Debates of Dec. 8th, 2009

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 10 petitions.

Interparliamentary Delegations

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, reports of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group respecting its participation at the following conferences: the Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference 49th Annual Meeting and Regional Policy Forum held in Burlington, Vermont, August 2 to 5, 2009; and the Southern Governors' Association's 75th annual meeting held in Williamsburg, Virginia, August 21 to 24, 2009.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, a report from the Canadian Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association concerning the International Parliamentary Conference on Climate Change: Countdown to Copenhagen held in London, United Kingdom, from July 5 to 11, 2009.

Canadian Heritage

[Gary Schellenberger, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in relation to the Canadian musical diversity component of the Canada music fund.

Canada Post

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present five petitions on behalf of constituents from my riding of Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, primarily from the communities of Beaupré, Saint-Joachim-de-Montmorency on the Côte-de-Beaupré, Saint-Irénée and Saint-Siméon in Charlevoix, and Baie-Saint-Paul.

The petitioners are calling on the federal government to maintain the moratorium on post office closures, and asking the government commit to maintaining postal services, especially in rural areas. We know how important the post office is in very small communities.

Library Book Rate

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, as I have many times before, I am pleased to present petitions from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick today supporting the library book rate. It is calling on the government to support an act to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act with respect to library materials, which would protect and support the library book rate and extend it to audiovisual materials.

Air Passengers' Bill of Rights

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my petition is a call to adopt Canada's first air passengers' bill of rights.

The petitioners support Bill C-310, which includes compensation for overbooked flights, cancelled flights and unreasonable tarmac delays. The legislation is inspired by a European Union law. Air Canada is already operating under the European laws for its flights to Europe, so why should an Air Canada customer receive better treatment in Europe than in Canada?

The bill would ensure that passengers are kept informed of flight changes, whether there are delays or cancellations. The new rules would be posted in airports and airlines would have to inform passengers of their rights and the process to file for compensation. The bill also deals with late and misplaced baggage. The bill would require that airlines provide all-inclusive pricing in their advertisements.

Bill C-310 is not meant to punish the airlines. If they follow the rules, they will not have to pay a dime in compensation to passengers.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to support Bill C-310, which would introduce Canada's first air passengers' bill of rights.

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

[Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions that I would like to present. The first petition is from many of my constituents in the Yorkton and Esterhazy areas. The petitioners call upon members of the House of Commons to respectfully reject private member's Bill C-384, which seeks to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The petitioners say that legalized euthanasia speaks of a culture of death, of giving someone else the right to kill another and is not about compassion, dignity, love or care, but is deliberate killing. As Canadians we stand behind palliative care where intention is crucial, where pain is managed responsibly, and people are embraced and cared for with dignity.

The petitioners need to be assured that we will oppose and prohibit euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. They are asking that we reject Bill C-384.

Postal Services

[Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition that I would like to present is also from many residents in and around the area of Saltcoats in my constituency. They call upon the federal government, as it is considering ending the current moratorium on post office closures, to instruct Canada Post to maintain, expand and improve postal services.

The federal government has introduced legislation to legalize the activities of remailers, which would erode the revenue of the Canada Post Corporation needed to maintain its current universal service obligation. As our public post office plays a key role in our social and economic life by providing the infrastructure that healthy communities need to thrive and businesses need to grow, the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to maintain the moratorium on post office closures and to withdraw the legislation to legalize remailers.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present five petitions today from municipalities and districts in my riding of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord. These communities include: Laterrière, Rivière-Éternité, Petit-Saguenay, L'Anse-Saint-Jean and Saint-Félix-d'Otis.

More than 1,000 people signed these petitions to say that they are worried that the Conservative government is considering ending the moratorium on the closure of post offices in rural areas.

The petitioners are calling on the government to maintain the moratorium, to allow Canada Post to maintain this service, and to improve postal services in rural areas.

I am in full support of the five petitions I am presenting today.

Harmonized Sales Tax

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by many dozens of my constituents, primarily in the Prince Rupert, Terrace and Port Simpson area on the north coast.

The petitioners call upon the government to rescind the HST. The petition is quite relevant, as last night in this House we saw the government use every draconian measure available to it to ram the HST through Parliament.

The petitioners say that at a time when families are having a hard time making ends meet it is unfair for the government to impose an extra tax on those consumers, and that the government should find a way to receive revenues from other sources.

These petitioners are in an area of the country that is just starting to show the first faint hopes of coming out of its own recession of many years. The petitioners call upon the government to find a way around the imposition of an HST on them at this point.

They refer to the Prime Minister by name, which I will not do, but they have named the tax in his honour. They feel that this is an unfair and unjust tax at this time.

Animal Welfare

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 and as certified by the clerk of petitions, I have two petitions to present today.

The first one is on the universal declaration of animal welfare. These petitioners from my riding of Mississauga South would like to point out that there is scientific consensus and public acknowledgement that animals can feel pain and can suffer and that all efforts should be made to prevent animal cruelty and to reduce animal suffering.

They also point out that over a billion people in the world rely on animals for their livelihood and many others rely on animals for companionship. They also point out that animals are often significantly affected by natural disasters and yet are seldom considered during relief efforts and emergency planning despite their recognized importance to humans.

The petitioners therefore call upon the Government of Canada to support a universal declaration on animal welfare.

Child Pornography

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is also from constituents in my riding of Mississauga South and has to do with the issue of child pornography and victimization.

The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that the creation, use and circulation of child pornography is condemned by a clear majority of Canadians. They state that the CRTC and Internet service providers have the responsibility for the content that is being transmitted to Canadians and that anyone who uses the Internet to facilitate any sex offences involving children is committing an offence.

The petitioners therefore call upon the Parliament of Canada to protect our children by taking all necessary steps to stop the Internet as a medium for distribution of child victimization and pornography.

International Aid

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present yet another petition that was organized by the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign in support of my Bill C-393, reforms to the Canada access to medicines regime, and also generally to ensure we meet our millennium development goals.

The petitioners call upon all of us to do our part to ensure that 0.7% of our gross national product goes to development assistance internationally and that we contribute our share to the global fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.

I want to thank the grandmothers again for their incredible pioneering work in gathering thousands of petitions in support of Bill C-393, and in their show of courage and conviction to ensure that people around the world benefit from the resources of this rich nation.

Volunteer Service Medal

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition from members of the community of Windsor West who are calling for the introduction of a new volunteer service medal to be known as the Governor General's volunteer service medal, to acknowledge and recognize volunteerism by Canadian troops.

There have been two times in the past where there has been a Canadian volunteer service medal dating back to 1939 and most recently in 1953.

The petitioners respectfully call upon the Government of Canada to recognize by means of issuance of a new Canadian volunteer service medal to be designated the Governor General's volunteer service medal for voluntary service by Canadians in the regular and reserve military forces and cadet corps 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.

It is an important part of our Canadian military forces that is often overlooked of.

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have several petitions all on the same topic of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

A number of my constituents and others from across Alberta are concerned and want to protect the most vulnerable in our society. The petitioners are calling on Parliament to uphold section 241 of the Criminal Code without any changes in order to ensure that Parliament does not sanction or allow the counselling, aiding or abetting of suicide.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, if Questions Nos. 547, 550, 551, 552 and 553 could be made orders for returns, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No. 547

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

— With regard to Secure Channel: (a) what problems have occurred with its operation; (b) what were the costs associated with each of these problems; (c) were any of the costs covered as an administration cost drawn from the employment insurance fund; and (d) has a cost analysis of Secure Channel been completed and, if so, will it be made public?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 550

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

With regard to the transfer of Afghan detainees: (a) which office is providing direction and instruction to government lawyers at the Department of Justice during the Military Police Complaints Commission hearings; (b) are all provisions of the supplemental transfer agreement being followed by Afghan government officials; (c) are Canadian authorities informed in advance of the release of prisoners who were transferred by Canadian authorities to Afghan authorities; (d) what have been the results of all detainee monitoring since May 2007; and (e) how many allegations of torture have been reported since May 2007?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 551

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

With respect to identifying stowaways planning to claim refugee status in Canada: (a) what is the government policy on exchanging information with countries where these potential claimants say they face persecution; and (b) in the case of the 76 stowaways on the Ocean Lady, (i) what type of information has been exchanged between Canadian and Sri Lankan authorities, and (ii) what steps has the government taken to ensure this exchange of information poses no threat to the potential refugee claimants or their families?

(Return tabled)