RESPONSE TO SPEECH FROM THE THRONE
October 23rd 2007
From Hansard
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to take part in this debate. It is a privilege for me to rise in the House today to reply to the Conservative government's throne speech.
I want to re-emphasize that our caucus, unlike others, is united in our belief that the throne speech shows clearly that the Conservative government is planning on taking Canada further in the wrong direction.
I am part of a party that knows what it believes and unlike some other members of the House, we will not be afraid to stand up for the principles we share with hard-working Canadians.
I will speak a little later about some of the specifics of the speech, but I want for a moment to reflect on what is not in the throne speech. What is not in the speech is almost as telling about the Conservative vision for Canada as what is in it.
Even though one of the Conservatives' key promises in the last election was for health care and reducing wait times the throne speech makes no mention of improving wait times. In fact, the throne speech does not even mention the words “health care” or “medicare”, not even once.
The throne speech also does not speak about education or training. The words “university students” and “post-secondary education” never even appear in the throne speech. In fact, the only reference to education in universities and colleges at all is to say that families are worrying about the escalating cost.
Apparently, if one is a student or a parent looking to save for post-secondary education, one cannot depend on the Conservatives to deliver. It is not part of their vision.
Development workers we are asked to honour by voting in favour of a mission in Afghanistan that we know a majority of Canadians do not support. Other workers mentioned are those in Canada's traditional industries, like manufacturing industries and steel. Steel is still a major employer and economic driver in my community. I guess apparently these industries can rest easy. At least they are mentioned in the Conservative vision for Canada.
How workers in these industries who are supposed to be comforted by the fact that for nearly two years in power absolutely nothing concrete has been done to plan for the future of these industries is actually beyond me.
At least manufacturing workers are in the vision for the future. No other workers are mentioned. The entire topic of jobs alone is mentioned only once in the entire throne speech.
Afghanistan gets six mentions, the military three, the same for the Canadian Forces, but jobs and the Conservative vision of this country is worth only one single mention.
The throne speech also does not speak about inclusion or multiculturalism. Those words are not in the speech because of a lack of vision that the Conservatives have in these particular area. The only time women are even mentioned in the throne speech is in the context of men and women in uniform.
I could go on but during this last week Canadians are beginning to express the concerns the NDP have expressed for months in the House and in communities across the country. They are beginning to say as we have that the government must change direction. Canadians see Canada at war. Canadians see our climate in crisis and that middle class families are falling further and further behind.
This was the time for the federal government to show leadership. This was the time for the Conservative government to show all Canadians that its vision includes their needs, their hopes and their desires for a better future. Sadly in the eyes of many it did not do it. The Conservative government has proven once again that it simply cannot get the job done.
Our NDP members listened very carefully to the throne speech and the subsequent debate, and we were somewhat surprised to hear that the Prime Minister is now open to the NDP proposal of long standing that the Senate should be abolished. That is a long ways from the man who put an unelected Senator in charge of signing cheques for our people's money.
The promised apology in the Speech from the Throne to Canada's first nations for the terrible injustices and abuses in the residential school system is possibly the only bright spot. An actual apology might have been better. It is unclear why Canada's aboriginal peoples have to wait even one moment longer, but that promise is one that I guarantee my colleagues and myself will hold the government to.
During the prolonged summer break I met with many of the hard working folks in the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. As an aside I would like to mention and acknowledge the excellent provincial campaign of the NDP's Paul Miller in my riding. The people of Hamilton East--Stoney Creek have chosen the NDP to represent them in Ottawa and now in Queen's Park. I know they have chosen an excellent representative.
Over the extended summer break, I heard countless stories from hard-working folks who are having real trouble making ends meet. Today, when tremendous wealth is being created in our country, in fact more wealth than at any other time in history, these families have told me that they now need to work longer just to make ends meet. Something is clearly wrong with this picture and Canadians know it.
The NDP has been warning about the growing prosperity gap and how it is putting working families and the middle class further and further behind. Now we have the shame of more than two million seniors living in poverty across this country, the same folks who helped establish the fundamentals that gave us the wealth that we have today. At the same as our seniors are facing financial and personal crises, a few people at the top are enjoying the benefits of the current economy.
A fine example of the growing gap happened in my community. When Stelco came out of CCAA protection and was sold, while former shareholders and retirees dangled in the wind, one of Stelco's top company executives pocketed over $60 million. People also told me that they were expecting action from the government to help their families make ends meet, to make the necessities of life more affordable and to ensure them greater financial security.
With the throne speech, the Conservative government could have chosen to reduce the prosperity gap between the rich and the workers of Canada, but no. Instead, it chose to do nothing on that front.
Speaking of workers from my riding, on the weekend I was told of their disappointment in the throne speech because it showed them how much the government fails to understand their plight or, worse, that it does not care. Canadians know that what is needed now is real leadership in these key sectors of the economy. What they also now know is that the Conservative agenda announced in the throne speech has failed them once again. A quick mention of the sector fails to give hope to the families and communities that are suffering massive job losses across this country resulting from the government's devastating policy.
The speech also fails to provide leadership for families when it comes to health care. Still today, across Canada millions of families cannot find a doctor, wait times are still too high and the cost of prescription drugs continues to skyrocket. By ignoring these fundamental issues, the Conservative agenda, as it was laid out in the throne speech, has turned its back on improving health care for today's families.
I want to say here today that despite the Conservative indifference through all of this, the NDP caucus will redouble its efforts to campaign for universal drug coverage. Whether it does so in the House or on the streets, no matter. The hard-working families of this country must get the drugs they deserve based on their doctors' advice and not on their ability to pay.
Earlier this summer, I was in Montreal in Outremont and I observed one very important thing that voters in Quebec have in common with voters all across Canada. They are terribly concerned with climate change. If we listen, working Canadians everywhere are very concerned about the future climate changes being predicted by scientists from around the world. They are now beginning to recognize that the current government has and the preceding government failed to get Canada on the right track for tackling climate change.
Quebeckers and all Canadians know that under the Liberals greenhouse gases increased by 23% beyond Kyoto objectives. Canadians are asking questions, such as how the Liberals, when the current leader was minister of the environment, could have allowed greenhouse gases to increase to levels even greater than the Bush administration. Canadians know we are facing an uncertain future and an unprecedented global crisis and they are, rightly, asking why the Conservative government continues to use Liberal failures as an excuse for inaction on this file.
Beyond those questions, Canadians are demanding real, concrete action now. They know that the watered down clean air and climate change act is not the path to follow if Canada is to truly respond to this crisis.
In my riding, I have heard folks talk regularly about the growing concerns with regard to the combat mission in Afghanistan and that it is not the right mission for Canadians. People were very clear. While they support our troops in every sense of the word, they told me that this was not the role they wanted to see their country play on the world stage.
It is only the NDP that has always been clear and consistent on this issue. It is the wrong mission for Canada. We are not a afraid of the consequences of our actions because we firmly believe in our principles.
This is why we will oppose the Speech from the Throne. Unlike the leader of the Liberal Party, we will not pretend and we will not criticize only to sit back later and hide behind excuses. We will not shirk our responsibilities.
