Debates of March 11th, 2016

Copyright

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, according to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, about a third of those people suffering with visual impairment discontinue their studies for that reason. One of the problems is the absence of books in Braille and audio format.

The good news is that there are about a quarter of a million of such books produced in 13 countries around the world that could be accessible to Canadians if we would change our copyright laws and let them in. The previous government introduced legislation to do just that, last April in the last Parliament. I wonder if the government would rise and introduce that legislation for quick passage.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, we support the Marrakesh Treaty.

Many Canadians live with a disability that does not allow them to access printed material. They need to access this material to participate in our economy, so this government is working to address this challenge by facilitating persons with print disability to have access to works in large print and different formats, to provide overall a greater accessibility to these works. We are hoping that all members will continue to support the adoption of this law.

Agriculture and Agri-Food

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, under the supply management system that the government has promised to protect, the milk we consume in Canada must be produced here. A few weeks ago, the minister himself acknowledged that imported milk proteins are problematic. The minister has not backed up his fine words with a solution to this serious problem, which is hurting Quebec dairy producers.

Will the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food promise to quickly and once and for all tighten import controls and put in place compensation for milk producers?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's question and concern. I can assure him that I have met with many sectors in the agriculture industry, including the dairy farmers. Being a dairy farmer myself, I fully understand the problem. We are discussing it with the industry and we will come to a conclusion.

The Environment

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, at the BAPE, TransCanada presented a disaster scenario in which 3.6 million litres of oil could be spilled into our waterways. Even worse, the company demonstrated that it had no idea of the impact of a spill on our waterways and that its emergency plan was hastily put together.

The president of the BAPE even pointed out that TransCanada was making people uncomfortable by not being able to answer questions.

Will someone in the House be able to answer my question? What will it take for the government to recognize that this project is untenable?

[Kim Rudd, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, the health and safety of Canadians and protection of the environment remain the Government of Canada's top priorities. The government is committed to regaining public trust by ensuring proposed projects such as new pipelines undergo credible, robust, environmental, and regulatory reviews. The Pipeline Safety Act would ensure that Canada maintains a high standard for its pipelines.

Air Canada

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have just learned that the FTQ has filed a request for an injunction in the Quebec Superior Court to force Air Canada to comply with the law. Two rulings have already been handed down in favour of the Government of Quebec.

The law is clear. Will the Minister of Transport keep the promise he made to Aveos workers in the past?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I will not comment on matters before the courts, but I will point out that the situation has changed a lot over the past four years.

As members know, Air Canada intends to purchase 45 and possibly even 75 Bombardier aircraft and help establish a centre of excellence to perform maintenance on these aircraft for at least 20 years. Air Canada is also in discussions with the Government of Manitoba.

This is a good example of how we are creating high-quality jobs for Canadians in the aerospace industry.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the Ladies’ Gallery of the Honourable Kevin Murphy, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

Government Response to Petitions

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, 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 27 petitions.

Natural Resources

[Kim Rudd, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour today to table, in both official languages, copies of the 2014-2015 Annual Report to Parliament on the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador fiscal equalization offset.

I am also pleased to have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2014-2015 Annual Report to Parliament on the Canada-Nova Scotia fiscal equalization offset and on the Canada-Nova Scotia Development Fund.

Finance

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Standing Committee on Finance, entitled “Final Report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance Regarding its Consultations in Advance of the 2016 Budget”.

In a very short time frame, the committee heard from 92 witnesses, with an additional 175 written submissions. I want to thank the witnesses, my colleagues here, and my colleagues across the way for working so hard to complete the report in such a tight time frame.

I must also congratulate and thank the clerk, the analysts, and the management team at the Library of Parliament for really going beyond the call of duty to adhere to this extremely tight time frame to table this report today.

Government Operations and Estimates

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (C) 2015-2016”.

I congratulate and applaud all the members of the committee for their hard and diligent work in compiling this first report.

Fisheries and Oceans

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on its study of Supplementary Estimates (C) 2015-2016.

I too would like to wish all the best to my colleagues on that standing committee as we proceed.

Status of Women

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour today to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women entitled “Supplementary Estimates (C) 2015-16: Votes 1c and 5c under Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women”.

I also present the second report of the committee entitled “Main Estimates 2016-17: Votes 1 and 5 under Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women”, from the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I heard some distress coming from the Liberal government side of the House today that we did not put forward a motion. Therefore, if there is unanimous consent, we would like to table the Fiscal Monitor, highlighting a budgetary surplus of $2.2 billion for December 2015.

My mother always said that consistency leads to good things, so I hope the government will accept the motion.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

the hon. member have unanimous consent of the House for the motion?

[Some hon. members]

No.

Palliative Care

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition calling upon Parliament to establish a national strategy on palliative care.

The petitioners state that in the 41st Parliament, the House of Commons unanimously passed this motion. They therefore ask that access to high-quality palliative care at the end of life be available.

Questions on the Order Paper

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

Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 38 and 39.

Question No. 38

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

With respect to the RCMP for the year 2015, broken down by province and territory: (a) how many investigations led to charges under the Criminal Code for animal cruelty; (b) how many charges of animal cruelty led to convictions; (c) how many convictions of animal cruelty led to fines; and (d) how many convictions of animal cruelty led to jail time?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP accesses data from various records management systems that each require a varied search methodology to retrieve the requested information. Given the current time constraints, the RCMP is unable to provide the requested information as it would require a considerable amount of resources and time.

In addition, the RCMP records management systems are “incident” based. There are a number of animal cruelty-related offences that exist within the record management systems. Any of the animal cruelty-related “offences” on any “incident” that exist on the RCMP’s records management systems may not be the only offence related to the incident. If a charge were laid or recommended in relation to the incident, a manual review would be required of every “cleared by charge” occurrence to ensure that the animal cruelty-related charge was in fact the one laid.

Finally, given that the requested data is for the year 2015, it is expected that the vast majority of these offences would not yet have cleared the provincial court systems and, as such, no reliable disposition information would yet be recorded.

Question No. 39

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

With regard to the Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations (VORR) and where applicable its Local Authorities’ Guide: (a) what are the details of all applications ever received under Section 4, broken down by (i) date of first contact or initiation of the application, (ii) date of receipt of a completed application, (iii) name and jurisdiction of the local authority making the request, (iv) current status of the application, (v) the file, tracking, or reference numbers of all files, correspondence, and other information relating to the application, including title or subject, authors, and recipients, where applicable; (b) what options do local authorities have to simplify or expedite the handling of applications to implement specific limitations to vessel type or speed, on waters within their territories; and (c) what are the details of all regulations and local modifications currently in force under the VORR broken down by (i) date of change or implementation, (ii) requesting authority, (iii) reason for change, (iv) the file, tracking, or reference numbers of all relevant files, correspondence, and other information, including title or subject, authors, and recipients?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, the vessel operation restriction regulations, VORRs, came into effect on April 17, 2008. The applications received under schedule 4 of the VORRs were all migrated from the previous regulations, the boating restriction regulations. Since that time, there has been only one change to a restriction under schedule 4, which has been repealed by SOR/2014-210.