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.
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.”
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.
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.