Debates of March 3rd, 2008

Canadian Wheat Board Act

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I admire the member for Malpeque's very enthusiastic critique of a bill that he has not even read yet, because of course it has only now just been introduced. I invite him to actually review the bill at some point. Then he could actually make some representations with some basis of knowledge, but that is nothing new from over there.

The reality is that the two points he raised about consultation were then refuted by his very own arguments. He said there was no consultation and then went on to explain at length the consultation that took place and why he did not like the consultation that took place. Clearly the necessary conditions have been satisfied. In both cases, the consultations that were required took place. As to whether or not he likes the form the consultations took or the outcome the consultations had, that is not the question. The fact is that the statute has been complied with in every way. The bill is in order and we would ask that it be allowed to proceed.

If the Speaker is not fully satisfied and wishes to have detailed submissions provided on the nature and the quality of the consultations that occurred, in order to satisfy the statute, we would be happy to provide that to you at a later date, Mr. Speaker. However, I really think that on its face that is not necessary.

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The Chair will take the matter under advisement. Normally questions of law are not matters for the Chair to decide. The arguments by the hon. member for Malpeque, at first glance to me at this moment, appear to be arguments as to legal obligations that the minister may or may not have. I have not looked at the law. I have not seen the bill. Until we see it, I cannot say whether the bill complies with the law. Who knows, it may have a provision in it that repeals the previous law. I have no idea.

I think we will need to have a look at this before we can proceed, but in the meantime I believe the bill now has been read the first time and ordered to be printed.

When shall the bill be read a second time? At the next sitting of the House.

I hope before it is called for debate at second reading, I will have had a chance to review the necessary provisions in the law.

Employment Insurance Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-518, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (compassionate care benefits for dependent children).

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to introduce my private member's bill to amend the Employment Insurance Act with respect to benefits for the care of dependent children.

As we all know, being sick is hard, but being the parent of a very sick child is even harder. When a child gets sick and needs serious treatment, it is unthinkable for the parents not to be with their child. Sadly, the Employment Insurance Act shows little compassion in this regard.

People should not be punished for the fact that specialized hospitals for children are often located outside of their region. Today, parents who want to be with their sick child in the hospital must voluntarily leave their jobs and are disqualified from receiving employment insurance. My bill would resolve this senseless situation and make parents eligible for 15 weeks of employment insurance so they can be with their child in a specialized hospital.

The employment insurance program must adapt to today's realities, and that is the goal of my bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Criminal Code

[Dave Batters, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-519, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail for serious personal injury offence).

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present my private member's bill entitled, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail for serious personal injury offence). I will refer to this bill as Michelle's law.

The bill was inspired by the terrible circumstances surrounding the murder of Michelle Lenius in 2003. Michelle was my friend and my wife's friend and co-worker. Michelle's ex-husband was convicted of her murder. Unfortunately, this man should not have been out on bail when he killed Michelle. This tragic case was one of the main reasons I entered federal politics.

The passage of this bill would give our hard-working Crown prosecutors another tool to help them in their difficult jobs. This bill would provide that for those accused of a serious personal injury offence in the Criminal Code, before a judge rules on that person's release, the Crown prosecutor shall present the judge with the prosecution's evidence relevant to the release of the accused.

I ask all members to support Michelle's law.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Income Tax Act

[John Cummins, Conservative, Delta—Richmond East, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-520, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Home Buyers' Plan).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to speak to my bill, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Home Buyers' Plan) This bill would amend the Income Tax Act to increase the home buyers' plan loan limit from $20,000 to $25,000.

The home buyers' plan currently allows individuals to borrow up to $20,000 from their RRSPs to purchase their first home. Home prices are substantially higher today than when the $20,000 limit was put in place in 1992. The home buyers' plan is the only mortgage program that focuses on first-time home buyers. The increase in the loan limit to $25,000 would help first-time home buyers in every region of the country.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Employment Insurance Surplus Transfer Act

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-521, An Act to provide for the transfer of the surplus in the Employment Insurance Account.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table in the House a private members' bill.

In his budget presentation on February 26, 2008, the Minister of Finance referred to the creation of the Canada employment insurance financing board, which is to be an independent Crown corporation responsible for implementing a new mechanism for setting employment insurance premium rates and for maintaining a cash reserve provided by the government.

The purpose of this bill is to have the government return to the employment insurance fund, which is to become independent, the $54 billion it has taken out over the past 18 years or so, since 1990.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Passport Office

[Diane Marleau, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I present a petition today containing thousands of signatures from the people of Sudbury asking that the government open a passport issuing office in Sudbury. In all of northeastern Ontario there is not one issuing office. For people to have access to emergency passport services, they sometimes must drive 10 hours or 15 hours. The closest issuing offices are in Toronto and Ottawa.

The people of Sudbury, the people of northeastern Ontario deserve a passport issuing office. These signatures will continue to come.

Unborn Victims of Crime

[Colin Mayes, Conservative, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today from my constituents of Okanagan—Shuswap.

The petitioners point out that in current federal criminal law an unborn child is not recognized as a victim with respect to violent crimes and that when a pregnant woman is assaulted or killed, no legal protection is offered for unborn children and no charge can be laid.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon Parliament to enact legislation to recognize unborn children as separate victims when they are injured or killed during the commission of an offence against their mothers, allowing two charges to be laid against the offender instead of one.

Darfur

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions today.

The first petition has over 125 signatures and comes from Stanley Humphries Secondary School in Castlegar, a school in which I taught before retiring from teaching.

These dynamic young people are calling upon the government to support the NDP's three step plan in Darfur; namely, to support UN Security Council Resolution 1769 by committing troops and resources; by investing in the long term development of a civil society and the peace process in Darfur; and the divestment of all Canadian corporations that trade with Sudan.

This is an interesting and dynamic group of young people who have taken it upon themselves to circulate this petition in their school.

Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from friends in Nelson, Castlegar, Grand Forks and the Slocan Valley.

It calls upon the Canadian government to establish a department of peace that will reinvigorate Canada's role as a global peacebuilder and will have as a top priority the abolition of nuclear weapons. The reasons given are that 50 of today's modern nuclear weapons could kill 200 million people, that there is no medical response to the effects of a nuclear war and that prevention is the only answer.

Security and Prosperity Partnership

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition comes from over 125 people in my riding who are against the proposed Security and Prosperity Partnership.

They call upon the Government of Canada to stop further implementation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America with the United States and Mexico until there is a democratic mandate from the people of Canada, parliamentary oversight and consideration of its profound consequences on Canada's existence as a sovereign nation and its ability to adopt autonomous and sustainable economic, social and environmental policies.

This is only a small part of all of those people who are contacting my office hoping that our Parliament will do something.

Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the last petition comes from over 900 students of Selkirk College in Castlegar who are saying that whereas the Canada student loan debt is increasing by more than $1.5 million each day and has ballooned to more than $12 billion, that whereas the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation has largely just replaced pre-existing provincial grants, that whereas the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation has failed at improving access to post-secondary education, and that whereas among developed nations only Canada and Japan do not have a national system of needs based grants, they call upon the House of Commons to replace the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation with a national system of needs based grants through the Canada student loans program for students at public universities and colleges.

Public Transportation

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this petition containing over 1,000 names is regarding the Canadian content levels for Canadian manufacturing in public transportation. The bulk of these signatures comes from two ridings, the riding of Thunder Bay—Superior North and the riding Thunder Bay—Rainy River.

It basically asks that the government, and in particular, the Minister of Industry, implement a policy that is consistent with the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization policies and guidelines that already permit that, to mandate Canadian content levels for public transportation projects, and to ensure that public funds are used to provide the best value to Canadians by supporting domestic suppliers and labour markets.

Iraq

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I present a petition calling upon the government to demonstrate its commitment to international law and the treaties to which it is signatory by making provisions for U.S. war objectors to have sanctuary in this country. When over 50,000 draft age Americans made their way to Canada, refusing to participate in the moral war in Vietnam, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said:

Those who make the conscientious judgment that they must not participate in this war... have my complete sympathy.... Canada should be a refuge from militarism.

Thirty years later, Canada is faced with the same moral choice as brave soldiers opposing the illegal war in Iraq are seeking refuge in our borders.

I encourage the government to abide by the Canadian tradition of giving sanctuary to soldiers opposing illegal and immoral wars.

Unborn Victims of Crime

[Ken Epp, Conservative, Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured today to present in the House again a large number of names signed to petitions in support of Bill C-484, the bill that would provide for charges to be laid when an unborn child is a victim of a crime against its mother. These petitions are from right across the country, from, little towns, big towns, cities and rural areas. These signatures represent the 72% of Canadians who support this legislation.

I am very honoured to present today another 2,276 names to be added to the list, so that we now have almost 10,000. I think that the next time I stand up it will be 10,000.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, Question No. 168 will be answered today.

Question No. 168

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North, MB]

With regard to the Temporary Resident Permits issued by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration during the 39th Parliament up until and including November 30, 2007, how many requests were received by the Minister according to federal electoral district, indicating whether or not the permit was granted?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, Citizenship and Immigration Canada does not have this information as there is no application form for requests for ministerial permits.

Questions Passed as Orders for Return

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, if Question No. 187 could be made an order for return, this return would be tabled immediately.

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

The question enumerated by the hon. parliamentary secretary has been answered. Is it agreed that Question No. 187 be made an order for return?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No. 187

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

With respect to the Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator 2006-2007: (a) what progress has been made in addressing the twelve key barriers to public safety identified in the report; (b) what internal strategies have been developed to ensure the five key priorities listed in the report are achieved; (c) how much additional funding was made available following the release of the report on June 29, 2007, and how was that money allocated; and (d) how much targeted funding is required to achieve these goals in 2008-2009?

(Return tabled)

Questions Passed as Orders for Return

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

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

[The Speaker, Peter Milliken]

Is that agreed?