House of Commons Hansard #230 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was s-7.

Topics

Question No. 1223Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Hedy Fry Liberal Vancouver Centre, BC

With regard to food inspections and inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA): (a) how many food inspectors were employed by the CFIA each year from 2006 to 2015; (b) how many food inspector positions were to be filled in each of the years in (a); (c) how many food inspection positions went unfilled in each of the years in (a); (d) what was the percentage of employed food inspectors that were responsible for (i) meat, (ii) dairy, (iii) poultry, (iv) fruits and vegetables; (e) of the positions in (c), which ones went unfilled and for what were they responsible; (f) how many new food inspectors were hired in 2014 and what were their responsibilities; (g) how often are slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities inspected for meat destined for markets in (i) Canada, (ii) the United States, (iii) other countries; (h) is the CFIA aware of any meat processing plants or slaughterhouses that have not been inspected the required number of times each week since January 1, 2013, and, if so, (i) what are the names of those plants, (ii) what was the reason for them not being inspected; (i) are there any facilities in Canada that do not have enough inspectors to meet the required inspection schedules; (j) as of April 29, 2015, how many new inspectors had been hired of the 200 promised by the government in the 2014 Budget; and (k) has the CFIA instructed inspection staff to reduce the number of inspections at any plants across Canada since January 1, 2013, and, if so, (i) what were the names of those plants, (ii) why was the instruction to reduce inspections made?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1239Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by the Canada Revenue Agency since January 28, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1241Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by Employment and Social Development Canada since January 29, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1242Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the regions of Quebec since January 22, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contacts' reference numbers; (c) dates of contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1243Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada since February 5, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1245Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by Western Economic Diversification Canada since February 5, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1249Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by Health Canada since January 30, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1253Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation since January 28, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1256Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

With regard to contracts under $10 000 granted by the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office since January 29, 2015: what are the (a) vendors' names; (b) contracts' reference numbers; (c) dates of the contracts; (d) descriptions of the services provided; (e) delivery dates; (f) original contracts' values; and (g) final contracts' values, if different from the original contracts' values?

(Return tabled)

Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.

Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

Is that agreed?

Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of Bill S-7, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Civil Marriage Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, as reported without amendment from the committee, and of the motions in Group No. 1.

Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices ActGovernment Orders

12:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

When this matter was last before the House, the hon. member for Northwest Territories had five minutes remaining in his remarks.

The hon. member for Northwest Territories.

Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices ActGovernment Orders

12:10 p.m.

NDP

Dennis Bevington NDP Northwest Territories, NT

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak again to this bill in short order after question period. Prior to question period, I talked about some of the issues that were involved with the bill. I want to speak now about what is ahead of us on family matters.

I would refer the House to a Globe and Mail article this morning that talked about a Nanos poll. Nanos indicates:

When asked which federal party was most trusted to help Canadian families, 34 per cent of the poll’s respondents picked the NDP. That compared with the 27 per cent who chose the Liberals and the 26 per cent who chose the Conservatives.

This speaks directly to the problems with this bill. The Conservatives have proposed an approach on marriage, a part of the family cycle that is so valuable to everyone. They proposed changes to it without consultation with the provinces and territories, putting forward an idea that really does not accomplish much. The laws of duress are already in place. Other countries that have established similar laws have shown no results from them.

What the NDP would do for families and for women to deal with violence was very clearly articulated by the member for Churchill when she put forward Motion No. 444. It was a motion to establish a coordinated national action plan to address violence against women. Part of that would be strategies that address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of different communities, including specific attention to aboriginal women, women with disabilities, women from minority groups, and young women.

What we proposed in our national action plan was to get to the bottom of the issues surrounding groups such as those. Certainly the ideas that the Conservatives are concerned about and would deal with by criminalizing forced marriages would be dealt with inside a framework that would look for actual solutions to the problems rather than by criminalizing those engaged in it, and criminalizing them in a very broad and capricious way that really does not allow for definition or for any kind of rational action on that part.

I think this is really important, as it comes on the heels of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report, which followed many groups in society by asking for an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

Violence against women is one of the biggest and most pressing problems that we have with families in this country, and the need for that public inquiry is so important. Why is it so important? The Prime Minister said that this is not a social issue. Of course it is a social issue, much as forced marriages are a social issue. All of these are social issues that need to be dealt with in a respectful, responsible fashion. We need to get to the bottom of the issues in society that create the conditions that lead to violence and forced marriages and all of the things that all of us in this House today would not want to have happen in our families, in aboriginal families, or in minority group families.

Yes, we are concerned about it, but using retail politics to put forward a bill that does nothing except provide a title to an issue is really the wrong approach. That is why the polling results that we see today across this country with respect to who the Canadian population trusts to deal with issues for families are so revealing. We talk about real ways to come to grips with society's ills. That is not through legislation; that is through careful, enunciated conditions that arise out of a careful examination of the issues.

Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices ActGovernment Orders

12:15 p.m.

Scarborough Centre Ontario

Conservative

Roxanne James ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mr. Speaker, I listened very intently to the member's earlier speech before question period. He made a comment questioning why there would be criminal charges if it is within a family. Child abuse and incest are within a family as well, and thank goodness we have laws against those offences to protect young people across this country.

The member also scoffs at the title of this bill, saying that it should not be called “barbaric cultural practices”. When someone who is a minor, a child, a girl of 12 or 13, is forced into an early marriage with a man 40 years old who is overseas, from another country, that young woman, that young girl, that child is going to be raped every single day for the rest of her life.

How could the member not think that is barbaric? Does he just simply think it is all in the family?