Stephen Harper's prorogation of Parliament sets back work on key issues
January 11, 2010
Georgia Straight
By Don Davies, NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway.

Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament is gaining notoriety—and infamy….

Post-Copenhagen, environmental urgencies remain unaddressed. Homelessness, a lack of affordable housing, and the need for accessible, quality childcare are pressing. We are facing a huge deficit, and serious questions of fiscal policy and taxation choices must be made.

Of all these critical issues, I believe we particularly need to focus attention on the social agenda and the environment. This embraces issues that have been generally ignored by the Conservatives, but which affect many Canadians, including our most vulnerable.

So, if I were in Parliament in February, ….We need to implement a national housing strategy with the goal of ensuring that every single Canadian has decent, affordable shelter. Through years of Liberal and Conservative neglect, the federal government has been totally absent from this arena. My colleague Libby Davies has a bill before Parliament that would establish such a strategy, and if we were in session next month, we could be moving that bill closer to implementation.

We need to address the appalling rates of child and seniors’ poverty in our country. We managed to get billions of federal dollars rolling within months when faced with a crisis of the banking and business community. I believe similar concentrated efforts to ensure no Canadian lives below the poverty line are equally achievable—and February in Ottawa would be a great time to start. Universal childcare, increased pensions for seniors, and poverty-reduction programs across the board should not wait any longer….