House of Commons Hansard #89 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was literacy.
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Mr. Speaker, discussions have taken place among all parties and I believe you will find consent for the following motion. I move:
That, at the conclusion of today's debate on the opposition motion in the name of the member for Sackville-Eastern Shore, all questions necessary to dispose of this motion be deemed put and a recorded division deemed requested and deferred to Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by people from all over Canada who are concerned with the proposed megaquarry at Melancthon township in Dufferin county. It would be the largest open pit quarry in Canada at over 2,300 acres.
The petitioners are concerned with a number of things. This megaquarry would initially have 150 truckloads per hour of aggregates leaving the quarry heading south and 150 empty truckloads returning to the quarry. Other trucks would be transporting 52 tonnes of explosives to the quarry per day on local roadways not designed to carry such traffic.
The petitioners ask that the Government of Canada conduct an environmental assessment under the authority of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act on the proposed Highland Companies megaquarry development.
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today.
The first petition is from a number of constituents of mine who are calling on the government at this time of the forthcoming budget to protect foreign aid spending by the government. The petitioners bring to the attention of the government that departments are being asked for saving plans of 5% to 10% in preparation for the budget. However, CIDA has $5 billion a year, only 2% of the budget, which has been frozen for two years. This results, in effect, of nearly 5% in real terms when measured against inflation.
CIDA's work results in substantial improvements in the lives of many of the world's poorest people and goes towards training teachers, regional education, improving health care and providing access to clean water. Many non-governmental organizations in the development sector depend on CIDA as a source of funds in order to run their own programs.
These are young people who recognize that youth are suffering from the recession in Canada, but they still support a strong foreign aid budget. The petitioners call upon the government to exempt the Canadian International Development Agency from budget cuts in the 2012-13 federal budget.
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from a number residents in my riding and surrounding ridings who are calling on the government to reverse its decision to close the Newfoundland and Labrador marine rescue coordinating centre in St. John's and reinstate its staff and services. They oppose the decision to close it. They want the government to acknowledge that the closure would mean service would suffer and lives would be at risk.
The petitioners emphasize that the St. John's rescue coordination centre staff have a unique knowledge of the area of ocean and coastline. They also have a unique knowledge of the people who are engaged in activity on the ocean, particularly the fisher persons and crews, dialect and language, and locations. Their unique knowledge is extremely important to the efficacy and safety provided by that marine services coordination centre.
Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this petition regarding CCSVI. Former deputy surgeon general and director general of the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Michael Shannon, writes:
Having lived through the restructuring of the Canadian Blood System in the late 90's and helped to enhance both the regulatory and public health components of Health Canada, I consider the lack of definitive action on the part of Governments, Government agencies such as the CIHR and NGOs...extremely disappointing.
The petitioners call for the Minister of Health to consult experts actively engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of CCSVI to undertake phase 3 clinical trials at multiple centres across Canada and to require follow-up care.
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition from citizens concerned about nuclear disarmament. I note that the majority of the signatories are from the fair city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.
The petitioners take note that there are some 22,000 nuclear weapons in the world. They note that the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has proposed a summit on nuclear disarmament. The petitioners call upon Parliament to issue an invitation to all states to gather in Canada to begin discussions needed for a global legal ban on nuclear weapons.
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to present a petition containing hundreds of names of constituents from my riding on the east coast of Newfoundland and the Avalon Peninsula.
The petitioners call upon the Prime Minister and the government to maintain the age for receiving OAS benefits. Many seniors look forward to this benefit as they reach age 65. Pushing it to age 67 would only affect the lowest income seniors and deprive them of $30,000 in benefits over that two-year period. Also, low-income Canadians are more heavily reliant on OAS and the GIS.
The petitioners are calling on the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada not to touch old age security.
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition from a number of constituents in beautiful Langley, British Columbia.
The petition indicates that Canada is the only western nation to have the same policies as China and North Korea having no laws restricting abortion and that Canada's Supreme Court has said that it is Parliament's responsibility to enact abortion legislation. The petitioners are calling upon the House of Commons to speedily enact legislation that restricts abortion to the greatest extent possible.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present four petitions.
The first petition deals with an issue that is very timely and is for the Minister of Finance's attention. It calls for Canada to end subsidies to the oil and gas industry. This is a commitment the Prime Minister made in 2009 at the G20 summit in Cincinnati and yet he has not delivered on it.
The petitioners are from Kelowna, B.C. and request that the Government of Canada cease and desist international lobbying efforts in favour of the fossil fuel industry.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with the issue of affordable housing. The government used to provide a tax benefit that encouraged the building of purpose-built apartment units. Since that tax credit ended, there has been a decline in the building of rental units. In order to advance affordable housing, the petitioners endorse the position of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to bring it back.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, the third petition deals with issues of human rights, particularly the attitude of the Chinese government toward the human rights of practitioners of Falun Dafa and Falun Gong. It calls on the Government of Canada to put all reasonable measures forward to persuade the government of China to respect human rights and stop persecuting practitioners of Falun Dafa and Falun Gong.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, in this petition, petitioners from Ontario and British Columbia, including some from my riding, from Salt Spring Island and Pender Island, call on the government to stop promoting the Enbridge project, the 1,200 kilometre pipeline to Kitimat, and the highly risky, irresponsible concept of supertankers plying those waters. The petitioners ask the government to step back and await the evidence before promoting any private sector project to send our bitumen crude to China.
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, like the member from Newfoundland, I hear from seniors across the country. This petition is with regard to the OAS. The Government of Canada has made a decision that is going to have a very profound negative impact on seniors across this land. The petitioners want to express their concerns and are calling on the government to do the right thing, respect the needs of retiring seniors, whether it is today or tomorrow, and support the OAS and other senior pension programs, at the very least maintain them, or enhance them.
Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings
Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin
I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded divisions, government orders will be extended by 19 minutes.
The House resumed consideration of the motion.
The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin
The hon. member for Peace River has two minutes remaining in his presentation.
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Mr. Speaker, I want to complete my speech by saying that the motion before us today from the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore ignores a critical point. Our government has been very clear that we will maintain benefits for veterans. However, this does not mean we cannot find internal efficiencies and ways to cut red tape and improve services for veterans. With that in mind, I move that the motion be amended by replacing all of the words after the word “committing to” in section (a) with “maintaining veterans' benefits and”.