House of Commons Hansard #72 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was artists.
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the next petition calls upon Parliament to pass legislation for the protection of human life from the time of conception until natural death.
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the last petition says that the long gun registry was originally budgeted for $2 million, but the price tag is now out of control at an estimated $2 billion, a decade later. The registry has not saved a single life since it was introduced. The petitioners are calling upon the House of Commons to support legislation that would cancel the Canadian long gun registry.
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions. The first petition is with respect to changes to the Employment Insurance Act. These petitioners wish to have the qualifying hours reduced to 360 hours throughout all regions of Canada, to increase the duration to 50 weeks, and to increase benefits to at least 60% of normal earnings in a worker's 12 best weeks.
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Mr. Speaker, the second two petitions concern the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka. These petitioners are very concerned about not only the ceasefire that has occurred but the cessation of hostilities. Just because the shooting has stopped does not mean that the hostilities have stopped. They are looking to have immediate humanitarian relief provided. They believe that there should be free access to the conflict zone by non-governmental organizations and international media.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two more petitions today that were signed by hundreds of people from all over the Golden Horseshoe in Ontario. The petitioners point out that they have paid into EI all of their working lives, but now that they need the safety net that they themselves built, it is not longer there for them.
Therefore, the petitioners are calling for a comprehensive overhaul of the employment insurance system. Specifically, the petitioners are calling for a standardized 360 hours to qualify, an increased benefit period of at least 50 weeks, the elimination of the two-week waiting period, benefits at 60% of normal earnings based on the best 12 weeks, and a bigger investment in training and retraining.
I am proud to be able to present this petition on behalf of the 363,000 Canadians who have lost their jobs just since the last election in October.
Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise here today to present a series of petitions all on the same issue.
The petitioners are calling on Parliament to reject the Canada-Colombia trade deal. What is interesting is that people from all parts of our beautiful country—literally, from Baie-Comeau to British Columbia—unanimously agree that an agreement with a regime like that of Colombia makes no sense, and that a free, democratic country like Canada should be ashamed.
I therefore present these petitions.
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am sure people will be pleased to hear from the west coast. I have three petitions.
The first petition is a call to stop the Canada-Colombia free trade deal.
This petition is specifically calling on Parliament to reject the Canada-Columbia trade deal until an independent human rights impact assessment is carried out, the resulting concerns are addressed, and the agreement is renegotiated along the principles of fair trade, which would take environmental and social impacts fully into account, while genuinely respecting and enhancing labour rights and the rights of all affected parties. I want to specifically include the rights of indigenous people in Colombia.
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition I have calls for a just and enduring peace in Palestine and Israel. The petitioners are calling upon Parliament and the Government of Canada to use its influence with Israel, Palestine, the United States and within the United Nations to work for a just and enduring peace.
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Mr. Speaker, the final petition is an important petition. Other members have presented this as a petition to the Government of Canada to support a universal declaration on animal welfare. In this case, they are simply asking for this universal declaration. Of course, we know that the Animal Cruelty Act in Canada is decades old and sadly out of date. It needs some upgrade and the petitioners request that Canada take some action on that.
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition to present to the House today, which calls on the House of Commons not to proceed with the Canada-Colombia trade deal.
The petitioners are extremely concerned about human rights violations and violence against workers and members of civil society by paramilitary groups in Colombia that are closely connected to the current government and the current president.
More than 2,200 trade unionists have been murdered since 1991, and there has been a host of violence against Afro-Colombians, human rights activists, workers, farmers, labour leaders and journalists.
The petitioners state that the Colombia trade deal follows a framework similar to NAFTA and that the NAFTA trade deal has not been effective in protecting labour standards, as in the case of Mexico where over one million agricultural jobs have been lost since NAFTA was signed.
The petitioners also state that labour protection and environmental protection are not adequate.
That is why Canada should not proceed with this deal.
Jim Maloway NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, many Canadians have joined the call to stop the Canada-Colombia trade deal.
The petitioners call on Parliament to reject the Canada-Colombia trade deal until an independent human rights impact assessment is carried out, the resulting concerns addressed, and the agreement renegotiated along the principles of fair trade that would take into account environmental and social impacts while genuinely respecting and enhancing labour rights and the rights of all affected parties.
The violence against workers and members of civil society by paramilitaries in Colombia that are closely associated with the current Uribe government have been ongoing, with more than 2,200 trade unionists murdered since 1991, as well as a host of violence committed against indigenous people, Afro-Colombians, human rights activists, workers, farmers, labour leaders and journalists.
The Canada-Colombia so-called free trade agreement was negotiated following a framework similar to the North American free trade agreement--
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
I hesitate to interrupt the hon. member, but the time for presenting petitions has expired so we will have to move on to other business.
Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnRoutine Proceedings
Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, if Question No. 145 could be made an order for return, this return would be tabled immediately.
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
With respect to the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program and the AgriStability program in each of the participating provinces and in each of the program years from 2003 to 2007: (a) what were the number of applications received; (b) what were the number of payment files; (c) what was the average of all benefit payments below $500,000; (d) how many payment files were greater than $500,000; (e) what percentage of applicants received actual payments; (f) what was the farm type associated with each recipient of a payment of $500,000 or greater; (g) what was the average reference year margin of all participants by farm type; (h) what were the contributing reasons for the reduced payment percentage in 2007; (i) what were the contributing reasons for the reduced average reference year margins in 2007; and (j) what was the rationale or intended purpose of implementing the mandatory accrual reference year margin?
(Return tabled)
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand.
Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Notices of Motions for the Production of Papers be allowed to stand.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
The Chair has a request for an emergency debate from the hon. member for Winnipeg North. I will now hear her submissions on this point.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, on May 25, you ruled against an emergency debate on the medical isotope crisis proposed by my colleague, the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley. At the time you emphasized that your decision was applicable to the circumstances at the moment and that you would entertain a further request if conditions changed. Circumstances have certainly changed dramatically, and not for the better.
At the time we had been told that the Chalk River reactor, producing 80% of Canada's medical isotope needs, would be shut down for a month. We are now facing a best-case scenario of more than a three-month shutdown. The result is a crisis in the procurement of supply of isotopes. Service has been reduced to as low as 10% in some communities, and now we are told smaller hospitals across the country will receive no isotopes this week.
Yesterday the head of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine called the situation a catastrophe for the two million nuclear medicine patients in Canada. The medical chief of the nuclear medicine department at a Hamilton hospital warned that if they are unable to deliver 50% of the usual exams, she believes deaths would occur due to the additional strain placed on the health care delivery system.
The government claims we can do more with alternatives, but this is disputed by health professionals, especially in the treatment of children.
The worsening situation is of grave concern and, in my view, begs for an emergency debate as soon as possible so that all members in the House can participate in a dialogue, deliberations and debate on this crisis and propose guidance and solutions to the government of the day.