Debates of Feb. 3rd, 2004

Canadian Human Rights Commission

[The Speaker]

I have the honour to lay upon the table a special report from the Canadian Human Rights Commission concerning the treatment of federally sentenced women in federal institutions and community correctional services.

Board of Internal Economy

[The Speaker]

It is my duty to inform the House that pursuant to the act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act, Chapter 32, Statutes of Canada, 1997, the following appointments were made to the Board of Internal Economy: Mr. Saada and Mr. Bélanger, members of the Queen's Privy Council, will replace Mr. Boudria and Mr. Mitchell.

Government Response to Petitions

[Roger Gallaway, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the 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 444 petitions.

Petitions

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from citizens of the Peterborough area who are concerned about stem cell research. They point out that hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer from debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, muscular dystrophy and spinal cord injury.

These Canadians support ethical stem cell research. They call upon Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research to find the cures and therapies necessary to treat such illnesses.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from citizens concerned about kidney disease who point out that kidney disease is already a great and rapidly growing problem in our society. They appreciate that real progress is being made in dealing with kidney disease. They appreciate the work that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research are already doing to improve solutions to kidney disease, but they call upon Parliament to encourage the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to explicitly include kidney research as one of the institutes in its system, to be named the kidney and urinary tract diseases institute.

[Carol Skelton, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure today to present two petitions to the House of Commons. The first one is from women right across Canada. Over 2,600 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year, one in 70 women in Canada, and over 1,500 Canadian women die each year of this disease because the symptoms are often vague and diagnosis is usually made in the later stages when a cure is less likely. If ovarian cancer is found early and treated, the survival rate is as high as 90%.

Therefore your petitioners call upon the Parliament of Canada to focus its legislative support in ensuring that the Government of Canada join the government of United States of America by proclaiming the month of September as ovarian cancer month and support research into finding early detection tests for ovarian cancer and in raising awareness about the seriousness of this women's disease across North America.

[Carol Skelton, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition to the House of Commons and Parliament assembled supports marriage as the foundation for families and the raising of children.

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I wish to present a petition on behalf of the constituents of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex who call upon Parliament to ask the Minister of Justice to undertake a thorough re-examination of the Truscott case within a reasonable time period and to ensure that justice is restored to Mr. Truscott.

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition, pursuant to Standing Order 36, calls upon Parliament to take whatever action is required to maintain the current definition in law of marriage in perpetuity and to prevent any court from overturning or amending that definition.

[Roy H. Bailey, Canadian Alliance, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy this morning to be able to present to you and to this House four petitions from across Saskatchewan, not just from my constituency, calling upon the government to re-examine the definition of marriage. They want it to be as it was in 1999 and they are strongly convinced that there should be no changes.

[Roy H. Bailey, Canadian Alliance, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions related to the sale of natural health drugs. The petitioners are crying for support for private member's motion No. M-83 in these petitions.

[Ovid Jackson, Liberal, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have the honour to present on behalf of 650 of my constituents of Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound a petition confirming the traditional definition of marriage.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today from the constituents of my riding of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast and from people across British Columbia.

The first asks that the Divorce Act be amended to require that both parents of every child of a divorce be equal parents of their children.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls for the government to retain the protection in the Criminal Code for the freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition calls upon Parliament to renew debate on the definition of marriage and reaffirm its commitment to preserving the traditional definition of marriage.

[Randy White, Canadian Alliance, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have thousands of names here petitioned in the House of Commons asking that government assembled in Parliament amend Bill C-23, allowing for retroactive inclusion of sex offenders serving a sentence or paroled for sexual offences and that sex offenders automatically be included on the national sex offender registry, removing the possibility of using the registry as a bargaining chip in going through the criminal justice system.

[Randy White, Canadian Alliance, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to that, I have another petition with hundreds of names. The petitioners are concerned about the definition of marriage and ask Parliament to pass legislation to recognize the institution of marriage in federal law as being a lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, and I certainly concur with that.

[Randy White, Canadian Alliance, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have another petition that asks Parliament to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to raise the age of sexual consent for sexual activity between a young person and an adult from 14 years to 16 years. This is highly regarded in my community.

[Andy Burton, Canadian Alliance, Skeena, BC]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to present a present a petition from several hundred members of my riding, specifically the Prince Rupert area, regarding salmon farming. In the petition, they ask that Parliament pass the necessary legislation to make farmed salmon a truly sustainable and healthy food choice.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Roger Gallaway, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

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

[The Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Request for Emergency Debate

[The Speaker]

With regard to emergency debates, the Chair has received a notice from the hon. member for Huron—Bruce.

[Paul Steckle, Liberal, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as you will note, and as you will probably comment in a few moments, during the recess period I made it known to you and to others that I would encourage an emergency debate on the seriousness of the BSE issue, the mad cow disease issue.

I am trusting you will rule favourably that we will, at the earliest time convenient to this House, find it possible to be able to debate that on all sides of this House, because this is an issue that affects all Canadians and primarily our cattle producers in this country.

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister responsible for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that tomorrow evening, at the conclusion of government orders, there will be a take note debate on this issue in response to the initiatives taken by my two colleagues and to questions that have been raised by other members of this House.