House of Commons Hansard #134 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was nato.

Topics

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

Reform

John Reynolds Reform West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC

Mr. Speaker, after discussion on all sides I believe you would find unanimous consent for the following motion:

That when Bill C-51, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, is called before the House, the opening speech for the official opposition be allotted twenty minutes, followed by a ten minute period for questions and comments, yet when the hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast rises to speak later in the debate, he shall maintain the privileges of the second speech in the debate, as stipulated it by Standing Order 74(1)(a).

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Does the hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Business Of The HouseOral Question Period

3:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

Committees Of The HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

St. Catharines Ontario

Liberal

Walt Lastewka LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 109 I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to the 10th report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Account, chapter 29 of the December 1997 report of the Auditor General of Canada, Industry Canada, management of the small business loans program.

Government Response To PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Peterborough Ontario

Liberal

Peter Adams 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 three petitions.

Interparliamentary DelegationRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

Charles Caccia Liberal Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House of Commons, in both official languages, the report of the delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association to the April session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Strasbourg from April 20 to 24, 1998, and the report of the delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association to the meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Paris and Strasbourg from June 17 to 26, 1998.

Bankruptcy And Insolvency ActRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-439, an act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (student loan).

I am very pleased to rise in the House today to introduce my private member's bill to change the bankruptcy act affecting students.

The purpose of my bill is to repeal the discriminatory changes that were made to the bankruptcy act that forced students suffering from high student debtload to wait from the previous two years to now ten years before they can access bankruptcy proceedings.

Despite high tuition fees and increasing student debt 93% of students do find a way to pay back their loans. It is only those students who are most desperate and most in debt who seek bankruptcy protection.

This bill would repeal the extended waiting period of ten years back to two years to make it fairer for students. I hope all members of the House will support this bill in recognition of the severe difficulties that students face today.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Ajax—Uxbridge, ON

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-440, an act to amend the Criminal Code (flight).

The purpose of this bill is to amend the Criminal Code by adding a provision and penalties for anyone using a motor vehicle to evade police and in the process causing injury or death.

Fleeing from police by means that result in a high speed chase causes inordinate risks to the safety of their officers and to the public and merits special criminal sanction.

Current dangerous driving provisions of the Criminal Code are inadequate in dealing appropriately and specifically with such acts.

Under the bill any individual who operates a motor vehicle to evade a peace officer is guilty of an indictable offence under the Criminal Code and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

In addition, anyone who commits such an offence and in the process injures another person will be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years. Anyone causing death will be liable to imprisonment for life.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

IranRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Svend Robinson NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC

Mr. Speaker, following consultations with members on all sides of the House, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to put the following motion, seconded by the hon. members for Rosedale, Red Deer, Beauharnois—Salaberry, and Richmond—Arthabaska:

That this House express its profound concern over the recent grave attacks on the Iranian Baha'i community including the brutal execution of Mr. Rahu'llah Rawhani in July, arrests of 36 Baha'i academics, and confirmation of death sentences of two Baha'i men and the detention of 11 other Baha'i men for practising their faith; and calls upon the Government of Iran to end their oppression of the Baha'i community, ensure the safety and early release of all those Baha'i imprisoned in Iran, and respect the principles of the International Covenants on Human Rights to which Iran is a party.

(Motion agreed to)

IranRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Reform

Keith Martin Reform Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC

Mr. Speaker, in view of the ongoing carnage, devastation and genocide taking place in the former Yugoslavia, I propose the following motion:

That in the opinion of this House the government should lobby the United Nations general assembly to indict Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic for crimes against humanity and lobby the United Nations to assemble a UN observer force to ensure the immediate withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, and allow the United Nations high commission for refugees and non-governmental organizations safe and unfettered access to Kosovo refugees.

IranRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Does the hon. member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?

IranRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

An hon. member

No.

IranRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

There is no consent.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Reform

Randy White Reform Langley—Abbotsford, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have petition to table from residents of my riding of Langley—Abbotsford. They ask parliament to enact Bill C-225, an act to amend the Marriage Act, so as to define in statute that a marriage can only be entered into between a single male and single female.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Ovid Jackson Liberal Bruce—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the honour to present on behalf of the residents of Bruce—Grey two petitions.

In the first petitioners express their support for legislation with regard to Bill C-304 which would guarantee certain property rights to Canadian citizens.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Ovid Jackson Liberal Bruce—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, the second petition from constituents of Owen Sound, Annan, Meaford, Shallow Lake and Chatworth asks that parliament not finance or subsidize the sale of Candu reactors to China or any other country.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Reform

Jim Hart Reform Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC

Mr. Speaker, since 1867 it has been a right of Canadians to petition the Parliament of Canada and the crown for redress of grievances.

I have three such petitions today which are asking the crown to review the hepatitis C compensation package for Canadians infected by tainted blood.

I would like to be able to add these to Joey Haché's petition of 30,000 names which was presented to the Prime Minister yet I found out through the clerk of petitions that the Prime Minister has not enacted his responsibility by presenting that to the House.

Therefore I present these 259 names from Okanagan—Coquihalla and ask where is Joey Haché's petition.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The hon. member better stick to the script for presentation of petitions and present the petition he has rather than worrying about other ones. I know it might be interesting to ask that kind of question, but clearly it is not a proper question at this time.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Mac Harb Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by Canadians from Saskatchewan and Manitoba asking parliament to amend the Divorce Act to include a provision as proposed in Bill C-340 regarding the right of spouses' grandparents to access or to have custody of the child or children.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Reform

Ted White Reform North Vancouver, BC

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of Leone and Peter Jackson and 99 other from North Vancouver.

They draw to the attention of the House that violent crimes committed by youth are of great concern to Canadians, that the incidence of violent crime by youth would decrease if the Young Offenders Act were amended to hold young persons fully accountable for their criminal behaviour, and to increase the periods of incarceration in order to defer young criminals from committing criminal acts.

The petitioners call on parliament to significantly amend the Young Offenders Act including but not limited to making the protection of society the number one priority, reducing the minimum age governed by the act from 12 to 10, allowing for the publishing of violent young offenders' names, increasing the maximum three year sentence for all offences except murder to seven years, and increasing the penalty for first degree murder from a maximum of 10 years to 15.