House of Commons Hansard #265 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was seniors.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether the Bloc member missed question period today, but if he had been here, he would know that there is no secret fund.
The Prime Minister is the leader of the Conservative Party. When he does partisan work, any related expenses are paid by the Conservative Party. However, we better not tell the CBC because it is a secret.
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Speaker, the government continues to use taxpayers' money to promote its Canada job grant, a program that does not exist and that was created unilaterally by Ottawa, without any input from Quebec.
Two Quebec government ministers have written to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development to reiterate the unanimous position taken by the Quebec National Assembly, which is that job training is Quebec's responsibility and Quebec should remain in complete control of it.
Will the federal government stop intruding and transfer—without conditions and in full—the money that belongs to Quebec for job training?
Kellie Leitch ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour
Mr. Speaker, we want to work with the provinces so that training flows from the government to employers and available workers. There are too many jobs sitting vacant in Canada because employers cannot find workers with the right skills.
Our initiatives will help employers fill available positions by hiring Canadians who want to work.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Yesterday afternoon, following question period, the hon. member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel rose in the House to request that I make available to all members correspondence I have received from the Chief Electoral Officer in relation to the election expenses of certain members. I explained to the member that the matter referred to is currently the subject of a question of privilege on which I will return to the House with a ruling. I also indicated to the member that, in any case, the letters he is seeking are available through Elections Canada and that he should contact that office to obtain copies.
Some time later, the hon. member for Malpeque rose in the House to restate the request made earlier by the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel and asked the Chair to reconsider. Commenting on the Chair and what he considers to be the Chair’s responsibilities, he argued:
A letter with that kind of content, referring to the ability of members to sit in this House of Commons...is...a letter to all of us. That letter should be tabled...by the Chair.
I wish to review for the House the role of the Chair with regard to the tabling of any document.
The Speaker, like ministers and parliamentary secretaries, generally tables documents in accordance with statutory requirements or the Standing Orders. House of Commons Procedure and Practice, second edition, at pages 435 and 436, lists the kinds of documents the Speaker is normally called on to table.
Outside of the sorts of documents enumerated in O'Brien and Bosc, the Chair is not aware of any precedent or practice that would suggest that letters to the Speaker, even letters from an officer of Parliament, are, de facto, letters to the House, as has been suggested. The Chair does not know of any statutory or Standing Order authority that would lead to letters of this kind being tabled.
The Canada Elections Act is explicit in prescribing what reports and documents the Speaker must table and when they must be tabled. As an example, earlier this week, on June 5, pursuant to provisions of section 536 of the Canada Elections Act, I tabled a report of the Chief Electoral Officer regarding the qualifications and process of appointment of returning officers.
The Chair is mindful of its responsibilities to all members, that is, to the House as a whole and to each member as an individual parliamentarian. Similarly, every exchange with an agent of Parliament is one that I take seriously, and this is perhaps especially true of the Chief Electoral Officer, who oversees the very processes by which Canadians elect us. It seems to me all the more important that our respective roles and responsibilities be understood and respected when we are dealing with difficult issues, issues on which there is heated debate.
In the case before us, I believe that the responsibility for putting into the public domain the correspondence initiated by the Chief Electoral Officer rests with the Chief Electoral Officer. This he has done and continues to do on an ongoing basis by making available for consultation in his office a wide range of documents that it is Elections Canada's practice to make public. I trust this clarifies the Chair's approach to the situation for all hon. members.
Finally, let me say that I will return to the House as soon as I can with a ruling on the question of privilege raised by the hon. member for Avalon and, until I do so, I urge members to be judicious in their interventions and to avoid making erroneous assumptions.
I thank the House for its attention.
Government Response to PetitionsRoutine Proceedings
Oak Ridges—Markham Ontario
Conservative
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 13 petitions.
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Orders 104 and 114, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 60th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership of committees of the House and I should like to move concurrence at this time.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?
Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
Some hon. members
Agreed.
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?
Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
Some hon. members
Agreed.
Rathika Sitsabaiesan NDP Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
Mr. Speaker, I stand today to deposit a petition on behalf of environmental activists to protect the Rouge River and the park surrounding it.
This is a 100-square-kilometre public land assembly surrounding the Rouge River and Duffins Creek watersheds in Toronto, Markham and Pickering. The publicly owned, provincial, federal and municipal land is predominately dedicated to a provincial greenbelt and a natural heritage system. It is home to the endangered mixed woodlands and Carolinian forests, and one-third of Canada's endangered species. It is also the ancestral home of the Mississauga, Huron Wendat and Seneca First Nations and their sacred burial grounds and village sites.
The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to protect the irreplaceable 100 square kilometres of public land assembly within a healthy and sustainable Rouge national park; ensure that the Rouge national park strengthens and implements the ecological visions, policies and integrity of the approved Rouge park plan, the provincial greenbelt plan, the Rouge natural heritage action plan and the Oak Ridges Moraine conservation plan. The petitioners are also asking to protect and restore the 600-metre-wide wooded main ecological corridor linking Lake Ontario to the Oak Ridges Moraine in the Rouge national park.
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
Mr. Speaker, I have a few petitions here with over 400 signatures from Victoria, Abbotsford, Vancouver, Langley, Ottawa and Manitoba on establishing a department of peace.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to establish a department of peace, headed by a minister of peace as a senior cabinet position, so that this department can reinvigorate Canada's role as a global peace builder and work toward developing a culture of peace and non-violent resolution of conflicts as a top priority.
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition has over 600 names from British Columbia.
The petitioners call upon the House of Commons and Parliament to work with the provinces to ensure that federal and provincial laws are constructed and enforced to ensure that those responsible for abusing, neglecting, torturing or otherwise harming animals are held appropriately accountable.
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
Mr. Speaker, the last petition has over 100 names in support of my Bill C-322 mainly from Calgary, Alberta.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the Health of Animals Act and the Meat Inspection Act, thus prohibiting the importation or exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption as well as horsemeat products for human consumption.
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition signed by British Columbians, mostly from Vancouver, who draw attention to the fact that ultrasounds are being used in Canada to tell the sex of an unborn child so that expecting parents can choose to terminate the pregnancy if the unborn child is a girl.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex-selective pregnancy termination.
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I present a petition which was provided to me by a group of young people with a very strong social conscience.
The petitioners were dismayed to learn about the harsh and degrading conditions under which many people work at extracting resources in other parts of the world. In particular, they have become aware of dangerous working conditions, low wages and the near slavery of many. The petitioners would like to have the minerals from these extraction practices called “conflict minerals”.
It is great to table this petition, which was spearheaded by a great group of young people from a school in Winnipeg's north end.
Rosane Doré Lefebvre NDP Alfred-Pellan, QC
Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition concerning the full funding of Development and Peace.
Some of my constituents got together, including people from the parishes of Saint-François-de-Sales and Saint-Noël-Chabanel. Hundreds of people signed this petition in the spirit of global solidarity to urge the government to restore in full the $49.2-million funding requested by Development and Peace over the next five years.
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have a series of qualified petitions on employment insurance. These people are calling for a reform of the current employment insurance system, since it must serve the people who need it.
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first is from a number of people in my riding and outside as well.
In view of the cluster munitions bill that is coming up before the Senate, Bill S-10, the petitioners are reminding us that cluster munitions cause great harm to civilians at the time of their use. In view of the fact that the majority of our NATO allies actually signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, they want an amendment of Bill S-10 to close the loopholes to make it clear that no Canadian should ever be involved in the use of cluster munitions at any time, anywhere or for any reason.
They also ask for a mention of the positive obligations Canada has assumed by signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Bill S-10.
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
Mr. Speaker, the second petition I have is a very important one as well. These petitioners are reminding us, in view of the fact that we have equal protection and the equal benefit of law in Canada, that at birth or before birth, baby girls are sometimes targeted by sex-selective abortion. That is an affront to the dignity and equality of women and girls.
Sex-selective abortions have denied millions of girls in Canada and throughout the world the chance to be born, merely because they are girls. The petitioners call upon the House to condemn that discrimination against girls through sex-selective abortion and do all it can to prevent sex-selective abortions from being carried out in this country.
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to represent the most diverse part of all of Canada. I would like to present a petition today that has been signed by many residents of Burnaby—New Westminster, as well as other communities in the Lower Mainland with diverse origins, on the issue of remittances.
I would like to underscore the work of ACORN Canada in this regard . As the House may know, for many Canadians and new Canadian families, the remittance cost can be up to 25% of what they send overseas to their country of origin and to their families and friends in that country.
Today I am tabling a petition signed by many of my constituents, who are calling on the Government of Canada to take action and to cap remittance fees to only 5% of the overall remittance that is sent abroad. This is a way of ensuring that new Canadians and new Canadian families in ridings like mine can send remittances overseas without being gouged and charged unfairly.
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, the following question will be answered today: No. 1321.
Jean Rousseau NDP Compton—Stanstead, QC
With regard to the 2013-2014 Main Estimates for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec: (a) how many positions will be cut, broken down by program; (b) what will the sources of professional and special services expenditures be, broken down by (i) service, (ii) contractor, (ii) amount; and (c) what are the eligibility and assessment criteria for projects submitted under the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund?