Rachel Blaney, NDP Critic for Veterans Affairs, is again disappointed in Veterans Affairs Canada’s (VAC) treatment of past Canadian Forces members. “I haven’t held this portfolio for very long, and I’m already seeing a very concerning pattern with regards to how our veterans are treated by their government.”

Former justice minister and attorney general Puglaas, Jody Wilson-Raybould, closed her comments before the House of Commons justice committee on Wednesday, February 27th, with a powerful statement that reverberated across social media

Member of Parliament for North Island – Powell River Rachel Blaney is happy to see some things included in the latest federal budget, and disappointed that others were not. Blaney was pleased to see that seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement and working at the same time will have a higher income threshold before having their benefit suspended. However they will have to wait another year and a half for this change to take place.

Rachel Blaney, Member of Parliament for North Island – Powell River, has been given a new role as the NDP’s Critic for Veterans Affairs. This will be in addition to her current roles of Critic for Seniors’ Issues and Vice-Chair of the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee.

Randall Garrison, NDP Critic for National Defence and MP for Esquimalt – Saanich – Sooke, has tabled a bill in Parliament to address the serious issue of suicides and barriers to mental health within the Canadian Armed Forces. This new Private Members’ Bill would remove the section of the National Defence Act that states self-harm is a disciplinary offence.

On January 21st in Burnaby, Jagmeet Singh challenged Justin Trudeau to take immediate action to combat the housing crisis and bring relief to Canadians across the country. The NDP Leader announced the first part of his plan to build half a million affordable housing units over the next decade starting with the removal of the federal tax on the building of new affordable housing in the upcoming federal budget.

Member of Parliament for North Island-Powell River expressed serious concerns regarding the Wet’suwet’sen blockade in Northern British Columbia. “I am very concerned with the ongoing situation at the Wet’suwet’en blockade, and disappointed that the Prime Minister is remaining silent” said MP Blaney. “The government does a lot of talk about reconciliation, but that means showing up and doing the tough work, especially in difficult situations”.

On Tuesday, NDP Health Critic, Don Davies (Vancouver – Kingsway) secured a key meeting on the forced sterilization of women in Canada at the Standing Committee on Health. Davies won unanimous support from his colleagues when he moved a motion calling for the Department of Health to provide a briefing, at the earliest opportunity, on forced sterilization, which has disproportionately impacted Indigenous women.