Debates of Oct. 26th, 2005

Infrastructure

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of International Trade.

Numerous countries that have significant trade with Canada also have policies that ensure that government funded projects include a considerable percentage of local labour and purchasing. The United States buy American policy requires that 60% of components used in manufacturing, such as steel or wood, must come from the U.S. and that final assembly must be performed in that country.

What is our government doing to ensure that federal funds provided for infrastructure improvements, such as gas tax funding, are spent in Canada and provide employment for Canadians?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for this very important question.

Let me assure him that the decision on how the funds we are providing to cities and municipalities across the country for infrastructure are spent is up to those municipalities and communities. They are not subject to any international rules with respect to government procurement. I am sure that those municipalities will make the best possible use of those moneys which we are spending in cooperation with them.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Right Hon. Jack McConnell, member of the Scottish Parliament and First Minister of Scotland.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker]

I would like to draw to the attention of the House the presence in the gallery of His Excellency Cristian Preda, Romanian Secretary of State for the Francophonie and personal representative of the President of Romania to the Francophonie.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Points of Order

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I want to clarify that the provisions of Bill C-2, which I indicated would come into force on November 30, will come into force November 1, a month earlier.

[Eleni Bakopanos, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Social Development (Social Economy)]

Mr. Speaker, during an exchange that took place between the member for Central Nova and the Prime Minister, there was some very unparliamentary language, which I will not use nor repeat. I would ask you to look at the blues.

It is true that the member for Central Nova was sitting down at the time, but it was quite loud, and three rows of members of Parliament found that language very disturbing.

I would ask if you would check the blues and ask the hon. member to withdraw his comments to the Prime Minister of our country.

[The Speaker]

I thank the hon. member for Ahuntsic for her point. I certainly will check the blues. I missed such language myself. If there were something, I am sure the member for Central Nova would want to comply in every respect with the rules.

Committees of the House

[Lloyd St. Amand, Liberal, Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

The committee has studied Bill C-54, an act to provide first nations with the option of managing and regulating oil and gas exploration and exploitation and of receiving moneys otherwise held for them by Canada. The committee has agreed to report Bill C-54 without amendment.

[Leon Benoit, Conservative, Vegreville—Wainwright, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

Canada Pension Plan

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-432, An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan (arrears of benefits).

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce legislation that has been introduced once before by Mr. Caccia when he was here.

The legislation would amend the Canada pension plan so that any person applying for a pension once reaching the age of qualifying would always be able to receive retroactive payments, rather than the current maximum of 12 months.

It also would provide for full retroactive payments for a disability pension, a survivor's pension and a disabled contributor's child benefit rather than current maximums of either 15 months or 12 months for those different pensions.

This is something that should be automatic for our seniors, not something for which they should have to fight. My colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore agrees with me on this.

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

Firearms Act

[Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-433, An Act to amend the Firearms Act (registration of handguns).

Mr. Speaker, I have been forced to introduce this bill because the government refuses to take steps to bring into full force and effect the Firearms Act, section 12(6.1), an amendment passed by Parliament in Bill C-10A and given royal assent on May 13, 2003.

The federal government issued the owners of these firearms a firearms acquisition certificate before they purchased these handguns. Then the government approved the registration of their handguns in accordance with the law that existed up until December 1, 1998.

All these law-abiding gun owners want to do is re-register their handguns in accordance with the Firearms Act as it exists today. The problem is the government failed to implement the will of Parliament because it did not bring the Bill C-10A amendments into force in time to allow these law-abiding firearms' owners to take advantage of the grandfathering privileges we provided for them in section 12(6.1).

My simple amendment to the Firearms Act would remedy this dilemma and save the government the embarrassment and cost of hundreds of lawsuits.

As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was quoted in newspapers yesterday saying, “Handguns in the right hands are not the problem”. He is right and Parliament has already decided these section 12(6) handguns are in the right hands.

Let us pass my bill and finish the job Parliament started in Bill C-10A.

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

Committees of the House

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, discussions have taken place among all parties concerning the recorded divisions scheduled to take place later today on the two motions to concur in two separate finance committee reports. I believe that you would find consent for the following motion. I move:

That the recorded divisions scheduled to take place later today on the motions to concur in the 16th and 17th reports of the Standing Committee on Finance be deemed concurred in.

[The Speaker]

Does the hon. chief government whip have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker]

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

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

(Motion agreed to)

Petitions

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise again on an issue that I have spoken about a number of times in the House with regard to date rape drugs. The petitions I have in hand were signed by a number of my constituents and people across the country. The petitioners call upon the federal government to take stronger action with regard to the issue of date rape drugs.

They call upon the government to do three things: first, to have a separate section of the Criminal Code dealing with date rape drugs to facilitate newer tougher penalties dealing with drug-assisted sexual assaults; second, to have national standards for the collection of evidence with regard to sexual assaults and rapes to facilitate prosecution; and third, to have a national effort to educate young women on the dangers of date rape drugs.

I was pleased to announce yesterday that the petitions I have tabled eclipse the number of 10,000 Canadians who have joined my fight against date rape drugs. These are more Canadians who are continuing to call upon the government to finally stand up and do something.

[Sue Barnes, Liberal, London West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today which has been signed by numerous constituents in my riding of London West. The petitioners ask that Parliament consider a meaningful joint recovery strategy with our American neighbours to protect the orca population living off the B.C. coast.

I have met with a young lady, who is eight or nine years of age, Precious Soufan, who organized the petition. I commend her for her very hard work and dedication on this important environmental issue.

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition from 71 residents of Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan, in my constituency. The petitioners are concerned about the possibility of their rural post office being closed by the Canada Post Corporation.

They call upon the government to ensure that such a move does not take place.

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition, with respect to marriage, signed by 100 petitioners from Ontario and Alberta. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to support and protect the past legal definition of marriage as the voluntary union of a man and a woman.

They ask that we do all things within the power of Parliament legislatively and administratively to preserve and protect the traditional heterosexual definition of marriage as between one man and one woman and that it should not be the role of the unelected judiciary to decide such fundamental matters of policy.

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure for me to rise yet again to present a petition as I have done at every opportunity, this one on behalf of citizens from Hamilton, Burlington, Port Colborne, Halton Hills, Oakville, Mississauga, Waterloo and Kingston.

The petitioners wish to draw to our attention that on average about 2,000 children are adopted each year from countries abroad and brought to Canada by adoptive families here. Despite the fact that in the United States and Great Britain these young children would receive automatic citizenship, they do not have that privilege accorded to them in our country.

Therefore, they 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.

As I have done on other days, I call upon the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to uphold his commitment to the Canadian people to do this as soon as possible.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it really is an honour to rise today in the House of Commons to introduce a petition on behalf of my constituents. The petitioners call upon the government to turn over the land on which the Queensway Carleton Hospital sits to the hospital for the rental price of $1.

The Liberal government and the Prime Minister have been threatening a major multimillion dollar rent increase on the hospital. We could put to rest these concerns by simply having the hospital charged $1 a year, which would free up dollars for patient care.

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honour that I rise today in the House to present two petitions from my constituents in Cambridge.

The first will be of interest to my colleague, the member for Macleod. He recently has made a bold and decisive decision which states that when we are on that side of the House, we will be in the government of course and we will not impose a 30% surtax on imported bicycles.

My constituents ask the government to do exactly what my colleague has recommended.

I commend him for making a decision and my constituents for articulating that in this petition.