House of Commons Hansard #102 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was french.

Topics

Oral QuestionsPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

At least the last part was a point of order. It appears that the point of order raised yesterday has now been dealt with.

The hon. member for Markham—Unionville is rising on a point of order.

Oral QuestionsPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

Mr. Speaker, during question period, the Minister of Finance quoted me using words that, to the best of my knowledge, I never uttered. I would ask two things. First, when he allegedly quoted me, he looked at a document. I would ask the minister if he would be willing to table that document.

Oral QuestionsPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

An hon. member

He was quoting from it.

Oral QuestionsPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

Mr. Speaker, he was quoting from it, allegedly. Second, unless he has proof that I uttered those words, which to the best of my knowledge I never did, I would like him to retract his statement.

Oral QuestionsPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Whitby—Oshawa Ontario

Conservative

Jim Flaherty ConservativeMinister of Finance

Mr. Speaker, I will be happy to check with CBC, our national broadcaster. I am sure that they have the recording of the member opposite saying the words, “Liberals don't actually have a policy on pension reform”.

Oral QuestionsPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The hon. member for Mount Royal is rising on a point of order also.

Official ReportPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:10 p.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, the broadcast video and audio of yesterday's answer by the foreign minister to my question on Iran showed that the foreign minister used the word “finally”, saying that Canada will “finally table a strong resolution at the United Nations”, et cetera.

In the report of the exchange in yesterday's Hansard, the word “finally” was edited out. I would ask that the Speaker use his good offices to see that the text faithfully reflects what the minister in fact said.

Official ReportPOINTS OF ORDEROral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

We will have a look at the tape of the proceedings and the Hansard to see if a correction is necessary. We thank the hon. member for Mount Royal for bringing that to the attention of the House. I am sure that the minister would want it to be correct.

Decorum in the ChamberPrivilegeOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of personal privilege. I need your assistance. I am fairly alone all the way in the back, here. Behind me and around me, there is a group of people who like to heckle a great deal. What I have done is—

Decorum in the ChamberPrivilegeOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Decorum in the ChamberPrivilegeOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, here they go again. I started documenting it. At 2:20, the member for Kootenay—Columbia said, “What a bunch of” whatever. I did not want to copy out the words. Then, there was “holier than thou” and “wake up”. At 2:28, a member said, “Shocking”. At 2:29, a member said, “Smiling”. They always yell “louder, louder”, especially when a woman member of Parliament stands up.

Later on, at 2:36, a member said “Where is your protestor?” Then someone said, “Jack, why are you voting against it?” At 2:50, a member said, “What did you do when you were one of them and part of the team?” I think that was directed to the member of Parliament for York West. A member said, “Where is your policy?” At 2:56, a member said, “It's not easy being green”. At 3:06, a member said, “This is a good question, Jack. Listen up.” Then, there were all of these “Charlie, Charlie” comments.

I noticed that there was a big group of teenagers here in the gallery earlier on. This is not good behaviour. It is very difficult for me to hear anything in this corner when there is a large amount of heckling.

Mr. Speaker, unless you put a stop to it, I will have to continue to document every single heckle with the exact time and who is doing it, because it is really difficult to continue working in the House of Commons.

Decorum in the ChamberPrivilegeOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, I was not going to rise on this, although I found the occasion deplorable.

When the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley asked a question of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, a significant number of members of the NDP were heckling and making what I would call very imposing physical gestures toward the minister while she was responding to the question.

The member for Toronto—Danforth made a statement prior to question period today asking for a higher level of decorum in this House, but then his own members betrayed that very statement not even an hour ago, and now we have this member making these accusations.

Frankly it is all nonsense. The NDP does not even hold up to its own rhetoric.

Decorum in the ChamberPrivilegeOral Questions

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

The chair is always keen on having a quieter House, with less heckling. I do not share the advantage that the hon. member for Trinity--Spadina and indeed the hon. member for Peterborough have in hearing the exchanges at that end of the chamber. It is often very difficult to hear unless certain hon. members are yelling. There are some whose voices do carry up here and occasionally I am aware of noise being created, but there is sometimes a din in the House.

The objective of the chair is to ensure that the person who has the floor can be heard, and as long as I can hear that person, I tend to ignore the rest of the noise. I know the President of the Treasury Board tries to assist the chair once in a while, but sometimes it backfires.

In any event, I thank all hon. members for raising this point of order and I hope that, having heard these points of order, members will try to restrain themselves in future so that we have a more tranquil question period, recognizing that Wednesday is not always the best example of a quiet question period.

We will now proceed with tabling of documents.

Security Intelligence Review CommitteeRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeMinister of Public Safety

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 53 of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the annual report of the Security Intelligence Review Committee for 2008-09.

Government Response to PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

October 28th, 2009 / 3:20 p.m.

Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary 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 responses to six petitions.

Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders ActRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Niagara Falls Ontario

Conservative

Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-54, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to the National Defence Act.

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

Interparliamentary DelegationsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Peter Goldring Conservative Edmonton East, AB

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, three reports of the Canadian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE PA, regarding its participation at the economic conference held in Dublin, Ireland, from May 27 to 29; the election observation mission in Albania from June 25 to 29; and the 18th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from June 20 to July 3.

Interparliamentary DelegationsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Blaney Conservative Lévis—Bellechasse, QC

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I would like to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association concerning its participation at the 36th annual meeting, held in Paris and Toulouse, France, from July 19 to 24, 2009.

Industry, Science and TechnologyCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.

In accordance with its order of reference of Friday, May 8, 2009, the committee has considered Bill C-27, An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act, and agreed on Monday, October 26, 2009, to report it with amendments.

The committee has ordered a reprint of Bill C-27, as amended, as a working copy for the use of the House of Commons at the report stage.

Citizenship ActRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Ujjal Dosanjh Liberal Vancouver South, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-467, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (children born abroad).

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce the bill. This bill would amend the Citizenship Act to provide that a child born abroad to or adopted abroad by a citizen employed outside Canada in or with the Canadian armed forces, the federal public administration or the public service of a province be considered like a child born in Canada.

Currently, children born abroad to Canadian government workers are considered under the Citizenship Act to be first generation Canadians born abroad. This, in turn, impacts their children in that they would not be eligible for Canadian citizenship if born outside Canada. This bill would ensure that children born abroad of Canadians working for the federal or provincial governments of Canada would be treated as if they had been born in Canada.

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

An Act respecting the Health of Animals Regulations (animals in transit)Routine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—La Prairie, QC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-468, An Act respecting the Health of Animals Regulations (animals in transit).

Mr. Speaker, today I am honoured to table this bill that aims to make significant changes to the Health of Animals Regulations in order to reduce transit times for farm animals.

The current transit times of 36 hours without water, food or rest for poultry, hogs and horses, and 52 hours without water, food or rest for cattle, sheep and goats are just plain cruel.

I think that most Canadians are not aware of the fact that Canada's non-stop transit times for livestock are among the longest in the industrialized world.

The argument that we have longer transport times due to the size of our country does not hold up. An animal in Europe is no different from one in our own back yard. We must look out for animals' well-being. An animal is an animal is an animal.

I call on all members of the House to support the intentions of this bill.

I am appealing to the common sense of all hon. members to ensure that this motion is passed unanimously.

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

Rights of EmployeesPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present a petition that calls upon Parliament to amend the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act and the Bankruptcy Insolvency Act to protect the rights of all Canadian employees and to ensure that employees laid off by a company receiving pension or long-term disability benefits during bankruptcy proceedings obtain preferred creditor status over other unsecured creditors. This petition is representing thousands and thousands of people from all across Canada.

Employment InsurancePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

NDP

Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to table two sets of petitions today.

The first three are signed by hundreds of women from the Golden Horseshoe in Ontario and from all over Quebec urging Parliament to immediately pass my Bill C-378 to allow hard-working families to access their maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits without worrying that if they lose their jobs in the meantime they will also lose their EI.

The petitioners note that the anti-stacking provisions found within the Employment Insurance Act create a barrier that prevents workers from accessing EI. These discriminatory provisions prevent new mothers in particular, who have secured the full amount of special benefit entitlements, from accessing regular benefits if they lose their jobs during or shortly after the specially sanctioned leaves.

The petitioners are keenly aware that in the current economic downturn, layoff announcements are coming daily, and they want to ensure that these discriminatory provisions of the EI Act are eliminated. I am pleased to say that my Bill C-378 would indeed address those concerns, and I very much appreciate the support of the petitioners on this very important issue for thousands of working families.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade AgreementPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

NDP

Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present another petition signed by residents of my home town of Hamilton who are opposed to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement.

The petitioners point out that Colombia has one of the worst human rights records in the western hemisphere, with dozens of labour activists and human rights advocates killed each year. They are outraged by the “kill a worker pay a fine” provisions, which make a mockery of human rights.

As advocates for corporate social responsibility, they believe that all trade agreements must be built on the principles of fair trade, which fundamentally respect social justice, human rights, labour rights and environmental stewardship as prerequisites to trade.

Since the Conservative government has not done due diligence in this regard, the petitioners call on Parliament to reject the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement until an independent human rights impact assessment has been done and the resulting concerns have been addressed.

Fraser River ChannelsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

Dick Harris Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition from many people in the great Fraser Valley area of British Columbia who have concerns about the dredging for the Fraser River channels.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada, and specifically the Minister of Finance, to make available to the Ladner Sediment Group sufficient funds to deepen these channels to safe navigational levels and then employ river management techniques to ensure the channels remain open and safe for travel.

This is an important issue for those people living along the Fraser River and Fraser Valley from a navigational and also from a flood prevention point of view.

I am pleased to present this petition today.