By the numbers

To keep fairness on the agenda, 30 NDP MPs rolled up their sleeves and worked harder than ever through the second session of the 39^th Parliament.

Average attendance for votes

1. NDP MPs = 87% attendance

2. BQ MPs = 86% attendance

3. Liberal MPs = 65% attendance

introducing Private members’ bills

1. NDP = 153 bills

2. Liberal = 104 bills

3. BQ = 34 bills

introducing Private members’ motions

1. NDP = 291 motions

2. Liberal = 145 motions

3. BQ = 20 motions

placing questions on the Order Paper

1. NDP = 130 questions

2. Liberal = 123 questions

3. BQ = 12 questions

opposing harper on confidence votes

1. NDP = 41 of 43 votes

2. BQ = 28 of 43 votes

3. Liberal = 0 of 43 votes

Session review:

Making a difference

Since Parliament re-opened last fall, even as Liberals rubber-stamped Harper’s agenda, the NDP has managed to deliver results that matter to people at home.

• Setting post-Kyoto targets:By passing Layton’s Climate Change Accountability Act in June, the House of Commons became the world’s first legislature to adopt science-based targets and timelines to cut carbon emissions by 80% under 1990 levels by 2050.

• Protecting space technology:NDP pressure deterred Ottawa from rubber-stamping a buyout that would have relinquished Canada’s leading-edge Radarsat technology to US arms manufacturer ATK.

• Ensuring fairness for cities: In the 2005 budget, the NDP secured $900-million to help municipalities invest in sustainability and transit—and this May, Ottawa finally made the gas tax transfer permanent.

• Defending breast cancer survivors:Moments after Layton challenged Harper to halt cuts to the Canadian Breast Cancer Network in February, staff received a call confirming funding for the year.

• Ensuring fairness for reservists:Resubmitting an NDP bill as its own, the government finally moved to protect reservists from losing their civilian jobs or active-student status when they are called to service.

• Respecting people with disabilities: NDP MPs secured unanimous consent for a motion calling on the government to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

• Improving workers’ security:The final piece of the 2005 NDP Budget Deal came into force—a Wage Earner Protection Program giving workers’ unpaid wages first priority when employers go bankrupt.

• Protecting struggling communities:After pressure from the NDP, the government unblocked a $1-billion emergency investment for one-industry towns stung by hardship and unemployment.

• Keeping immigrant families together:Parliament passed an NDP motion stopping the cruel deportation of spouses with open sponsorship applications, at least until decisions are rendered in their cases.

• Keeping poverty on the agenda: The NDP secured parliamentary hearings as a first step toward adopting a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy.

• Defending Aboriginal rights:Following a motion tabled by the NDP, the House of Commons endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—something the prime minister refused to do.

• Protecting conscientious objectors: In May, the House of Commons adopted an NDP motion calling on Ottawa to cease any removal action against US Iraq war resisters who have sought refuge in Canada.

Session review:

Fighting Harper’s agenda

Since Parliament re-opened last fall, Jack Layton and the NDP have led the fight against a Harper agenda that’s dead wrong for today’s families. Here are some highlights.

• Corporate giveaways? NDP MPs opposed the budgets that squandered $50-billion on tax cuts for profitable corporations. (That plan passed only because the Liberals skipped the decisive votes.)

• Pandering to polluters? After two years of inaction from Harper, the NDP tabled a motion to defeat his government for scrapping the opposition’s “breakthrough” bill on climate change. (The Liberals helped Harper by skipping that vote too.)

• Shunning immigrants? The NDP exposed and opposed Harper’s backdoor clauses giving his immigration minister extraordinary powers to limit family-class and compassionate immigration. (The plan passed when most Liberals skipped the vote.)

• Extending combat in Afghanistan? Consistently advocating peacebuilding over counter-insurgency, the NDP opposed Harper’s Liberal-backed motion extending Canada’s combat role until at least 2011.

• Squeezing civil liberties? The NDP sided with rights advocates—against Harper and Dion—in opposing the continued use of “security certificates” to detain non-citizens without charge.

• Squeezing out harm reduction? NDP House Leader Libby Davies led the fight against the Conservatives to keep Canada’s first supervised injection site (InSite) open and saving lives.

Session review:

Holding Conservatives accountable

New Democrats aren’t just leading the fight against Stephen Harper’s harsh and narrow agenda—they’re also exposing the excesses of top Conservatives who were elected on promises of “cleaner” government.

The NDP discovered that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had broken Treasury Board rules by awarding untendered contracts to one of his political allies.

A year after exposing Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn’s $150,000 undeclared tab for private jet rentals, NDP MPs discovered that he’d spent an additional $62,000 on undisclosed flights.

The NDP revealed that the Conservatives had entered into a $500,000 contract with a pro-military lobby group to ensure favourable media comment on the war in Afghanistan.

NDP researchers uncovered a nest of undeclared expenses by Minister Bev Oda, including almost $10,000 in limousine costs—including rides to partisan political events and rides for friends.