In the News

Ottawa still mulling whether officials will attend Olympics, days before it starts

Nonetheless, New Democrat health critic Don Davies said the government should have played a more direct role in setting guidelines for Canadians attending or competing in the Games.

"Normally matters of international sport are not squarely within the sights of government. But I think given the context in which these Games are being taken and the fact that it engages direct federal policy on a number of fronts, it really should have received more attention by parliament and by the government," Davies said in an interview.

Summer 2021 Community Report

Our summer newsletter is landing in mailboxes across Vancouver Kingsway. 

In order to make sure that we continue to provide you with up-to-date information, we've converted our latest mailing into an online interactive format.
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions you may have.
Happy reading!

Former deputy PM calls on Ottawa to investigate U.S. cancellations of Canadian NEXUS cards

NDP deputy public safety critic Don Davies agrees there should be more transparency and more opportunity to appeal.

"Trusted travellers who have had their NEXUS cards revoked need to know that they were revoked for a good reason," he said. "And I think they are owed an explanation as to why their passes were revoked, and there needs to be some sort of timely and fair process for challenging that where there may be a valid reason for thinking that the revocation wasn't valid."

Federal government not tracking vaccination status of returning Canadians who got their COVID-19 shots abroad

NDP health critic Don Davies said in a statement that data collection is “critical” to pandemic policy-making, highlighting its importance “to help inform and plan proper public-health responses.”

“From PHAC to CBSA, there has been a continuing failure to ensure we have fulsome and accurate data,” Mr. Davies said. “The failure of CBSA to collect data on returning Canadians is a glaring example. We must identify and close these gaps.”

Is Canada really donating 100M doses of COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries? Justin Trudeau’s critics say no

What first sounded like a generous set-aside of about a quarter of the total portfolio of roughly 400 million doses that Canada pre-purchased turns out to be a “disingenuous” promise to provide doses Canada does not have in hand, or hasn’t approved, or will decline to take from the global sharing program COVAX that Ottawa never should have dipped into in the first place, said New Democrat MP Don Davies.

Canada paid a premium to get COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer earlier than planned

NDP health critic Don Davies said he's frustrated that the committee's order for unredacted documents was ignored.

"After months of dogged work the opposition finally got Canada's vaccine contracts," he said on Twitter. "Predictably, Liberals released them late on a Friday with barely a week left in the session. Predictably, they redacted them in violation of the House Order."

Redacted COVID-19 Vaccine Documents

Last October, the opposition successfully passed a motion in the House of Commons directing the government to produce a variety of COVID documents, including vaccine contracts to the Health Committee, no later than December 7 2020. After six months of stalling, the Trudeau government finally delivered the contracts, but in a redacted form. Predictably the Liberals released these document late on Friday in June with barely a week left in the Parliamentary session. Worse, they removed information from the contracts in full violation of the House order. Nevertheless this is a victory for transparency and accountability for the opposition. 

Feds lose attempt to block human rights inquiry into blood ban

“The Trudeau Liberals promised Canadians they’d stop the discriminatory blood donation ban on MSM. Once in office, they claimed they don’t have the power. This is false, and the courts are proving it,” tweeted NDP MP and health critic Don Davies.

Union demands ‘transparency’ on quarantine hotel program after women, racialized workers let go amid pandemic

“When we entered into our contract with that hotel, they were not in a strike position at that time,” said Mr. Stewart in response to follow-up questions from NDP MP Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, B.C.), noting since then, things have “progressed.” 

“We used the hotel facility and we also employed hotel staff in the back office elements of the operation. However, the frontline work is done by infectious control specialists which hotels do not have,” he added. Asked by Mr. Davies if he could table the contract with the committee, and by Mr. Barlow if he could share the feds’ gender-based analysis, Mr. Stewart said the agency would “have a look” at the inquiries and respond accordingly. According to local media reports, the site is primarily staffed by members of the Red Cross, which has been tapped throughout the pandemic to provide reinforcements to some sites struggling to contain the spread of the virus—notably long-term care sites in Ontario and Quebec. Still, the Unite Here has been vocal about its fears that the hotel could use the pandemic as a cover to replace laid-off workers with non-unionized employees working for lower pay.

What will Canadians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 be allowed to do? Calls grow for national guidelines

NDP MP Don Davies urged the PHAC to release new rules that are cautious but recognize that there is a benefit to vaccination. He cautioned that without such guidance, Canadians are left with a vacuum of information and may simply turn to the guidelines issued in the U.S.