Debates of June 10th, 1996

Criminal Code

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I wish to present two petitions which have been circulating across Canada. The first is from Yellowknife, NWT.

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 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]

Madam Speaker, the second petition comes form Coburg, Ontario.

The petitioners would like to bring to the attention of the House that consumption of alcoholic beverages may cause health problems or impair one's ability. 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 alcoholic beverages to caution expectant mothers and others of the risks associated with alcohol consumption.

[Robert Bertrand, Liberal, Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, QC]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I present a petition which has been circulating all across the Outaouais region. This petition has been signed by 1,500 Canadians.

The petitioners request that Parliament take the necessary measures to guarantee that their properties and territories will remain within the Canadian Confederation and make its intention to do so known to the PQ government prior to a unilateral declaration of independence or the next referendum on separation.

[Val Meredith, Reform, Surrey—White Rock—South Langley, BC]

Madam Speaker, I have two petitions to present.

The first has 75 signatures from British Columbians. They pray that Parliament will consider the advisability of extending benefits or compensation to veterans of the wartime merchant navy equal to that enjoyed by veterans of World War II armed services.

[Val Meredith, Reform, Surrey—White Rock—South Langley, BC]

Madam Speaker, the second petition is signed by 203 individuals from British Columbia who are requesting that Parliament not increase federal excise tax on gasoline and strongly consider reallocating its current revenues to rehabilitate Canada's crumbling national highways.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Ontario, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition.

It comes from literally hundreds of merchant time mariners from the second world war.

These petitioners call on Parliament to consider the advisability of extending benefits or compensation to veterans of the wartime merchant navy equal to those enjoyed by the veterans of Canada's World War II armed services.

[Sharon Hayes, Reform, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Madam Speaker, I have three petitions to present today. The first is that Parliament not amend the human rights act or the charter of rights and freedoms in any way that would tend to indicate societal approval of same sex relationships. This petition is from B.C. and Ontario residents.

[Sharon Hayes, Reform, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Madam Speaker, the last two petitions are from people from Ontario. One is from Toronto and area and the other is from other areas of Ontario.

The petitioners ask that Parliament support private member's Motion No. 91 which calls for a binding national referendum to be held at the time of the next election to ask Canadians whether they are in favour of federal government funding for abortions on demand.

I present these petitions with pleasure today.

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

Madam Speaker, I wish to table three petitions signed by the constituents of Lambton-Middlesex.

The petitioners request that Parliament refrain from passing into law any bill extending family status or spousal benefits to same sex partners and further 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 benefits or of homosexuality.

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I present a petition signed by 105 residents of the greater Vancouver region requesting Parliament not to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act or the charter of rights and freedoms so as to extend to same sex relationships.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, Question No. 19 will be answered today.

Question No. 19-

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

In the past five years, has there existed-within the Privy Council, the Department of the Solicitor General of Canada, or elsewhere in the federal government-an emergency measures co-ordinating unit; if so, who and what are its past and present members, budget, meeting dates, and subjects of discussion at each meeting; has this unit drawn up plans for emergency situations or not and, if so, what are those plans?

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister]

Under the provisions of the Emergency Preparedness Act (1988), all ministers of the crown are assigned responsibility for emergency preparedness within their functional areas. All departments of the federal government have an emergency preparedness capability as required by the Emergencies Act, also passed in 1988. Overall co-ordination is vested in the minister responsible for emergency preparedness (MREP), the Minister of National Defence. Emergency Preparedness Canada (EPC) is that element of the public service charged with implementing the minister's responsibilities in this regard.

EPC has been in existence in one form or another since 1939. Most recently, and prior to 1992, EPC was identified by the Emergency Preparedness Act as a separate branch of government with its head, the executive director, reporting directly to the MREP. Following the 1992 budget, the Emergency Preparedness Act was amended to make EPC part of the Department of National Defence and it is now a division within the deputy chief of defence staff (DCDS) group in national defence headquarters.

EPC administers the Emergencies Act. That legislation sets out the types of emergency for which the agency has co-ordinating responsibility within the federal government as well as the roles of cabinet and Parliament. The emergencies defined in the act are: public emergency; public order emergency; international emergency; and, war emergency. The legislation therefore covers a range of situations from, for example, flood relief to war and it is the responsibility of EPC to ensure that planning for the range of possible emergencies has been undertaken. Consequently, it works closely with federal departments and agencies as well as with provincial authorities.

EPC executes its co-ordination role in a number of ways including direct liaison with other government departments and through a number of interdepartmental committees. The senior committee is the Emergency Preparedness Advisory Committee (EPAC), chaired by the DCDS, with membership at the assistant deputy minister level. The EPAC oversees the annual program of work of the federal emergency preparedness community; provides guidance; and advises the MREP as necessary.

EPC is a small organization of 89 full time employees (FTEs) and an annual budget of approximately $15.5M (96/97). In addition to its headquarters in Ottawa, EPC administers the Canadian Emergency Preparedness College in Arnprior, Ontario and maintains small regional offices in each provincial capital to provide liaison with counterpart provincial emergency measures organizations.

In amplification of Emergency Preparedness Act, "a federal policy emergencies", revised in 1995, provides detailed taskings to the legislated ministerial responsibilities for emergency preparedness and, where appropriate, designates individual federal ministers as the "lead" for planning for specific types of emergency. Examples of such lead roles include, the Solicitor General for the national counterterrorism plan (NCTP); Health Canada for the federal nuclear emergency response plan (FNERP); and Emergency Preparedness Canada for the national earthquake support plan (NESP). There is a broad spectrum of federal emergency plans;

some narrow and sectoral in scope; and others such as those exemplified above, of a broad, multi-sectoral nature. EPC maintains a co-ordinated listing of all such plans and, in the case of the latter, co-ordinates the development of periodic exercises to test and evaluate their effectiveness.

To elaborate on the NCTP, the Solicitor General is the lead minister for dealing with the management of terrorist incidents in Canada. As the minister responsible for the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, his secretariat maintains the NCTP. That plan sets out how the government will respond to an incident with respect to, for instance, operational management of the incident, communications, and the role of local and provincial governments. Those who administer the plan are responsible for ensuring that the government response to a terrorist incident is co-ordinated and coherent.

In addition to co-ordination units with a national focus, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade maintains a capacity to respond to incidents abroad involving Canadians or Canadian interests.

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Fundy Royal, NB]

Madam Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Questions Passed As Orders For Returns

[Paul Zed, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, if Question No. 2 could be made an Order for Return, this return would be tabled immediately.

[The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No. 2-

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

For each of the last five calendar years, how many claims have been made by federal prisoners against the Government of Canada for injuries or damages suffered while the prisoners were under the government's care in federal penitentiaries, ( a ) how many of these claims have been settled, withdrawn or are still pending, and ( b ) what is the amount of the initial claim and the amount of the settlement in each case that has been settled?

Return tabled.

[Yves Rocheleau, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

I rise on a point of order, Madam Speaker. I would like to draw your attention for the third time to the fact that, on March 11, that is three months ago, I put four questions on the Order Paper, Questions Nos. 20, 21, 22 and 23, and requested, pursuant to the Standing Orders, that these questions be answered within 45 days. That will be three months ago tomorrow.

These questions deal with the transfer of the human resources development department's regional management centre from Trois-Rivières to Shawinigan. These questions were put in the public interest, in the interest of the constituents of Trois-Rivières and the whole region.

These questions come from a member of Parliament who, according to our rules, has the right to question the executive branch of government, who, in turn, has the responsibility to answer these kinds of questions asked in the public interest.

I therefore count on you, Madam Speaker, to make the necessary representations with the executive so these questions get a proper, honest and quick answer.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-27, an act to amend the Criminal Code (child prostitution, child sex tourism, criminal harassment and female genital mutilation) be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Criminal Code

[Lloyd Axworthy, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order. I think there would be unanimous agreement to allow me to speak in place of the hon. member for New Westminster-Burnaby. He would resume his remarks after.

There are international visitors in town today and I would like to make a presentation on this bill, which we are sponsoring. The courtesy of the hon. member and of other members has been agreed.

[The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais)]

Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.