Andrew Telegdi

[Supply, February 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question water is one of the more important topics we will be discussing in the future. There is a real perception of that now. The hon. member was talking in particular about groundwater.

In terms of the world's freshwater supply, water in the ground in aquifers, which are basically slow moving rivers, accounts for over 90% of the freshwater on the planet. Many people think it is the lakes, rivers and glaciers, but the reality is that 90% is through the aquifers which are connected to lakes and rivers by the hydrological cycle.

One very important issue is who is exactly responsible for what. Certainly in the province of Ontario it is the provincial government that gives permits for the drawing of water. On the Great Lakes we have international treaties, but the fact of the matter is that a watershed is under provincial control. It also passes to federal control and across the border because, as I said before, aquifers are slow moving rivers.

This takes me to another point which is a very important part of the debate. We need to be vigilant in protecting the aquifers. There are many examples where very good quality potable water in aquifers becomes contaminated and is lost for many decades until there is some way of taking remedial action.

I will put a question to the member from the Reform Party in terms of the debate on water. He mentioned municipal governments, provincial governments and the federal government. Would the member agree that we virtually need a high powered conference on this matter to set—

[Citizenship Of Canada Act, February 5th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Wentworth—Burlington. I take this opportunity to congratulate the hon. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration for proposing a much needed update of the Citizenship of Canada Act.

The minister has put forward a series of initiatives to update citizenship and immigration legislation and procedures. These efforts represent a very welcome change in some Canadian institutions that will play a key role in our country's future.

Our existing citizenship act was well suited to the time when it was last revised in 1977. However, with all the changes we have seen over the past couple of decades and with the wide array of interpretations the term resident has been subjected to, it is time to revise our legislation to reflect today's social, political and economic realities.

It is also important that we include changes to strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship. As an immigrant to Canada I have a keen sense of this great value as do my family and millions of other Canadians who are grateful for the chance they have been given to become citizens of this country.

The new act is a step in the right direction for all of us since it helps to promote the great value of Canadian citizenship. That is important for those of us who already possess this valuable asset. It is just as important for those who want to become Canadian citizens.

As we all know we owe a lot of our global prominence to new Canadians, their hard work and their contacts. An increasingly global outlook is one of the keys to Canada's future as are new Canadians and their initiatives and the new Citizenship of Canada Act.

I will reflect with my fellow members of parliament on the history of Canadian citizenship, which is about people coming from all corners of the planet to build a country characterized by tolerance, generosity and compassion, a country that represents a beacon of hope in an often troubled world torn by strife, wars and intolerance. Citizenship is about people and nation building. Its evolution represents the very essence of our collective identity as a people.

Nation as a concept relies in large measure on citizenship and the evolution of citizenship represents the very essence of our collective identity as a people.

As many of us will remember, the creation of Canadian citizenship was an initiative of Paul Martin Senior who served at the time as Canadian secretary of state. At the end of World War II, as Mr. Martin walked among the graves of soldiers in Dieppe, France, he recognized the names of several soldiers from his hometown. He was struck by the fact that despite the different ethnic origins of their names they were all Canadians. He decided it was high time to work toward recognition for Canadian citizenship.

The Citizenship Act of 1947 marked the beginning of a new era in our history. To emphasize its importance Prime Minister Mackenzie King was the recipient of the first certificate of Canadian citizenship. After World War II Canada experienced an unprecedented increase in its population. As the population of our country grew and changed and our Canadian identity gained in stature worldwide, the concept of citizenship evolved leading parliament to review the original Canadian Citizenship Act. A revised act came into effect in 1977.

More than 21 years have passed since the last major amendments were made. Over that time Canada has changed. The world has changed. It is important and necessary for our legislation to reflect those changes and strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship.

I point to the features of the new act that contribute to strengthening the value of our citizenship. New criteria for attribution of citizenship are certainly a big step in that direction. By proposing clearly defined precise requirements we can now rely on a more effective decision making process. These criteria guarantee that new Canadian citizens will be deeply committed to our country and its values.

In the case of children born to Canadian parents who no longer reside in this country, the transitional citizenship is limited to the second generation. This means that the second generation of Canadians born abroad will obtain citizenship at birth but lose it at the age of 28 unless they live in Canada before that time. The residency requirement is three years of physical presence within a five year period. Successive generations of Canadians born abroad cannot obtain Canadian citizenships unless they meet the same requirements as any other participant.

These new requirements have been established because we strongly believe that to preserve the value of Canadian citizenship we must ensure that all people who are Canadian citizens develop and maintain real links with Canada.

It is also with this in mind that we have introduced important changes in the requirements for permanent residence. Under the new act applicants for Canadian citizenship have to prove that they have spent three years out of five years in the country. This requirement is a good way to ensure applicants are well acquainted with Canadian society, our lifestyle and our values. By meeting the requirements these future Canadians will demonstrate their commitment to participate fully in the life of our society.

At the same time, as the minister pointed out, the new act also introduces a more flexible framework for application of these conditions by giving them five years instead of four to go through this requirement. Furthermore, applicants will be expected to have sufficient knowledge of one of the country's two official languages. They will have to be familiar with values of Canadian society and demonstrate that familiarity without the help of an interpreter. With these well defined criteria the decision making process will be simple, clear and effective.

Currently over 90% of citizenship applications are straightforward. Each application must nonetheless be approved by a citizenship judge. This process is long and costly. With the new act decisions will be based on criteria already set out in law and will therefore be more expeditious.

Another way to strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship is to promote it actively. With a more effective decision making process in place our citizenship judges will now be called citizenship commissioners and will have more time to promote the values symbolized by citizenship across the country. Not only will they continue to be ambassadors of citizenship within the context of citizenship ceremonies, but they will extend that role to other community events in order to reach more people and make Canadian citizens more aware of the responsibilities and advantages of being Canadian.

The appointment criteria for citizenship commissioners are defined in the new act. We believe they will foster consistency and ensure the commissioners are outstanding citizens with solid track records. Our new commissioners will be Canadians who have been publicly recognized for their important contribution to civic life and have demonstrated their attachment to the values embodied in Canadian citizenship.

The new act also includes measures to enhance the protection of Canadian citizenship. The vast majority of applicants for citizenship are law-abiding individuals who contribute greatly to our country, to daily life and to the growth of Canada. In the pursuit of our objective to be properly prepared to face the occasional difficulty we have added new measures.

The proposed act sets out a new prohibition. This includes the power to refuse citizenship in the public interest. The proposed act also gives the minister new authority to cancel citizenship in cases where it was obtained by using a false identity while the individual was not entitled to citizenship due to a criminal offence. It has more severe sanctions for offences.

As the minister mentioned, we are also proposing to revise our oath of citizenship. Like the other modifications we are suggesting that this proposal evolve from extensive consultations.

Canadians say they want our oath to reflect our contemporary values. They also want clearer references to loyalty to Canada. Our existing oath has not been updated since it was first introduced over a half century ago. The oath clearly states our allegiance to Canada and its values as well as our allegiance to the head of state. The words express a strong commitment to these values. I would also like to remind all my colleagues that the citizenship act is the result of extensive efforts initiated by the minister to respond to Canadians and their concerns.

The act is the result of a lengthy consultation to modernize one of our most valuable assets, our Canadian citizenship, with full respect for our Canadian identity, values and traditions.

As can be appreciated, the changes proposed in the new act are designed to strengthen this most valuable asset, Canadian citizenship. Therefore I ask all members of the House to support the new citizenship act.

[Supply, February 2nd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I think a few points are being missed in this debate. I would like to point out to members of the Reform Party that I will be standing up and voting my conscience. It will not be in support of the motion that the Reform Party has proposed. The reason for this is fairly simple.

We live in one of the best countries in the world and we all recognize this. One of the reasons this is the best country in the world is that we have some very good institutions. One of those good institutions, even though once in a while some judge makes a wrong decision, is our court system.

I think the Reform Party is being somewhat disingenuous on the one hand to try to pretend that it is for law and order and then to continually try to undermine the courts of this country. Members of the Reform Party cannot have it both ways. Reform members would serve their constituents very well if they would explain how the system works and then wait for the outcome. I do believe the member would be doing a greater favour to his constituents than to stand up in this House day after day and exploit a difficult issue for pure political gain.

[Professor Mohamed Elmasry, December 7th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Professor Mohamed Elmasry of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo who was inducted as a fellow in the prestigious Royal Society of Canada in Ottawa on November 20, 1998.

Professor Elmasry was invited to join this elite group due to his invention, development and his help in the industry introduction of several new technologies influencing the growth of microelectronics in Canada and abroad.

His research has resulted in five distinct generations of integrated circuit designs, and his revolutionary work on low-energy logic circuits some 20 years ago is now finding wide application in portable telecommunications.

Professor Elmasry has done pioneering work in artificial neural network chip design, self-learning chips, speech recognition systems, vocoders and echo cancellation. He holds nine patents and is the author or co-author of 12 books and more than 250 scientific publications.

I congratulate Professor Elmasry on his new fellowship and wish him well in the future.

[Petitions, December 4th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition from 161 people. Basically they are requesting the government follow the recommendations of the Krever report and to compensate those people who contacted hepatitis C outside the timeframe of 1986 to 1990.

[Education, November 17th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the achievements of the two universities in my riding of Kitchener—Waterloo.

In this year's Maclean's magazine annual ranking of Canadian universities our reputation thrives. The University of Waterloo is considered the best overall comprehensive university and Wilfrid Laurier is the fourth best overall primarily undergraduate university.

U of W is considered the best overall, the most innovative and ranks highest for the leaders of tomorrow. Within comprehensive schools it ranks first for the average entering grade and student awards.

In its category Wilfrid Laurier ranks first in the proportion of students with 75% or higher and second in average entering grade.

Post-secondary education is the key to our future prosperity as a nation. The tangible commitment our Liberal government has included increased funding for granting councils, centres of excellence, improvements to the Canada student loans program, the millennium scholarship fund, research infrastructure renewal and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

I congratulate both universities for their excellent standing in this annual survey and commend them for always striving to be better.

[National Crime Prevention Week, November 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to help celebrate National Crime Prevention Week and encourage crime prevention at the community level.

My community of the Waterloo region has been a pioneer in this area. In 1993 we founded the Waterloo Regional Community Safety and Crime Prevention Council which served as a base for the National Crime Prevention Council, established by the Liberal government in 1994. In April 1998 we celebrated our 20th justice dinner in the Waterloo region.

Crime hurts people and makes them feel unsafe. It decreases quality of life and changes the face of our communities.

The evidence is conclusive. The most effective way to prevent crime is to ensure healthier children, stronger families, better schools and more cohesive communities.

The results are less violence, safer communities and significant cost savings in the justice system and elsewhere.

I congratulate this government and the Waterloo region for their initiatives in recognizing that crime prevention at the community level is the way to go.

[Immigration, October 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the projected number of immigrants each year is a planning target. These targets are established for the different categories. The department has been successful in meeting the targets for the refugee category and the family class category, satisfying our very important commitment to both humanitarian assistance and family reunification.

Unfortunately due to events beyond our control, notably the civil economic crisis in Asia, we are experiencing a decline in the skilled worker category. We expect to meet the target—

[Scholarships Named After Olympic Athletes, October 7th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Kitchener—Waterloo Oktoberfest will be starting this Friday and will be going for 10 days. I know all hon. members are most interested in enjoying our hospitality.

I will first make some comments on what the Bloc member said, that all Canadians from coast to coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are incredibly proud of the achievements of our Olympic athletes.

We are proud of them for getting there, for participating at that elite level. We are also incredibly proud of them in terms of the medals they brought back to Canada. I think it is a point of real unity and it is a real understanding for Canadians from Quebec meeting people from B.C. and other parts of Canada, that intermingling.

The member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre's suggestion that a full series of full tuition scholarships for promising young Canadian athletes be established in the name of Canada's gold medalists is certainly a great suggestion and it is something that has response on all sides of the House. I can appreciate that he would want one of the scholarships to be named after curling gold medal winner Sandra Schmirler who thrilled many Canadians from coast to coast.

Every community greatly appreciates its own Olympic athletes. The late Victor Davis from my riding was one of the recipients at the 1984 Olympics.

I think all members of this House will agree that seeing Canadian athletes represent Canada on the world stage provides Canadians with a strong sense of national pride. Our high performance athletes are also excellent role models for all Canadians, particularly our youth.

Their achievements instil pride and inspire young Canadians to pursue excellence in sports and other endeavours.

The government is playing a great role. We are making great financial contributions. Let me also stress that it is the responsibility of all Canadians to make individual contributions.

[Waterloo Safe Communities Program, September 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, last week I attended a reception honouring, acknowledging and recognizing the achievements of the participating Waterloo businesses on their huge efforts and success in attaining the Waterloo Safe Communities Program's goal of reducing injury in the workplace.

Mr. Paul Kells initiated the Safe Communities Program after the tragic death of his son Sean in a workplace accident in 1994.

Waterloo was one of the first cities to get involved in the program in 1996. We now have 72 businesses that are members. Due to their minimal injuries and improved safety awareness, about 48 of them received a rebate of $350,000 in saved insurance premiums from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Congratulations to Waterloo's Safe Communities Program and congratulations to Mr. Paul Kells for his initiative. He is a true Canadian hero.