John M. Cummins

[Petitions, November 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today.

The first one deals with the Coast Guard. The petitioners note that the government is no longer providing adequate funding for the Coast Guard. They suggest that the public is at risk, both at the Vancouver airport through the lack of a hovercraft, and in ongoing search and rescue operations.

The petitioners request that Parliament advise the government to separate the Coast Guard from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and to provide adequate funding.

[Fisheries, November 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about another failure, on the other coast. The number of pink salmon spawners in the Broughton Archipelago collapsed this year, declining by almost 100% in some inlets. This morning the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council advised that the decline was unlikely to have been caused by chance alone. In fact sea lice were the problem, sea lice associated with salmon farming.

Will the minister regulate the salmon farming industry or will he just sit around and wait until the Pacific salmon goes the way of the east coast cod?

[Fisheries, November 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, for the last nine years the government has been in charge of what was supposed to be a cod rebuilding program on the east coast. Now we find the cod are not coming back. The bureaucrats say that they do not know why or they give some self-serving environmental excuse.

Given the complete failure of the Liberal government's rebuilding of cod stocks over the last nine years, why should Atlantic fishermen have any hope that this minister will do any better now?

[Petitions, November 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the last petition is concerning child pornography. The citizens signing this petition note that the courts are not seeming to make it clear that the exploitation of children should be met with swift punishment. They call upon Parliament to protect our children by taking all necessary steps to ensure that materials which promote or glorify pedophilia or sado-masochistic activities are outlawed.

[Petitions, November 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition has to do as well with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The petitioners are noting that the federal minister of fisheries has a constitutional obligation to protect wild fish in their habitat and they are calling on him to do just that. They call on him to protect wild fish in their habitat from the effects of salmon farming.

[Petitions, November 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have three petitions to present today. The first petition has to do with the Coast Guard. It is signed by British Columbians from Port McNeill, Woss, Delta and other communities on the Lower Mainland.

The petitioners note that the Coast Guard is suffering from a lack of resources. The lack of resources was evident last summer when the Coast Guard was unable to attempt a rescue of citizens trapped in an overturned vessel. They note that there is a failure to provide money by the government for an additional hovercraft to provide protection at Vancouver airport.

They call upon Parliament to demand of government that it adequately fund the Coast Guard and that it separate the Coast Guard from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

[Coast Guard, November 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, that sounds like a mandate to me. A mandate means resources to do the job. The Coast Guard has less resources today than it did when the memo was written. Today there is no fuel for its ships and no uniforms for the crews.

How can the Coast Guard contribute to maritime security when its ships and crews cannot put to sea?

[Coast Guard, November 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, a briefing document prepared earlier this year for the minister responsible for the Coast Guard advised:

The Coast Guard does not have a mandate for maritime security and the events of September 11 have not altered this.

Is it the position of the government that the Coast Guard lacks a mandate for maritime security?

[Petitions, November 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my third petition deals with pornography. The petitioners point out that child pornography is an activity condemned by the majority of Canadians and that the courts do not seem to have applied the current child pornography laws in a way that Canadians want.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to protect our children by taking all necessary steps to ensure that pornographic materials involving children are outlawed.

[Petitions, November 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition has to do with the fishery. The petition notes that the federal fisheries minister has an obligation to protect wild fish and their habitat. The petitioners point out that the Auditor General and others have found that the minister is not meeting his constitutional obligation to protect wild Pacific salmon and their habitat.

They call on Parliament to require the minister to fulfil his obligation to protect wild fish and their habitat from the effects of salmon aquaculture.