Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to table today. The first one is from a group of residents of my riding of Cypress Hills—Grasslands who are petitioning Parliament to ensure that section 43 of Canada's criminal code is retained in its present form so that parents will still have their existing right to discipline their children in a reasonable manner as they see fit.
I have two petitions to present which are identical in form and content also from residents of my riding.
They wish to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, even though not officially ratified by all provinces, has ramifications that if the convention is fully ratified and implemented in Canada, bureaucrats and the courts will be legally required to determine what is the best interests of the child, not the parents; that by ratifying the convention Canada—