Debates of Feb. 26th, 2016

Leif Erikson Day Act

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-244, An Act to establish Leif Erikson Day.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure, on behalf of over one million Canadians of Scandinavian origin, to reintroduce this bill, which would designate October 9 as Leif Erikson day in Canada.

As we know, since 1964, October 9 has been designated Leif Erikson day in the United States. For those of us who are of Scandinavian, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish or Icelandic heritage, it is very important that our contributions be acknowledged to Canada as a whole. In my case, my mother's family came across from Fredrikstad, Norway.

I am pleased to say that this bill has received support from Scandinavian organizations across the length and breadth of our great nation, including in Burnaby, British Columbia, the Scandinavian centre. I hope the bill will receive the support of all members of Parliament and we will finally have Leif Erikson day in Canada on October 9.

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

Poverty Reduction Act

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-245, an act concerning the development of a national poverty reduction strategy in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, today it is my great honour to introduce my first bill, a bill to reduce poverty.

I have done community work my whole life, and my goal has always been to help build a more just and inclusive society. That is why I am introducing this bill to develop a national poverty reduction strategy.

As the progressive opposition party, we care about reducing social inequality and building stronger communities. It is high time the federal government showed some leadership, which it can do by passing this bill for a comprehensive strategy to reduce and fight poverty. We must act now.

I invite all of my colleagues from all parties here in the House to pass my bill at second reading.

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

Modernizing Animal Protections Act

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-246, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Fisheries Act, the Textile Labelling Act, the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act and the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (animal protection).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the modernizing animal protections act, a bill to help bring our country's animal welfare laws into the 21st century.

The bill addresses three specific and achievable goals. First, it aims to end the cruel practice of shark finning by banning the importation of shark fins. Second, it aims to strengthen and modernize our Criminal Code, from closing loopholes related to animal fighting to introducing a gross negligence offence for animal cruelty, as proposed by former Liberal governments, through the hon. Anne McLellan and Irwin Cotler. Third, it aims to ban the sale of cat and dog fur in Canada and to require source fur labelling.

Canadians across our country, from farmers to pet owners, care about animal welfare. We expect our leaders and our legislators to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Our government ran on a platform of fairness, and the bill directly addresses the fair treatment of animals in our society.

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

Criminal Code

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-247, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (passive detection device).

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce a bill on behalf of Canadians who have been affected by a drunk driver. I would like to thank the member opposite, the member for Langley—Aldergrove , for his wonderful support on this.

Impaired driving continues to be the leading criminal cause of death in Canada, claiming almost twice as many lives per year as all categories of homicide combined. Over 1,000 Canadians are killed every year because someone chose to drive while impaired or drunk when they should have taken a taxi or a bus.

The bill would amend the wording of the Criminal Code to call this what it really is, vehicular homicide. It would also authorize the use of passive alcohol sensors by peace officers as an aid to use during roadside stops or RIDE programs. This passive device provides an easy, reliable, and non-intrusive method of efficiently screening drivers with minimum delay. This type of device has been used in other jurisdictions by peace officers and has proven highly effective.

It gives me great pride to introduce this bill that would ultimately keep our roads safer.

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

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

I wonder if I could seek unanimous consent of the House to table the “Fiscal Monitor” for November and December to assist the parliamentary secretary and the Minister of Finance in their answers. This clearly does show that the Conservative government did leave a surplus for the Liberals.

I would like consent to table these two reports. They are from the finance minister's own department, so I am hoping the Liberals will want to read them.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Does the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle have the unanimous consent of the House to table these documents?

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I am not seeing any consent.

Democratic Reform

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of approximately 580 constituents in my riding, I am here to present a petition regarding a fair electoral representation. Petitioners are demanding a fair voting system. They want an equal and effective voice for their votes to be represented in Canada. More specifically, they are asking for proportional representation.

Palliative Care

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present this petition from constituents that highlights that in the last Parliament, the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion calling on the government to create a national strategy on palliative care to ensure that every Canadian has access to high-quality palliative care at the end of their life. The petitioners say that it is impossible for a person to give informed consent to assisted suicide if palliative care is not available. They are therefore calling on the government to ensure that adequate palliative care is provided to anyone considering assisted suicide.

Democratic Reform

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition to the House from constituents in my riding of South Okanagan—West Kootenay, who point out that our present electoral system produces a Parliament where the number of MPs for each party does not reflect the number of voters who supported that party. They ask that the House undertake public consultations across Canada to amend the Canada Elections Act and introduce a form of real proportional representation after those consultations.

[Kate Young, Liberal, London West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this moment to table a petition signed by 125 residents of London West and southwestern Ontario regarding the issue electoral reform. The signatories call for the Government of Canada to hold public consultations throughout the country, amend the Canada Elections Act, and introduce a suitable form of proportional representation.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as we engage in the conversation on democratic reform, there are certainly a number of people in my riding who have decided that their preferred option is proportional representation. I am presenting this petition on their behalf today.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to table a petition from Fair Vote Canada. The petitioners are calling for the House of Commons to cast an equal and effective vote to be represented fairly in Parliament by changing the Canada Elections Act, and to also ensure that there is fair representation across the country with proportional representation. They are calling on the government to engage in consultation and to bring in these changes.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition from members of my constituency on the same topic.

Justice

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in December 2014, Cassandra Kaake was murdered. She was 31 weeks pregnant with her preborn daughter, Molly. Molly matters. I have a petition of over 100 people from my constituency and the town of Westlock who feel that this needs to be amended. Our current Criminal Code has no protection for the preborn human. Therefore the petitioners call upon the Parliament of Canada to consider this and bring forward legislation to protect the preborn human.

Democratic Reform

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, like a number of other members, I am pleased to present a petition today prepared by an organization called Fair Vote Canada. In my case, I was approached by a number of its members, who gave me several pages and asked me to present it here today, just like I suspect many other members with similar petitions were probably approached. The petitioners argue that the first-past-the-post electoral system is unfair and propose that the best alternative is a proportional system. They seem to favour multi-member proportional representations, which is certainly one of the options that will be under discussion over the next year as we look at different forms of voting systems for this country.

Abortion

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to table today. The first two petitions are from residents in central Alberta, who basically outline the fact that Canada is one of the only modern nations in the world that does not have any laws around proscribing abortion nor any policy restricting it. The petitioners call upon this House to enact legislation to address that particular issue.

Sex Selection

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have another two petitions signed by many people in central Alberta asking the government and the House of Commons to put legislation in place to prevent sex-selective abortions, which is an atrocious thing that can happen in our nation.

Justice

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have another petition from folks in central Alberta who want to see legislation that would recognize preborn victims.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Canada Labour Code

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

When the House last took up the question, the hon. member for Peace River—Westlock had five minutes remaining for the period for questions and comments. We will go to that now.

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the government House leader.