House of Commons Hansard #141 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was industry.

Topics

Canadian International Trade Tribunal ActRoutine Proceedings

10 a.m.

Bloc

André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-430, An Act to amend the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act and the Special Import Measures Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to be introducing a bill to amend the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act and the Special Import Measures Act, mainly so that trade unions representing workers engaged in the production of goods affected by dumping or subsidizing can request inquiries. This is currently prohibited.

By introducing this bill, the Bloc Québécois seeks to correct this grave injustice, at a time when globalization is threatening many of our jobs such as those in the bicycle, textile or furniture industries. With regard to the last example, I condemn the closure of the Shermag plant in Victoriaville. From now on, we want consideration for job protection.

Finally, I want to thank the member for Joliette for his assistance in preparing this important bill, which, if passed, will have a positive impact on thousands of vulnerable jobs.

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

Controlled Drugs and Substances ActRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Conservative

Rob Merrifield Conservative Yellowhead, AB

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-431, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to introduce this private member's bill that would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act so that we send a message about the substances that are on schedule 1. I assume those substances will be changed according to the government's announcement this year which would add methamphetamine to the schedule 1 group of substances, which would include heroin and cocaine.

The possession of those drugs come with a lifetime sentence as a maximum but they have no minimum. My bill would make it a minimum of two years for a first offence and five years for a second offence. This would send a message to our courts that we need a minimum sentence and that we need to take these kinds of incidents seriously. It also sends a message to our communities that we are prepared to stand before them and protect them from the criminals who are involved with these kinds of substances. It would also for trafficking, importation and exportation.

As well, the bill talks about when the methamphetamine labs are in the vicinity of underage children that they will be recognized in the court of law.

Those are the two ingredients in the bill. I encourage all members to support this private member's bill.

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

Income Tax ActRoutine Proceedings

October 25th, 2005 / 10:05 a.m.

Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

Mr. Speaker, there have been consultations between all parties and I think you would find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:

That, when private members' business is called later today, the motion for second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Finance of Bill C-271, an act to amend the Income Tax Act (tuition credit and education credit), be deemed moved by the member for Westlock—St. Paul and seconded by the member for Cariboo—Prince George.

For clarification, the sponsor of the motion, the member for Westlock—St. Paul, would retain the right to speak again for not more than five minutes at the conclusion of the second hour of debate or earlier if no other member rises in debate pursuant to Standing Order 95(1).

Income Tax ActRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

Income Tax ActRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Income Tax ActRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Income Tax ActRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel InitiativeRoutine Proceedings

10:05 a.m.

Bloc

Paul Crête Bloc Rivière-Du-Loup—Montmagny, QC

Mr. Speaker, I believe that you will find unanimous consent for the following motion, which I am moving in cooperation with colleagues from all the other parties. The motion reads as follows:

That, in the opinion of this House, the United States government should reject the possibility of having a mandatory requirement that American and Canadian citizens present their passport when crossing the Canadian-American border.

U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel InitiativeRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion?

U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel InitiativeRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel InitiativeRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel InitiativeRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

Mr. Speaker, as I have been doing at every opportunity this fall, it is again my pleasure to present a petition, this one on behalf of citizens from Dorchester, Ingersol, Guelph, Ajax, London, Pickering, all from Ontario, and Saint-Léonard and Lachine from the province of Quebec.

All of the citizens wish to draw to the attention of the House that every year there are about 2,000 young children adopted from foreign countries and brought to our land. In spite of the fact that other nations, specifically the United States of America and Great Britain, grant automatic citizenship for these young children, our country does not.

Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to immediately enact legislation to grant automatic citizenship to those minors adopted from other countries by Canadian citizens with this citizenship being immediately granted upon the finalization of the adoption.

I note that the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration has committed to the Canadian people to introduce stand alone legislation to accomplish this, and I would hope that he would do it post-haste.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Bloc

Roger Clavet Bloc Louis-Hébert, QC

Mr. Speaker, like other of my colleagues in the Bloc Québécois, I am extremely pleased today to present a petition in favour of maintaining postal operations in Quebec City.

You can see the size of the petition. It has been signed by 130,000 people who oppose the closure of the postal sorting facility in Quebec City. They call for mail processing operations to be maintained in our regions, and for the related jobs to be maintained as well.

It is with great honour and pleasure that I am today presenting a portion of the petition, signed by several thousand people.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Bloc

Guy Côté Bloc Portneuf, QC

Mr. Speaker, like my colleague from Louis-Hébert, I am pleased today to present a portion of the 130,000 signatures on a petition opposing the closure of the Quebec City postal sorting centre. The people in the Quebec City region are justifiably concerned. We can only hope that the government and Canada Post will heed these 130,000 citizens this time.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Liberal

Paul Devillers Liberal Simcoe North, ON

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 it is my pleasure to present a petition from constituents of Simcoe North petitioning the House to make Canada a nuclear weapon free zone.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to introduce a petition from my constituents who wish to see the Queensway Carleton Hospital protected from a major Liberal rent increase.

The Queensway Carleton Hospital is the only hospital that is forced to pay rent to the federal government for the land it sits on. I note with interest that this petition has garnered the support of the provincial Liberal health minister who has come to the support of the Queensway Carleton Hospital and has fallen into disagreement with the current federal Liberal government.

It is an honour to introduce this petition and the subject matter will be voted on tomorrow in the House of Commons with my Motion No. 135.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Beauséjour New Brunswick

Liberal

Dominic LeBlanc LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

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

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Chuck Strahl)

Is that agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:10 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

The House resumed from October 24 consideration of the motion that Bill C-64, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (vehicle identification number), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

10:10 a.m.

Conservative

Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to put some comments on the record concerning Bill C-64, a bill to amend the Criminal Code in regard to vehicle identification numbers.

Auto theft is a huge problem in cities all across Canada. In fact, across Canada in 2003, 170,000 vehicles were stolen.

Today I would like to talk about my home province of Manitoba. As the member of Parliament for Kildonan--St. Paul, I have to say that the crime rates and the rate of vehicle theft are extremely high. Under the guidance of the present Liberal government, we have had real problems controlling this.

In 2004 there were 13,425 vehicles stolen. After talking to community people and in schools and in speaking with people in the justice field in Manitoba, I must say that it all stems from the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which the present government put forward. When the Youth Criminal Justice Act was changed, there were no teeth in it and, over a decade, the Liberal government has not been able to keep the citizens of Canada safe.

Today when we talk about Bill C-64, we talk about it because a very honourable man, Chuck Cadman, put forward an initial proposal that had some teeth in it. Chuck Cadman knew the seriousness of the stolen vehicles issue, the danger that it put youth in, and the problems it put on the backs of families when they were unable to pay for the damage from what I call the joyriding or the stolen cars.

In Winnipeg, as I said before, it is a real problem. In 2005, on average, a vehicle is stolen in Winnipeg every hour, so when we hear the Liberal Party talking about being tough on crime, it is rather worrisome to hear the hyperbole in this House of Commons without any action being put in place.

Chuck Cadman put forth an idea in this country, the idea that people had a right to be safe. He put that forward because in his own life he had experienced a very tragic event, so he started looking at all the aspects of how we could make innocent victims safe.

With the stolen vehicle problem, people in Winnipeg and Manitoba are very fearful of having their vehicles stolen and having no recourse. For the youths and others who steal these cars, because it is not only youths who do it, there are very few or no consequences for their actions. As I said earlier, that is largely due to the Liberal government's watering down of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It has no teeth. The youths know it. It has no credibility.

Thus we see the litany of the history in over a decade since the Liberals came to power. We see the litany of a history of ineffectiveness, of keeping crime under wraps in Canada.

Chuck Cadman put forward some really good ideas. I want to put this on the record, because in order to better reflect Mr. Cadman's initial desire to create a useful tool for enforcement agencies to tackle auto theft and organized crime, the legislation should remove part of proposed section 377.1(1). This was recommended by Chuck Cadman.

As we know, members opposite in the Liberal government are touting these two bills as the Cadman bills. In actual fact they are not the Cadman bills, nor do they have the intent that Chuck Cadman had when he put these bills into play.

He said, in proposed section 377.1:

Everyone commits an offence who, wholly or partially alters, removes or obliterates a vehicle identification number on a motor vehicle without lawful excuse....

Here is what was added:

--and under circumstances that give rise to a reasonable inference that the person did so to conceal the identity of the motor vehicle.

This last part was added to Chuck Cadman's original bill and adds to the Crown's job of proving the offence. The phrase “reasonable inference” is ambiguous and could give rise to holes in the bill's successful implementation. Mr. Cadman put the onus of proof for a lawful excuse on the person indicated, which is not included in this bill, Bill C-64.

The problem with the history that the Liberal government has left with Canadians in terms of dealing with the justice system is that we now have a justice system in disrepair. We now have an environment of fear in Canadian cities and on Canadian streets about the safety of the innocent victims who are there every day.

Just a couple of weeks ago, when we voted on a bill to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16, members opposite defeated that bill. The Liberal government said no. In this country, 14 year olds now can lawfully have sex with adults. That is wrong.

Then the government used Chuck Cadman's good name and said it would be tough on crime. The only problem is that the bills that have been brought forward, like this one, Bill C-64 on vehicle identification number removal, do not reflect the spirit of what Chuck Cadman meant when he wanted to make sure that there were some teeth in the bill.

Let us look at the gun registry. Everyone knows that we want guns off the streets. We know now that there is more gun violence across Canada than ever before. This is another historic blueprint that the Liberal government has put on the backs of Canadian citizens. There is a lot of money for scandal. There is a lot of money for Liberal-friendly people, but there is no money for soldiers or police forces or for putting more police officers on the street.

When we talk about vehicle identification removal, we have to put the teeth into everything so that there are consequences for the crimes committed. When in Manitoba in the city of Winnipeg a vehicle is stolen every hour and when we have diminished police resources and a Youth Justice Act that has no teeth, we have big problems.

Also today, I would like to applaud this honourable former member of Parliament, Chuck Cadman, who did everything he could to make Canadian streets safer.

Motor vehicle theft costs Canadians an estimated $600 million a year. The impact that this crime has on families is phenomenal. Clearly in this decade it is so regrettable that the current Liberal government is unable to get a plan forward that can protect the citizens of Canada.

For my province of Manitoba, I have to say quite clearly that Canadians can take a lot of hope from the policies we have on this side of the House and from the information and the plan we on this side of the House have.

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Joe Preston Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for her story today.

Mr. Cadman came forward with two pieces of legislation, the one we debated last week and this one that we are debating today. Those bills were very strong and were very dear to his heart. They had some very good teeth in them, so to speak, to help prevent the two crimes he talked about, including this particular one about vehicle identification number removal.

Could the hon. member share with the House why she thinks the government, in Chuck Cadman's name, has watered down his two pieces of legislation, specifically this one, and has made them not nearly as strong or as easy to enforce as they might have been?

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

10:25 a.m.

Conservative

Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB

Mr. Speaker, my colleague's question is a very good one. The problem is the culture of a philosophy about crime issues. Members opposite have a philosophy that does not protect Canadians. There are no teeth in the laws nor are there consequences for crimes that are committed. Chuck Cadman's name is used on this bill, but it does not resemble what the hon. member had in mind to curtail these crimes.

It is really a very serious environment that has been set up in Canada, an environment where crime reigns supreme, police officers are diminished and we have big problems on the streets in every major city across Canada.

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

10:25 a.m.

Conservative

Garry Breitkreuz Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleague as well. I appreciated her remarks. My reaction to this legislation and much of what is debated in the House is this: why do we not really get to and start debating the real causes of violence and crime in our society? We seem to be very superficial in a lot of discussions of this.

I want to zero in on something that has happened in Saskatchewan over the last 30 years or so. Saskatchewan now has the highest property crime rate in Canada and most of North America. The real concern of people in Saskatchewan is that we do not have enough police officers on our streets.

In some cities in the province, we have over 140 Criminal Code incidents per police officer. Now, if we pause and reflect on this statistic for a minute, we will realize that some of these police officers have to deal with a Criminal Code incident every second day of their working lives in the province. How can policemen do a good job of witnessing in the courts and of targeting the criminals in our community when they are so stressed out? They have to do all the paperwork as well, and the amount of paperwork involved in dealing with some of these Criminal Code incidents now is horrific.

It seems as though the Liberals want to get us talking about all kinds of extraneous issues when in fact we should be talking about targeting and improving the enforcement of law and order in our communities. I wonder if the member could comment on that.