Sophia Leung

[Solicitation Laws, February 7th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to address private member's Motion No. 192 proposing the establishment of a special committee of the House to review the solicitation laws. The committee's overall goal would be to improve the safety of sex trade workers and the community and to recommend changes that would reduce the exploitation of and violence against sex trade workers.

I congratulate the hon. member for Vancouver East for moving this motion. Through this initiative, I want to address public concerns around prostitution related activities and the concerns in the community.

Over the years, in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, the federal government has undertaken various initiatives to address the issues linked to prostitution, the safety of sex trade workers and the reduction of harm to communities. Today in supporting this motion, I will support some of those initiatives and support the establishment of a committee of the House which could help in addressing prostitution related issues.

In 1997 the government passed Bill C-27 which amended the Criminal Code to create the new offence of aggravated procuring. The intent of the amendment was to facilitate the use of police decoys so that authorities could apprehend the clients of prostitutes under the age of 18. This amendment also made available special protections to young persons who testified against their exploiters, for example, through the use of a screen, closed-circuit television or videotaped evidence.

The Department of Justice has also supported a number of initiatives related to crime prevention and community based projects, particularly through phase two of the national strategy on community safety and crime prevention. This entailed a $32 million commitment each year to a program for safer communities.

For example, one initiative was the production of Stolen Lives: Children in the Sex Trade . This video documents the difficult lives of young sex trade workers in Vancouver and Calgary. Another example is the department's funding of close to half a million dollars to Victoria's Capital Region Action Team to address problems linked to youth prostitution in that area.

More recently in October 2002, Canada acceded to the optional protocol to the United Nations convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, or CEDAW. Canada has supported this UN convention since it was ratified in 1981.

In November 2000, along with the British Columbia child welfare services, Justice Canada co-hosted a national meeting of justice and child welfare officials. Action which has resulted from this meeting includes the establishment of a network of justice and child welfare officials to allow for the prompt sharing of information on all issues related to children and youth involved in prostitution.

The Department of Justice will continue to build on past achievements and to work with all its partners, including provincial, territorial and municipal government departments and agencies involved in justice related issues, social services and child welfare issues.

I therefore support this motion to establish a special committee of the House to review solicitation laws. We must find innovative ways to address the issues and deal with the problems. To do that we need discussion, brainstorming, strategizing and solutions. Our hope for achieving those things lies in establishing a committee of the House where representatives of people of every region of Canada could gather to serve the best interests of their constituents and communities.

In closing, let us work together with the hon. member for Vancouver East. I will support her initiative.

[Chinese New Year, February 7th, 2003]

Madam Speaker, over the last two weeks I have had the opportunity to attend many Chinese New Year's celebrations in British Columbia and Alberta. As the third largest ethnic group with over one million Chinese Canadians, Chinese New Year has become a major celebration for many Canadians.

I want to congratulate groups such as the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver, Chinese Culture Centre of Vancouver, Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association, SUCCESS, and the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in B.C., just to name a few, for helping Canadians celebrate this important holiday in Chinese culture.

I would also like to extend greetings to all Canadians for a healthy and successful year of the ram.

[Queen's Jubilee Medal, December 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise in the House today to congratulate people from my riding who will receive the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for their community services. I will present them with the medals during a ceremony on Wednesday, December 18 in Vancouver.

The deserving individuals are: Mr. Gian Dhesi, Dr. Donald Rix, Ms. Mary Quan, Mr. Jason Ko, Mr. Doug Chan, Mr. Terry Hui, Dr. David McLean, Mrs. Shirley Wong, Mrs. Mirina Boyd, Mr. Andrew Ko, Mr. Julian Twaroq, Mr. Jozef Urbanowski, Mr. Kamlesh Dayal, Mr. George Lamont, Ms. Meghan Fitzgerald, Mr. Daniel Quon, Mr. Jim Bennett and Mr. Bud Li-Lam.

I want to extend my congratulations to all these hardworking people for their contributions to the Canadian society.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as a matter of fact my experience is quite different because we spend a lot of time and effort. It is not just to have a trip. Actually we spend very intense and long days listening to Canadians.

The beauty of democracy is that we listen to the people we serve. Then we make the recommendations. There are over 40 recommendations. Then we present them to the Minister of Finance. He not only reviews them but in the past the former finance minister probably adopted 95% of the recommendations.

This is very important. We are doing a very demanding and difficult job because we respect and wish to listen to Canadians. In the meantime I encourage my colleague to believe in our democracy, to believe in what is best for Canadians. That is what we are doing here.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, each year we listen to individual Canadians, groups and institutions. That is why we call it public consultation.

We never put a number on the dollars before carefully assessing all the information. Then we make a very comprehensive report with recommendations to the Minister of Finance.

As I indicated, education is very important. It is the basic foundation of our society and our nation. Of course, I will definitely support the focus on that. I also mentioned my concern for student loans and also the upgrade of skills for workers and new immigrants. There are many different areas. Yes, education is definitely very important for me and the country. R and D is very important as well.

[Prebudget Consultations, December 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in this prebudget debate. As a member of the finance prebudget consultation committee I travelled across Canada. I listened to many Canadians, groups and institutions. I wish to talk about education, innovation, capital tax reduction, and health care.

We all know that education is extremely important as the foundation of a healthy society. The government has made lifelong learning and skills development a top priority of our social agenda. Literacy is critically important for an individual's success in society. The Movement for Canadian Literacy, citing data from Statistics Canada, told the committee that the needs were very pressing.

Student loans are another area of concern. An increasing number of students are facing tremendous debt loads upon their graduation from universities. This has been driven by increases in both tuition fees and the cost of living. There is a pressing need to re-evaluate existing student loan programs with the intention of providing a greater level of financial support for youth.

Canada is facing a shortage in skilled labour in many trades. Part of our strategy to address the skills shortage is to target immigration policies to attract skilled workers to Canada. However, many of those workers we have targeted are having problems with gaining accreditation to practise their trade in Canada. The prebudget consultations recommended that we work with provincial governments and professional associations to find ways to make it easier for skilled new immigrants to be able to work in their field of expertise.

The committee received testimony from the Getting Landed Project, a group advocating the extension of the Canada student loan program to refugees. They said:

Yet under current Canada student loans legislation only Canadian citizens and permanent residents, what we used to call landed immigrants, qualify for student loans. Recognized refugees, now known as protected persons under the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, are currently excluded. This exclusion is bad for recognized refugees and bad for Canada as well.

However, as a national government we play a strong role in providing billions of dollars of funding to these provincial institutions. What Canadians are demanding is greater accountability by provincial governments so that they know that the money the federal government is providing for education is being used for that purpose.

Another important area that the government must focus its attention in order to build the Canadian economy is the innovation agenda. The current innovation strategy of the federal government undertakes a commitment for Canada to: rank among the top five countries worldwide in terms of R and D performance, at least double the federal government's current investments in R and D, rank among world leaders in the share of private sector sales attributable to new innovations, and raise venture capital investments per capita to prevailing U.S. levels.

This is a good start, however we would need to do more to support the climate of innovation. Along this line the finance committee recommended that:

The federal government increase funds for the federal granting councils and, in so doing, ensure that the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada receives an appropriate share of the allocation. Moreover, the federal granting councils and the Canada Foundation for Innovation should consider the concerns of smaller universities and colleges when disbursing funds, and should ensure that they do not face discrimination.

The federal government, in the next budget, provide a permanent program for financing the indirect costs of federally funded research.

A permanent program financing 40% of the indirect costs of federally funded research be implemented in the next budget.

The federal government simplify the process by which firms access the scientific research and experimental development investment tax credit.

The federal government create a commercialization office within Industry Canada. The mandate of this office would be efforts leading to the commercialization of research undertaken in Canada.

The federal government ensure that the rights embodied in patent and copyright protections are vigorously defended.

With those initiatives and an emphasis of lifelong learning and education, Canada would be able to confront the economic challenges of the 21st century. The innovation agenda remains a key link to Canada's future prosperity and the government should implement the committee's recommendations.

We heard from many groups who raised concerns that we must lower capital taxes or even get rid of capital taxes. The committee received testimony from at least 20 groups and individuals. Some of the witnesses said:

As many witnesses noted, the capital tax is largely profit insensitive. In the event of an economic slowdown, some companies could be required to borrow cash to meet their tax obligations, even if they are losing money.

The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce recommended that the committee eliminate the capital tax, since it was introduced as a deficit elimination measure, and the deficit is now gone. Capital taxes are also not linked to ability to pay; their elimination would lead to increased investment in capital intensive operations, enhance productivity and lead to increased economic activities.

I would urge the Minister of Finance to reduce or eliminate the capital tax in Canada. I believe, along with many others in this chamber, that it is harmful to the investment and economic development of Canada.

I wish to touch on health care. In light of the strong support of the universal medicare system, the finance committee recommended the following:

The federal government work with provincial and territorial governments, and other stakeholders, to ensure that the Canadian healthcare system of the future respects the following principles:

(a) public funding at an appropriate level;

(b) an approach to service delivery that recognizes the role of prevention, pharmacare and homecare, and that is sensitive to the needs of Canadians experiencing a wide range of illnesses;

(c) mechanisms to ensure accountability and transparency at every level of spending; and

(d) continued support and increased funding for the Canadian Institutes of Health--

[Convention Centre, December 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, December 4, the Prime Minister and Premier Campbell of British Columbia announced $495 million for the expansion of a convention centre in Vancouver.

The convention centre is expected to generate over $1.5 billion in economic benefits to the industry, over 6,700 person years of employment during construction and 7,500 full time jobs throughout the province once the expanded facility is operational.

For many years the federal B.C. Liberal caucus worked closely with the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers to develop this much needed expansion to the convention centre. The agreement brought the three levels of government in British Columbia together to solve the need for a larger convention centre that will benefit all British Columbians.

[Computers for Schools Program, November 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, on November 25 I had the pleasure of announcing at Nootka Elementary School in my riding that 50,000 computers have been donated to schools in British Columbia as part of a computers for schools program.

This program, sponsored by Industry Canada and business partners like Telus, B.C. Hydro, refurbishes old computers for schools across Canada.

Six years Nootka Elementary had only six computers. Today, with the help of the computers for schools program, it has over 60.

I want to congratulate Industry Canada and the countless business partners of the computers for schools program for providing computers for schools, not only in my riding of Vancouver--Kingsway but indeed for schools right across Canada.

[Landmines, November 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in December 1997 the hon. Lloyd Axworthy and the House of Commons guided 122 countries into an anti-landmine treaty.

The Ottawa convention encouraged all nations to stop producing, exporting and using anti-personnel mines. Five years after this landmark treaty was signed between 50 million and 100 million landmines are still active in the world. The removal of landmines is one of the most pressing humanitarian issues of our age.

By hosting a fundraising dinner for the Canadian Landmine Foundation as part of the Night of a Thousand Dinners campaign, we can show support for this important issue while enhancing the quality of life for many innocent people all over the world.

[Supply, November 19th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly appreciate what my colleague has mentioned, the same as in my report already mentioned. I think that the contribution of the subcommittee is recognized. We are happy that the House has had a chance to look at the report very carefully and reassess what is best for Canadians.