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Creating and Keeping Canadian Jobs

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Posted on 2009.03.19

Creating and Keeping Canadian Jobs

HANSARD
House of Commons

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, since the election the Conservative government has presided over the loss of 300,000 jobs. There were 129,000 Canadians thrown out of work in January, in February 110,000 full-time jobs disappeared and the unemployment rate is closing in on 8%. What is the finance minister saying? He says he is not surprised. He even expects the losses to continue for the whole year, admitting that Conservative policies are not working.

When will the government change course and actually create the jobs that Canadians need?

Hon. Vic Toews (President of the Treasury Board, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, we understand that this economic downturn is part of a larger global downturn. We sympathize with every Canadian affected, but I want to say that the member demonstrated that she does not care about some of the poorest in the country, which she represents in her riding. She voted against the budget that would have helped the very poor in this country. Why would she do that? Why would she turn her back on the poor of our country?

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, that budget failed Canadian workers and the lowest-income people in Canada. In fact, one factor increasing job losses is foreign takeovers, even though agreements are in place to protect Canadian jobs. The government is not enforcing them, and jobs are being lost. It happened at Vale Inco, Xstrata and U.S. Steel.

Instead of making it easier for foreign companies to pillage our industries by raising the value for reviews to $1 billion, why will the government not follow the example of Germany, which just passed a law tightening the rules for foreign takeovers? That would actually protect these jobs here in Canada.

Hon. Tony Clement (Minister of Industry, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I can report to the House–and if the hon. member had read the budget implementation act, she would know–that for the first time in our history we have a national security test to ensure that we preserve our national security against foreign investors who seek to undermine that. I think that is an improvement.

We also, however, are open to foreign investment. Unlike the NDP, we think that when foreign companies invest in jobs and opportunities in Canada, that is a good thing. It is good not only for us here in Canada, but it also helps Canadian businesses invest overseas and create jobs elsewhere around the world, as well as new business opportunities for Canadians.

Obviously the NDP does not agree with that. It does not believe in that. It wants to have us shelled in. That is the NDP’s choice, but it is not the choice of Canadians.

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, it is not working very well for those workers who are losing their jobs.

This Tuesday the House voted to bring fairness to the EI system. The House voted to eliminate the two-week waiting period, to lower minimums to qualify, to include self-employed workers, to increase the wage replacement rate and to get more training for workers, but the government cannot even process EI claims properly. It takes three or four or five weeks to get any help.

If the government will not respect the will of the House to improve EI, will it at least get its act together to ensure those who can access EI are not delayed?

Mr. Ed Komarnicki (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, we certainly sympathize with people who need to access EI because they have just lost their jobs, and we will do everything possible to ensure that their claims are expedited quickly. We have dedicated resources for that. We hired more people and asked for the hours to be extended for processing claims. We have done that. We have brought in people who had retired and we have included those who want to work overtime on a voluntary basis.

We will do what we have to in order to ensure people have their claims expedited.

Libby’s Parliamentary Statement on Gaza

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Posted on 2009.03.12

Libby’s Parliamentary Statement on Gaza

HANSARD
House of Commons

Libby Davies (Vancouver East)

A group of 60 delegates, including 6 Canadians, under the auspices of CODE PINK, are on a Solidarity mission in Gaza this week for International Women’s Day. They are visiting refugee camps, hospitals, and witnessing the devastating aftermath of 22 days of bombing by Israeli defense forces.

After 20 months of the blockade and the loss of basic necessities of life, Canada must call for an end to the siege of Gaza and help find a way forward to address the root causes of violence and the ongoing occupation of Palestinian land.

Canada must begin by following through on its promise for aid, and exercise its responsibility under international law to condemn the use of force and violence, and begin the process for normalized relations to attain a Palestinian state and peace for the region.

The women and men in the solidarity delegation in Gaza are showing tremendous courage and resolve in their mission.

The Canadian government must do likewise and commit to the rule of law for peace and justice.

Podcast: A political life: from grassroots to parliament — with Libby Davies

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Podcast: A political life: from grassroots to parliament — with Libby Davies

Episode 16 features Libby Davies, an activist and former Member of Parliament for Vancouver East. Libby spent the past four decades advocating for the Downtown Eastside community as a grassroots organizer, and an elected representative at the municipal and federal levels. She was also the first publicly out woman to be elected to parliament in Canada. SFU’s Melissa Roach and Jamie-Leigh Gonzales interview Libby about her newly released memoir, “Outside In”, covering her early days of community organizing, her experiences as a woman in politics, and representing her community’s concerns in Ottawa. Libby will be launching her memoir at SFU on May 22 at 7pm, where she will be joined in conversation by Christine Boyle, Karen Ward, Rodney Watson, and Am Johal. Register to attend here: http://at.sfu.ca/XXipjS. Read more about “Outside In: A Political Memoir” here: / https://www.straight.com/life/1231686/libby-daviess-memoir-outside-tells-grassroots-story-her-journey-downtown-eastside

The original article, A political life: from grassroots to parliament — with Libby Davies was published on in https://soundcloud.com/sfuw-community-engagement/btr-episode-16-libby-davies. Author(s): Below the Radar

Libby speaking up for affordable housing – Libby Davies

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Libby speaking up for affordable housing

Ottawa should revive tax incentives that make it attractive for developers to build more rental housing, NDP MP Libby Davies says. The federal Liberals essentially abandoned any involvement in housing in the mid-1990s, and successive governments have also shown little interest in the file, Davies said Saturday in Kelowna. “There were various programs available that provided incentives for the development of rental housing, but they‘re all long gone,” Davies, who represents the riding of Vancouver East, said after addressing local NDP members.

The original article, Libby Davies addresses local NDP was published on March 20, 2010 in Kelowna Daily Courier. Author(s): Ron Seymour

Federal actions for missing and murdered women must be substantive

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Federal actions for missing and murdered women must be substantive

There was cautious optimism Thursday in response to the federal government's promise of $10 million over two years to address the issue of hundreds of missing and murdered native women in Canada. "It's a start, because five and 10 years ago, the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada never passed the lips of a single cabinet minister, that I'm aware of, over all those years," said Ernie Crey, whose sister Dawn disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in 2000….Vancouver East NDP MP Libby Davies, whose riding includes the Downtown Eastside where 64 women disappeared from 1978 to 2001, said the solution to this epidemic cannot come solely through "a criminal justice lens."

The original article, $10 million 'a start' to investigate women's deaths, disappearances was published on March 4, 2010 in The Vancouver Sun. Author(s): Lori Culbert

Libby talks about how Bill C-460 would improve Canadians’ health and save lives

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Posted on 2013.05.3

Libby talks about how Bill C-460 would improve Canadians’ health and save lives

House of Commons

HANSARD

May 3, 2013

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today at the end of the second hour of debate on Bill C-460 to have the last five minutes to respond to the debate.

First, I would like to thank all of the members on all sides of the House who have participated in this debate. Many members have participated with great passion and vigour, and certainly this is a very important issue before us.

In fact, I would argue that this is probably the most critical public issue that is facing us today. It is very interesting to note that there has been an incredible amount of media attention on the need for sodium reduction. There are major articles in the press every day. It is something that is of great concern to many people in Canada.

I am looking at a recent article in the Globe and Mail which says: “Health Canada’s voluntary unsupervised guidelines for the food industry aren’t adequate to the task, say health experts and advocates”. The article quotes Kevin Willis, the director of Partnerships at Canadian Stroke Network, who said:

“If we don’t have data available in a transparent way that we can monitor that these changes are actually taking place, it is a problem. The government could require companies to make that information available so it can be verified. It’s all part of the transparent monitoring process.”

I have to say that in the development of this bill there has been an incredible amount of support across the country, and some of the organizations have been mentioned here in the debate today.

I particularly want to thank Dr. Norm Campbell, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada CIHR chair in Hypertension Prevention and Control; and Bill Jeffery, the National Coordinator of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest. These two individuals have been just incredible here on the Hill in providing information, education and awareness. I think they have spoken volumes about the critical need to have this bill move forward at second reading.

I have listened to the arguments from the Conservative members and I want to reiterate that this is actually a very straightforward bill. Again, this bill would implement the sodium reduction strategy that was developed, not by me or any member in this House, but by an expert working group in 2010. The purpose of this bill is to make sure that the guidelines and strategy that was devised are actually followed through.

As we have heard from many members in this House, the non-action, the pathetic lack of leadership from the government on the sodium reduction strategy and its disbanding the sodium working group has really been quite shocking. As many people I have spoken to in the community and some organizations have told me, at one point Canada was sort of the leader in the world and other countries looked to Canada to take leadership. However, that has now been completely reversed. We are so far behind on this issue and many other public health issues that it really is very disturbing.

We have heard arguments today and, in fact, we have heard members who wanted to ridicule the bill, make fun of it and come up with jokes, which is very perplexing. It makes me wonder if they know of the major organizations in support of this bill who have done the research, are the experts, and believe that this bill is sound. Do they not understand that the Canadian public want to see the Canadian government take leadership?

Some members referred to a survey that was done, and there is a very recent survey by the University of Toronto which was done in March of this year. It tells us that 78% of Canadians support setting maximum sodium levels in food sold in grocery stores and 76% agreed that there should be a warning label and statements that are displayed so that people have the real information that they need.

I want to end by saying that other countries are doing what needs to be done. Recently, South Africa announced that it is now going to require regulations that have to be met by June 2016 for sodium reduction. Many other countries have taken much more significant action than Canada.

At the end of the day I think we have to ask ourselves: Are we committed to the health of Canadians and preventing the deaths that are now taking place that can be prevented? Will we ensure the health of Canadians in the future? If so, then this bill is one concrete measure that would allow that to happen.

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