- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Hamilton Centre
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,250.15
- Government Page
- Oct/17/23 4:02:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I only caught the last three minutes of the member's speech, but I heard him touch on some things, and he has presented to the House that he is indeed fiscally responsible and looking for some cost recovery in some of the programs and services. However, when he speaks of balance, I have never heard that particular member talk about the out-of-control compensation for CEOs and the profiteering of big corporations.
It seems that much of the discussion around inflation is centred on the Bank of Canada, where we have Conservatives blaming the government and the Liberal government blaming workers.
Whether it is regarding this particular matter, the fall economic statement or the budget he has proposed, we have a scenario where, in 2021, the highest-paid CEOs made $14.3 million or collectively brought in $1.4 billion, while the good hard-working people I know in Wolfville are still struggling to get by on their average salaries for everyday Canadians. What does he have to say about that?
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Mr. Speaker, I am gobsmacked by the Conservatives who talk about economics. They talk about inflation, but yet they never talk about corporate profits. He just said that he believed there was automatic scarcity. There is no automatic scarcity. This is something that is constructed by capitalism. There are five families that run our food. We have a cartel with our telecoms. We have a cartel with our banking. It is neo-liberal capitalist design to take the value that is created by workers and to syphon it up to the corporate class, yet they never speak about the profits.
This is not the eighties. This is the result of failed trickle-down economics that, at the end of the day, leaves workers with less money to purchase their basic necessities of life. Will the hon. member please find within his spirit a bit of courage today to stand up and finally talk about the corporate greed that is driving inflation, the corporate greed of the banking class, the corporate greed of the grocers and the corporate greed of the Bay Street elite who are driving inflation, rather than trying to put it on the backs of working-class people?
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Madam Speaker, week after week we hear the leader of the official opposition stand in this House and outline point by point the economic violence of capitalist corporate greed, yet he never has the courage to name the real cause of high inflation, which is the Conservatives' endless appetite for obscene corporate profits while everyday Canadians struggle to put food on their tables.
Does the leader of the official opposition not have the guts to take on the corporate greed of Bay Street, or is he simply happy to continue to serve them?
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- Sep/29/22 4:29:24 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I heard the member of the official opposition talk about inflation and copayments for pensions and employment insurance, but not once did she talk about profits. I would like to give the hon. member the opportunity right now. Oil and gas made $147 billion, yet not one word came out of this member about that.
Would she perhaps give some consideration to the runaway profits of the oil and gas sector, the food sector and the housing market, rather than simply being stuck on the taxation associated with it?
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- Sep/27/22 12:07:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his incredible work for workers in Quebec and across Canada.
He mentioned the way workers were being impacted in his home riding. I am hoping he can expand on ways in which a New Democratic plan might provide for a just transition and actually get to the heart of the matter of inflation.
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- Sep/23/22 11:29:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Canadian Labour Congress met with the Bank of Canada this week, the CLC warned them that with rapidly rising interest rates, everyday people pay the real cost of inflation, with job losses and mortgages and personal loan payments jumping hundreds of dollars overnight.
What was the Bank of Canada's response? With the economy on the brink of a recession, it continues attacking workers by encouraging companies to drive their wages down. It is disgusting.
Does the Liberal government agree with the Bank of Canada's call to drive up unemployment while pushing down people's wages, or will they join the New Democrats and the CLC by actually standing up for workers in Canada?
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- Mar/22/22 4:40:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, clearly the rising cost of gas is about inflation. In fact, Marc Lee, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, recently stated, “industry profits rebounded strongly in 2021 after the COVID-induced slowdown of 2020. For example, Canadian Natural Resources booked a record $7.7 billion profit.... This clearly shows it’s time to bring in a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas sector.” One of the obvious ways to address this cost-of-living crisis would be to tax profiteers like Suncor, which made a net profit of $4.1 billion and paid out $3.9 billion to its shareholders.
On the topic of inflation, affordability and taxation, why do the Liberals continue to protect wealth-accumulating corporations and do no nothing to ease the pressure on average Canadians who are struggling to make ends meet?
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- Mar/4/22 12:58:52 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-8
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member spent much of his time in his intervention lamenting inflation and consumer costs, with zero reference to the stagnation of real wages for workers. He lamented taxation on incomes, but he made no reference to the record profits that have been hoarded by big corporations, complete with ridiculous CEO compensations and shareholder dividends.
The hon. member has made lots of criticisms on this, but no criticisms on the capitalism that fuels it. Would he care to comment on the impacts of inflation as they relate to real working class people, such as the folks I represent in Hamilton Centre?
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