House of Commons Hansard #65 of the 35th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was board.
John O'Reilly Liberal Victoria—Haliburton, ON
Madam Speaker, I have two petitions. The first one is from Emily township and deals with term 17, the Newfoundland school issue.
John O'Reilly Liberal Victoria—Haliburton, ON
Madam Speaker, my second petition is from residents of Victoria-Haliburton and calls on Parliament to renew the commitment to the National AIDS Strategy to at least its current level of funding.
George Baker Liberal Gander—Grand Falls, NL
Madam Speaker, I have a petition signed by 39,550 people from 114 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The petitioners ask the federal government to either open a food recreation fishery for cod in Newfoundland and Labrador on the same terms as that announced for Quebec, the maritimes and St. Pierre et Miquelon. Or, if the federal government refuses to treat everybody the same on the east coast of Canada, then to cancel the food recreation cod fishery for Quebec and the maritimes and to terminate the agreement the federal government has with France allowing a recreational cod fishery in the waters around St. Pierre et Miquelon.
The petitioners do not want an answer to this petition. All they want is action from the government.
Dale Johnston Reform Wetaskiwin, AB
Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 it is my pleasure to present a petition from 170 of my constituents. They pray and request that Parliament direct Health Canada to amend its proposal in order to allow the production and sale of unpasteurized cheese to continue in Canada.
Dale Johnston Reform Wetaskiwin, AB
Madam Speaker, I have a further petition. Some 25 petitioners pray that Parliament enact Bill C-205 introduced by the hon. member for Scarborough West at the earliest opportunity so as to provide in Canadian law that no criminal profits from committing a crime.
Daphne Jennings Reform Mission—Coquitlam, BC
Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have two petitions to present to the House today on behalf of my constituents.
The first one asks Parliament to not implement a tax on health and dental benefits and to put a hold on any future consideration of such a tax until a complete review of the tax system and how it impacts on the health of Canadians has been undertaken.
Daphne Jennings Reform Mission—Coquitlam, BC
Madam Speaker, the second petition asks Parliament to conduct a full public inquiry into the relationships between lending institutions and the judiciary and to enact legislation restricting the appointment of judges with ties to credit granting institutions. The petitioners are concerned about the practice of charging loan interest in advance.
Bernie Collins Liberal Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have three petitions to present on behalf of residents of Souris-Moose Mountain and Regina. The petitioners call upon the government not to support the Newfoundland school issue.
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Madam Speaker, I have several petitions which I wish to present. They contain approximately 4,000 signatures from all across Canada. The petitioners draw to the attention of the House that Canadian consumers are against the legalization of rBGH for injection into dairy cows.
Diane Ablonczy Reform Calgary North, AB
Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present two petitions on behalf of my constituents of Calgary North.
The first petition has nearly 500 signatures and asks for the establishment of a pedophile registry.
Diane Ablonczy Reform Calgary North, AB
Madam Speaker, the second petition calls for an elected Senate.
Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB
Madam Speaker, I have two petitions to present today from my constituents.
The first petition calls upon Parliament to enact Bill C-205 introduced by the hon. member for Scarborough West at the earliest opportunity so as to provide in Canadian law that no criminal profits from committing a crime.
Bill Blaikie NDP Winnipeg—Transcona, MB
Madam Speaker, the second petition requests that the federal minister responsible for Canada Post consider bringing in legislation requiring all unsolicited mail and flyers to use recyclable materials and post consumer fibre and to amend the Canada Post act so that Canada Post would have to comply with "no flyer" signs at personal residences, with the exception of material from political parties and charities.
Ovid Jackson Liberal Bruce—Grey, ON
Madam Speaker, it is my honour and privilege to table today, pursuant to Standing Order 36, petitions from residents of the riding of Bruce-Grey. The petitions have to do with proceeds from crime.
The petitioners pray that Parliament enact Bill C-205 introduced by the hon. member for Scarborough West at the earliest opportunity so as to provide in Canadian law that no criminal profits from committing a crime.
Garry Breitkreuz Reform Yorkton—Melville, SK
Madam Speaker, I have a large number of petitions to present. I have grouped them into four categories. The first group contains 64 petitions signed by 1,424 concerned Canadians primarily from the provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario.
The petitioners wish to draw to the attention of Parliament that over 100,000 therapeutic abortions are performed each year in Canada at a cost of over $50 million per year. Since Canadians deserve a say in how our scarce health care dollars are spent and which health care procedures they consider essential, the petitioners call upon Parliament to support a binding national referendum to be held at the time of the next general election to determine whether or not Canadians are in favour of federal government funding for abortion on demand.
Garry Breitkreuz Reform Yorkton—Melville, SK
Madam Speaker, the next group contains 67 petitions signed by 937 Canadians from Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The petitioners are opposed to the inclusion of the term sexual orientation in the Canadian Human Rights Act. The petitioners feel that homosexuals are already protected by law and that the inclusion of that term would only lead to special rights for homosexuals.
Garry Breitkreuz Reform Yorkton—Melville, SK
Madam Speaker, I am also presenting a petition opposing the approval of the synthetic bovine growth hormone known as rBGH or BST. The petition has 35 signatures representing constituents from my riding of Yorkton-Melville.
The petitioners call on Parliament to stop the use and sale of rBGH in Canada until the year 2000. The petitioners also ask that an independent study be conducted to examine the effects of the drug in order to answer some serious health and economic concerns.
Garry Breitkreuz Reform Yorkton—Melville, SK
Madam Speaker, the last group of petitions which I wish to present contains seven petitions signed by 97 people of Yorkton-Melville.
The petitioners pray that Parliament not amend the Constitution to remove the rights of denominational schools. They ask Parliament to refer the problem of educational reform back to the government in Newfoundland and not to set a precedent for other provinces.
Paul Forseth Reform New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today on behalf of constituents from British Columbia's lower mainland, including many from the Canadian Merchant Navy Association in my riding of New Westminster-Burnaby.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to consider the advisability of extending benefits or compensation to veterans of the wartime merchant navy equal to those enjoyed by veterans of Canada's World War II armed services.
Fewer than 3,000 of these veteran merchant seamen are asking the Minister of Veterans Affairs to recognize their past service and extend benefits enjoyed by other wartime veterans.
John Richardson LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs
Madam Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23 and 38.
Question No. 20-
Yves Rocheleau Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Can the Minister of Human Resources Development indicate what recommendations were made by the committee analysing the restructuring of service points in Quebec, on the advisability of locating the regional Human Resource Centre of Canada in Shawinigan or Trois-Rivières?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
All Department of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) points of service were studied during 1994 and 1995 as part of the review of government spending announced in the 1994 and 1995 budgets. A committee was established in each of HRDC's 10 regions to review all points of service and recommend a new service delivery structure.
The committees considered all relevant factors in forming their recommendations, and all recommendations were subsequently approved by the Minister of Human Resources Development.
As a result of the committees' recommendations, HRDC's new service delivery structure will have 308 offices across Canada, some of which will be administrative centres. Quebec will have a total of 78 offices, of which 28 will be administrative centres.
The Quebec regional committee recommended that HRDC's administrative centre for the Mauricie be situated in Shawinigan. The committee chose Shawinigan because this location provided the opportunity to share space and services with Revenue Canada, thus meeting the government's objective of reducing costs and ensuring the least possible effect on HRDC client service resources.
The committee used the same approach for the Saguenay-Lac St-Jean area, where it chose Jonquière as the site for HRDC's administrative centre because the regional taxation data centre was already there.
Question No. 21-
Yves Rocheleau Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Can the Minister of Human Resources Development indicate whether representations or interventions were made by officers, employees or other persons from the Privy Council Office or the Office of the Prime Minister to officers, employees or officials from Human Resources Development Canada, in order to ensure that the regional Canada Human Resources Centre would be located in a municipality in the constituency of Saint-Maurice, rather than Trois-Rivières, and, if so, who were the persons who intervened, and what reasons were given for the move?
Douglas Young LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
To the best of the department's knowledge, no representations were made to officials of the department by political staff from the Prime Minister's office or personnel from the Privy Council.
Question No. 22-
Yves Rocheleau Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Can the Minister of Human Resources Development Canada indicate whether, as part of its restructuring of service points in Quebec, Human Resources Development Canada carried out comparative studies on the advisability of locating the regional Canada Human Resources Centre in Shawinigan or in Trois-Rivières and, if so, what were the findings of those studies?