Paul Steckle

[Agriculture, May 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, today representatives of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, the Chicken Farmers of Canada, the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency, the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency and the Canadian Broiler Hatching Egg Marketing Agency are in town. These groups represent agricultural producers engaged in supply managed sectors of our domestic farm industry. Essentially, they are here to remind all Canadians of the benefits of supply management.

Supply management has a long history of ensuring a safe, adequate and affordably priced food supply.

As a member representing a predominantly rural riding, the chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food and a Canadian farmer myself, I would ask all members in this place to join with me in making a commitment today. As we continue to embrace processes, such as the WTO, let us work to ensure that supply management remains functional in the years ahead.

[Petitions, April 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the second group of petitions are representative of people right across this province, people from Beamsville, Port Perry, Ancaster, Toronto, and Brantford. They are not rural people necessarily, but they believe that the government has failed to provide any conclusive or verifiable evidence that the registration of long guns is preventing crime or keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

They are calling upon Parliament to abolish the national firearms registry for long guns and redirect our tax dollars to programs in support of health care and law enforcement.

[Petitions, April 30th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a number of petitions here from residents within my riding.

These petitioners express disappointment in the future direction of safety net programs under APF, and request that Parliament direct the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the cabinet to use some of the APF promotion budget to inform Canadians that investment in adequate safety nets is a food security issue.

They also request that Parliament direct the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and cabinet to maintain current programs until the new APF safety nets are designed adequately to move agriculture beyond crisis management, not deeper into crisis management.

[Agriculture, April 29th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, an independent study has been concluded on the business risk management component of the APF.

Can the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food tell the House if a report has been released and if so, does the report give credence to farmers' concerns or does it portray a positive program for farmers as we move into the future?

[Petitions, April 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with stem cell research. The petitioners believe that the moral status of the embryo from all sources should outweigh the potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research.

They call upon Parliament to affirm the value of human life from conception and to pass laws to protect the human embryo from experimentation and destruction.

[Petitions, April 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present two petitions.

The first petition deals with rural route mail couriers. Their contention is that they earn less than the minimum wage and feel that they have been denied the right to bargain for higher wages. They feel that they have been discriminated against because their wage is at an unfair level and has basically remained there. They feel that they need a different system to help them get what they want.

These petitioners call upon Parliament to repeal section 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act and I am pleased to present that petition.

[Committees of the House, April 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food entitled “Bovine Tuberculosis in the Immediate Vicinity of Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109 the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

The seriousness of this potential impact on the domestic bovine industry gave rise for this report. Stakeholders, the committee, and I anticipate an early positive response to our recommendations.

[Assisted Human Reproduction Act, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I also will be voting yes on this motion.

[Supplementary Estimates (B), 2002-03, March 25th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want it noted that I was in the House for the vote just taken, but I have chosen to abstain from that vote.

[Petitions, February 19th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I wish to present a petition from a number of petitioners from my riding of Huron--Bruce who find that it would be an objective scientific fact that a human being exists from fertilization on. They also believe it to be unethical to harm or destroy some human beings in order to benefit others, embryos being destroyed in the process of taking stem cells being the example.

Adult stem cell research holds enormous potential and does not pose the serious ethical questions of stem cell research using embryos and aborted fetal tissue.

They therefore petition the Parliament of Canada to ban human embryo research and direct the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support and fund only promising ethical research that does not involve the destruction of human life.