House of Commons Hansard #63 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was yea.
Val Meredith Reform South Surrey—White Rock—Langley, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present on behalf of my constituents and residents in British Columbia. The first is a dated petition concerning the NATO actions in Yugoslavia calling upon parliament to do what it felt was fair.
Val Meredith Reform South Surrey—White Rock—Langley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is one that I can wholly support. It calls on parliament to provide more funding for the national highway system in the 2000 budget. Unfortunately they are a little bit late in expressing that sentiment. I certainly think they are going in the right direction in asking the government to provide more funding for the highways program.
Lou Sekora Liberal Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Mr. Speaker, today I present 277 signed ribbons from the annual white ribbon against pornography campaign. This campaign was held from October 24 to October 31, 1999 by the Catholic Women's League of Canada. The use of pornography must be stopped.
PetitionsRoutine Proceedings
The Deputy Speaker
I assumed the hon. member was presenting a petition and not ribbons to the House. I hope it was a slip of words in his description because of course ribbons would not be in order.
Dick Harris Reform Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to present four petitions today.
The first one is a very important petition with several hundred signatures from members of my riding. It says that whereas the majority of Canadians consider unborn babies to be worthy of protection and whereas Action Canada for Population—
PetitionsRoutine Proceedings
The Deputy Speaker
Order. I know the hon. member will want to comply with the rules and summarize the petition rather than read it. I sense that we are hearing it read.
Dick Harris Reform Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the petitioners pray that the federal government will not continue to have ACPD, a non-government organization that came directly out of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada play a leading role in future government sponsored forums on the national and international scene.
Dick Harris Reform Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, in the second petition the petitioners pray that parliament use the section 33 notwithstanding clause if necessary concerning the child pornography decision that is coming down very shortly from the Supreme Court of Canada.
Dick Harris Reform Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, in the third petition several hundred petitioners are concerned about mismanagement by the immigration department. They pray that legislation will be enacted requiring refugee claimants to demonstrate through identification and documentation very clearly that they are fleeing general political persecution and failing to do that face immediate deportation without delay.
Dick Harris Reform Prince George—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the last petition contains several hundred signatures of people who are really upset with the way the government has scooped the pension plan surpluses from the RCMP, the military and crown corporation agencies. They pray that treasury board halt its unilateral appropriation of the surpluses in the public service, military and RCMP pension plans. It destroys the morale, the work ethic and confidence in the government.
Ted McWhinney Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to present a petition duly certified by the clerk of petitions on the subject of breast cancer. The petition is signed by 96 residents of British Columbia. It calls on parliament to enact legislation to establish an independent body to develop and implement mandatory mammography quality assurance and quality control standards in Canada.
Antoine Dubé Bloc Lévis, QC
Mr. Speaker, I would like to table one of the petitions given to me in the last couple of days by people of my riding.
This petition concerns Bill C-20. The petitioners are calling for the withdrawal of this bill, which violates the rights of the Quebec people to decide their own future. I therefore table this petition.
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present petitions from the constituents in my riding of Kitchener Centre.
The first set urges parliament to fulfill the 1989 promise to end child poverty by the year 2000. The petitions have been signed by the residents of the Kitchener—Waterloo area and the members of Rockway Mennonite Church. Campaign 2000 has also provided me with a copy of its petition calling on parliament to end child poverty.
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, the final petition is from the Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support. They call on the House to immediately rescind immigration taxes on refugees and immigrants.
Eric C. Lowther Reform Calgary Centre, AB
Mr. Speaker, I am presenting petitions with approximately 1,000 names of people across the country including from Langley, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan. They are petitioning that the House respect the motion of nine months ago in defence of and to uphold marriage.
They are petitioning that in light of the fact that the Prime Minister has limited debate on Bill C-23 and has not allowed a free vote, that the House withdraw Bill C-23 and instead affirm the opposite sex definition of marriage in legislation and ensure that marriage is recognized as a unique institution both in name and policy.
John Bryden Liberal Wentworth—Burlington, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions for you. The first is a petition that asks parliament to take all measures necessary to ensure that the possession of child pornography remains a criminal offence. I think that is a reference to the supreme court debate that is ongoing at this moment.
John Bryden Liberal Wentworth—Burlington, ON
Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls upon the government to implement, enforce and develop uniform and mandatory mammography assurance and quality control standards in Canada.
John Bryden Liberal Wentworth—Burlington, ON
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the last petition urges parliament to uphold section 43 of the criminal code which continues to give parents the right or the opportunity to use appropriate discipline.
Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the honour of presenting the following petitions.
The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the fact that Canadian consumers are deeply affected by price hikes. Although gasoline is a Canadian natural resource, Canadians have little control over this important resource. Therefore, the petitioners request that parliament encourage the establishment of a gas pricing review commission to keep the pricing of gasoline and other oil products in check.
Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the honour of presenting these petitions signed by more than 100 concerned Canadians.
The federal government imposes an immigration tax as a condition for obtaining permanent residence in Canada. This tax is in addition to the $500 charged just to open a file. Therefore the petitioners call upon parliament to immediately cancel the immigration tax.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, the following petition is signed by 46 interested Canadians.
The federal government imposes an immigration tax of $975. This tax is discriminatory with respect to immigrants from developing countries where the annual income is sometimes less than $975. Therefore the petitioners call upon parliament to immediately reduce the rate of the immigration tax.
Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have the honour to present the following petition signed by 88 Canadians.
One in five Canadian children live in poverty. On November 14, 1989 the House of Commons resolved to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. The petitioners call upon parliament to introduce a multi-year plan to improve the well-being of Canadian children.
Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I have the honour to present the following petition signed by a dozen Canadians.
Canada has the second highest incidence of risk of cancer in the world. It is second only to the United States. The United States has had mandatory mammography quality assurance standards since October 1994. Canada has no legislation for mandatory mammography quality assurance standard.
Therefore the petitioners call upon parliament to enact legislation to establish an independent governing body to develop, implement and enforce uniform and mandatory mammography quality assurance and quality control standards in Canada.
Gar Knutson LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the following question will be answered today: No. 76. .[Text]
Question No. 76—
Leon Benoit Reform Lakeland, AB
With regard to the groups consulted by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the course of the legislative review ministerial consultations from February 27, 1998 through to March 11, 1998: ( a ) which of the groups received government issued grants and/or subsidies; ( b ) what was the total grant or subsidy; ( c ) what was the reason for the grant or subsidy; and ( d ) which government department issued the grant or subsidy?
Elinor Caplan LiberalMinister of Citizenship and Immigration
With regard to each of the groups consulted by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration during the period from February 27, 1998 through to March 11, 1998, the following received contribution funds (Citizenship and Immigration Canada CIC does not provide grants or subsidies to organizations) in fiscal year 1997-98* under one or more of CIC's settlement programs or services: immigrant settlement and adaptation program, ISAP, which provides a variety of settlement services to immigrants, such as orientation, community information, interpretation/translation, para-professional counselling, employment related sevices; language instruction for newcomers to Canada, LINC, which provides traning in one of Canada's official languages to adult immigrants; the host program which matches immigrants to Canadians who help them with various aspects of life in Canada; and reception house, RH, which provides temporary accommodation to government assisted refugees.
Organizations in Quebec do not receive contribution funds from CIC. As per the Canada-Quebec accord, the province of Quebec assumes responsibility for providing settlement services.
*Contribution agreements are signed for a total amount which covers the duration fo the agreement. As the period of time for which the funding information was requested does not coincide with the periods covered by the contribution agreements, we are unable to give dollar figures for the exact period requested by the hon. member.