Don Boudria

[Purchase Of Flu Vaccine, April 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to congratulate the members of the joint federal-provincial-territorial committee in charge of purchasing flu vaccine for 1994-95.

In keeping with a truly Canadian tradition, the committee split the contract equally between two companies, BioVac, in Quebec, and Connaught, in Ontario. This decision saves jobs and protects the interests of all parties concerned, including both companies, the federal government and the provinces.

The average price arrived at under the memorandum of agreement is $1.77 per dosage unit, with Connaught getting $1.69 and BioVac $1.85. By awarding this contract to the Quebec company BioVac, the government is saving the jobs of ten workers in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, in Ontario, who would have lost them had it been awarded entirely to Connaught.

As the member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, I thank the minister for listening to my grievances and those of my constituents, allowing them to keep their jobs.

[Unemployment Insurance Act, April 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I think you might find unanimous consent to suspend the sitting until 6 p.m. so that we can proceed pursuant to the arrangement arrived at earlier this day.

[Income Tax Act, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Prior to your putting the question, I wonder if we could again seek unanimous consent after the question is put to proceed immediately to committee of the whole, followed immediately after committee of the whole stage by the third reading of the same bill.

[Excise Tax Act, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Chairman, in order to assist the committee of the whole, you might want to ask if clauses 12 to 36 could carry if there are no questions. Perhaps there are. In order to expedite the proceedings, Mr. Chairman, you might want to refer to it that way.

[Excise Tax Act, April 20th, 1994]

I rise on a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I think you would find unanimous consent for the bill to be dealt with immediately at committee of the whole.

Also, you would probably find unanimous consent to have the bill immediately dealt with at third reading after the bill is completed at committee of the whole.

(Motion agreed to, bill read the second time and, by unanimous consent, the House went into committee thereon, Mr. Kilgour in the chair.)

[Motions For Papers, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand.

[Questions On The Order Paper, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[Petitions, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have petitions signed by 4,460 people asking the government to ban the product known as the serial killer board game.

These petitions are in addition to the 105,000 signatures I have tabled already for a grand total of 109,460 signatures thus far.

With the indulgence of the House, I would like to take a moment to thank a senior citizen by the name of Liana Cléroux of Rockland, Ontario, who arranged that most of these petitions throughout Canada were accumulated during the last two years.

I also want to thank the Minister of Justice for having tabled today legislation which in my opinion proved that Mrs. Cléroux is right.

[National Citizenship Week, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a matter of whether this issue is dealt with on or off television. I would like to think that we stand for a bit more substance than that.

The issue is whether the wording is proper. I am acting chairman of the committee this week. I have given my undertaking to the member. If this is as serious as she claims it is and I believe it is, then surely a commitment to deal with it at 10 or 10.30 tomorrow morning in committee would not seem like undue delay in anyone's mind and in any reasonable Canadian's mind, listening to the proceedings on or off TV.

[National Citizenship Week, April 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the substance of what the member is trying to propose.

However, there are errors in the drafting of the text. Perhaps the member would be willing to move that the item in question be referred to the parliamentary committee on procedure. I am acting chairman and I commit to her to deal with it forthwith. As a matter of fact, we have a meeting as early as tomorrow morning. There are errors in the text. It does not refer to what subsection of section 30 the item should be addressed to.

It is traditional for amendments to the standing orders to be made pursuant to a recommendation of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

If the member is willing to make that small modification, on behalf of my colleagues I am willing to give consent to have the matter referred immediately to the parliamentary committee in question.