Debates of Feb. 27th, 2013

An Act to Bring Fairness for the Victims of Violent Offenders

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-479, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (fairness for victims).

Mr. Speaker, it is with mixed feelings that I table An Act to Bring Fairness for the Victims of Violent Offenders. I am happy because the bill will bring comfort to thousands of victims for many years to come. What is weighing on my heart are powerful observations and emotions from my experiences attending National Parole Board hearings at the request of a constituent whose sister, niece and nephew were brutally murdered by a violent offender.

From this first-hand experience and others come a number of solutions in this private member's bill to enshrine the voice of victims in law and modernize the Corrections and Conditional Release Act so that victims do not have to relive their pain each year.

I ask for the support of all hon. members to bring these changes about.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Old Age Security Act

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-480, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act (funeral arrangements).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce my bill today in the House.

I want to begin by thanking my colleague from Pierrefonds—Dollard for seconding my bill.

This bill amends the Old Age Security Act to allow old age security and guaranteed income supplement recipients to withdraw a maximum of $2,500 from an RRSP in order to pay for funeral arrangements in advance.

This sum will still be taxable, but it will be excluded from the calculation of income for the guaranteed income supplement for the following year.

This will enable our seniors who receive the guaranteed income supplement to remove a financial burden from their children while preventing their already modest income from being further diminished. In this way, they can maintain a certain quality of life.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

An Act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act (duty to examine)

[Pierre Jacob, NDP, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-481, An Act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act (duty to examine).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table in the House, in both official languages, a bill entitled “An Act to amend the Federal Sustainable Development Act”. The bill's summary reads as follows:

This enactment amends the Federal Sustainable Development Act to provide for an examination of bills and proposed regulations to ensure that their provisions are not inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of that Act.

This concept is very important to the people of Brome—Missisquoi and to all Canadians.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Impaired Driving

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on behalf of the constituents of Fleetwood--Port Kells to present a petition signed by dozens of local residents who are outraged by the unnecessary death of a young woman killed by a drunk driver.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to enact tougher laws, including mandatory sentencing, for those persons convicted of impaired driving causing death. They also ask that the offence of impaired driving causing death be redefined as vehicular manslaughter.

Experimental Lakes Area

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present to the House today.

The first petition is signed by thousands of Canadians calling upon the House of Commons and Parliament to take note that the Experimental Lakes Area is a unique, world-renowned research facility for freshwater research and education.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to recognize its importance to Canada's mandate to study, preserve and protect aquatic ecosystems, and to reverse the decision to close the Experimental Lakes Research Station.

International Aid

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I would like to table is signed by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and many residents in my constituency.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to restore our overseas development assistance to 0.7% of the GDP and to fully fund, in the spirit of global solidarity, the grant to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace of $49.2 million, as requested, over the next five years.

Search and Rescue

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present three different petitions from thousands of Canadians.

The first petition calls upon the Government of Canada to rescind its decision and reinstate full funding to maintain the Kitsilano Coast Guard station.

Shark Finning

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls upon the Government of Canada to immediately legislate a ban on the importation of shark fin to Canada.

Experimental Lakes Area

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition is signed by people calling for a reversal of the decision to close the ELA, Canada's leading freshwater research station.

Canada Post

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have four petitions to present to the House.

The first petition has to do with post offices in rural communities. The petition calls on the government to protect postal service in rural Canada.

The Environment

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls for legislation on climate change. We know that climate change is a very serious problem that must be addressed as soon as possible.

Pensions

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition seeks to protect old age security and access to it.

Housing

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the final petition has to do with a national affordable housing strategy.

Falun Gong

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from about 200 residents of Edmonton.

Whereas Falun Gong practitioners have been the largest and most severely persecuted group in China since 1999 and Canadian investigators have concluded that a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience have been put to death to harvest their organs, and whereas democratic nations have a responsibility to condemn such atrocities, the petitioners condemn the Chinese Communist Party's system of cruelly murdering Falun Gong practitioners for their organs and publicly call for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Housing

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

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition today from people who are fed up with seeing the government ignore the issue of poverty and deny its very existence.

I am presenting a petition calling on the government to support Bill C-400, which would provide safe, adequate, accessible and affordable housing to Canadians. I am starting to get used to saying that.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present two petitions.

The first petition is from residents of Vancouver and Burnaby, who call upon this House to look favourably on a legislated tanker ban to protect the coast of British Columbia from supertankers loaded with bitumen and diluent.

Foreign Investment

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

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from residents of my own constituency on Saturna Island and parts of Victoria as well as from outside my constituency, in Vancouver and Toronto.

The petitioners call upon the Prime Minister and his cabinet to refuse to ratify the Canada-China investment treaty. It is not yet ratified, and there is still time to stop it.

The Environment

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions that I will briefly present.

The first petition is from residents of Ontario, who are calling upon the government to take a more expedited action to protect the Great Lakes, where there are serious safety and economic issues related to tourism and boating.

Experimental Lakes Area

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from residents of Edmonton, Barrhead, Sherwood Park, Calgary, Cochrane, Stoney Plain, Spruce Grove, St. Albert, Busby, Rocky Mountain House, and Jasper, Alberta; Burnaby, B.C.; and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The petitioners call upon the government to reverse its decision to close the Experimental Lakes region and to continue to support the critical internationally renowned decades of sound science.

Sex Selection

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present two petitions from my constituents in beautiful Langley, British Columbia.

The first petition highlights, on Anti-Bullying Day, that CBC revealed that ultrasounds were being used in Canada to tell the sex of an unborn child so that expectant parents can choose to terminate the pregnancy if it is a girl. Ninety-two percent of Canadians believe that sex-selection pregnancy should be illegal. All national political parties in Canada have condemned this practice.

The petitioners are calling upon all members of Parliament to support Motion No. 408 and condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex selection.

Impaired Driving

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition highlights the sad fact that last year 22-year-old Kassandra Kaulius was killed by a drunk driver. The group of people who have signed this petition want to see tougher laws and the implementation of a new mandatory minimum sentencing for persons convicted of impaired driving causing death. They would also like to see that offence be changed to vehicular manslaughter.

Housing

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition in support of Bill C-400, introduced by my colleague from Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot. The bill would create a strategy for adequate, accessible and affordable housing.

The Environment

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today I am presenting petitions on behalf of residents across Ontario near the Great Lakes in Canada.

The petitioners call upon the federal ministers of natural resources, environment, fisheries and transport to increase their efforts significantly to halt and reverse the ongoing loss of water from the Great Lakes Basin.

Since 1999, the water level in Lake Huron has dropped almost a metre and a half, and over the last 13 years is showing no signs of rebounding. We know that will significantly affect the environment in that area, the wetlands and spawning areas. It will have an immeasurable impact on the aquatic and marine life as well as on communities.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I too would like to table petitions with respect to restoring the Great Lakes water levels. The petitions are signed by constituents from across Manitoulin Island, as well as from other communities, such as Wahnapitae, Garson, Paris, Sarnia, Toronto, Kanata, Highgate, Sudbury, Dowling, North Bay and London. People are quite concerned with respect to the levels of the Great Lakes and the fact that Lake Huron has actually dropped by four to five feet since 1999, with no signs of rebounding in over 13 years.

Petitioners are asking the government to take action on the levels of the Great Lakes because it is not only affecting people in those areas who use the lakes but their economy as well.

Sex Selection

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

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present a petition on behalf of constituents from Sedgewick, Killam and Viking, in my constituency. They ask that all parties in the House condemn sex selection abortion and note that 92% of Canadians believe that sex selection abortion should be illegal.

The petitioners call upon members of Parliament to support Motion No. 408 and condemn discrimination against females occurring through gender selection pregnancy termination.