Member of Parliament 1997-2015, Public speaker, writer, community activist
OTTAWA – A private member’s bill introduced in the House of Commons Monday would require that cheque-cashing services protect the rights of consumers in the same way as banks and other mainstream financial institutions.
OTTAWA – NDP MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East) today introduced a private member’s bill to protect consumers from lawsuits when cheque cashing businesses cash cancelled cheques. Under current laws, businesses such as Money Mart can successfully sue the issuer of a cheque cashed by a third party, even when a stop payment order has been issued.
“The existing law allows cheque cashing companies to benefit from fraud. It’s utterly absurd and unfair that the law victimizes consumers trying to protect themselves,” said Davies.
The problem came to Davies’ attention when a Money Mart outlet in Vancouver allowed a fraudulent building contractor to cash a stopped cheque, and then threatened to sue the person who had written the cheque, rather than the fraudulent contractor. The victim asked Ms. Davies to take the issue to Parliament.
“The bill I’m introducing today, Bill C-564, prevents the cashing of cheques by a cheque cashing business when a cheque has been cancelled by the person who wrote it,” said Davies. “That puts the onus on these businesses to make sure cheques they are cashing have not had a stop payment put on them.”
While the exact scale of the problem addressed by Davies’ bill is unknown, legal databases show dozens of similar cases. The issue springs from a flaw in the Bills of Exchange Act, a piece of legislation governing financial transactions that dates back to the 1890s.
“This bill provides a much needed amendment to an outdated and flawed piece of legislation. I hope that members from all parties will support it so that we can put a stop to this injustice,” said Davies.
OTTAWA – Iraq War Resisters residing in Canada received overwhelming support from the House of Commons following today’s passage of an NDP motion to let them stay in the country.
NDP Citizenship and Immigration critic, Olivia Chow’s (Trinity-Spadina) motion reflected ordinary Canadians’ belief that George Bush’s war in Iraq is wrong and that resisters should not be deported to jail.
The motion calls on the Harper Conservatives to allow American war resisters who have refused or left military service related to the illegal invasion of Iraq and their immediate family members to stay in Canada and be able to become permanent residents. Furthermore, the motion would force the government to immediately withdraw any removal or deportation orders against War Resisters.
NDP MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby Douglas), moved a similar motion a year ago on May 8, 2007 at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. His motion was rejected by the Conservatives, Liberals and Bloc.
Through ongoing campaigns and mobilizations, supporters have finally been able to sway the Liberal and Bloc vote in support of the war resisters
“Ordinary people want the Iraq war resisters to stay,” said Chow. “The Harper Conservatives must respect this and immediately implement this motion.”
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): – Mr. Speaker, stopping InSite will drive the most vulnerable, often homeless, drug users in Vancouver’s downtown east side back to sharing dirty needles, risking HIV infection in alleyways with filthy conditions and no medical assistance if they overdose. Dead people do not go into treatment.
Does the minister realize the safe injection site is the first point of contact for many users looking for help? In fact, has the minister ever met a person who shoots up? Has he ever taken the time to talk to a homeless drug user and ask them what they need to get off drugs?
Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the interest of this government is ensuring that people can get off drugs. The view of the government and the view of the Minister of Health is that supervising injection and supporting injection is not a way to get somebody off drugs.
Injection not only causes physical harm, it also deepens and prolongs an addiction. We believe that programs to help people get off their addictions should be supported and we believe that to spend money on supporting injection is actually to take money that could otherwise be used to help people get off their addictions and assist them in that kind of program.
That is what this government is interested in doing. That is why the Minister of Health is asking for an appeal.
Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what InSite is doing. It is helping people get off drugs.
I am so disgusted by this reply. I spent decades working in my community to make it safer. We have some minister with a chip on his shoulder who comes along and decides that drug users in my neighbourhood do not deserve to live. Why? Because he claims that the science is mixed.
The science is solid and it says that InSite saves lives. It is an outright lie to say that the science is mixed. It is an outright lie to say that only one life has been saved.
I ask again, will he immediately reverse his decision or is he content to see drug users die?
Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the view of this government is that drug addiction, heroin addiction, is very harmful to people’s lives and the way we help people with those kinds of addictions is by helping them to get off of those addictions.
The most important harm reduction measure is to get people off drugs. That is why we have incorporated harm reduction into our new anti-drug strategy. It is two-thirds prevention and treatment and one-third enforcement. That is the way that we think we can help people.
It does not help to send mixed messages to young Canadians that drug use is proper. It is wrong and we want them not using drugs.