Debates of May 14th, 1998

Government Response To Petitions

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honor to table, in both official languages, the government's response to a petition.

Committees Of The House

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Vaughan—King—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on Finance. Pursuant to its order of reference of Wednesday, April 22, 1998, your committee has considered Bill S-3, an act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act, and has agreed to report it without amendment.

I also have the pleasure to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Finance. Pursuant to its order of reference of Monday, April 27, 1998, your committee has considered Bill S-9, an act respecting depository bills and notes and to amend the Financial Administration Act, and has agreed to report it without amendment.

[Susan Whelan, Liberal, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Industry on the year 2000 computer problem.

I also have the honour to present the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Industry on the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1999.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honor to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

Pursuant to its order of reference dated Thursday, March 19, 1998, your committee has adopted unanimously with amendment Bill C-29, an act to establish the Canadian parks agency, which your committee wishes to change to parks Canada agency, and to amend other acts as a consequence, and has agreed to report with amendments.

Canada Elections Act

[Raymond Lavigne, Liberal, Verdun—Saint-Henri, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-405, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (ballot papers).

Mr. Speaker, I have the honor to table today, in both official languages, a bill entitled An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act.

This bill is aimed at amending the provisions of the Canada Elections Act concerning ballot papers.

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

Petitions

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask for your patience this morning. I have a large number of petitions to present.

In the first grouping there are 74 pages to this petition with the signatures of 1,819 concerned Canadians from Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and my home province of Saskatchewan. They are concerned that by ratifying and implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that government bureaucrats and the courts will be legally entitled to determine what is in the best interests of the child, not parents.

The petitioners feel parental rights and responsibilities are being undermined by government implementation of this UN convention and they request parliament to address their concerns by adding protection of parental rights and responsibilities to the charter of rights and freedoms.

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

Mr. Speaker, in the second group of petitions that I am pleased to present there are 48 pages with 1,134 signatures of citizens from Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia calling for the repeal of Bill C-68, the Firearms Act.

These petitioners have asked me to keep a running total of repeal Bill C-68 petitions that I have introduced. These year I have introduced 139 pages with 3,409 signatures.

These Canadians are concerned that the government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars registering more than 18 million legally owned guns while the number of police officers per capita has dropped to its lowest level since 1972.

Therefore these petitioners request parliament to repeal Bill C-68, the Firearms Act, and spend their hard earned tax dollars on more cost effective crime fighting measures such as putting more police on our streets and highways.

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

Mr. Speaker, in the next group of petitions there are 24 pages with the signatures of 603 concerned Canadians from Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and British Columbia. These petitioners believe that many thousands of the more than one hundred thousand abortions a year in Canada are medically unnecessary and actually increase health risks for women undergoing this procedure.

These petitioners request parliament support my motion, M-268, which would require a binding national referendum at the time of the next election to ask voters whether they are in favour of government funding for medically unnecessary abortions.

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

I am also pleased, Mr. Speaker, to present four petitions comprised of 30 pages with 710 signatures of concerned Canadians from Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.

These Canadians are concerned that there is no provision in the charter of rights and freedoms that prevents government from taking anything they own without compensation and nothing in the charter which restricts the government in any way from passing laws which prohibit the ownership, use and enjoyment of their private property or reduces the value of their property.

These petitioners request parliament to support private member's Bill C-304 which would strengthen the protection of property rights in federal law.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to present two petitions with 56 signatures of my constituents of Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

These constituents are concerned that the public is not being protected under the current Young Offenders Act. They are concerned that young offenders who commit crimes such as murder, arson, rape and robbery do not get adequate punishment under the current act.

Therefore these petitioners call on parliament to bring in new and tougher laws for young offenders and also request better enforcement of these laws.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present my last petition with 36 signatures of citizens from the province of Saskatchewan.

These petitioners are concerned that the Canadian Wheat Board exercises its monopoly power in a discriminatory manner by forcing only prairie producers to sell their grain to the board.

They call on parliament to either scrap Bill C-4 or support the following amendments. Change the object of the act to maximize financial returns to the producers, remove the inclusion and exclusion clause, allow producers to opt in or out for fixed periods, allow the auditor general to conduct annual audits and allow producers to get information under the Access to Information Act.

[Marlene Catterall, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very timely petition from residents of this region reminding parliament that over 30,000 nuclear weapons continue to exist on earth and that these weapons pose a threat to the health and survival of human civilization and the global environment.

They call on parliament to support the immediate initiation and conclusion by the year 2000 of an international convention which will set out a binding timetable for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present three petitions today.

The first is signed by residents of my constituency of Burnaby—Douglas and members of the Richmond riding of the New Democratic Party.

They note the multilateral agreement on investment will disproportionately expand and entrench unprecedented rights to transnational corporations and foreign investors at the expense of the Canadian government's ability to direct investment policy as a tool for the benefit of all Canadians.

They call on parliament to consider the enormous implications to Canada by the signing of the MAI and put it to open debate in the House and place it for national referendum for the people of Canada to decide.

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by hundreds of residents of the four western provinces of Canada. It is co-ordinated by the Animal Defence League.

It refers to the very low penalties currently in place for deliberately causing pain and injury to an animal.

It calls on the Government of Canada to impose harsher penalties for serious offences against animals and to establish an education program for judges to help them understand society's abhorrence and condemnation of acts of cruelty to animals.

[Svend Robinson, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the final petition refers to the Constitution Act of 1982 and its guarantee of freedom of conscience and religion.

It urges parliament to establish peace tax legislation by passing into law my private member's bill, the conscientious objection act, which recognizes the right of conscientious objectors to not pay for the military and within which the government would declare its commitment to apply that portion of their taxes that was to be used for military purposes toward peaceful purposes such as peace education, war relief and humanitarian and environmental aid and housing.

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present petitions signed by 151 people from my riding of Red Deer.

These people believe we deserve an accountable Senate and I fully and strongly endorse—

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. member has been here a long time and he knows he is not supposed to do that.

I know he likes presenting petitions and the House likes to hear him present petitions, but I know he would want do it within the rules.

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I got a little carried away.

The petitioners call on parliament to request that the Prime Minister accept the results of the Senate election in Alberta and any other province that might so choose to elect a senator.

[Jim Gouk, Reform, West Kootenay—Okanagan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present an additional 14 pages to the many already presented on this subject.

The petitioners, residents of West Kootenay—Okanagan, draw to the attention of parliament that violent crimes committed by youth are of great concern to Canadians, that the incidence of violent crimes by youth would decrease if the Young Offenders Act were amended to hold young persons fully accountable, and increase periods of incarceration to deter young people from committing criminal acts; therefore your petitioners call upon parliament to significantly amend the Young Offenders Act to include—

[The Deputy Speaker]

I hesitate to interrupt the hon. member, but I can tell from the words he is using that he is reading the petition, which I know he knows is wrong.

If he would like to give the House a brief summary of the petition we will hear that.

[Jim Gouk, Reform, West Kootenay—Okanagan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in brief, the petitioners would like to have the age limit lowered, have longer periods of incarceration for individuals who commit violent crimes, to hold them more accountable and also to hold the parents more accountable when they contribute to the crime by not giving proper attention to their children.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today. The first has to do with the subject matter of misuse of alcohol.

The petitioners are from a number of parts of Canada including from my riding of Mississauga South. They would like to draw to the attention of the House that the Food and Drugs Act is designed to protect Canadians from the harmful effects related to food and drug consumption and that the consumption of alcoholic beverages may cause health problems.

Specifically they point out that fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol related birth defects are 100% preventable by avoiding alcohol consumption during pregnancy and generally, that consumption of alcohol impairs a person's ability to operate machinery or an automobile.

The petitioners therefore call upon parliament to mandate the labelling of alcoholic beverages to caution expectant mothers and others of the risks of alcohol consumption.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition has to do with the family.

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 our society.

The petitioners also concur with the recommendations of the National Forum on Health which cites that the Income Tax Act discriminates against families who choose to provide direct parental care to children in the home.

The petitioners therefore call upon parliament to pursue initiatives to eliminate that tax discrimination against families who choose to provide direct parental care to preschool children in the family home.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Is it agreed?