Debates of June 4th, 2003

Petitions

[Betty Hinton, Canadian Alliance, Kamloops, Thompson And Highland Valleys, BC]

Madam Speaker, I have petitions signed by constituents of my riding of Kamloops, Thompson and Highland Valleys.

The petitioners are asking Parliament to ensure the protection of our children by taking all necessary steps to ensure that all materials which promote or glorify child pornography and exploit children be met with swift punishment.

[Diane St-Jacques, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to table a petition signed by more than 500 citizens of the ridings of Shefford and Brome—Missisquoi, calling on Parliament to amend section 163.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada by making sure that pornographic pictures of children are not considered as having artistic merit.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—St. Clair, ON]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present this petition on behalf of residents on Toronto Island who are very concerned that the Toronto city airport is about to be expanded without the proper assessment for environmental and health effects.

They call upon Parliament to request that the project be referred to an environmental review panel by either the Minister of Transport or the Minister of the Environment.

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

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I wish to present my first petition on behalf of the constituents of Lambton--Kent--Middlesex who upon Parliament to protect the health of seniors and children and to save our environment by banning the disputed gas additive MMT as it creates smog and enhances global warming.

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

Madam Speaker, my second petition, pursuant to Standing Order 36, has over 500 signatures from the riding of Lambton--Kent--Middlesex. The petition calls upon Parliament to pass legislation to recognize the institution of marriage in law as being a lifelong union of one man and one women to the exclusion of all others.

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to present three petitions signed by several hundred individuals from all over Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia and other places.

The petitioners are very worried about the future of medicare and very concerned about a government that would appoint a royal commission on the future of health care and then ignore its findings.

They call upon Parliament to request that the findings of the Romanow commission be considered a blueprint for the immediate action by the government. They call on Parliament to reject any move toward investor owned, for profit systems of delivery in the Canadian health care system, and they call on Parliament to ensure that the recommendations of the royal commission on the future of health care in Canada are adopted as the best prescription for Canada's ailing health care system.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour—Petitcodiac, NB]

Madam Speaker, I rise on behalf of the member for Markham to present a petition signed by residents of Markham who call upon Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research and to find the cures and therapies necessary to treat the illnesses and diseases of suffering Canadians.

[Lorne Nystrom, NDP, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Madam Speaker, I have a petition this afternoon signed by 117 people who want to keep the Hubbard post office open in my riding.

What the petitioners say is that the government across the way imposed a moratorium on rural post office closures several years ago. Now there are rumours that there are some postal outlets, such as the one in Hubbard, Saskatchewan, that are slated for closure.

The closure of rural post offices will do harm to the continued viability of many of our rural communities. Therefore, the petitioners are asking us to, one, keep the Hubbard post office open, and two, retain the moratorium on rural post office closures across the country.

[John Bryden, Liberal, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot, ON]

Madam Speaker, I have three petitions.

In the first petition the petitioners request that the government do everything it can to prevent child pornography.

[John Bryden, Liberal, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot, ON]

Madam Speaker, the second petition asks the government to not do anything to change sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code which would introduce homosexual as part of the definition of hate crime. I believe that arises from Bill C-250 that is before the House. The petitioners are very concerned about that legislation.

[John Bryden, Liberal, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot, ON]

Madam Speaker, the third petition has come to me, oddly enough, from people in British Columbia. They pray that Parliament pass legislation to recognize the institution of marriage in federal law as being a lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Madam Speaker, as you know, that legislation already exists. The problem is that some courts have challenged that legislation. I can assure the petitioners that it is the law of the land now. I sincerely hope it will continue to be so.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 212, 215, 216, 218 and 235.

Question No. 212

[Ted White, Canadian Alliance, North Vancouver, BC]

With regard to the fact that the Minister of Natural Resources has been granted permission to bypass the normal public security line-ups at Ottawa airport and to proceed directly to security inspection via the airline staff entrance: ( a ) under what authority was this done; ( b ) does this permission extend to the bypassing of the normal public security lines at other airports in Canada; ( c ) does this permission extend to all other ministers of the Crown; ( d ) does this permission extend to members of the House who are not ministers; and ( e ) if not, why not?

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

With regard to (a), air carriers may offer priority service to Executive and VIP customers or passengers who are late for their flight. No authority is required since this is a customer service provided by air carriers and no bypassing of security occurs.

Concerning (b), (c) and (d), as indicated in (a) above, this practice does not involve bypassing security, and therefore, requires no special authorities or permissions. Further questions with respect to each air carrier’s customer service policy should be directed to the airlines.

Question No. 215

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Concerning the RCMP Airbus investigation terminated on April 22, 2003: ( a ) what was the duration of the investigation; ( b ) how many investigators (full or part-time) were involved in the investigation on a yearly basis for its duration; ( c ) what is the financial cost related to the investigation on a yearly basis; ( d ) how many transatlantic flights were taken by persons pursuing the investigation; ( e ) were any payments made to informants for information provided to the RCMP, the Department of Justice, the office of the Solicitor General or any other government department and, if so, what was the total paid?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

I am informed by the Solicitor General of Canada that with respect to

(a) the current investigation began in 1995 and continued to 2003.

With respect to (b) our systems do not collect this information for individual investigations. A brief manual search gave a result for investigators who were exclusively assigned to this investigation which is as follows:

This investigation includes an ongoing criminal prosecution that has been before the court since October 2002.

With respect to (c) RCMP’s systems track financial information by parent or organizational unit, and not usually for individual investigations. A financial tracking mechanism was put in place for this investigation, for fiscal year 1997-98 onwards, that allows for the capture of the majority of costs, but not all. Salary and some expense costs associated to several of the investigators were not captured. To provide more complete figures would require a manual search of financial data that would be excessively time consuming. Overall cost for investigators assigned to this investigation and for related investigational expenses, which can be tracked without a manual search, are as follows:

These costs include expenses incurred for an ongoing criminal prosecution that has been before the court since October 2002.

With respect to (d) our systems track overall travel cost, not destination. To respond to the question as asked would require a manual search of data that would be excessively time consuming.

With respect to (e) the RCMP does not confirm nor deny the existence of, or payment to, any informant. Under RCMP policy the identification of informants must be protected in accordance with decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, which grants privilege to informants that their identity will not be disclosed.

I am informed by Justice Canada that

in answer to question (e), there were no payments made to informants for information provided to the Department of Justice.

Question No. 216

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Following the April 22, 2003 closure of the Northern Cod Fisheries in Zones 2J, 3K and 3L and the Gulf Fisheries in Zones 3P, 4R and 4S and the South Coast Fishery in Zone 3Ps, what measures has the government taken to preserve cod stocks in Zones 3M and 3N, zones containing the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap?

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]

Cod stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) area, Division 3NO (Tail of the Grand Banks) and Division 3M (Flemish Cap), are under NAFO moratoria. Bycatches of these cod stocks in fisheries directed at other stocks in the NAFO area are restricted to 5%. A new definition of directed fishery was adopted at the 2002 NAFO annual meeting that will help to deter vessels from exceeding this bycatch limit and reduce bycatches of these stocks.

As the coastal state contracting party to NAFO, Canada contributes to the development of conservation and management measures in the regulatory area. These measures include 100% observer and satellite tracking coverage on all vessels as well as mandatory dockside inspections for every vessel fishing. Vessels fishing in the regulatory area are subject to inspection by NAFO fisheries inspectors.

All vessels fishing in the NAFO regulatory area are also subject to strict conservation measures designed to promote effective management of stocks.

DFO continually monitors the activity of foreign vessels in the regulatory area through the NAFO inspection program and analysis of observer reports. It assesses vessel compliance within NAFO measures and continues to highlight instances of non compliance by NAFO members in order to reduce bycatches of moratoria species, misreporting and exceeding of quotas.

Question No. 218

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

Between March 17 and April 24, 2003: ( a ) to which foreign leaders did the prime minister speak by telephone on the issue of the ongoing crisis in Iraq; ( b ) who initiated each call, and what was its duration?

[Rodger Cuzner, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister]

Between March 17 and April 24, 2003, the Prime Minister made 13 telephone calls to foreign leaders. All of them included at least some reference to Iraq, but few were limited exclusively to that subject, since personal contact between leaders is an essential component of both bilateral relationships and multilateral cooperation.

Disclosure of information about these calls, their content and length, and which in fact constitute diplomatic exchanges with foreign states, would be injurious to the conduct of Canada’s international affairs.

Question No. 235

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Pertaining to the Commonwealth Day that took place Monday, March 10, 2003 and the 1.7 billion people in the Commonwealth countries, can the government please indicate the amount, in dollars, spent by it on all activities and undertakings in Canada to recognize this day and our membership in the Commonwealth, and what was the breakdown of the costs?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

See the reply to Question No. 173 that was answered on June 2, 2003.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, if Question No. 179 could be made an order for return, the return would be tabled immediately.

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos)]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.