House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 1993, with 52% of the vote.
Petitions November 20th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I have yet another petition coming from dairy farmers and the users of dairy products in my riding, expressing their opposition to the use of the hormone BST in Canadian dairy cattle.
This is about the fourth petition I have presented from my constituents. It is a pleasure to present this.
Income Tax Conventionsimplementation Act, 1995 October 19th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, it is my understanding that one of our members wishes to speak to third reading of this bill. Perhaps that could be accommodated.
Private Members' Motion M-4 October 2nd, 1995
Madam Speaker, I wonder if I could have the unanimous consent of the House to withdraw my Private Members' Motion M-4 from the Order Paper. At this time the matter seems to be redundant. It has been a considerably long time since I submitted the motion.
I would ask for unanimous consent of the House to withdraw it.
Gun Control October 2nd, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice.
The Minister of Justice must have been very encouraged when close to 300 guns of various descriptions were voluntarily turned in recently to authorities in Ottawa-Carleton in exchange for free triple A baseball tickets.
Would the Minister of Justice consider some similar form of gun amnesty on a national scale as a way of flushing out unused and unwanted guns in our society?
Petitions June 21st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to present yet another petition from citizens in my riding who are opposed to the approval of BST, the drug injected into cows to increase milk production.
A recent Angus Reid poll suggested 74 per cent of Canadians are concerned about BST and would pay more for milk from cows not injected with it.
There is no shortage of milk in the country. If there should ever become a shortage of milk the solution would be to get more cows.
Cn Commercialization Act June 20th, 1995
Madam Speaker, I enjoyed my colleague's comments. I could agree with a fair number of his concerns. I think all Canadians have concerns.
This is a massive move. He says that he could not imagine Liberals taking this move but the ideologies are pretty fuzzy these days. I would agree that 20 years ago to say that Liberals were going to privatize CN would certainly be out of the question. Privatization has been brought upon us because we have not been able to make this thing work. We are in a new league now. We are involved in world competition and we have to forget about those old standbys we thought we could live with.
The railroad has been doing much better recently than the past 50 or 75 years would indicate, which might make it somewhat attractive to a new buyer. The member categorized three things which I can see fitting together.
One was having the location of the head office dictated and I agree with that. If I am going to own something I should be left with that decision. That would make sense. As someone once said, if you are going to do it, do it right. If we were privatizing something else we would tell the owners that they owned it and were free to put the head office where they wanted to.
The fact we have said CN should be bilingual fits in there too. It was done for the same reason and Canadians realize that. It is only being honest with Canadians. I could add the 15 per cent ownership limit to the list. This is such a massive move and nobody really knows where it is going to shake out. We avoided destabilizing the company as much as possible. This affects all Canadians, so we had to keep those things in mind.
This case is bigger than when TCA was privatized to become Air Canada if we are just talking dollars and cents. With that in mind and all of the uncertainties, what is the price going to be of a share? I do not know but we have to depend on those we trust to tell us. That would be the rationale for not moving any further with it by throwing it completely open and saying: "Have the headquarters where you like. Do not be too concerned about whether it should remain bilingual as it is now. Do not have any limit on the 15 per cent share but let people buy whatever portion they would like".
I suppose it is not really privatization in a sense if we are going to have those restrictions. On the other hand this has been a Canadian owned company which is moving into the private sector. The government was trying to avoid all kinds of pitfalls by putting those riders on for now. There may be pitfalls even with those riders.
Treatment Of Municipal Sewage June 20th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I would like to focus on the recently passed gun legislation.
Our articulated gun bill in Canada says something for us as a society not only for today but for generations to come. However, I have some real concerns in the ability to apply that law. We would like to think that Canadians are law-abiding citizens in terms of there being seven million guns. I do not know who counted them. I do not know who knows for example that I have three guns.
Let us say there are seven million guns out there. A lot of those guns have been sitting around. They are in attics, basements and behind pantry doors. A lot of them are not used and have not been used for years. I have two rifles that have not been used for 20 years. My concern is that we must have some incentive to flush out of existence a lot of those rifles and guns which have not been used, are not being used and will not be used unless they happen to fall into the wrong hands.
I am proposing a form of gun amnesty in Canada. There would be some incentive for people to turn in those guns. Some people are quite aware they have no use for the gun but there is a reluctance or a sentimental attachment to it. Perhaps the widow's husband used the gun for many years and she is just a little bit reluctant to get rid of it but at the same time knows she has no earthly use for it.
The bill could be improved. The application of the bill certainly would be much easier. It will be a tremendous and horrific job for our police departments unless there is genuine co-operation to register the guns.
My proposal is to have a form of amnesty, amnesty plus if you like, with some sort of minimal tax credit, something in the area of $25 or so for turning in those guns. Motivation is needed. I do not think a lot of people would object to that. It would not cost very much. It is going to cost something to register the gun
anyway so it is not as if it were all lost. Some program like that with a public relations selling job associated with it would have a very positive effect on the number of guns that are in this nation.
I would be glad to turn in my two rifles and keep my shotgun. In that case I would probably make better use and take better care in the storage of my shotgun than if I had a whole lot of guns sitting around.
We could flush out those guns that are no longer used and where their purpose is long forgotten. I do not see any advantage to having them sitting around when people will be reluctant to go through the inconvenience of registering them. They would be relieved if there were some way in which they could dispose of them. The motivation could be a very small tax credit. I think it would work. I have received very positive feedback from some very unexpected corners when I think back to their attitude toward the gun bill. That is why I brought this matter forward.
Gun Control June 14th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Justice.
In spite of laws regarding safe storage of guns in Canada there are a lot of guns sitting behind kitchen doors. In order to flush a lot of those weapons out of the system and therefore reduce the need for compliance with the law, would the Minister of Justice in dialogue with the Minister of Finance consider an incentive, perhaps a small tax credit, for each gun turned into police as a way of making our communities safer?
Petitions June 8th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions from people in my riding objecting to the generic manipulation of dairy cows through the injection of BST. Their argument seems to be that if Canada is not short of milk why would we unnecessarily risk health hazards that may go with this drug and if we need more milk, why not get more cows.
Petitions May 4th, 1995
Madam Speaker, the second petition asks Parliament to ensure the present provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada prohibiting assisted suicide be enforced vigorously and that Parliament make no changes in the law which would sanction or allow the aiding or abetting of suicide or active or passive euthanasia.
I support that petition also.