Mr. Speaker, also from the constituents of Macleod, the second petition requests that the House reopen the issue of marriage in order to repeal or amend the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act in order to promote and defend marriage as the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

MarriagePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:10 p.m.

Conservative

Dick Harris Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to present a petition which contains literally hundreds of signatures from residents of B.C., including the riding of Cariboo—Prince George. These petitioners pray that Parliament will repeal or amend the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act in order to promote and defend marriage as the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Age of ConsentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Garry Breitkreuz Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me at this point to present a petition from hundreds of my constituents on the topic of the age of consent. They would like to draw the attention of the House to the fact that the protection of our children from sexual predators must be a top priority of the federal government. The Canadian Police Association and a number of provincial governments in a parliamentary committee report all favour raising the age of consent.

Also, studies show that 14 and 15 year olds are most vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including recruitment by pimps. It is the duty of Parliament through the enactment and enforcement of the Criminal Code to protect the most vulnerable.

Therefore, they petition the government assembled in Parliament to take all measures necessary to immediately raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years of age.

Small Craft HarboursPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Bloc

Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on a matter highly important to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and that is small craft harbours. In some cases, urgent attention is required. Hundreds of people in my riding, specifically in the Saint-Georges-de-la-Malbaie area in the municipality of Percé, are urgently asking that we repair the Saint-Georges-de-la-Malbaie wharf.

Foreign AffairsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present a petition on behalf of citizens calling on this place to defend and ensure that we never have the situation that we saw in Rwanda, and to ensure that genocide is something that we in fact make our cause and commit to ensuring it never happens again.

Never again.

Citizenship and ImmigrationPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Nina Grewal Conservative Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House to present a petition signed by the residents of Fleetwood—Port Kells.

The petitioners call upon the government assembled in Parliament to immediately lift barriers that prevent refugees from reaching Canada, to speed the immigration process for reuniting refugees and their families, to reform Canada's refugee and immigration program, to ensure full access to due process and fundamental justice, and finally to take further measures to help newcomers integrate into Canadian society.

Age of ConsentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today on the subject matter of age of consent that has been signed by a large number of Canadians, including from my own riding of Mississauga South.

I think Canadians would agree that the protection of our children from sexual predators must be a top priority for the Government of Canada and that studies have shown that 14 and 15 years old are the most vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including recruitment by pimps. The petitioners call upon Parliament to give serious consideration to raising the age of consent from 14 to 16 years of age.

MarriagePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Lynne Yelich Conservative Blackstrap, SK

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to present on behalf of my constituents and the people of Saskatchewan a petition which calls for Parliament to reopen debate on the definition of marriage, and to take all necessary steps to ensure that marriage remains the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Age of ConsentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Lynne Yelich Conservative Blackstrap, SK

Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition. On behalf of the residents of my riding and Canadians across the country, I present to the House a petition that calls upon the government to raise the age of consent. Raising the age of consent would offer our children more protection from sexual predators. They are the most vulnerable in our society and we must do everything in our power to protect them from such horrible crimes.

Falun GongPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Mayes Conservative Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present three petitions from my constituents of Okanagan—Shuswap.

The first petition draws the attention of the House to the treatment of the Falun Gong practitioners in China, particularly with reference to the illegal and inhumane harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners.

The petitioners ask the Canadian government to help stop these atrocities by condemning the communist regime for committing these crimes against humanity. They urge the Chinese regime to end the persecution of Falun Gong and release all Falun Gong practitioners immediately.

Child CarePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Mayes Conservative Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Mr. Speaker, my second petition comes from my constituents, requesting Parliament to provide the provinces and territories with annual funds of at least $1.2 billion to build a high quality, accessible and affordable community-based child care system to ensure fair and effective income support for programs for Canadian families.

Age of ConsentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Mayes Conservative Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Mr. Speaker, my third petition has over 300 signatures from my constituents. The petitioners request the government to take all measures necessary to immediately raise the age of consent from 14 years of age to 16 years of age.

Child CarePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from hundreds of citizens, mostly from St. Paul's, my riding, who find the current government's universal child care plan neither universal nor about child care.

The petitioners call upon the government to honour the early learning and child care agreement as negotiated by the former minister.

The EnvironmentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

John Cummins Conservative Delta—Richmond East, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition with about 1,200 names on it from people in my riding who are concerned about the expansion of Delta Port in the riding.

The concerns of the petitioners revolve around issues of air quality, which increased truck and ship traffic will bring, the noise from the port and wildlife losses. They are especially concerned about the truck traffic that will go through our community, an issue that has not been addressed yet.

Oral QuestionsPoints of OrderRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, my comments are in response to an issue raised by the hon. member for hon. Ottawa—Vanier, requesting that the government table documents to which the President of the Treasury Board referred under questioning the other week.

I would like to inform the hon. member that those documents have been filed. I suggest perhaps he pay a little closer attention when those documents are filed in this place.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

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

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Is that agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (street racing) and to make a consequential amendment to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

When the debate was interrupted for question period, the hon. Minister of National Revenue had the floor for questions and comments, and there are four and a half minutes remaining in the time allotted for this procedure. Therefore, I call for questions or comments.

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, one of the issues that has come up with regard to the bill on street racing is the broad changes that have been proposed with regard to different levels of the offence et cetera.

There has been a point raised in debate, on which I would like to have the member's comment. It has to do with whether the objectives of the bill, which I think has some general interest and support from the House, and the existing laws with regard to the dangerous or reckless use of an automobile can still apply in this case with the addition of an exacerbating factor such as street racing.

Would the member like to comment on whether the whole situation about creating a greater level of penalty with regard to street racing simply is an exacerbating factor which may be incorporated into the existing laws in the Criminal Code?

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar Saskatchewan

Conservative

Carol Skelton ConservativeMinister of National Revenue and Minister of Western Economic Diversification

Mr. Speaker, this is a whole new bill--

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

An hon. member

I understand, but do we need it?

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Carol Skelton Conservative Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK

Mr. Speaker, this goes in accord with the provincial governments and enforces their laws, which they already have on the books.

Criminal CodeGovernment Orders

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Mr. Speaker, I understand that the member is not a lawyer, that she is not on the justice committee and that she is reading a canned speech. If she has no expertise whatsoever in this matter, maybe she could respond, as a member of Parliament, to the House and Canadians about whether her constituents have said anything to her about the importance of this issue. Maybe she could also respond about the issue of proportionality, or exacerbating circumstances or mitigating circumstances. It is a straightforward question about an issue that is very important to Canadians.