Paddy Torsney

[Supply, November 30th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Is the questioner opposite going to get to organized crime?

[The Environment, November 2nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the minister has received comments from concerned individuals and has received the comprehensive study report. He is going to make a decision shortly and we will all be informed of that.

[Breast Cancer, October 29th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, one in nine Canadian women can expect to develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Today, the last day the House will sit during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is an excellent opportunity for reflection on our successes and on the work still ahead.

This year Burlington hosted its third annual Run for the Cure. Our most successful run yet, 3,000 people ran, walked and volunteered. Some $200,000 was raised for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation to support research, education, diagnosis and treatment.

Our community has a wonderful organization with breast cancer support services, making a difference for families living with breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an important opportunity to celebrate the survivors and remember the ones we have lost. Their strength and courage is an inspiration.

The message is clear. Early detection is vital, especially when accompanied with annual mammographies. We must remind the women we love. We must support them in the difficult days of treatment, and we must support research. Together we can beat this disease.

[Burlington, October 22nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, each year graduating students in Burlington win hundreds of awards recognizing their academic achievement, athletic abilities and interests. Each year it is my pleasure to honour one student at each school with a Paddy Torsney MP Citizenship Award.

This year's winners include Michael Lazarovitch from Assumption, Liane Mahon from Notre Dame, Manjinger Shoker from Burlington Central, Anthony Adrian Van Veen from Lord Elgin, Amy Wah from MM Robinson, Elizabeth Shadwick from Nelson and Sarah Norris from General Brock.

Burlington residents are proud of its youngest citizens. They have demonstrated their commitment to our country. They have volunteered to improve our schools and our community. Their energies are boundless and their accomplishments many.

Congratulations to their parents, teachers and friends for supporting them in their efforts. I know members will join me in wishing each of them continued success and much happiness as they pursue their goals and dreams. Way to go, Burlington.

[Bill C-32, June 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, that is a complete misinterpretation of the legislation we passed this week.

The legislation puts in place a strict enforcement mechanism reflecting the commissioner's report and what the committee wanted. It sets in place a toxic management review policy. It forces the government to do research on endocrine disrupters. It forces the government to evaluate 23,000 substances in Canada.

It is a good bill and an important bill for the country. It is a win for the environment of the country.

[Endangered Species, June 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that the member opposite is interested in this legislation.

The minister has been consulting across the country with her provincial and territorial counterparts and is prepared to table legislation in the near future. I attended some of those meetings and I can tell the House that some of the various issues were considered and possible solutions were raised. We will continue to work on the right solution.

[Environment Week, June 4th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, today is the last day of Environment Week, a week set aside each year for Canadians to recommit themselves to environmental action.

Canada's environment is important to all Canadians. The Government of Canada is committed to protect all species at risk, all plants and animals, wherever they are in Canada. We will do so with a holistic Canadian strategy that includes legislation, programs, partnerships and citizen engagement.

Let us be clear. Across Canada we have a long list of laws and regulations put in place to protect wildlife, such as the Canadian Wildlife Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Fisheries Act, just to name a few.

Canadians are concerned about the state of wildlife and its habitat and that support continues to increase. This government and this minister are determined to make the right environmental decisions so we can pass on a proud natural legacy to future generations of Canadians.

[Canada Elections Act, June 3rd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, if only there were not so many members so willing to besmirch the Prime Minister's name. Why do they not step outside the House and say all the things that they are saying in here?

Let me set the record straight. This contract is between the Government of Mali and a Canadian company. It was awarded through an open competitive process. This process considers the quality of the company's services to ensure the best possible results for the people of Mali, which is one of the world's poorest countries. The selection process gives top priority to the cost of the bids to ensure the best possible use of our taxpayers' money.

For some reason opposition members have chosen to disregard these facts. I believe members should be outraged had the contract been awarded to any other bidder since this would have increased the cost to Canadian taxpayers by at least $2.5 million.

This debate cannot possibly be about patronage since the selection committee was made up of two officials from the Government of Mali, one independent Canadian expert specializing in electrical projects and one CIDA official acting as an observer. Responsibility for the choice of the contracting firm rested with these representatives, not with the CIDA official who was there to ensure the integrity and transparency of the process.

It certainly did not rest with the minister responsible for CIDA, who was informed of the selection after the final decision was made. The lowest bid got the contract and the opposition has not offered up a shred of evidence to support its ridiculous allegations. It is more interested in slinging mud at a man who has spent the last three and a half decades serving this country.

[Canada Elections Act, June 3rd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, the member's comments have distracted me so much because of a number of things I would like to say. Let us make sure that a crime never occurs and a victim is never created. Let us include things like the national child tax benefit. Let us invest in our young people and make sure they have healthier tomorrows rather than end of pipe solutions.

In responding to the member opposite I would like to clarify the rules that govern publication of names, because that was the specific question that he raised.

Under Bill C-68, publication of names will continue to be allowed in all cases where the youth is sentenced to an adult penalty. Publication will be prohibited when a youth is sentenced to a youth penalty unless the sentence is given for a presumptive offence such as murder. In those cases the presumption is that publication bans could not apply.

There are however two situations when the name of a young person receiving a youth sentence for a presumptive offence would not be publishable. The first occurs when the attorney general does not seek an adult sentence. The second occurs when a judge considers an application by the youth or the attorney general and determines that publication should be prohibited based on the importance of rehabilitating the youth and the public interest. These rules will give judges the guidance and flexibility to enable them to take into account the particular circumstances of the young person.

It is important to note that publication will also continue to be allowed when it is necessary to apprehend a youth who is dangerous and wanted for a serious offence. The government believes in an open justice system. However, we must remember that youth are more vulnerable than adults. Their chances for rehabilitation are greater.

Publication is banned in all cases where a youth sentence is imposed for a non-presumptive offence. However, when a sentence is so serious that the youth is sentenced as an adult then the rules applying to adults must apply to youth, including the publication of names.

[Canada Elections Act, June 3rd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, this just goes to show that there is a complexity of problems. In fact there are very many people in this chamber who have names that are not gender specific.

Like my colleague opposite, who receives many letters addressed to “Mrs. Bergeron”, I have received many letters addressed to “Mr. Torsney”. My name is not very common in Canada. My family alone bears this name, because my parents immigrated to Canada.

I am pleased to speak to Bill C-405 which has been sponsored by the member for Verdun—Saint-Henri. On a personal basis I support everything that we can do to enhance people's participation rate in the election process, to help people to overcome physical difficulties and literacy difficulties. The objective of this amendment is to improve access for persons specifically with reading deficiencies.

The issue of accessibility is a fundamental principle to all of us in our electoral system. The questions that are raised here are quite important.

The Canada Elections Act has in fact been modified on many occasions in the last number of years. Polling stations on election day, the offices of the returning officers and the advance polling stations have a mandate to be available on a level access. While Elections Canada does not have it perfect, it does have 97% of its locations with level access for electors with disabilities.

In 1993 Bill C-114 extended the use of voting by special ballots to all electors, allowing electors with physical impairments to vote by mail. Elections Canada has taken steps to assist voters who have difficulty understanding English or French. Material about the electoral process was published in as many as 24 languages in the last general election. Returning officers are encouraged to appoint multilingual elections officials to provide information in several languages, particularly in urban areas and polls where there are people of many ethnic origins.

Other measures and new technologies have been put in place for the particular needs of hospitalized people, for voters with visual and hearing impairments, mobile polls, ballots in Braille, interpreters of sign language at polling stations, a special phone line for voters with hearing impairment. Voters who have reading deficiencies are included in the voters who have special needs. We need to find a way to help them.

The addition of photographs has been proposed by the hon. member for Verdun—Saint-Henri. This issue as well as that of placing party logos on the ballot have been the subject of study over the past few years.

In 1991 the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing recommended that logos or initials of the political parties be printed on the ballots and that photographs of candidates be displayed in the form of a poster at polling stations. Who knows how that would have affected all of our chances.

Following the 1993 general election the Chief Electoral Officer, a fine individual, recommended in the annex to his statutory report tabled in parliament in 1996 that the logos of registered parties be printed in black on the left side of the ballot in front of the candidates' names.

In the June 1998 report on the Canada Elections Act, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs expressed a number of reservations with this recommendation. Some members doubted that using logos would increase the participation of illiterate voters. Others echoed the Chief Electoral Officer's concerns about the technical difficulties involved in getting the logos or candidates' photographs on the ballot, including whether or not the photos should be in black and white or in colour. The committee of this House did not arrive at a consensus.

Many factors must be taken into consideration in assessing the proposal before us. There is an absence of empirical studies. Whether or not the voter rate for individuals who have reading deficiencies is lower than the participation of Canadians in general we do not know. Whether or not individuals with reading deficiencies who do not vote would vote if pictures were on the ballot is not clear.

It is difficult to evaluate, as many members of the House have articulated, without further research on the influence of voter selection of candidates as a result of having the pictures. Would it have a distorting effect? Would we be here or not be here? It is unclear. It may well be an unforeseen consequence that it could affect people's voting habits whether it be based on some kind of difficulty with people of various parties.

I know some people imagine it impossible, but I had great big mall posters. I had pictures in the paper. I had lots of pictures on materials and still people told me that their relative, friend or acquaintance had voted for me specifically because I was a Liberal and because I was not a woman. Who knows? I can assure everyone who is watching that I am female.

The candidates' photographs on the ballot may address the situation of people who wish to cast their ballot for a recognizable candidate regardless of the party affiliation. However, it would not address the case of electors who intend to vote primarily for a party.

There are a number of questions that have not been answered. What would be the cost of the proposal? What would be its impact on the electoral calendar? Are there technical dimensions associated with its implementation?

Let us be clear. The printing of ballots can take place only after the closing date for nominations, day 21. The opening of advance polling stations starts 10 days after the closing of nominations, days 10, 9 and 7. Therefore all the ballots need to be produced and distributed even in remote areas of the country within a period of 10 days. It would be a serious strain on the already very short timeframe.

The production process would be further complicated by the addition of photographs, besides the fact that the ballot may need to be changed.

There would need to be established rules, as the hon. member opposite has indicated, on the quality of the impression, the format, the size and the placement of the pictures. Elections Canada would need to be provided with the responsibility to make sure that the rules are enforced, otherwise all of us could be in jeopardy for fairness.

Elections Canada has not had a chance to answer these questions. We already know that the 36 day period of the electoral campaign leaves little room for additional steps in the process.

We do not have that many parameters in Bill C-405. We need to look through these issues and we need to look at what the other options are.

In the Northwest Territories for instance currently posters are provided with photographs of candidates in all voter locations. At first glance this could be the way to solve the problems of the hon. member opposite.

No proposal should be excluded or adopted before the organizations representing the people who have reading deficiencies are consulted. They can best identify the solutions. We need to have a bottom-up solution. More analysis needs to be done.

On the issue of accessibility, all of us in the House support that. On the issue of encouraging more people of varied backgrounds to participate, hopefully all of us support that and work every day to reduce those barriers, but further analysis is needed.

I would remind all hon. members that the government House leader will be introducing legislation to amend the Canada Elections Act in the very near future. Perhaps this matter could be pursued at that time by the hon. member opposite and by all members of the House.