Debates of May 1st, 2013

Health

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Speaker, a recent report by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami found that tooth decay is two to three times worse among Inuit than the average among Canadians. ITK wants to see more oral disease prevention, more health promotion and more treatment, rather than just more pulling of diseased teeth.

Considering this, why did the Minister of Health end funding for the country's only national school of dental therapy, forcing it to close, when the people most in need are her own constituents?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, our government is the single largest investor in research around the country. We invested in pathways to health equity, and one of the five priority areas identified under that $25 million program was related to oral health.

The provinces and the territories deliver health care. We continue to increase transfers to the provinces and the territories because they know best where to prioritize the delivery.

Meanwhile, the member for Western Arctic continues to vote against them.

Citizenship and Immigration

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

Mr. Speaker, I think all members of the House are aware of the growing humanitarian crisis created by the ongoing and very difficult hostilities in Syria. There are over one million refugees in camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, and there is inadequate help for those people who are caught up in the conflict.

Acknowledging that the government has increased financial contributions to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, what more can the government do? Is there a possibility of providing emergency assistance to those refugees with connections to Canada?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we are obviously all deeply troubled by the humanitarian situation in Syria, which just gets progressively worse. We are not only worried about the situation in Syria, but, frankly, the wider instability that threatens the rest of the region. That is why, as the leader of the Green Party has noted, the government has brought forward some specific help to Syria and to some of its neighbours as well. We continue, through various agencies of the government and through working with our allies, to look at ways that we can help further.

Foreign Affairs

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the following treaties: an Agreement Between Canada and the European Union on Customs Cooperation with Respect to Matters Related to Supply-Chain Security, done at Brussels on March 4, 2013; an Agreement Between Canada and the Principality of Liechtenstein for the Exchange of Information on Tax Matters, done at Vaduz on January 31, 2013; an Agreement Between Canada and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay for the Exchange of Information on Tax Matters, done at Montevideo on February 5, 2013; and an Agreement Between Canada and the Republic of Panama for Tax Cooperation and the Exchange of Information Relating to Taxes, done at Panama City on March 17, 2013.

An explanatory memorandum is included with each of these treaties.

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36.8, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 60 petitions.

Interparliamentary Delegations

[Daryl Kramp, Conservative, Prince Edward—Hastings, 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-China Legislative Association respecting its participation at the 15th bilateral meeting held in Beijing, Xiamen, Hangzhou and Shanghai, People's Republic of China, from April 7 to 14, 2012.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the following joint reports of the Canada-China Legislative Assembly and the Canada-Japan Interparliamentary Group respecting their participation at the 33rd general assembly of the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly in Lombok, Indonesia, September 16 to 22, 2012, and the 21st annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, January 27 to 31, 2013.

Finance

[James Rajotte, Conservative, Edmonton—Leduc, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 17th report of the Standing Committee on Finance pertaining to its study of tax evasion and the use of tax havens.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109 of the House of Commons, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the report on tax evasion and the use of tax havens, as tabled in the House, successfully details the problems of tax evasion and inappropriate use of tax havens. Unfortunately, the recommendations in the report failed to adequately confront these problems and for this reason, New Democrat members of the finance committee have submitted a supplementary report.

The New Democrats' greatest concern is that Conservatives will persist in their ineffective approach in dealing with tax cheats, despite the overwhelming evidence that a stronger evidence-based response is necessary. It is our sincere hope that the government will implement our strong and clear recommendations.

Navigable Waters Protection Act

[Mike Sullivan, NDP, York South—Weston, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-502, An Act to amend the Navigable Waters Protection Act (Humber River).

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for Parkdale—High Park, to request leave to introduce a bill to amend the Navigable Waters Protection Act with respect to the Humber River.

Last year, the Conservative government removed most of Canada's rivers and lakes from the Navigable Waters Protection Act through its omnibus budget implementation bill. Out of Canada's hundreds of thousands of rivers and lakes, only 62 rivers and 97 lakes remain protected. That is simply not enough.

Today, I am seeking to restore the Humber River to protection under the Navigable Waters Protection Act. The river is a Canada heritage designated river, part of the historic Toronto Carrying Place trail and has over 800,000 people living within its watershed.

The Humber River has its headwaters in the ancient rock of the Niagara Escarpment and the glacial hills of the Oak Ridges Moraine. It flows through a rich mosaic of Carolinian forests and meadows, past farms and abandoned mills, before meandering through the largest urban area in Canada, Metropolitan Toronto, passing by my community of York South—Weston.

The Humber is the backyard of not only Toronto but Mississauga, Peel, York, Brampton, Caledon, King, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Aurora, et cetera. It is a unique river that flows through the most densely populated area of Canada, but still retains many of its natural and cultural values.

By placing the full length of the river, all 126 kilometres of it, back into the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Humber would be once more protected from unbridled development, requiring full environment assessments with public consultations for any project, be it transportation, pipeline or other development to be conducted to ensure the health of the river before going ahead.

This is a river worth protecting and I look forward to support for my bill by all members of the House.

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

Democratic Local Nomination Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-503, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (local endorsement of candidate).

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure I rise today to put forward a bill to carry forward the momentum of democracy which is sweeping the House of Commons. We saw a blow for democracy from the Federal Court last week in the decision on the Parliamentary Budget Officer and your own ruling, Mr. Speaker, that we as members of this House have the right to free speech.

To ensure our rights to free speech do not operate under the shadow of the leader's ire threatening to not sign our nomination papers, my private member's bill would eliminate the fact that currently the Canada Elections Act requires a leader's signature in order for a member to stand in his or her place as a candidate for the party. It would restore the grassroots democracy in that it would be the electoral district association of a person's riding signing the nomination papers and not the leader.

I hope this bill will have full support from all members of this House.

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

Health

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from a number of constituents in my riding who are supporting Bill C-460, sodium reduction strategy for Canada act.

The petitioners are concerned with a number of things, which include: improving the method of communicating information about sodium to consumers, especially on food labels; ensuring public funds are not spent on high-sodium foods; ensuring that the strategy oversight is free from conflict of interest; preventing children from being targeted by commercial marketing for high-sodium foods; mandating annual progress reports from the Government of Canada to Parliament; and establishing the Government of Canada as a leader in sodium reduction goals and monitoring.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, first, I too would like to present petitions today in support of Bill C-460. The petitioners support the sodium reduction strategy for Canada act to ensure that the amount of sodium in the Canadian food supply is reduced to safe levels.

The petitioners are calling upon the House to ensure the swift passage of Bill C-460, which we will be debating at the end of this week and voting on next week. I hope it goes through.

Animal Welfare

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am also proud to present more petitions from citizens across Canada who point out that every year hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats are brutally slaughtered for their fur in a number of Asian regions.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to support legislation to amend the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act and the Textile Labelling Act based on Bill C-296. They urge us to approve this bill.

Genetically Modified Alfalfa

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition from thousands of Canadians presented to me on the national day of action on Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa.

The petitioners are justifiably worried about cross-contamination of GM alfalfa with non-GM and organic alfalfa, which will no doubt compromise the integrity of their organic crops. They call upon the government to impose a moratorium on its release until there is a proper analysis of the impact of GM alfalfa on both organic and non-organic crops.

Chief Firearms Officers

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

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

The first petition is from a number of residents from across the province of Ontario who call upon the House of Commons to repeal section 58.1 of the Firearms Act, amend section 61.3 of the Firearms Act, and amend the Firearms Act to eliminate the provincial and territorial Chief Firearms Office.

Genetically Modified Alfalfa

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls for a moratorium on genetically modified alfalfa.

I present these petitions in both official languages.

Medical Marijuana

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition containing over 100 names of residents of Victoria.

The petitioners call for changes to Health Canada's medical marijuana laws; specifically, calling upon the health minister to include individual licences to grow cannabis for person medical use, with an improved inspection system.

Genetically Modified Alfalfa

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition on behalf of residents of Nova Scotia who call upon Parliament to impose a moratorium on the release of genetically modified alfalfa, in order to allow proper review of the impact upon farmers in Canada.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am also presenting a petition, in fact I suspect it is the exact same petition regarding genetically modified alfalfa that was presented by my colleagues from Halifax and from Guelph.

We are not supposed to indicate our support or opposition for these things, but I will say I did meet with the presenters of this petition. They are people of goodwill who have some thoughtful and sincere things to say.

Animal Cruelty

[Kennedy Stewart, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present another petition today, one signed by hundreds of people from across Canada, regarding animal cruelty.

Specifically, these constituents want to eliminate the use of electric shock collars because the practice is barbaric and unnecessary. The petitioners want Canada to follow the lead of other countries and ban the sale of electric shock collars in Canada.

Multiple Sclerosis

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this petition on CCSVI. Canadians with MS want to know when Conservative MPs and senators learned of their government's position to kill both the House and Senate bills for CCSVI as a decision was taken by February 6, 2012. Canadians with MS should not have been given false hope for eight months. Such treatment is unconscionable. Follow-up care continues to remain a problem. Another person was refused follow-up care this week.

The petitioners are calling upon the minister to consult experts to undertake Phase III clinical trials on an urgent basis and to require follow-up care.

Foreign Investment

[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 of Hudson, Quebec.

The petitioners call upon the government to cease the efforts to ratify the Canada-China investment treaty, noting that it is an infringement on our sovereignty and threatens our ability to pass laws for the environment, labour and public security.

Lyme Disease

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

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from residents of Sudbury, Ontario, and Langley, British Columbia, in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-442, to develop a national Lyme disease strategy.