Speeches

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-386, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers).

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I have spoken in opposition to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement on numerous occasions in the House. I am delighted that, through the incredible leadership of my NDP colleague, the member for Burnaby—New Westminster, we so far have been able to stop this bill from becoming law. Now the government is shutting down debate through a draconian time allocation motion because it knows it cannot win its bill on its merits.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP) moved for leave to introduce Bill C-527, An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan (pension and benefits).

Mr. Speaker, I am thrilled to be introducing a bill that will finally put a legal end to the potential for people who have been convicted of spousal homicide to derive a CPP survivor benefit from their heinous crimes.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Madam Speaker, although amendments are an important part of the legislative process, my amendments today would be superfluous if the government had not dumped a number of non-budget items into Bill C-9. However, it did, so I am moving an amendment to delete all sections from C-9 that deal with Canada Post.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on the motions before us today. As you just read out, there are 62 motions and now I find myself in the position where 49 of them are grouped into one slot of debate. I only have 10 minutes this afternoon, so I will restrict myself to two clauses in particular, clauses 96 and 97 of the bill, and I will let my colleagues speak to some of the others.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain,NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act and the Weights and Measures Act.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, The very first Bill I introduced after being elected to the House of Commons in 2006 was a bill that would give wages and pensions super-priority in cases of commercial bankruptcy. Since that time, the government has adopted much of what was in my bill with respect to securing workers’ wages, and I am delighted that happened. But sadly, the government has not yet acted in any way to protect pensions in a similar way.

Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House tonight to speak on Bill C-473, An Act to protect insignia of military orders, decorations and medals of cultural significance for future generations.

Chris Charlton, MP (Hamilton Mountain, NDP) Mr. Speaker, I spoke to the Conservative government’s Budget when it was first tabled in this House and, unfortunately, I won’t have the opportunity today to go into detail again about what a profoundly negative impact it will have on seniors and hard-working Canadians.

Let me just re-iterate some of the key points that I raised last month.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak in the House today, yet again in opposition to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement. This time it is Bill C-2, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Colombia and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Colombia.