Debates of June 10th, 1998

Banff National Park

[Sheila Copps, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary. As the member will know, the preliminary bylaws have been in the hands of the hon. secretary of state for many weeks. He and I have had a personal opportunity to review all of the aerial photographs.

It is unfortunate what the Banff council did. Instead of seizing an opportunity to create a real ecocommunity into the 21st century, it chose crass commercialization. The secretary of state, the cabinet and I have rejected that position.

Montreal Port Corporation

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the riding of Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, about 250 people living in some 40 residential properties located in an industrial area are dramatically deprived of any quality of life, because of the pollution generated by the operations of the port of Montreal. Consequently, these residents have been asking to be expropriated since 1986.

How does the Minister of Transport explain that the Government of Quebec and the City of Montreal earmarked the funds necessary to expropriate these people, but that the port of Montreal, which comes under the minister's authority, refuses to get involved financially?

[David Collenette, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I have already discussed the issue with the hon. member and yes, he is right, the situation is serious. We have made representations to the Montreal Port Corporation in an attempt to solve the problem.

Presence In Gallery

[The Speaker]

I wish to draw the attention of members to the presence in our gallery of Bachir Boumaza, Speaker of Algeria's National Council.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

Points Of Order

[Paul Bonwick, Liberal, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a point of order with regard to comments made last night in this House by the Reform member for Wild Rose.

The Reform member directed an accusation at the member for Ottawa Centre. He very clearly stated that the hon. member had lied. I will certainly state for the record that the member for Ottawa Centre is one of the most respected and experienced members of this House.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, with all respect, I was here during that exchange of words and I have looked at Hansard . I judged at the time while I was sitting here that it was not a direct accusation.

I, like you and all members, deplore the use of the words lie or liar because when we use these words it tends to incite us. But I decided at the time that it was not a direct accusation.

I reviewed Hansard and I reviewed the tapes. My decision of yesterday would stand, but I would encourage all hon. members to please stay away from the use of the words lie or liar.

I thank the hon. member for his intervention.

[Reed Elley, Reform, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that you will find there is unanimous consent for me to table a document which I mentioned in my question today.

[The Speaker]

Does the hon. member have unanimous consent to put a motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

No.

[Randy White, Reform, Langley—Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I believe our colleague is merely tabling the document, not moving a motion.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member needs unanimous consent to table a document in the House.

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

Mr. Speaker, we did not give unanimous consent because we do not know the nature of the document, but we would be willing to look at it and consider the matter.

[The Speaker]

We have a no and we have a maybe. Maybe you can get together and work this out before the end of the day.

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 honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 10 petitions.

Interparliamentary Delegation

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the reports of the Canadian section of the International Assembly of French-Speaking Parliamentarians, as well as the financial reports of the meeting of the IAFSP co-operation and development committee, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 23 to 25, 1998, and of the conference on the democratization effort in Africa, held in Libreville, Gabon, from March 30 to April 2, 1998.

Committees Of The House

[Beth Phinney, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Health in accordance with Section 5.(1) of the Tobacco Act and, pursuant to Standing Order 32(5), the proposed seizure, restoration and excise tobacco regulations were referred to the committee as of Wednesday, June 3, 1998. Your committee has considered the proposed regulations and has agreed to approve them without amendment.

Bank Act

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Qu'Appelle, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-420, an act to amend the Bank Act, the Insurance Companies Act and the Trust and Loan Companies Act (repayment of a mortgage loan before the maturity of the loan).

Mr. Speaker, I have a short word of explanation with respect to the purpose of this bill. When people sign a mortgage, the language used for the cancellation provision should be easily understood by the majority of Canadians.

People have a right to know exactly what they are getting into, how to get out of it and how much it will cost. A number of people have been asking for legislation of this sort. It is important to the consumers of the country.

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

Interest Act

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Qu'Appelle, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-421, an act to amend the Interest Act (interest payable on repayment of a mortgage loan before maturity).

Mr. Speaker, this issue is something that we have all been lobbied on by real estate people across the country. This bill would amend the Interest Act to make possible mortgage cancellation for mortgages of five years and under. That, of course, would be subject to the payment of a prescribed interest charge.

Mortgages of one year and under would not be included in this amendment to the Interest Act.

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

The Environment

[Charles Caccia, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present the following motion which has been circulated among all party leaders. I move:

That this House take note that over 100 nations will meet in Montreal this month to begin negotiating a new global convention to reduce emissions of persistent organic pollutants.

That the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report (CACAR) shows that POPs are entering the food chain in the Arctic and contaminating country food consumed by Inuit and aboriginal peoples;

Therefore, this House supports the need for a strong and comprehensive global convention to reduce the emissions of persistent organic pollutants, addressing key issues of technologies transfer, capacity and institution building and the need for Canadian aboriginal peoples to take an active role in the negotiations through membership of the Canadian delegation.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Does the hon. member for Davenport have unanimous consent of this House to propose this motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

No.

Petitions

[Monte Solberg, Reform, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present three petitions.

The first petition is from several hundred constituents of Medicine Hat who are repulsed by Bill C-68 and who would like to see the money that is going into Bill C-68 directed toward suicide prevention centres, crime prevention programs, women's crisis centres, anti-smuggling campaigns and more resources for fighting organized crime and street gangs.

I am happy to present this petition.