OTTAWA—On Monday, Pierre Poilievre threated to do everything he could to delay the budget from passing. By blocking the Budget legislation, Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives would stop 3.5 million Canadians from saving hundreds of dollars with free dental care.
The people Pierre Poilievre is hurting are Canadians under 18, people with disabilities and seniors struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
Meanwhile the Conservative Leader has had dental coverage since he was elected in 2004 and has been covered for more than $40,000.
“The Conservative Leader telling senior citizens that they don’t deserve the help he’s had for decades is hypocritical and wrong,” said Jagmeet Singh. “Pierre Poilievre has had dental coverage on the taxpayers’ dime for the last 20 years. And he’s telling single moms who are scrimping and saving to get their teenager to the dentist that they don’t deserve a break. He’s really showing his true colours.
In response to a report about the Liberals’ failure to implement all Calls for Justice by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, NDP Critic for Women and Gender Equality Leah Gazan issued the following statement:
“It’s completely unacceptable that four years after the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, this Liberal government has only completed two of the 231 Calls for Justice, and more than half haven’t even been started.
Families and survivors cannot wait any longer for action to end the violence. While this government fails to act, Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people continue to go missing or be murdered.
In May, all parties, including the Liberals, voted unanimously to recognize the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people crisis as a Canada-wide emergency. Recognizing the urgency of this crisis is not enough – the Liberals must back up their words with concrete and urgent action to save lives.
Our loved ones deserve justice now, and they deserve to be safe.”
I hope those of us outside of Hong Kong and China would find the courage to speak up and let the people of Hong Kong know we stand with them and that our voice is an extension of their voice,” Kwan said.
She acknowledged that there’s a risk to continuing to speak out while she is being targeted by Beijing.
“People might distance themselves from me or they’re worried what implications this has and how it could affect them,” Kwan said.
She acknowledged that there’s a risk to continuing to speak out while she is being targeted by Beijing.
“People might distance themselves from me or they’re worried what implications this has and how it could affect them,” Kwan said.
“Those are definitely real concerns, but I cannot allow for anything to deter me from doing this work. If I’m afraid to speak up, what does that mean for everyday people?”
“The reason why I’m being targeted is because of my activism,” she said. “Coming out of this briefing it is more clear than ever that I will not be intimidated, that I will not be silenced in any way.”
Ms. Kwan said she could not disclose specific details provided by CSIS on how China tried intimidate her, but said the efforts date back as far as 2019. The Vancouver MP has been a strong critic of China’s 2020 effort to silence opposition and dissent in in Hong Kong, where she was born, as well as Beijing’s brutal treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province.
Ms. Kwan said this revelation is all the more reason for a public inquiry, not just a probe by Mr. Johnston.
“I call on the government to do what is right, and what is just, and that is: We need a national public inquiry,” Ms. Kwan said. “It is not just for the protection of people like me, who is a member of Parliament, but it is also people who face those dangers every day. And they need protection and they need the government to be on their side.”
Ms. Kwan expressed dismay that she only found out years later that the Chinese government had sought to interfere with her role as MP. The government agreed to provide briefings to MPs who were targets of China as a result of national-security leaks to The Globe and Mail about the effort to intimidate Mr. Chong and his family in Hong Kong.
As the NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, I am writing again regarding the concerning situation of international students who were defrauded by ghost immigration consultants.
I am pleased that the government has listened to the NDP and committed to halt deportation orders. I am also glad to learn that the government will provide preliminary temporary resident permits if they are required, while the newly established task force works to investigate the situation and identify victims of fraud.
While these are steps in the right direction as an interim measure, this is not a sufficient long-term solution.
As the NDP critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, I am writing to you with urgency regarding the situation of 700 Punjabi International students who are the victims of a targeted exploitation scheme.
These students find themselves in a devastating situation through no fault of their own, as they were unknowingly provided inauthentic admission letters. According to reports, the students applied for visas through a consulting company which has since been closed. The issue only came to light when the students applied for Permanent Residency.
These students find themselves in a devastating situation through no fault of their own, as they were unknowingly provided inauthentic admission letters. According to reports, the students applied for visas through a consulting company which has since been closed. The issue only came to light when the students applied for Permanent Residency.
I have been informed that there are currently over 150 of these students who now have a deportation order dated for next week on May 29th.
Some of these students have already spent half a decade living in Canada and paid international tuition fees to complete their studies. Many are now working in essential frontline jobs. These students should not be punished for the actions of a fraudulent agent. It would be unjust and harmful to deport the students whose lives are now established in Canada.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan also expressed disappointment in Johnston's decision not to recommend a public inquiry.
"I think there are a lot of unanswered questions that we're still waiting for," Kwan said.
Unlike Chiu, Kwan said she was able to meet with Johnston, but only because NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh invited her to join him in his meeting with the special rapporteur.
Kwan said she was also contacted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) after the federal government expelled a Chinese diplomat for allegedly targeting the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong.
The NDP is calling for a moratorium “on the acquisition of affordable homes by financialized landlords, including REITs and corporate firms” — and for REITs’ tax rebates to instead go into social housing.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, however, Hussen refused to respond to Kwan’s demand for a moratorium on corporations buying up affordable rental stock.
That’s despite Kwan’s argument that “the 25 largest financialized landlords held more than 330,000 units last year, which is nearly 20 per cent of the country’s private purpose-built stock of rental apartments.”
The problems created by REITs are aggravated by the way corporations frequently snap up low-cost houses and apartments en masse, Kwan said. They then often renovate the units and re-rent them at higher prices. Such practices, Kwan said, contribute to the average rent for a one-bedroom unit coming in at about $2,600 in Metro Vancouver and Greater Toronto.
Small businesses in my Vancouver East riding are calling on your government to extend the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan repayment deadline, a measure which my New Democrat colleagues and I absolutely agree is a necessary measure.
The evidence is clear: according to your own government’s numbers, as of February 2023, fewer than 15% of all businesses who sought relief from CEBA loans had repaid the loan in full. The repayment date must be extended to ensure that small business owners have a fair chance to receive the benefits of the loan forgiveness and interest relief provisions of the loan.
Here in Vancouver East, and indeed across British Columbia, the health of small businesses is a primary determining factor in the health of our economy. 98% of all enterprises in BC are self-employed or small- to-medium businesses with fewer than fifty employees. One in ten people in our province are entrepreneurs. Small business is what business looks like in BC.
Small businesses in my Vancouver East riding are calling on your government to extend the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan repayment deadline, a measure which my New Democrat colleagues and I absolutely agree is a necessary measure.
The evidence is clear: according to your own government’s numbers, as of February 2023, fewer than 15% of all businesses who sought relief from CEBA loans had repaid the loan in full. The repayment date must be extended to ensure that small business owners have a fair chance to receive the benefits of the loan forgiveness and interest relief provisions of the loan.
Here in Vancouver East, and indeed across British Columbia, the health of small businesses is a primary determining factor in the health of our economy. 98% of all enterprises in BC are self-employed or small- to-medium businesses with fewer than fifty employees. One in ten people in our province are entrepreneurs. Small business is what business looks like in BC.