House of Commons Hansard #38 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was students.
Electoral Boundaries CommissionRoutine Proceedings
December 3rd, 2004 / 12:05 p.m.
Saint Boniface Manitoba
Liberal
Raymond Simard LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to lay upon the table, in both official languages, the Preliminary Report of the Miramichi and Acadie-Bathurst Electoral Boundaries Commission.
Keith Martin LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to lay upon the table, in both official languages, two copies of the annual Report of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal for 2003-04.
Raymond Simard LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to lay upon the table, in both official languages, the government responses to four petitions.
Tony Valeri Liberalfor the Minister of Industry
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-29, An Act to amend the Patent Act.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Tony Valeri LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-30, An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and the Salaries Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Marlene Catterall Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, three reports from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage: the fourth report on the supplementary estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005 and report the same; the fifth report on Bill C-18, an act to amend the Telefilm Canada Act and another act; and the sixth report concerning the certificate of appointment of S. Wayne Clarkson to the position of executive director of Telefilm Canada.
Mr. Speaker, I must say that the committee applauded Mr. Clarkson after coming to its conclusion on his competence and ability to serve as executive director of Telefilm Canada. The reports are all signed.
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-307, An Act to amend the Criminal Code to prevent health care practitioners from being coerced into taking part in medical procedures that offend the practitioner's religion or belief that human life is inviolable.
Mr. Speaker, the bill would prohibit coercion in medical procedures that offend a person's religion or belief that human life is inviolable. The bill seeks to ensure that health care providers will never be forced to participate against their will in procedures such as abortions or acts of euthanasia.
Canada has a long history of recognizing the rights of freedom of religion and of conscience in our country. Yet health care workers and those seeking to be educated for the health care system have often been denied those rights in medical facilities and educational institutions. Some have even been wrongfully dismissed.
The bill would make those conscience rights explicit in law and would safeguard health care workers' fundamental human rights.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-308, an act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Criminal Code (truth in sentencing).
Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill that would require truth in sentencing.Victims of crime are being abused by our justice system. Violent offenders are constantly being let out of prison early, and far too many of them are reoffending. We need truth in sentencing to restore a measure of credibility to our justice system and to give back some dignity to victims of crime.
One specific provision of the bill is that persons who reoffend after being let out of prison on conditional release will be required to serve the remainder of their original sentence as well as at least two-thirds of their new sentence.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-309, an act to amend the Divorce Act (custody of grandchildren).
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise and introduce a private member's bill to amend the Divorce Act. In essence what the bill would do is deal with the very complex and often emotional subject of divorce and the implications for children and parents and for grandparents and in fact all families. Those impacts are significant across the country.
The bill would amend the Divorce Act to allow grandparents to apply for custody of their grandchildren without leave of the court. Clearly it would still have to be granted by the court in the final analysis, but it would in fact provide an avenue that is clearly not there at present. It would give grandparents automatic standing should they choose to seek it and it would entrench an undeniable interest and right of grandparents. I urge hon. members to support the bill and I thank my colleague from Medicine Hat for seconding it.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Dave Chatters Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-310, an act to amend the Criminal Code (persons acting to preserve and maintain public health and safety).
Mr. Speaker, the bill would amend the Criminal Code in order to give greater protection to persons acting to preserve and maintain public health and safety, by creating a new offence of first degree murder and increasing the punishment for aggravated assault when the victim is one of those persons.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Dave Chatters Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-311, an act respecting seat belts in federal vehicles and school buses.
Mr. Speaker, the bill would require that all vehicles under federal jurisdiction and all school buses be equipped with seat belts for the driver and passengers if they are operated on a public highway. As a former school bus driver, I think it is well known and proven that seat belts do save lives.
The design of the seat belt must comply with the regulations and the laws of the province in which the vehicles are used. If required, there is a power to exempt vehicles in special cases, but not for vehicles that regularly transport students.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Fedral Law--Civil Law Harmonization Act No. 2Routine Proceedings
Hamilton East—Stoney Creek Ontario
Liberal
Tony Valeri Liberalfor the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
moved that Bill S-10, a second act to harmonize federal law with the civil law of the Province of Quebec and to amend certain acts in order to ensure that each language version takes into account the common law and the civil law, be read the first time.
(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition flowing from a demonstration in front of Hamilton City Hall a week ago in support of the citizens of Darfur, who of course are facing unimaginable tragedy. Upwards of 100,000 people have already died. The petition is calling on the Canadian government to play a role in supporting the African Union and the United Nations to do something about this and bring the obscene violence to a halt. I am very proud to present it and also very proud to add my name to this petition.
Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure for me to rise this afternoon to present three petitions. The first is on an issue that I have raised repeatedly in the House of Commons since the start of this Parliament. It comes from citizens of Blind River, Ontario, in support of our military families who have on base housing. It is well known that the Canadian Forces Housing Agency provides some on base housing. However, many of those homes are below acceptable living conditions and are subject to annual rent increases. The petitioners from Blind River, Ontario, call upon Parliament to immediately suspend any future rent increases until such time as those homes are brought up to acceptable living conditions.
Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is on behalf of citizens in my riding in a small town in the Rocky Mountains, Mackenzie, B.C., who wish to draw to the attention of the House the issue of sex offences against citizens. They note that 40% of known sex offenders are likely to reoffend and that an effective national sex offender registry would be an invaluable resource that would assist police agencies and our court system. They therefore call upon Parliament to pass legislation that would create an effective sex offender registry that would automatically include the names of all sex offenders in Canada.
Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Mr. Speaker, my last petition today deals with the issue of child pornography. It comes on behalf of the citizens of Buick and Prince George in my riding as well as citizens from Fort St. James and Vanderhoof, British Columbia. They wish to draw to the attention of the House that the creation and use of child pornography is condemned by a clear majority of Canadians and that the Liberals have failed to adequately protect our nation's children. Therefore, the petitioners call upon Parliament to protect our children by taking all necessary steps to ensure that all materials that promote or glorify child pornography are outlawed.
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Mr. Speaker, I rise to present this petition on behalf of the member for Peterborough. The petitioners, citizens of the Peterborough area, call on Parliament to release Mahmoud Jaballah or to give him his right to a fair trial with full disclosure of the so-called evidence against him.
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK
Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition today on behalf of the people of Saskatchewan from several ridings, including my own, a petition about the modern scientific evidence for mitigation and prevention of disease through the use of natural health products. The petitioners call upon Parliament to support greater freedom and choice in their personal natural health care products. In particular, they are calling for support for the legislation introduced by the hon. member for Oshawa, Bill C-420.
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today.
The first deals with sexual exploitation and makes reference also to child pornography. In particular, some 360 petitioners are calling for protection from sexual exploitation. They would like Parliament to protect children by taking all necessary steps to raise the age of consent from 14 to 18 years. It was the Catholic Women's League that was largely responsible for raising this issue, but I know that many citizens beyond that group are also deeply concerned about this matter.
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with the subject of autism. The petitioners, again largely from my riding, are calling on Parliament to recognize that families with children suffering from autism spectrum disorder are greatly affected and highly vulnerable. They talk about the alarming increase in the diagnosis and presence of autism in our population, currently at about 1 in 195 children. They draw attention to the therapy which has been made available largely through the United States, intensive behavioural intervention, IBI, and also applied behavioural analysis. These programs are taught in the United States and currently not taught in Canada. They are quite expensive. The petitioners are calling for these programs to be taught and to be available in Canada.
Raymond Simard LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 24 and 25.
John Reynolds Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC
With regard to the Victoria Cross and other medals of the late Lt. Col. John MacGregor, and their eventual residency in the Canadian War Museum (August 1997), what rationale can the Minister of Canadian Heritage provide for: ( a ) the withdrawal of charges against the exporter; and ( b ) the exclusion of the Canadian Heritage Cultural Review Board from the appraisal of the medals?
Liza Frulla LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, in response to a), due to the particular circumstances of this matter, including the fact that the Department of Canadian Heritage received the exporter’s full cooperation to ensure the prompt return of the medals to Canada, the Department of Canadian Heritage did not request that a formal criminal investigation be undertaken. The situation was therefore not brought to the attention of the office of the Attorney General and no charges were filed against the exporter.
In response to b), under the terms of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board can determine a fair cash offer at the request of either an exporter or an institution or public authority that has made an offer to purchase that has been rejected. Neither party requested such a determination.
Carol Skelton Conservative Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK
Will the government confirm, as reported on October 26, 2004, in the Halifax Daily News (Canadian Press), that it requested the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to study day care issues in Canada and, if so: ( a ) did this result in the Early Childhood Education and Care Policy document; ( b ) who made the request; ( c ) to whom was the request made; ( d ) did the government pay for it either directly or in kind and, if so, when; and ( e ) was any province not willing to participate in the study and, if so, why?
Ken Dryden LiberalMinister of Social Development
Mr. Speaker, in 1998, the OECD invited Canada, along with a number of other countries, to participate in the first round of reviews under the thematic review of early childhood education and care policy. At that time, the invitation was declined. At a June 2001 conference in Stockholm, the OECD disseminated its comparative report “Starting Strong” highlighting the findings from their first round of reviews. Following this conference, participating Canadian officials representing Human Resources Development Canada, HRDC, Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, CMEC, and Saskatchewan Department of Education recommended that Canada participate in the second round of reviews, based on their shared commitment to children’s issues, including early childhood development. For reviews of this kind, the OECD requests that the host country identify a manageable number of jurisdictions to participate. CMEC approached the provincial-territorial deputy ministers of education and the P.E.I. deputy minister responsible for social services approached all provincial-territorial deputy ministers responsible for social services to determine interest in participating in the review. The Governments of Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba indicated an interest in participating. Remaining provincial-territorial jurisdictions did not wish to be included in the review, but were kept informed on Canada’s participation throughout the review. Those jurisdictions who chose not to participate should be contacted directly for further information on their decision.
The Government of Canada, through HRDC, now Social Development Canada, funded the review at a total cost of $90,896 which covered the cost of the preparation of a background report to support the review, a visit to Canada by the international review team of early childhood education experts and the preparation of the final report by the OECD. The resulting final report “Early Childhood Education and Care Policy Canada” was released publicly on October 25, 2004. Elements of the international review team’s findings on Canada’s ECEC system will be integrated into a broader comparative report by the OECD. The report will include an overview of the countries participating in the second round of the thematic review of early childhood education and care policy as well as updates on those countries who participated in the first round.