House of Commons Hansard #130 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was farmers.

Topics

An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records ActRoutine Proceedings

March 28th, 2007 / 3:10 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, the second motion is in relation to Bill S-3. I move:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, when the House begins debate on the second reading motion of Bill S-3, An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records Act, a member from each recognized party may speak for not more than 10 minutes, following which the said bill shall be deemed read a second time and referred to a committee of the whole, deemed considered in committee of the whole, deemed reported without amendment, deemed concurred in at the report stage and deemed read a third time and passed.

An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records ActRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Does the hon. government House leader have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?

An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records ActRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records ActRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

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

An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records ActRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

An Act to amend the National Defence Act, the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the Criminal Records ActRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

(Motion agreed to)

Summer Career Placement ProgramPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Bloc

André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present another petition on behalf of citizens of Richmond—Arthabaska. This petition concerns the cuts to the summer career placement program.

In my riding, a movement was born out of people mobilizing to protest the Conservative government's cuts to this program which was working well. The name of the program has been changed for “Canada Summer Jobs”, but the cuts have remained. The new criteria have also been denounced, because in the future everything will be centralized in Montreal and Ottawa.

I have personally met with groups which are affected by and completely disagree with these decisions. I am presenting on their behalf a petition containing more than 1,000 signatures.

Child CarePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Liberal

Jean-Claude D'Amours Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present in this House a petition from several citizens in my riding regarding the elimination of the early learning and child care program by the Conservative government.

This program would have resulted in lower costs for parents, higher wages for day care workers, and better facilities and books for children.

This petition is being presented because $116 million was proposed for the province of New Brunswick. An agreement was signed in good faith by the former Liberal government and the Province of New Brunswick. We are asking the government to honour this agreement.

PetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from many working families concerned about the lack of a national child care program. They are concerned that Canada is dead last of all OECD countries in its investment in early learning and child care. They want all children to have access to child care, as high quality child care is a benefit to all children. It enhances their health and school readiness, reduces family poverty and promotes social inclusion and workforce productivity.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to achieve multi-year funding to ensure that publicly operated child care programs are sustainable for the long term, and to protect child care by enshrining it in legislation with a national child care act to be a cornerstone of Canada, like the Canada Health Act.

Age of ConsentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Conservative

Leon Benoit Conservative Vegreville—Wainwright, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present, on behalf of my constituents and others, a petition calling upon the government to protect children from sexual predators and to do that by raising the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 years of age, something this government has been attempting to do and, of course, the opposition parties have been resisting.

Summer Career Placements ProgramPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

Bloc

France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to table in this House a petition signed by more than 1,000 young people and organizations from all over Quebec. They are calling for the return and enhancement of the summer career placements program, which was very beneficial for the regions and particularly for my riding.

Technical Protection MeasuresPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:15 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased today to bring forward a petition signed by people from across Canada concerning the issue of technical protection measures, known as TPMs.

TPMs are implemented by some copyright holders because they can violate end users' privacy rights; prevent consumers from enjoying content on devices and software of their independent choice; circumvent or compromise the security of computers, including rendering them vulnerable to attack--and we remember the well publicized fiasco of the Sony BMG rootkit; that TPMs can be applied to both content and devices; that the copyright holder and the owner of the device have rights that must be respected; that copyright holder's own rights on the protected work and private citizens usually own the devices that access these works; that TPMs can be abused to harm the interests of the copyright holder and/or the device owner; that numerous Canadian organizations have opposed the legal protection of TPMs supplied to copyright holders or manufacturers of devices, including, but not limited to, the Canada's Privacy Community, the Digital Security Coalition, the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, Appropriation Art Coalition, Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Library Association, Canadian Art Museum Directors' Organization and several thousands of Canadian citizens already signed these on such a position; that we are looking for Canadian legislation, such as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act which prohibits the condition of the supply of a product or service on a person waiving their rights; and that the section 77 of the Competition Act regulates against the exclusive dealing in tied selling.

Therefore, the petitioners are calling upon Parliament to prohibit the application of a technical protection measure to a device without the informed consent of the owner of the device and to prohibit the conditioning of the supply of content to the purchase or use of a device, which has a technical measure applied to it. Further, they call upon Parliament to recognize the rights of citizens to personally control their own communication devices and choose the software based on their own personal criteria.

Canada Summer JobsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Bloc

Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table, for the fourth time, a petition by several hundred citizens of my riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord and the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region opposing budget cuts to the summer career placements program, which impacts my region. There have been about 450 student jobs lost. The summer career placements program is being replaced by the Canada summer jobs program.

These individuals are opposed to the new program and also to changes in the criteria and the fact that decisions will no longer be made in the riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord nor in my region, but rather in Montreal and Ottawa. This was a power given to MPs and it is being transferred to another level of government, either in Montreal or in Quebec City.

I am tabling this petition on behalf of these citizens and I am requesting that the Conservative Party in this House take it into consideration.

Employment Insurance ActPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

NDP

Tony Martin NDP Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. One is on behalf of some 300-plus citizens from the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge area.

The petitioners are concerned with regard to the Employment Insurance Act in that given that time spent with children is important, employment insurance only kicks in once a child is born and does not recognize that some children must stay in the hospital for some time because they are either premature or sick.

The petition is calling for an amendment that would allow parents some provision to look after their sick or premature children while they are in hospital without their unemployment insurance kicking in.

Minimum WagePetitionsRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

NDP

Tony Martin NDP Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from citizens of Dundas, Hamilton, London and Tavistock, Ontario who are asking the government to consider positively the private member's bill, Bill C-375, put forward by a member of our caucus to establish a federal minimum wage and set it at $10 an hour.

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, question No. 141 will be answered today.

Question No. 141Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON

With respect to the placement of federal government advertising: when will the government ensure that more government advertising is placed in ethnic media publications to ensure that Canadians whose mother tongue is not French or English are made aware of federal government initiatives and programs?

Question No. 141Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Beauport—Limoilou Québec

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada recognizes the value of ethnocultural media to effectively communicate with Canadians and ethnocultural publications, as well as ethnocultural radio and television, are some of the means used by government departments to reach out to new Canadians whose reading abilities in English or French may be limited.

Since 2003, following major expenditure reductions in government advertising, extraordinary efforts have been made to develop more efficient and effective advertising campaigns on government programs and services.

Despite this overall decline in government advertising, advertising in ethnic and official languages media has increased. In 2003-2004, spending in ethno-cultural media (print, television and radio) represented 3.4% of advertising expenditures. In 2005-2006, it was 4.8% and the trend continues. As of December 2006, government expenditures in ethnic media totaled $1,575,420, or 5.6% of expenditures, and more activity is planned. More specifically, as of December 2006, ethnic print represented 9.8% of all government print placements.

The responsibility for media planning rests with government departments responsible for implementing the advertising campaigns. Departments make decisions based on campaign objectives, audiences and resources available.

Through consultations and review of information produced by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Statistics Canada, and data such as circulation information and language of the papers, departments determine the optimal media mix within the budget allocated. With developments in ethnocultural electronic media, government can now access new communication channels to provide timely information to targeted ethnic communities in their mother tongue. With the right mix of print, radio, television, Internet and outreach activities, government is continuously improving toward its objective to effectively reach Canadians while ensuring transparency, accountability and value for money.

Government departments like Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration also offer information at their points of service, or through service providers.

Advertising is but one vehicle used by government to inform Canadians. Service Canada is piloting a multi-language service, MLS, initiative aimed at aboriginal Canadians and at newcomers, people living in Canada for less than five years, who speak neither English nor French and who face significant language barriers when it comes to accessing government programs and services. The purpose of MLS is to help ensure these segments of the population receive the right information about government benefits and services available to them, in their native tongue. A related goal of the initiative is to make it easier for newcomers to adapt to life in Canada by integrating more quickly into Canadian community life and the labour market.

Pilots of the national MLS Initiative are being conducted using a range of service delivery approaches including outreach, in-person and three-way telephone interpretation services to deliver multi-language service. Basic information materials on Service Canada and the frequently-accessed programs and benefits it offers, for example: Canada pension plan, CPP; guaranteed income supplement, GIS; old age security, OAS; employment insurance, EI; social insurance number, SIN; and universal child care benefits, UCCB, have been developed. Based on an assessment of the priority needs of Service Canada’s clientele across the country, these materials will be translated into 12 foreign languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Tagalog, Persian, Gujarati, Tamil, and nine aboriginal languages by the end of March 2007.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK

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

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Is it agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Business of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:20 p.m.

Bloc

Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC

Mr. Speaker, I think if you would seek it, you would find unanimous consent of the House, because there has been consultation among parties on the wording of this motion:

That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, during tonight's debate on the 11th report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food, the Chair will not receive any dilatory motions, quorum calls or request for unanimous consent; and, at the end of the debate, all necessary questions to dispose of this motion be deemed put, a recorded division deemed requested and deferred until the end of government orders on Wednesday, April 18, 2007.

Business of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Does the hon. whip of the Bloc Québécois have the unanimous consent of the House to move this motion?

Business of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Business of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

3:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

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