“This bill needs to do more to protect women and children. Experts say we must spend money on housing, income support, and stopping violence before it starts. The Liberals and Conservatives keep voting against our ideas to do that, and I want to know why.”

“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this bill. Before I get started, I want to give a shout-out to Laurel Collins, the former MP for Victoria, who, as you might recall, was a champion in tackling gender-based violence and laid the groundwork for today. If Bill C-16 is about protecting women and children, we need to get it right. We need to listen to the experts, and many of them, including women’s organizations, survivor groups and legal advocates, have repeatedly called for greater investments in prevention, housing, income security and violence protection programs, yet we have seen Liberals and Conservatives continually vote against amendments that we put forward, especially from the member for Winnipeg Centre. Maybe my colleague can speak about why the Conservatives voted against those amendments instead of focusing on stopping violence before it happens, because that is a critical component.”

“The government is cutting programs that prevent violence against women and intimate partners. Experts say these programs need more money, not less. I want to know how the government plans to stop this violence while cutting that funding.”

“Mr. Speaker, I have a tremendous amount of respect for my colleague. The main concern that we have been having as New Democrats is that we see the Liberals right now, and they are cutting critical programs that are essential for prevention. They are also letting programs expire. Maybe my colleague can explain how the government expects to reduce violence against women and victims of intimate partner violence when they are cutting the very programs that are critical for prevention. We have heard from the experts time and time again that not only do they need to be maintained, but the investment needs to be increased significantly. It is essential to this conversation.”