Petitions Tabled

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 126
CONTENTS
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, my next petition again is on behalf of these same hard-working families. We know that a decade after the major reforms to the employment insurance program were enacted, it is even more difficult now to qualify and the benefits are less generous.

EI has been repeatedly cut since its high point in the mid-1970s, most recently in the early 1990s, and today only about 4 out of every 10 unemployed workers collect regular EI benefits, down from 80% in 1990.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 126
CONTENTS
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table four petitions today on behalf of the hard-working families of Hamilton Mountain.

These families are increasingly recognizing the existence of a prosperity gap in Canada. They do not feel that they are benefiting from the economic growth they keep hearing about. Of course, they are right as we know and the numbers are backing them up. Not only is there a growing gap between the right and the poor but there is also an alarming erosion of economic security for middle class families.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 125
CONTENTS
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today on behalf of hard-working families on Hamilton Mountain who are increasingly recognizing the existence of the prosperity gap in Canada. They do not feel they are benefiting from the economic growth they keep hearing about. This is especially true for the many Hamiltonians who are working full time but are still living below the poverty line.

To that end, they have asked me to table a petition calling on the House to restore the federal minimum wage which the Liberals eliminated in 1996 and to pass NDP Bill C-375 to set the minimum wage at $10 an hour as a first step in moving toward a living wage. I am delighted to present this petition on their behalf.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 124
CONTENTS
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am pleased to table today builds on the questions that I have been raising in the House about fairness for ordinary Canadians who were shortchanged by their government as a result of an error in calculating the rate of inflation.

The petitioners call on Parliament to take full responsibility for this error and take the required steps to repay every Canadian who has been shortchanged by a government program because of the miscalculation of the CPI.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 124
CONTENTS
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions today. Let me begin with one from the building trades. This petition was circulated by two community leaders in my riding of Hamilton Mountain: Joe Beattie, who is the business manager for the Hamilton-Brantford Ontario Building and Construction Trades Council, and Geoff Roman, the chair of the Political Action Committee of UA Local 67.

They have lobbied successive governments for over 30 years to achieve some basic fairness for their members. They want trades persons and indentured apprentices to be able to deduct travel and accommodation expenses from their taxable incomes so they can secure and maintain employment at construction sites that are more than 80 kilometres from their homes.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 116
CONTENTS
Thursday, February 22, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of presenting a petition today on behalf of veterans in my riding of Hamilton Mountain, as well as their families and friends, in support of Bill C-238, which was moved by the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore.

Presently, if a veteran's spouse dies when a veteran is 50 years of age and that veteran re-marries at age 59, the second spouse is entitled to all the pension benefits. However, if the veteran re-marries at the age of 60, the second spouse is entitled to nothing upon the veteran's death. That must to change.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 103
CONTENTS
Monday, February 5, 2007

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition today that was circulated by residents of the many housing co-ops in my riding of Hamilton Mountain.

As the House can imagine, these residents are incensed about the financial crisis caused in many co-ops by the cuts to subsidies as a result of a flawed section 95 program.

They are keenly aware of the fact that over two million Canadians are still in desperate need of decent, affordable housing and are petitioning the House to first, repay all law subsidies to section 95 housing co-ops; second, to provide new assistance so these co-ops can help low income residents thereby making up to 10,000 co-op homes affordable again for people in need; third, to build 200,000 affordable and co-op housing units, renovate 100,000 existing units and provide rent supplements to 40,000 low income tenants; and fourth, to extend the supporting communities partnership initiative, known as SCPI, that funds successful homelessness prevention programs.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am also very pleased today to table a petition signed by members of the CAW who are opposed to the Canadian negotiations for a free trade agreement with Korea.

Instead of worsening the one-way flood of automotive products into our markets, the petitioners urge Parliament to develop a new automotive policy that would require Korea and other offshore markets to purchase equivalent volumes of finished vehicles and auto parts from North America as a condition of their continued access to our market.

As the Speaker will be aware, this is part of a larger campaign that has gathered over 47,000 signatures to date.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling two petitions today.

The first petition is signed by 50 people, many of whom live in my riding of Hamilton Mountain. The petitioners call upon Parliament to take all measures necessary to immediately raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years of age.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition in the House today, which I support, that is signed by more than 150 people from my constituency of Hamilton Mountain.

The petitioners request Parliament to call upon the government to amend the Canada Health Act and corresponding regulations to include IBI/ABA therapy as medically necessary for children with autism and that all provinces be required to fund this essential treatment for autism.

They also call upon the government to create an academic chair at a university in each province to teach IBI/ABA treatments to undergraduates and doctoral level students so Canadian professionals will no longer be forced to leave the country to receive academic training in the field and Canada will be able to develop the capacity to provide every Canadian with autism with the best IBI/ABA treatment available.