Debates of June 11th, 1998

Interparliamentary Delegation

[Pierre De Savoye, Bloc, Portneuf, QC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, two reports of the Canadian section of the International Assembly of French Speaking Parliamentarians, as well as the financial report relating thereto.

The first report relates to the forum on the information highway and the parliamentary francophonie, held on April 20, 1998 at Quebec City. The second relates to the AIPLF commission on education, communication and cultural affairs, which met April 21 and 22, also at Quebec City.

Committees Of The House

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Transport with respect to the review of passenger rail services offered by VIA Rail and the means to revitalize this important mode of transportation within the context of the fiscal and environment concerns facing the government entitled “The Renaissance of Passenger Rail in Canada”.

In so doing I thank committee members for their hard work in the short period of time they were present at meetings. They had many meetings per day and per week. In particular I thank the parliamentary secretary who has a lot of experience and who has assisted me as a new chairman of the committee.

We believe that this document will allow government to insert into the passenger rail system opportunities for everyone to contribute to this great service.

I also thank opposition members of the committee, some of whom are present here. They worked very well with government members. We believe this report is the product of much co-operation.

[Stan Dromisky, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Atikokan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration entitled “Immigration, Detention and Removal”, which concerns the important functions of citizenship and immigration.

Officially for the record I acknowledge the dedication, co-operation and harmonious manner in which all members of the committee worked on this awesome task. They were totally dedicated and I appreciated it.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to revert to tabling of documents in order for me to table the responses to a good number of petitions.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Does the House give its consent to revert to tabling of documents for the purpose indicated?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

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 16 petitions.

Parliament Of Canada Act

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-47, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act, the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act and the Salaries Act.

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

[The Deputy Speaker]

When shall the bill be read the second time? Later this day in accordance with special order adopted yesterday.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Marine Conservation Areas Act

[Andy Mitchell, Liberal, for the Minister of Canadian Heritage]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-48, an act respecting marine conservation areas.

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

First Nations Land Management Act

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, for the Minister of National Revenue]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-49, an act providing for the ratification and the bringing into effect of the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management.

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

Canadian Radio-Television And Telecommunications Commission Act

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-422, an act to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act (annual report).

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to table the bill entitled an act to amend the Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act (annual report).

The CRTC exercises incredible influence on what Canadians hear on the radio and watch on television and how much they pay for cable and local telephone services.

This power must be tempered by public accountability. The bill will make the CRTC more accountable to Canada's elected parliamentarians and ensure a stronger voice for Canadians in decisions affecting broadcasting and telecommunications.

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

Parliament Of Canada Act

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-423, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (meetings of the Board of Internal Economy.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act with respect to the meetings of the Board of Internal Economy.

As parliamentarians know, the Board of Internal Economy is a very secretive operation. Decisions taken there are very important not only to this precinct but to the public as well. The public is not allowed at this point to attend meetings. Nor are members of parliament.

The purpose of the bill is to allow members and others with an interest to attend and observe meetings of the board. The bill makes board meetings public with the exception of those devoted to certain specific topics like management, personnel or matters before the court.

This follows up on many other jurisdictions like Saskatchewan which has public attendance at board of internal economy meetings.

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

Internet Child Pornography Prevention Act

[Chris Axworthy, NDP, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-424, an act to prevent the use of the Internet to distribute pornographic material involving children.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the bill is to prevent the use of the Internet to unlawfully promote, display, describe or facilitate participation in unlawful sexual activity involving young persons.

We know that the possession of child pornography in most circumstances is a crime in Canada but there are significant difficulties with regard to the Internet.

What the bill would do is require the Internet service providers to be licensed by the CRTC and then to constitute an offence for an Internet service provider to knowingly permit the use of its service for the placing of child pornography on the Internet by anyone who has been convicted of an offence or by somebody who is committing an offence under the act.

It also provides for the Minister of Industry to block access to certain types of materials when he or she becomes aware of them. It provides for the use of search warrants on the Internet on the same grounds that would be available for search warrants under the Criminal Code in general.

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

Criminal Code

[Lynn Myers, Liberal, Waterloo—Wellington, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-425, an act to amend the Criminal Code (public disclosure of the names of persons who have served a sentence of imprisonment for an offence of a sexual nature).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table the bill this morning. This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide a mechanism for public disclosure of the names of certain criminals when they have served their sentence of imprisonment.

Under this enactment a person who believes on reasonable grounds that another person who has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for an offence of a sexual nature will commit the same offence or another offence of a sexual nature may, before the date fixed for the expiration of that person's sentence with the consent of the attorney general, lay an information before a provincial court judge.

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

[Lynn Myers, Liberal, Waterloo—Wellington, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-426, an act to amend the Criminal Code.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce this Private Members' Bill. The purpose of this enactment is to amend the Criminal Code to permit legitimate research into a jury's deliberative process with a view to improving the administration of justice.

This bill is being introduced as a result of the Guy Paul Morin inquiry and the recommendations coming out of that inquiry made by Judge Kaufman pertaining to jury deliberations.

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

National Defence Act

[Richard Marceau, Bloc, Charlesbourg, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-427, an act to amend the National Defence Act (Her Majesty's Canadian Ship).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak in this House, and with you in the Chair, moreover, to introduce this bill which is aimed at continuing the francization that has been begun within the Canadian Armed Forces, and at doing away with the use of HMCS, Her Majesty's Canadian Ship, as the official title of the ships of the Canadian navy.

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

Petitions

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Toronto Centre—Rosedale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of some of my constituents I wish to present petitions concerning the Kosovo crisis. The petitioners have specific recommendations for the Canadian government which they believe will encourage a peaceful solution to the problems in that region.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that you are able to see all the way back here.

I am presenting two petitions. One petition is regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons. It reads “Your petitioners pray and request that parliament support immediate initiation and —”

[The Deputy Speaker]

Order. The hon. member is not permitted to read the petition. I know he will want to summarize it briefly for the House in accordance with the rules.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Basically it calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2000 and to set forth a binding timetable. In particular seeing what happened in Pakistan and India, this is something that we would all applaud.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the next petition relates to the age of consent for sexual activity. The petitioners ask parliament that the age be raised to 18, with the exception of husband and wife relationships.

[Lee Morrison, Reform, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have 11 petitions. You will be pleased to know that nine of them are identical in form and content. These nine petitions originate from about a dozen small Saskatchewan communities with a few signatures also from northern and eastern Alberta.

The petitioners wish to draw the attention of this House to the uselessness of the proposed new gun regulations of Bill C-68. They draw to our attention the fact that the search and seizure provisions and other infringements on civil liberties included in Bill C-68 are an affront to law-abiding Canadians. They therefore pray and call upon parliament to repeal Bill C-68 and all associated regulations with respect to firearms or ammunition and to pass new legislation designed to severely penalize the criminal use of any weapon.

On those nine petitions, there are 1,815 signatures which brings the total that I have presented in the last few weeks on that particular subject to more than 3,000.

[Lee Morrison, Reform, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

The next petition is from residents mainly of Gull Lake and Medicine Hat regarding the death strip on the Trans-Canada Highway.

These 244 petitioners are pointing out that the section of highway between Gull Lake, Saskatchewan and the Alberta border is a disgrace to our national highway system and that the Canadian government should immediately enter into negotiations with the Government of Saskatchewan to finance the twinning of that section.