House of Commons Hansard #114 of the 36th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was impaired.

Topics

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Bloc

Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to table.

The first calls for the repeal of subsection 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act so that rural route mail carriers will have the right to collective bargaining.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Bloc

Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil, QC

Mr. Speaker, my second petition calls for legislation making it mandatory to label all transgenic foods.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Bloc

Caroline St-Hilaire Bloc Longueuil, QC

Mr. Speaker, my third petition is a protest against the high price of gasoline and again calls upon the federal government to intervene as promptly as possible.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Alex Shepherd Liberal Durham, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present a petition on behalf of 122 of my constituents. They note that on July 22, 1997 the CRTC ruled against the licensing of four religious broadcasters, including one Roman Catholic and three multi-denominational broadcasters, while at the same time approving, in their definition, the pornographic program Playboy .

As a consequence, the petitioners request that parliament review the mandate of the CRTC and direct the CRTC to administer a new policy which will encourage the licensing of single faith religious broadcasters, including EWTN and TVN.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Dennis Gruending NDP Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have several petitions, two of which deal with health care. These citizens say that the federal government has vastly reduced its funding for health care. They are calling upon the government to increase its share to 25% of the total bill and to implement the national home care and national pharmacare programs.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Dennis Gruending NDP Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK

Mr. Speaker, in the second petition the petitioners refer to the WTO. They do not like it in its present format whatsoever and suggest that the House of Commons work to build an alternative model of globalization, a stable rules based global economy protecting the rights of citizens and environment workers.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Dennis Gruending NDP Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK

Mr. Speaker, finally, I have a petition from a group of people in Saskatoon who point out that the federal government has not kept its promise to provide 50,000 new child care spaces as it said it would in 1993. The petitioners urge parliament to support a national child care program.

Mr. Speaker, these petitioners, without knowing so, named a figure for which this program would cost and I have been told by the clerk of petitions that they are not allowed to name a figure. I am not repeating it but I ask the indulgence and unanimous consent of the House that this petition be tabled in any event.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Is there unanimous consent to permit the tabling of this petition?

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Agreed and so ordered.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Julian Reed Liberal Halton, ON

Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to present two petitions. In the first one the petitioners urge parliament to fulfil the 1989 promise to end child poverty by the year 2000.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Julian Reed Liberal Halton, ON

Mr. Speaker, in the second petition 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.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:50 p.m.

Reform

Cliff Breitkreuz Reform Yellowhead, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present petitions bearing thousands upon thousands of signatures from petitioners right across the country. The petitioners pray that parliament take all measures necessary to ensure that possession of child pornography remains a serious criminal offence and that police forces be directed to give priority to enforcing this law for the protection of our children.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Pursuant to Standing Order 36(6) the 15 minutes allowed for presentation of petitions has expired. Is there agreement to continue with petitions for a little while?

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

Maurice Godin Bloc Châteauguay, QC

Mr. Speaker, community television, which has developed throughout Quebec in recent years, has been a response to community needs and has focused on local identity, a sense of community, providing emergency information, and generally bringing the community together. Today, it is experiencing serious operating difficulties, even threats of having to close down. This is all because of ambiguity in the interpretation of its role and mission between the community television corporation on the one hand and the cable company on the other.

I have a petition to table, signed by 1,575 people on behalf of the population of Châteauguay. The petitioners call upon the government to intervene with the CRTC in order to restore community television to our community that is dictated by its needs and not by the economic imperatives of the cable company.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

Daniel Turp Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC

Mr. Speaker, like my colleague, the hon. member for Châteauguay, I am pleased to table a petition signed by 891 people in my riding which brings to the attention of the House that the cable company Vidéotron is not respecting the community programming slot it promised the CRTC it would preserve.

The petitioners are asking for CRTC intervention in order to obtain the re-opening of our community television channel as soon as possible, as well as asking the CRTC to carry out the public examination of broadcasting distribution that was promised in January 1998.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Steckle Liberal Huron—Bruce, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to present petitions this afternoon from people who represent areas such as Port Elgin and Southampton.

The petitioners are speaking on behalf of the rural mail couriers and have outlined the adverse working conditions of their profession. They believe that their low wages are unfair, their bargaining positions are generally bad, and they have generally less than positive feelings for the way Canada Post has addressed their issues. They are therefore calling upon parliament to repeal section 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

Serge Cardin Bloc Sherbrooke, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table five petitions, three of which relate to GMOs.

Obviously, the petitioners are calling for the mandatory labelling of genetically modified organisms.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

Serge Cardin Bloc Sherbrooke, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition concerning rural mail carriers.

Basically, what the petitioners are calling for is the right of association and repeal of subsection 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

Serge Cardin Bloc Sherbrooke, QC

Mr. Speaker, the last petition concerns the high price of gasoline, in addition to the thousands of names on the other petitions that have already been tabled in this House.

The petitioners call upon the government to do its job as far as the exorbitant price of gas is concerned.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I wish to present a petition on behalf of the citizens living in Grand Bend, Port Franks and Thedford, who urge this government to eliminate the gas additive MMT, as it has a negative impact both on people's health and on our ecosystem at large.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the honour of presenting petitions signed by more than 35 concerned constituents.

The last throne speech promised more accessible employment insurance benefits for parental leave. The petitioners want parliament to begin the new program prior to the end of the year 2001. They also want a parent who has finished his or her parental leave prior to the new program to be allowed to extend their leave and receive their payments.

Finally the petitioners ask that the legislation provide a full year of parental leave benefits.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Nelson Riis NDP Kamloops, BC

Mr. Speaker, I notice that at the same time I am presenting this petition there is a rally in Kamloops on the same topic. It is quite a coincidence.

The petition is on behalf of residents of the Kamloops area and the North Thompson Valley. It brings the total now to 6,722 petitioners who point out their concern about the state of Canada's health care system.

They say that the last budget gave only two cents to health care for every one dollar spent on tax cuts. They also point out that the government seems to be spending only 13% on health care as opposed to 50% on health care, which has led to extreme shortages of nurses, hospital beds and emergency room spaces across Canada. They point out a whole number of other reasons for their concern about the state of health care in Canada.

They ask parliament to take whatever steps are necessary to stop for profit hospitals and restore federal funding for health care, to increase the federal government's share of health care funding to 25% immediately, and to implement a national home care program and a national program for prescription drugs. That is one petition.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

4 p.m.

NDP

Nelson Riis NDP Kamloops, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have another shorter petition to present from people in Kamloops and the lower Thompson Valley who are concerned about excessively high gasoline prices.

They are asking the government to consider some form of regulation or to do what is done in the United States, that is to separate the vertical integration parts of oil companies from their retail outlets so that retail outlets are all independently owned, which would therefore bring some competition back into the system.