Debates of Nov. 28th, 2005

Income Tax Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-460, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (definition of "Gaspé Peninsula").

Mr. Speaker, this bill seeks to eliminate the discrimination that currently exists in my riding, where half of the people in the riding, living in Montmagny—L'Islet RCM, are not eligible for a tax credit that applies to residents of Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup. I hope that the introduction of this bill today will provide some inspiration to the government for its next budget.

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

Canada Labour Code

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Dewdney—Alouette, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-461, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers).

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to introduce this bill because the protracted Telus labour dispute revealed some flaws in the current Canada Labour Code provisions with respect to replacement workers.

The bill would require an employer to convince the CIRB that the use of replacement workers would not undermine the union and to receive written authorization to that effect before any replacement workers could be used.

The bill would improve the current situation where the employer puts replacement workers in place and then the union has to file a complaint and wait for an unacceptably long time for the CIRB to rule. In the meantime the damage is done. This would be an improvement.

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

Income Tax Act

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-462, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (travel expenses).

Mr. Speaker, how many times have we dreamed about travelling abroad? Instead of getting away to a foreign destination, why not spend time relaxing in Canada?

Today, I am pleased to introduce an act to amend the Income Tax Act to provide a maximum deduction of $1,000 from a taxpayer's income in respect of the expenses of purchasing tickets for the taxpayer or members of the taxpayer's family for travel by airplane, train or bus if the travel involves crossing at least three different provincial boundaries.

It seems that Canadians from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island can agree that we live in a beautiful country filled with natural and cosmopolitan wonders alike. However, why do so many Canadians think about travelling abroad instead of discovering their country first?

As chair of the finance committee, I had the opportunity to travel across Canada this fall during prebudget consultations. I wondered how many Canadians got to visit all corners of our vast country. The bill would promote national unity by allowing Canadians to learn more about their fellow citizens and could only have a positive effect on local economies with the additional money spent during these trips.

This private member's bill would be revenue neutral to the finance department.

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

Excise Tax Act

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-463, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (rebate on goods and services tax on new homes).

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to present a private member's bill respecting the GST rebate levied on new housing. The rebate is critical in reducing real estate market price distortions, particularly in my province of British Columbia where prices are reaching record highs.

The bill seeks to increase the bracket at which the GST rebate applies on new housing. The new bracket would account for price inflation, since the GST was first introduced, and would index the rebate to account for future price inflation as well.

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

Governor General Appointment and Dismissal Act

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-464, An Act to provide for the appointment and dismissal of a Governor General.

Mr. Speaker, many Canadians, myself included, are delighted with the performance of Canada's new Governor General and wish her many years of success. We are not, however, equally delighted with the system by which governors general are appointed and may be dismissed, which is to say entirely at the discretion of the Prime Minister. This is the result of a holdover convention from the 19th century under which the Queen acts entirely on the advice of the prime minister in making these decisions.

This is most important not in regard to the appointment of a governor general but rather with regard to the dismissal of a governor general. It was on this basis in 1975 in Australia, a country in which I lived for some time, that the governor general dismissed the prime minister and the prime minister's first action was to attempt to cause the governor general to be dismissed by speaking directly to the Queen.

Had this occurred and had he been successful, the country would have been thrown into a constitutional crisis. The goal is to prevent this kind of thing from ever occurring in Canada in the future.

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

Personal Watercraft Act

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

moved that Bill S-12, An Act concerning personal watercraft in navigable waters, be read the first time.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bill that Senator Spivak has been working on in the other House. It is a bill that essentially speaks to Conservative principles, which is giving more power, money, control and authority to municipalities and cottage counties when it comes to regulating personal watercraft for noise and pollution purposes. It is something that we stand for, which is taking more power out of the hands of Ottawa and giving it back to the hands of municipalities and local governments.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Committees of the House

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Health, presented on Monday, April 11, be concurred in.

For the information of the House, I only intend to make a couple of comments on this matter. It has to do with Bill C-206, health warning labels on the containers of alcoholic beverages. The bill passed by a 90% plurality in the House at second reading. It was referred to committee.

As a consequence of the proceedings, the members of the committee wanted to explore the opportunity with Health Canada to have a comprehensive strategy for addressing fetal alcohol syndrome. That was not forthcoming at the time. As a consequence, this report was issued, recommending that the House not further deal with Bill C-206. The members also passed a motion that Health Canada be asked to table a comprehensive strategy dealing with Bill C-206, fetal alcohol syndrome, and that was done in June.

Therefore, it is my sincere wish that the House vote no on the concurrence motion that I have presented today so together we can move forward on a comprehensive public education campaign, including health warning labels on the containers of alcoholic beverages, to address fetal alcohol syndrome, the preventable tragedy.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

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

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

[Some hon. members]

Yea.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

All those opposed will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

In my opinion the nays have it.

And more than five members having risen:

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

Call in the members.

And the bells having rung:

[The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)]

A recorded division on the motion stands deferred until tomorrow at the end of government orders.

Petitions

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from people in Peterborough who are concerned about kidney disease.

The petitioners know that real progress is being made in various ways of preventing and coping with kidney disease, in particular, the development of a bioartificial kidney.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to make research funding available to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the explicit purpose of conducting bioartificial kidney research as an extension of research being conducted in the United States.

I thank Ken Sharp of Peterborough for his fine work on these petitions.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by 148 members of St. Anne's Women's Group in Peterborough. They point out that Bill C-2 did not change the age of consent. The age remains at 14 years, yet 14 to 17 year olds do not have the maturity to recognize exploitive relationships.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to protect children rather than adults by moving swiftly to change the age of consent.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from more than 300 students at Trent University who come from all over Ontario.

The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the fact that as a result of the funding cuts of the 1990s, over 1.7 million Canadians are at risk of becoming homeless.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to double the commitment to housing programs by restoring and renewing housing spending.

[Peter Adams, Liberal, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have one more petition to present today from supplied managed farmers in my constituency.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to put all poultry, dairy and egg product tariff lines in the sensitive products category at the WTO negotiations.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition signed by over 500 residents in my riding. The petitioners are asking the Minister of Transport to maintain, at their current level, the essential flight security services provided by NAV CANADA at the Roberval airport.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition with 907 signatures to be added to the 130,000 names on the petitions already tabled by my colleagues from the region. The petitioners are opposing the closure of the postal sorting facility in Quebec City.

As we know, this sorting centre was closed without providing a downsizing plan. This is why the public is expressing its outrage about the closure of the sorting facility for the Quebec City region. The petition has now been signed by 131,000 people.

[Betty Hinton, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present a petition on behalf of hundreds of my constituents.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to protect our children by taking all necessary steps to raise the age of consent from 14 years to 18 years.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present several petitions signed by people of Essex and other rural communities, such as farmers who drive their pick-up trucks, families who drive mini-vans, and people who drive vehicles, not bicycles, to commute to and from work.

The petitioners are seriously concerned about the government profiting from high gas taxes. They call on the House to immediately cap the amount of GST collected once the price of fuel reaches a certain level and eliminate the tax on tax where Ottawa charges GST on top of other fuel taxes.