Debates of Dec. 6th, 1995

Magazine Publishing

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday a Senate committee proposed an amendment to Bill C-103 that would grandfather the split edition of Sports Illustrated Canada. This is one of the amendments the Reform Party proposed. It was also a recommendation of the task force on magazine publishing.

Here is something interesting: The Minister for International Trade wrote a letter to the Minister of Canadian Heritage in January 1994 suggesting the same thing. Does this indicate a split in the cabinet over the split runs?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, of course there is cabinet solidarity on the subject. What the Minister for International Trade wrote in a letter to me dated January 27 was a report of the conversation he had with his American counterpart, Mickey Kantor. It is quite natural for the Minister for International Trade to report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage on the views expressed in the United States.

[Jim Abbott, Reform, Kootenay East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, careful reading of the letter clearly shows that the Minister for International Trade was making a recommendation to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, which he chose to ignore.

The most disturbing aspect of the bill is that the Canadian government has now decided to place a tax on any future Canadian split runs into the United States. If the bill becomes law, a Canadian magazine that wants to export a very similar magazine to the United States will be subject to an 80 per cent excise tax imposed on it by its own Canadian government.

How in the world could the heritage minister have created such a bone-headed law that punishes Canadian industry?

[Michel Dupuy, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the policy on split runs has been in effect for something like 30 years. It has helped the Canadian magazine industry which has contributed to our understanding of ourselves as Canadians. It contributes to our identity. It contributes to national unity, a fact that our colleagues in the Reform totally ignore because they are not interested in Canadian unity.

Violence Against Women

[Sue Barnes, Liberal, London West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, two economic studies were released yesterday by the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children in my riding. They put the annual calculable cost of this violence at over $4.2 billion, with health related costs alone at $1.5 billion annually.

I ask the Secretary of State for the Status of Women how knowledge about the cost of violence against women will affect government action on this very important issue.

[Sheila Finestone, Liberal, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, at the outset I recognize and thank the member for London West and particularly Dr. Greaves from the Centre for Violence Against Women which undertook this study at the behest of Status of Women Canada.

The question of the pervasive nature of violence against women and children and its negative impact in a social, economic, health and criminal sense is very serious. There is no doubt the issues described in the study are vital and important to us all.

I will study the findings. I will recommend certain actions to the Minister of Justice and to the Minister of Health, notwithstanding which I would suggest to all members of the House, to all levels of government and to societies and municipalities that the problem is beyond just this government which has done a very good job through the Minister of Justice with respect to the criminal element.

The social and economic aspects still need to be addressed. Until the economic interests of women are looked into, we will have ongoing violence against women and children.

Banking

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Right Hon. Prime Minister and is with regard to the

embarrassingly high bank profits that have been announced in the last few days.

As a result of the UI changes almost $1 billion was taken out of the pockets of working Canadians and small business operators. With obscenely high bank profits being registered, what steps will the Prime Minister take to make sure they too pay their share of the deficit?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, like other corporate citizens they are paying taxes on their profits. In the last budget the Minister of Finance imposed a special $100 million tax on the profits of banks. They pay more than the normal share, but the Minister of Finance will look into the situation. It is a sign in some ways that the economy is performing better than before.

I hope they will pay a lot of tax out of these profits as we need the money to create jobs in Canada.

[The Speaker]

I have an announcement to make before dealing with a few points of order. During question period the lights went off and on. I want members to know, so that when they return to their offices they will know what is going on, that there is a general power failure in parts of downtown Ottawa. The emergency generator at the House is now in operation. We are recording the television signal but nothing is being distributed at this time until power is restored.

Our computer system was cut and needs to be restarted, which takes approximately an hour. Therefore the blues from question period will be delayed.

Points Of Order

[Paddy Torsney, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to seek unanimous consent of the House to observe one minute of silence in memory of the 14 young Canadian women who were murdered six years ago this day in Montreal, on December 6, 1989.

[The Speaker]

The House has heard the suggestion. Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Jake Hoeppner, Reform, Lisgar—Marquette, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my point of order arises from an answer the customs and

revenue minister gave when he said that the Reform Party encouraged farmers to illegally run the U.S. border.

The Reform Party has never encouraged farmers to run the border with their grain. The fact is that the customs and revenue-

[The Speaker]

I think the hon. member has a point of clarification. I would rule that it is not a point of order but a point of debate. I thank him for raising it.

Government Response To Petitions

[Peter Milliken, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to 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 response to 16 petitions.

Status Of Women

[Sheila Finestone, Liberal, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)]

Mr. Speaker, today is a day of remembrance.

Today, we reflect on the tragic December 6th, 1989 when 14 women died in the prime of their lives. Today, we also want to reflect on the thousands of women who face violence as a daily reality.

It was also 25 years ago tomorrow that the royal commission on the status of women tabled its report in this House.

The report was a landmark study of the status of women in Canada. It contained 167 recommendations ranging from equalizing women's opportunity in the workplace to recognizing the equal contributions of both partners in the division of family assets upon marriage breakdown. Most of its recommendations have now been implemented. For example, sex discrimination is now prohibited under all of Canada's labour laws. Minimum wages are the same for both men and women. Maternity leave and parental leave benefits can be claimed.

The royal commission, however, did not identify violence as a major issue, but its members had a vision about what it would take to achieve equality. They predicted that as we uncovered the root causes and consequences of women's unequal status new issues would emerge that would need addressing, and they were right. In the last 25 years we have uncovered a close relationship between a woman's lack of equality and her vulnerability to violence, and we have brought it out of the shadows.

At the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing, Canada made a commitment to implement the conference's platform for action, a powerful global agenda for the advancement of women. Among the 12 main themes it contains a plan of action to address violence against women. The global platform reaffirms that violence against women is not a private concern and that states must exercise diligence to ensure that violence is not occurring in homes, in schools, in the workplace or on our streets.

Another commitment is the federal plan for gender equality, released in August. The plan is a framework for federal action to bring about equality for women in Canada.

We created the plan in conjunction with our preparations for the Beijing conference, and it includes several commitments to address violence against women.

There have been significant changes since the royal commission report. At that time, only one woman was a member of the House of Commons, Grace MacInnis.

There are now 54 women in the House. Whatever our political persuasion, we share a debt of gratitude to the royal commission, for without its vision the road here would have been longer and harder. Women's voices are now heard in the Chamber. Violence against women is now openly discussed. Women and men are working together to find solutions. I am confident that together we can find solutions at all levels of society.

Today in particular I wish to commend the House for its support of the historic legislation on firearms control. The weapon used at l'École polytechnique will soon be banned.

All of us want to make the country safer for women. We will succeed with the help of our partners, the men in the House and the men of the country, the NGOs, individuals, labour, business and other levels of government.

In memory of the women who died six years ago, let us pledge to continue our campaign against violence to prevent such tragedies and to give women and girls their rightful place in society.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of emotion that, like all the hon. members of this House, I wish to pay tribute today to the 14 young women who were gunned down by an assassin six years ago. We join their families and friends in remembering them and thinking about the impact that their death will have on our society.

As the hon. secretary of state for the status of women mentioned, the tragedy that took place at l'École polytechnique prompted us, collectively, to reflect on the steps we should take to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. This is a joint undertaking in which each of us must take part. The lives of our daughters, sisters, colleagues, friends and fellow citizens and their safety are at stake.

The second part of my remarks is intended not to be critical but rather to be constructive. I believe that, as parliamentarians, we must speak candidly about our concerns to further the common cause of equality for women. As the secretary of state for the status of women quite rightly pointed out, 25 years ago, the royal commission on the status of women came to the conclusion that violence against women can only be curbed by ensuring equal rights for women.

I am pleased to see that the Quebec government has taken some very concrete steps just today regarding conjugal violence. Today, the Government of Quebec tabled in the National Assembly its action plan on conjugal violence. It is important to turn our attention to this plan for a moment.

First of all, I should point out that six ministers have co-operated in developing a structured and integrated action plan: the ministers of justice, health and social services, public security, and education, the minister responsible for family affairs and, finally, the minister responsible for the status of women.

Many actions are planned, but I will just list a few. In all cases, during the inquiry on the provisional release of the accused, the attorney general's prosecutors will be required to ask the court to set as a condition for release that the accused surrender his weapons to the police.

Second, victims will be informed quickly and automatically of the provisional release of the accused and of the conditions set by the court. They will also be informed of a release under a temporary absence or parole program.

Third, a prevention campaign on violence against women will be launched. Moreover, the Quebec police information centre will record all cases of spousal abuse, as well as all conditions for release. Firearms will be confiscated immediately when a spouse is arrested. In the education sector, the emphasis will be put on the prevention of spousal abuse and on locating children who witness such violence. This is what we call action.

Again, these are only a few of the measures included in the Quebec action program. On behalf of my colleagues, of women who are victims of spousal abuse, and of Quebecers, I congratulate the Quebec government for this major initiative.

While Quebec is taking action in its fields of jurisdiction, what does the federal government do?

[Sheila Finestone, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

We implemented laws to take similar action.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

There is some and, in fact, quite a bit of inertia at the federal level. Let us start with the achievements of the government, as mentioned by the secretary of state for the status of women. I must say that I have some sympathy for the hon. member, since she must work with a government that shelved the issue of women as soon as it took office.

[An hon. member]

You know that is not true.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

So, this government approves a plan to promote equality between men and women. Mr. Speaker, could they please let me finish? The government pledges to implement the program for action approved at the fourth world conference on women. It passes a bill on gun control. That is nice, but that is also very little after two years in office.

Let us now look at what the government did not do. Let us look at the missed opportunities. There are quite a few. The government did not amend the Criminal Code to specifically prohibit female genital mutilation. That is also a form of violence. It does not happen here, but it is a form of violence. It also takes place in Canada. The government did not protest to Chinese authorities when, just last week, the situation of orphan baby girls became public. That is also a form of violence against women. These women are seen as an excess, a surplus.

The government did not amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to protect homosexuals against discrimination. That is also another form of violence. The government did not put its reform projects through the prism of its plan to promote equality for women, thus forcing many women to live in poverty. That is another form of violence, and we are still a long way from achieving equality between the two sexes.

In conclusion, I ask the government to truly follow the spirit and the letter of the recommendations made 25 years ago already. I ask the government to implement, in its own fields of jurisdiction, true measures to promote equality between men and women, so that some day we can say that the tragedy which occurred at Polytechnique was a terrible but isolated incident.

[Jan Brown, Reform, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I think all members of this House share in the painful memory of the tragic event that happened six years ago, in 1989, when we lost 14 of our young women at l'École polytechnique in Montreal. They fell victim to a senseless crime.

We all believe the rights of victims of crime must be placed before the rights of criminals in society. Today we feel those sentiments most deeply.

Exactly one year ago today in the House of Commons we held an emergency debate on violence against women. I appreciate the noble sentiments that continue to be espoused by those who speak on this and similar issues, for I too share those ideals. However, I am greatly concerned that in the intervening years since that emergency debate very little has been done to improve the situation.

I am concerned that the House does only lip service to addressing the issue of violence against women, children and men. Remember, we must not limit our focus to eradicating violence against women. We must enlarge our scope and become active pacifists to wipe out senseless violence in society. We must rally to this sentiment and demonstrate to the world that Canada is a leader in its efforts to reduce crime, to safeguard its citizens and to champion the rights of victims.

To do this we must get at the root of the problem, not just smooth over the symptoms. Gun control will not in and of itself solve the problems of violence in society.

I believe that until the government of the day can identify the root causes of crime, until it can identify the reasons for domestic violence and violence against women, we will continue waking every day to face the personal tragedies brought on by crime.

Today the government must take a more positive step in the area of violence against women and demonstrate its commitment to rooting out the problems the minister has alluded to.

In its press release of November 27 of this year Status of Women Canada called violence against women a violation of women's human rights. I agree with this statement and I believe the government should enforce its sentiments.

The government sent many people at great taxpayer expense to the women's conference in China. I challenge that conference site on the basis of China's terrible record of human rights abuse, especially to women, children and political dissidents. At that conference our government confirmed that eliminating violence remains a priority. It should be, and according to the secretary of state it is, a global goal not limited to Canada.

Today is a serious day for us all, a day for us to remember, a day for us to help the healing. It is a day when we should all commit to moving forward. We must foster attitudes which promote peace and tolerance and express zero tolerance for the violation of human rights and zero tolerance for violence against women.

Echoing sentiments of the Secretary of State for the Status of Women, I pledge and let us all pledge in memory of the women who died six years ago to continue vigorously our campaign against violence to prevent such tragedies.

[Len Taylor, NDP, The Battlefords—Meadow Lake, SK]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I request the consent of the House to speak briefly on this subject on behalf of the New Democratic Party.

[The Speaker]

Is it agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.