Carol Skelton

[Health, October 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the health minister rises daily in the House to talk about our pandemic preparedness, while the public health minister issues dire warnings.

The health minister brags that we have Tamiflu pills for 2.5 million of our population, less than 10% of the population. European countries have 20% and 25% of their population covered.

Why is the Liberal government not preparing to protect more than 10% of our population?

[Health, October 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Liberal MPs are reflecting the growing concern of Canadians on avian flu by taking matters into their own hands. They are now issuing their own public health advisories to their constituents in the absence of information from the minister.

In fact, the website for public health has not been updated since early September. A political turf war between the health minister and the public health minister is causing confusion for all members of Parliament. Who speaks for the government on the avian flu file?

[Telecommunications Act, October 20th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I am so glad my colleague from Leduc stressed the point that was made from committee. I want to thank him and the rest of the committee members for all the work they have done.

[Telecommunications Act, October 20th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, the CRTC asked for the rules and regulations. It wanted this explained.

The member forgets what has happened in the House of Commons over the last while with arm's length regulations and legislation. There are no access to information rules and regulations where we can get into any of these so-called government agencies. We have seen what has happened over the last few weeks with mismanagement and everything else.

My constituents in Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar have some serious questions on what has been happening. The accountability of the Liberal government does not give them the confidence to bring forward legislation like this.

[Telecommunications Act, October 20th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, I would like to answer the member by saying that the government would be contracting this with the CRTC. That raises questions.

[Telecommunications Act, October 20th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, today I rise to speak on Bill C-37, which is intended to create a national do not call registry.

Before I go further, I want to assure all members of the House that I have my home telephone publicly listed and I receive the same telephone calls that all my constituents do.

Canadians by the tens of thousands are interrupted every day by unsolicited telephone calls. I, too, share their feelings of intrusion, interruption and harassment. I have taken steps to inform my constituents of a national registry that already exists, but I am also quick to point out its shortcomings.

The Canadian Marketing Association will register a person for free on its DNC list. It can be done either through its website or by fax. Unfortunately, not all telemarketing companies are members of the Canadian Marketing Association, so we will not eliminate all calls if we register with the association.

The CRTC also requires that each company maintain its own DNC list, but we have to get at least one call first and the listing is only good for three years.

In my community brochures, I have provided a number of tips on how to handle unsolicited calls. I also provided information on how citizens can report fraud, scams and suspicions to the RCMP. At the end of that information, I asked four questions and obtained some interesting results.

We contacted and sent out brochures to 2,900 constituents. When I asked if they supported the concept of a national do not call list, 95% said yes and 5% said they were undecided. When I asked if the do not call lists should be maintained at taxpayers' expense by the government, 18% said yes, 65% said no and the other 18% were undecided. When I asked if they planned to add their names to the Canadian Marketing Association's DNC list, 68% said yes, 11% said no and 21% were undecided. Perhaps most interesting was when I asked if they were aware of the do not call list before receiving this brochure. A full 37% said yes, 58% said no, and 5% said they did not know.

The conclusion is that my constituents support such a list, but not with the government running it. This does not surprise me. The Liberal government's track record on national registries is abysmal. It has failed with the gun registry and also with the boat operators licensing registry.

I cannot blame my constituents for not wanting the Liberals to be in charge of another list. However, today we have Bill C-37 before us, which proposes to do just that. The bill is very sketchy on details and asks Parliament to grant the CRTC a great deal of power with minimal direction. This is a recipe for another failed registry.

The bill does not give any details on how the list will be maintained. While those who want their number on the list will be happy to have it there, it is likely they will remove that number if they change their phone number. Believe it or not, there are others who would be upset to find out that their new phone number was restricted when that was not their wish. Already the complexity of the list becomes apparent.

The bill raises a number of privacy concerns, as it fails to specify what information is required of consumers. I know that my constituents are very concerned about privacy issues and I am hesitant to support legislation that does not adequately address these issues. However, a number of amendments have been made and I will be supporting the legislation, as I believe it heads us in the right direction. Changes can be made.

I have some questions, though. How will telemarketers check this list? How much information would they have access to? How often would they be required to check the national list against their own? There are so many questions and, unfortunately, so few answers.

As we have seen in the national gun registry, reporting and accountability issues are rampant. On a DNC registry, who would provide the reporting? How timely would it be? How accurate would it be? Again, there are a lot of questions and no answers.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and debatable issues is that of exemptions. Clearly not all unsolicited calls can be classified as intrusive, hassles or frauds.

In addition, a number of organizations, from charitable, polling and survey firms to political organizations and candidates, make a valid case for exemption. Also, would such a list preclude companies from randomly contacting their customers without prior permission?

Who will decide on the exemptions? Under this bill, it will not be Parliament. I have a problem with that. Any restrictions to free speech require serious legal and political considerations.

According to the CRTC, the do not call list would be self-funding. Many question the CRTC's authority in handling the do not call list. Program funding would come from the fines imposed on those who fail to comply with the law.

In theory, if everyone follows the rules there will be no revenue from fines. I cannot believe the government wants to establish a funding mechanism based on the failure of Canadians to follow the law.

If the government has done studies to determine if we are delinquent enough to maintain funding for such a list, it should put them on the table. Or is the government really trying to tell us that such a list will be so ineffective that opportunities for fines will always exist?

Also, the CRTC is expecting to have very broad and far-reaching powers to create, maintain and enforce this list. Many say that the CRTC has demonstrated its inability to keep up with technology and the general wishes of Canadians.

Such a list was established in the United States with a great deal of fanfare. In fact, on its opening day, a whopping 1,000 website hits a second were received. I take it, then, that such a list is needed and wanted, but I truly question whether the government is capable of undertaking such a project.

As I stated earlier, 95% of my constituents who answered the questionnaire want such a list, but 65% of them do not want the government to run it. Carl S. of Saskatoon even suggested that telephone companies be responsible for maintaining such a list. Then, if a telemarketer failed to comply with the list, the phone company could charge the offending firm.

I will be supporting the bill only because I agree with the intent, not the method. If the Liberal government wants my full support, it would have to bring forward a detailed bill, not just the framework of one. In addition, it would need to justify why the government is the only one that can and should operate such a registry. This is a problem, created when one telephone customer irritates another.

Ironically, the phone companies have been largely silent in this regard. Perhaps it is because telemarketers are very profitable clients compared to individual subscribers. Perhaps it is because this causes many people to pay additional fees for phone features like caller ID, from which the phone company benefits financially.

I would like to see the government, before asking taxpayers to fund such a list, approach the phone companies for a solution first. I know that the phone companies already have the technology to block calls from one number to another. Why is this not the focus of our efforts?

Once again, I encourage the government not to abandon the issue but to instead come back to Parliament with a truly sustainable, detailed piece of legislation for us to debate and vote on.

Finally, I would like to thank all my constituents who participated in the survey. For the record, it was conducted by mail.

[Health, October 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government continually says that it is ready to handle a pandemic but Canada has never really put its paper plans to a test. In fact, bureaucratic paperwork prevents medical personnel from assisting across provincial lines.

When will all doctors and nurses be approved to work in all provinces under a declared emergency?

[Health, October 17th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, avian flu is continuing its deadly march around the world. All parts of Canada are susceptible to the threat.

During SARS, it became apparent that Canada was not prepared to handle a pandemic.

Could the health minister explain why Canadians cannot see the government taking any concrete action to prevent the spread of avian flu to Canada?

[Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 3rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, October 3 to 10 is Mental Illness Awareness Week. Almost one in five Canadians suffers from some form of mental illness, yet so many stigmas remain. It is time for us to shed the shame and share our stories.

Bringing forward our stories will help others get proper diagnosis and treatment so they can live more productive and fulfilling lives. In turn, the public will become more aware and better informed.

I would like to especially thank this year's courageous “Faces of Mental Illness”: Narry Moussavi, Jesse Bigelow, Debbie Sesula, Pierre Levesque, Nicole Aubin, Roy Muise, Ian Pollett, Allyson Ribar, Ed Rogers, Shelley Smith and Barry Styre. I thank them for helping others.

[Emergency Preparedness, September 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, surprisingly the Minister of National Defence has said that our level of emergency preparedness in unparalleled. A serious problem has existed for years, but the Liberal government refuses to fix it. Provincially licensed medical staff cannot practise interprovincially in a declared emergency.

Why is the government not willing to cut the red tape to save lives before a disaster?