Debates of June 12th, 1998

Atlantic Groundfish Strategy

[The Deputy Speaker]

That terminates question period for today. Just in case we adjourn later today, I hope all members get a chance to do some fishing this summer.

Individual Member's Expenditures

[The Deputy Speaker]

I have the honour to lay upon the table the document entitled “Individual Member's Expenditures” for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998.

Government Response To Petitions

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary 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 30 petitions.

Committees Of The House

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Vaughan—King—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both officials languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Finance entitled “Report on Tied Selling—Section 45.1 of the Bank Act”.

Federal Law-Civil Law Harmonization Act, No. 1

[Fred Mifflin, Liberal, for the Minister of Justice]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-50, a first act to harmonize federal law with the civil law of the Province of Quebec and to amend certain acts in order to ensure that each language version takes into account the common law and the civil law.

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

Criminal Code

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, on behalf of the Minister of Justice]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-51, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.

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

Bank Act

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-428, an act to amend the Bank Act and the Statistics Act (equity in community reinvestment).

Mr. Speaker, I again introduce a bill calling on the banks to invest in the community, that is, to strike a balance between deposits received and loans made, particularly for disadvantaged communities.

I am optimistic that I will have the support of all my colleagues in the House.

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

President Of The Republic Of South Africa

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

moved:

That hours of sitting and order of business of the House on Thursday, September 24, 1998, shall be those provided in the Standing Orders for a Wednesday:

That the Address of the President of the Republic of South Africa, to be delivered in the Chamber of the House of Commons at 10.20 a.m. on Thursday, September 24, 1998, before Members of the Senate and of the House Commons, together with all introductory and related remarks, be printed as an appendix to the House of Commons Debates for that day and form part of the records of this House; and

That the media recording and transmission of such address, introductory and related remarks be authorized pursuant to established guidelines for such occasions.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

Petitions

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure, pursuant to Standing Order 36, to present a petition on behalf of the constituents of Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough with respect to changing the Young Offenders Act.

They call upon parliament to inject, among other things, greater measures of parental responsibilities and to make changes to the Young Offenders Act that will increase accountability by youth involved in crime.

It gives me great pleasure to table the petition in the House today on behalf of my constituents.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition also from the riding of Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough calling upon parliament to reaffirm the concept of marriage to ensure that the traditional concept of marriage is preserved and protected in Canada.

I also table this petition on behalf of my constituents.

[John Duncan, Reform, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition with 25 signatures from Courtenay and Campbell River in my riding.

The petitioners ask parliament to repeal Bill C-68 and to redirect the funds for registering firearms into more cost effective measures such as more police on the streets, more crime prevention, more suicide prevention, more women's crisis centres, more anti-smuggling campaigns and more resources for fighting organized crime and street gangs.

[John Duncan, Reform, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I also have two petitions signed by individuals from Campbell River, Courtenay and Comox in my riding.

The petitioners are asking parliament to enact Bill C-225, an act to amend the Marriage Act and the Interpretation Act, to define that a marriage can only be entered into between a single male and a single female.

[Suzanne Tremblay, Bloc, Rimouski—Mitis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table a petition on behalf of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, better known as SOCAN, calling on the government to respect the principle of collective management of copyright and requesting the Minister of Industry to immediately appoint a judge to chair the Copyright Board, thus giving effect to Parliament's intention that the board be a competent and objective quasi-judicial tribunal.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to present today, the first one being a petition of many hundreds of names gathered by an organization in my riding called People in Equal Participation.

The petition calls upon parliament to take measures to amend the Constitution of Canada in order to restructure the Senate of Canada to become more effective and efficient in carrying out its role within the federal government and to reduce the number of senators from 104 to three regional representatives per province or territory, totalling 36 elected senators.

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Winnipeg—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, as I have on many previous days I have literally thousands and thousands of names to present on petitions having to do with the multilateral agreement on investment. They keep on coming in from across the country. Even though the MAI negotiations have been somewhat stalled, people realize that the battle against the MAI continues.

They call upon parliament to reject the current framework of MAI negotiations. They instruct 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.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present on behalf of the member for Parkdale—High Park a petition calling upon the Parliament of Canada and the Minister of Industry to strongly reaffirm its commitment to chair the copyright board immediately upon a judgment with respect to parliament's intent.

I would appreciate if it could be accepted by parliament.

[Charlie Power, Progressive Conservative, St. John's West, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present a petition on behalf of my colleague for Burin—St. George's.

The petition, signed by several hundred Newfoundlanders, is asking the House of Commons to reject any bills that would weaken the sponsorship provisions of the Tobacco Act, a petition that both the member for Burin—St. George's and I enthusiastically support.

[Eric C. Lowther, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have another petition to introduce from Calgarians concerned about offences related to prostitution. They feel that section 213 of the Criminal Code should be a hybrid offence so that these offences could be prosecuted as either a summary or indictable offence.

They call on the government to make such a change and give authorities greater flexibility to address the problem of prostitution.

I currently have Bill C-397 which proposes to make these very changes and the petitioners encourage every member to support Bill C-397.

[Pierre Brien, Bloc, Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table part of a petition signed by 10,000 people from Abitibi-Témiscamingue and elsewhere in Quebec. This petition came about because of the events at Taschereau on May 4, 1998, in which two people lost their lives.

This petition calls for a review of the criteria for granting parole under certain circumstances.

I will forward the full petition to the Minister of Justice so that she may proceed and give these people satisfaction.

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today from a number of people across the country with respect to the multilateral agreement on investment.

These people are very concerned about the fact the negotiations that happened in the past were secret. They are very much opposed to the fact that the Government of Canada is encouraging one Don Johnston in charge of the OECD to continue to negotiate this sort of agreement in secret without any authority.

They ask parliament to reject the current framework of the MAI negotiations. They instruct governments to seek an entirely different agreement by which other people can be included with respect to drawing up this agreement, not just Don Johnston and the Government of Canada.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by 52 petitioners in support of Bill C-225, an act to amend the Marriage Act and Immigration Act, so as to define in statute that a marriage can only be entered into between a single male and a single female.

[Mike Scott, Reform, Skeena, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased on behalf of constituents in Smithers and Takla in my constituency of Skeena to table a petition.

The effect of the petition is that a marriage can only be legally defined as the union of a single male and a single female.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of tabling a petition signed by over 1,000 ice storm victims. These are workers who lost their jobs during the first two weeks of disruption caused by the ice storm.

The petitioners are asking Parliament to abolish the two-week waiting period before getting a first employment insurance cheque.