There are dozens of investigations into foreign interference currently underway in this country, and one of them involves Vancouver East MP, Jenny Kwan. The acting RCMP Commissioner says Kwan is one of three MPs involved in the investigation. Kristen Robinson reports.
B.C. NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who is one of only three MPs (all on the opposition benches) who have been publicly identified as a target of Beijing’s interference, said going to an election amid foreign-interference concerns doesn’t make sense.
“If we’re going to go to an election, I am a sitting duck,” she said. “Others are as well.”
Moreover, she said, foreign interference isn’t the only issue voters expect Parliament to address. There are seniors in her riding who are left to eat blended food because they can’t afford to pay for a dentist, she said. Giving up on the deal would also mean letting the Liberals off the hook on the promises in it, Ms. Kwan said.
In the House of Commons since 2004 and in his fifth minority Parliament, Ontario NDP MP Charlie Angus said this is the first where he has a chance to directly shape government policy. As one of the NDP critics for natural resources, he has regular meetings with Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson and says those talks have forced the government to shift its sustainable-jobs policies aimed at helping workers transition to a net-zero economy.
Mr. Angus said the Liberals have worked with him in good faith and as a result of his advocacy have strengthened labour standards and the role of unions.
“The dance partner we have is a government that is tired, that is sloppy, that makes a lot of mistakes,” said Mr. Angus. “But my focus in opposition right now is to make them deliver on the promises that we made to Canadians.”
“If I came back to Northern Ontario and said, ‘hey, people, we forced a summer election over allegations that we still need to investigate.’ They’d kick my ass all over Northern Ontario.”
In terms of the priorities of Canadians, Nanos Research founder Nik Nanos said the polling shows that on the policy front, the NDP calculation is correct: The foreign-interference issue is of interest but not more so than the economy, health care and the environment.
Mr. Nanos described the NDP as “policy mercenaries” who are squeezing the government on the issues that matter most to them but stopping short of being full governing partners. However, he said there’s a risk for the NDP that they end up appearing too closely linked to the Liberals by the time the next election comes around.
OTTAWA – On Thursday, NDP Critic for Housing, Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and NDP Critic for Indigenous Services, MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut) secured $287.1 million for National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated (NICHI) to address the housing crisis for Urban Rural and Northern Indigenous, Metis and Inuit people leaving away from their home community. Under the Liberal government, Indigenous people are now 11 times more likely to use a shelter or live in inadequate homes than non-Indigenous people.
New Democrats have been relentlessly pushing for the government to close the funding gap. Today's announcement wouldn’t have been possible without New Democrats who forced the government to act by including support for Indigenous housing in their Confidence and Supply agreement with the Liberals.
“In my riding of Vancouver East, we have the third largest urban Indigenous population in the country and we have had multiple homeless encampments. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately represented among the unhoused population, yet this government has dragged its feet in providing a For Indigenous By Indigenous housing,” said Kwan. “While this is the step in the right direction, there’s more work to do.”
This announcement, pushed by New Democrats, delivers on one of the NDP’s key promises on a For-Indigenous, By-Indigenous Housing Strategy. NICHI brings together Indigenous-led housing, homelessness, and housing-related organizations to provide long-term solutions.
Fourth, Johnston’s inability or unwillingness to provide clear answers may lead people to believe he did not do his due diligence. Under questioning from NDP Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan, Johnston would not say whether he had inquired into why an early version of an intelligence memo dealing into Chinese attempts to interfere in a Liberal party nomination race was changed.
Last month, Johnston concluded there were no examples of the prime minister or his ministers knowingly or negligently failing to act on intelligence or recommendations related to foreign interference. Now, the special rapporteur wants to move on to self-assigned public hearings next month, hoping to answer questions of how foreign interference affects Canadians and how it gets detected and deterred, with an eye toward strengthening Canada’s capacity.
In the meantime, their immigration status was taken up by the UFCW Canada national office who worked closely with NDP MP Jenny Kwan to secure an open work-permit for vulnerable migrant workers. This option for migrant victims of employer abuse was secured a few short years ago, following lengthy efforts by UFCW Canada in Ottawa to reform the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP). Since then, the union has helped hundreds of mistreated migrants to secure open work permits.
