Debates of Oct. 7th, 1994

Committees Of The House

[Elijah Harper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development regarding Bill C-36, an act respecting Split Lake Cree First Nations and the settlement of matters arising from an agreement relating to the flooding of land, without amendment.

Old Age Security Act

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of Western Economic Diversification]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-54, an act to amend the Old Age Security Act, the Canada Pension Plan, the Children's Special Allowances Act and the Unemployment Insurance act.

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

Yukon Surface Rights Board Act

[Ron Irwin, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-55, an act to establish a board having jurisdiction concerning disputes respecting surface rights in respect of land in the Yukon Territory and to amend other acts in relation thereto.

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

Official Languages Act

[Jean-Robert Gauthier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-283, an Act to amend the Official Languages Act (review of the Act).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague and friend from Nickel Belt for supporting this bill. This bill amends the Official Languages Act and provides that the governor-in-council, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, must appoint a person responsible for reviewing this act and the consequences of its implementation. I stress the word "implementation". The person appointed must submit to the Prime Minister a report on the review's findings in the year following the beginning of his or her mandate, while the Prime Minister must table the said report for consideration in both the House of Commons and the Senate.

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

Committees Of The House

[Peter Milliken, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the 39th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs presented to this House earlier this day be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to.)

[Peter Milliken, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the date for the final report of the special committee reviewing Canada's foreign policy be extended to November 15, 1994 and that a message be sent to the Senate to acquaint their honours thereof.

TCC (Motion agreed to.)

[Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal, Secretary of State (Parliamentary Affairs) and Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 56.1 I move:

That a subcommittee of the Standing Committee of Fisheries and Oceans be authorized to travel to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories during the month of October 1994 to undertake a study of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and that the necessary staff accompany the subcommittee.

(Motion agreed to.)

Petitions

[Rex Crawford, Liberal, Kent, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present this petition on behalf of the people in my riding and from Alberta who call upon the government to support the ethanol industry over the long term, in light of the fact that the U.S. is already planning 49 new major ethanol plants and Canada now imports most of its ethanol, creating American jobs and helping American farmers.

I support my constituents in urging our government to get its act together and get moving before the world passes us by on this renewable, sustainable industry.

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, St. Boniface, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here whereby the men and women who have signed it point out that violence and abuse in radio and on television have become real concerns in Canadian society.

These petitioners want the CRTC to regulate and if possible control all forms of abuse in radio and on television. Obviously, they would like it to cease if at all possible.

They request the government ensure that the CRTC does this. Parents point out that very often abuse in radio and on television counteracts the efforts that they are undertaking to raise their families in safe, healthy environments.

[Ronald J. Duhamel, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition concerning seniors.

Seniors want us to remember as parliamentarians that they have contributed and continue to contribute significantly to the quality of life that we enjoy in this country. They point out that they are growing in numbers and I guess all of us will eventually, perhaps too quickly sometimes, get there. They point out that programs such as pensions and health will experience additional growing demand. These seniors need comfortable housing, social and community involvement, and they want to make sure that they have the medical care that they require.

They simply ask government that whenever it undertakes either budgetary or legislative or program changes, we remember the contributions they have made and the contributions they continue to make. I support them totally.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of presenting three separate petitions today that all touch on the same subject. Altogether another 262 of my constituents have taken the time to sign petitions stating that the majority of Canadians believe that privileges extended to heterosexual couples should not be extended to same sex relationship couples.

Petitioners also ask that the Canadian human rights code should not be amended to include the undefined phrase sexual orientation.

I concur with these sentiments.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and privilege to table a petition today signed by the constituents of Lambton-Middlesex pursuant to Standing Order 36 and duly certified by the clerk of petitions.

The petitioners call on Parliament to maintain the present exemption on the excise portion of ethanol for a decade, allowing for a strong and self-sufficient ethanol industry in Canada, an industry which would provide an environmentally friendly fuel from renewable resources and provide definite stability for Canadian agriculture and the Canadian economy in general.

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I would like to present a petition from Cindy Silver and 98 others where the petitioners pray and request that Parliament not amend the human rights code, the Canadian Human Rights Act or the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in any way which would tend to indicate societal approval of same sex relationships or of homosexuality, including amending the human rights code to include in the prohibited grounds of discrimination the undefined phrase sexual orientation.

[Daphne Jennings, Reform, Mission—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I would like to present petitions on behalf of my constituents and others to request Parliament to enact legislation against permanent appointments of justices.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I stand before the House to present a petition signed by residents of northern Ontario.

The heading of the petition reads: "The majority of Canadians believe that physicians in Canada should be working to save lives, not to end them".

Therefore the petitioners pray that Parliament ensure that 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 would like to thank and congratulate the petitioners for their efforts in making their views known to me and to the House. I concur with and support their efforts.

[Gordon Kirkby, Liberal, Prince Albert—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions. Very briefly I present one petition on behalf of constituents who wish the Criminal Code to be amended to prohibit abortion.

[Gordon Kirkby, Liberal, Prince Albert—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I present a second petition on behalf of my constituents who do not wish sidearms to be banned.

[Gordon Kirkby, Liberal, Prince Albert—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I present a third petition on behalf of my constituents who express the desire that the present Criminal Code provisions against doctor assisted suicide be strictly enforced and that Parliament not change the law.

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to table 7,012 signatures in petition pursuant to Standing Order 36. The petitioners call on Parliament to ban the product known as the serial killer board game.

These signatures are in addition to the 111,638 tabled already for a grand total of 118,640.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Peter Milliken, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

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

[Vic Althouse, NDP, Mackenzie, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I note that the parliamentary secretary has asked that all questions be permitted to stand. I know that is the standard procedure. We also have an understanding in the House, in fact an order, that says that responses are to be made within 45 days.

I am sorry to take some time but I wish to point out an experience I had recently. Just last week some questions were reported from me.

As you are probably aware, Mr. Speaker, compound questions no longer seem to be permitted. If we have a question that has three or four elements, we have to use up the four spaces in our question quota all at once. Then we sit and fidget for 45 days, hoping that eventually the paper will clear and we can ask more questions. Last week I was faced with having to wait 135 days, which means that I am effectively muzzled for three times as long as I ought to be.

To add insult to injury three of those questions elicited the response that the department, the ministry and the agencies did not have the data to provide answers. Why did I have to wait 135 days for the department to know it had no answers?

I urge the parliamentary secretary and the government to respond much more promptly, particularly where they have no answer, because they are effectively treading very close to the privileges of members' rights to information in this Chamber. By their slowness they have effectively kept me from looking for answers to further questions for almost 100 extra days beyond what should have been my right as a parliamentarian.

I am not raising this as a question of privilege at this time, but I ask that the parliamentary secretary urge the departments to be much more prompt and forthcoming in their responses and if they do not have answers to let us know immediately.

[Peter Milliken, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I sympathize with the hon. member in the predicament that he has outlined. I know the government makes every effort to respond promptly to questions.

Sometimes questions are very lengthy in that they involve extensive consultation with numerous departments in the government. That often takes some time. In the case of the particular questions that the hon. member put on the Order Paper, I may say that the answers we received initially were sent back, because we were unhappy with the responses.

I understand his unhappiness with the responses, but the agencies in question were not prepared to disclose, or were not able to disclose, or did not have the figures. We could not imagine that was possible. The questions were sent back to those agencies to make sure the answers were correct. That was part of the reason for the lengthy delay. Of course, the House was not sitting during the summer, which adds to it as well.

I sympathize with him. I hope he will put more questions on the Order Paper. We will do our very best to answer them as we do for all hon. members.

[Vic Althouse, NDP, Mackenzie, SK]

Briefly, Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member raised the problem of eliciting information from the agency involved, which was the Grain Transportation Agency under the WGTA, from whom a joint committee of agriculture and transport last May 6 found similar problems in getting information.

They have urged the Minister of Transport to immediately appoint another person to take over from the WGTA the administration and control of the allocation of the grain car fleet in order to ensure that an adequate supply of rolling stock will be provided to producers for the efficient, reliable and effective movement of grain.

Their response to my questions, which indicated they had no idea how many cars they had in the system or where they were, adds fuel to that. This was the finding of the joint committee as well. I think-

[The Deputy Speaker]

We will let it go at that. Shall all questions stand?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.