Debates of Feb. 25th, 2021

Canada-China Relations

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address this supplementary report. It is not a dissenting report. The Conservatives are very much in support of the report and of all of its recommendations. The report highlights the deteriorating situation in Hong Kong and the need for action by the government. We are pleased to see the report call for the universal suffrage of Hong Kongers, the application of sanctions by Canada, strong immigration measures, as well as two key measures to counter China's foreign influence operations here that are threatening Canadians.

The supplementary report highlights two additional suggestions. One is with respect to stronger actions around foreign state interference in Canada following the adoption of a motion by the House of Commons on that issue on November 18. The other additional recommendation within our supplementary report calls for the government to begin discussions on when to review whether it continues to be appropriate for a Canadian judge to sit as a non-permanent judge on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.

I also want to thank the analysts and all the committee staff, as well as the members from other parties. This is a strong report. We endorse its recommendations, and we hope to see the government respond by taking up the calls of the committee and implementing them.

Public Accounts

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts entitled, “Respect in the Workplace”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

Government Operations and Estimates

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates entitled, “Request for Government Response to the 9th Report from the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session.” Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

I would also like to thank the clerk, the analysts and all committee staff who worked hard to facilitate the production of this report and who were instrumental in its execution, so much so that we are presenting it here again today. I would also like to thank all the MPs who participated in the initial study that led to the report back in June 2017, including those who were permanent members of the committee and those who may have only contributed to one or two meetings.

Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

moved that Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act, be read the first time.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Offshore Health and Safety Act

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

moved that Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Offshore Health and Safety Act, be read the first time.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

Equalization

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

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to table a petition today.

Albertans have contributed a net $600 billion to federal coffers in the last 40 years, and much of that largely funded equalization. The generosity of these Albertans is due to the resource revenues and their hard work and sweat. Due to the massive shift in policy from the current Liberal government against this resource sector, this necessitates a shift in equalization formulas to reflect that change.

Therefore, the petitioners are calling on the government to renegotiate the formula for equalization immediately.

Opioids

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present two petitions.

The first petition was sent to me from Katherine Steinhoff. Like thousands of Canadians, Katherine's life was forever changed when she lost her son to an accidental overdose. Tragically, the overdose epidemic has touched too many people in my riding of Hamilton Centre, in Katherine's hometown of Ottawa, and in communities from coast to coast to coast.

This petition calls for Canada to declare the overdose crisis a national health emergency, develop and properly fund an overdose action plan, decriminalize possession for personal use, and reform flawed drug laws and policing.

The Environment

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I am presenting today is signed by concerned Canadians who are calling on the government to take meaningful action to combat catastrophic climate change by supporting a motion introduced by my colleague, the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, Motion No. 1.

This motion is for a made-in-Canada green new deal, and calls on the government to implement a bold plan to tackle the climate crisis and invest in a just transition for workers as Canada shifts to a clean and renewable energy economy.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Before proceeding, I would like to remind the hon. members that we have a fixed amount of time of 15 minutes for petitions. I would like to ensure that everyone is as concise as possible, so we can get to the long list and complete it in a fashion that is acceptable to everyone.

We will now continue with the presenting of petitions. The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona.

Responsible Enterprise

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition from citizens and residents of Canada who are deeply concerned about the actions of a Canadian corporation, OceanaGold, which is operating in the Philippines with the support of the Philippine government. There are grave concerns about the degradation of human rights, particularly against indigenous people, and of the environment.

The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to strengthen the rules for Canadian businesses operating overseas; uphold human rights; make the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise independent and empowered to compel evidence, witnesses and testimony, among other things; and end support to the Government of the Philippines, including socio-economic and financial programming.

Agriculture

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today, I am tabling two petitions on behalf of my constituents. Both are on the same topic, which is the Pickering federal lands. The first petition calls on the House of Commons to rescind all plans for an airport and for any non-agricultural uses on the remaining Pickering federal lands. They ask the House to take action to preserve the watersheds and the class 1 farmland on these lands.

The second petition also calls on the government to abandon any plans for a proposed Pickering airport and requests the House of Commons to designate Parks Canada as the custodian of the Pickering federal lands to preserve them for public use. They also ask the House to mandate the use of long-term leases to initiate support for the revitalization of these lands.

Pornography

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present three petitions. The first petition is from constituents across Canada. They are concerned about the accessibility to and the impact of violent and degrading sexually explicit material online. They call on the government to do more to protect children. As noted, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires Canada to develop the means to protect children from forms of media that are injurious to their well-being.

Alberta

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

Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from Albertans who want to draw the attention of the House to a recent report from Statistics Canada that highlights how a disproportionate amount of young men die between May and October. The petitioners recognize that men are three times more likely to commit suicide.

Likewise, Albertans have suffered an energy downturn, an oil price war, and a federal government unwilling to support major pipeline and investment projects. Alberta has one of the highest unemployment rates in Canada. The petitioners ask the House to approve shovel-ready projects across the country to get Albertans back to work.

Medical Assistance in Dying

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

Mr. Speaker, the last petition I am presenting today regarding Bill C-7 is of prime importance, especially given its amendments concerning mental illness and protecting the disabled in Canada. The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to support measures to protect human life, as all human life should be regarded with a great deal of respect, from inception to natural death.

Public Safety

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, today, I am tabling a petition on behalf of GTA residents who are concerned about the horrific shootings, which are all too common in the GTA.

The petitioners call on the House to support my private member's bill, Bill C-238, a bill that would have made GTA residents safer by keeping dangerous offenders behind bars. Shamefully, the Liberals have already voted down my bill.

Health Canada

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

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege today to rise and table a petition on behalf of residents from the Alberni Valley.

The petitioners cite that Health Canada has an open file to license a Walmart-sized medical marijuana facility directly across the street from Kackaamin, a first nations family trauma and addictions healing centre. The centre is doing important work around our shared history of colonialism and residential schools, but the people were never consulted in the initial planning of this facility and have requested that this facility be located elsewhere.

The petitioners call on the Minister of Health to acknowledge the implicit racism in the policy choices of Health Canada's cannabis-licensing process and handling of this file and to adhere to the purpose of the Cannabis Act and principle of reconciliation. They call for an expedition of the review of this file and to cancel all cannabis licences and applications to 7827 Beaver Creek Road, under the Cannabis Act, in the public interest. They want an apology to Kackaamin and to reaffirm its commitment to UNDRIP and the TRC's calls to action.

Carbon Pricing

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

Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the member for Timmins—James Bay for needing to hear me, yet again, speak in the House.

I have four petitions that I would like to raise.

The first is with respect to the carbon tax. The petitioners express their profound frustration that, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the fiscal and other challenges people are facing, the government would announce the decision to dramatically hike the carbon tax. They note that the carbon tax is not an effective way of responding to the environmental challenges that we face.

The petitioners call on the government to repeal the decision to increase the federal carbon tax to $170 per tonne. They also call for having the carbon tax shown as a separate expense when buying products, so citizens are aware of exactly how much money they are paying in carbon tax at a given time.

Human Rights

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

The second petition, Mr. Speaker, is with respect to the ongoing genocide of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.

The petitioners call on the government to take a step, which the House of Commons has already taken, and recognize that Uighurs are being subjected to ongoing genocide. They want to see not just recognition but action and response. They call on the government to impose targeted sanctions against those perpetrators of this horrific violence and this alliance, with the call, by the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, for sanctions in the case of the situation in Hong Kong as well.

Human Organ Trafficking

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

Mr. Speaker, the third petition is with respect to forced organ harvesting and trafficking.

The petitioners call on the government in the House to support Bill S-204, which would combat organ harvesting and trafficking by making it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad and receive an organ without consent.

Medical Assistance in Dying

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

Mr. Speaker, the final petition expresses grave concern about Bill C-7, the government's decision to try to remove safeguards, to open the door to euthanasia for those who are facing mental health challenges and to do so in all these policy areas in ways that are completely unrelated to the Truchon decision.

The petitioners call on the government to amend or stop this bill and, in particular, to remove those aspects of the bill which are completely unrelated to the Truchon decision, which, frankly, is most of them.

I commend these four petitions to the consideration of the House.

Natural Resources

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to once again present a petition, which takes particular relevance this week after there were revelations from the U.S. State Department that former Prime Minister Trudeau was systematically using his authority to affect jobs in Quebec. Many of my constituents, who have been around longer than I have, will say, “Like father, like son”.

Constituents therefore petition the government to do two things: have the current Prime Minister of Canada apologize for the actions of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his government's destructive national energy program; and affirm the rights of provinces to develop, manage and market their natural resources.

It is incredibly frustrating, the legacy that—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I am going to interrupt for a moment.

The member for Manicouagan is rising on a point of order.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the interpreters are saying that the sound is not good enough for them to be able to do their job, so we no longer have interpretation.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

There is a problem that the interpreters cannot make out what is being said.

We will set the clock back, if the member does not mind starting over. Maybe he can change the microphone a bit and ensure the pickup is coming from his headset and not from the microphone on the computer. We want to ensure everybody hears what the hon. member has to say. I am sure members are very interested.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have a point of order. In reviewing what the member had said, I am concerned. During the presentation of petitions, members should be reflecting on the content of the petition and providing less political commentary, especially when we have a lengthy list of members who would like present a petition. The other day, Mr. Speaker, you actually had to cut some members off because we ran out of time. Therefore, political commentary should actually be discouraged.