Debates of June 20th, 1994

Petitions

[Tom Wappel, Liberal, Scarborough West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition calls upon Parliament to 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 that would sanction or allow the aiding or abetting of suicide or active or passive euthanasia.

[Tom Wappel, Liberal, Scarborough West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition is primarily from constituents of my riding of Scarborough West.

It calls upon Parliament not to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act or the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in any way that would tend to indicate societal approval of same sex relationships or of homosexuality, including amending the human rights act to include in the prohibited ground of discrimination the undefined phrase sexual orientation.

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise under the provisions of Standing Order 36 to present two petitions.

The first one is on behalf of my constituents in the Burns Lake area, over 900 of whom have signed petitions indicating their concern that the Canadian judicial system is not adequately maintaining law and order in the country and calling on the Government of Canada to reform the justice system in order to ensure greater protection of life and property within Canada.

[Dick Harris, Reform, Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am pleased to submit under Standing Order 36 is from several petitioners in an area known as Houston in the Prince George-Bulkley Valley constituency.

Fundamentally the petitioners humbly pray that Parliament not repeal or amend section 241 of the Criminal Code in any way and uphold the Supreme Court of Canada decision on September 30, 1993 to disallow assisted suicide or euthanasia.

[John O'Reilly, Liberal, Victoria—Haliburton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have the honour to present three petitions today.

The first was delivered to me by Cathie Raddatz, a constituent in my riding of Victoria-Haliburton, Ontario. Cathie was able to gather over 400 names on a petition which calls on Parliament to prohibit the importation, distribution, sale and manufacture of killer cards in Canada among other things.

The second petition was signed by numerous constituents at my riding office. It also calls on Parliament to prohibit the importation, distribution, sale and manufacture of killer cards in Ontario.

[John O'Reilly, Liberal, Victoria—Haliburton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition was sent to me by another constituent, Anne Bridgewater, of Harcourt, Ontario.

This petition, duly recognized by the clerk of petitions, humbly calls on Parliament to review and revise our laws concerning young offenders by empowering the courts to prosecute and punish young law breakers who are terrorizing our society, by releasing their names and lowering their age limit to allow prosecution to meet the severity of the crime.

[Bernard St-Laurent, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues from Rimouski-Témiscouata, Matapédia-Matane, Gaspé and Charlevoix, I am presenting a petition for restoring Radio-Canada as it was before 1990. A great many losses have been caused by these closures, financial losses, of course, job losses and maybe most important, information losses. As politicians, we have a duty to promote our regions, but when the flow of information keeps getting cut off, how do you expect us to sell a region when we do not have the means to

talk about it? It is important and this situation must be corrected.

On behalf of more than 1,000 people who signed the petition that I am tabling today, we ask that it be restored, as it should be anyway.

[Roseanne Skoke, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, pursuant to Standing Order 36, a petition which has been duly executed by constituents residing in the municipality of Victoria, British Columbia.

The petition opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide and prays that Parliament will not repeal or amend section 241 of the Criminal Code.

I support the petition and now table it with the honourable House.

[Randy White, Reform, Fraser Valley West, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition from residents of Fraser Valley West with which I wholeheartedly concur.

The petition asks that Parliament act immediately to extend protection to the unborn child by amending the Criminal Code to extend the same protection enjoyed by born human beings to unborn human beings.

[Philippe Paré, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Transport Canada changed the route for seaplanes using the Lac Saint-Augustin base. This new route is very inconvenient for residents of the Jouvence area in my riding. Accordingly, the petitioners ask Transport Canada to review its decision of April 28.

[John Duncan, Reform, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present two petitions.

The first is from 154 constituents in my riding who humbly submit that Parliament not amend the human rights code, the 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.

[John Duncan, Reform, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by 50 constituents who humbly submit that section 24 of the Criminal Code of Canada not be repealed or amended in any way and that the section disallowing assisted suicide be upheld as it recently was in the Rodriguez Supreme Court decision.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to table this petition, which is a heartfelt appeal from more than 500 citizens, mostly from the riding of Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup, who call for the necessary action to be taken so that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reopens the television stations in eastern Quebec that were closed in 1990. All in all, we have tabled more than 4,000 signatures in the House this afternoon to overturn this iniquitous decision of the former government.

(Questions answered orally are indicated by an asterisk.)

Questions On The Order Paper

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

Mr. Speaker, Questions Nos. 48 and 53 will be answered today.

Question No. 48-

[Roger Simmons, Liberal, Burin—St. George's, NL]

With respect to the Auditor General's finding in his 1992 report that, for 1989 and 1990, the Canadian Coast Guard's "search and rescue vessels and aircraft were instrumental in incident resolution less than 20 per cent of the time", ( a ) what specific action has the Department of Transport taken to redress this, ( b ) will the use of other federal and non-federal resources, such as the Canadian Marine Rescue Auxiliary, be expanded, and ( c ) will a set of search and rescue service standards, and a national search and rescue program, be developed in full, as recommended by the Auditor General?

[Douglas Young, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

a

) and ( c ) The Canadian Coast Guard has established levels of service, as well as comprehensive operating and performance standards. In 1992, the national search and rescue program concept was approved by the lead minister for search and rescue, the Minister of National Defence. The Coast Guard continues to look for ways to improve the effectiveness of the national search and rescue program in order to save as many lives as possible. Figures for 1992 indicate that primary Coast Guard search and rescue vessels responded to over 41 per cent of all marine search and rescue taskings in Canada and saved the lives of 1,200 persons in distress.

(b) The Canadian Marine Rescue Auxiliary provides invaluable assistance to mariners in distress. Expansion of the membership and capability of the auxiliary is a goal of both the Coast Guard and the auxiliary.

Question No. 53-

[Garry Breitkreuz, Reform, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

What are the names of the Indian Bands, ( a ) which have their financial affairs fully managed by the Department of Indian Affairs, ( b ) that are under the alternative funding arrangement?

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

a

) No first Nations have their funds fully managed by the department. b ) A current list of the 156 AFA recipients is shown below. Each year an updated list is published in Part III of the main estimates. It appears on pages 2-112 to 2-115 of the 1994-1995 estimates.

[The Deputy Speaker]

The questions enumerated by the parliamentary secretary have been answered.

[Mike Scott, Reform, Skeena, BC]

I rise on a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if I could ask a question of the parliamentary secretary. When might we expect an answer from the government to Question No. 47 which I have had on the Order Paper for 47 days now?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thought it was Question No. 41 and I anticipated having an answer to that one tomorrow. With respect to Question No. 47, I will investigate to find out what particular problems have resulted in the delay in answering the question.

The government has been fairly diligent in its work in preparing answers to these questions, some of which involve a great deal of information. I will see what I can do to provide a response to the hon. member later this week.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Shall the remaining questions stand?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill C-32, an Act to amend the Excise Tax Act, the Excise Act and the Income Tax Act, as reported (without amendment) from the committee.

Excise Tax Act

[The Deputy Speaker]

There are three motions in amendment on the Notice Paper at report stage of Bill C-32, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act, the Excise Act and the Income Tax Act.

Motions Nos. 1, 2 and 3 will be grouped for debate and a vote on Motion No. 1 will apply to Motions Nos. 2 and 3.

I will now put Motions Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to the House.