House of Commons Hansard #99 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was federal.

Topics

Ensuring Access: Assistance For Post-Secondary StudentsRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Papineau—Saint-Denis Québec

Liberal

Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 108, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, two copies of the government's response to recommendations made in the first report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, entitled Ensuring Access: Assistance for Post-Secondary Students .

Government Response To PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Liberal

Peter Adams LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to four petitions.

Library Of ParliamentRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Liberal

Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the standing joint committee on the Library of Parliament.

Extradition ActRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-40, an act respecting extradition, to amend the Canada Evidence Act, the Criminal Code, the Immigration Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, and to amend and repeal other acts in consequence.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of a number of Canadians, including from my riding of Mississauga South.

The petitioners draw to the attention of the House that managing the family home and caring for preschool children is a honourable profession which has not been recognized for its value to our society.

The petitioners also concur with the national forum on health which stated that the Income Tax Act discriminates against families that choose to provide direct parental care in the home for their preschool children.

The petitioners therefore pray and call on parliament to pursue initiatives to eliminate tax discrimination against those families that choose to provide care in the home for their preschool children.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Reform

Philip Mayfield Reform Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first is signed by 75 residents of the city of Quesnel, British Columbia in the constituency of Cariboo—Chilcotin. They request that parliament impose a moratorium on ratification of the MAI until full public hearings on the proposed treaty are held across the country so that all Canadians can have an opportunity to express their opinion about it.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Reform

Philip Mayfield Reform Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by 75 residents of the city of Quesnel in the constituency of Cariboo—Chilcotin who request that parliament deny the right of any board of group to remove or confiscate natural herbal supplements until public hearings are held across the country.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

NDP

Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB

Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that the MAI talks have been suspended, and we hope for good, petitions continue to roll in from across the country from thousands of Canadians who are concerned about the MAI and the fact that the government still has not given up the idea of a multilateral agreement on investment similar to that which it was seeking at the OECD.

Therefore I have petitions from various provinces calling on parliament to reject the current framework of MAI negotiations and instructing the government to seek an entirely different agreement by which the world might achieve a rules based, global trading regime that protects workers, the environment and the ability of governments to act in the public interest.

The opportunity is now for the government to do this. Given that the talks have broken down, we hope the government will finally listen to the many thousands of petitioners who have been asking it to do this.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Reform

Jim Hart Reform Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC

Mr. Speaker, I rise today pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present a petition from 525 residents of the province of British Columbia who are concerned about the hepatitis C debate that is ongoing in Canada.

These petitioners draw the attention of the House to the following. Whereas the majority of Canadians are in favour of fair compensation for all victims of tainted blood; whereas research indicates that the validity of the surrogate testing was available in 1981 as opposed to the 1986 year stated by the hon. health minister; whereas the number of infected individuals appears to have been dramatically overstated by the Minister of Health; therefore the petitioners pray and request that parliament revisit the issue of hepatitis C compensation to reflect the concerns of the citizens of Canada, to offer a fair, compassionate and humane compensation package to all who received infected blood.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Reform

Grant Hill Reform Macleod, AB

Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition which sounds like it came from the same group of individuals. Many of these petitioners are from British Columbia and they are also calling on the federal government to change its stand on hepatitis C.

These petitions are coming in vast numbers and will not stop. As the victims have said, they will not go away until the federal government changes its mind. There have been some chinks in the armour and these petitions will carry on until that takes place.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

NDP

Svend Robinson NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present three petitions this morning. The first petition is signed by residents of Burnaby—Douglas and other British Columbians.

It points out that the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982 guarantees freedom of conscience and religion and it urges parliament to establish peace tax legislation by passing a conscientious objection act which recognizes the right of conscientious objectors to ensure that their commitment to apply a portion of their taxes that was to be used for military purposes to instead go toward peaceful purposes such as peace education, war relief and humanitarian and environmental aid, housing and so on.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

NDP

Svend Robinson NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is similar to that tabled by my colleague from Winnipeg—Transcona.

It calls on parliament to reject the current framework of MAI negotiations and instructs the government to seek an entirely different agreement by which the world might achieve a rules based, global trading regime that protects workers, the environment and the ability of governments to act in the public interest.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

NDP

Svend Robinson NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

The final petition, Mr. Speaker, notes that there continue to exist over 30,000 nuclear weapons on the earth and that the continuing existence of nuclear weapons poses a threat to the health and survival of human civilization in the global environment.

Therefore the petitioners urge parliament to support the immediate initiation and conclusion by the year 2000 of an international convention which will set out a binding timetable for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Perhaps I might be permitted to express the pleasure of the House at seeing the hon. member back on his feet.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

NDP

John Solomon NDP Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of Canadians who live in Hamilton, Burlington and Toronto, Ontario and a number of other places in Ontario.

The petitioners are unhappy with the MAI negotiations, in particular with Don Johnston, the head of OECD and who is pushing this agreement on Canadians. The petitioners feel this is the wrong approach and are calling on parliament to reject the current framework of MAI negotiations. They are calling on the government to seek an entirely different agreement by which the world might achieve a rules based, global trading regime that protects workers, the environment and the ability of governments to act in the public interest.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Liberal

Peter Adams LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, if Question No. 71 could be made an order for return, the return would be tabled immediately.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Is that agreed?

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed. .[Text]

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Reform

John Reynolds Reform West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC

With respect to the report of the Legislative Review Advisory Group, Department of Citizenship and Immigration, released January 6, 1998, could the Minister please provide: ( a ) the names of all individuals, groups, associations, inside and outside of government, that were consulted in the preparation of this report; and ( b ) the names of the individuals, groups and associations, and their addresses, that comprised the 500 written submissions received.

(Return tabled)

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Liberal

Peter Adams Liberal Peterborough, ON

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Progressive Conservative

Mark Muise Progressive Conservative West Nova, NS

Mr. Speaker, I ask the government when it will call Question No. 21 which we tabled on October 22, 1997.

The parliamentary secretary tells us the government is continuing to make inquiries, but it has not yet given us an answer.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Liberal

Peter Adams Liberal Peterborough, ON

Mr. Speaker, I will look seriously into the whereabouts of the response to Question No. 21.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Reform

John Cummins Reform Delta—South Richmond, BC

Mr. Speaker, on October 28, 1997 I asked Question No. 33. There seems to be a reluctance to answer the question. The question has to do with the Oak Bay Marine Group and the Sport Fishing Institute, two organizations very near and dear to the fisheries minister's heart. I was told on April 29 that the response was with the House leader's office. I was informed he had it on March 26 and on April 16 as well.

I wonder if the parliamentary secretary could look in his desk to find that response this morning.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Liberal

Peter Adams Liberal Peterborough, ON

Mr. Speaker, I regret to say that I do not have the response in my desk, but again I will look into it.

Mr. Speaker, you will have noted that in the last several days we have in fact replied to a considerable number of questions.

Questions Passed As Orders For ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Reform

John Cummins Reform Delta—South Richmond, BC

Mr. Speaker, on December 2, 1997 I asked Question No. 56, which at one point I was told was with the House leader's office.

The parliamentary secretary pointed out at one point, quite inaccurately, that roughly 800 questions had been received to that point, which was a great exaggeration. He said that he had answered half of them. If he had I guess I would be finished.

On many occasions he has told me that I could expect an answer in a timely fashion. The parliamentary secretary is beginning to remind me of Bill Clinton. Clinton said that Monica Lewinski was going to—