- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Green Party
- Saanich—Gulf Islands
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 61%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $112,862.18
- Government Page
- Jun/19/24 5:56:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, please forgive me. Before my petition, I just have to say, “Go Oilers”. Now I will turn to my petition.
The petitioners are very concerned for the habitat of the threatened marbled murrelets. These are birds that are covered by the Migratory Birds Convention Act. To summarize the petition, the petitioners call on the government to immediately protect all the critical old-growth habitat of this rare bird.
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- Jun/12/24 4:11:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am rising to present a petition from concerned residents of Nova Scotia, so not my riding, but they have reached out to me concerning a land-based testing facility being built by the Department of National Defence. It threatens a forested area where there is a bird observation site, which is the nesting and feeding ground for thousands of migratory birds. The public consultation was rushed, and the petitioners urge that the House review what the Hartlen Point development would do. They are asking for a full and transparent consultation, inquiry and review before building these DND facilities.
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- Jun/6/24 10:12:08 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise on behalf of my constituents, who express deep concern about the level of poverty in Canada. The petitioners point out that poverty affects more than 10% of Canadians, disproportionately impacting indigenous peoples, racialized people, recent immigrants and the young, especially children. The petitioners ask for the House of Commons to adopt a national poverty elimination strategy to ensure that every Canadian has a suitable quality of life and the opportunity to succeed.
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- Jun/5/24 5:09:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition from a number of constituents who are concerned about the use in Canada of a herbicide called glyphosate, or a trade name often known as Roundup. The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
The petitioners are concerned and ask that the Government of Canada, and the Minister of Health specifically, ban the sale and use of glyphosate to protect human health and the environment and develop a comprehensive plan to reduce pesticide use in Canada.
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- May/30/24 10:15:19 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to present a petition from my Saanich—Gulf Islands constituents. They are concerned about threats to our old-growth forest. There is one last unprotected intact old-growth valley on all of southern Vancouver Island. Constituents asked—demanded—that the government take action against clear-cut logging.
I do not want to say something in English or joke around.
Perhaps it is “tax the axe.” The petitioners are hoping the government will act in concert with the provinces and in the interests of first nations.
We need to work with the provinces and first nations to immediately halt the logging of endangered old-growth ecosystems.
The petitioners point out this affects climate change, biodiversity and indigenous rights. They urge the government to take action while there is still time.
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- May/24/24 12:12:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition signed by members of the constituency of Saanich—Gulf Islands who are deeply concerned about the actions of Canadian companies overseas that do not reflect our values or our respect for human rights.
Petitioners point out in this petition there are companies based in Canada that contribute to human rights abuses around the world and environmental damage, and that those who protest those Canadian companies and their operations are also harassed, attacked and killed, including indigenous peoples, disproportionately.
Petitioners call on the Government of Canada and the House of Commons to require companies based in Canada to prevent human rights abuses, to protect the environment globally and to ensure a legal right for people who have been harmed overseas to seek justice in Canadian courts.
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- Apr/29/24 3:43:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising to present a petition that is of keen concern to residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands. In fact, it is a petition that other petitioners within the riding have had me present to the government and to the Parliament assembly before. It is not an unfamiliar issue, I know, to members on all sides of the House. It is the crisis of the absence of family doctors, specifically in Saanich—Gulf Islands.
Where 92% of physicians across Canada work in urban areas, areas such as Saanich—Gulf Islands have 8% left to cover the needs of constituents. Within Victoria and Sidney, for example, the average wait time at a walk-in clinic is between 92 and 180 minutes. I certainly have experienced, recently, the absence of a family doctor and the impact it has had on my life.
The petitioners, specifically recognizing that this is not solely one jurisdiction's exclusive responsibility, call on the House of Commons and Parliament to work with the provinces and the territories to come to a holistic and fair solution to Canada's current family doctor shortage crisis.
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- Apr/9/24 10:11:51 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, you know what a stickler I am for the rules, but I support the member for Courtenay—Alberni breaking those rules in order to point out that on one petition at least, we really are in strong support, even though we are not supposed to say so, and that of course was the petition about the volunteer firefighter tax credit.
I am presenting a petition that I will briefly summarize. Many of my constituents have asked me to present a petition to protect critical old-growth habitat, which is absolutely necessary for the survival of a species at critical risk. It is threatened under the Species at Risk Act and is the marbled murrelet. Its Latin name is Brachyramphus marmoratus. Its habitat is limited specifically to old-growth forests along the B.C. west coast.
Petitioners propose that the government take action to protect that critical habitat.
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- Apr/8/24 3:22:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today on behalf of constituents in Saanich—Gulf Islands, standing on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
The petitioners are pointing to the long-standing problem of the contribution, unfortunately, of Canadian companies, particularly those in the mining sector, in attacking human rights and being associated with environmental damage around the world.
Petitioners ask the House to consider that the people who are involved in such protests in other countries around the world, to defend their rights, are often harassed, attacked or killed. They are calling on the House of Commons to require companies to prevent adverse human rights effects and environmental damage and to require companies to do their due diligence, including by carefully assessing how their actions are contributing to such egregious human rights abuses and environmental damage. They ask for the Government of Canada and the House to work for the legal right for people who have been harmed by Canadian companies to seek justice in Canadian courts.
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- Mar/22/24 12:32:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my second petition deals with the critical habitat requirements of a rare and threatened bird, the marbled murrelet. This bird nests in the roots of old-growth forests. That is the only place where it is found, although it spends most of its lifetime out on the open ocean.
The petitioners are calling for the Government of Canada to immediately protect all the critical old-growth habitat that is needed by the marbled murrelets and to recognize that this habitat is also protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, to which Canada is a signatory. This matter is urgent. The number of birds is down to a precious few.
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- Mar/22/24 12:31:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to present two petitions this morning. They are both of critical concern to members of my constituency.
I had the honour of hosting 12 community meetings recently in different parts of the riding. There was not a single meeting where the issue of the crisis of access to family doctors was not raised.
I put forward a petition where the petitioners note that, according to Statistics Canada, approximately 4.8 million Canadians do not have a regular doctor. Moreover, 92% of physicians are working in urban centres and just 8% in rural areas. In Victoria and Sidney, B.C., within Saanich—Gulf Islands, average wait times for a walk-in clinic are 92 minutes and 180 minutes, respectively.
The petitioners call on the government to work with the provinces and territories to come to a holistic and fair solution to deal with the family doctor health care provider shortage.
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- Mar/18/24 4:28:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is so tempting to tell the story of the time the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley managed to dump a dead salmon on Brian Mulroney's desk, but I have to skip over that.
My petition is about salmon and the importance of protecting wild salmon. The petitioners are calling on the government to institute all 75 recommendations of the Cohen inquiry into salmon aquaculture and to move to recognize the threat to wild salmon represented by the climate crisis and warming waters, which are threatening the sustainability of Fraser River sockeye.
On behalf of petitioners in Saanich—Gulf Islands, I am honoured to present this petition.
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- Feb/26/24 3:42:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today with a petition of deep concern to residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands, and I dare say of all our ridings across Canada, regarding the crisis of home affordability. The petitioners point out the key problems that have caused the problem. The rise in home costs has to do with the financialization of homes; treating housing as an investment and, worse than that, as a matter of some speculation and gambling; and the use of Canada's housing market to launder money and evade taxes.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to redefine affordable housing, to have an updated formula to better reflect the current economic conditions; to ensure that corporate interests and real estate investment trusts are brought to heel when it comes to excess profiteering; and to require restrictive covenants on affordable housing, which are units built with taxpayer support, to ensure that they are not flipped for personal gain.
The petitioners call for a number of very sensible measures to prioritize the funding for non-profit and co-op housing.
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- Feb/13/24 10:06:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and present a petition from constituents in Saanich—Gulf Islands who are concerned about the nexus between the climate crisis and the health of humanity. The petitioners note that the World Health Organization has determined that, “Climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century.”
The health impacts from climate change include lung disease; heat-related illness and death; the spread of infectious diseases, and we note, in Canada, the spread of lyme disease related to climate change; displacement; famine; droughts; and mental health impacts, which are already being felt in Canada and abroad, and they are expected to accelerate.
Petitioners are, and I want to underline this, a particular class of knowledgeable individuals. The petitioners are described as physician mothers of Canada. They are people who are mothers and also speak with concern for our children, as many of us do, but with the added lens of the knowledge that they bring as physicians.
They call on the government and the House of Commons to act on the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment's calls to action on climate change and health, prioritize the reduction of emissions as quickly as possible, implement a national carbon pricing strategy and commit to the rapid elimination of fossil fuels from our economy.
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Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to present a petition signed by a firefighting force within my riding. On the very small island of Piers Island, the fire truck is the only internal combustion engine on the entire island.
The volunteer firefighters of Piers Island have asked me to present this petition in support of the private member's bill by the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni, which has been spoken to a number of times this afternoon. Volunteer firefighters account for 71% of Canada's total firefighting first responders. Right now, we have a good step in the right direction, which we supported at the time, of a $3,000 tax credit for volunteer firefighters.
Bill C-310 is supported by the petitioners, and it asks that volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteer services have that grown from a $3,000 tax credit to a $10,000 tax credit. I am proud to present this petition, and I urge Parliament and the House to get behind it.
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- Feb/5/24 3:47:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition of deep concern for many of my constituents. Our tax system in many ways is a discriminatory system toward seniors who are single. Married seniors are able to take advantage of income splitting on pensions. Because of the treatment of RRSP with the death of one's spouse, that registered retirement fund or tax-free account can be rolled into the RRSP of the other spouse. Single seniors, at death, just have it added into income, and it affects their taxes in so many ways. The petitioners are begging the government to look at the reality for six million seniors in Canada. Over one-third of them are single seniors, and most of those seniors are women.
Fair taxation for seniors is the call of these single seniors. They ask for the government to review the situation, offer single seniors a reduction of 30% on their income to be taxed, and allow, upon death, single seniors with an RRSP, RRIF or TFSA to transfer it into one of their other savings accounts for the beneficiary of their choice. It is only fair.
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- Jan/31/24 5:40:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to present a petition on behalf of many constituents who are deeply concerned about the opioid crisis and the unacceptably high number of deaths. It is almost unbelievable that nearly 14,000 people have had opioid-related deaths since 2016. In particular, British Columbians are very concerned. A number of the founders of Moms Stop the Harm come from British Columbia and, indeed, from my riding on Pender Island.
The petitioners call for the government to, at long last, declare a public health emergency because of overdose deaths, or poisoning deaths, in Canada; to treat this as what it is, which is a health crisis, not a criminal justice crisis; to address the crisis in a comprehensive, multi-faceted way as one that involves issues of addiction, poverty, housing, health care, racial discrimination, economic inequality and instability; and listen to the advice of many experts, who say that drugs should be decriminalized in Canada.
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- Jan/30/24 10:36:50 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise and present my first petition of calendar year 2024. It is perhaps not too late to wish all members in this collegial and loving environment a happy new year.
I would like to present a petition from constituents who are concerned that we move towards a just transition, and that in phasing out fossil fuels and winding down the fossil fuel industry, there be a centring of workers in the process; good, green jobs and inclusive workforce development that proceed expeditiously; expansion of the social safety net to new income supports; decarbonization of public housing; and operational funding for affordable and accessible public transit.
There are a number of other points in the petition, but I think these are the salient ones that the petitioners hope the government will take on board and implement.
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- Nov/6/23 3:58:19 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise today to present a petition from constituents of Saanich—Gulf Islands concerned about equal rights for women. One would not think we would need a petition in November 2023 to point out that, after all this time, women are not receiving equal pay for work of equal value. Canadian women still receive 21¢ less on the dollar than men for substantially the same kind of work.
Petitioners ask that the House of Commons enact legislation and policies to promote pay equity and pay equality and to do it without delay.
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- Nov/2/23 10:36:21 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the petition, signed by residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands, starts by recognizing that Canada is legally obligated, under the terms of the Paris Agreement, which was signed and ratified by Canada, to the goal of attempting to hold the global average temperature increase to no more than 1.5°C. We are now at 1.1°C, and we are already seeing dramatic and devastating impacts of the climate crisis.
The petitioners therefore call on the Government of Canada to take bold climate action. They particularly call on the government to do the following things: set ambitious targets for reduction of emissions; set a national price on carbon; arrest growth in oil sands and other fossil fuel production; end the export of thermal coal from Canada, which was a promise made in the 2021 election; and invest in the transition to a carbon-free, decarbonized economy, one with strong and sustainable jobs and a strong postcarbon economy.
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