House of Commons Hansard #58 of the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was growth.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
I have the honour to lay upon the table the report of the Privacy Commissioner on the application of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act for the year 2009.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(h), this report is deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.
Immigration and Refugee Protection ActRoutine Proceedings
Calgary Southeast Alberta
Conservative
Jason Kenney ConservativeMinister of Citizenship
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-35, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, respecting its participation in the second part of the 2010 Ordinary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Strasbourg, France, on April 26 to 30.
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Health, entitled “The Way Forward: Addressing the Elevated Rates of Tuberculosis Infection in on Reserve First Nations and Inuit Communities”, and the fifth report in relation to a motion adopted at the committee on Tuesday, June 1, on product safety legislation.
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-528, An Act to amend the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act (poverty reduction).
Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to introduce legislation that would require Canada to contribute at least 0.7% of our gross national product to official development assistance.
This bill was drafted based upon an idea from a high school student in Vancouver Kingsway, Puneet Riar, one of the winning ideas from the contest I ran called Create Your Canada. This contest engaged high school students from my riding to suggest ideas to improve Canada and the world. Our office received over 50 submissions and the winners were picked by a panel of community judges.
Ms. Riar's idea was an entry that would require Canada to meet the target of 0.7% of our gross national product to be used for development assistance. Puneet is on the Hill today to watch her idea be introduced as legislation in Parliament. I am going to quote from Puneet's submission:
We who are fortunate enough to live in Canada cannot imagine the hardships that people in developing countries face…It is a tradition for Canada to be a donor. It has been a moral obligation for Canada to give aid to those who need it.
I congratulate Puneet from Windermere Secondary School for her compassion and for her vision of Canadian leadership in global poverty reduction. I also want to acknowledge her grade 12 history teacher, Jeff Mazo, who promoted the Create Your Canada contest, as well as principal Rob Schindel, and social studies department head, Corrie Clutchey, who offered their support for this program.
I urge all members of the House to support this important piece of legislation and congratulate Puneet Riar and all the students from Windermere Secondary School for their care and concern to help make Canada a better place for everyone.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-529, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Income Tax Act (extra-energy-efficient products).
Mr. Speaker, I rise again to introduce a bill inspired by the second winner of the Vancouver Kingsway Create Your Canada contest, Hansel Fung, from Eric Hamber Secondary School. Hansel's winning entry proposed a system of tax incentives to encourage Canadian families to lower their energy consumption.
This bill would provide financial incentives for individual families to take action to lower their carbon footprint by reducing their energy consumption and use. It would create a GST exemption to lower the price on household appliances deemed by regulation to be extra energy efficient. The existing energy star program helps consumers make informed choices by highlighting energy efficient products, but this bill would go one step further by exempting such products from the GST.
Families would be rewarded for making green choices when they purchase low-energy household appliances and products such as compact fluorescent light bulbs. This bill would also create a tax credit to be claimed at the end of the year, where families could deduct 10% of the cost of the purchase of low-energy appliances.
In his submission, Hansel stated:
With this Bill, I am trying to encourage Canadians to think “green”. This is just an encouragement to think about the environment. This Bill would make Canada “greener”, but not just Canada, the entire world as well. This would give Canada a very good image and set an example for other countries to follow.
I commend Hansel Fung from Eric Hamber Secondary School for his innovative idea and his concern for the future of our planet. I also want to acknowledge the head of the social studies department, Mr. David Smith, for his help and collaboration in promoting the Create Your Canada contest at Eric Hamber Secondary. I ask my hon. colleagues to give Hansel's idea and this bill the support they both deserve.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among House leaders of all four parties and I think you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should consider providing additional funding, within the next 12 months, to competent organizations for the purpose of carrying out microcredit lending targeted at people living on less than $1.25 per day in least developed countries.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Does the hon. member for Markham—Unionville have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?
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?
Jim Maloway NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present this morning. The first is a call to stop the closing of the six Canadian prison farms. Dozens of Canadians have signed this petition demanding that the government reconsider its decision.
The six prison farms, including Rockwood Institution in Manitoba, have been functioning farms for many decades, providing food to prisons and the community. The prison farm operations provide rehabilitation and training for prisoners through work with and caring for plants and animals. The work ethic and rehabilitation benefit of waking up at 6 a.m. and working outdoors is a discipline that Canadians can appreciate.
Closing these farms would mean a loss of the infrastructure and would make it too expensive to replace them sometime in the future. Therefore, the petitioners call on the Government of Canada to stop the closure of the six Canadian prison farm operations across Canada, and to produce a report on the work and rehabilitative benefit to prisoners of the farm operations and on how the program could be adapted to meet the agriculture needs of the 21st century.
Jim Maloway NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by dozens of Canadians. They are calling on the government to match funds personally donated by the citizens of Canada to the victims of the earthquake in Chile. On February 27, 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in southern Chile. The Chilean-Canadian community has mobilized. They have had many socials in Winnipeg and across the country.
People keep asking me, when will the Prime Minister give the same treatment to the earthquake victims in Chile that he did for the earthquake victims in Haiti and match funds personally donated by Canadians to help the victims of the earthquake in Chile.
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table a petition from a couple hundred people from my riding and other ridings in support of Bill C-474.
Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine 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 Questions Nos. 218, 220, 222, and 224 could be made orders for returns, these returns would be tabled immediately.
Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
With regard to advertising in video games for Canada’s Economic Action Plan: (a) in what video games did the government purchase advertising space; (b) for which video game systems was the advertising space purchased; (c) which aspect of the Action Plan was advertised; (d) what is the total value of the ads purchased in (a) and (b); and (e) for what length of time did the ads run?
(Return tabled)
Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
With respect to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport: (a) who has the Parliamentary Secretary met with in his capacity as Parliamentary Secretary since October of 2008; (b) what were the dates and locations of each meeting; (c) what was discussed at each meeting; (d) which funds or programs were discussed; and (e) what were the names of all individuals present at each meeting?
(Return tabled)
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
With respect to the North American Free Trade Agreement Technical Working Group on Pesticides that was established in 1997: (a) in how many cases have Canadian pesticide standards been lowered in order to harmonize regulations with the United States; (b) in how many cases have Canadian pesticide standards been raised in order to harmonize regulations with the United States; (c) how many products have been affected by the lowering of Canadian pesticide standards in order to harmonize regulations with the United States; (d) how many products have been affected by the raising of Canadian standards in order to harmonize regulations with the United States; (e) what criteria do Canadian officials use to determine whether or not to lower pesticide standards; (f) what percentage of Canadian pesticide residue levels standards are stricter than American standards; and (g) what percentage of products in Canada are found to exceed legal residue limits?
(Return tabled)
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
With respect to the budget of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for each of the past ten fiscal years, up to and including this one: (a) what was the overall budget for Indian and Northern Affairs; (b) what amount was spent on or budgeted for salaries; (c) what amount was spent on or budgeted for non-salary expenditures; and (d) what was the difference between money budgeted and money spent?