In response to a recent Statistics Canada report on household debt in Canada, NDP Finance Critic Daniel Blaikie issued the following statement
Statement on 2nd anniversary of the death of Mahsa Jina Amini
MEDIA RELEASE: Canadians are racking up household debt while Liberals protect corporate profits
“This holiday season, Canadians’ budgets are stretched thin as the cost-of-living climbs. A new Statistics Canada report shows that Canadians are having to go deeper into debt in order to pay for necessities like food, home heating and gas for their cars. The report tells us that Canadian households now owe $1.83 for every dollar of disposable income they have. Canadian workers feel like they’re doing everything right but they just can’t get ahead financially.
While Canadians are increasingly relying on their credit cards to make ends meet, CEOs and big corporations continue to rake in massive profits.
The Liberals are making matters worse as they choose to protect corporate profits at the expense of Canadian families already scrambling to get by. With many economists predicting a self-inflicted recession ahead – many Canadians are at the risk of losing their shirts if the Liberals don’t tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Instead of taking action to help families cope with high costs, the Liberals are watching as the Bank of Canada increases the interest rate which makes things harder for those who are already struggling. A higher interest rate means higher mortgage payments and credit card bills for Canadians in a tough financial place.
Jagmeet Singh and the New Democrats are coming up with real solutions that will actually give you and your family real relief.
We have been asking the Liberals to implement a windfall tax to make CEOs pay what they owe. This will allow the government to invest for help for Canadian families who desperately need it now, with measures like removing the GST from home heating. And we will continue to push the Liberals to go after corporate greed that is driving up the cost of groceries for families.
New Democrats are fighting for you and your family, not for ultra-rich and powerful CEOs profiting off the inflation crisis this holiday season.”
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Hill Times: ‘Structural solutions not inflammatory conclusions’ required to fix foreign worker program: Senator Omidvar
NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, said the UN report should come as no surprise to the government, as it echoes “what migrant workers and labour advocates have been saying for a very long time.”
NDP MP Jenny Kwan says the power imbalance that leads to abuse is structural to the temporary foreign worker program, not just its low-wage stream. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
“The way the program is set up exposes workers to exploitation and abuse because they’re reliant on their employer to retain their status in Canada,” Kwan explained. “If they face abuse and exploitation and complain about it, they stand to lose their job, and—in the worst-case scenario—they stand to be deported back to their country of origin.”
Kwan said the government has taken a “haphazard approach” to addressing problems with the TFWP to date, focused almost solely on the low-wage stream, but—while misuse of that stream is “particularly deplorable”—she said the root of the problem is structural to the entire program.
“The government has to address the main structural issue, and that is the power imbalance that exists between the temporary foreign worker and the employer,” Kwan said. “The only way to do that is to ensure that the temporary foreign workers actually have landed status on arrival, then they are not dependent on the employer, and would not have to suffer potential abuses and exploitation.”
“It doesn’t matter what stream it is, all the temporary foreign workers programs subject migrant workers to potential exploitation because of that power imbalance,” Kwan said, adding, though, that the NDP supports calls to end the program’s low-wage stream.
While the government and groups like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce may reject the UN rapporteur’s characterization of the program, the recent Senate report found similar abuses within the program.
CBC: 'Disgusted' immigration minister looking into revoking citizenship of Toronto terror suspect
"People are rightfully furious and deeply concerned to learn that a man allegedly linked to a terrorist group and heinous terrorist acts was given Canadian citizenship by the Liberal government," she said in a statement.
"This alarming failure only adds to the concerns that Canadians already have about Canada's public safety and immigration system."
On Tuesday, a parliamentary committee agreed to investigate the case amid questions about the immigration screening process for both men.
The committee hearings, set to begin later this month, will likely zero in on Canada's immigration process, its security screening capacity and how security officials handle domestic threats.