Kevin Lamoureux, MP

Air Canada breaking the law; Government must take action

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release

March 19, 2012

More than 2,400 workers are now jobless after Aveos Fleet Performance abruptly shutdown maintenance plants yesterday in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Montreal. Liberal House Leader Kevin Lamoureux believes that the government is failing to hold Air Canada accountable to the Air Canada Public Participation Act for actions taken by Aveos.

“Under the Participation Act, it explicitly says that Air Canada must maintain operational and overhaul centres in the City of Winnipeg, the Montreal Urban Community, and Mississauga. It is simply wrong for Air Canada to try and curtail this piece of legislation by moving jobs to private companies like Aveos and then washing their hands of the matter. It is their job to maintain these overhaul centres and they are breaking the law.”

The closing of the plants will not only be a blow to the aviation industry in Winnipeg, but to the over 300 individuals who now find themselves without employment in the city.

“While the government is busy touting Canada’s strong job market, they are ignoring the thousands of individuals who have just lost their jobs. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that Air Canada is being held accountable so that Canadians can keep their jobs,” added Lamoureux who also noted that yesterday’s event did not come as a surprise.

“In the early months of 2011 there were rumours that Aveos was going to close some of its overhaul centres and the company of course, denied that it was going to happen. Then a year later—as predicted—we now have thousands of individuals who are unemployed.”

Lamoureux says that he intends on taking the issue to the House of Commons next week after the House returns from recess.

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For more information:

Stephanie Choeurng, Assistant to Kevin Lamoureux

Tel.: 613-996-6417

Fax: 613-996-9713

e-mail: kevin.lamoureux.a5@parl.gc.ca

Celebrating International Women’s Day & changing discriminatory citizenship laws

Today we celebrate a very important day that recognizes the achievements of women from all over the world, past and present. Today is International Women’s Day. Personally, I am lucky to be surrounded by strong, independent, women such as my mother, my wife, and my daughter. There is no doubt that the success of our nation, of our communities, and of our families is based on the success of women.

The government must take leadership in attaining gender equality by encouraging political participation so that Canada’s House truly represents its people and making sure that the unique challenges and concerns which affect women are being addressed.  One of these challenges, is changing discriminatory citizenship laws that deny Canadian women, such as war brides and by extension, their children, their right to citizenship. The Canadian Charter affords all individuals the right to equality and to not be discriminated against based on sex. Yet, these women and children who have lived in Canada for most of their lives and have no doubt contributed to their communities in many ways, are being discriminated against. This is shameful and simply not right; we cannot forget, in celebrating women’s achievements that issues such as these still exist. I urge Canadians to visit canadianwarbrides.com for more information.

Kevin

Liberal critic questions purpose of backlog report

 MEDIA RELEASE

For imediate release

March 6, 2012

Liberal critic questions purpose of backlog report

Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal Critic for Citizenship and Immigration is questioning the purpose of the immigration backlog report that was tabled today in the House of Commons. The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration had set out to study the issue of backlogs in order to find ways to reduce wait times that have climbed to over 5 years in some categories. Lamoureux believes that actions made by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration while the study was under way, undermined the purpose of the report.

“Right from the beginning, the Minister knew what he was going to do in terms of dealing with the backlogs. He put a freeze on sponsorships for parents and grandparents and introduced a supposed “Super Visa” which, has turned out to be a super disappointment.

Frankly, I’m not sure what the purpose of the study was if he was going to implement changes before the study was even complete. It’s clear that the recommendations in the report are catered to decisions the Minister has already made,” commented Lamoureux.   

With a backlog of almost 1 million applications, Lamoureux understands the concern that Canadians and their family members have in terms of wait times.

“It’s interesting because parents and grandparents are waiting years to come to Canada and the Minister decides that freezing the application process for 2 years and introducing a visa that is not affordable is going to help.”

Lamoureux believes that much can be done in restructuring certain programs such as the Temporary Foreign Worker Program which can help alleviate demand from other areas and meet some of Canada’s labour shortages. In the Liberal supplementary opinion to the report he stated, “…that candidates who fulfill the Foreign Temporary Worker Program eligibility requirements and are able to meet the few other basic requirements should have the ability to apply for permanent residency after a working period of two years.” 

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