Debates of May 1st, 1996

Flooding

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the flooding in Manitoba this year has been particularly severe. As was the case in southeastern Saskatchewan last year, there are mechanisms in place whereby the federal government can assist the provinces.

The prime responsibility for co-ordination of disaster relief is with the provinces, and the province has requested relief and assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces. Seventy class A reservists have been working over the last three or four days to assist with flooding in the Saint-Adolphe area.

However, under the disaster financial arrangements regime there is a program whereby the federal government can assist the provinces and in turn the provinces can compensate individuals or municipalities. Officials of the two governments are working on this right now. Official requests are to come in the next few days.

Fisheries

[Vic Althouse, NDP, Mackenzie, SK]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans regarding his department's massive changes to licensing and the fishing zones of the west coast.

B.C. communities have elected their representatives, raised the money to support them and sent them to Ottawa to get the minister to halt the plan so that improvements can be made to it.

Will he now commit to suspending the May 24 deadline and commit to beginning a serious discussion with representatives of the affected communities who have already been chosen to negotiate effective ways to achieve fish stock enhancement that will also maintain west coast communities?

[Fred Mifflin, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's question, which I know is a serious one.

I met with a community sustainability group yesterday. It expressed some of the concerns and misunderstandings with the Pacific revitalization plan which, as I said, is not 100 per cent perfect. I understand these difficulties and I understand the uncertainty involved. I have great concern for the concerns of fishermen and their families.

I will be in British Columbia tomorrow meeting with fishermen, addressing their concerns, listening to them, bridging some of the gaps, addressing uncertainties and fine tuning the program, which will probably address some of the items mentioned by the hon. member.

[The Speaker]

My colleagues, I have received notice that the hon. member for Laval Centre wishes to raise the question of privilege.

Privilege

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I feel that my privileges as a member of Parliament have been breached by the unacceptable remarks made by a member of this House.

The discriminatory and racist comments made by the hon. member for Nanaimo-Cowichan prompt me to ask you to suspend him from this House until his case is reviewed by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

In an interview to the Vancouver Sun , the hon. member said that if he ran a business and if he had a homosexual employee-

[The Speaker]

My dear colleague, you may be a few seconds late, as the hon. member has already made a speech today in which he offered to withdraw his comments and admitted he had made a mistake.

It seems to me that, given this fact, the question of privilege is not in order at this point.

[Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral, Bloc, Laval Centre, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am indeed aware that the hon. member for Nanaimo-Cowichan did apologize in this House, but I insist that apologies are necessary. The fact remains that the comments made by our colleague infringe on the dignity of the people of Canada and Quebec, and I really think that this statement-

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[The Speaker]

Many times statements are made outside the House which are not made in the House. Our precedents tell us these are things said outside of the House and therefore are not necessarily the purview of the House.

We are dealing here with opinions of some people. At this point they have tried to clarify them. The member does not have a point of privilege in this matter. I would like to pass from this matter now.

Point Of Order

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Richelieu, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order on the same issue. I wish to remind the Chair that, less than three years ago, the hon. member for Rosemont, who then sat as an independent, was ordered by the Speaker to apologize for comments he had made outside the House.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member brings up something that happened in 1993. I have no reason to doubt that. I am going from memory because I was a member of the House at the time. I will inform myself of this in a formal way, but it seems to me the member for Rosemont made suggestions about members of the House and the House itself. However, in this case, to my knowledge, the words used did not reflect on the House, on a member or on the works of the House.

Because the hon. member does bring up a very specific point, I wonder if the House would grant me some time to look into this and see if that precedent can apply.

[Jim Silye, Reform, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I point out that according to the standing orders, once you have made a ruling members of the House should not question your ruling. Therefore I object to what is going on here.

[The Speaker]

It is true I have made a ruling on a point of privilege. I am not dealing with a point of privilege here. I am dealing with a point of order brought up by an hon. member. I will look at this precedent and if it does exist I want to see what the bearing would be on this point of order, not privilege. That is behind us.

Therefore I will come back to the House if necessary on this point of order.

Government Response To Petitions

[Paul Zed, 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 nine petitions presented during the first session of Parliament.

Petitions

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from a group of students, a grade 11 history class from Dakota Collegiate in my riding.

This petition was conceived, drafted and brought forward by this group of innovative and creative students. There are approximately 185 signatures on this petition calling for Senate reform. These students not only call for Senate reform but offer constructive suggestions and ideas on what changes could and should be made to our institutions of government. I commend them for having taken this initiative.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is with interest and hope that I table in this House a petition signed by 339 persons who support the organization Le Patriarche, which provides therapy to drug addicts.

Founded in France in 1972, Le Patriarche is established in Canada and it also provides services to drug addicts in over 15 countries throughout the world. Le Patriarche needs volunteers from abroad to apply its therapy and to train Canadians to take over this responsibility.

I therefore support these petitioners, who ask the government to make it easier for volunteer therapists from abroad to come to Canada. Since the problems related to drug addiction are on the rise and affect more and more young people, it is essential to support organizations such as Le Patriarche.

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of Mrs. Gerda Swift of North Vancouver and 116 others, who pray and humbly call on Parliament to keep dangerous sex offenders and pedophiles locked up for life; to eliminate statutory release; impose stiffer sentences for violent offenders; have violent offenders serve their full sentences and have time added for bad behaviour; have a central register for the names and addresses of violent offenders; give more power to the legal institutions to keep dangerous criminals, even after the sentence is served if they are still a risk to society; give police more authority in apprehending and interrogating violent offenders and to reinstate capital punishment for first degree murder in which there is no doubt of guilt.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I wish to present two petitions. The first is from Kelowna, B.C.

The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that managing the family home and caring for preschool children is an honourable profession which has not been recognized for its value to society.

The petitioners, therefore, pray and call on Parliament to pursue initiatives to eliminate tax discrimination against families which provide care in the home to preschool children, the disabled, the chronically ill or the aged.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from Timmins, Ontario.

The petitioners draw to the attention of the House that consumption of alcoholic beverages may cause health problems or impair one's ability and, specifically, that fetal alcohol syndrome and other alcohol related birth defects are 100 per cent preventable by avoiding alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

The petitioners, therefore, pray and call on Parliament to enact legislation to require health warning labels to be placed on the containers of all alcoholic beverages.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions.

The first petition is from the residents of the regional municipality of Sudbury who object to the proposed legislation that would see boaters paying vessel licence fees of up to $1,000 every five years.

Therefore, your petitioners request that Parliament drop this proposal because it would put boating out of the reach of ordinary citizens.

I agree with the petitioners.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by constituents requesting that Parliament continue the lamprey control funding at the previous level and at no extra cost to the Canadian public.

I also agree with the petitioners.

[The Speaker]

As members know, it is not our practice either to agree or disagree with petitions. I would ask you to refrain from mentioning it.

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

Mr. Speaker, for two years now, a resident from my riding, Tran Trieu Quan, has been held prisoner in Vietnam. People in the Quebec City region and throughout the province are upset by this situation and the 5,300 petitioners ask Parliament to ensure the safety and freedom of Tran Trieu Quan.

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

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present a petition signed by 51 of my constituents regarding section 718.2 of Bill C-41.

The petitioners pray and request that Parliament not pass Bill C-41 with section 718.2 and not include the undefined phrase sexual orientation.

[Nelson Riis, NDP, Kamloops, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my duty and pleasure to present a petition on behalf of my constituents pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The petitioners have a whole variety of concerns regarding what they perceive to be excessively high prices for gasoline, propane and diesel fuel. They suggest that there seems to be price fixing taking place among the oil companies and that consumers are being gouged. They suggest that perhaps a consumer boycott of selected company stations would be an appropriate course of action.