Monday October 21, 2002

  Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my NDP colleagues, and I am sure I speak on behalf of all members here, I express our deepest sympathy to the people of Australia as they mourn the loss of so many of their fellow citizens in the senseless act of barbarism that took place in Bali and which also took the life of a fellow Canadian, Mervin Popadynec, from Wynyard, Saskatchewan.

  We share the horror and sadness of Australia and of all others whose lives and families have been scarred by this act of meaningless violence, particularly, of course, the Popadynec family in Saskatchewan.

  Let those of us who practise politics rededicate ourselves to finding political solutions to the world's problems. Let those who practise such terrorism be caught and brought to justice and let others who contemplate such violence cease and desist: They are a discredit to our common humanity.

Friday October 11, 2002

  Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, two days ago the Ontario Tory government showed contempt for workers' rights, for Ontario farm workers in particular and for the Supreme Court of Canada when it introduced a law the falls seriously short of allowing farm workers to form a union. An association is just not good enough.

  The federal government should call on the Ontario government to respect the ruling of the Supreme Court and allow farm workers to unionize. At the same time, the federal government should get its own house in order by ratifying the international convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families.

  Migrant workers are brought to this country by the federal government and should be treated with respect by the federal government. Turning a blind eye to the Ontario decision, failing to ratify the international convention and continuing to collect EI premiums from migrant workers who have no chance of ever collecting it shows a lack of concern for farm workers about which the Liberals should be embarrassed.

Monday June 4, 2002

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, word has come of another blow to the auto industry. DaimlerChrysler will be closing its manufacturing plant in Ajax in December 2003 with a loss of 650 jobs. In the last 18 months approximately 15,000 auto related jobs have been lost in Quebec and Ontario.

The World Trade Organization's decision to kill the Canada-U.S. auto pact and the Liberals' blind faith in free trade have caused this problem. The Liberal government must recognize that there is a growing problem in this vital part of our economy and must act to ensure its long term health and survival.

With the end of the auto pact there is no longer a need for manufacturers to invest in Canada if they are going to sell vehicles here. While we wait for long overdue government action, let us hope that auto makers recognize that one of the costs of selling in this country is investing in this country. Besides which, unemployed workers are not going to buy new cars.

Friday May 24, 2002

  Mr. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, on June 13 the anti-ballistic missile treaty will expire, after its unilateral abandonment by the Bush administration.

  The termination of the 30 year old ABM treaty will leave an international legal void that will allow the weaponization of space and permit the development of space based systems and space based components of the U.S. mational missile defense system to go forward.
  Canadians and citizens around the world should be alarmed at such heightened militarization of space.

  Canada can play an important role in stopping the weaponization of space by adopting, supporting and promoting the space preservation treaty which would implement a ban on space based weapons and on the use of weapons to destroy or damage objects in space, and immediately order the permanent termination of research, testing, production and deployment of all space based weapons.

May 22, 2002

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, at a time when Canadian jobs are being lost to the not so friendly fire of American actions on softwood lumber and farm subsidies, another form of Canadian job loss to Americans is happening courtesy of the CNR, which is increasingly only a Canadian shell run by Americans. The latest such insult was manifested at the derailment in Firdale, Manitoba, a derailment which made national news.

What should also make national news is the fact that Winnipeg railroaders were forced to idly watch while an American outfit called Hulcher from Minneapolis was called in to deal with the derailment, ending decades of fine capability on the part of Canadian railroaders to deal with such derailments. Not only did this threaten jobs, it took some 12 hours to have this American crew get there.

Thursday April 25, 2002

  Mr. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago at a Winnipeg Safeway a masked gunman attempted to rob an armoured car in broad daylight. Though the robbery was foiled, the gunman opened fire and the guards were forced to return fire to defend themselves. This is but the latest in a string of similar events.

  Other than under federal government firearms legislation, there is effectively no regulation of this sector. There are no regulations requiring businesses to use armoured cars in specified situations. There are no minimum requirements in terms of training or safety equipment. There is no requirement for a minimum number of guards per unit. There is no mandated times when pickups should be made to avoid potential harm to bystanders.

  The increasingly dangerous working conditions faced by armoured car guards and the threats to public safety associated with robbery attempts should be addressed through the passage of national legislation requiring more effective training, more guards making pickups and more careful planning of when those pickups take place.

Wednesday April 17, 2002

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Throughout this period of reflection around the 20th anniversary much will be said about former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and rightly so.

As he himself was not unwilling to acknowledge, one of his formative influences was Frank Scott, a McGill University law professor and one of the founding members of the CCF, the predecessor of the NDP. Indeed, a constitutional charter of rights was a continuing demand of the CCF and the NDP in the decades leading up to the adoption of the charter.

As one who was in parliament 20 years ago and who was privy to much of the dialogue between the NDP and the Liberals at that time as the charter proceeded from draft to reality, I give credit to my leader at that time, Ed Broadbent, and to the NDP caucus of that parliament.

The political fact of the matter, as you may recall, Mr. Speaker, was that Prime Minister Trudeau wanted our support and was prepared to make changes in his proposals to get that support and keep it. As I remember it, the NDP among other things wanted changes to the charter including stronger language with respect to equality of women and recognition of aboriginal rights.

In any event, the charter is with us and the supreme court has delivered an interesting variety of judgments on it. Canadians it seems are attached to the charter

March 1, 2002

  Mr. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the behaviour of Canada's railways continues to concern both railroaders and the general public. Longer trains block roads for longer periods of time. Many of these same larger trains are not inspected by rail workers performing pull-by inspections any more and the electronic sensors being replied upon do not pick up a myriad of other safety hazards. Improper documentation of trains is also a growing problem.

Wednesday June 13, 2001

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg—Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, in recent days there have been charges and countercharges of people playing politics with Bill C-15.

Tuesday April 16, 2002

Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg--Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, like most Canadians I appreciate the work of the RCMP most of the time. The final report on the APEC inquiry was released March 27 by the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP. Commissioner Shirley Heafey reaffirmed the findings of the interim report which noted that the rights of protesters had been infringed upon and which called for a public apology. So far no apology has been forthcoming. I would urge the RCMP to do so.