House of Commons Hansard #42 of the 35th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was family.
Paul Crête Bloc Kamouraska—Rivière-Du-Loup, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by 11,250 people in my riding, demanding the total withdrawal of the unemployment insurance reform bill and the repatriation to Quebec of all powers relating to manpower and employment, along with the budgets that go with them.
Chris Axworthy NDP Saskatoon—Clark's Crossing, SK
Mr. Speaker, I rise pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present about 60 petitions with about 600 names on them from people all across Saskatoon and my riding.
The petitioners are protesting the price of gas in Saskatoon and across the country. They focus on the fact that Canadians have little control over this resource and that the federal government seems not to be particularly concerned about that.
They call upon this House to establish an energy price review commission to keep gasoline pricing and other energy products in check.
Beryl Gaffney Liberal Nepean, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I too am pleased to present a petition with 50 signatures to the House of Commons. These people are saying that Canadians are paying approximately 52 per cent of the cost per litre of gasoline at the pumps in the form of government taxes and that over the past 10 years the excise tax on gasoline has risen by 566 per cent. They ask that Parliament not increase the federal excise tax on gasoline in the next federal budget.
Beryl Gaffney Liberal Nepean, ON
Mr. Speaker, this petition contains 175 signatures.
The petitioners say that there are profound inadequacies in the sentencing practices concerning individuals convicted of impaired driving charges. They state that Canada must embrace a philosophy of zero tolerance for individuals who drive while impaired by alcohol or drugs. They state that as promised the government must proceed immediately with amendments to the Criminal Code which will ensure that the severity of the sentence given to anyone convicted of driving while impaired and causing death or injury will be based on zero tolerance.
Paul Devillers Liberal Simcoe North, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I present a petition signed by 53 residents of Simcoe North. They request that Parliament not amend the human rights code, 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 homosexuality, including amending the human rights code or the Canadian Human Rights Act to include in the prohibited grounds of discrimination the undefined phrase of sexual orientation.
Roseanne Skoke Liberal Central Nova, NS
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have two petitions to table with this honourable House.
The petitioners pray and request that Parliament not amend 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 Canadian Human Rights Act to include in the prohibited grounds of discrimination the undefined phrase of sexual orientation.
Lyle Vanclief Liberal Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions.
The first petition requests Parliament not to 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 relations or of homosexuality, including amending the human rights code to include in the prohibited grounds of discrimination the undefined phrase of sexual orientation.
Lyle Vanclief Liberal Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
Mr. Speaker, the second petition requests that Parliament recognize our Judaeo-Christian heritage and calls for the return to the holy Bible as our nation's moral standard.
The petitioners call for a return to Bible reading and prayer in our schools and to reinstate the name Jesus Christ in the Lord's prayer in the parliamentary daily opening prayer, and in recognition of the spiritual need of this nation to declare a national day of prayer and repentance.
Paddy Torsney Liberal Burlington, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by 43 Canadians, mostly from the city of Burlington, but also from Hamilton and Dorval, Quebec with regard to the Canadian Human Rights Act and their desire that it not be changed.
Mr. Speaker, in keeping with your ruling, I will not make any further comment.
Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first petition is from Edmonton, Alberta.
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 our society.
They also state that the Income Tax Act discriminates against traditional families who make the choice to provide care in the home for preschool children, the disabled, the chronically ill or the aged.
The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to pursue initiatives to eliminate tax discrimination against families who decide to provide care in the home for preschool children, the disabled, the chronically ill and the aged.
Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON
Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from Vancouver, B.C.
The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that the consumption of alcoholic beverages may cause health problems or impair one's ability and, specifically, that fetal alcohol syndrome and other alcohol related 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 to caution expectant mothers and others of the risks associated with alcohol consumption.
Pat O'Brien Liberal London—Middlesex, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present two petitions to the House today from people in my riding of London-Middlesex, every part of London and the surrounding area.
The petitioners express serious concerns about changes to federal legislation which would tend to indicate societal approval of same sex relationships.
They call on Parliament not to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act or the charter of rights and freedoms to include the undefined phrase sexual orientation.
I am very pleased to support the petitioners in their concerns.
John O'Reilly Liberal Victoria—Haliburton, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition signed by people from Lindsay, Bobcaygeon, Coboconk, Haliburton, Cameron, Little Britain, Bethany, Janetville, Buckhorn and area.
The petitioners call on Parliament to embrace zero tolerance toward individuals who drive a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol or drugs and they ask that sentencing reflect the severity of the crime.
Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, Question No. 1 will be answered today.
Question No. 1-
Garry Breitkreuz Reform Yorkton—Melville, SK
Since 1934, how many crimes, in total, have been solved using the RCMP's restricted weapon registration system and ( a ), how many of these crimes have been solved by tracing the firearm back to the registered owner, and ( b ) how much money has the government spent since 1934 to implement, maintain and operate the restricted weapon registration system?
Herb Gray LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Solicitor General of Canada
In so far as the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada and its agency is concerned, the answer is as follows.
The statistics requested respecting the number of crimes that have been solved by tracing the firearm back to the registered owner are not kept at this time and are therefore not available. The National Tracing Centre of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Firearms Registration and Administration Sections (FRAS) which was implemented in January 1995 received 131 trace requests from Canadian police agencies up to December 1995. Of these traces, 64 firearms were traceable to either a dealer or an owner. However, these traces involved unregistered firearms.
The funds expended by the government to operate the restricted weapon registration system and FRAS are as follows:
95/96 904,528.72 94/95 1,488,376.96 93/94 1,442,963.32 92/93 1,379,251.41 91/92 1,244,858.45 90/91 1,237,759.89 89/90 1,021,127.62 88/89 916,559.88 87/88 947,322.38 86/87 923,422.24 85/86 726,194.71 84/85 614,634.51 83/84 585,661.15 82/83 546,206.50 81/82 528,265.50 80/81 531,091.39 89/80 415,654.21 78/79 1,108,151.33 Total: $16,562,030.17
The source of these figures is the RCMP's finance and supply branch. Since 1978 the reports available do not have unit names or collator numbers identifying them. They are identified by unit financial code (UFC) and these may have changed over time. The only way to ensure that we are using the correct UFC is to factor in program activity structure (PAS) for that period. Unfortunately, we do not have a PAS before 1978.
Paul Zed Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.
Questions On The Order PaperRoutine Proceedings
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)
Is that agreed?
Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand.
Alfonso Gagliano LiberalMinister of Labour and Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I move:
That in relation to Bill C-33, an act to amend the Human Rights Act, not more than one further sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration of the report stage of the bill, and one sitting day shall be allotted to the third reading stage of the said bill and, fifteen minutes before the expiry of the time provided for government business on the day allotted to the consideration of the report stage and on the allotted day to the third reading stage of the said bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and in turn every question necessary for the disposal of the stage of the bill then under consideration shall be put forthwith and successively without further debate or amendment.
Canadian Human Rights ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Kilger)
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?