC report is clear: The window to secure a livable future is rapidly closing. We must act now.
We need to shift from diesel to green energy across the north. We need infrastructure support to fight forest fires. We need all-weather roads, as melting is leaving indigenous and northern communities stranded. We need a climate change mitigation strategy now.
My climate bill would do exactly that by making the Infrastructure Bank work to tackle the climate crisis. Will the Liberals stand with indigenous and northern communities fighting climate change? Will they support this bill?
114 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
