House of Commons Hansard #101 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.

Topics

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON

Mr. Speaker, the third petition calls upon Parliament to correct the mistake of 1982 and amend the Constitution Act of 1867 to include the right to own, use and earn a living from private property.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of residents of my riding of Mississauga South on the subject matter of marriage.

The petitioners want to draw to the attention of the House that the majority of Canadians believe that the legal definition of marriage is a voluntary union of a single man and a single woman. They also point out that fundamental matters of social policy should be decided by elected members of Parliament and not by the unelected judiciary.

The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to use all administrative and legislative measures possible, including the invocation of section 33 of the charter, commonly known as the notwithstanding clause, to preserve and protect the current definition of marriage as being the legal union of one man and one women to the exclusion of all others.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Bloc

Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a petition signed by more than 1,000 members of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers-CSN, who have been working without a collective agreement for three years. They are calling on the Treasury Board to negotiate a suitable pension plan.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Gurmant Grewal Conservative Newton—North Delta, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on behalf of the residents of Newton—North Delta to present several petitions calling upon Parliament to use all possible legislative and administrative measures to preserve and protect the current definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Nina Grewal Conservative Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on behalf of the constituents of Fleetwood—Port Kells to present a petition signed by hundreds of people from the city of Surrey and surrounding communities.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to review the deportation order against the Funes family of Surrey. In particular, they wish parliamentarians to consider the probable consequences if the family is forced to return to El Salvador. They wish us to review the case and allow the Funes family to remain in Canada.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Nina Grewal Conservative Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present another petition on behalf of my constituents in Fleetwood—Port Kells who wish to bring to the attention of the House that children suffering from autism spectrum disorder are among the weakest and most vulnerable sector of Canadian society, and that the rate of children being diagnosed with ASD is high and increasing at an alarming rate.

The petitioners therefore call upon Parliament to amend the Canada Health Act and corresponding regulations to include intensive behavioural intervention therapy for children with autism as a medically necessary treatment and for the creation of academic chairs at a university in each province to teach IBI treatment, so that Canadian professionals will no longer have to leave the country to receive training in this field.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour today to present a petition to the House of over 800 names from the people of my riding of Simcoe—Grey. All of these constituents call upon the Government of Canada to change the Income Tax Act to allow spouses to pay taxes as if the total family income were earned equally. This is known as income splitting.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Bloc

Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC

Mr. Speaker, at the request and on behalf of thousands of individuals, I am tabling a petition calling on the government to immediately implement a refugee appeal section, as passed by this House.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Speaker, my first petition is from a number of petitioners calling on Parliament to use all possible legislative and administrative measures, including the invoking of the notwithstanding clause if necessary, to preserve the correct definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Speaker, another petition that I am tabling is from several hundred residents of Hepburn, Saskatchewan, who are concerned about the possibility of their rural post office being closed by Canada Post. The petitioners are calling on the government to ensure that such a move does not take place.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Speaker, a third petition I am tabling today is from 46 Canadians who are calling on the government to focus its stem cell funding dollars on adult or non-embryonic stem cell research. They say that non-embryonic stem cell research has produced beneficial health results and it does not result in the taking of human life.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure of tabling a petition from people in Prince Edward Island who call on the government to return to its previous policy of allowing holy books to be made available to new citizens at citizenship ceremonies around the country.

These petitioners note that a citizenship judge terminated this policy alleging that the policy discriminated against non-religious immigrants. Up to last year holy books were simply displayed on tables at the back of the hall free for new citizens to take. These new citizens were not handed the books. They were not forced on them. The judge produced no evidence to justify his inappropriate decision to ban the availability of holy books.

Therefore, these petitioners ask for the citizenship commission to return to the previous policy of just a few years back which has served our multicultural nation so very well over so many years.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Betty Hinton Conservative Kamloops—Thompson, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to rise today to present a petition in memory of RCMP officers Brock Myrol, Leo Johnston, Anthony Gordon and Peter Schiemann.

The petitioners state:

“We the undersigned residents of Canada draw the attention of the House to the following:

That the tragic deaths of four RCMP officers reinforces our belief that decriminalizing the possession of marijuana will only serve to increase the number of grow operations throughout the country; that the number of Canadian youth using marijuana will increase throughout our country; that the use of marijuana damages the health and well-being of our citizens; that the decriminalization of possession of marijuana signals to the--

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

The Speaker

Order, please. The hon. member knows she cannot read the petition to the House. I know she will give a brief summary.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Betty Hinton Conservative Kamloops—Thompson, BC

Mr. Speaker, the petitioners ask that Bill C-17 and any legislation designed to decriminalize the possession and use of marijuana be withdrawn.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have a series of petitions that I would like to table with respect to the closure of rural post offices. The petitioners call upon Parliament to keep the Grenfell post office open and retain the moratorium on rural post office closures. It is signed by 120 residents of that community.

There is another petition similar in type and vein relating to the Fleming post office signed by 59 residents of that community, as well as the community of Minton, Saskatchewan.

I have 108 residents of Torquay, Saskatchewan asking that the Torquay post office remain open and that the moratorium on rural post offices be maintained.

Additionally, I have 248 residents from the community of Stoughton, Saskatchewan asking that the petition be filed as well.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have another petition relating to autism. The petitioners are asking Parliament to amend the Canada Health Act and corresponding regulations to include therapy for children with autism as a medically necessary treatment and require all provinces to provide or fund this essential treatment for autism.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

Greg Thompson Conservative St. Croix—Belleisle, NB

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions from my riding of New Brunswick Southwest, mainly the citizens of the Grand Bay-Westfield area, Nerepis area and that section of the riding.

The petitioners are calling on Parliament to pass legislation defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Conservative

Greg Thompson Conservative St. Croix—Belleisle, NB

Mr. Speaker, I have another petition which I know that you would be interested in because the petitioners are from Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, and I know you are familiar with that area as well as Bayside and St. Stephen.

The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to enact legislation that would prohibit the transport of LNG tankers through Head Harbour Passage bound for a refinery or an LNG terminal in Eastport, Maine.

I know the House wants clarification on this. Basically those LNG tankers can only get to the United States if they pass through this very dangerous Canadian passage. The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to say no to the passage of those ships. I know, Mr. Speaker, that you would like to see that happen.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

Don Boudria Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to revert to the presentation of reports from committees. I have changes in committee membership to make for both sides of the House.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

The Speaker

Does the House give its consent to the hon. member to return to presenting reports from committees?

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

Don Boudria Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 39th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership of certain committees of the House, and I would like to move concurrence at this time.

(Motion agreed to)

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Beauséjour New Brunswick

Liberal

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

Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 122 and 123.

Question No. 122Routine Proceedings

May 18th, 2005 / 3:25 p.m.

Conservative

Dean Allison Conservative Niagara West—Glanbrook, ON

Since October 23, 1993, did Ekos or its principals receive any: ( a ) grants, contributions or loan guarantees and, if so, (i) what was the source (i.e., department, agency, crown corporation, special operating agency or foundation), value, date made and reasons for providing the funding in each case, (ii) what is their present status, whether paid, repaid, or unpaid, including the value of the repayment, (iii) what was the total amount received; and ( b ) contracts and, if so, (i) were the contracts fulfilled, (ii) what were their contract number, source, value, date made, reasons for providing the funding, (iii) were these contracts tendered and if the tendering was limited what would be the reason for the limitation, (iv) what was the total amount of contracts obtained, and what was the total amount of all the funds provided to Ekos or its principals, (v) was it a standing offer, and, if so, what was the number and type of standing offer?