House of Commons Hansard #113 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was quebec.
Bob Mills Conservative Red Deer, AB
Mr. Speaker, the second petition refers to the trafficking of women and children across international borders for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The petitioners demand that Parliament pass tougher laws regarding repeat and violent offenders and continues to work to combat trafficking of people worldwide.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions today. The first one that I am pleased to table is a petition on behalf of hundreds of signatories in my riding of Hamilton Mountain who are concerned about the government's changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The petitioners believe that these changes are deceptive, damaging and irreversible. They also do not believe that the changes will help to address the backlog of immigrants. Finally, they believe that the extraordinary power that this legislation gives to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is dangerous and that it will deny Parliament its crucial role in setting immigration policy.
The petitioners, therefore, call on the Government of Canada to abandon the changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and to deal with the immigration backlog instead by increasing staffing at overseas visa offices, stopping the expansion of the temporary foreign workers category, and increasing Canada's immigration target to 1% of the Canadian population. It is a privilege to table this petition on their behalf.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to table a petition that arises out of my national campaign to fight for fairness for ordinary Canadians and in particular for seniors who were shortchanged by their government as a result of an error in calculating the rate of inflation. The government has acknowledged the mistake made by Statistics Canada but is refusing to take any remedial action.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to take full responsibility for this error which negatively impacted their incomes from 2001-06 and take the required steps to repay every Canadian who has been shortchanged by a government program because of the miscalculation of the CPI.
The petitions are signed by hundreds of people from my hometown of Hamilton as well as Sudbury, Richmond, Ottawa, Kamloops and Saskatoon. The petitioners are all people who have worked hard all their lives and have played by the rules and now are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. All they are asking for is a little bit of fairness from their government.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, finally, I am pleased to table a petition that is signed by residents of Ontario and British Columbia who are concerned about the role of the Minister of Canadian Heritage in promoting and defending Canadian cultural and artistic freedom. They believe that there should be no ability for the government, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, any office of government or government official to make subjective judgments concerning artistic content that limit the freedom of expression.
The petitioners call on Parliament to staunchly defend Canadian artistic and cultural expression, to rescind any provisions of Bill C-10 which allow the government to censor film and video production in Canada, and to ensure that the government has in place subjective and transparent guidelines that respect freedom of expression when delivering any program intended to support film and video production in Canada.
Roy Cullen Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present a petition signed by a large number of people in the Toronto area who are very concerned about Canada Post policy to accelerate the installation of community mailboxes. They believe that Canada Post has not consulted very widely or fairly, that these community mailboxes create safety hazards, that they are often not accessible to seniors, that they are not accessible because of winter conditions, and that they create an environmental problem. They are asking that Canada Post reconsider this misguided policy.
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, a moment ago we had a moment of silence on behalf of a Canadian fallen soldier.
I present today petitions with some 10,000 signatures dealing with the troubling issue of missing soldiers in Israel. The petitioners acknowledge a petition of 10,000 signatures submitted to Parliament in 2001 on behalf of eight missing Israeli soldiers and the response in 2004 with three of the soldiers' remains being returned. They thank Canada for our intervention in that regard.
They also draw to our attention that there remains the status of Yehuda Katz, Tzvi Feldman, Zachary Baumel, Ron Arad and Guy Hever. They are still missing years after having disappeared. Also mentioned are Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
There are about 6,000 signatures asking the Canadian Parliament to do everything within our power to see that these remains are returned, and for Canada to continue its international efforts by putting pressure on those responsible for terrorism including Hezbollah and its state-sponsors of Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, the final petition is for Eliahu Cohen, who was arrested, tortured, tried and convicted, and finally hung in Syria on May 15, 1965. There are nearly 4,000 signatures here asking for the remains of Eliahu Cohen to be restored to his family so that they may receive their shalom in this regard.
I would like to draw attention to Renanah Goldhar who has personally worked very hard to receive these petitions on behalf of the families of the missing soldiers.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition today in this House that calls on the government to put an end to customer abuse through automatic teller machines, specifically in regards to the charges the public must pay to access their own money.
It is an honour for me today to table a petition from a number of people, mostly in the Thunder Bay region of Canada, who want to make sure that the abusive ATM fees that are currently being charged by Canadian banks are eliminated when workers are trying to get access to their own money.
Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me today to stand and present this petition from Canadians for Action in Darfur.
The petitioners insist that Canada must act to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur. They outline that since 2003 over 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people have been displaced. The petitioners also call upon the Canadian government to engage with the international community in whatever way is necessary to end these atrocities.
It is interesting that each signature on this petition represents 100 innocent citizens of Darfur who have been killed.
This is primarily the work of Mr. Dan Leroy from Canadians for Action in Darfur and his association. We thank them for their continued involvement and conscientious caring for the people of Darfur.
Ken Epp Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present again over 1,100 new names on a petition in support of the unborn victims of crime act.
These signatures come from right across the country and just a short sample: Fort St. John, British Columbia; Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador; Thunder Bay; and Ste-Agathe, Quebec.
These petitioners recognize that to force upon a woman the termination of her pregnancy through the death of her unborn child is the most grievous of violations of her reproductive freedoms.
Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table this afternoon. The first petition is signed by a large number of Canadian citizens requesting that Parliament move quickly to expand the Nahanni National Park Reserve to protect the entire south Nahanni watershed and the Nahanni Karst lands, so as to secure this globally significant wilderness for future generations of Canadians and for the world.
Alexa McDonough NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, my second petition is signed by a large number of Canadian citizens who call upon the Government of Canada to recognize, by means of the issuance of a new Canadian volunteer service medal to be designated the Governor General's volunteer service medal, volunteer service by Canadians in the regular and reserve military forces, cadet corps, and support staff who are not eligible for the aforementioned medals and who have completed 365 days of uninterrupted honourable duty in the service of their country since March 2, 1947.
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today and present petitions organized by Canadians for Action in Darfur. The petitioners call upon the government to engage with the international community in whatever way is necessary to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur.
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today. It is an honour to present to this Parliament a petition from residents, not only here in Ottawa but from right across the province and into Quebec as well. The petitioners want the government to do the right thing and locate the national portrait gallery in the nation's capital, as is the case in other nations.
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I also wish to present a petition on the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, as some of my colleagues have. The petitioners call upon the government to engage with the international community in whatever way is necessary to end the atrocities that are occurring in Darfur. Each signature on the petition represents 100 innocent lives that have been taken in Darfur.
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, my third and last petition is a petition that calls on the Government of Canada to bring forward the security and prosperity partnership to Parliament in order to have democratic oversight on it.
Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present another income trust broken promise petition on behalf of a large number of residents of my riding of Mississauga South.
The petitioners would like to remind the Prime Minister that he promised never to tax income trusts, but he did break that promise by imposing a 31.5% punitive tax which permanently wiped out $25 billion of the hard earned savings of over 2 million Canadians, particularly seniors.
The petitioners, therefore, call upon the Conservative minority government to: first, to admit that the decision to tax these income trusts was based on flawed methodology and incorrect assumptions, as was shown in the finance committee; second, to apologize to those who were unfairly harmed by this broken promise; and, finally, to repeal the punitive 31.5% tax on income trusts.
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition today. These petitioners ask that the House of Commons recognize its parliamentary duty to protect the taxes collected from Canadian citizens.
These petitioners are requesting that Parliament continue to investigate the location and possible allocation of the $40 million of taxpayers' money which mysteriously vanished under the Liberal Party of Canada during the sponsorship scandal.
Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by 239 constituents from my riding of Vancouver Island North.
These constituents are concerned about Canada's electoral system and the lack of participation. They are concerned that the electoral system was created so long ago that it has the ability to omit women, aboriginals and non-property owners who are disenfranchised. They are calling on the government to consult broadly and change our electoral system.
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
Mr. Speaker, it is with sad regret that, as I have previously done and as have three of my colleagues done today, I present another petition from many people in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia. These signatories, collected by Canadians for Action in Darfur, want to stop the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
They note that since 2003, 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced. They say that Canada has a responsibility to work with the international community to end these atrocities and they want us to know that each signature on this petition represents 100 innocent murdered persons in Darfur.
Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings
Blackstrap Saskatchewan
Conservative
Lynne Yelich ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development
Mr. Speaker, if Question No. 263 could be made an order for return, this return would be tabled immediately.
Bill Casey Independent Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
With regard to the pension claw backs alleged to be affecting both Canadian Forces (CF) veterans and retired members of the RCMP: (a) did the government ever make promises to CF personnel in 1965, 1968 or in 1971 that no person would receive less after the amalgamation of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Superannuation at age 65 and prior to superannuation reduction; (b) can the government confirm that public service members, who contributed to superannuation, prior to January 1, 1966 enjoy specific protections within the Superannuation Act with regard to their pensions; (c) is the same protection for public service members as discussed in (b), extended to CF veterans and retired members of the RCMP, or have these groups been excluded from this protection; (d) in the years following 1966, were superannuates awarded full and indexed CPP benefits despite having contributed for a very short time; (e) if it can be confirmed that there is not the same protection for CF Members and retired RCMP members that public service members currently enjoy within the Superannuation Act, is the government prepared to make the corrections required to make the law more equal for all three groups; (f) if the government is not prepared to make the corrections, why not; (g) how has the government acted to alleviate the concerns of retired CF Veterans and RCMP members who believe that their pensions have been clawed back because of the integration of the CPP with their pensions in 1966; (h) what steps has the government taken to explain or clarify their pension policies to specifically address the claw back concerns of CF veterans and retired RCMP members; (i) with regards to (f) what groups or veterans associations has the government communicated with in regards to the pension claw back issues, with the goal of addressing the concerns of these groups, from 2000 to the present day; (j) in 1966, when the CF and RCMP Superannuation plans were reportedly coordinated with the CPP, how were members of the CF and RCMP members notified or briefed on the effects or benefits of such a policy change on individual pensions; (k) what recommendations has the government considered, since 2000, to change the CPP-related reduction calculation contained in the three primary federal public sector pension plans, including the CF Superannuation Act and the RCMP Superannuation Act, to address the concerns of CF veterans and retired RCMP members that they are losing an amount of pension income because of current policy; (l) does the government intend to meet with national organizations representing veterans and retired RCMP members in 2008 to work on ways to reduce or alleviate their concerns about the alleged pension claw backs and, if so, when are meetings planned, and for what cities in Canada; and (m) how many messages have been received by the Minister of National Defence from veterans, requesting that he personally become involved in terminating the benefit reduction formula being allegedly applied to the pension annuities of the CF veterans and retired RCMP members?
(Return tabled)
