Debates of June 3rd, 2010

The Speaker Peter Milliken

(Motion agreed to)

Maria Mourani Ahuntsic, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting two petitions today. The first concerns Bill C-391, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry) and includes over 2,500 signatures.

These petitioners are calling for the firearms registry to be maintained in its entirety because they believe—rightly—that this important registry is consulted by police more than 100,000 times a day also aids investigations and prevents violence in our urban areas and the regions. These petitioners believe that the bill is unacceptable and that we should all vote against it. They are also calling on the New Democratic Party to do the same.

Yesterday, René Caron, president of the Association TROP-PEACE and one of the people who lobbied for the creation of the registry, succeeded in reaching a million signatures from across Canada on a petition.

Thus, this is the first petition and I truly hope that we will all come together and vote against this unacceptable bill.

Maria Mourani Ahuntsic, QC

Mr. Speaker, the other petition I am presenting today concerns the guaranteed income supplement. The petitioners are calling on the federal government to: implement automatic enrollment for the guaranteed income supplement, spouse's allowance and the allowance for the survivor; increase monthly benefits for people living alone to $110; increase the monthly allowance for the survivor to $199; implement full and unconditional retroactivity; and extend by six months the guaranteed income supplement and the spouse's allowance upon the death of one of the beneficiaries in the couple.

This is in line with the wishes of FADOQ, and I am pleased and honoured to present this petition.

Pat Martin Winnipeg Centre, MB

Mr. Speaker, asbestos is the greatest industrial killer that the world has ever known and so thousands of Canadians have contacted me to present this petition calling upon Parliament to recognize that Canada still remains one of the largest producers and exporters of asbestos in the world and also that Canada is spending millions of dollars subsidizing the asbestos industry and even blocking other countries' efforts to curb its use.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to ban asbestos in all of its forms and institute a just transition program for any workers who are displaced by such a ban, end all government subsidies to asbestos both in Canada and abroad, and to stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos such as the Rotterdam Convention.

Thomas Mulcair Outremont, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition addressed to the House of Commons and signed by teachers and staff at the École Polytechnique, hundreds of people who wish to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the federal government set a greenhouse gas reduction target that is too low to help limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed to in the Copenhagen accord.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to revise the greenhouse gas reduction target to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Bruce Hyer Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table. The first petition is on clean air and clean energy.

I am presenting this petition on behalf of the residents of Thunder Bay—Superior North who support clean air and clean energy. These petitioners want the government to do the following things: First, make the necessary investments in renewable energy to ensure we reduce our greenhouse gas pollution. Toward that end, they want to restore the valuable eco-energy program which the Conservatives cancelled on one day's notice. They want us to stop using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the oil and gas industry. They want us to legislate tougher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and caps for big polluters. They want the House to support Bill C-311, Climate Change Accountability Act, which has now passed three readings in the House.

Bruce Hyer Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is on EI fairness for new mothers.

Tje petitioners would like this petition tabled because they are concerned that working families cannot fairly access EI because of the way the anti-stacking rules are structured. New mothers, who have the full amount of special EI benefits, cannot get their regular EI payments during that leave. They are petitioning the House to support private member's Bill C-378 which would ensure that working mothers have fair access to benefits. Passing Bill C-378 will mean that others can get parental, sickness or compassionate care benefits without worrying that they will lose their employment insurance if they lose their jobs in the meantime.

Charlie Angus Timmins—James Bay, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise representing the interests of the people of Timmins—James Bay who are very concerned about the massive shift in the tax burden brought out by the Conservative government.

It is no surprise to our people back home that the government favours big banks and oil companies. However, what they are particularly concerned about is the decision to give so many corporate tax breaks while shifting the burden of tax on to senior citizens, those on fixed income, and force families who are heating their homes in northern Ontario in the winter to pay the HST on top of all the other costs.

The petitioners are saying that we have just come through the worst recession-depression since 1930s, that families in Ontario have been hard hit by the recession and that the government's HST is a regressive tax that will hurt in particular senior citizens, first nation families and people on fixed incomes. They are challenging the government to do the right thing and stand up for average people and stop this regressive tax.

Bill Siksay Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions this morning.

The first petition is from many residents of the greater Vancouver area who are concerned about the persecution of the practitioners of Falun Gong.

The petitioners note that Falun Gong is a peaceful and beneficial spiritual practice centred on the principles of truth, compassion, forbearance, and a series of meditation exercises. The petitioners also note that in the People's Republic of China, there has been an organized campaign of persecution by the government against practitioners of Falun Gong. They note that many people have been imprisoned and many people have died in custody. There is also the absolutely horrifying practice of organ harvesting related to Falun Gong practitioners who are imprisoned in China, which has been a major concern of people around the world.

The petitioners ask the Government of Canada to help stop those atrocities by condemning the government of China for committing these crimes against humanity. They urge the government of China to end the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and to release any who are imprisoned immediately. They also ask that immediate measures be taken with regard to the issue of mass killing and organ harvesting.

Bill Siksay Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by many people in British Columbia and Alberta who were very concerned about the collapse of the sockeye salmon fishery last summer. The sockeye migration into the Fraser River was the lowest in 50 years last summer. Nine million sockeye salmon disappeared from that important run. This is very important to the economy and also to the culture of British Columbia in so many ways.

These people were very anxious to see a public inquiry called into the disappearance of the sockeye salmon and called on the government to establish that. I know that this has been done, and I am sure that these people are relieved. However, I do not think that takes away from the urgency of the matter. I am sure that I speak for the petitioners when I say that they hope for a speedy conclusion of that inquiry into this very important issue.

Tom Lukiwski Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 208 and 212.

Peter Julian Burnaby—New Westminster, BC

With regard to the report entitled “Violence against organized unionized workers and teachers in Colombia 2000-2008”, produced by the Conflict Analysis Resource Centre and funded by the Global Fund for Peace and Security of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade: (a) what are the statistical findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report on (i) the torture, threats, killings of workers and citizens, including the chronological breakdown, (ii) the types of crimes and violence; (b) what were the judicial procedures enacted in each case; (c) who were those responsible for the reported crimes, violence and threats identified; (d) what were the convictions that resulted from related judicial procedures; and (e) why was the report not released by the government?

Peter Van Loan Minister of International Trade

Mr. Speaker, the global peace and security fund, GPSF, managed through the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s, DFAIT, Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force, START, allows START inter alia to support peace processes and mediation efforts, develop transitional justice and reconciliation initiatives, build peace enforcement and peace operations capabilities, promote civilian protection strategies in humanitarian contexts, and reduce the impact of landmines, small arms and light weapons. The global peace and security fund comprises three sub-programs: the global peace and security program, GPSP, the global peace operation program, GPOP, and the Glyn Berry program, GBP.

In fiscal year 2007-08, the Colombia envelope of the global peace and security fund provided funds to the Conflict Analysis Resource Centre, Centro de Recursos para el Análisis de Conflictos--CERAC, an independent Colombian policy think tank. As part of this project, CERAC produced a draft document entitled, “Violencia y violaciones a los Derechos Humanos de los Trabajadores Organizados en Colombia” ”Violence and Violations of Organized Workers’ Human Rights in Colombia”. This document was prepared by CERAC to provide technical input to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for use in its advocacy and reporting on union-targeted violence in Colombia. It is not a Government of Canada report.

DFAIT made a financial contribution to CERAC in part to assist in the production of CERAC’s own preliminary document, for use by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. As the project was in support of a third party entity, it was for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and CERAC to decide how best to utilize and publicize the report; the Government of Canada was not in a position to release the document. The report was presented by CERAC to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of a broader project to strengthen capacity among Colombian civil society organizations to gather data and provide analytical reporting on Colombian conflict dynamics. Proactive disclosure information on DFAIT’s contribution to this project is posted and accessible through the DFAIT website.