Debates of Sept. 22nd, 2010

Remarks Regarding Member for Portage--Lisgar

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Does the hon. member for Louis-Hébert wish to speak to the same question of privilege?

[Pascal-Pierre Paillé, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

No, Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. I would like—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

That is a different point of order.

Does the hon. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons wish to speak to the same question?

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, on the same point, I noticed that after question period the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour stood up and expressed concern about a word that the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development used. In the interest of raising the discourse in this place and trying to raise the bar this fall from what had become a rather raucous session in the spring, the Minister of Human Resources immediately stood up. She did not even wait to hear whether it was actually ruled as a point of order by you, Mr. Speaker. She did the right thing.

I would hope that no member of the House, and certainly not the member for Portage—Lisgar, but no Liberal member, no NDP member, no Bloc member and no government member would actually believe that the member for Portage--Lisgar, or for that matter any member, would believe that the serious problem, the serious concern in virtually every community in this country of domestic violence is not a crime. It is not just a serious crime, but it is a heinous crime.

I think the member spoke very eloquently, with a great amount of precedent. We will get your judgment on the question of privilege, Mr. Speaker, but I think it would be in the best interests, if we want to raise the discourse in this place, for the Leader of the Opposition on behalf of his party and on behalf of his staff, one, to take full responsibility, and two, to do the right thing and offer a sincere apology to the member for Portage—Lisgar.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in an effort to help your deliberations on such a delicate matter, in addition to the plea made by the House Leader of the Official Opposition, I would like to suggest that you read the only objective document, because opinions, arguments and facts can help you. This document is entitled RCMP Canadian Firearms Program—Program Evaluation. It was published in February 2010, and is widely available, though the government would have liked to have hidden it.

On page 22 of the document, there is a chart entitled “Victims of Spousal Homicide Committed with Firearm by type of Firearm”—that is the topic we are discussing—and there was a decrease in the number of spousal homicides during the reference period, 1996 to 2007. In the beginning, there was an average of 20 such homicides per year, and that number decreased to an average of 6 at the end of the study.

I should point out that when we look at the last reference year, we can see that 100% of the victims of crimes committed with handguns, rifles, shotguns, and other types of weapons were women. That is right: 100% of the victims were women. So, the registry has produced concrete results in reducing the number of women killed. That is what this report shows.

Mr. Speaker, to add a little context, I would also like to point out a bill that was passed after 10 years of fighting in the House, a bill called the Westray bill, named after the mine where a number of miners were killed. With this bill, the House, the Canadian Parliament, reflecting the will of the Canadian people, made it very clear that if an organization has knowledge and is reasonably well informed of a danger, it can be held criminally liable.

I believe this should be taken under consideration, Mr. Speaker.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I appreciate hearing from hon. members on this matter. I will consider their suggestions and arguments and come back to the House with my decision later.

The hon. member for Louis-Hébert on a point of order.

[Pascal-Pierre Paillé, Bloc, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I seek the unanimous consent of the House to table the March 5, 2001, press release to clarify the substance of my question.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Does the hon. member for Louis-Hébert have the unanimous consent of the House to table the document?

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

There is no unanimous consent.

Canada's Engagement in Afghanistan

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, a report entitled “Canada’s Engagement in Afghanistan—Quarterly Report to Parliament for the Period of April 1 to June 30, 2010.”

Export Development Canada

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the application of the Alternative Fuels Act to the operations of Export Development Canada during the fiscal year 2009-10. I ask that this report be referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade.

Canadian Commercial Corporation

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2009-10 Annual Report of the Canadian Commercial Corporation. I ask that the report be referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade.

Global Centre for Pluralism

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the Global Centre for Pluralism 2009-10 annual report and a summary of the Global Centre for Pluralism corporate plan for 2010.

Industry, Science and Technology

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to submit, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, concerning its study on the long-form census.

Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act

[John Duncan, Conservative, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

moved for leave to introduce Bill S-4, An Act respecting family homes situated on First Nation reserves and matrimonial interests or rights in or to structures and lands situated on those reserves.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of Justice]

moved for leave to introduce Bill S-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and another Act.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to table a petition signed by many women across this country concerning the funding for the Sisters in Spirit initiative.

This petition calls upon the government to ensure that the Native Women's Association of Canada receives sufficient funds to continue its important work protecting first nations, Métis and Inuit women against violence in their communities.

We know that the government announced $10 million in its budget, but so far we have not seen an allocation of that money to the Native Women's Association, so this petition is very timely and important.

Canadian Forces

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to table two petitions on behalf of constituents. The first petition requests Parliament to call a halt to recruitment activities of Canadian Forces in schools.

Public Transit Safety

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition requests the Minister of Justice to amend the Criminal Code to recognize the instances of violence on public transit and school buses, and a variety of transit operators' concerns, so that they can be recognized in the Criminal Code the same as peace officers.

Harmonized Sales Tax

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

Mr. Speaker, I have several petitions.

The first petition is from people in Smithers and Fraser Lake, Northwestern British Columbia, calling upon the federal government to rescind their damaging harmonized sales tax and to no longer continue to bribe provinces with taxpayers' money to increase taxes on those same taxpayers.

Tibet

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

Mr. Speaker, the second petition has several hundred names from Telkwa, British Columbia and surrounding communities discussing the issue of Tibetans being detained by the Chinese government.

KAIROS

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

Mr. Speaker, the next petition concerns KAIROS funding.

As many members in this House and Canadians will know, the federal government decided to pull many millions of dollars from the funding of KAIROS, which is a multi-faith aid group that works in foreign countries around the world alleviating poverty. It is an absolute shame that the government has rescinded its funding.

Canada Post

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

Mr. Speaker, the final petition, signed by a number of petitioners from Terrace, British Columbia area, is calling upon the government to ensure that Canada Post does not continue to close post offices in rural Canada as it has been doing, and to improve services not diminish them for rural Canadians right across Canada, coast to coast to coast.

Middle East

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, have several petitions.

The first petition is signed by thousands of London residents who are still very concerned by the May 31 raid by Israeli forces on six humanitarian aid ships, part of the freedom flotilla to Gaza, in which nine of the volunteers onboard one of the ships were killed. These petitioners are very concerned that Canada has been virtually silent in regard to this attack.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to condemn Israel's lethal assault on the freedom flotilla in international waters, insist on thorough and independent international investigations into the tragedy, and call upon the Government of Canada to put pressure on Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza.