House of Commons Hansard #372 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was documents.
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Mr. Speaker, when the petition is tabled, the member will be able to read it. It is specifically given to the House of Commons to encourage the Leader of the Opposition to get his security clearance.
The Deputy Speaker Conservative Chris d'Entremont
For further clarity, a petition can be addressed to any member of Parliament.
The hon. member for Winnipeg North.
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, I can understand the sensitivity of it. All I am doing is conveying a petition that has been signed by many Canadians. They are genuinely concerned that the leader of the Conservative Party has not taken it upon himself to get the security clearance necessary to become better informed in protecting the interests of Canadians. It is a legitimate petition that I would encourage the member opposite to read.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from Canadians who share their condolences with the member for Kingston and the Islands on being passed over for cabinet again. I am sorry, I am misreading it.
This is a petition in support of Bill C-257. It is a private member's bill I have tabled that seeks to protect the fundamental rights of Canadians by adding political belief and activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. This bill would combat political discrimination.
The petition calls on members of the House to support Bill C-257 and to defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, my next petition is from folks who are deeply concerned about the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the People's Republic of China.
The petitioners share some of the history of that persecution and call on the House to strongly condemn this persecution, continue to take steps to combat that persecution, and express its solidarity with Falun Gong practitioners, who seek to simply engage in a peaceful, meditative practice and advance the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, I will next table a petition from Canadians who are troubled by the radical and extreme proposals we continue to see for the expansion of Canada's euthanasia regime. The petitioners note, in particular, a call for euthanasia to be expanded to include babies from birth to one year of age who come into the world with severe deformities and very serious syndromes. This proposal for the legalized killing of infants is deeply concerning to many Canadians.
The petitioners say infanticide is always wrong and call on the House and the government to oppose any attempt to allow the killing of children in Canada.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, I will present one final petition, regarding the situation in Burma. The petitioners draw to the attention of the House the horrific crimes of the military junta in Burma, with the continuing indiscriminate killing, torture, rape, imprisonment, displacement of civilians and air strikes targeting civilians and vital humanitarian supplies. They note that the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise accounts for a majority of the funding the military receives that enables its ongoing campaigns against civilians, that Canada has an obligation to support the people of Myanmar, as it has outlined in the context of its responsibility to protect and its obligations to the Rohingya and other persecuted minorities.
Therefore, the petitioners want the Government of Canada to call for an immediate end to executions, atrocities and human rights abuses by the Burmese junta. They want to see humanitarian aid delivered in a cross-border way through opposition-controlled areas instead of through areas controlled by the military junta. They want to see technological and logistical support for communications infrastructure to help the opposition, the NUG and other opposition elements that are successfully defending themselves and the people against the junta.
The petitioners would like to see the government impose sanctions against the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, including blocking direct and indirect oil and gas purchases that support the Burmese regime. They also want more collaboration with pro-democracy groups promoting the work of the NUG and reconciliation among the various communities in Burma that are working together to advance a free, pluralistic democracy. Petitioners are calling for tougher sanctions against the junta, cross-border aid and support for the democracy movement.
I hope this petition will receive the support of all members. I commend it to the House.
I will leave it there.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, the following question will be answered today: No. 3046.
Kirsty Duncan Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
With regard to the use of drugs and banned practices intended to increase athletic performance: does Sport Canada acknowledge that, prior to the Commission of Inquiry into the Use of Drugs and Banned Practices Intended to Increase Athletic Performance, (i) drug use in sport extends back to the 19th century, (ii) coaches, doctors, scientists, trainers, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) failed to address the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) for decades, (iii) anabolic steroid use in sport extends back to at least the 1950s, (iv) coaches, doctors, scientists, and the IOC failed to address the use of anabolic steroids for over a decade, (v) athletes acquired knowledge about PEDs through the sport system,
(vi) some coaches, doctors, pharmacists, and sports federations were complicit in athlete steroid use, (vii) power imbalances existed in sport between authority figures (e.g., coach, doctor, trainer) and athletes, (viii) deference to authority and obedience existed in sport, (ix) in some cases, authority figures controlled workouts, diet, sleep, and those with whom an athlete could associate, (x) athletes who were approached by authority figures in sport to try steroids were often racialized and young, (xi) authority figures in sport did not approach parents and ask for their permission to give their child PEDs, (xii) athletes could be bullied, lied to, or persuaded to follow a steroid plan or risk losing their place in a club or on a team,
(xiii) authority figures in sport sometimes persuaded an athlete to use steroids by saying everyone else was using in competition, steroid use was levelling the playing field, steroid use was the only way to win, and the side-effects of steroid use were minimal, (xiv) in some cases, authority figures in sport were experimenting on athletes with a veterinary product, injectable and oral steroids, human growth hormone, with a combination of the previous two, with unknown short-term health impacts and unknown long-term health impacts, (xv) authority figures experimented on athletes who were often racialized and young,
(xvi) authority figures instructed athletes to stay silent about PED use, (xvii) authority figures instructed athletes to deny use of PEDs if they tested positive, (xviii) before the internet and cell phones, athletes lacked the knowledge and means on their own to access anabolic steroids, determine what doses and combinations to use, determine the doping regimen, and taper in order to test negative before a competition, (xix) before the internet and cell phones, male athletes lacked the knowledge and means on their own to urinate to empty their bladders of tainted urine and then insert needles into their bladders with clean urine so that they could test negative for steroid use,
(xx) before the internet and cell phones, female athletes lacked the knowledge and means on their own to create a fake bladder, fill it with clean urine, and insert it inside themselves so that they could test negative for steroid use, (xxi) in some cases, authority figures instructed and groomed younger athletes to inject senior athletes with steroids between the toes, (xxii) athletes became part of a sport culture or club that normalized illegal drug abuse, (xxiii) a “pact of ignorance” and “conspiracy of silence” surrounded drug use among sport organizations?
Adam van Koeverden LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and to the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity
Mr. Speaker, Sport Canada acknowledges the history of the use of drugs and banned practices intended to increase athletic performance throughout the sport system and the resulting health impacts, and acknowledges the maltreatment of athletes associated with these practices. The Commission of Inquiry into the Use of Drugs and Banned Practices Intended to Increase Athletic Performance held public hearings in 1989 for the purpose of inquiring about athletes' use of drugs, especially anabolic steroids, and of studying the effects of these drugs on the performance of users and the consequent potential to harm their health. The conclusions and recommendations of this commission were an important first step toward addressing these issues.
For additional information, including on the historical doping practices within Canada, please refer to the 1990 report on the Commission of Inquiry Into the Use of Drugs and Banned Practice Intended to Increase Athletic Performance: https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.699756/publication.html.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, if the government's responses to questions Nos. 3039 to 3045 could be made orders for returns, these returns would be tabled in an electronic format immediately.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
With regard to federal funding to non-governmental organizations, broken down by department, agency and fiscal year since January 1, 2006: (a) has (i) the Canadian Independent Medical Clinics Association, (ii) Advocates for Choice in Healthcare, (iii) Innovative Medicines Canada, (iv) the Canadian Health Policy Institute, (v) the Montreal Economic Institute, received federal funding; and (b) how much federal funding, if any, was received by each organization listed in (a)?
(Return tabled)
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
With regard to the government’s $700 million loan to Air Transat announced in 2021: (a) what is the loan repayment schedule for the (i) principal owed, (ii) interest owed; (b) did the government exercise the right to purchase 13 million shares, and, if so, (i) on what date were they purchased, (ii) what was the cost per share; and (c) what have been the results of the annual job monitoring done on Air Transat for each year since the loan was issued, overall and for each job requirement that was a part of the condition of the government loan?
(Return tabled)
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
With regard to government dealings with Telesat, since November 4, 2015: (a) what are the details of all loans, grants, or other financial contributions that the government has provided to Telesat, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) amount, (iii) type of contribution (loan, non-repayable grant, etc.), (iv) repayment terms, if applicable, (v) amount repaid to date, (vi) purpose, (vii) total houses connected to broadband resulting from the contribution; (b) what are the details of all contracts the government has with Telesat, or its subsidiaries, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) amount, (iii) vendor, (iv) description of goods or services provided, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced or competitive bid); (c) for each contract in (b) involving consulting services, what was the topic consulted on and what is the summary of any reports or recommendations provided to the government as part of the consulting contract; and (d) did any of the financial contributions in (a) include executive compensation restrictions and, if so, which contributions and what were the restrictions?
(Return tabled)
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
With regard to all types of standby pay for Government of Canada employees since January 1, 2016, broken down by year: (a) what is the total cost of standby pay, broken down by department, agency, or other government entity; (b) how many employees had annual standby payments over $5,000 in each given year, broken down by department, agency, or other government entity; and (c) what was the single highest annual standby payment for an individual employee in each given year, broken down by department, agency, or other government entity?
(Return tabled)
Adam Chambers Conservative Simcoe North, ON
With regard to transcriptions or transcripts procured by the government since January 1, 2023, and broken down by department or agency: (a) what is the (i) date of the proceeding or event, (ii) location of the proceeding or event, (iii) description or summary of the proceeding or event, (iv) main participants speaking at the proceeding or event, (v) subject matter of the proceeding or event, for each transcription prepared in this period; (b) what was the cost of each transcription in (a); (c) who requested each transcription in (a) be prepared; and (d) what was the total amount spent on transcriptions or transcripts, broken down by year?
(Return tabled)
Branden Leslie Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB
With regard to the Firearms Buyback Program: what are the details of all contracts related to the program entered into by the government, including any relevant government entity, such as the RCMP, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) amount, (iii) vendor, (iv) description of the goods or services, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced or competitive bid)?
(Return tabled)