Latest News & Updates

IN THE NEWS
Process Nerd: Is it time for MPs to get back to regular in-person House business?

iPolitics

by: Kady O'Malley

Here we go again.

A little over a month after all but one of the four main parties struck a deal to prolong the parliamentary hiatus that has been in place since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada in mid-March, the House is once again heading for an abrupt return to regular, in-person legislative business next week.

Under the terms of the order adopted on April 20, the current suspension will automatically expire on May 25 unless the House leaders of all four parties sign off on a written request for House Speaker Anthony Rota to extend the adjournment until a future date or until further notice.

IN THE NEWS
Hybrid Parliament ready to launch, House officials say in previously confidential report

Globe and Mail.com

Politics, Words: 733

Hybrid Parliament ready to launch, House officials say in previously confidential report

Report comes as Liberals and opposition debate whether to extend the current suspension of Parliament

by: Bill Curry

The House of Commons administration says it is ready and able to implement a U.K.-style "hybrid" Parliament that allows regular in-person sittings to resume with some MPs participating by video on screens placed inside the Chamber.

TELL JUSTIN TRUDEAU TO PUT PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITEERING!

According to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) the federal government has provided up to $750 billion in liquidity support, including regulatory relief, to the banking and financial sector during this pandemic. The six big banks have reported more than $15 billion in profit in the first few months of the pandemic. 

Another report published by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) estimates that more than $25 billion in tax money is taken from Canada every year because of tax havens. Meanwhile, millions of hard working Canadians pay their taxes on time and in full. Trudeau needs to stop letting corporations get away without paying their fair share! 

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trudeau continues to allow companies that use tax havens to access federal government emergency assistance programs and he continues to support the banking system while the public assumes the risk. 

The Trudeau government should follow the example of France, Denmark and Poland by ensuring that public funds used to help our businesses do not end up in the hands of those who use tax havens to avoid paying their fair share. 

Those resources should be spent on affordable housing, job creation, clean energy, health care, education, seniors, students, families and so many other initiatives to make Canadians’ lives better.

Join me to tell Trudeau to stop big banks and big corporations from profiteering and start helping Canadians' families.

IN THE HOUSE
Letter about Expectant Mothers' future EI Maternity Application after COVID-19

I wrote a letter to MP Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion to bring to her attention my constituents' concerns regarding expectant Mothers' future EI Maternity Application after the COVID-19 pandemic.

IN THE NEWS
Federal relief spending now exceeds $150-billion

Globe and Mail (Ontario)

Report on Business | B1, Words: 654

Government's total spending has increased by nearly $6-billion in the past two weeks

by: Bill Curry

Federal spending on COVID-19 measures now stands at $151.7-billion, according to the Finance Department's latest tally of government announcements.

As part of an agreement with the opposition parties in the minority Parliament, the Liberal government is required to table a full cost breakdown of its pandemic spending measures every other week in a report to the House of Commons finance committee.

IN THE HOUSE
Letter to Finance Minister and Minister of Small Business regarding CEBA

My colleague MP Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni) and NDP Critic for Economic Development and Small Business and I wrote a letter to the Finance Minister Bill Morneau and to the Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion to share our deep concerns about two issues relating to the Canada Emergency Business Assistance (CEBA) eligibility. Our office has received multiple complaints from small business owners who found themselves unable to access the CEBA loan because they did not have a business account or they missed the cut off date for setting up a business account.

PM TRUDEAU DON'T FORGET OUR SENIORS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES!

There is no doubt that seniors and people with disabilities right across the country are feeling the impacts of increased costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only are seniors and people with disabilities at greater risk in long-term care facilities, but many are suffering a great deal of fear of isolation and anxiety from worrying about making ends meet.

Coupled with the challenges of the rising costs for essential items and the uncertainty about income benefit programs, far too many seniors and people with disabilities are being left out of the government’s economic response to the pandemic crisis.

NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh, our Critic on Seniors, MP Scott Duvall (Hamilton Mountain) and myself have been pressing hard on the federal government to immediately act on implementing programs that give additional support to seniors and people with disabilities due to the high cost of living during Covid-19. We are demanding that the federal government respond to the needs of seniors and people with disabilities without further delay.

Add your name if you want to see real and immediate action to help vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities NOW!

 

IN THE NEWS
Opposition parties take different tacks to make their marks during COVID-19 crisis

OTTAWA - Pablo Rodriguez looks back wistfully to the time when his biggest worry was whether he'd be able to corral the support of at least one opposition party for the minority Liberal government's initiatives and help it survive confidence votes.

The trials of being the government's House leader in a minority Parliament now pale in comparison to the challenge of ensuring all parties _ indeed, every single MP in the House of Commons _ will give the unanimous consent needed to fast-track billions in financial aid to help Canadians survive the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

IN THE HOUSE
Joint letter regarding the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses

Here is the letter NDP Critic for Small Business and Tourism, Gord Johns and I as the NDP Spokesperson on Finance wrote to Minister Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade in response to the announcements made last week about the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses. While we welcome the initiative, as the NDP had called for in our April 10 letter, the program as announced does not do enough to support small businesses.

IN THE HOUSE
Letter to the Finance Minister regarding migrant workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The Covid 19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on people right across the globe. People accustomed to traveling internationally for their work are stranded away from their home country, but in no less need of support to get through this crisis.

I wrote to the Minister of Finance to raise my concern directly with him about the plight of migrant workers and temporary residents in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

IN THE NEWS
New Westminster-Burnaby MP: time for a shared sacrifice

April 28, 2020 12:35 PM

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New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian, left, dropped by city hall a few months ago to deliver his Pharmacare C213 - An Act to Enact Canada Pharmacare Act to Mayor Jonathan Cote. On Julian's invitation, Cote appeared before the federal finance committee last week. Julian, the federal NDP's finance critic, is a member of the committee.

IN THE HOUSE
Letter to the Minister on the Summer Jobs Program amid COVID-19