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.
Jenny Kwan, the NDP's federal critic for Housing, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, has taken up Singh's case. Kwan says she believes he was a victim of fraud and says the number of students she's heard from who were impacted by similar practices is growing – though she did not provide the exact number of students she's spoken to.
On Wednesday night, the federal committee on immigration passed a motion calling for pending deportations to be stayed, according to a tweet Kwan posted. The committee will also begin a study into "the targeted exploitation scheme faced by 700 Punjabi international students," the motion reads.
Next, the committee will invite Sean Fraser, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Public Safety of Canada, as well as departmental officials, to attend the committee and provide a briefing on the situation, Kwan said. Then the committee will make recommendations to the government.
"It is so unbelievable that you have these unscrupulous immigration consultants taking advantage of people," Kwan said in an interview with CBC Toronto.
"Not only taking their money and not delivering what they said they would, but also destroying peoples lives and dreams."
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.
NICHI, formalized in January, is a coalition of more than 50 Indigenous-led housing, homelessness, and housing-related organizations from across Canada. The aim of the organization is to deliver on housing for those Indigenous people no longer living in Indigenous communities.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) is taking credit for moving the Liberal government along on the matter.
East Vancouver NDP MP Jenny Kwan, who was also at the announcement, said the NDP had prioritized significant investments to address the housing needs of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples as part of its confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberal government. The NDP also “demanded that it be for Indigenous and by Indigenous,” she said.
The confidence-and-supply agreement was signed between the Liberals and NDP in March 2022. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was operating with a minority Liberal government after the 2021 election. The agreement with the NDP brought about stability. The NDP agreed to support the Liberals if the Liberals advanced certain NDP priorities. The agreement is set to last until 2025.
“(Indigenous-led housing) would not have happened had it not been for NICHI and the NDP in collaboration, yes, with the government. This is what cooperation looks like. This is what the confidence-and-supply agreement is meant to do. To make things happen for the people,” said Kwan.
Conservatives say they value families but they took away the rights of Canadians born abroad to pass down their citizenship to their children if they were also born abroad - breaking up families. Some children are now stateless. Instead of working together to fix it 14 years later, they tried to stop it with a 30 hour filibuster. Who are they trying to kid with their self-serving justifications.
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.
During the filibuster, Conservative members have also put forward other potential amendments far outside the scope of the original bill, including mandating in-person citizenship ceremonies, which have taken up hours of debate before being shot down by Liberal and NDP members.
The committee has extended meetings and scheduled extra time to debate the bill, but NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said it may not be enough to beat the filibuster.
“If this continues to carry on the way in which it has, (then) there is that real possibility that the bill would be reported back to the House without us completing the work,” Kwan said.
“I’m still somewhat hopeful — I don’t know why — that this will still manage to make it to the House with the necessary amendments. I’m holding on to that shred of hope.”
“If this continues to carry on the way in which it has, (then) there is that real possibility that the bill would be reported back to the House without us completing the work,” Kwan said.
“I’m still somewhat hopeful — I don’t know why — that this will still manage to make it to the House with the necessary amendments. I’m holding on to that shred of hope.”
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.”