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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 75

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 19, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 75 - May/19/22
Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:42:27 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, absolutely, 100%.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:42:31 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, can the government instruct banks like First Nations Bank, TD Bank and Scotiabank to open branches in places like my riding?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:42:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am happy to have conversations with the member with respect to the issues she is raising in the area of banking.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:43:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, does the minister think the government can instruct the banks I mentioned earlier to operate in indigenous communities and rural communities?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:43:16 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, with respect to Canada Post, we are carrying on conversations and discussions. I have met with Canada Post. I have met with the workers union, CUPW, and we will continue to have conversations in order to assist Canada Post to get to a place where it is self-sustaining.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:43:35 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, will the minister work with me to at least develop a pilot project in Nunavut to check the viability of developing a postal banking system for the rest of Canada?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:43:48 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I would be honoured, and I welcome working with the member and listening to the concerns and issues she has. I look forward to that engagement.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:44:01 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, does the minister recall this quote from her mandate letter? Ensure that Canada Post provides a high quality of service that Canadians expect at a reasonable price and better reaches Canadians in rural and remote areas. You will be supported in this work by the Minister of Rural Economic Development.
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:44:23 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, yes. In fact, I have had conversations with the Minister of Rural Economic Development. I recognize that that is in my mandate letter. It is one of the reasons why we have conducted surveys in order to get information from the public to determine what services are important to them and assist Canada Post to deliver those services.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:44:42 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will quote another sentence in the mandate letter: You will also leverage the government's purchasing power to increase access to economic opportunity for a greater diversity of Canadians. Does the minister recall that as well?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:44:58 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, yes, I do. I was very pleased to see that in my mandate letter.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:45:04 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, will the minister work with me on the viability of a postal banking system in Nunavut?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:45:11 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will work with the member, take the input that she has, learn from her experiences and work collaboratively as we move forward with Canada Post.
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Ms. Lori Idlout
  • May/19/22 10:45:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I will now turn to another aspect. Last year, polling conducted by Canada around postal services raised concerns about cuts to services and jobs. What are the government's plans for Canada Post to ensure that transparency is happening?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:45:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we absolutely want to work with Canada Post. We actually did that survey in order to hear from Canadians. The member read from my mandate letter. It talks about the services that are important to Canadians. We need to know what those services are. That was the reason for the survey. We want to get that information so that as we move forward, Canada Post is able to deliver services that Canadians value and need.
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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)
  • May/19/22 10:46:19 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, if the provinces and the territories came to the government and asked to procure safer pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic drugs that are killing Canadians, would it act with the same urgency that it did to procure COVID-19 vaccines and supplies?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi (Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Lib.)
  • May/19/22 10:46:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, if we go back to March 2020, when COVID descended upon us, we were in a very different situation. We did not have one vaccine that was approved. The provinces and territories needed the assistance, which is why the federal government got into that procurement business. This is generally not what the federal government would do. Health care is provided by provinces and territories.
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Mr. Gord Johns
  • May/19/22 10:47:05 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the government keeps touting a safer supply as how it is going to respond to this crisis. Has the government looked into whether bulk buying harm reduction supplies or a safer supply could help reduce costs for supervised consumption sites, which often face funding challenges?
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Hon. Filomena Tassi
  • May/19/22 10:47:25 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the government has made significant investments in terms of the crisis that we have at hand with opioids, and the vaccines that we have procured were procured because we knew that we needed those vaccines across the country.
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Mr. Gord Johns
  • May/19/22 10:47:47 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, people are dying in the minister's own community. Parents are losing their children. The drug supply in this country has never been more toxic. We need a paradigm shift in our drug policy and we need a crisis-level response. We can save lives by procuring a safer supply. Will the minister raise this issue at her cabinet table and urge the government to act, and act now?
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