House of Commons Hansard #22 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was crime.

Topics

Speaker's RulingEmployment Insurance ActPrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

In my opinion the nays have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Pursuant to Standing Order 93 the division stands deferred until Wednesday, November 28, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

6:20 p.m.

Liberal

Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, I was one of the several Liberal MPs who brought to the government's attention a glaring error in Bill C-18. It was the basic fact that the minority government had left one million voters off the voters lists. Imagine, with all the Prime Minister's drum pounding, if he had forced an unnecessary election, what one million eligible voters would have done if they had found themselves disenfranchised. In my great riding of Thunder Bay--Rainy River, a minimum of 5,000 voters would not have been able to exercise their democratic right.

Although all parties had missed the fine print, it shows us what can happen when bills are rushed through.

The standing committee was advised in May and after much deliberation, still the government ignored the public service's advice. Even after the Quebec byelections, the government should have leapt to the alert and proactively resolved the problem. Instead, an effective opposition was once again compelled to expose the government's haste and clean up yet another mistake.

It is unfortunate the government tried to avoid facing up to the problem. The straightforward solution is relatively simple. If the address contained in the identification provided does not prove the elector's residence specific to a domicile, but does reflect the most precise residential address typically available, then it should be deemed in compliance.

I am hopeful that after the events of the past few weeks the amendments will succeed in addressing the issues outstanding and that we can resolve this matter.

6:25 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, it is a pleasure to stand and respond to the question by my hon. colleague from Rainy River.

First, let us set the record straight. Bill C-31, which is the genesis of Bill C-18, was debated at the procedure and House affairs committee and ultimately ratified by the entire committee.

I am the first one to admit, since I am a member of that committee, that we all share responsibility in missing the one element of that bill, which, in turn, disenfranchised or potentially disenfranchised a million rural voters because of the term “residential address”

The point I am making is that every one of us on that committee missed it. We all share that responsibility. In fact, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, who appeared twice before that committee to discuss Bill C-31, did not notice in the legislation itself that there would be anything that had the potential to disenfranchise rural voters because they did not have a residential address.

When it was first discovered, which was about two weeks after the recent Quebec byelections that were held in September of this year, the Chief Electoral Officer, in examining how the ramifications of Bill C-31 affected that byelection process, noticed for the first time that there was an element that could potentially cause the disenfranchisement of voters in rural Canada.

We took immediate steps to correct the situation and introduced Bill C-18 to rectify the situation. We are hoping for speedy passage in committee and by members of the House to take care of that situation.

However, even if there were an election call before that bill became law, the Chief Electoral Officer has assured us that he would use his powers of adaptation to ensure not one rural Canadian would be disenfranchised if we had to go to a vote, whether it be a general election or a byelection.

However, I want to concentrate my remarks for the last few moments that I have to point out the absolute hypocrisy of the Liberal Party of Canada. Not only has the member from Rainy River suggested that this was a problem created by our government, but other members of his party have done the same. The member for Wascana has done several interviews in which he has suggested that this was a government problem, that this was something that was created by the government, that it missed it and that it was sloppy legislation.

The entire Liberal caucus voted in favour of Bill C-31. The sheer hypocrisy of their statement suggesting that it was only the government's problem because it made the mistake is staggering. Everyone shares some culpability. We all share the responsibility. We are willing to admit it. Members of his own party who were on the procedure and House affairs committee said nothing about the possibility of disenfranchisement of voters because they missed it as well.

While I am here to say that we will take immediate action and, hopefully, we will have some compliance with members opposite when the bill gets to committee so we can deal with this quickly and expeditiously, it is just so irritating to stand here and listen to members with the sanctimony and the hypocrisy to suggest that it was someone else's problem and that it was not part of their own doing.

For the record, we all share responsibility. I wish the member from Rainy River would stand up and admit that.

6:30 p.m.

Liberal

Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON

Mr. Speaker, the riding is Thunder Bay—Rainy River, as I would, in all fairness, recognize Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre.

In my experience, the greatest proof of incompetence or irresponsibility is when someone, in this case the government, tries to put the blame on someone else. The government made a big mistake. We showed the government solutions but it continues to try to find fault with others, as if it is perfect or infallible.

I would just simply offer that the government admit it, fix it, stop blaming of others and recognize that haste makes mistakes.

6:30 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK

Mr. Speaker, first let me apologize for not getting the member's riding correct. I apologize to the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River.

However, let us listen to what he just said. Obviously, like most Liberals, he does not listen to any answers. We saw that example graphically earlier on when we had a question from the Leader of the Opposition calling for a public inquiry. It took about half way through question period before the Liberals finally realized that the answer from the Prime Minister was that he had already called one or at least had put the wheels in motion to call one.

What I am saying, as I said in the body of my initial address, is that this is a shared responsibility. I am not, nor is anyone from the government, trying to shift the blame to anyone else. I am saying that it was a shared responsibility. What I am attempting to do is prove the hypocrisy of members of that party by saying that it was only the government that was at fault. We were all at fault.

I wish the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River would be man enough to stand up in this assembly and announce that but clearly he will not.

6:30 p.m.

Bloc

Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC

Mr. Speaker, on November 15, I asked the minister a question. A study by the World Economic Forum suggests that the gender gap has an impact on the competitiveness and economy of countries. I asked the minister whether she intended to act and take tangible action for women, by adopting proactive pay equity legislation.

We know that pay equity is a right. It has been recognized in the Charter of Rights and Freedom since 1982, 1983. However, to exercise this right, one must file a complaint. Proceedings take a very long time. For example, at Canada Post, women filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission because pay equity was not being properly applied. This case has been in court for 21 years now—21 years and this matter still has not been settled.

As you can see, the legislation as it currently exists absolutely needs to be changed to ensure that all women have the right to pay equity and can benefit from it.

For this to be done properly, I hope the minister will do what it takes and that she will advocate pay equity legislation that will allow all women in Quebec and Canada, under federal jurisdiction, to benefit from it properly.

6:30 p.m.

Blackstrap Saskatchewan

Conservative

Lynne Yelich ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development

Mr. Speaker, Canada has not lost ground on gender equality. In fact, the figures in the 2007 Global Gender Gap Report actually show that Canada either held steady or marginally narrowed the gap between women and men in all areas considered. In fact, the report states that Canada continues to rank well on economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, and is performing above average on political empowerment and health and survival.

I am sure everyone would agree that mores needs to be done to improve the situation for women in Canada and around the world. We have achieved a great deal in recent years, but our work is far from over. Over the past 18 months the Government of Canada has undertaken numerous initiatives to advance equality for women in all of the areas covered in the report.

The member said that she wanted to see tangible action. Well, this is tangible. The initiatives we have taken include such things as introducing the universal child care benefit. That benefits every child under the age of six. We cannot help but think that the Liberal Party would take it away.

We are putting more money into the hands of older women by increasing the pension income credit and modernizing the guaranteed income supplement to make it more accessible. We are improving living standards among older Canadians. We are improving employment opportunities for vulnerable groups of women, including older women, women living in abusive relationships, women with intellectual disabilities and aboriginal women living on and off reserve.

Yes, those are initiatives to advance equality for women.

We are supporting women's work and family choices through a variety of measures, including creating the working income tax benefit. We are modernizing the federal labour standards and expanding business opportunities for women. We are creating special initiatives for women entrepreneurs. We are providing affordable housing and helping to reduce incidences of low income.

We are supporting Canadians in the lowest income bracket, the majority of whom are women, aboriginal women, senior women and female lone parents, by introducing a .5% reduction in the lowest personal income tax rate. We are increasing the basic amount an individual can earn before taxes apply.

We are increasing crime prevention, justice and security measures to protect children from exploitation.

The minister spoke about some of the projects that she would like the members of the House to know were created, such as projects for official languages and for minority women's organizations. We are providing almost $24,000 to promote women's entrepreneurship; almost $50,000 to support Prince George New Hope Society, to help women start new lives; $110,000 to the Second Story Women's Centre for training workshops in Nova Scotia; $165,000 for art projects aimed at improving the lives of at risk women and girls; $85,000 to the Single Women in Motherhood Training Program Inc.; $200,000 to the Saint John chapter of the Urban Core Support Network; almost $60,000 to the Arising Women Place for the independent women project; over $185,000 to the West Central Women's Resource Centre for its multi-year women's economic security and housing project; and $300,000 to the Canadian Women's Community Economic Development Council--

6:35 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

Order. The hon. member for Laval.

6:35 p.m.

Bloc

Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am surprised. My question was for the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages. I would have preferred that she rise and answer the question. It was directed to the Minister for the Status of Women.

At the same time, I am not surprised. It does not surprise me that she does not rise and answer in this House. I am not surprised because it is exactly in keeping with what she can do in cabinet and before the members of her government. She cannot even influence this government's decisions with regard to women's issues. Therefore I am not surprised that she was not the one who rose.

The fact remains that the women of Quebec and Canada will remember the promises made and those that were broken one after the other.

Pay equity and money will make it possible for women to leave poverty behind. That is what we are talking about.

6:35 p.m.

Conservative

Lynne Yelich Conservative Blackstrap, SK

Mr. Speaker, Canada does continue to make significant progress in achieving equality for women in all areas, as covered in the World Economic Forum's “Global Gender Gap Report 2007”, which is what I understood the question was about. We continue to distinguish ourselves on the international stage.

Nonetheless, women in Canada still earn an average of 71¢ to every dollar earned by men. Women still experience high rates of domestic abuse and violence, and the gender gap persists. Therefore, I ask my colleagues to renew their commitment to bringing about women's full participation in Canadian society. Let us close the gap once and for all.

6:35 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. This House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6:40 p.m.)