Betty Hinton

[Trade Compensation Act, November 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying to the parliamentary secretary there is no doubt in my mind that for everyone along the way, from the parole board to all of the people who have to hear all of these cases, to the courts and to the lawyers, I believe with all my heart that they followed the rules that are in place and did not skip any steps. That is exactly the point I am trying to make.

The rules are a federal responsibility, Once again, the member across the way said at the very beginning of his statement that it is a provincial responsibility. That is exactly what I was referring to. It is time you stood in your place and took responsibility as the federal government--

[Trade Compensation Act, November 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I notice on the agenda that my adjournment topic is stated as the National Parole Board. That is not really what my concern is, but if we want to talk about the parole board that is fine with me.

My concern is that a convicted pedophile, convicted 42 times, was released back into society, moved to a community called Merritt, not far from mine, was forced to leave there by the people of Merritt and came to Kamloops instead.

He has 42 convictions. We do not have a list of all the times he has been arrested for many misdeeds, but he has been convicted 42 times. That is simply convictions. He has destroyed the lives of more children than I would care to think about. He has also destroyed the lives of their parents and other members of their family.

I cannot for the life of me understand how a government would see fit to release into society someone who has refused to undergo rehabilitation every time it has been offered. The onus is now on my local RCMP detachment to watch this man 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make certain he does not commit another crime. We all know that it is only a matter of time until he commits another crime. He is a walking time bomb.

Someone who refuses treatment should not be allowed to be at large in a community. I understand that he served his time. I respect that. The law says we must release him. But the law should also say that if someone refuses to take treatment, and in fact refuses to even admit that he has done anything wrong, there has to be some sort of caveat attached to his release. This is not happening.

This man, David Caza, is currently living in a halfway house in the City of Kamloops. He is living three blocks away from no less than three elementary schools. If members think that parents in the city of Kamloops are not very concerned about this man's presence, they can think again. A day does not go by that I do not get telephone calls from concerned parents asking me what I can do about this. Frustrated, I have to tell them there is nothing I can do because that is the law. The law is wrong, but it is nonetheless the law.

An RCMP officer has been assigned to watch this man at all times, so our RCMP detachment is unable to have the assigned officer perform other very necessary tasks in our community. I do not understand how this works. I have one serious concern. This man has no relatives in my area. He has no prospects for a job in my area. Why did he come to our area? How is that allowed?

The government has had 12 years to put something into effect that would protect children and families in this country. It has failed miserably to do so. The response I received from the Deputy Prime Minister was inadequate. At one point in your life as a Liberal, you are going to have to take responsibility for your actions and your party's inaction. I fail to see that happening so far. I look forward to the minister's response.

[Old Age Security Act, November 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-301, an act to amend the Old Age Security Act, monthly guaranteed income supplement.

At the beginning I would like to make it very clear I have some serious reservations about some of the things that have been happening lately. The Liberals claim that spending outlined in the supplementary estimates will be lost if an election is called before Parliament is able to pass the supply bill. Examples of the spending cited by the Liberals include a pay raise for the military and the increase in the guaranteed income supplement.

I would like to make it very clear for all seniors that this is not the case. This is not true. They will not lose the guaranteed income supplement. The money was voted on by Parliament early last summer as part of Bill C-43, the budget implementation act. It never needs to be voted on again. Rest assured, this will take place for every senior in Canada, regardless of the rhetoric they may hear due to a pending election.

The bill before us today amends the Old Age Security Act to allow eligible pensioners to receive a monthly guaranteed income supplement without having to make an application every year. It also repeals the restrictions respecting retroactivity. I applaud any legislation that enhances the quality of life for Canada's seniors. The intent of Bill C-301 does this. Although a few details require a review, I am quite prepared to support the intent of the legislation and look forward to it being discussed in committee.

Amending the Old Age Security Act to ensure eligible pensioners receive their monthly guaranteed income supplement is something that should have been done a long time ago, but it was not. Therefore, let us get moving forward with this and make it happen.

We continually see the Liberal government making every attempt to extract every last nickel from Canadian taxpayers. A perfect example is the attempt to freeze income trusts and the resulting uncertainty for investors. This uncertainty has cost seniors money that they are dependent upon. These responsible seniors have invested in money for their retirement years and the government cannot stand not having its hands in their pocket. Liberals feel they are entitled to a portion of the pie. They are not and they should be ashamed of itself.

Canadian seniors now live in fear that their nest eggs will be eroded by the government's indecisiveness on income trusts. Because the government has cast a shroud of uncertainty over them, Canadian seniors deserve to see this bill go forward for further study. There must be some degree of certainty for seniors.

Seniors and low income families are facing unprecedented hikes in home heating costs this winter and it is incumbent upon the government to mitigate these increases as much as possible. While Bill C-66 seeks to do this, we all know what happened in a similar circumstance five years ago when deceased persons and prisoners received cheques while many in desperate need received nothing.

Under Bill C-66, single seniors must be receiving the guaranteed income supplement to get their paltry $125 in assistance. I would suggest that very few seniors are aware of this fact and are expecting this assistance from government. Imagine their disappointment when they discover, because they did not fill out a form to receive GIS, that they will not receive any assistance.

This brings me to another point. It has been reported that between 300,000 and 380,000 eligible seniors do not receive the guaranteed income supplement because they do not know if they are eligible for it. Why is this? Many do not understand the eligibility requirements. Nor do they understand they must apply for it annually.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word “guarantee” as “a formal assurance that certain conditions will be fulfilled”. There is no guarantee that they will receive the supplement. There is no guarantee that they will receive the home heating rebate. The only guarantee seniors have is the incessant paper work required to get what is rightfully theirs.

As shadow minister for veterans affairs, I know all too well the hoops that veterans are required to jump through to get a disability pension or any of the benefits to which they are entitled.

Imagine having the double whammy of being a veteran and a senior, and trying to deal with the bureaucratic quagmire to get even the smallest bit of assistance? Instead of enjoying their retirement in dignity and comfort, many Canadian seniors are struggling to meet the most basic of life's needs.

It is incumbent upon us as a nation to ensure that those who helped build this nation live out their lives in relative comfort. Neglecting to ensure that seniors eligible for the GIS are receiving it has other repercussions as well. They are also losing out on the programs offered by many provinces, such as prescription drug plans, other income supplements, heating oil subsidies, and home care assistance programs that are available only to individuals receiving GIS. This is unacceptable.

It has a trickle down effect. When eligible Canadian seniors do not receive their guaranteed income supplement for whatever reason, they also lose out on other services that are essential to their quality of life.

This legislation would enable automatic processing of the guaranteed income supplement based on information from the Department of National Revenue, thus ensuring eligible pensioners receive their monthly GIS and without the annual application. I support this measure without question.

There are other aspects of this bill that require and deserve further investigation. With respect to the retroactivity, we need to look at how far back this would go, who it should apply to, and how it will be implemented. They are all important questions that need to be studied and this can be done best at committee.

I would like very much to see this bill go to committee, so it can be carefully examined and given the detail it needs. We need to ensure that it is a strong and viable piece of legislation that endures the test of time, as have our seniors. They deserve no less.

I am certain this legislation can be reinforced and strengthened for the benefit of our seniors. The need is unquestionable. As the Conservative critic for veterans affairs, I have consulted with seniors across Canada and can say unarguably that there is a broad consensus from coast to coast to coast that seniors need to automatically receive any and all benefits as they become eligible.

Let us not deny seniors their rights. I ask that we as elected representatives do what is right and necessary to ensure that those individuals who helped build this nation receive what is rightfully theirs.

For clarification, I will repeat my earlier statement. There is no need for any senior citizen to worry about the loss of GIS income if an election were to proceed. Those are scare tactics that are being used in a very unconscionable way against one of the most vulnerable groups of Canadians in this country. This money was voted on by Parliament early last summer as part of Bill C-43, the Budget Implementation Act. It never needs to be voted on again and it is assured for the seniors of Canada.

[National Revenue, November 18th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, a recently retired constituent had a very interesting question for me to ask the Minister of National Revenue. Could the minister explain why the Government of Canada feels the need to charge a retiree tax on a going away gift presented by the company for his years of service?

Why does the government play Scrooge with a retiree? Are there plans afoot by the Liberal government to also charge Canadians a taxable benefit penalty on the Christmas gifts they exchange between one another this Christmas?

[Criminal Code, October 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I was not specifically criticizing a Conservative government. I am sure the member across the way can count as well as I can and can go back until the time of 1954 when the Hague convention was signed. I am sure he can recite as well as me, how many of those governments were Conservative governments and how many were Liberal governments.

If we are going to get into finger pointing, the member might want to be very careful. When he points one finger at me, three fingers point back at him. It has been a Liberal government that has failed miserably to get us involved. To get involved only six years ago is absolutely shameful. It tells me very clearly that we did not have our priorities straight as a country.

I tried very hard not to be too partisan in my speech, but it is hard not to criticize legislation without mentioning some flaws that have occurred under a government. I was very careful not to do too much damage in terms of partisan use of my wording. I would like to ensure that the member, and all members, are on side. It took us until six years ago to get the picture. We have it now.

As we are going to progress through this legislation, I am asking that we get it right. I ask that we not only protect artifacts, museums, churches, pieces of important significant information for countries or part of what is their heritage. I also ask that we protect our Canadian soldiers, men and women, our Canadian naval people, all our military, from frivolous lawsuits. I want to ensure that when our people go to protect another country's people, or to offer freedom as we have done so many times worldwide, that they do it with an open mind and a clear conscience and that they do not have to worry about coming back to their own country and facing charges. Make certain it is done right and the government will have my support.

[Criminal Code, October 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I tried to be very specific in my comments and make it clear. First, I recognize, without hesitation, that members of our military would never do anything deliberate to damage anyone else's cultural property, their artifacts, et cetera. I want to make certain that the legislation recognizes that as well.

My concern, as I outlined in my speech, is that I want to have assurances in the legislation that the hands of our military personnel will not be tied in these situations, so they will not hesitate to do their duty to protect people and livelihoods in another country because of fear that there may be reprisals down the road if there is collateral damage done to a particular institution, a church or museum, or whatever the case may be.

I believe all Canadians learned dramatic lessons from World War II. We watched the confiscation of irreplaceable objects. We watched the literal destruction, for no purpose whatsoever, of pieces of history, of religious culture which were completely irreplaceable. I want to be certain that the legislation does all that it is intended to do. I want to make certain that those cultural pieces of importance to the country where the conflict is taking place are preserved. I also want to make certain that we do not have a situation that could cost lives, where we have military personnel hesitating to take the action out of fear of reprisals or being charged back in Canada for having destroyed something inadvertently, what I refer to as collateral damage.

I think everyone in the House has great respect for our military and also wishes we lived in a world where there was no conflict. The reality is we do live in a world where there is conflict and Canada plays a vital and important role. We have a long history of being there for other people.

As the shadow minister for veterans affairs for the Conservative Party, I am probably in touch with veterans on more occasions than anyone else may have the opportunity to be in the House. I hear their concerns. When I talk about veterans, I am not just talking about our former veterans from World War II and from Korea. I am also talking about modern day veterans who are now finding themselves in situations in other countries where they are trying to protect lives, protect culture, et cetera. I want those people going into those situations with clear minds. I do not want them to hesitate about doing their duties out of fear of reprisals.

Therefore, I ask the House and all members in it to make it clear and certain that if there is collateral damage, there will be no prosecution to our own people, that we understand that in times of conflict and war there will be terrorist groups and organizations that will target exactly the kind of things we are trying to protect. I do not want our people or any other people to hesitate to go in and eliminate these terrorist groups because of fear of reprisals down the road.

[Criminal Code, October 25th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation that updates a convention that is 60 years old.

Following World War II when theft of invaluable artifacts was committed on a global scale, most of the world decided it should never happen again.

The 1954 convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict was a direct result of what the world witnessed during World War II. Great treasures were stolen from occupied countries in Europe, not just from museums and churches, but also from individuals. Some of those treasures remain hidden from the world today in private collections. The Hague convention, as it came to be known, sought to outlaw thefts of this nature as well as vandalism or deliberate destruction of cultural property.

It was only six years ago that Canada became a party to the Hague convention, and that is shameful. Canada should have been a party to the Hague convention back in 1954. Successive Liberal governments have dodged it for reasons known only to the Liberals.

If we read the Hague convention definition of cultural property, we will learn a little more about events that were not reported during World War II. The authors of the convention define cultural property as “movable or immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every people, such as monuments or architecture, art or history, whether religious or secular”. It applies to museums, libraries, manuscripts, archeological sites, scientific archives, collections and so forth.

They wrote the Hague convention and agreed to it because they were eye witnesses during World War II. They saw the walls of museums and galleries where some of the world's greatest art once hung. They saw statues that had been deliberately pulverized as opposed to being the collateral damage of war. They knew that freight trains loaded with important and invaluable manuscripts, paintings, archives and architectural marvels moved out of occupied countries into other countries.

Some but not all of those treasures have been returned to the original rightful owners. The Hague convention did not force the repatriation of any of those treasures, but it sought to outlaw any such atrocities in the future.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Hague convention has had to be applied in more recent times. It was applied during the 1967 Middle East conflict and again in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia and Iraq.

This legislation will ban Canadians from illegally exporting cultural property from an occupied territory and provides a mechanism for the restitution of such property. Both the Criminal Code and the Cultural Property Export and Import Act will be amended to allow for the prosecution of Canadians who commit related offences outside Canada.

I want to pause here to make a reassurance. I hope our men and women in the armed forces will not see this as a reflection on them individually or collectively. Somebody not paying attention might think that amending the Criminal Code to prohibit offences such as theft and arson against cultural property protected during times of conflict is a reflection on our military. It is most certainly and definitely not a reflection on those brave men and women.

Instead, it is a tragic recognition of reality that there are people who would steal or vandalize priceless objects in times of conflict. The legislation could, however, impact on the practices of Canada's armed forces. This is one area of grave concern to us on this side of the House.

The government has not specified how our armed forces will have to change their practices. We do not want to see a situation develop where any member of our armed forces is liable for prosecution because of some unavoidable act during a time of conflict.

For example, what would happen if a soldier was called on to advance on an enemy who was holed up in a fortified and ancient place of worship? It seems to me that it is incumbent upon the government and the House to make it absolutely clear to our people in the forces that if they are called upon to do their duty, they will not be held liable for their actions if there is unavoidable collateral damage to the sorts of objects we are discussing here today.

We cannot have our military commanders or personnel second-guessing or hesitating to take action for fear of being held criminally responsible following an action. The Hague convention states clearly that it will protect cultural heritage during armed conflict, take preventative measures for this protection during both peace time and war and set up a system to identify important buildings and monuments. It also requires the creation of special units within the armed forces to be responsible for the protection of cultural heritage.

Again, this is worrisome. We must recognize in this new war of terror, the terrorists will have no qualms about occupying any building and using it for their terrorist purposes. Does anyone really believe that they will avoid buildings that have been deemed culturally important to society in any nation? The fact is they would probably seek out such buildings in the hopes that those we assign to fight terrorism might hesitate to do their duty.

It seems to me that the legislation has to give our military people some reassurance that their hands will not be tied when we ask them to do their duty. It is legislation worthy of our support, but there are a few too many questions left unanswered and most of those questions would undoubtedly come from the brave men and women in Canada's armed forces. It is my hope that the government will answer those questions before the legislation becomes the law of the land.

[Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, October 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I recently had the opportunity to host the executive director of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, Deb McClelland, and the treasurer, Barry Baker, during their visit to Ottawa. They were here to meet with several of my caucus colleagues to discuss various issues of concern to the Kamloops business community.

The Chamber of Commerce does an outstanding job and tomorrow evening it will host its annual Business Excellence Awards gala. This is a very special evening for the business community of Kamloops. Awards will be presented to one of three finalists in 12 categories. These organizations represent the best of the best in 2005.

I would like to thank chamber president, Tim Schindel, the board of directors, and the outstanding staff for all their hard work. They are all winners.

[National Parole Board, October 19th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, David James Caza has been convicted 42 times over the last 24 years for offences ranging from making child pornography, sexual assault, sexual interference and numerous breaches of court orders. He is a pedophile who has refused treatment and is at high risk to re-offend.

Mr. Caza is free to live wherever he wants and yesterday he moved from Merritt to Kamloops.

This afternoon I will offer Mr. Caza a one way ticket to the riding of LaSalle—Émard. Could the Prime Minister tell me whether he will welcome this new resident?

[An Act to Protect and Maintain Orders, Decorations and Medals for Future Generations, October 7th, 2005]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-428, An Act to protect and maintain orders, decorations and medals for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce my private member's bill that is intended to ensure that the Government of Canada has the right of first refusal to purchase, at fair market value, significant military medals or medal sets awarded to Canadians and thereby preserve them for generations to come.

We can no longer rely on the benevolence of men like Arthur Lee who bought Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's medals and then donated them to the McCrae Museum or the fundraising abilities of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion that saved the Topham Victoria Cross from the auction block.

We must, as a nation, step up to the plate and buy these pieces of history, install them in museums and give future generations the opportunity to see them and reflect on the courage and valour of the recipients.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)