Questions and Statements

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the government is failing Canadian workers. Worse, it is actually endangering workers’ safety.

A report released yesterday showed that while the provinces have cut the number of disabling workplace injuries by 25%, the number of serious injuries in federal workplaces like Canada Post and the trucking industry has increased. It is no coincidence that those rates rose at the same time the government cut the number of workplace inspectors.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): On behalf of the NDP Caucus, it is an honour to rise in this House today to commemorate the National Day of Mourning in somber remembrance of workers killed, injured, or exposed to toxins at work.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, workers in Hamilton are still reeling after the abrupt announcement by Siemens that it will be closing its doors, putting 550 people out of work.

The province lost a “competitive process” to Charlotte, North Carolina, a state that will not only get our current jobs, but $130 million expansion as well.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Steel slabs made in Hamilton by U.S. Steel are being shipped to the U.S., rolled into coils there and then returned to Hamilton for customers like Honda Canada. U.S. Steel is moving Canadian product 1,500 kilometres for processing in the U.S. when Lake Erie Works, a top-notch Canadian facility in Nanticoke, is left sitting idle.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, there is a major disconnect between what Canada's businesses need to be successful and the fiscal policies of the government.

Yesterday Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney blamed business leaders for Canada's “abysmal” productivity record.

Despite years of across-the-board corporate tax giveaways worth billions of dollars, Canadian corporations just are not investing and not improving their operations.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, today marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Agnes Macphail.

Agnes was the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons in the very first election in which women had the right to vote. She later became one of the first two women elected to the Ontario legislature and the first to be seated.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mister Speaker, with the Christmas season fast approaching, I am really looking forward to watching A Charlie Brown Christmas again.

Part of it is to remind me of my childhood, but this year in particular, it is because I find myself asking the same question as Charlie Brown, who spent the whole episode wondering why Christmas was so commercialized: “Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, in the Ontario legislature debate Conservative members walked out after the Liberal government refused to hold public hearings into the HST.

Their gesture was a little hollow since it is their federal cousins who are forcing this tax on to families struggling with the recession. Tens of thousands of Canadians, including some of the government's own party members, are making it clear that this tax is just wrong

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, today the Ontario Liberals, with billions in financial support from the Conservative government, are introducing legislation to implement an 8% tax hike.

Exempting coffee and doughnuts does not make it easier to swallow this bitter pill. So, on a day when Liberals join hands with the Conservative government to gouge Ontarians, let us not add insult to injury by continuing to lie to them.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, provincial governments are considering establishing parallel programs for the Canada pension plan because of its current inadequacies. The CPP is the least expensive and safest retirement savings plan available to Canadians. Unfortunately, it limits the contributions that individuals can make and offers a maximum $11,000 a year in retirement benefits. It is simply not meeting the needs of hard-working Canadians who are concerned about surviving their retirement.