Debates of Dec. 16th, 1999

Committees Of The House

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

Mr. Speaker, I just want to take a minute of the time of the House to mention that the committee report is a very good one, but we have also appended a very good minority report.

It is important to point out that the government cannot abandon its responsibility, not only to the ramifications of the Marshall decision but to existing traditional fishermen involved in the Atlantic fishery, the maritime fishery.

We have emphasized some points in our minority report such as the importance of proportionality in terms of how much licensing is turned into aboriginal licensing within the all Canadian commercial fishery. Conservation is obviously important so we want one set of rules for one commercial fishery. We would like to see many of the rules, for example those on the food fishery, tightened up to simplify enforcement.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is the hon. member for Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok rising on the same point?

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

[The Deputy Speaker]

According to the standing orders, a member of the official opposition may present a minority report to the House with a brief explanation.

Is there unanimous consent for the hon. member to speak?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that the Bloc Quebecois is tabling a supplementary opinion to the one the standing committee on fisheries tabled this morning.

What I wish to remind the House, which I thank for the unanimous consent, is that from this moment on, the government must specify with which aboriginal people there are negotiations under way. An exhaustive list of the bands involved in negotiations must be published.

Second, in order to prove the government's good faith, provisional agreements must be negotiated and in place by the spring of 2000.

The point I would like to add before concluding is that the keystone of the Marshall decision is the notion of moderate livelihood. The report does not go far enough in this regard.

I ask that the department responsible for aboriginal affairs determine who is going to co-ordinate the examination of the concept of moderate livelihood. I would like to know what the parameters will be, and the timetable for this.

As a matter of parliamentary privilege, next time around, I would appreciate it if more budget were allocated to the Standing Committee on Fisheries so that a translator can also be assigned to us when the committee travels. Extra effort was required of Bloc members to work in both languages on a very specialized subject, because the vocabularies differ greatly from one language to the other.

Criminal Code

[Garry Breitkreuz, Reform, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-409, an act to provide for the expiry of gun control legislation that is not proven effective within five years of coming into force.

Mr. Speaker, today I am reintroducing this bill for the third time since I have become a member of parliament. I would like to thank the member for Lakeland for seconding my firearms law sunset act. I would also like to thank Canadians from coast to coast, right across Canada, who have supported this bill.

For the last 20 years government has established an unimpressive track record of passing costly, ineffective gun control laws. When its ineffective laws do not reduce the criminal use of firearms, it passes more ineffective gun control laws.

The firearms law sunset act which I am introducing today guarantees that scarce tax dollars will only be spent on gun control measures that actually work. My sunset law would require the automatic repeal of any gun control measure after five years from the date of implementation, unless it can pass the public safety test administered by the Auditor General of Canada which proves the measure is cost effective in achieving its stated objective.

I believe all laws that we pass in the House must be cost effective at achieving this goal. Sunset provisions are the only way of guaranteeing this.

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

Canada Water Export Prohibition Act

[Clifford Lincoln, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-410, an act to prohibit the export of water from Canada by pipeline, railway tank car, tank truck, tanker or interbasin transfers.

Mr. Speaker, this bill was introduced during the last session but died on the order paper due to the prorogation of parliament. I am reintroducing it today.

The bill provides a prohibition on exports of water from Canada by pipeline, railway tank car, tank truck, tanker or interbasin transfers.

Under this bill, water means surface or groundwater, but does not include water packaged as a beverage.

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

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the House gives its consent, I would move that the first report of the Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament, presented to the House earlier this day, be concurred in.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Does the hon. deputy government whip have unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the first report of the Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations establishing quorum and the committee's mandate be concurred in without debate.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Does the hon. deputy government whip have unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I ask for the unanimous consent of the House to adopt without debate the second report of the Standing Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on Official Languages. This report, which was tabled in the House yesterday, urges the Government of Ontario to declare Canada's capital city officially bilingual.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

If I heard correctly, it is the Reform Party that refused to—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The Chair does not need to know who said no. The only question is to know if there is unanimous consent. Without unanimous consent, we cannot have a debate on this issue.

Petitions

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Toronto Centre—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present two petitions this morning.

The first petition relates to the reopening of the embassy in Belgrade. This is causing great hardship for many Canadians and their relatives. It is important that this embassy be reopened as soon as possible. I support this petition on behalf of my petitioners.

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member will want to set an example. He knows he cannot state his opposition to or support of a petition. I hope he will comply with the rules in that regard.

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Toronto Centre—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls on the House to work for the conclusion in the year 2000 of an international convention that will set out a binding timetable for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. In that context, you, Mr. Speaker, will have noticed that our Minister of Foreign Affairs is reported in today's press as having achieved NATO's approval of this matter.