Judi Longfield

[Supply, October 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is concerned about the growing number of homeless people in communities across the country, the increasing number of children, youth and families struggling to survive day to day.

Municipalities across Canada have produced countless reports that identify problems, that articulate the root causes and seek solutions. Municipalities are concerned. In addition, community groups from across the country are coming together to discuss their approaches and share successes.

Earlier this year the Prime Minister asked the Minister of Labour to co-ordinate the activities of the Government of Canada related to homelessness, to bring together the information from these reports and to tabulate the documentation received from community groups.

Communities, municipalities and provinces have an important contribution to make and must understand that they need to be prepared to share in the responsibility for addressing the issue. We all need to be part of the solution.

The Minister of Labour spent the summer travelling to over 20 communities from Vancouver to Halifax and spoke directly to Canadians who are homeless, to Canadians who work and volunteer their time to help the homeless, to businesses that are concerned, and to mayors and councils that are committed to eliminating homelessness in their communities. The minister is compiling what she heard from the communities and from the many reports that have been prepared by the municipalities. She will be the voice for those recommendations in Ottawa.

Over the past few months we have made progress. The Minister of Public Works and Government Services was able to augment the $300 million over five year RRAP program by $50 million, some of which was targeted directly to homeless shelters.

The Minister of Human Resources Development has identified funds under her department to address the needs of the homeless and to work toward eradicating the root causes and leading to prevention.

The network of federal facilities in cities across Canada will initiate and co-ordinate a partnership process with provincial and municipal governments as well as with the voluntary and private sectors.

We recognize that the bottom line comes to partnership. Homelessness must be a priority for all levels of government working in partnership with the private and non-profit sectors.

[Health And Safety, October 22nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the House should know that the issue of occupational health and safety in the workplace is very important to the government.

We are very pleased to note that employers and employees have become more comfortable of late in addressing concerns in the workplace.

We are also very pleased that there has been a genuine willingness on the part of employers and employees to work with government to bring forth a new regulatory regime which will address the current realities of workplace health and safety. To that end the Minister of Labour will be introducing amendments in the near future.

[Peacekeeping, October 22nd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has been and remains one of the most dedicated supporters of peacekeeping. Of all the activities conducted by our nation, few reflect the attitudes, beliefs and spirit of Canadians like peacekeeping.

Today more than 4,000 Canadian forces personnel are far from their loved ones, unselfishly giving their best to missions in far away places such as the Golan Heights, Cypress, the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Our men and women are also contributing to other complex and sometimes dangerous peace support operations in East Timor, the Arabian gulf, Cambodia, Guatemala and Mozambique.

To commemorate United Nations Day and the 11th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize for peacekeeping, the Canadian forces will at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 23, 1999 hold a ceremony at the peacekeeping monument in Ottawa to pay tribute to the men and women of the Canadian forces who have died while serving on peacekeeping missions around the globe.

I know that all members of the House will join me in honouring both the sacrifices and continuing exemplary commitment of the men and women of the Canadian forces.

[Canadian Forces, October 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, on September 3, 1998, the Canadian forces dental services forensic team became involved in the response to the crash of Swissair flight 111. The dental forensic operation lasted until the identification centre, located at 12 Wing Shearwater, closed on October 30, 1998.

Throughout Operation Persistence the 46 team members drawn from across Canada provided over 7,500 hours of forensic dental services that were crucial in identifying many of those lost in this tragic mishap. They performed superbly under extremely demanding and emotional circumstances that required a special kind of fortitude, stamina and emotional strength. Few of us can imagine the trying circumstances under which these personnel served.

On October 12, the chief of defence staff presented a Canadian forces unit commendation to members of the team in an official ceremony that recognized their exemplary actions.

I would now ask all members of the House to join me in acknowledging the fine work performed by these dedicated people.

[Division No. 549, June 8th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I will vote yes.

(The House divided on Motion No. 2, which was agreed to on the following division:)

[Supply, June 8th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the motion before us from the member for Calgary Centre is pretty straightforward. It asks that the House reaffirm its commitment to marriage with the legal definition of marriage as being the union between one man and one woman. Quite frankly, I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that I support this 100%. What is regrettable is that the motion has taken on a life other than what it should be.

The whole idea of survivor benefits and what we are doing in other pieces of legislation needs a full and wholesome debate on its own. That is the subject of another debate and I would not want to see it confused.

I have great difficulty with pieces of legislation that deal with conjugal relations because I do not think survivor benefits should be based on one's sleeping habits or who one is sleeping with. There are other ways to define who might be the recipient of a survivor benefit. It in no way demeans other kinds of relationships. What we are talking about here is the legal definition of marriage.

I do not have a question so much as a comment. I do not think it is inappropriate that we, in this House of Parliament, state for one and all our reaffirmation that marriage is the union between one man and one woman.

[Governor General's Foot Guards, June 7th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, Monday marks the anniversary of one of Canada's oldest and most well known Canadian forces militia units. The Governor General's Foot Guards is celebrating 127 years serving Canada and Canadians.

It is one of the two units that provides soldiers to the Canadian forces ceremonial guards on Parliament Hill. The red uniforms and bearskin hats these soldiers wear are symbols of Canada known throughout the world.

The changing of the guard ceremony performed every day in the summer is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ottawa, but the Governor General's Foot Guards is more than a ceremonial presence on Parliament Hill. It is a well trained militia unit whose members have served Canada since the early years of Confederation.

Members of the Governor General's Foot Guards helped their fellow Canadians during the Manitoba flood and the 1998 ice storm. They serve the cause of international peace in wartorn places like Cyprus, Somalia and Bosnia.

I am sure all members of the House will join me in congratulating the Governor General's Foot Guards on its anniversary and wishing its members every success in the years to come.

[Leukemia, June 1st, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, June is Leukemia Awareness Month. An estimated 3,300 Canadians will be diagnosed with leukemia this year and an estimated 2,100 Canadians will die of leukemia in 1999.

Unfortunately relatively little is known regarding the causes of leukemia. Health Canada is currently studying the causes of leukemia as part of the department's ongoing enhanced cancer surveillance system.

Leukemia accounts for almost one-third of all new cases of cancer in Canadian children and teenagers and is the most common cause of death. Cancer is the second leading cause of death after injuries in Canadian children and adolescents aged one to nineteen.

Health Canada's childhood cancer surveillance and control program will contribute substantially to improved childhood cancer control in Canada through an ongoing surveillance of treatments, outcomes and studies of cancer patients and healthy controls.

The initiative to have June declared Leukemia Awareness Month comes from the Leukemia Research Fund of Canada.

[Manufacturing And Information Technology Centre, May 27th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, just a few hours ago an important announcement was made in my riding of Whitby—Ajax.

The announcement details an innovative training centre and a number of facility upgrades that are designed to help ease the critical shortage of highly skilled information technology and technical workers in Canada. To put this announcement into context, it has been estimated that the shortage of IT workers in Canada is between 15,000 and 30,000.

The facility announced this morning will be known as the Manufacturing and Information Technology Centre and it will be located at Durham College.

It is also highly noteworthy that Durham College will carry out this project with significant intellectual and equipment contributions from Bell Canada, General Motors, IBM and Nortel Networks.

Durham region is a major player on the manufacturing scene in Canada and around the world. This area also has the second fastest growing population in Canada and the second highest per capita income of the 20 census metropolitan areas in the country.

The importance of MITC for Canada as well as my—

[Intercede Diversion Program, May 5th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, everyone says it is an exceptional program, but it is fighting a daily battle to stay alive.

It is called the Intercede Diversion Program and its goal is to break the cycle of crime that young people get pulled into. The program works.

A pilot project that led to intercede, an alternative to the court system, shows fewer than 9% of participants have gone on to re-offend, much lower than statistics coming from the court process.

It also saves the taxpayers a substantial amount of money. The average cost of putting a young person through intercede is $500 as compared to $2,500 to send them through court.

Intercede serves my riding and the entire region of Durham and has the support of nine provincial court judges in the area. Intercede reinforces the idea that every act has a consequence. It is a very valuable program and deserves our support.

I encourage my government to work with the provincial government in a expeditious manner so as to guarantee the future of intercede and similar programs across Canada.