In response to new Statistics Canada numbers on economic growth, NDP Finance critic Daniel Blaikie issue the following statement
NDP Critic for the Status of Women Leah Gazan issued the following statement
Federal NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said Canada has a responsibility to increase the number of accepted refugees and asylum-seekers. “Instead,” she said, pointing to new numbers released this month, “the government is reducing the numbers, so it’s going in the opposite direction.”
“The work of lowering emissions and transitioning the energy sector must happen while supporting communities on the frontlines,” Kwan said. “[These changes] have to happen simultaneously because people are being displaced right now.”
Coming out of COP27, Kwan says she is not seeing the urgency from the Canadian government that is required on this issue. In addition to pushing to end oil and gas subsidies immediately, and to stop pursuing pipeline expansion, Kwan says the NDP is demanding the government sign on to an environmental bill of rights — for people and nature.
“We need public accountability, truth be told,” she said. “We can’t trust the government on this issue. They say nice words, but they don’t match that with action. We need independent oversight with regard to climate action.”
What that means for Canada is making significant financial contributions to a fund for countries experiencing the ravages of the crisis right now.
“We must respond to what is happening in the global community,” Kwan says. “Climate migration is already happening. People are already dying as a result of it.
NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Jenny Kwan issued the following statement ahead of today’s committee meeting on the study of Conditions Faced by Asylum-Seekers where the Minister of Immigration will be testifying
NDP MP Jenny Kwan, the party's housing critic, said Tuesday the government's "level of incompetence is breathtaking."
"The Liberals have spent billions to build homes that Canadians can't afford," she said. "What's worse, they don't even know if this money is reducing homelessness in our communities.
"People are dying on the streets. The Liberals have turned their back on them."
OTTAWA – When the COVID-19 pandemic struck Canada, all levels of government had to respond to keep all Canadians safe. People deserve to know why certain decisions were taken, what mistakes were made and if their government acted appropriately. In order to ensure accountability and transparency for Canadians, today NDP Health Critic Don Davies called on the federal government to launch an independent public inquiry into Canada’s COVID-19 preparedness and response under the federal Inquiries Act.
In the House of Commons on Monday, NDP MP Jenny Kwan asked when the government would “put an end to this odious immigration detention practice.”
“Canada has a robust and fair refugee system and immigration detention is a measure of last resort,” replied Liberal MP Pam Damoff, the parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who is responsible for the CBSA.
“While we’ve made significant progress, there’s more work to do.”
Canada’s federal housing agency is lending billions of dollars to boost construction of rental homes without routinely disclosing the recipients of the money or where the units are being built, shrouding in secrecy a program designed to address the country’s housing shortfall by providing developers with low-cost financing.
The Rental Construction Financing Initiative is one of Ottawa’s major efforts to boost home construction. It was announced in 2016 with $2.5-billion in funding, which has grown to more than $25-billion, making it the largest program in the government’s National Housing Strategy, a bundle of different initiatives intended to improve access to affordable units.
Kwan noted: “Decades of Liberal and Conservative governments expanded Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers—without ensuring protections to their health and safety. For many years, these workers have been subjected to exploitation by employers who use their temporary status to drive down wages. The Liberals’ plan fails to ensure that these workers get the protections they need by not giving them permanent status, as the NDP has been calling for.”
“While the NDP welcomes the government’s plan to bring 500,000 new immigrants to Canada by 2025, we cannot ignore that the Liberals miss the mark on several key immigration streams with their plan.
Decades of Liberal and Conservative governments expanded Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers—without ensuring protections to their health and safety. For many years, these workers have been subjected to exploitation by employers who use their temporary status to drive down wages. The Liberals’ plan fails to ensure that these workers get the protections they need by not giving them permanent status, as the NDP has been calling for.