1-05-13 Resolution on Strengthening VIA Rail
Submitted by Scarborough Centre
BE IT RESOLVED that the following clause be added to Section 1.3 of the policy book:
(1.3 Physical infrastructure and transportation)
New Democrats believe in:
a) Strengthening VIA Rail with its own legislation guaranteeing it ongoing capital and operating
funding
MP Mike Sullivan (York South-Weston) speaks in favour.
Motion passes.
1-17-13 Resolution on Pay Equity
Submitted by London—Fanshawe, London West
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the following clause be added to section 1.6 in the policy book
1.6.e. Implementing the recommendations of the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force and establish a proactive pay equity regime, enshrined in law.
This motion was spoken to by MPs Irene Matthyssen (London-Fanshaw) and Niki Ashton (Churchill)
Motion passes.
The NDP convention debated the following motion :
1-03-13 Resolution on Protecting Supply Management
Submitted by Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, Welland
WHEREAS Supply Management is a longstanding bedrock of our rural communities and agricultural
industry, ensuring liveable farm incomes, high product quality, and domestic food security.
BE IT RESOLVED THAT Section 1.9 (g) of the policy book be amended as follows:
New Democrats believe in:
Resolutions // 2
g. maintaining supply managed dairy, eggs, and poultry, and the farm incomes they support. New
Democrats will work to ensure that in any new trade agreement, our successful system of supply
management is upheld.
NDP agriculture critic MP Malcolm Allen (Welland) spoke in favour of this motion.
Third resolution debated at Panel 1 on Friday afternoon at the NDP 2013 Convention:
1-53-13 Resolution on Employment Insurance
Submitted by Acadie-Bathurst
WHEREAS seasonal industries comprise a dynamic, essential part of Canada’s identity and economy;
WHEREAS Canadian workers and their employers make EI contributions and are the owners of the
program;
BE IT RESOLVED that the NDP move to restore the integrity of Canada’s EI program by amending the
Employment Insurance Act to include the following measures:
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Conservative government must hire adequate staff to administer
Service Canada programs efficiently and substantially reduce wait times.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the government should change the Working While on Claim regulation
so that EI claimants are not dissuaded from working during their benefit period.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NDP lobby the government to overturn the devastating changes
made to the EI program which limit access and lower benefits, resulting in lower wages and restricted
access and increasingly pushing vulnerable Canadians into poverty and transferring the costs to the
provinces.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NDP lobby the government to reinstate the Extended Employment
Insurance Benefits Pilot Project (5 additional weeks) to offset the “black hole” of financial insecurity faced
by seasonal workers and the regional economies they support.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NDP lobby the government to restore access to the board of
referees and the umpire so that all Canadians have access to a fair and equitable appeal system, as was
the case prior to the devastating changes made to the Employment Insurance program.
————
Debate began at 1656 ET.
Yvon Godin, Acadie-Bathurst, speaks to this motion. He is in favour.
Now a delegate saying this resolution does not go far enough. Says it does not protect older workers. “Some of these motions are not well thought out.”
Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles MP Anne-Marie Day also speaking to this motion.
MOTION PASSES —
The NDP convention is debating this resolution:
1-02-13 Resolution on Attacks on the Trade Union Movement
Submitted by Hamilton Mountain
WHEREAS the Harper government has imposed back to work legislation on numerous unions
representing Postal Workers, Air Canada Workers, and Canadian Pacific Workers and;
WHEREAS the Harper government’s 2012 federal budget will directly cut 19,000 federal public service
jobs over the next three years and;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Federal New Democratic Party reaffirm its commitment to free
open scope collective bargaining and will continue to oppose any federal government administrative or
legislative measures to impose collective agreements on federal public sector workers and workers in the
private sector.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Federal New Democratic Party continue to support the Rand
Formula and will oppose any initiative or legislation that will undermine the Rand Formula.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a New Democratic Government will revoke Bill C-377 an Act to amend
the Income Tax Act [Labour Organizations].
No one spoke against this motion. Union leaders spoke to the plenary in favour. No MPs spoke to this motion.
“Weak unions won’t grow our economy. Weak unions just more money in the hands of the 1 per cent,” PSAC leader tells delegates.
MOTION PASSES
Here’s the first resolution being debated at the NDP Leadership Convention:
1-01-13 Resolution on Combatting Tax Shelters Continue reading NDP Convention: Combatting Tax Shelters resolution
96 years ago today: The Battle of Vimy Ridge. One of the best assignments I’ve ever had was covering the 90th anniversary of that battle on the Ridge itself. I was working for CTV at the time and here’s a video I recorded with my pocket camera as I walked around the monument.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced this morning that a by-election will be held in the federal riding of Labrador on May 13. The riding became vacant after Conservative MP Peter Penashue, then a member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet, admitted that his campaign violated federal election finance laws in the May 2011 general election. Penashue, in that general election, won by a handful of votes and it was quite reasonable to assume that the extra illegal spending his campaign did in that general election could have made the difference.
Elections Canada is still investigating the over-spending and its investigation will be unaffected by the by-election. Moreover, Penashue is not avoiding any sanction he may face from Elections Canada by resigning and running again. That peril will still exist for Penashue regardless of the by-election and its outcome.
This by-election really won’t change a thing in the House of Commons. No matter who wins, the Conservatives will still have a majority; the NDP will still be the Official Opposition; and the Liberals will still be the third party. And yet, for a by-election that means so little in the big scheme of things (though obviously a big deal for the good people of the riding), there is a surprising amount of political capital at stake. For that reason, expect all three of those parties to be campaigning heavily to win. Some notes on what’s at stake …
Continue reading The writ drops in Labrador with a surprising amount at stake
On a tour through Northern Ontario earlier this week, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair was calling out the Harper Conservatives for slashing funding to FedNor, the federal government program that provides economic development help for northern Ontario. That prompted Tony Clement, the minister responsible for FedNor to fire back at Mulcair. Clement’s comments were echoed by Jay Aspin, the Conservative MP for the riding of North Bay-Timiskaming. Aspin’s salvo was the lead story today in the North Bay Nugget:
On Friday, The Sudbury Star reported that Mulcair said:
“Unfortunately, the Conservatives’ cuts, the planned cuts of tens of millions of dollars from the budget of FedNor, will have a devastating effect in the whole region, particularly in centres of excellence,” he said. “(The cuts will be) 20% this year and 25% next year — those are the actual cuts to FedNor.
If Tony Clement says anything otherwise, he’s not telling the truth. This is not a matter of ‘he said, she said’ — these are facts, they are printed on a piece of paper. Tony Clement should start telling the truth to people in Northern Ontario. If he’s got the guts to cut, let him have the guts to admit what he’s doing and stop playing word games.”
Clement promptly issued a statement on Friday, a statement which included the following:
“Mulcair decried magical funding numbers for FedNor he seemed to make up on the fly. …the numbers pure fiction. Its core funding remains virtually unchanged. If Mulcair understood financial documents – or cared to actually look at them – he would see a 0.43% decline in funding, not the 10%, 20%, 26% or any other number he is pulling out of his hat.”
So who’s right? Well, I care to actually look at financial documents and, if I don’t understand them, I ask what they mean. And after looking at the documents both use to support their claim/attack, one is right on the broad point — that would be Mulcair — and one is right on the narrow technical point about FedNor funding — that would be Clement.
Text of speech given this morning by NDP Government House Leader Nathan Cullen (above) on an MPs right to use a Members Statement on any topic the the MP chooses:
Thank you Mr. Speaker, for allowing me today to offer a few additional comments on what I believe is a particularly relevant matter.
On March 26, the Member for Langley rose to say that his rights as a Member of Parliament had been infringed upon when he was prevented by the Whip of his own party to deliver a statement in this House, a statement that, in parliamentary terms, we call an “S.O. 31”. Much like the terms ‘omnibus’, ‘prorogation’, and ‘closure’ the Conservative Party continues to offer Cdns an unintentional lesson in how are parliamentary system works and how it is being abused. Continue reading Cullen speech on an MPs freedom of speech
