House of Commons Hansard #117 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was budget.

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Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

10:40 a.m.

The Acting Speaker (Hon. Jean Augustine)

Call in the members.

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

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:30 a.m.

The Speaker

I declare the motion carried.

I wish to inform the House that there are 2 hours and 29 minutes remaining for debate on the motion for concurrence in the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Health.

Accordingly, debate on the motion is deferred until a future sitting of the House.

The House will now resume with the remaining business under routine proceedings under the rubric motions.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Brent St. Denis Liberal Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to ask the House for unanimous consent to revert to reports from committees. Earlier this morning the industry committee adopted Bill S-18. I am wondering if I could report that to the House.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

The Speaker

Is there unanimous consent to revert to presenting reports from committees?

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Some hon. members

No.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, due to the amount of noise in the House I know that a couple of the whips from the other parties did not hear the request from the member. I would ask for consent that the question again be put to revert to reports from committees.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

The Speaker

Perhaps there could be some discussions. We are still in routine proceedings and the discussions could go on while we proceed with petitions. We are now on petitions.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Leon Benoit Conservative Vegreville—Wainwright, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present a petition on behalf of Albertans on the issue of marriage.

These petitioners say that marriage is an issue which should be decided by the elected people in this House and not by the courts. The petitioners want the members of this House to uphold the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. Would it be appropriate for me to read the names of all the petitioners? No, I guess not.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

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

Mr. Speaker, I stand on behalf of well over 1,000 constituents from my riding of South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale who are asking that I present this petition.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to recognize that marriage is the best foundation for families and the raising of children, and that the institution of marriage between a man and a woman is being challenged. The House passed a motion in June 1999 that called for marriage to continue to be recognized as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others and that marriage is the exclusive jurisdiction of Parliament.

Based on this information, they are asking that Parliament pass legislation to recognize the institution of marriage in federal law as being a lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. I would seek permission to read the roughly 1,300 names in sequential order.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

The Speaker

I think the hon. member knows that the practice with relation to petitions is that the member give a brief summary of the petition, which he has done in brilliant form. He is going to have to assuage his enthusiasm with what he has already done and refrain from reading out the list of names, as his hon. colleague from Vegreville—Wainwright discovered when he asked the same question.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Stockwell Day Conservative Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first is from the area in and around Penticton and the second is a like-minded petition from people around British Columbia.

The first petition is from parents of very special children, children who are autistic. They are requesting, and I support their request, that Parliament amend the Canada Health Act and corresponding regulations to include certain therapies, which are identified, for children with autism as a medically necessary treatment and require that all provinces provide or fund this essential treatment.

They are also asking for the creation of academic chairs at a university in each province to teach these very specific IBI/ABA therapies, which are proven to be very beneficial with very high success rates for children with autism.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Stockwell Day Conservative Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC

Mr. Speaker, my second petition is from a group of university students, with whom we held a news conference. Colleagues have tabled similar petitions.

These students, in the midst of preparing for examinations at the university level, still took the time to petition and call upon the government to push the UN and gather international support to broaden the mandate of the African Union to allow for intervention under chapter 7 of the UN charter in order to provide multinational resources in Darfur.

I congratulate these university level students for taking the time to have an effect on a very challenging situation on this planet.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure for me to rise and present a petition today on behalf of the residents of Prince George—Peace River, in particular the citizens of the communities of Tumbler Ridge, Wonowon, Hudson's Hope, Charlie Lake, Baldonnel, Cecil Lake and the city of Fort St. John.

These petitioners wish to draw to the attention of the House of Commons that they believe that marriage is the best foundation for families and the raising of children. They note that the institution of marriage as the union between a man and a women is being challenged under Bill C-38 in this place.

They also note that marriage is the exclusive jurisdiction of Parliament. Therefore, they call upon Parliament to pass legislation to recognize the institution of marriage in federal law as being a lifelong union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Gurbax Malhi Liberal Bramalea—Gore—Malton, ON

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my constituents I wish to present the following petition. The petitioners call upon Parliament to build a better and fairer employment insurance system and to do so by first making the legislative reform as recommended by the House of Commons committee on February 15, 2005.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Lynne Yelich Conservative Blackstrap, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions from villages in my riding that request that the government ask Canada Post to keep their post offices open. They believe that while Canada Post spends millions of dollars advertising at such events as hockey games, it could consider keeping the presence of the post office. These post offices give a federal presence in every small community across Canada, the province of Quebec, the Maritimes, Atlantic Canada and the north. The petitioners would like their post offices to remain open.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of a number of Canadians, over 10,000 now, including a number from my own riding of Mississauga South, on the subject matter of marriage.

The petitioners want to make three observations. First, they believe that the fundamental matter of social policies should be decided by elected members of Parliament and not by the unelected judiciary. Second, the majority of Canadians support the current legal definition of marriage; and third, it is the duty of Parliament to define marriage.

They therefore call upon Parliament to use all legislative and administrative 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 woman to the exclusion of all others.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Conservative

Norman Doyle Conservative St. John's North, NL

Mr. Speaker, I want to present a petition on behalf of 300 to 400 constituents in St. John's East who wish to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the majority of Canadians support a democratic government where elected members of Parliament represent the voice of Canadians in matters of social policy in the nation and not an appointed judiciary.

The majority of Canadians support the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. They call upon Parliament to enact legislation to uphold and protect the current definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Brent St. Denis Liberal Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am going to ask the House once again, now that we have had clarification. The Standing Committee on Industry, Natural Resources, Science and Technology earlier this morning passed Bill S-18. I am asking the House to revert to reports from committees for a moment.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:45 a.m.

The Speaker

Does the House give its consent to revert to reports from committees at this time?

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

11:45 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Brent St. Denis Liberal Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Natural Resources, Science and Technology in relation to Bill S-18, an act to amend the Statistics Act.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

11:45 a.m.

Beauséjour New Brunswick

Liberal

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

11:45 a.m.

The Speaker

Is that agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

11:45 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.