House of Commons Hansard #150 of the 35th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was accused.
Report Of Parliamentary LibrarianOral Question Period
The Speaker
I have the honour to lay upon the table the Report of the Parliamentary Librarian for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1996.
Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, in accordance with subsection 198(3) of the Canada Elections Act and pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I wish to table, in both official languages, copies of recent amendments to the federal elections fees tariff.
Pursuant to Standing Order 32(5) this document should be deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Procedures and House Affairs.
Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, a number of order in council appointments which were made by the government.
Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 110(1) they are deemed referred to the appropriate standing committees, a list of which is attached.
Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary 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 77 petitions.
Michel Guimond Bloc Beauport—Montmorency—Orléans, QC
Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, I have the honour to present to this House the fifth report of the committee, which conducted a review of Chapter 14 of the auditor general's report, tabled in September 1996 and dealing with the quality of services.
I simply wish to point out that, as members of the committee, we strive to ensure that the government provides the best services for the money paid by Canadian taxpayers. As parliamentarians, we must also ensure that those responsible for public funds are held accountable for the judicious use of these funds, in compliance with the policies adopted by Parliament.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
Rose-Marie Ur Liberal Lambton—Middlesex, ON
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-395, an act to amend the Bank Act.
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to introduce my private member's bill which would amend the Bank Act by increasing the amount of disclosure that a bank is required to provide its customers.
A number of banks in Canada offer their customers certain benefits which are not available to all of their customers. For example, some banks offer rebates on services to youth and seniors. Unfortunately most bank customers are completely unaware of the benefits to which they are entitled.
I believe my bill would remedy this situation by obligating banks to give notice to a customer of the bank regarding the benefits to which he or she is entitled. My bill would also prevent banks from charging any fee against an inactive bank account unless the bank first mailed a notice to the customer at least 30 days prior to its intention to charge the fee.
Taken together I believe these provisions would enhance consumer protection for Canada's bank customers.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)
Procedure And House AffairsRoutine Proceedings
Fundy Royal New Brunswick
Liberal
Paul Zed LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Madam Speaker, if the House gives its consent I move:
That the membership of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs be modified as follows: Roger Pomerleau for Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral.
Procedure And House AffairsRoutine Proceedings
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais)
Does the parliamentary secretary have unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?
Procedure And House AffairsRoutine Proceedings
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais)
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Procedure And House AffairsRoutine Proceedings
Some hon. members
Agreed.
(Motion agreed to.)
Janko Peric Liberal Cambridge, ON
Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the privilege to present to the House three petitions.
In the first petition 180 citizens of my riding of Cambridge wish to draw to the attention of the House their concerns for the sanctity of life.
The petitioners pray and request that the Parliament of Canada retain current provisions of the Criminal Code prohibiting assisted suicide and that Parliament not sanction the aiding of suicide or euthanasia.
Janko Peric Liberal Cambridge, ON
Madam Speaker, the 400 citizens who signed the second petition firmly believe that our age of consent laws should be designed to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to set the age of consent except within a husband and wife relationship at the age of 18.
Janko Peric Liberal Cambridge, ON
Madam Speaker, in the third petition 270 citizens of my riding of Cambridge wish to draw to the attention of the House their concerns about the prospect of the provincial government taking over the administration and funding of social housing, including housing co-operatives currently participating in federal housing programs.
For this reason the petitioners pray and request that the negotiation on social housing with the province of Ontario be conducted with the input of co-operative housing stakeholders.
I fully agree with all the petitioners.
Peter Adams Liberal Peterborough, ON
Madam Speaker, I have a petition from several hundred people in Peterborough who are concerned about co-operative housing.
Parliament is negotiating with all provinces to assume the administration of social housing. The province of Ontario has not respected its legal operating agreements and has said publicly that it wants to sell off public housing.
The petitioners point out that the co-operative housing sector is a unique and separate entity from all other social housing. Therefore they call upon Parliament to recognize the co-operative housing sector as a unique and separate entity from all other social housing. They ask that Parliament seriously consider the transfer of the administration of co-operative housing to a non-government organization as proposed by the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada.
Daphne Jennings Reform Mission—Coquitlam, BC
Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present more petitions urging the government to demonstrate its commitment to education and literacy by eliminating sales tax on reading materials.
As literacy critic for the Reform Party I must concur with Canadians that they should not have to pay a tax to read.
The petitions are from Prince George, Quesnel, Grand Forks, Vancouver, Whistler, Surrey and many other parts of British Columbia.
Jean Augustine Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present a number of petitions.
As supporters of literacy the petitioners believe that literacy and reading are critical to Canada's future and that removing the GST from reading material will help promote literacy in Canada.
The petitioners call on Parliament to ensure that reading materials are not taxed under the proposed harmonized sales tax.
Chuck Strahl Reform Fraser Valley East, BC
Madam Speaker, I have several petitions to present.
The first one has to do with abortion. It is a sanctity of life petition where people would like to see the Criminal Code amended to extend the same protection enjoyed by born human beings to unborn human beings.
Chuck Strahl Reform Fraser Valley East, BC
Madam Speaker, I have three other petitions that are all related to justice issues.
The first one is signed by some 250 people who that want to increase both minimum and maximum penalties for joy riding or auto theft, as I prefer to call it.
Chuck Strahl Reform Fraser Valley East, BC
Madam Speaker, the second petition has 1,000 names. It is about the need to protect police dogs. There are only 275 police dogs in Canada and they cost about $40,000 apiece to train. The petitioners would like to see more stringent penalties against those who kill a police dog in order to escape justice. I concur with that.
Chuck Strahl Reform Fraser Valley East, BC
Madam Speaker, I have another 2,700 signatures which brings the total to some 33,000 signatures I have received asking that the House of Commons amend the Criminal Code in several ways to allow for post-sentence supervision of sex offenders, for public notification when sex offenders have been released into society, a central registry including fingerprints, to amend the Criminal Records Act to prohibit pardons for those convicted of sex offences involving children and so on. Some 33,000 people have asked that the government move quickly to look after that problem.
Nelson Riis NDP Kamloops, BC
Madam Speaker, it is my duty, privilege and honour to rise pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present a petition on behalf of a number of residents of Kamloops who call on the Parliament of Canada to urge the Government of Canada to join with the provincial governments to make a national highway system upgrading program possible. They urge that be commenced in 1997.
Nelson Riis NDP Kamloops, BC
Madam Speaker, I have another petition which brings the total to over 19,000 names of people who ask the federal government to revoke the decision to fire 10,000 ad mail workers, to direct Canada Post to stay in the ad mail and courier business so it can improve rural post office service, extend door to door delivery by letter carrier and create jobs at duty post offices.
The petitioners also urge the federal government to keep its promise to create jobs by supporting the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and its actions to expand services and to defend and create more jobs in the postal business.
Nelson Riis NDP Kamloops, BC
Madam Speaker, another petition is from the residents of Kamloops and a number of nearby communities pointing out that it is important that the GST be removed from reading material.
The petitioners state that education and literacy are critical to the development of our country and that the existing tax is a regressive tax. They call on the House of Commons to do away with the GST totally but in particular in this case as it refers to reading material.
Nelson Riis NDP Kamloops, BC
Madam Speaker, a number of constituents who were very busy over the Easter break call on the Government of Canada to reconsider providing loans to China for buying nuclear reactors and nuclear equipment from Canada. They believe the billion plus dollars in loan guarantees could be better spent by assisting Canadians.