Debates of May 3rd, 2000

Petitions

[Rose-Marie Ur, Liberal, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am honoured to present a petition signed by residents of the Grand Bend and Dashwood areas of southern Ontario. They urge the government to recognize the adverse health and environmental effects of the fuel additive MMT with a mind to banning the substance as many other nations have done.

[Philip Mayfield, Reform, Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition signed by citizens of Quesnel, Williams Lake and Lillooet, British Columbia, calling upon the government to withdraw Bill C-23 as an inappropriate intrusion and discriminatory in extending benefits based upon a person's private sexual activity, while excluding other types of dependency relationships.

While this bill is still before the Senate, I regret that this petition has just come to my hand after passage through the House of Commons.

[Hélène Alarie, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I am pleased to present a petition bearing 179 signatures.

The petitioners call upon parliament to take all necessary steps to develop alternative sources of energy at affordable prices, to deal with the excessive price hikes for petroleum products, and for permanently regularizing pricing.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this petition on behalf of a number of Canadians, including from my own riding of Mississauga South.

The petitioners want to draw to the attention of the House that Canada has the second highest rate of breast cancer in the world, and that the incidence of breast cancer has increased by 36.6% since 1969.

The petitioners therefore call upon parliament to enact legislation to establish an independent governing body to develop, implement and enforce uniform, mandatory mammography quality assurance and quality control standards in Canada.

[Bob Mills, Reform, Red Deer, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to present a petition signed by a number of my constituents in the riding of Red Deer. These individuals believe that Canadians are overtaxed and demand that the Department of Human Resources Development account for the gross mismanagement of $3.2 billion annually.

Therefore, my constituents request the immediate resignation of the Minister of Human Resources Development and ask that the auditor general conduct a full and independent inquiry into the HRDC management and accounting practices.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have in my hand a petition bearing 467 signatures expressing concern about the currently optional labelling of GMOs.

These people would like the federal government to change its legislation to make labelling mandatory. Some foods, as we know, are used in the preparation of others, such as soya and canola for example.

People are saying they would like to be able to choose to buy or not buy products containing GMOs. They would like to know the ingredients used in the food products through mandatory labelling. I am pleased to table a petition on their behalf.

[John Williams, Reform, St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here from my constituents calling on parliament to immediately defeat Bill C-23 and reaffirm the traditional family relationship as the core of Canada's social fabric.

As we know, it is too late for the House of Commons but I certainly hope the Senate will listen to these petitioners.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

Earlier in Routine Proceedings when I called for motions I did not see the hon. member for South Shore standing and therefore did not recognize him.

What I need to do is to have the unanimous consent of the House to revert back to motions. Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

Questions On The Order Paper

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, we will be answering Question No. 94 today. .[Text]

Question No. 94—

[Ted White, Reform, North Vancouver, BC]

With respect to the motion adopted in the House with all-party agreement on February 4, 1998, calling upon the Canadian government to renew its commitment to British pensioners living in Canada and to vigorously pursue an agreement with the British government for the indexing of pensions: ( a ) what steps has the government taken since February 1999 to act upon this directive of the House of Commons, including details about any meetings which have taken place with representatives of the British government; and ( b ) what is the present status of a proposed challenge to the present British policy before the European Court of Human Rights?

[Jane Stewart, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

(a) Steps the Government has taken since February 1999:

At the six countries social security meeting held in New Zealand in March 1999, the deputy minister of Human Resouces Development expressed Canada's serious concern about the issue of frozen British pensions to the permanent secretary of the United Kingdom department of social security.

In October 1999 and again in March 2000, the Minister of Foreign Affairs re-iterated Canada's position on the issue of frozen British pensions at meetings with the British minister responsible for North American and Caribbean relations.

On at least five occasions during 1998-1999, at meetings of the International Social Security Association, senior officials of Human Resources Development Canada re-emphasized the need to resolve the issue of frozen British pensions in discussions with the head of International and European Union relations of the United Kingdom department of social security.

(b) Status of challenge before the European Court of Human Rights:

Officials of Human Resources Development, with the assistance of the Department of Justice, have given extensive study to a possible legal challenge to the British legislation on frozen pensions before the European Court of Human Rights. There are complex legal issues involved and Canada has no precedents for such an action. A decision is expected soon.

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all other questions stand.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Motions For Papers

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, would you be so kind as to call Notice of Motion for the Production of Papers No. P-14 in the name of the hon. member for Yorkton—Melville.

Motion P-14

That an Order of the House do issue for copies all the budget documents, financial reports, cost and revenue projections, related to the implementation and maintenance of the new gun control legislation and regulations resulting form the passage of Bill C-68 (assented to on December 5, 1995), now known as Chapter 39, Statutes of Canada 1995.

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has not been the practice of the House to order: cabinet documents which include a privy council confidence; papers the release of which might be detrimental to the future conduct of federal-provincial relations or the relations of provinces among themselves, the release of papers received from provinces would be subject to the consent of the originating province; papers of a voluminous character or which would require an inordinate cost or length of time to prepare.

I therefore ask the hon. member to withdraw his motion.

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

Mr. Speaker, I believe I have the option of moving it for debate.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

The motion is transferred for debate pursuant to Standing Order 97(1).

[Derek Lee, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House proceeded to consideration of Bill C-22, an act to facilitate combatting the laundering of proceeds of crime, to establish the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and to amend and repeal certain acts in consequence, as reported (with amendment) from the committee.

Proceeds Of Crime (Money Laundering) Act

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. McClelland)]

There are 11 motions in amendment on the notice paper for the report stage of Bill C-22.

The motions will be grouped for debate as follows.

Group No. 1: Motion No. 1.

Group No. 2: Motions Nos. 2 to 7.

Group No. 3, Motions Nos. 8 to 11.

The voting pattern is available at the table. The Chair will inform the House of the details with each vote.

I will now put Motion No. 1 to the House.