Debates of Sept. 24th, 2014

Bill C-36—Notice of time allocation motion

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I want to advise the House that agreements have not been reached under the provisions of Standing Orders 78(1) and 78(2) concerning the proceedings at report stage and third reading of Bill C-36, an act to amend the Criminal Code in response to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Attorney General of Canada v. Bedford and to make consequential amendments to other acts.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the Crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage.

Bill C-41—Notice of time allocation motion

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I want to advise the House that agreements have not been reached under the provisions of Standing Orders 78(1) and 78(2) concerning the proceedings at the second reading stage of Bill C-41, an act to implement the free trade agreement between Canada and the Republic of Korea.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the Crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage.

Bill C-22—Notice of time allocation motion

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I want to advise the House that agreements have not been reached under the provisions of Standing Orders 78(1) and 78(2) concerning the proceedings at the third reading stage of Bill C-22, an act respecting Canada's offshore oil and gas operations, enacting the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, repealing the Nuclear Liability Act and making consequential amendments to other acts.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the Crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I am sure that the House appreciates the notice given by the hon. government House leader.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-41, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Korea, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Canada-Korea Economic Growth and Prosperity Act

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

Mr. Speaker, I am a little confused about the question on the investor state provisions in the Canada-Korea free trade agreement. I agreed with my hon. colleague when he said that these agreements by definition would give corporations the ability to sue Canada in arbitrations. They would allow them to sue for damages, for bills and for laws that are passed municipally, provincially or federally. It is anti-democratic.

I do understand that the trade critic for the official opposition, the hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway, feels that this investor state agreement is acceptable because there is a level of transparency in the six month opt-out clause, but in principle, it would do the same thing that the hon. member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour finds objectionable.

I wonder if he is not troubled that we would pass any further bilateral trade agreements that would create these additional powers for foreign corporations.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely sensitive to this issue and to any agreement tying the hands of any government. However, I am sufficiently confident, as a result of the analysis that we have done on this, that this free trade agreement would not apply to provincial, territorial or municipal procurement or crown corporations, where most Canadian procurement is located.

Secondly, under the investor state provisions, we understand that not only would the process, for the first time ever, be laid out in a transparent matter, but we would be able to cancel this provision within six months. While it is certainly not what we would negotiate, which I indicated off the bat, and I do have concerns in those areas, in this case I would suggest to my hon. colleague that I am sufficiently convinced that the concerns that she raised are not at issue in this agreement.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to get the member's comments on the potential position that the NDP would have regarding Ukraine.

We had the President of Ukraine address the House. Many of the comments that he made were well received by most people. One of the comments was in relation to Canada going into a free trade agreement with Ukraine. I noticed that there was not as much enthusiasm coming from the New Democratic part of the House.

Has it taken a position? Does the member have any thoughts as to what he feels the NDP is likely to do with any sort of potential trade agreement, listening to what the President of Ukraine said? I appreciate the fact that the New Democrats are very supportive of this particular agreement that we are debating here today. That is why I ask about Ukraine, given the importance of Ukraine today and what is happening.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the question coming from the member for Winnipeg North would have absolutely nothing to do with the piece of legislation on the table at the moment. I do not know if he is troubled by the fact that we have given thoughtful consideration to this piece of legislation and we support it. I do not know exactly why he is asking another question.

This is an important deal. Let us not forget, this is the first time that the government has negotiated a deal that we are comfortable in supporting, that we believe meets the three criteria that we laid out that are in the best interests of Canadian industry and of Canadians, and we think it is worthy of support. That should be something that we are all paying attention to and that we are all concerned with because let us be clear that the government House leader just stood and talked about the fact that they were not able to come to an agreement on anything. Once again, Conservatives are going to apply time allocation and closure on a whole host of bills, a whole host of important issues. Yes, we are surprised that they were able to negotiate any deal that we could support, but wonders never cease in this chamber.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Before we get to the interruption and finish government orders, just a couple of things that occurred in the course of this afternoon's debate that I would pass along for the benefit of all hon. members. First, members should be cautious not to use the actual given name or family name of other hon. members, but to use their riding name in reference in the course of their speeches.

Second, there were a couple of occasions where you may recall in reading our procedures that members should be cautious to watch that they do not come in front of a member who has been so recognized and is standing and giving their remarks or commentary, do not come between them and the Speaker, particularly if they are in the camera shot. This is kind of a disrespectful thing, and members should honour the member who does in fact have the floor and is recognized as such. I know members are usually very careful about that, but just as a reminder to watch that. It particularly occurs when members at the south end of the chamber are speaking. There are other ways. Members can go in behind and so on to avoid the camera shot. Just a suggestion to keep our discourse here in the chamber civil and respectable as it always is.

The House resumed from September 23 consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—Employment Insurance

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

It being 5:33 p.m., the House will proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion by the member for Kings—Hants relating to the business of supply.

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #227

Business of Supply

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I declare the motion defeated.

The House resumed from September 23 consideration of the motion.

Violence Against Indigenous Women

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion to concur in the first report of the Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #228

Committees of the House

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I declare the motion carried.

The House resumed from June 19, 2014, consideration of the motion that Bill C-486, An Act respecting corporate practices relating to the extraction, processing, purchase, trade and use of conflict minerals from the Great Lakes Region of Africa, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Conflict Minerals Act

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

Pursuant to an order made on Monday, September 15, 2014, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at the second reading stage of Bill C-486 under private members' business. The question is on the motion.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #229

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

I declare the motion defeated.

The House resumed from September 16 consideration of the motion that Bill C-587, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (increasing parole ineligibility), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Respecting Families of Murdered and Brutalized Persons Act

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

Pursuant to an order made on Monday, September 15, 2014, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at the second reading stage of Bill C-587 under private members' business.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #230