Debates of April 30th, 2003

Points of Order

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I too was here last night and watched the disgusting display brought upon the member for Labrador. As an official opposition member over here in the New Democratic Party, I felt very sad and I regret what he had to face. For the minister for Newfoundland to come before you in the House, Mr. Speaker, and say what he just said brings him further into the dirt. It is incredible that he can stand in the House and make that kind of comment when he knows it simply is not true.

[The Speaker]

The Chair will look into the question raised by the right hon. member for Calgary Centre. I will examine the blues and have a look at the tape of the proceedings to see if anything is visible on the tape in respect of this matter. I will get back to the House in due course.

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, this matter keeps getting complicated.

Like all other members here, I have great respect for Canada's Official Languages Act.

I would hope that the government House leader, if not others, would encourage his junior colleague in the cabinet not to pretend that this was a statement made in French and not to make fun of a second official language in the country, but to stand up, admit that he made a mistake last night and have the honour to withdraw his remarks.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Mr. Speaker, that was not the intent at all. In fact, I did not hear any comments. I was speaking at the time. I just simply say that for the dignity of the House that we respect hon. members, that there was no misintent by anyone. I think what was really important that happened last night, and if I could just stress one point, let us not get sidetracked by what the intent of the debate was, we had a very good discussion last night. It was very productive. I am simply saying that I did not hear anything. I wish I did, but I did not. I was speaking at the time, and I simply ask the hon. member that we take the debate as it was, value it and take the input from it and we will leave it at that.

[The Speaker]

There seem to be some differences of opinion as to what was said. Nobody seems to have heard anything. We are relying on the written record in Hansard as to some allegations as to what was said. As I indicated, the Chair will look into the matter and get back to the House. I do not think there is any point in continuing the discussion further.

Government Response to Petitions

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the 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 10 petitions.

Parliament of Canada Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-34, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (Ethics Commissioner and Senate Ethics Officer) and other acts in consequence.

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

Interparliamentary Delegations

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker pursuant to Standing Order 34 I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian section of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, and the financial report relating to it.

The report concerns the meeting of the APF'S Commission de la coopération du développement, held in Ottawa, Canada, from March 25 to 28, 2003.

Committees of the House

[Walt Lastewka, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.

In accordance with its orders of reference on Thursday, October 24, 2002, and Tuesday, April 1, 2003, the committee has considered Bill C-249, an act to amend the Competition Act and agreed on Monday, April 28, 2003, to report it with one amendment.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of tabling, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Pursuant Standing Order 108, the committee passed the following resolution:

That the Standing Committee on Official Languages express its support for the initiative of Mauril Bélanger, M.P. (Ottawa-Vanier), in the Quigley v. Canada (House of Commons) case, and request the House of Commons suggest to its Board of Internal Economy to make available a maximum budget of $30,000 to cover a portion of the legal fees incurred by Mr. Bélanger for his role as intervener in this case.

It was agreed, on Tuesday April 29, 2003, that the Chair report this motion to the House.

Petitions

[Elsie Wayne, Progressive Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present the following petition which has signatures from all across this nation. Whereas the majority of Canadians support the current legal definition of marriage as the voluntary union of a single male and a single female and whereas it is the duty of Parliament to ensure that marriage as it has always been known and legally affirmed in Canada be preserved and protected, therefore, the undersigned petition Parliament to use all possible legislative and administrative measures involving invoking section 33 of the charter, the notwithstanding clause, if necessary, to preserve and protect the current definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

[Cheryl Gallant, Canadian Alliance, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the petitioners of Ontario recognize that the lack of a nationally coordinated plan involving all relevant federal departments contributed to the financial devastation in Toronto and, more important, the deaths resulting from SARS.

Therefore the petitioners request that Parliament recognize that the Canadian Emergency Preparedness College is essential to training Canadians for these types of emergency situations, that the facility should stay in Arnprior, and that the government should upgrade the facilities in order to provide the necessary training to Canadians that we have seen is so necessary.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I would like to present a petition from 120 of my constituents which suggests that because Canada is a member of the United Nations and the UN was created to ensure peace, it commends the UN and Canada for seeking a peaceful solution in the Iraq situation and wants to continue to do so.

[John M. Cummins, Canadian Alliance, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have four petitions to present today.

The first petition has to do with the issue of salmon farming. The petitioners note that the federal minister has a constitutional obligation to protect wild fish and their habitats, and they call upon Parliament to ensure that the minister fulfills his obligation to protect wild fish and their habitats from the effects of salmon farming.

[John M. Cummins, Canadian Alliance, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition has to do with management fees imposed upon the shrimp fishery on the west coast in British Columbia. That issue at one point was resolved and now it seems that it is a problem again.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure that their rights and the conditions of British Columbia's union with Canada be recognized, and that their rights then as fishermen and the fees that they have to pay are fulfilling the obligation that was taken when British Columbia entered Confederation.

[John M. Cummins, Canadian Alliance, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition has to do with Bill C-250. The petitioners call upon Parliament to protect freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and to reject Bill C-250.

[John M. Cummins, Canadian Alliance, Delta—South Richmond, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the last and fourth petition has to do with the Coast Guard. The petitioners call upon the government to fulfill its obligation to fully fund the Coast Guard, to replace the hovercraft that was pulled out of service in Vancouver last year, and, most important, to separate the Coast Guard from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and restore the funding.

[Paul Steckle, Liberal, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a number of petitions here from residents within my riding.

These petitioners express disappointment in the future direction of safety net programs under APF, and request that Parliament direct the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the cabinet to use some of the APF promotion budget to inform Canadians that investment in adequate safety nets is a food security issue.

They also request that Parliament direct the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and cabinet to maintain current programs until the new APF safety nets are designed adequately to move agriculture beyond crisis management, not deeper into crisis management.

[Paul Steckle, Liberal, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second group of petitions are representative of people right across this province, people from Beamsville, Port Perry, Ancaster, Toronto, and Brantford. They are not rural people necessarily, but they believe that the government has failed to provide any conclusive or verifiable evidence that the registration of long guns is preventing crime or keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

They are calling upon Parliament to abolish the national firearms registry for long guns and redirect our tax dollars to programs in support of health care and law enforcement.

[Maurice Vellacott, Canadian Alliance, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

Mr. Speaker, these almost 700 petitioners draw the attention of the House to the fact that hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer from debilitating diseases and that Canadians do support ethical stem cell research, which already has shown encouraging potential to provide cures and therapies for these illnesses and diseases.

They also remind us that non-embryonic stem cells, known as adult stem cells, have shown significant research progress without the immune rejection or ethical problems associated with embryonic stem cells.

They want Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research to find the cures and the therapies necessary to treat the illnesses and diseases of suffering Canadians.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to table still more petitions adding to the thousands that have already been tabled in the House expressing Canadians' insistence that international law, UN charter provisions and United Nations decisions be fully respected by Canada and other countries in relation to Iraq and other conflicts around the world.

[James Lunney, Canadian Alliance, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a bundle of petitions to present today on the subject of freedom of choice in natural health products and personal health care.

There are approximately 30,000 signatures and more coming in daily from coast to coast. The action called for would be accomplished by passing my private member's Bill C-420.

These Canadians are calling upon Parliament to recognize that natural health products are foods, not drugs, and that access to these safe products should not be unduly curtailed by government bureaucrats and antiquated legislation.

They call upon Parliament to recognize that the weight of modern scientific evidence confirms the mitigation and prevention of many diseases and disorders through the judicious use of natural health products.

The petitioners ask Parliament to restore freedom of choice in natural health products by deleting subsections 3(1) and (2), and schedule A of the Food and Drugs Act.

Private member's Bill C-420, currently before the House, addresses the concerns of these citizens, the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Health and the Office of Natural Health Products' transition team that reported in March 2000.

It is my hope that all members of the House will support this initiative and give Canadians the freedom of choice in natural health products for which they are looking.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions today. The first is with regard to stem cell research.

The petitioners from my riding of Mississauga South would like to point out that Canadians do support ethical stem cell research which has already shown encouraging potential to provide cures and therapies for Canadians.

The petitioners also want to point out that non-embryonic stem cells, which are also known as adult stem cells, have shown significant research progress without the immune rejection or ethical problems associated with embryonic stem cells.

The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research for those cures and therapies for Canadians.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is with regard to the definition of marriage.

The petitioners want to draw to the attention of the House that the majority of Canadians believe that the fundamental matters of social policy should be decided by elected members of Parliament and not by the unelected judiciary.

The petitioners also want to point out that it is the duty of Parliament to ensure that marriage, as it has always been known and legally affirmed in Canada, must be preserved and protected.

The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to use all possible legislative and administrative measures, including the use of section 33 of the charter, also known as the notwithstanding clause, to preserve and protect the current definition of marriage as between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the final petition has to do with the funding of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that it is the objective scientific fact that a human being exists from fertilization, and that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research have recommended guidelines on stem cell research that includes the use of human embryos and aborted fetal tissue.

The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to ban embryo research and direct that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support and fund only promising ethical research that does not involve the destruction of human life.