House of Commons Hansard #68 of the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was sentence.

Topics

HealthOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

NDP

Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB

Mr. Speaker, first nations in northern Manitoba are urgently calling for federal action.

Yesterday, tests showed that H1N1 influenza has struck St. Theresa Point and other regions in northern Manitoba.

This problem is not just about influenza; it is also about the living conditions in first nations communities. Many reserves do not have access to the medical services, housing, roads and clean water that are taken for granted across Canada.

Will the government work with first nations and Manitoba in dealing with this dangerous outbreak?

HealthOral Questions

2:50 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, as an aboriginal woman from the north, I am very concerned about this.

The health and safety of all Canadians is a priority of the government. We intend to continue to work with the provinces and public health agencies, Indian and Northern Affairs and aboriginal organizations to ensure a coordinated response to the reported cases of influenza.

Health Canada has provided additional nurses to the community, and physicians are on site. Epidemiologists will be in the community on Friday. We will continue to work closely with the community leadership and the province.

Consumer Product SafetyOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

NDP

Judy Wasylycia-Leis NDP Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, children are particularly vulnerable to the serious neurological damage caused by lead, and to the reproductive and other harms associated with phthalates used in many plastics.

New Democrats have been introducing bills and motions in the House for over a decade to get these products out of circulation. Some of us have even been at it for a dozen years.

We could not convince the Liberals to act, but we want to know when the government will take action to protect vulnerable children and other Canadians from these dangerous products.

Consumer Product SafetyOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, protecting and promoting the health and safety of Canadians, especially children, is vital to our government. We want Canadian consumers to have access to the safest products and children to have access to the safest toys.

Canada is moving to take regulatory action to prevent the use of phthalates in soft vinyl children's toys and child care articles. At the same time, we are proposing new regulations that will limit the lead content in a variety of products. This proposed limit will be the strictest in the world.

Sealing IndustryOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Conservative

Rodney Weston Conservative Saint John, NB

Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy of the Liberals is mounting, and Canadians are not falling for it.

Their leader supported a job-killing carbon tax until he realized it was not popular. Now he says he will have to raise taxes, despite being in a global recession.

Can the Minister of Health tell the House about the latest hypocritical attack on Canadians during these tough economic times?

Sealing IndustryOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, today the Liberals pandered to the special interest groups in a blatant attack on Canadian sealers.

Senator Harb's loaded political opportunisms rubbed salt in the wounds of sealers, whose income he campaigns against with the blessing of the Liberal leader.

It is unconscionable. I finally understand why the Liberal Party wants to change the EI. By the time it is finished, Canadians will all be out of work.

Official LanguagesOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages stated that Canada is keeping its commitments to the Francophonie with respect to the use of French in the Olympic Winter Games. We have learned that often there is no French signage at airports and Olympic sites. The issue of French broadcasts of the games has not yet been resolved.

I will ask the minister my question again. Can he assure Canadians and French-speaking athletes from abroad that Canada will provide adequate services in their language at the Olympic Games?

Official LanguagesOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.

Conservative

James Moore ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

Mr. Speaker, the short answer is yes, absolutely.

I would like to add that our government and VANOC are working together to ensure that the Olympic Games are completely bilingual. The 1988 Olympic Games were a vast improvement over the 1976 Olympic Games and the 2010 Olympic Games will be a great improvement over the 1988 Games.

The 2010 Olympic Games will respect the official languages of Canada, period.

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Bloc

Francine Lalonde Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Court just ruled that the Canadian government breached Abousfian Abdelrazik's right to return to Canada. Consequently, the court is ordering the government to arrange Mr. Abdelrazik's return to Canada.

Will the Canadian government promise, right here, right now, not to appeal, to comply with the Federal Court's ruling and to allow Mr. Abdelrazik to return to Canada without delay?

JusticeOral Questions

2:55 p.m.

Niagara Falls Ontario

Conservative

Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, of course we will review the decision.

I am always looking for areas with which I can agree with the Bloc, and maybe we can agree on this. A month ago it voted against a bill that targets human trafficking and the monsters involved in this hideous enterprise. Can we at least agree that has to be the low point of that political party's history, the very lowest thing it has done? Let us agree on that.

Public SafetyOral Questions

3 p.m.

NDP

Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC

Mr. Speaker, three years ago the government promised it would deliver 2,500 police officers to Canadian streets. This has not happened, and worse, the Conservatives are now backtracking from their commitment.

Members of the Canadian Association of Police Boards have been here three times to meet with government and share their concerns over this fact. All three times they were snubbed. I met with them and they told me the government has reduced its promise to a lump sum of money with no assurance it will actually deliver police officers and no commitment to funding past five years.

Does the minister intend to keep his promise to police and to Canadians, yes or no?

Public SafetyOral Questions

3 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeMinister of Public Safety

Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member is new here, but if he would look into the records in the past, he will see that we actually did deliver on our commitment for additional police officers. That money was transferred to the provinces, including to his province. If those provinces have failed to deliver on police officers, that is unfortunate, but this federal government has kept its commitment.

What is more, we have gone beyond that. We promised 1,000 new RCMP. We have delivered over 1,500 already. We are delivering more because there is one party in this House that takes law and order and safe communities seriously, and that this party and this government.

HealthOral Questions

June 4th, 2009 / 3 p.m.

Conservative

Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON

Mr. Speaker, electronic health records have the opportunity to improve the accessibility of our health care system. That is why Canada's economic action plan provided an additional $500 million to Canada Health Infoway. However, many Canadians are concerned about the recent situation involving eHealth Ontario.

Can the Minister of Health update us on the program?

HealthOral Questions

3 p.m.

Nunavut Nunavut

Conservative

Leona Aglukkaq ConservativeMinister of Health

Mr. Speaker, our government wants to make sure that Canadians get value for their money every time we make an investment. We have seen the stories and we are concerned as well. As Canada's government, we have a responsibility to spend Canadians' money properly. We are monitoring the situation carefully.

Business of the HouseOral Questions

3 p.m.

Liberal

Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the usual question of the government House leader with respect to business of the House for the next few weeks.

As we all know, the end of the current supply cycle is June 23, which means summer adjournment is approaching. The official opposition would like to know which bills the government intends to call, but we would also like to know which days the government intends to designate as opposition days.

I would point out to the government House leader, as I know he is quite aware, that under the Standing Orders there are three opposition days that remain to be designated. I would hope that the government House leader is able to provide some clarification, some details, some facts perhaps.

Business of the HouseOral Questions

3 p.m.

Prince George—Peace River B.C.

Conservative

Jay Hill ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I am only too happy to respond as I do every Thursday, with transparency, openness and in a spirit of co-operation with my colleagues across the way.

Today and tomorrow we will consider Bill C-15, the drug offence bill. However, as my colleague the Minister of Justice noted, the NDP members seem to be unnecessarily dragging the debate on the bill out. We will also consider Bill C-25, truth in sentencing; Bill C-34, protecting victims from sex offenders; Bill C-19, anti-terrorism; and Bill C-30, the Senate ethics bill.

Next week I intend to add to this list, Bill S-4, identity theft; and Bill C-6, consumer product safety.

As always, I will give priority to any bills that have been reported back from our hard-working standing committees.

In the response to the question about the allotted days, within the next week I will be designating Thursday, June 11 as an allotted day.

Mr. Speaker, the hon. Liberal House leader often asks specific questions about specific bills on Thursday, so I hope you will entertain a few comments of my own.

First of all, I would like to recognize that, to date at least, there has been good co-operation from the opposition in moving our legislative agenda forward, not only in this chamber but in the other place as well. I want to thank the opposition for that co-operation.

However, yesterday we passed in this place, at all stages and without debate, Bill C-33, the bill that will extend benefits to allied veterans and their families. For this bill to become law, we need the same co-operation in the Senate. I would urge the opposition House leader to deliver that message to his senators.

I understand that the Governor General is here today and could actually give royal assent to the bill. It would not only be symbolic but a substantial gesture to those veterans who are reflecting on and participating in the 65th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, this weekend.

The other bill I want to specifically mention is Bill C-29, the agricultural loans bill. In one of his Thursday questions, the member for Wascana took an interest in this bill. He suggested, and I quote from Hansard, that “we might be able to dispose of it at all stages”. I appreciate that level of support for this important and time-sensitive bill in the House, but the member needs to coordinate his support with his Senate colleagues in order to get this bill passed and the increased loans made available to our farmers in a timely manner.

Any communication from the member for Wascana and any persuasiveness he may bring to bear upon his Liberal colleagues in the other place would be greatly appreciated by me and the government.

Mothers and NewbornsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Kootenay—Columbia B.C.

Conservative

Jim Abbott ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I have a motion in hand, for which I believe there is all-party agreement. I move:

That this House renews its commitment to reducing maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality both at home and abroad and supports Canadian leadership within government and civil society to work within the G8 and as partners with UN agencies and appropriate global initiatives to achieve this goal.

Mothers and NewbornsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Does the hon. parliamentary secretary have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?

Mothers and NewbornsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Mothers and NewbornsOral Questions

3:05 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?

Mothers and NewbornsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Mothers and NewbornsOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

(Motion agreed to)

National Aboriginal History MonthOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should declare the month of June as National Aboriginal History Month.

National Aboriginal History MonthOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Does the hon. member for Nanaimo—Cowichan have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?

National Aboriginal History MonthOral Questions

3:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.