House of Commons Hansard #40 of the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was sentence.

Topics

2 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

It being Wednesday, we will now have the singing of the national anthem led by the hon. member for Mississauga—Brampton South.

[Members sang the national anthem]

Human TraffickingStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Conservative

Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB

Mr. Speaker, this weekend Canadians will have an opportunity to make Mother's Day extra meaningful.

On Saturday, May 8, the day before Mother's Day, in Winnipeg hundreds of individuals representing many different ethnic and religious communities will gather at high noon at the steps of the Manitoba legislature to participate in the Walk to Stop Human Trafficking and raise awareness about this terrible abuse of human rights.

Today, men, women and children are trafficked throughout our communities. The average age of a Canadian youth sold into the sex trade is 12 years. This must stop.

I am extremely pleased that I will be joined by Grand Chief Ron Evans and many of Manitoba's first nations communities. As many hon. members know, first nations youth are especially vulnerable to human traffickers.

I invite all hon. members and all Canadians to attend the Walk to Stop Human Trafficking in Winnipeg on Saturday, May 8, and be a voice for the voiceless. We will send a message to traffickers that Canada will not tolerate the sale of our children.

Maternal and Child HealthStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Liberal

Raymonde Folco Liberal Laval—Les Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, today is International Day of the Midwife. Midwives play a key role in promoting and protecting maternal and newborn health globally.

According to the International Confederation of Midwives, one woman dies every minute of every day because she is pregnant, and 1.5 million newborns die within the first 24 hours of life. Little progress has been made in saving mothers' lives.

In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 60% of women still do not have access to qualified professional care during labour and delivery, despite the fact that one of the millennium development goals is improved maternal health and reduced infant mortality by 2015.

Since we are talking about maternal health here in the House, it is a fitting time to pay tribute to midwives around the world and to the key role they play in saving the lives of mothers and infants as well as in promoting their health.

Multiple Sclerosis Awareness MonthStatements By Members

2 p.m.

Bloc

Luc Malo Bloc Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC

Mr. Speaker, May of every year is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. This neurodegenerative disease affects three times as many women as men. These women are often mothers and that is why every year the carnation campaign takes place over Mother's Day weekend.

This campaign, whose goal is to collect funds to find a cure for multiple sclerosis, begins tomorrow. That is why we are wearing carnations on our lapels. These flowers represent the hope that one day a treatment will be found.

Although research has improved the lives of people affected by this disease, the fight is not yet over and it is important that Quebeckers give generously. It is still the most commonly diagnosed disease for people aged 15 to 40, and our society has one of the highest number of cases in the world.

My Bloc Québécois colleagues join with me to acknowledge the courage of those with the disease and to express the hope we have that, one day, the research will bring them the results they are hoping for.

Mental HealthStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

NDP

Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC

Mr. Speaker, recently a constituent of mine, Carrie-Ann Dambrowitz, whose daughter suffers from schizophrenia, issued an inspirational challenge to me and 330 other federal and provincial elected officials. She asked that we donate the price of a restaurant meal to a mental health provider and to encourage five others to do the same.

We have a serious situation in Canada, where over 50% of those who will have a mental illness are children, youth or college-age adults. Depression is most rampant among those under the age of 20. In most cases if help is obtained, mental illness can be treated with medication and/or counselling. Sadly, only one in three will receive treatment. Sadder still is the fact that society at large remains far too fearful and misinformed about mental illness.

This Mental Health Week I would like to recognize the many dedicated volunteers and professionals in the B.C. Southern Interior and across Canada who do so much to help those in mental distress with very limited resources. With some creative help from all levels of government, they could do so much more.

Liberation of the NetherlandsStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Conservative

David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON

Mr. Speaker, as we enjoy the beautiful tulips on Parliament Hill and along the Rideau Canal again this spring, I would like to rise today to recognize the history behind those tulips. Today marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.

Brave Canadian troops helped push the Nazis further back into Germany throughout the winter of 1944-45, liberating the Dutch people from five years of tyranny. Ravaged by terror bombings and starving, the Dutch people were overjoyed and welcomed our troops with open arms. It was on May 5, 1945 that the Nazi commander in Holland capitulated, and this ended the occupation of the Netherlands.

The people of the Netherlands were also very thankful that the Dutch royal family had been provided safe refuge here in Ottawa during the war. In fact, Princess Juliana, who would later become the Dutch Queen, gave birth to her third daughter, Princess Margriet, at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.

As a result, many Canadian flags can be seen throughout the Netherlands each May 5 on Liberation Day. It is also why we enjoy the 20,000 tulip bulbs given each year by the Dutch people to say a very hearty thank you to the Canadian people.

Mental HealthStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Liberal

Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON

Mr. Speaker, Canada's national Mental Health Week, May 3 to 9, helps raise awareness of a very critical personal and public health issue, and informs Canadians of the urgent reality of mental illness in our country.

Too few Canadians are aware of the startling high occurrence of mental illness. One in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime and about one million people in Canada currently live with a severe or persistent form of mental illness.

People living with mental illness are often much more severely affected by social and economic inequality. Canadians suffering from mental illness are dramatically more at risk of marginalization, lengthy unemployment, isolation, poor health, a life of poverty and sometimes imprisonment.

I ask my colleagues in the House to join me in recognizing Mental Health Week and to encourage more Canadians to do all that they can to assist in developing ways to diagnose, treat and compassionately care for those of us suffering from mental illness.

Multiple SclerosisStatements By Members

2:05 p.m.

Conservative

Rick Casson Conservative Lethbridge, AB

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today wearing a carnation for multiple sclerosis awareness and to kick off the MS carnation campaign, an initiative that raises much needed funds for MS research and services. MS not only affects the people living with the disease, but also their families and caregivers, health care professionals, researchers and people who fight against MS.

We need to ensure that people with MS and their families have the opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of life. I encourage all members of the House to support programs that will more directly meet the needs of people affected by MS today and advance health research to help us find a cure for tomorrow.

I urge all Canadians to buy a carnation from MS Society volunteers, who will be selling carnations in public spaces during the carnation campaign from May 6 to 8. Together, we can drive MS out of the lives of people like my daughter Richelle and all Canadians.

First NationsStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Bloc

Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Amun march is continuing today. Aboriginal women left Wendake, near Quebec City, for Ottawa and will be passing through Trois-Rivières, Montréal, Laval and Gatineau, and arriving at Parliament on June 1.

This 500 km march is a protest against the injustices suffered by aboriginal women because of the Indian Act, in spite of Bill C-3, which does not correct all the discrimination that they experience.

The purpose of the march is to heighten public awareness and, above all, to send a clear message to the government: no to discrimination against first nations women. They must be allowed to pass their Indian status to their child without being required to divulge the father's name and they must retain their rights even if they marry a non-native, and thus avoid expulsion from their community.

My Bloc Québécois colleagues and I salute the courage and determination of these women and we wish them a safe journey.

Liberal Party of CanadaStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Liberal Party has shown its true colours. Yesterday, in a move reminiscent of the sponsorship scandal, the Liberals sent out a letter encouraging secret political donations, taking us back to the days when they pocketed brown envelopes stuffed with cash.

The Liberal leader then took his hypocrisy one step further by opposing our party's proposal, which would have made his office and his members more open and transparent by requiring lobbyists to register their activities with all parliamentarians.

That is typical of the Liberals: one set of rules for the Liberal Party and another set of rules for everyone else. Every day, former Liberal members turned lobbyists roam the halls of Parliament. They can offer advice to the Liberal leader and to Liberal members without having to register. This hypocrisy is quite typical of the Liberals, and shows that the Liberal leader does not have Canadians' interests at heart.

Multiple SclerosisStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Liberal

Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

Mr. Speaker, multiple sclerosis is a devastating, unpredictable disease which affects balance, hearing, memory, mobility and vision. Its effects are physical, emotional and financial, and last a lifetime. MS steals futures from families, and there is no cure.

May is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month in Canada. Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. Because many Canadians living with the disease are mothers, the MS carnation campaign takes place over Mother's Day weekend, with thousands of volunteers selling flowers to find a cure.

I encourage all Canadians to buy a carnation to honour the 75,000 Canadians who have tremendous courage to live each day so bravely and to honour the hope that when research shows promise, practitioners ask questions, advocate on behalf of their patients and begin to seek it for them.

Leader of the Liberal Party of CanadaStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

Conservative

Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal leader's list of reckless spending promises keeps on growing. It grows in lockstep with the ever-increasing list of tax hikes he proposes to pay for these promises. No wonder he calls himself a tax and spend Liberal. These are the same old failed tax and spend policies the Liberals are famous for; billions here, billions there.

The Liberal leader told Canadians recently that before endorsing any new proposal “One of the issues we have to confront is: How do we pay for this? We can't be a credible party until we have an answer for that question”. Canadians are still waiting for the answer.

So far, the only answer the Liberal leader has given is that he will hike job-killing business taxes, raise the GST and bring back the carbon tax.

It is becoming clearer by the day that Canadians just cannot afford the tax and spend policies of the Liberal leader.

Harmonized Sales TaxStatements By Members

2:10 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Mr. Speaker, the impact of the HST is becoming clear and the news is not good. Working families, seniors, people on fixed incomes and first nations will all be the losers.

This is how it breaks down. Every time we turn on a light or the Internet, every time we fill up with gas and every time we try to save for our retirement, we will get dinged. Heating a house in the winter is not a luxury for a senior citizen. It is a necessity.

Speaking of luxury, the Cadillac Conservatives are giving another $1.6 billion in tax breaks to wealthy corporations. The McGuinty Liberals gave $2 billion in corporate tax breaks.

What we are seeing is a massive shift in the tax burden. We are making average citizens carry the weight of large corporations.

The government shut down debate on the HST and turned its back on senior citizens and first nations people. The HST is regressive, unfair and it will be remembered.

Firearms RegistryStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON

Mr. Speaker, the residents of Labrador must be as confused as we are about their Liberal MP's position on the wasteful and ineffective long gun registry.

Last December he was very clear. He said, “I've been clear about my position...and I will vote...to scrap the long gun registry”. However, now he has changed his tune.

The local newspaper, The Aurora, states that the Liberal member for Labrador will now follow his party's line and vote to keep the long gun registry. It is most disappointing that the member for Labrador will ignore his constituents and friends back home and instead do what his party bosses in Ottawa tell him to do.

However, that is typical from the Liberals, telling their constituents one thing and then doing the exact opposite in Ottawa.

The member for Labrador will have to answer at some time to the people back at home for his flip-flop and for his support for the long gun registry.

Tax Credit for New Graduates Working in Designated RegionsStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Bloc

Johanne Deschamps Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC

Mr. Speaker, this evening we will vote at third reading on Bill C-288, which gives new graduates up to $8,000 in tax credits if they accept jobs in designated regions experiencing economic difficulty.

The Conservative members have shamelessly voted against this bill ever since it was introduced in the House of Commons.

Youth and student groups, municipalities and RCMs all agree that this kind of incentive is important because it will enhance the economic vitality of designated regions in Quebec and Canada.

Just last week, business people in the riding of Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean complained about how hard it is to recruit specialized workers for their companies. This difficulty is proof that we need incentives like a tax credit to bring our young people back to the regions.

Firearms RegistryStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Liberal

Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC

Mr. Speaker, Canadians support gun control.

Police officers say that the gun registry is a vital tool. They check it more than 11,000 times every day, and it costs less than the Conservatives spend on partisan government advertising.

Why is the member for Thornhill voting against gun control?

And what about the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent? She knows that Quebeckers support the gun registry, so why is she voting against gun control? Why are her other colleagues from Quebec voting against gun control?

Bill C-391 would scrap gun control and put our families, our communities and our police officers at risk.

The members for Thornhill and Louis-Saint-Laurent should listen to their constituents, stand with police officers and vote no to Bill C-391.

They need to stand up for their communities.

Liberal Party of CanadaStatements By Members

2:15 p.m.

Conservative

Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party is once again showing its true colours. Yesterday, in a move reminiscent of the sponsorship scandal, it sent out a fundraising letter asking for secret party donations, just like it did when the Liberals pocketed brown envelopes filled with cash.

Then the Liberal leader displayed more hypocrisy by opposing our party's offer to make his own office and Liberal MPs more transparent by requiring lobbyists to register their activities with all parliamentarians. This is typical Liberal behaviour: one set of rules for the Liberal Party and another set for everyone else.

There are plenty of former Liberal MPs and cabinet ministers, now lobbyists, wandering the halls of Parliament each and every day and yet they currently offer advice and lobby the Liberal leader's office and Liberal MPs' offices without having to register.

This typical Liberal hypocrisy demonstrates the Liberal leader is not in it for Canadians. He is just in it for himself.

Status of WomenOral Questions

May 5th, 2010 / 2:15 p.m.

Etobicoke—Lakeshore Ontario

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, a Conservative senator told women's rights organizations to shut up, because with this Prime Minister, if you keep quiet, you will not be punished.

Twenty-four hours later, the government cut funding to 11 women's organizations.

Will the Prime Minister agree to put an end to this campaign of intimidation and restore funding to these groups?

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Ottawa West—Nepean Ontario

Conservative

John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, this government is giving a record amount of funding to support women's groups.

We do have one big criteria: we want less talk and more action and more funding that will help improve the lives of Canadian girls and women. That is a priority of this government.

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Etobicoke—Lakeshore Ontario

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, when women's groups speak out, they get their funding cut. When public servants, like Richard Colvin, testify, they get smeared. When independent watchdogs try to do their job, they get fired. When Parliament asks tough questions, the Conservatives shut the Parliament down.

When will the Conservative Party and the government stop intimidating their critics and start listening to them?

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Ottawa West—Nepean Ontario

Conservative

John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, this government is always open and transparent. We brought in the Federal Accountability Act and expanded access to information right across the board.

However, when we tried to expand the Access to Information Act to open up government and to make it more transparent, the Liberal Party of Canada stood and fought it every step of the way.

Thank goodness that this government and this party fought especially hard to bring openness to the Canadian Wheat Board.

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Etobicoke—Lakeshore Ontario

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, instead of welcoming debate, the Conservatives stifle it. Instead of answering questions, they duck them. Instead of treating our institutions with respect, they try to shut them down.

This is a big issue here. The fundamental issue is whether the government respects democracy.

When will the Conservatives stop the smears, the attacks and the intimidation and start showing the Canadian people some respect?

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Ottawa West—Nepean Ontario

Conservative

John Baird ConservativeMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Liberal Party will have an important opportunity in the not too distant future to allow debate, to allow openness and to allow eight of his members of Parliament to stand in their place and represent their constituents by voting their conscience when it comes to the long gun registry.

I would ask the leader of the Liberal Party to join the Conservative government and allow democracy, allow democratic debate and allow his own members to stand and vote how their constituents told them to vote.

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Liberal

Lise Zarac Liberal LaSalle—Émard, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government cut funding to a dozen women's groups.

These cuts came just a day after the inflammatory comment that revealed the culture of intimidation that is rotting Canada's government from the inside out.

Some of these groups had been receiving funding for 30 years, but the Conservatives decided to make an example out of them. “You do not agree with the Prime Minister? Shut up or we will make cuts.”

What does this Prime Minister have against Canadians that is making him rule by intimidation?

Status of WomenOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Durham Ontario

Conservative

Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of International Cooperation

Mr. Speaker, this is not about entitlement to taxpayer dollars. It is about the accountable use of our international assistance.

An independent evaluation says that MATCH faces a number of serious financial institutional challenges. It found MATCH to be inefficient, ineffective, with unidentifiable priorities.

Our government wants our taxpayer dollars to be effective, focused and to get results so that mothers in Africa can feed their children, keep them educated, keep them healthy and have a better life.