Debates of Nov. 25th, 2005

Transportation

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the Bloc Québécois members' humour this morning. It is a change from their usual bad mood.

Transport Canada intends to take the necessary steps to ensure that Canadian National completes the bridge repairs in accordance with its obligations and commitments in this regard.

Message from the Senate

[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.

Government Response to Petitions

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to one petition.

Order in Council Appointments

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, in both official languages, an order in council appointment made recently by the government.

Gender Equality

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to present, in both official languages, a report entitled “The Expert Panel on Accountability Mechanisms for Gender Equality: Conclusions and Recommendations”.

Green Municipal Fund

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I am pleased to table, in both official languages, the Green Municipal Fund Annual Report for 2004-05 and the revised 2005-06 Green Municipal Fund Statement of Plans and Objectives.

Criminal Code

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-82, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (firearms).

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

Food and Drugs Act

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, for the Minister of Health]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-83, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (drug export restrictions).

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

Committees of the House

[Loyola Hearn, Conservative, St. John's South, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. The title says it all: “Northern Cod: A Failure of Canadian Fisheries Management”.

I wish to thank the staff and researchers, who did a tremendous job, along with the members of the committee. It is a unanimous report from the all party committee.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report within the 120 day limit.

Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-457, An Act to change the name of the electoral district of Simcoe--Grey.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure today to have the opportunity to rise in the House and present my private member's bill, which would change the name of my riding from Simcoe--Grey to Simcoe--Town of The Blue Mountains.

I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Bruce--Grey--Owen Sound for seconding my private member's bill.

The Town of The Blue Mountains is virtually the only part of Grey county that is in my riding. I want to thank and congratulate Mayor Ellen Anderson who worked so hard for the people of Blue Mountains and invite all Canadians to come to our beautiful four-season resort area.

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

Petitions

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great honour today to present two petitions on behalf of the people of Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar.

The first one deals with Canadian National Railway's decision to remove the terminal from the town of Biggar. It greatly affects the community and its citizens and there is a lot of worry about the environment and the employees of CN.

[Carol Skelton, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls on the House of Commons and the present Liberal government to remove the GST on gasoline prices. It greatly affects all of our communities and affects the people in the riding very much.

I am very grateful and privileged to present these petitions on behalf of my constituents.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the petitioners state that a tax exemption was issued for soldiers serving in high risk overseas missions and excluded service members who served on roto zero Operation Athena in Afghanistan between July 2003 and December 2003. Because those soldiers who served on roto zero established the mission in Afghanistan, stabilized the area of operation and handed the area over in good order to the soldiers of roto one, these petitioners want them to also be included in the exemption and they petition the government that they receive the same tax exemption as the soldiers of roto one Operation Athena.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with prize fighting. According to the petitioners, the government is outlawing encounters with fists or hands between two persons and exempts boxing contests. However, there is no exemption for martial arts and these petitioners would like to amend section 83 of the Criminal Code so that the exemptions include aikido, Inoue grappling, judo, jiu-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, kung fu, muay thai, taekwondo, tai chi and wrestling.

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

Mr. Speaker, the first petition I present comes from my constituents who wish to see an increase for parental sponsorship admissions and reduced processing times for sponsorship applications in our immigration system.

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

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls on the government to hand over the land on which the Queensway Carleton Hospital sits for the price of one dollar.

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

Mr. Speaker, the third petition that I present is from a number of my constituents who wish to see criminal prosecutions for members of the Liberal Party who were involved in the vast criminal conspiracy we know as the sponsorship scandal.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to present petitions on behalf of people with children with autism, calling for amendments to the Canada Health Act to include specific therapies as medically necessary.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the petition that I present on behalf of my constituents today deals with the twinning of Highway 63 in northern Alberta. Currently, the highway is only two lanes going north and south. There are tens of thousands of people who travel that highway every week and sometimes every day sometimes.

The petitioners ask, since $123 billion will come out of my riding in the form of taxes over the next 15 years and some 150,000 people will be living there in approximately 10 years, that this highway be twinned because of the type of traffic that uses the highway. This is the first of many petitions on this subject, which has over 1,500 signatures.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Robert Thibault, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

Is it agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Points of Order

[Charlie Penson, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, November 23 the hon. member for Edmonton—St. Albert raised a very important point of order with regard to form and substance of the supplementary estimates (A) for 2005-06.

The parliamentary secretary to the government House leader responded that he would get back to the House with the government's position in due course.

Given that this Parliament may be short lived and that the government may seek to use Governor General special warrants during a dissolution for spending that the member for Edmonton—St. Albert argued was not properly before the House, I would like to know if the government has determined a position yet?

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would point out that the parliamentary secretary to the House leader was very sincere when he said “in due course”. It will not be this party that is voting to end Parliament prematurely.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

We have to remember that Monday will be a sitting day.