Debates of March 22nd, 2001

Canadian Landmine Fund

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific)]

Mr. Speaker, with leave of the House, I take this opportunity under Standing Order 32(2) to table, in both official languages, the 1999-2000 report on the Canadian Landmine Fund entitled “Measured Steps”.

This report illustrates that our efforts to eradicate anti-personnel landmines and to assist communities affected by these weapons are making a concrete difference. The use, production and trade of anti-personnel mines are declining, victim rates are falling and over 22 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed in recent years by more than 50 countries in the world.

Canada continues to provide global leadership on the landmine issue. In 1999-2000 we supported mine action programs in more than 20 countries and continue to work with other states and civil society organizations to—

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)]

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. secretary of state but this is the tabling of documents and not debate nor statements.

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Winnipeg North—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a document.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)]

The hon. member is supposed to simply table the document and not make a statement.

For the hon. secretary of state's knowledge, tabling of documents is simply to table a document with a very short explanation. If the secretary of state wants to add anything, he could use statements by ministers to state what he has to say.

Treaties

[Rey D. Pagtakhan, Liberal, Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific)]

Mr. Speaker, with the leave of the House, I take this opportunity under Standing Order 32(2) to table, in both official languages, 49 treaties that were entered into force for Canada in 1999, as well as the acts of the 1989 Washington conference and the 1994 Seoul Congress of the Universal Postal Union, which entered into force for Canada in 1991 and 1997 respectively.

In keeping with recent practice, I am also tabling CD-ROMs that contain the text of these treaties in an electronic format. The CD-ROMs have reduced paper burden, while at the same time providing wide accessibility to the treaties through the Library of Parliament.

Order In Council Appointments

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, a number of order in council appointments recently made by the government.

Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 110(1), these are deemed referred to the appropriate standing committees, a list of which is attached.

Government Response To Petitions

[Derek Lee, 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 two petitions.

Committees Of The House

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

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership of the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages.

If the House gives its consent, I intend to move concurrence in this eighth report later this day.

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Vaughan—King—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the first report of the Standing Committee on Finance regarding its order of reference of Tuesday, February 13, in relation to Bill C-8, an act to establish the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. The bill is the result of many years of study and consultation by a number of committees and task forces.

On behalf of the committee, I thank members of parliament, committee staff, departmental officials, witnesses and stakeholders for their work. As a result of their hard work, we have produced a very important piece of legislation for the Canadian financial services sector and Canadian consumers.

The committee has considered Bill C-8 and reports the bill with amendments.

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

Mr. Speaker, if the House gives its consent, I move that the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs presented to the House earlier this day be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to)

Petitions

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, under Standing Order 36, I have three separate petitions to introduce and table.

The first petition was signed by a group of Winnipeg people who call upon government to intervene and do something in the matter of spiralling, out of control energy costs. This group of Canadians is calling upon government to set up an energy price commission that would hold the oil companies accountable for the energy prices that they charge.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I would like to introduce is a very thick one. Literally thousands of Canadians have signed this petition which calls on the federal government to increase the amount they pay into health care.

They point out that currently the federal government only pays 13.5% of the total health care costs and the provinces have to deal with the rest. These people feel that this opens the door to a two tier, American style, privatized health care. They plead that the government stops that possible trend and direction.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the third and final petition that I would like to table today is from a group of residents of various communities throughout British Columbia who are calling upon government to change the relationship or to change the law that pertains to rural route mail couriers. This is the only group of workers in the country who are specifically denied the right to free collective bargaining.

These people feel very strongly that the 5,500 rural route mail couriers across the country would benefit from repealing section 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporations Act.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present another petition on behalf of thousands of citizens of Peterborough who believe that a Via Rail link between Toronto and Peterborough should be re-established.

They point out that Canada signed the Kyoto protocol and that Canada has undertaken to reduce greenhouse emissions. They suggest that developing sustainable transportation, such as commuter rail services, is one way of meeting those objectives.

The petitioners believe a commuter rail service between Toronto and Peterborough would be environmentally most acceptable. They call upon parliament to re-establish the VIA service between Peterborough and the city of Toronto.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition to present on behalf of people who suffer from end-stage renal disease, their relatives and those who support them.

They call upon parliament to encourage the Canadian institutes for health research to explicitly include kidney research as one of the institutes in its system to be named the institute of kidney and urinary tract diseases.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my third petition is yet another petition from citizens of Peterborough who are interested in re-establishing the VIA Rail route.

The petitioners point out that there are dramatic cost savings in terms of highway costs as compared with rail costs if there were a commuter service in the greater Toronto area between Peterborough and Toronto, that it would be economically beneficial by enhancing employment mobility for Peterborough area residents and by making the greater Peterborough area more accessible as a tourist and educational destination.

These petitioners call upon parliament to authorize the re-establishment of VIA service between Toronto and Peterborough.

Questions On The Order Paper

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Speaker]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise with regard to questions on the order paper. I put a number of questions on the order paper, two of them a year ago. They will be celebrating their first birthday within 30 days of the House. This is two parliaments without answers to those questions.

On a personal basis, I know the parliamentary secretary is trying but the government refuses to answer very important questions put there.

I refer to Erskine May and Marleau and Montpetit in terms of order and substance of those questions. It has been confirmed by the table and the clerk that they meet all the rules and procedures of the House.

The question is, what is the government trying to hide? This is very important because it relates to the sale of military equipment to other nations, 40 helicopters and 10 Challenger jets. It is important that we know the answers to those questions. Again, what is the government trying to hide? Why does it not answer those questions?

It is an abuse of parliament. I should be up on a question of privilege. I have four questions on the order paper. All members, regardless of party affiliation, can only put four questions on the order paper. It is a contempt of parliament in the sense that members who do have their roster filled on the order paper with four questions are then restricted and cannot put any further questions on the order paper. That is not right. Technically, it silences members of parliament.

Would the government tell me why those questions after one year have yet to be answered? Is there any logical reason why members are not entitled to answers to which the Canadian public is demanding answers? It is as simple as that. When will the government cough up the answers to those very important questions?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am sure all members will agree that we consider written questions very important. The member opposite's characterizations of what has gone on here are perhaps a little inaccurate, and I think he is being overly dramatic.

In any event, the procedure followed here is not materially different from the procedure ordinarily followed for written questions. I explained yesterday and on previous occasions that we are working to develop the answers that would be most suited to the hon. member. That customization and extra effort, which I have asked the government to put forward, will probably serve the member and all the members in the House if he could just allow the customary few days.

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Mr. Speaker, that is not an exaggeration. Those questions are there and, in terms of form and substance, they have been approved by the Clerk of the House. They have been sitting on the order paper for one year. We are demanding answers to those questions.

Again, what is the government trying to hide in terms of selling military equipment to rogue nations and maybe terrorists groups? We do not know. We are entitled to answers to those questions. It is as fundamental as that. We are following the rules of the House. We want answers to questions.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Bélair)]

We are getting into debate here. I can still give the floor to the hon. parliamentary secretary if he wishes to address the issue briefly.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is a routine proceeding. I think you have been overly generous with the hon. member. He has made his point. He is waiting for answers to his written questions and I have indicated that those answers will be forthcoming.

The hon. member suggests that there has been a year of a collection of time here. I just want to point out to the House that this parliament has been in existence for only a couple of months. This is a new parliament. The member may wish to look back into a previous parliament and at another procedure, but what we are dealing with here is a relatively new parliament. In good faith, I have indicated to the member that his answers will be coming in due course in the appropriate procedure.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, further on that point, I feel very strongly as well that the hon. member has a very valid point. One year is an absolutely unacceptable period of time. It not only spans one year, but it spans two parliaments.

The other point raised actually affects me personally. Frankly, my questions are not languishing in some question limbo or in some government pool of unanswerable questions. What bothers me and affects me as a member of parliament is that we are limited to only four questions. We cannot ask a fifth. We have now rendered this particular member of parliament impotent, if we will, in the matter of putting questions on the order paper.