NDP MP Jenny Kwan speaks with reporters on Parliament Hill after tabling a private member’s bill. The legislation is aimed at closing loopholes in Canadian law related to arms exports.
Kwan is joined by arms control experts and representatives from civil society organizations, which includes Oxfam-Québec, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Independent Jewish Voices Canada and the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Fear and frustration about Carney’s anticipated austerity measures and cuts to healthcare or social programs for vulnerable groups to pay for his pledge to boost NATO defence spending to five per cent of the GDP by 2035 were also discussed.
The defence spending expected to cost more than $150 billion — more than the amount transferred to provinces for healthcare — could be better spent on housing or other social programs, noted the MPs.
Carney has no mandate from voters for such massive spending to appease US President Donald Trump, said Jenny Kwan, MP for Vancouver East.
“Trump is driving our political agenda here through Carney,” Kwan said.
“He says he’s, ‘elbows up,’ but [we say] elbows up against Trump and the tariffs. Elbows up for Canada and sovereignty, and elbows up for Canada's identity because we are not the United States.”
Ottawa’s proposed strong-borders legislation could compromise cybersecurity in Canada by prohibiting electronic service providers from warning each other of vulnerabilities found in their systems so they can bolster their defences against hackers, experts warn.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the proposed legislation, known as Bill C-2, contains a “sweeping provision” that, if the bill becomes law, would introduce a secrecy requirement running counter to how cybersecurity works.
The “prohibition on disclosure” covering electronic service providers includes a ban on disclosing “information related to a system vulnerability or potential systemic vulnerabilities in electronic protections employed by that service provider.”
Bill C-2 is currently at second reading in the Commons. On Tuesday, NDP public safety critic Jenny Kwan called in the Commons for the bill’s withdrawal, saying it was flawed and would give the government fresh surveillance powers and compromise Canadians’ privacy.
She said it could allow law enforcement to demand information, without a warrant, about whether Canadians have used a range of services, including psychiatrists.
Boulerice said the NDP contacted the House of Commons last week to start work on the private member's bill, adding that it should be tabled quickly because "it's not really complicated."
The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents some 10,000 flight attendants, overwhelmingly rejected the company's last wage offer in a vote on Sept. 6.
Hugh Pouliot, a spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said in a media statement the union has asked to bypass mediation and move straight to arbitration "given the unlikelihood of an offer that would be acceptable to our members."
"The union spent nine months bargaining in good faith with the company on wages and saw no evidence that an additional three days of mediation will yield an acceptable result," Pouliot said.
"The union is therefore seeking an expedited process that will put money in our members’ pockets and conclude this process as quickly as possible."
To meet the eye-popping military spending commitment of five per cent of Canada’s GDP, there will be deep cuts to programs and services to Canadians.
Canadians elected new Liberal Leader Mark Carney as their prime minister to fight against American President Donald Trump. “Elbows Up” was the central message during the campaign, but the strategy Carney has taken so far has been to appease Trump. Counter-tariff measures are off the table. In the name of border security, government overreach that infringes our privacy and violates due process is being justified. Trump-like border and immigration measures are creeping in. Massive cuts to public services and programs are on the offer.
As Carney lay the tracks of his fiscal agenda, here’s what we have learned so far. Austerity is the name of the game, and to meet the eye-popping military spending commitment of five per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product, there will be deep cuts to programs and services to Canadians. Already, Carney has directed his ministers to cut operating spending of 7.5 per cent, 10 per cent, and 15 per cent to almost every other department over the next three years.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan says she’s looking for a way to stop the federal government’s increasingly frequent intervention to end strikes.
In the last 14 months, the government has invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to try to end at least eight strikes in federally regulated industries.
The use of Section 107 has been controversial. A group of employers says it can be used to avoid economic catastrophe caused by prolonged labour stoppages.
But unions across Canada have spoken out against the increasing use, saying it violates workers’ Charter rights and increases employers’ power. Teamsters Canada is challenging Ottawa’s use of the legislation in court.
Now, Kwan says she’s hoping to pressure the government to stop using Section 107 to end strikes.
“What we’re seeing is a Liberal government abusing its power, in my view, in violation of the workers’ right to strike that’s prescribed in our Charter,” Kwan said. “How do you stop this from happening?”
NDP MP Jenny Kwan says she’s looking for a way to stop the federal government’s increasingly frequent intervention to end strikes.
In the last 14 months the government has invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to try to end at least eight strikes in federally regulated industries.
The use of Section 107 has been controversial. A group of employers says it can be used to avoid economic catastrophe caused by prolonged labour stoppages.
But unions across Canada have spoken out against the increasing use, saying it violates workers’ Charter rights and increases employers’ power. Teamsters Canada is challenging Ottawa’s use of the legislation in court.
At a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, NDP MP Jenny Kwan outlines her private members’ bill aimed at closing loopholes in Canadian law related to arms exports.Joining her at this event are Michael Bueckert (Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East) and James Kafieh (Palestinian Canadian Congress) as well as lawyer James Yap. (September 4, 2025)
Kwan said Ottawa needs to be much more transparent about its arms exports generally, and apply the same scrutiny to exports made through the U.S. that it would for arms destined for any other country.
“Every bullet that leaves Canada and lands in the hands of human-rights abusers is a betrayal of international law, of our commitments (and) of Canadians who want no part in war crimes,” she said.
Kwan said the NDP still wants a full arms embargo on Israel and that her bill is meant “to advance what we can.”
Ottawa’s arms exports to Israel have sparked controversy in recent months. Advocacy groups and 32 senators argued recently that Canada’s restrictions on arms reaching Gaza are not stringent enough and risk making it complicit in war crimes.
The government maintains that it has kept to its commitments and is not afraid to suspend or prosecute companies who breach the rules.
Israel has pushed back on the existing restrictions and insists that it is following international law in its military campaign against Hamas, launched in response to the group’s deadly attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Today at the National Press Gallery in Ottawa, Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, was joined by civil society and human rights organizations announcing her intention to introduce a Private Member’s Bill in the upcoming Parliamentary session to finally close the loophole in Canada’s arms export laws. For years, Canadian governments have promised accountability, yet Canadian-made weapons, bullets, and military components continue to flow into the world’s bloodiest conflicts—often through the back door of the U.S., including for use by the Israeli government in Gaza and the West Bank.