The pandemic has shown how much people depend on Internet and cellphone services to stay connected, work and study. The reality is that Canadians are tired and frustrated from paying high fees for Internet services that make big, rich telecommunications companies even richer. They feel like they are being ripped off, especially people who are struggling to get by with the cost of groceries, gas for their cars and other bills pilling up.
Today's announcement is a first step, but government eligibility criteria still excludes many low-income families and seniors who depend on Internet services.
Since Justin Trudeau came to power, instead of taking action to reduce internet charges, his government has protected the monopoly and profits of telecom giants at the expense of the people who pay some of the highest fees in the world.
MEDIA RELEASE - Canadians need homes they can afford
A media outlet reported this week that the Liberal's housing strategy isn’t delivering the affordable homes people need despite the worsening housing crisis across the country.
Families aren’t finding homes they can afford in the communities where they live and work because rich investors are hiking up rent to maximize their profits. Nearly all the government's funding allocation under the Rental Construction Financing Initiative (RCFI) ends up in the pockets of for-profit developers who often have little interest in offering homes people can afford.
This Liberal government has been telling people that they are building more affordable homes, but the reality doesn't match the rhetoric. What the government deems affordable is way over the market price — families just can’t afford it. Currently, for many of the units created under the RCFI initiative, the rent is somewhere between 30 per cent and 120 per cent above market rent. It's laughable for the Liberals to claim that this is affordable. The NDP has been calling this out for years now and the program needs to change.
MEDIA RELEASE - NDP statement on Papal apology to First Nations, Métis and Inuit delegation
Canada's New Democrats are glad to see Pope Francis issue this apology to the First Nations, Métis and Inuit delegates.
Today's apology comes from years of advocacy from Indigenous people and is a necessary step for the Catholic Church to make on its reconciliation journey.
We are hopeful that the Church will continue on this journey and that Pope Francis’ visit to Canada will continue this work. His apology to all First Nations, Métis and Inuit while visiting with Survivors in Canada will be important.
In addition to issuing a formal apology to survivors, their families, and communities, the Pope should work with survivors and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to ensure all documents related to Indian Residential Schools in possession by the Catholic Church are released. Pope Francis should also use the powers of the Church to ensure that the perpetrators of abuse, including Johannes Rivoire, are held accountable for the crimes they are alleged to have committed.
IN THE NEWS: CPAC coverage of NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan’s news conference on Parliament Hill
At a news conference on Parliament Hill, Jenny Kwan, the NDP critic for immigration refugees and citizenship, urges the federal government to expedite the resettlement of families of Afghan interpreters who provided assistance to Canadian forces during their mission in Afghanistan. She is joined by former interpreters who represent a group of families who are seeking resettlement.
STATEMENT: NDP stands up for Afghan interpreters' families
Liberals’ broken promises put lives at risk says NDP MP Jenny Kwan
IN THE NEWS: Hill Times - As Conservatives decry end of accountability at committees, NDP MPs say nothing has changed
“I will continue to advocate and hold the government to account and pursue different issues on the two respective committees that I sit on,” she said. “From that perspective, this agreement changes nothing for me.”
“With or without the agreement, it does not steer me from holding the government to account, pushing the government in delivering for the people,” she said. “I’m going to be as helpful as I can, but I am going to be hard in holding the government to account to push them to take the necessary actions.”
She said she will continue to ask “tough questions,” including when Immigration Minister Sean Fraser (Central Nova, N.S.) appears.
Kwan said in cases where filibustering takes place, the NDP would assess if it is helpful or impeding the work of the committee.
She said she foresees that there will continue to be opportunities to work with other opposition parties.
IN THE NEWS: CTV - ‘Lives are at risk’: NDP implore feds to speed up resettlement of Afghan interpreters’ families
The New Democrats are pleading for the government to speed up the immigration process to allow extended family members of Afghan interpreters fleeing the Taliban to come to Canada.
NDP immigration, refugees, and citizenship critic Jenny Kwan was joined by former interpreters on Wednesday to call on Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to reduce application barriers and speed up processing as their families face escalating threats.
“As the government continues to dawdle on this file, lives are at risk as I speak to you today. Their lives could be at risk and I have to ask this question: What is going on with the government? What is going on with the Ministry of Immigration?” said Kwan.
MEDIA RELEASE: NDP stands up for Afghan interpreters’ families
“Since the application process opened on December 9, 2021, these former Afghan interpreters representing 300 families submitted over 300 applications,” said Kwan. “To date, not one family from their group has arrived in Canada, and all applications submitted in January haven’t even received a file number. This is unacceptable. Meanwhile, lives hang in the balance. The government must expedite these applications so these families can be reunited safely in Canada.”
Hundreds of Afghan interpreters provided vital services to the Canadian military in Afghanistan. In early September 2021, just weeks after the fall of Kabul, former Afghan interpreters organized a hunger strike calling on the Liberal government to allow their extended families to get to safety in Canada. They were successful with their advocacy when the government announced new measures for extended families of Afghan interpreters—but the government has yet to process their applications.
IN THE NEWS: Hill Times - ‘Racism plays a role in immigration decisions,’ House Immigration Committee hears
NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) her top priority on this topic is to convince the government to put an independent ombudsperson in place whose job it would be to assess IRCC policies and the application of said policies as they relate to differential treatment, systemic racism, and gender biases.
“Let’s dig deep. Have an officer of the House do this work completely independent from the government,” she said in an interview with The Hill Times.
At the March 22 meeting, Kwan asked all six witnesses to state for the record if they agreed that the government should put such an ombudsperson in place. All six witnesses agreed. Kwan questioned the ability of the department to conduct its own internal reviews.
IN THE NEWS: Star - Jagmeet Singh’s NDP has tied itself to the Liberals. Is the party ready for what happens next?
“Is it enough? No. Is it what a New Democratic government would do? No. But it is using the power we have to make real change for people, and to do the things that we have run on for decades.”