Debates of Dec. 3rd, 2018

Vision Care

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I once again stand to table a petition regarding a national framework for action to promote eye health and vision care. The petitioners are from Newfoundland, mostly from Badger, Grand Falls-Windsor, Bishop's Falls, Triton and Silverdale.

The petitioners indicate that the emerging crisis in eye health and vision care affects all segments of the Canadian population, with Canada's most vulnerable populations, children, seniors and indigenous peoples, being affected the most. The petitioners are asking the government to put together a national framework for action to promote eye health and vision care working with professionals in this area.

Human Organ Trafficking

[Jim Eglinski, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition from people from the Toronto area dealing with the international trafficking in human organs in regard to Bill S-240.

Pensions

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

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table on behalf of my constituents.

One petition calls on the Government of Canada to withdraw Bill C-27, due to the petitioners' belief that it may harm retirement security for seniors.

Animal Welfare

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

Mr. Speaker, I also have a much larger petition, which calls on the House of Commons to support Bill S-214 and ban the sale or manufacture of animal-tested cosmetics and their ingredients in Canada.

The Environment

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I present a petition in which constituents from Nanaimo—Ladysmith call on this House to adopt a national strategy to end the terrible problem of marine plastics. They urge this House to support the Motion No. 151 by the member for Courtenay—Alberni's, which will be voted on this Wednesday, to ban single-use plastics, to develop regulations to get at the root of the marine plastics problem, and to fund, in a permanent way, dealing with some of the ongoing problems like ghost fishnets that move across the sea and continue to kill marine mammals and fish. They urge the consideration of their petition.

Firearms

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition signed by Canadians from the ridings of Nepean, Ottawa Centre, and Ottawa West—Nepean. They call on the House of Commons to respect the rights of law-abiding firearms owners and reject the Prime Minister's plan to waste taxpayer money studying a ban on guns that are already banned.

Opioids

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table an e-petition that was sponsored by John and Jennifer Hedican who lost their son Ryan to fentanyl poisoning. This petition is e-1586 and it was signed by 3,210 people.

The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emergency under the Emergencies Act in order to manage and resource it with the aim to reduce and eliminate preventable deaths.

The petitioners are calling on the government to reform current drug policy to decriminalize personal possession and to create, with urgency and immediacy, a system to provide safe, unadulterated access to substances so that people who use substances experimentally, recreationally or chronically are not at imminent risk of overdose due to a contaminated source. We know that over 4,000 Canadians died in 2017, and over 2,800 in 2016 due to preventable opioid overdose resulting from fentanyl-poisoned sources.

The petitioners are calling on the government to act on this petition.

Human Organ Trafficking

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Bill S-240, the subject of this petition, will be up for the second hour of debate next Monday at 11 a.m. The petitioners are asking members to move forward and quickly pass Bill S-240 to ensure that Canada finally joins a growing list of countries that are taking serious action to respond to the scourge of forced organ harvesting and trafficking in human organs.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise and present this petition signed by many across the greater Toronto area who are basically calling for parliamentarians to support Bill S-240 and Bill C-350 to impede the trafficking of human organs obtained without consent or as a result of a financial transaction.

Animal Welfare

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise in the House today to present a petition from my wonderful constituents in the riding of Long Range Mountains who state that animal testing is unnecessary to prove the safety of cosmetic products, and safety tests would be faster, more accurate and cheaper than to perform tests conducted using animals. The petitioners are calling upon the House of Commons to support Bill S-214 and ban the sale and manufacture of animal-tested cosmetics and any ingredients in Canada moving forward.

The Environment

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

Mr. Speaker, I have multiple pages here signed by constituents who recognize that plastics in our oceans, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water are posing a dire threat to sensitive ecosystems. They want the government to work with the provinces, municipalities and indigenous communities to develop a national strategy to combat plastic pollution so we can reduce the industrial use of microplastics, single-use plastics, and have a strategy for cleaning up derelict fishing gear.

Furthermore, they call upon the government to support Motion No. 151, to bring in a national strategy to combat plastic pollution, supported by my good friend and colleague, the member for Courtenay—Alberni.

Round Lake

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting two petitions today in regard to the water levels at Round Lake in Saskatchewan. The lake is in my riding, but it is used recreationally by people all around the province and in Manitoba, as well as the people who live there. It serves the whole area with beauty and recreational use, plus fishing.

The petitioners point out that all of the other lakes in the chain have controls that have been agreed to between the government and the first nations along those lakes. In this case, Ochapowace and Piapot first nations have not, over the years, come to an agreement. We need the Minister of Indigenous Services to respond to their concerns, not the Minister of Transport or the Minister of Environment. They are asking for a response from the Minister of Indigenous Services.

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: Questions Nos. 1988, 1994 and 1996.

Question No. 1988

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

With regard to forensic toxicology tests and the National Forensic Laboratory Services (NFLS) section of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: (a) how many blood tests were conducted by the NFLS from 2015 to date, broken down by year; (b) how many blood tests are projected to be conducted by the NFLS in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021; (c) what is the projected yearly budgetary increase required for the NFLS as a result of the legalization of cannabis; and (d) what is the projected increase in turnaround time for test results as a result of the legalization of cannabis?

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

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a) and (b), the RCMP's National Forensic Laboratory Services, NFLS, receives requests for different types of forensic services from across Canada, excluding Ontario and Quebec, who manage and operate their own public forensic laboratories. NFLS tracks the number of service requests, not "blood tests", it receives for forensic analysis.

With regard to (c), at this time, the projected yearly budgetary increase required for the NFLS as a result of the legalization of cannabis is not available.

The government will ensure that the resources are in place to deliver the programs and services that accompany this important transformation.

With regard to (d), the NFLS currently has established target diary dates for its toxicology services program. Included in the above-mentioned proposal to confirm funding is a plan to build NFLS capacity to meet any increase in demand for services. The NFLS service model already includes a monitoring function that assists in prioritization of urgent service requests.

Question No. 1994

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

With regard to Bill C-83, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act: what are the projected implementation costs of the legislation, broken down by each policy measure contained in the Bill?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated before, eliminating the use of administrative segregation within Canada's correctional system and replacing it with structured intervention units, SIUs, will require both the enactment of new legislation, Bill C-83, and the investment of new resources.

The objective is to ensure that the system can properly separate certain offenders as necessary for safety and security reasons, while still providing them with on-going meaningful human contact and the interventions, programs and social supports that their circumstances require, including access to program officers, indigenous liaison officers, elders, chaplains and others. If the new legislation is enacted, the Government of Canada will invest close to $300 million over six years, and then some $70 million annually thereafter, to implement the new SIU approach.

For this approach to be successful, the correctional system must also strengthen its mental health programming. This will include the enhanced assessment and early diagnosis of inmates at intake and throughout incarceration at all levels, plus enhanced primary and acute mental health care, support for patient advocacy services and 24-7 health care at designated institutions. If this new legislation is enacted, the Government of Canada will invest more than $150 million over six years, and then more than $70 million annually thereafter, to implement these mental health care improvements.

More specific financial details will become available through the on-going budgetary process, including the usual estimates presented for approval to the House of Commons.

Question No. 1996

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

With regard to the government’s announcement that it will be waiving the record suspension application fee for individuals who have criminal records related to the possession of cannabis: (a) how many individuals have criminal records solely from possession of cannabis convictions; (b) how many individuals have criminal records from possession of cannabis convictions in addition to convictions on other charges; and (c) what is the projected cost to the government of waiving the record suspension application fee for those convicted of cannabis possession?

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a) and (b), the Canadian Criminal Real Time Identification Services, CCRTIS, maintains the RCMP national repository of criminal records. The repository is a record database and was not designed to provide statistical analysis. As a result, the content of the repository cannot be aggregated and disaggregated in a way that would accurately depict answers as they relate to these questions.

With regard to (c), at this time, the implementation costs of the proposal are not available.

The government will ensure that the resources are in place to deliver the programs and services that accompany this important transformation.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

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

Mr. Speaker, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 1986, 1987, 1989 to 1993 and 1995 and 1997 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

Question No. 1986

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

With regard to the First Nations Child and Family Services Program, broken down by province and territory, and by category of service (operations, prevention, and maintenance): (a) how much funding was budgeted to the program for each fiscal year from 2014-15 to date; (b) how much has been spent on the program for each fiscal year from 2014-15 to date; and (c) what was the total assessed need for federal funding identified by the government through the agency needs-assessment process?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1987

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

With regard to the government’s decision to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline and its related infrastructure from Kinder Morgan: (a) what is the breakdown of the $4.5 billion spent on the purchase, including (i) the sum spent to purchase the real pipeline assets, (ii) the sum spent to purchase the rights and easements of the pipeline assets, (iii) the sum spent to pay salaries, (iv) the sum spent to pay legal fees, (v) descriptions and sums of any other expenditures contributing to the $4.5 billion total; (b) what was the rationale for the final purchase being completed before the Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling was issued; (c) what is the explanation as to why the purchase was not made conditional subject to regulatory approval; (d) what is the summary of measures considered in anticipation of how the Federal Court of Appeal might rule; (e) what was the estimated worth of the pipeline in market terms at the time of purchase; (f) what is the date of the most recent evaluation of the condition of the existing pipeline; (g) what was the valuation of the expansion project at the time of purchase; and (h) what is the the current estimated cost to complete the Trans Mountain expansion?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1989

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) forcing individuals to pay income tax on overpayments made by Service Canada, despite the requirement for all overpayments to be paid back to the government: (a) does the Minister of National Revenue approve of her department’s policy; (b) what is the total amount of revenue which the CRA incurred as a result of overpayments, since January 1, 2016; (c) what is the total amount of revenue which has been returned to taxpayers as a result of a tax reversal, following the return of overpayments mentionned in (b); (d) why is a tax reversal not automatic when the overpayment as a result of government error is repaid; (e) has the Minister responsible for Service Canada and the Minister of National Revenue met to discuss this matter and, if so, on what dates, and what decisions were made at such meetings; and (f) does the Minister of National Revenue believe that it is fair for taxpayers to be forced to pay income tax as a result of Service Canada errors, even though the income has to be repaid to the government?