Elsie Wayne

[Assisted Human Reproduction Act, April 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I rise again in the House to speak against embryonic stem cell research. I am not opposed to adult stem cell research I am opposed to embryonic stem cell research. The number one issue is to put the child first, the parents second, research third, and it must be in that order. If we are to do it in that order, we will protect the child.

I received a little plastic baby in the mail, which I have outside. With that little plastic baby was a note that said we had to protect the child. I cannot believe anyone in the House would not want to protect that innocent little child. We are not opposed to the use of adult stem cells. They are used to treat Parkinson's, leukemia, MS and many other diseases. We are all in support of that. I feel very strongly that researchers should focus their efforts on adult stem cell research. I cannot understand why they want to go with embryonic stem cell research.

I talked about the adoption of children and the hon. member who just spoke said they could not find them. I do not what happens in Ontario or wherever she lives because in my riding of Saint John we have no problems. We have children who wish to be adopted, to have a mom and a dad.

When I was mayor of Saint John, one of my employees was waiting for a child. I called the province and helped her adopt a child. Not too long ago I was at a function. A young man who was with a lady came to me and said, “Elsie, this is the little baby you gave me”. He is about 10 or 12 years old now. There are all kinds of children across this nation who need a mom and a dad and we should focus in on that.

The idea that the fundamental principles of ethics are appropriately based on a consensus of interested persons who express their opinions in regard to moral choices rather than on the divine law is understood by human reason and is given in revelation. There is a failure to realize that a human being, innocent and possessing the inherent right to be protected and not killed or harmed in any way, comes into existence at the moment of fertilization of a human ovum by a human sperm. It is at fertilization, right at the beginning. People can say whatever they want. Those who wish to use embryonic stem cell research can say whatever they want, but that is the fact.

This fact was denied by those who promoted ESCR when they defined the beginning of life at implementation rather than fertilization, which is a minimum of seven days. If anyone saw that little plastic baby, no one in the House would ever harm a child. Human life begins at fertilization and anyone who says it does not is absolutely and unequivocally wrong.

We truly have a lot of work to do in the House. I look at the path we are going down. Every day I look up at the gallery and see all the young people present. We have with pornography and John Robin Sharpe. He is protected but the tiny children are not protected. We are doing it again. This should never be in the House of Commons. This should never be debated here. There is no reason in the world for any elected official in the House to be in favour of embryonic stem cell research. We are elected and when we are here, we are here to protect the unborn, that embryonic cell.

I just mentioned that when it comes to child pornography, then it come to this, I get so dismayed. When I was asked in 1993 to run for election, I was told I could do so much more for my people if I were on the Hill. I came here because I believed in the child. I believe in doing what is right. Sometimes I get so dismayed when I see what is passed in the House of Commons. I look at our young people and at those tiny babies. When I see those little tiny babies, I ask myself how could they take a cell and stop the birth of that child.

There is no question that we are in a high tech world and that we need lots of research. However adult stem cell research the way to go. No one is hurt with that. Researchers can do that. Why do they want to do research on embryonic stem cells? Will somebody in the House tell us why?

[Assisted Human Reproduction Act, April 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, there are so many little babies at the present time who are looking for homes, who need to be adopted. There is absolutely and unequivocally no way that the government or anyone sitting in the House should ever vote for this kind of embryonic stem cell research.

I cannot believe that anyone here in Canada would want us to do that to a little tiny baby. I look at the young people who come to the House every day and I think, if that had been the case, they may not be sitting here today.

If a couple gets married and wants to raise a child, there are all kinds of children out there to be adopted.

I cannot imagine why the hon. member would not vote against the bill and would vote in favour of it.

[Committees of the House, April 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to go to New York City a number of years ago. At the time, Brian Tobin was the minister of fisheries and he had invited me to go with him. The government was looking at what to do with regard to the fishery, the cod situation and so on. I had an opportunity to speak to officials as well. I was really impressed while I was there.

There were two things that bothered me. This was a number of years ago and there was a problem with the cod fishery. It had to do with the seals and no one would address it. The seals eat tonnes and tonnes of cod each day, more than anyone realizes. There are a lot of people who do not want the seals touched, but I can say that my mother always had a seal fur coat and that was a good business as well.

I wish to say also that large ships from foreign countries dragged the bottom of the ocean and took up baby cod. They are still doing it. They have hurt the cod fishery dramatically.

The people who earned their living in the cod fishery when I was a little girl would catch the cod by putting a hook on the end of a fishing rod.

There is a way in which we have to move. As has been stated by my colleague from St. John's, Newfoundland, we have to protect the fishery. We truly do. That is a livelihood.

What I have seen since I have been here in the House of Commons is that Canada, according to the government, seems to stop at the Quebec border. The rest of us in Atlantic Canada, the rest of us in Newfoundland do not even count any more and that is not right.

I say to my hon. colleague that I am glad he has brought this issue to the floor of the House. We have to do something. We have to come up with a policy to protect the cod not only in Newfoundland but all across the nation.

[Iraq, April 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, given United Nations resolution 1441, has Canada followed through on its responsibilities and reported to the United Nations that its naval forces had discovered nerve gas antidotes and chemical masks on the Iraqi ship at sea? If not, why not?

[Iraq, April 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on or about March 23, Canadian Armed Forces were involved in searching the Iraqi ship Proton in the Persian Gulf.

While it was determined that it was not involved in smuggling oil or carrying al-Qaeda terrorists, gas masks and nerve gas antidotes were found on board. After the Canadians released the ship the Americans seized it and arrested its crew.

Can the Minister of National Defence confirm these details and will he table in the House today a copy of a situation report he would have received?

[Iraq, March 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has decided not to send combat troops to Iraq. There are many other ways we could be showing our support for our allies and making a positive contribution to resolving the Iraqi crisis.

Could the Minister of National Defence inform the House whether he has considered sending a field hospital to Iraq to help deal with the mounting casualties of war? Has the cabinet discussed such options and, if not, will he inform us why not?

[Canada Pension Plan, March 26th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday the Globe and Mail reported that over 20,000 Canadian seniors have lost their entitlement to CPP benefits because deadlines have passed them by. These seniors were largely unaware of their entitlement or the application deadlines until it was too late.

What is particularly dreadful is that so many of our senior citizens are forced to live on tight budgets and very modest incomes. The extra money that they are now being denied could give them a much greater standard of living.

This entire situation is unfortunately similar to problems that continue to exist with the guaranteed income supplement. Many seniors, most living with great hardship, are oblivious to the fact that they have access to these types of assistance programs. Moneys properly owed to Canadians after a lifetime of hard work are not being given out, but are instead being wasted on the gun registry.

The government needs to make senior citizens a priority. It must rectify this horrible situation. I call on the Prime Minister to have a minister for seniors before it is too late.

[Iraq, March 20th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, it has now been confirmed that Iraq has missiles and possibly drone aircraft that would be capable of carrying biological and chemical warheads.

Will the Minister of National Defence confirm whether or not there are sufficient chemical suits on board the Canadian ships that would protect each and every crew member in the event such weapons were used?

[Iraq, March 20th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, now that our ships tasked to Operation Apollo are in fact operating in a theatre of war, our forces are at risk and deserve the chance to protect themselves from being the target of hostiles.

Will the Minister of National Defence advise whether these troops have been given permission to take pre-emptive action against any and all threats within their sphere of operations?

[Transportation Amendment Act, March 19th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, when I was mayor of the City of Saint John, I had an opportunity to go to Germany and we went from one location to another by train. That was quite a few years ago. Germany knew then that people should go by train. The problem we have and what we are trying to deal with through Kyoto, Germany was dealing with it then. I found that in other countries as well.

What happened to us back in 1993? We had VIA Rail which took our people to Quebec and then they would change over to another train to bring them either to Toronto or Ottawa. The train was taken away from us yet Saint John had the largest ridership of any of the train stations in all New Brunswick. However it was taken away because of politics. It was a shame.

Does the hon. member think the government honestly understands the need to put the train in every part of Canada like Germany has?