House of Commons Hansard #109 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was sentencing.

Topics

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

The Speaker

Dear colleagues, you must always address the Chair.

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:35 p.m.

Papineau—Saint-Denis Québec

Liberal

Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development

Mr. Speaker, our employment insurance reform has liberated thousands and thousands of women from the trap of the 15 hour week. Hundreds of thousands of women in Canada working 12, 13 or 14 hours a week, part time, were not covered. We released them from the 15 hour trap of the old system.

What about the woman in Sydney, Nova Scotia, who worked 14 hours a week in a store without any form of protection?

And if she had a second job of 12 or 13 hours to help her family out, she had two times no protection. Now she is covered for all—

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. member for Québec.

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC

Mr. Speaker, time for the minister to face reality. There are thousands of cases like that of Ms. Rainville in Quebec.

Will the minister, who is bragging of the benefits of his reform for vulnerable workers, finally admit that his reform is not adapted to the labour market?

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Papineau—Saint-Denis Québec

Liberal

Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, I think the reform was undertaken in response to a fluctuating labour market, a market that is changing completely, where more and more people are working part time.

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh.

Employment InsuranceOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Liberal

Pierre Pettigrew Liberal Papineau—Saint-Denis, QC

What strikes me is that four members of the Bloc have risen to ask me questions today and none has spoken about the active measures to help workers return to the labour market. That is what the unemployed want.

None was interested in getting the unemployed out of the unemployment insurance trap and back to the labour market. No question from that side of the House, no positive contribution.

JusticeOral Question Period

May 26th, 1998 / 2:40 p.m.

Reform

Chuck Cadman Reform Surrey North, BC

Mr. Speaker, I would like Canadians to understand just how insignificant the proposed youth justice changes are. I would emphasize they are just proposals. The minister still has not actually changed the law.

The 14 and 15 year olds involved in the initial beating of Reena Virk in Victoria would not be covered by these proposals. If this kind of violence is not covered just how serious are these proposals?

JusticeOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, these proposals are very serious. I would ask the official opposition to seriously engage in a meaningful debate. The government and Canadians are interested in working together to create a culture of safety.

Do you know, Mr. Speaker what members of the official opposition are doing today and are continuing to do? They are only interested in creating a culture of fear.

JusticeOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Reform

Chuck Cadman Reform Surrey North, BC

Mr. Speaker, it appears as though the government minister is becoming an expert in creating loopholes and finding technicalities.

Let us take her so-called firm measure to move 14 to 15 year olds to adult court. It is crafted so that there are so many exceptions, exemptions and loopholes that only 21 cases in all of Canada last year would be affected.

Does the minister honestly think that changing the law for 21 cases is a firm measure?

JusticeOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, on that specific point, the hon. member chooses to ignore the fact that we are creating a fifth presumptive category that deals with violent serious repeat young offenders. That will expand the number of young people who are presumptively subject to an adult sentence in our youth justice system.

I also remind the hon. member that any 14, 15, 16 or 17 year old charged with an indictable offence can be subject to an adult sentence.

Bc Mine In Black LakeOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Bloc

Jean-Guy Chrétien Bloc Frontenac—Mégantic, QC

Mr. Speaker, the former workers at the BC Mine in Black Lake need help.

If the minister had made the effort to meet with them this morning, they would have told him that his active measures are not working.

Is the minister prepared to restore a pre-retirement program to support the efforts by Quebec and the company to enhance the BC mining employees' incomes until they retire, which is the only way they can be helped?

Bc Mine In Black LakeOral Question Period

2:40 p.m.

Papineau—Saint-Denis Québec

Liberal

Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development

Mr. Speaker, I see that the fifth Bloc MP is continuing in the time-honoured tradition of the Bloc: passive measures only. This is totally in keeping with the logic of this party, which dwells completely on the past.

I would point out that our government was the first to act in connection with the BC mine. We gave $3 million to help the miners to get training, and wage subsidies in other fields.

We were the first. They were the ones who opted not to take the POWA, which was already available to them.

CustomsOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Liberal

Judi Longfield Liberal Whitby—Ajax, ON

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of National Revenue.

Last weekend a group of tired Canadian forces members travelling on a military service flight returned to CFB Trenton after four months in Kuwait. Can the minister tell this House why these very special Canadians were forced to endure the often lengthy customs re-entry procedures after a patriotic tour of duty?

CustomsOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Vancouver South—Burnaby B.C.

Liberal

Herb Dhaliwal LiberalMinister of National Revenue

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the hon. member that customs officers are very much committed to providing the best service for Canadians. In fact as Minister of National Revenue, I have taken the opportunity to visit many of our border crossings as well as airports to ensure that we have efficient customs officers.

I want to remind the hon. member that under sections 11 and 12 of the Customs Act, every person must be cleared through customs. I want to assure the hon. member that I will look into the matter to ensure that we do provide an efficient and quick service to all the travelling public.

Young OffendersOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Reform

Allan Kerpan Reform Blackstrap, SK

Mr. Speaker, I just noticed that if the two members across the way want to have a conversation they should probably take it to a room somewhere.

The professor over there may know nothing about justice but she knows a lot about politics. She knows about blocking and stalling and propaganda. For example she says “few offenders under the age of 12 are involved in serious violent crimes” but according to Stats Canada, more than 5,000 children under 12 were involved in crime in 1996 and 833 of those were violent crimes.

Does the professor really think that 100 crimes a week—

Young OffendersOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. Minister of Justice.

Young OffendersOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, if the member wants to talk about serious violent crimes committed by those under the age of 12, as I have in the past let me inform the hon. member that in 1996 for example there were exactly zero youth aged 10 and 11 convicted of the most serious violent crimes.

Young OffendersOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Reform

Myron Thompson Reform Wild Rose, AB

Mr. Speaker, the lights are really on over on that side of the House. The last I heard, a person under 12 could not be convicted.

Up in the faculty lounge the only crime those people ever witnessed is that their wine was not able to age long enough.

Getting back to reality, there are 833 violent crimes by kids under 12. Real Canadians want to know, what are they supposed to do about these violent crimes? Are they to lie back, shut up and take it?

Young OffendersOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

Edmonton West Alberta

Liberal

Anne McLellan LiberalMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, we have been very, very clear in terms of young people under the age of 12. No one on this side of the House is suggesting that a young person, at the age of 10 for example, who hurts another individual should not be held accountable or take responsibility. What we believe on this side of the House is that the most effective way to deal with those children is not through the formal criminal justice system but through either the child welfare system or the mental health system.

HealthOral Question Period

2:45 p.m.

NDP

Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North Centre, MB

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health told the House yesterday that albumin blood product meets safety standards not only in the United States but in Canada.

Given that the company supplying this blood product is under investigation in the United States for infractions so serious it is one step away from being shut down, will the minister explain why the Canadian government is not doing the same? Why is the Canadian Minister of Health bringing in truckloads of albumin and not initiating an investigation to assure Canadians that this blood product is not unsafe?

HealthOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, albumin is an important product which is essential to the health of many Canadians.

There is a shortage of albumin available from likely suppliers in Canada. As a result, physicians asked Health Canada for permission to go to an American company named Alpha to supply that product.

The issue is not where the product comes from. The issue is, is it safe. As I told the House yesterday, this product has been approved in both the United States and Canada as meeting safety requirements.

At no time have the American authorities prohibited the sale of the products of this company. It continues to certify the company. The product is safe and that is the bottom line.

HealthOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

NDP

Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North Centre, MB

Mr. Speaker, the real issue here is whether or not the product is safe. The minister has an obligation under the Criminal Code to ensure the safety of those products.

The minister's own department has ordered 45,000 vials of albumin at the same time as his American counterpart has put out the red alert and slapped a consent decree on Alpha Therapeutics not because of a technicality, but because it was not keeping proper records to distinguish between bad blood and good blood.

Can the minister give the House his personal assurances that in fact this product meets all—

HealthOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

The Speaker

The hon. Minister of Health.

HealthOral Question Period

2:50 p.m.

Etobicoke Centre Ontario

Liberal

Allan Rock LiberalMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, these questions should not be determined by theatrics or by politics or by any other factor aside from safety. The member might just as well accept it because the reality is not going to change.

The products in question have met safety standards in America and in Canada. They have met those standards and appropriately they are being made available at the request of the physicians of the people who need them.