Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first one originated in my riding. It contains about 500 signatures of citizens from Nanaimo, Lantzville, Parksville, Qualicum, Bowser, Coombs and Errington. The issue concerns animal cruelty. The petitioners are calling for harsher penalties for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
There have been increasing incidents of cruelty to animals not only in our area but across Canada. The petitioners point out that this cruelty to animals undermines Canadian values of compassion and that strong legislation preventing cruelty to animals should be implemented.
They call on Parliament to take this seriously. We have had some very nasty episodes of animal cruelty in our area.