Debates of June 15th, 2000

Bill Blaikie Winnipeg—Transcona, MB

Mr. Speaker, the House will forgive me if I do not sing. In fact, hon. members may thank me.

I would certainly like to make it clear that my colleagues and I in the New Democratic Party join with other members of the House in expressing best wishes to the Queen Mother on her 100th birthday.

Deborah Grey Leader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, I was born on July 1, which was Dominion Day back in the good old days when I was born. Of course, we celebrated the fact that we were the Dominion of Canada. We have the Scripture verse on the Peace Tower here that says “He shall have dominion from sea to sea”. That is an exciting part of history for me.

In our family we have loved the Queen Mom and we want to wish her a wonderful happy birthday on August 4.

Don Boudria Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Government of Canada, I want to join in the expression of good wishes made earlier this day by the hon. member for Saint John in wishing Her Majesty the Queen Mother our very best wishes on her upcoming 100th birthday.

Bill Blaikie Winnipeg—Transcona, MB

Mr. Speaker, since we have this unexpected opportunity, courtesy of the unanimous consent of the House, to present petitions, I would like to present a great many petitions. The petitions are very similar to ones I have been presenting for a number of years having to do with the WTO.

The petitioners call upon parliament to secure binding and enforceable rules to protect human rights, core labour standards, cultural diversity and the environment before Canada negotiates any new trade and investment rules at the WTO or any other trade forum. They insist that health care, education and culture be completely carved out of WTO agreements. They refuse to accept any trade rules of the WTO that would include an investor state mechanism which would allow global corporations to sue and intimidate democratically elected governments, and they call for the elimination of this mechanism from the NAFTA.

The petitioners also want to reform the WTO to make it a much more open, inclusive and democratic organization.

Finally, they call for work to be done to build an alternative model of globalization, one designed to help citizens in Canada and around the world to achieve a stable rules based global economy that would protect the rights of workers and—

Bill Blaikie Winnipeg—Transcona, MB

I would, Mr. Speaker, and for that reason I would just utter the last several words of the petition: “and ensure the ability of governments to act in the public interest”.