House of Commons Hansard #156 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was history.

Topics

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

Conservative

Garry Breitkreuz Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK

Mr. Speaker, I would like to be recorded as voting yes.

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

Conservative

James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to be recorded as voting yes to the motion.

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Is the hon. member switching his vote from a no to a yes?

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

Conservative

James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC

Yes.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I declare the motion lost.

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

Bloc

Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like some explanations. Earlier I rose to seek unanimous consent. I wanted Bill C-301, providing retroactivity to seniors who did not get their Guaranteed Income Supplement, introduced by my colleague from Champlain, to be read the third time immediately, since it was passed unanimously by this House at second reading. I therefore sought unanimous consent for that.

During the last vote I had a chance to verify. The NDP is in favour of the Guaranteed Income Supplement and so are the Conservatives. I want to know whether the government, after voting in favour of the bill at second reading stage—

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Order, please. It is an interesting question, but I do not think it is a point of order. Several hon. members then said no.

There was no unanimous consent and it is time to move on.

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

Liberal

Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON

Mr. Speaker, it might help you to know that the premise of the member's motion was based on the idea that the House was unanimous in voting in favour. You probably have not had time to check but I did not vote in favour of that particular motion.

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

If I could just intervene really quickly. We had a request for unanimous consent to move immediately to third reading but there was no unanimous consent so the issue is over.

The hon. member for Vancouver East, is this on the same issue? If this is on a different issue, the hon. member for Vancouver East.

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, I would like it to be clear, because it was very confusing at the time, that 100% of the NDP--

Parliament of Canada ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

There is no confusion. There was no consent.

The House resumed from November 22 consideration of the motion that Bill C-380, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (pregnant or nursing employees), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Canada Labour CodePrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at the second reading stage of Bill C-380 under private members' business.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Canada Labour CodePrivate Members' Business

6:35 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I declare the motion carried. Accordingly, the bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills Development, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.

(Bill read the second time and referred to a committee)

Message from the SenatePrivate Members' Business

6:35 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I have the honour to inform the House that a message has been received from the Senate informing this House that the Senate has passed certain bills, to which the concurrence of this House is desired.

It being 6:38 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's order paper.

The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill C-331, An Act to recognize the injustice that was done to persons of Ukrainian descent and other Europeans who were interned at the time of the First World War and to provide for public commemoration and for restitution which is to be devoted to public education and the promotion of tolerance, as reported (with amendment) from the committee.

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

November 23rd, 2005 / 6:35 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

Before the House proceeds to report stage of Bill C-331, I would like to refer hon. members to my ruling of March 21, 2005 at pages 4372 and 4373 of Hansard, in which I determined that Bill C-331, in the form it was then in, required a royal recommendation in order to be put to a vote at third reading. At that time, I said, “If the bill is amended at committee or report stage, the need for a royal recommendation may be removed and a vote may be requested”.

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage reported the bill with amendments on November 3. I have examined the report and note that the bill has been amended so as to remove the need for a royal recommendation. Accordingly, Bill C-331 may proceed to a vote at third reading.

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Conservative

Inky Mark Conservative Dauphin—Swan River, MB

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to)

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

When shall the bill be read the third time? By leave, now?

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Conservative

Inky Mark Conservative Dauphin—Swan River, MB

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the member for Kildonan—St. Paul for seconding the bill and for her continued support of the Ukrainian community in Winnipeg.

It is indeed an honour to rise this evening to debate Bill C-331, the Ukrainian Canadian restitution act, at its final reading.

This is a historic day not only for the over one million Ukrainian Canadians, but also for Canada as a society.

I will not use up all of my allotted time in order that all members and all parties get to speak to Bill C-331 this evening.

It is indeed a miracle that Bill C-331 has made it this far. The question I ask is how did Bill C-331 get this far? Bill C-331 succeeded because there was goodwill and cooperation on the part of many people. I have a lot of people to thank. Getting Bill C-331 to this stage has truly been a team effort.

It was truly a team effort on the part of the Ukrainian community, the Taras Shevchenko Foundation, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Ukrainian Civil Liberties Association and the thousands of Canadians of Ukrainian descent who have worked on this redress issue for over two decades.

It was truly a team effort on the part of the House of Commons, the Liberal government members, the Conservative Party members, the Bloc Party members as well as the NDP members.

We all know that after two decades it is time for the government to resolve this outstanding issue in the history of this country. This bleak event in Canadian history must be recognized and we, as a society, must learn from it. This is an issue of justice denied.

I am honoured to have tabled Bill C-331 three times in the House. I am honoured to have had the opportunity to represent the wishes of the Ukrainian community in Canada.

Passing Bill C-331 demonstrates the mature Canada that people in this country expect. It makes a loud statement that Canada has grown up, that Canada can accept its past, that Canada can learn from its past, that Canada will not repeat this history.

Bill C-331 would never have gotten out of committee without the full cooperation of its members and political parties. I want to thank the heritage minister, the chairman of the heritage committee, the parliamentary secretary, all the party leaders, including my own party leader who spoke at the second reading stage of Bill C-331, and all members of the committee.

All members of the committee involved in this parliamentary process, in fact all members of the House, can surely take credit for the success of Bill C-331. There was political will to do the right thing and that actually happened to help push Bill C-331 to this stage this evening.

It is my hope that in passing Bill C-331, the House of Commons will send a strong signal to this government and to the next government that the people of Canada have spoken and spoken loudly to get on with it and to bring resolution to this issue.

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Conservative

Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for persevering with Bill C-331 and for standing up for the Ukrainian community.

Tonight is a historic moment in the House of Commons because all parties have been a part of something that is very good. I applaud the member for Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette for taking the leadership.

Could the member please make some comments about the future in terms of what will happen with the bill?

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

Conservative

Inky Mark Conservative Dauphin—Swan River, MB

Mr. Speaker, as we in this chamber know, the probability is high that the House will rise next week, which means that even if the bill passes the House this evening, it will not get consent through the Senate.

Even with that, we have reached a point of success that is miraculous, as the bill has been tabled three times and the Ukrainian community in Canada has struggled for over two decades to find resolution to their redress issues.

I must repeat that I believe if the House has the will to pass the bill this evening, it certainly will send a strong message to this government and the next government that the country is speaking and that this issue cannot continually drag on. Issues like these must be resolved. The government must bring resolution to this issue.

Ukrainian Canadian Restitution ActPrivate Members' Business

6:45 p.m.

Yukon Yukon

Liberal

Larry Bagnell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your good work over this session.

I thank the member both for his speech and for leaving me some time because I wanted to get my speech of support in too. I think this is great. I wonder if the member could comment on reparation in general, not just for this particular group. The fact is that we are doing a number of these and there are a number of them to do. Could he talk about the whole philosophy? Someone approached me on that question so I would like the member to speak to that in general.