Reflections on the End of Session

Dear Constituents,

Just before New Year’s Eve, Stephen Harper decided he would shut down parliament to avoid scrutiny on a host of embarrassments, chief among them: his government’s backwardness at the Copenhagen climate conference and its alleged concealment of human rights violations in Afghanistan.

While I was disheartened by this flagrant abuse of democracy, I was also inspired by people, young and old, of every political stripe, coming together in protest. And when Harper finally gave in to mounting pressure, New Democrats returned to Ottawa to work for you.

As the Harper Conservatives, still shockingly out of touch, spent their time subsidizing banks and oil companies and the Liberals flailed about clumsily, New Democrats succeeded in passing legislation that Canadians want.

Our groundbreaking Climate Change Accountability Act was passed this session, and our Environmental Bill of Rights has overcome hurdles in its path to becoming law.
We campaigned on the pension crisis and recommended expansion of CPP, which the government now appears to have accepted, and we won support for our national affordable housing strategy.

Complementing that strategy, I introduced a bill that would put the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s $2 billion surplus to use. Bill C-549 would require CMHC’s surplus to be transferred to the provinces to provide housing for low-income households.

I know Victorians have a right to decent, more affordable housing, just as we have a right to a better-protected environment. Along with the abovementioned bills, our motion on the risks of unconventional oil exploration responds directly to Canadians’ fears that what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico could, despite half-baked Conservative assurances, just as easily happen in our waters. I hope you will join me and Rob Fleming, MLA as we host “Oil & Water”, a public forum in Victoria on Tuesday, June 29th to discuss the vulnerability of our coasts to the threat of offshore oil and to explore the viability of sustainable alternatives.

Additionally, my Green Commuter Bill (C-466) has been endorsed by municipal governments across the country and, if passed, would provide incentives for people to make better choices for the environment.

Whether for air quality, wild salmon, sewage treatment or a safe, public harbour, I have taken initiatives that matter to Victorians.

And as Assistant Deputy Speaker and Chair of the All-Party Arts Caucus, I have worked hard to bring MPs together to improve dialogue on Parliament Hill.

It is dispiriting that the government is finishing the session more or less as it started: with a refusal to make climate change a priority at a major international gathering and a deal on Afghanistan that probably means Canadians will never learn the truth.

But I am more encouraged than ever that people from Victoria to St. John’s to Inuvik are taking notice that the NDP is on their side – and on the move!

Sincerely,

Denise Savoie, MP