Debates of Nov. 28th, 2012

Access to Medicines

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I also have the pleasure to present a petition to the House of Commons on Bill C-398 from the Canadian Federation of University Women.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to present a petition signed by literally thousands of Canadians in support of Bill C-398. The petition was put forward by the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and it calls upon Parliament to pass, without amendment, Bill C-398 later today.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have five petitions from members of the metro Vancouver community who are calling upon the government to pass, without amendment, Bill C-398 to enable the immediate and sustainable flow of life-saving generic medicines to developing countries.

Search and Rescue

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I also have hundreds of signatures on a petition from metro Vancouver constituents who are concerned about the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, which would create risk to life in our waters in Vancouver.

Abortion

[Leon Benoit, Conservative, Vegreville—Wainwright, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present today a petition from constituents who are very concerned that there is no restriction whatsoever on abortion in Canada. They note that we are in the company of countries like China and North Korea.

The petitioners call on Parliament to speedily enact legislation that restricts abortion to the greatest extent possible.

Search and Rescue

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition on behalf of mostly residents from Bell Island in my constituency who are calling on the Government of Canada to reverse its decision to close the Canadian Coast Guard maritime rescue station in St. John's, Newfoundland, reinstate the staff and restore its full services.

This is a very important search and rescue station. The petitioners recognize its value and want it reinstated.

Access to Medicines

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions from my constituents today.

The first petition calls upon the House to pass Bill C-398 to facilitate the flow of life-saving generic drugs to developing countries.

Child Pornography

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from the women of St. Joseph's Church in my constituency who are concerned about child pornography and child exploitation through the Internet. They call upon Parliament to modify section 163 of the Criminal Code to change the legal terminology from “child pornography” to “child sex abuse” materials to protect children and deter pedophilia.

Access to Medicines

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to join with so many other members today in presenting about 100 pages or more of petitions also on Bill C-398, known as the medicine for all bill. I thank the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and individuals, like Mary Steeves, who have spent so much time collecting these signatures.

We have the vote tonight, so it is great that so many petitions are being presented.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I, too, join with my colleagues to table a petition from the Grandmothers Advocacy Network signed by Canadians in Quebec and Ontario calling on this House to pass Bill C-398 later today.

Health

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to present a petition signed by many people from Gatineau and the Outaouais region. They are calling for a national strategy on dementia and health care for people with Alzheimer's and other types of dementia. I want to commend the exceptional work being done in my region by Maison Fleur-Ange and the people of the Société Alzheimer de l'Outaouais.

Access to Medicines

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, we all love our grandmothers. There is a great organization, the Grandmothers Advocacy Network, that is asking us to pass Bill C-398 without any significant change in order to facilitate the immediate and sustainable flow of life-saving generic medicine to developing countries.

This petition is on behalf of the residents in Winnipeg.

Pensions

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, ever since the Prime Minister fled the country last January to announce that he would be raising the age of OAS eligibility from 65 to 67, petitions continue to flood in from the people in my riding of Hamilton Mountain who are opposed to that change.

Since over one-quarter of a million seniors are now living in poverty and public pensions provide, at most, $15,000 to the typical retiree, the petitioners are calling on the government to drop its ill-considered change to the OAS, maintain the current age of eligibility and make the requisite investments in the guaranteed income supplement to lift every senior out of poverty.

The Environment

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present three petitions. The first is from the residents of the Vancouver area calling for a full moratorium and protection of the west coast of British Columbia from the passage by supertankers.

The petitioners request that the government ensure that supertankers loaded with bitumen are prohibited pursuant to the 1972 moratorium, which should be extended.

The second petition, which is very timely as the Doha negotiations began this week, calls on Canada to reconfirm its commitment to Kyoto. We are still Kyoto parties until December 15. These petitions come from residents in British Columbia and Ontario.

Investment Treaty

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have two groups of petitions on the same subject from across Ontario and through the Victoria area that call on the Prime Minister to please not ratify the Canada-China investment treaty.

Housing

[Marie-Claude Morin, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by many Canadians who are calling on the government to pull up its socks, show some leadership and vote in favour of Bill C-400, which would finally implement a national housing strategy.

Abortion

[Bruce Hyer, Independent, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today. The first is a petition on behalf of residents of Neebing, Kenora and Thunder Bay on the topic of restrictions on abortion.

Telecommunications

[Bruce Hyer, Independent, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I also have the pleasure of presenting a petition on behalf of residents from across Ontario in support of my cellphone freedom act, Bill C-343, which would take an important step in providing greater consumer choice in the marketplace.

The petitioners are asking parliamentarians to support Bill C-343 so Canadian consumers are no longer chained by anti-competitive network locks on their cellphones.

Access to Medicines

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

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first is from the Grandmothers Advocacy Network and it has been signed by hundreds and hundreds of residents from mostly Alberta. They are asking the government to pass Bill C-398 without significant amendment to facilitate the immediate and sustainable flow of life-saving generic medicines to developing countries.

Pensions

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

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is with regard to the changes made to old age security because it will negatively impact the poorest of our seniors.

The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to retain the retirement age for OAS at 65 and make the required investments in the guaranteed income supplement to lift every Canadian senior out of poverty.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition signed by many of my constituents and people in the greater Montreal area, regarding an application for refugee status on compassionate and humanitarian grounds.

Access to Medicines

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from the Grandmothers Advocacy Network signed by hundreds of people in British Columbia who point out that millions of people die needlessly each year from treatable diseases, such as HIV-AIDS, TB and malaria, and that half the people who require treatment for these diseases in sub-Saharan Africa do not receive it.

The petitioners call on the House to support Bill C-398 that has the provisions necessary to make Canada's access to medicines regime workable at no cost to taxpayers. It is essentially the same bill passed previously by the House. They urge all parliamentarians, as I do, to support Bill C-398 when it comes before the House.

The Environment

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first one is from residents in Oshawa who are upset that the Oshawa port authority has given permission to FarmTech Energy to build an ethanol plant in Oshawa harbour adjacent to a sensitive wetland that is home to species at risk and is a wildlife reserve and provincial park.

The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to divest the federal port authority back to the City of Oshawa, to stop the construction of the ethanol facility and to complete the environmental assessment.

Motor Vehicle Safety

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from a group of constituents of mine who are very worried that large trucks in big cities are causing cyclist and pedestrian fatalities. They want to see a regulation introduced under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to make side guards for large trucks mandatory. That recommendation is supported by--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for New Westminster—Coquitlam.