Questions and Statements

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, StatsCan knew years ago that it was applying a botched formula for inflation. Its mistake is being paid for by everyone whose income is tied to the CPI. StatsCan says going back in time would create economic chaos.

What about the chaos that its errors wreaked on seniors living on fixed incomes? They are increasingly becoming part of this country's homeless. A retirement in poverty is not a life lived with dignity and respect.

Will the Minister of Finance admit that the government has shortchanged seniors to the tune of over $1 billion for CPP and OAS alone and will he return that money to the seniors who have a right to these funds.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, this fall the Auditor General slammed the previous Liberal government for its failure to make progress on meeting Kyoto targets. The Conservatives then introduced their so-called clean air act, which, quite frankly, stinks.

Now the verdict from the UN climate change conference in Nairobi is in. Canada was embarrassed by placing second last in a comparison of national government policies to reduce greenhouse gas pollution in 56 industrialized countries.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the ongoing land claim dispute in Caledonia.

Members may ask why I wish to speak to that issue when the affected community is not within my riding of Hamilton Mountain. I do so by default because the local MP refuses to stand up for her constituents. I do so because it is a dispute that has pitted neighbour against neighbour, customer against small business owner and citizen against the police. The impact of these deteriorating relationships is being felt not just in Caledonia but throughout our entire region.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP) :

Mr. Speaker, the government's disastrous administration of the child tax benefit has left single parents--and, yes, they are mostly still women--on the losing wide in a game of he said/she said.

The child tax benefit is supposed to provide a financial benefit for low-income parents who are the caregivers for their children. But Revenue Canada will not give that money to single parents if their former spouse or common-law partner has failed to inform Revenue Canada of his new address. The CCRA's assumption is that he is still contributing to the household income.

Mr. Speaker,

Canada's manufacturing sector is being decimated and governments are standing idly by as industrial plants close and their workers become Wal-Mart greeters.

In the last Parliament, all parties agreed that the wages, pensions and collective agreements of workers needed to be protected when companies shut down.
Bill C-55 passed through the House but the Liberals refused to proclaim it into law.

If the government will not live up to its responsibility to develop an industrial strategy to save Canadian jobs, will the Minister of Labour at least do right by Canadian workers and bring forward the bill that would protect the benefits they have already earned?

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to speak in the House today to one of the most urgent issues in the new Canadian economy, income support for older workers. I want to speak to this issue from two perspectives. First, as the NDP critic for seniors and pensions, and second, as the Member of Parliament for Hamilton Mountain.

Let me begin by painting a picture of what is happening in my hometown of Hamilton. Most members in this legislature will think of Hamilton as steel town, a city that has built its reputation from a strong and vibrant industrial and manufacturing sector. Not so long ago that picture would have been accurate. However, members may be surprised to learn that the largest employer in Hamilton today is neither Stelco nor Dofasco, but rather the service sector and, in particular, health care.

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge this House to join governments around the world in combating the hidden crime of elder abuse. It can come in the form of neglect and physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse. It can take place at home, in an institutional setting or in the community.

It affects our parents and grandparents, yet it often goes unreported. It is for this reason that awareness-raising is a crucial component of preventing the abuse and neglect of older persons. I contacted the Minister of Canadian Heritage asking her to support the commitment made under the United Nations international plan of action by proclaiming June 15 elder abuse awareness day here in Canada. She declined. I was absolutely shocked.

The Conservative Budget, and the Budget Implementation Bill that is before this House today, do absolutely nothing to address the profound environmental challenges that confront Canadians today. The silence is absolutely deafening. When it comes to climate change, we have essentially lost yet another year on this most critical issue. It is showing up on the pages of Maclean’s, the front pages of The New York Times, and across our communities. But it is not showing up in the Budget.

Let me turn first to health care. If health care is one of the government’s top five priorities, why was it barely mentioned in the budget?

If it’s so important, where is the plan? Where are the imperatives? How is the federal government going to work with the provinces? Where is that information? It certainly isn’t in the Budget Implementation Bill.

As I’ve said in this House before, people in my riding of Hamilton Mountain remember only too well the last time a Conservative Government turned its mind to health care. The last Conservative government in Ontario, of which the current federal Minister of Finance was a member, threatened to close the Henderson Hospital, jeopardized access to home care, and did nothing to address the unprecedented shortages of family doctors in our community. In fact, they laid the foundation upon which Premier McGuinty is now building his P3 hospitals and justifying the privatization of health care.

In my home town of Hamilton, one in five people live below the poverty line. 25% of those are children. But we all know that children aren’t poor; it’s their parents that are poor. Hamilton families need help now!

We need to invest in our manufacturing sector to ensure that we will continue to have decent paying jobs in our community. Yet Bill C-13, the budget implementation bill, is silent on this issue. It offers neither a steel industry strategy nor an auto sector strategy.

Nor does Bill C-13 do anything to provide funding for decent paying public sector jobs for professions like nurses or nurse practitioners who are so crucial to improving our health care system. Similarly, the doctors’ shortage remains unaddressed. In fact, as I’ll return to later, the entire Budget is largely silent on one of the top of mind issues for most Canadians: health care.