Parliament Fall Session Recap / Récapitulatif de la session parlementaire de l’automne

That’s a wrap on the fall session of Parliament! Join Mark Garcia, CTF/FCE Advocacy and Government Relations Coordinator, as he gives us a look at what has happened on the Hill this fall and upcoming considerations for 2023, including: / La session parlementaire de l’automne est maintenant close! Joignez-vous à Mark Garcia, coordonnateur de l’Action politique et des Relations avec les gouvernements de la CTF/FCE, qui récapitule ce qui s’est passé sur la Colline cet automne et signale les questions à venir en 2023 :

• Inflation and carbon tax increase in the new year / L’inflation et l’augmentation de la taxe sur le carbone dans la nouvelle année
• Constitutional relationships between the federal and provincial governments / Les relations constitutionnelles entre les gouvernements fédéral et provinciaux
• The triple threat to healthcare and other issues of national concern / La triple menace qui pèse sur les soins de santé et les autres préoccupations sur la scène nationale
• Legislation to support the labour movement / Les lois à l’appui du mouvement syndical
• Mississauga – Lakeshore by-election, and / L’élection partielle dans Mississauga–Lakeshore
• CTF/FCE advocacy efforts / L’action politique de la CTF/FCE

Additional Information / Renseignements supplémentaires

• Check out Politico’s Ottawa Playbook (https://politi.co/3W0aTCj) and 338Canada (https://338canada.com/) / Qc125 Canada (https://qc125.com/canada/) 
• Read Dr. Danielle Martin’s book “Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians”: http://6bigideas.ca/ (en anglais seulement)
• View the Nanos Poll, released on December 6, 2022 / Résultats du sondage Nanos parus le 6 décembre 2022 : https://bit.ly/3iLUfIt (en anglais seulement) 
• Email communication@ctf-fce.ca to subscribe to our Parliamentary Update / Envoyez un courriel à communication@ctf-fce.ca pour vous abonner à notre Mise à jour parlementaire! 

(Balado en anglais accompagné de liens vers des ressources en anglais et en français)

This episode was recorded on December 13, 2022. / Cet épisode a été enregistré le 13 décembre 2022.

The Source podcast is produced by the CTF/FCE in Ottawa, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People. | La balado Source est produite à Ottawa, sur le territoire traditionnel non cédé du peuple algonquin anichinabé, par la CTF/FCE.

Follow us on social media | Suivez-nous : Facebook @CTF.FCE, Instagram @ctffce, Bluesky, X @CTFFCE

Views expressed do not necessarily represent the policies nor the views of the CTF/FCE. | Les points de vue exprimés dans cet épisode ne représentent pas forcément les principes directeurs ou les points de vue de la CTF/FCE.

Transcript

Mark Garcia 0:10

Hey everyone. Welcome back to your source for everything and anything public education in Canada. My name's Mark Garcia. I'm the advocacy and government relations coordinator here for the Canadian Teachers Federation. Today I'm just gonna be talking a little bit about what happened in Parliament. This fall we're recording this on December 13th. So we're just gonna go over a few of the big ticket items that happened in the fall and what that means for politics here in Canada. Some of the big issues that I want to touch on that were of a big focus in the. Parliament. Were inflation. Things are expensive as we all know. Prices have been climbing, but they've steadily tapered off, and I don't think inflation is quite as bad as it was a month ago or a few weeks ago. If you take a look at gas prices, they're not nearly as high as they were a month ago. That's good for us. The conservative party of Canada probably isn't so happy about that because they were using that as a wedge issue for a very long time. Another wedge issue that they're going to be focusing on, and we can probably expect to hear a lot more about it over the next year, and definitely following the new year, is the carbon tax. So the debate on whether the carbon tax is useful or what it means for families and climate. Was a huge focus of Pier Poly's leadership campaign and his current role in opposition. It's going to be increasing on January 1st. And it's still set to increase, I think for four or five more years. definitely going to be a ballot box issue whenever that next election comes. Not withstanding the bully tactics of the Ontario government unions won the day during the QPI labor. While it wasn't talked about a whole lot in Parliament it's definitely a worth a mention here from us, and we're very proud of our QPI allies. As an aside in the house I wanna point out that only liberal and nd PMPs really spoke about the issue. So the conservatives trying to position themselves as. Representatives of the working class, I think that was a missed opportunity to put their money where their mouth is. But what this does in effect is it telegraphs issues related to the constitutional relationship and the constitutional challenges between the federal government and the provinces and Alberta. On December 8th, the province's new premier Daniel. Introduced and passed the Alberta sovereignty within a United Canada Act. And, no, I'm not kidding, that's the oxymoronic name, that their government decided to give this piece of legislation and doing my research for this podcast, I just did a brief check in on how that passed, and they actually have a section. Dedicated to saying what the bill doesn't do because they're so scared at people's misinterpretation of what the bill does. But the reality is, is that the bill is quite clearly a signal to the federal government but out of our affairs the bill empowers Smith's government to order provincial authorities to refuse to enforce any federal law that they disagree with. The phrasing that the the website. Highlighting the bill says anything that may harm Albertans. So their interpretation of what harms Albertans and what the federal government wants to do. I'm curious to see how that plays out, but that'll be interesting. That's just another example of a province telling the federal government to, to butt out really. And I think unity of the country is going to be a big issue leading up to the next election as well. So we've got the carbon tax, we've got national unity. I also wanna highlight the newfound attention that healthcare is getting. So healthcare, along with the other issues that we've talked about today, I think are gonna be really big ballot box issues. But healthcare, because with the flu and with Covid and ultimately with the hiring crisis and The shortage of nurses and doctors. We're seeing more and more people pay attention to the fact that the Canadian healthcare system isn't delivering on what we've expected for a long time. We're really passionate about healthcare in this country. Of course it's a provincial issue, but I think people are gonna start saying, something. needs to change. So whether that's more money through federal health transfers to provinces, or there being more federal involvement in healthcare like we would like to see in education. But that's a complete different aside. We're gonna see more and more people question. Whether the healthcare system is working and Pierre Pollievre and the conservatives are probably gonna see this as an opportunity to say, Hey, maybe we should look at a system where we have more privatized healthcare. So I really hope and I think that's, all of these issues I've talked about can be ballot box issues, but I really think the federal government and the Trudeau liberals can say, we hear you. We understand that this is a concern for you, and we're. Take things seriously. Just in my experience this weekend because I don't have a family doctor here in Ottawa I had to go to the emergency room and when I checked online so I live in downtown Ottawa and I checked Eastern Ottawa's Hospital, Mount four Hospital, and there. 12 hour and 45 minute wait if I wanted to go there. The other hospitals don't have a prediction like that. So I chanced it and I went to the Ottawa Queensway Hospital. I got very lucky. I only had to wait 90 minutes. But imagine if you're a person seeking medical care and you're told that you have to wait 13 hours to. An ER doctor. That's unbelievable. So I think that we're really gonna see a lot more attention being paid to that. And I really hope that something gets addressed. We hear tons and tons of stories of nurses leaving because, The working conditions here are terrible. They're not being paid adequately. And you can go to the states and you can get a way better job with way less stress. My thoughts are with all of our nursing colleagues and those working in healthcare, you do a wonderful job and I really hope that the outlook improves for not only Canadian seeking healthcare, but folks working in the healthcare industry.. So I think that's gonna be a big issue. And pretty fittingly. A nanos poll was released on December 6th, and it found that the top issue of national concern for Canadians was healthcare. So we're gonna hear more and more about that as well. The other issues that that nano poll highlighted were inflation the economy and the environment. So pretty much all the issues we have talked about today so far. And if you are curious about healthcare in Canada and wanting to know more one book that really has opened my eyes into, what some things are we can do to improve Canadian healthcare, and there are a myriad of issues and I'm definitely not an expert nothing near it. But one person who is an expert is Dr. Danielle Martin. And not to be confused. Daniel Martin former beloved CTF director. But Dr. Danielle Martin wrote a book called Better Now, and she talks about, six big ideas to improve healthcare for All Canadians. And she's actually a bit of a. Star if I can say that. She was the doctor who Bernie Sanders invited to speak at the Senate. And she put all these Republican senators in their place when they asked, isn't Canadian healthcare broken? it's a fantastic book and it really opens your eyes to ways we can improve the healthcare system. As for updates, some key pieces of legislation that the CTF wants to flag for you are Bills C 3 0 2. So Bill C 3 0 2 is a private member's bill. The act to amend the Canadian labor code. Replacement workers in brackets. And this seeks to prevent employers from using replacement workers aka antica legislation. This is a welcome piece of legislation from the labor movement that we've wanted to see for a very long time. The bill is a private members bill, and I think it's still outside the order of precedent, aka it's not gonna move anywhere. But we want to thank ND P M P, Alex Buis from Roseman Lari. In Montreal for introducing that piece of legislation, it's really important to say to employer. this is unfair bargain and good faith. Two other pieces of legislation that I've flagged are S 2 51 and C 2 73. So both of these pieces of legislation seek to remove section 43 of the criminal code. Some of you. Who have followed this closely, it's a big CTF issue. You'll know that Section 43 protects teachers in the event that they need to put their hands on a student prov to prevent harm from one another, or destruction of property or harming themselves, right? If a student is going to run into traffic, teachers want to be able to know that they can grab that student and stop them from harming themselves or another student. Having legal repercussions. So the CTF ffc opposes the removal of the section without appropriate language introduced elsewhere. And we've spoken to both sponsors of both of those bills and they're open to working with the CTF on this, so that's great. We have a second meeting scheduled with Senator. Stanley Kutcher he's the sponsor of Bill S 2 51. And we'll be meeting with him in early February. And we also had a meeting with Peter Julian on November 28th. And he's the sponsor of C 2 73. We're seeking a follow-up meeting with Mr. Julian in his office, but we're engaging on this and this is. Priority issue for the CTF F Sale. Big news from this week. So we're recording this on December 13th. Yesterday December 12th, Charles Suza, the former Ontario Liberal Cabinet Minister, won the Mississauga Lakeshore by election. This was the first election since Pier Pev became, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. The result is not really a surprise. The seat has been liberal for over 10 years. And they had a star candidate, a former cabinet minister at the provincial level. But it does show that maybe Pi Pev isn't gonna have that big crack into the 9 0 5 wall that many people were expecting. The liberal. almost sweep Toronto and the gta. And if the conservatives ever have a hope of forming a majority, they're gonna have to tap into that seat rich area. Lastly, I'm gonna do a quick winners and losers of the fall session. So for me, and I'm not an avid fan of Justin Trudeau I'll, I'll be honest about that, but I like to call him how I see him. And I think Justin Trudeau was probably the winner of this fall session. A lot of people thought he was gonna get knocked around by the conservatives and be hit over the head with whether it's inflation or. The carbon tax are all these issues that we talked about. But based on polling and based on the results of Mississauga Lakeshore, where they actually increased their vote percentage from last time he has survived the pure Polly of honeymoon period. And yeah, we might be a year plus out from an election, but he has. Pretty good I think. There was a brief time where the pure Poly of propaganda machine was rolling away, and we thought he was gonna run away with it, and conservatives were projected to win an election if it was held that day. But right now, Canada 3 38. And that's a great aggregate service that we'll put in. Notes. Do you have the liberals a 63% chance of winning the most seats right now? So I have a big caveat of polls or just polls, but polls also matter, right? If you and people will say if you look at the US election, or you look at recent election results, 3 38, Canada has pretty much gotten it right in the last nine elections that they have covered. If you want to talk about the merits of polling, send me an email, but they mean something, right? So the liberals are looking good and also the Prime Minister came out looking as prime ministerial as we've seen him. During the convoy inquiry and the convoy inquiry isn't done yet. And I think when he was speaking about the convoy and he was speaking about their leadership, he said it wasn't that they just wanted to be heard, they wanted to be obeyed. And having lived in Ottawa and living not very far away from where the convoy set up, I think that sums it up perfectly. These folks were not really looking forward to meaningful policy debate. They wanted to take down the government. That's also ignoring the fact that the majority of the mandates were provincial. So civics teachers, I feel your pain. But I saw political pundits who are no fans of Justin Trudeau but he came out smelling like a rose and people said that was the moment where he won the next federal election. So I'm not gonna speak in absolutes like that, but we'll see what that looks like for him. And we'll wait on the next federal election, but conservatives were expecting a big win there and Trudeaus slip up and he didn't. So that's why he's my winner of this fault. Session my loser I'm gonna have to say it's the Green Party of Canada. And it's no knock on what they stand for as a party. But the way they've governed themselves and the way they've managed themselves when you're trying to breathe life into a party on life support, the last thing you want to do is go back to the beginning of the thing that made it sick in the first place. And that's ultimately what they've done right, is yes, Elizabeth. Brought them to their best electoral result ever. Getting a million votes in the 2011 election. And. getting them to three seats in Parliament. But the unity wasn't there and she left and they had a fantastic leadership race and it didn't work out. But they had an opportunity to elect someone new and continue breathing new life into the party. But the enthusiasm in the green party is not there. It looks like 8,000 people voted in this leadership election. A 36% voter turnout of eligible electors. And their last leadership election in 2020 had a 69% voter turnout with. 24,000 people voting. So I think that just puts into perspective what the excitement level is there. We'll have to see what happens with the Green Party, but for all of these reasons and them not really taking the opportunity to do something exciting and do something new. that's why they're my loser for this fall session. Lastly, I'm gonna plug a great morning email service that I use and it makes my job much easier as a government relations worker. Politico's Ottawa Playbook is a fun and daily email service that recaps current events going on in Canada and in Parliament Hill. It lets you know where ministers are speaking that day, which is really useful to, if you want to know where everyone is or what they're focused. It also has fun little tidbits like which politician or former politician's birthday it is that day, or free political nerds. There's quizzes like who was the federal? Minister of Health when healthcare was brought in right? Or something like that. Very neat niche, nerdy political questions like that. But even if that's not your jam, you should still subscribe anyways because it still provides a really. easy and accessible way to learn about federal politics. That's it for me today. If you'd like to learn more about some of the things that I talked about or you hate some of the things that I've brought up today, I'd love to talk to you about it. If you wanna learn more about Canada 3 38 and polling, if you want to learn more about the polling that we talked about or check out the other resources or look up that book by Dr. Danielle Martin. All of those things are gonna be in the. Thank you for listening and tuning into your source.