Norman E. Doyle

[Supply, April 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say a few words on the child pornography issue as it relates to the recent Sharpe case in British Columbia. This case, as we are all very much aware, found its way to the Supreme Court of Canada which made a ruling giving courts guidelines on how to deal with these matters.

The supreme court ordered that the Sharpe case be retried and it is the decision arising from the retrial that is causing the kind of debate that we are having today in the House of Commons.

The rules on photographic child pornography are relatively clear. In the retrial, Mr. Sharpe was found guilty of possession of child pornography with regard to photographs that were subsequently found in his possession. However he was found not guilty with regard to certain written pornographic materials in his possession, and it is in that area on which I want to address and focus my remarks.

Mr. Sharpe successfully defended himself with regard to his written material by using two defences: first, the material did not openly advocate committing illegal acts with children; and second, the materials had artistic merit.

It is difficult to imagine that the federal government, upon hearing the result of that case, would not be rushing into the House of Commons with a bill in hand to protect our children from people who prey upon children. Instead, it appears, and I hope I am wrong, that government members have to be dragged kicking and screaming and forced to deal with the issue.

If the debate today does nothing more than to draw attention to that fact and to somehow bring attention on the government for not acting, then it will be a very successful debate.

In the court ruling, the judge pointed out that subsection 163.1(1)(b) of the Criminal Code of Canada states that child pornography means:

(b) any written material or visual representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years--

The judge points out that the supreme court's earlier decision on the Sharpe case provides guidance on the meaning of “advocates or counsels”. In order to be guilty of an offence under that provision, the supreme court stated that the advocacy must be up front and active. It cannot be subtle or hinted at. It must be seen as actively inducing illegal behaviour with children.

The trial judge found the written material in Sharpe's possession to be morally repugnant but that it fell short of openly advocating such activities. Therefore he was found not guilty under section 163.

I want to point out that everywhere I go there seems to be a desire across the country to have this law tightened up so there are no grey areas. There can be no grey areas where children are concerned.

The other defence used successfully by Sharpe was the artistic merit defence. The trial judge pointed out that this was covered in the Criminal Code of Canada under subsection 163(6) which states:

Where the accused is charged with an offence under subsection (2), (3), or (4), the court shall find the accused not guilty if the representation or written material that is alleged to constitute child pornography has artistic merit or an educational, scientific or medical purpose. v

It seems to be very complicated and that is why the peddlers of pornography can easily get around the kinds of laws that we have today.

Unlike the obscenity provisions of the criminal code, there is no imposition of community standards in determining what is pornographic. In its guidelines, the supreme court stated that if allegedly pornographic materials have even minimal artistic merit, then the owner of the material must be found not guilty. The onus would be on the crown to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the materials have no artistic merit, which is very difficult to do. In other words, if a written article is 90% pornographic and 10% art, the writer must be found not guilty of possession of child pornography by virtue of the material's artistic merit however limited the artistic merit might be.

What kind of a law is that? We have to ask who would draft the laws and legislation that would leave a loophole big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through, where a written article can be 90% pornographic and 10% art and the writer will be found not guilty because the 10% has artistic merit.

We in parliament very often blame the judges for coming to the various decisions they come to but more of the blame should be placed right here on us. The people who draft and pass these laws are to blame. The judges can only interpret what is given to them by the lawmakers and we happen to be the lawmakers. We have a great responsibility in this regard to close these legal loopholes. Therefore the law needs to be changed.

There must be a prohibition against child pornography which catches more than those materials that actively promote illegal acts with children. Materials that depict degrading acts with children that can suddenly introduce and induce such behaviour have to be banned as well as materials that create an atmosphere that might lead to illegal behaviour.

The law needs to more accurately reflect community standards with regard to this behaviour. Figuratively speaking, we should not need to be caught with a smoking gun in order to be found guilty. Having possession of the gun itself should be enough to warrant conviction.

When will parliament start thinking more about the protection of our children and less about the civil libertarians out there who are preaching artistic merit and how important that is? The importance of our children should be the focus of our attention continually here in the House, not how important artistic merit is. We all realize that artistic merit is important but the protection of our children must come first in our society. When it comes to artistic merit, the law must be change.

If we are to err here, we should err on the side of child protection not artistic merit. However parliament seems to have forgotten that we are not talking about consenting adults where one person's art is another person's pornography. We are talking about little children, people not of the age of consent who deserve the maximum protection that parliament can write into the laws of the land. In matters of child pornography, community standards should carry more weight than artistic merit or artistic licence, and our laws should be amended to reflect that.

I therefore call upon the government to make changes to the laws covering child pornography, changes that reflect community standards and put the welfare of little children in our society first. The government must act and it must act quickly. The lives of children and their well-being are at stake here.

I am not a lawyer so I do not know nor can I recommend how the law should be changed or framed to plug the legal loopholes. However I do know that the only requirement we need in the House to plug that loophole is the political will and desire to do it, the desire to see the most vulnerable in our society protected.

[Pension Savings, April 19th, 2002]

And student loans.

[Fisheries, April 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues pointed out yesterday to the minister of fisheries, the abuse of our fishery by our fellow NAFO countries is rampant. Canada pays 50% of NAFO costs but when it comes to the enforcement of NAFO quotas we get minimal enforcement. We cannot allow that to continue.

When will the government put a stop to this looming ecological disaster by asserting custodial management of our continental shelf outside the 200 mile limit?

[Fisheries, April 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the 200 mile limit gave Canada the right to impose and enforce fisheries conservation measures within that zone. Fish stocks, however, range over the entire continental shelf.

The Flemish Cap and the nose and tail of the Grand Banks are outside the 200 mile limit, and this is a loophole that allows many NAFO countries to overfish with impunity in these areas. Canada can report overfishing outside the limit but is dependent on other NAFO countries to enforce NAFO conservation rules, which they rarely do.

The many devastated coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and the maritimes know all too well the results of overfishing. Canada has a moral obligation to preserve the fish stocks of the North Atlantic as a vital world food resource.

I therefore call upon the Government of Canada to unilaterally declare custodial fisheries management of our continental shelf outside the 200 mile limit.

[Taxation, February 26th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the government is now tightening up the rules on who qualifies for a disability tax credit. This tax credit allows the disabled to compensate for the extra costs they incur because they are disabled.

MPs' offices are being flooded with complaints from constituents with genuine disabilities who have qualified for disability tax credit for years. They are suddenly being told they no longer qualify.

Since coming to office in 1993 the government has balanced the nation's books by drastically reducing transfers to the provinces, effectively gutting Canada's health care system. The government has also cut back on the EI system to the point where only a third of the unemployed now qualify for benefits while the EI fund has a multi-billion dollar surplus.

First it was the sick and the unemployed and now it is the disabled. Has the government no conscience?

[Competition Act, February 25th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say a few words on Bill C-248, an act to amend the Competition Act.

The bill has a couple of very important sections that we should talk about and highlight, one being proposed subsection 96(4), which states:

--gains in efficiency cannot offset the effects of a lessening or prevention of competition unless the majority of the benefits derived or to be derived from such gains in efficiency are being or are likely to be passed on to customers within a reasonable time in the form of lower prices.

That is a very important subsection.

Also, proposed subsection 96(5) states:

This section does not apply where, after the transaction has been completed, the merger or proposed merger, will result or is likely to result in the creation or strengthening of a dominant market position.

In layman's terms, proposed subsection 96(4) stresses that mergers resulting in a monopoly or near monopoly must ultimately be of benefit to the consumer. Proposed subsection 96(5) states that we should not approve a merger that in addition to creating the position of market dominance provides economic efficiencies to only the merged companies. In other words, monopolies can only be tolerated, and rightly so, if they are in the public interest.

My colleague from Fraser Valley spoke on this bill on October 24 and pointed out that one of the incidents that provoked the drafting of the bill was a merger in the propane industry in 1998, giving Superior Propane control over 70% of the Canadian propane market. The competition commissioner opposed the merger on behalf of consumers but the competition tribunal approved the merger because of efficiencies that would amount to roughly $29 million over a 10 year period and would accrue to the merged companies.

The purpose of Bill C-248 is to force the tribunal to give more weight to consumer protection when making these decisions. Efficiencies, as we all know, are fine, but they have to play second fiddle to the right of consumers to enjoy the benefits of a highly competitive marketplace.

In North America we have mainly a private enterprise economy. We have a North American free trade agreement among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Monopolies are not something favoured in such an economic climate. There are those who feel free enterprise is based exclusively on self-interest, and to some extent that may be true, however, self-interest on the part of more than one person or company also breeds competition and competition is good for the consumer by decreasing prices for goods and services.

Monopolies may involve greater internal efficiencies but in the long run a monopoly that is well established has the tendency to keep prices for goods and services very high. The self-interest is still there and when it is unfettered by competition the consumer is almost always the one who will lose in that particular case.

Let us look at a more recent case. I remember that when I came here in 1997 my constituency was served by a two airline industry made up of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International. As we are all very much aware, there was lively competition between the two airlines. The traveller benefited a great deal by getting better service, better frequency of service and much cheaper fares.

In short, the travelling public was serviced by an airline industry that actively sought out business. It is not 1997 any more; it is now 2002 and I know my constituency in St. John's is no longer serviced by an airline industry. It is now serviced by Air Canada, which has a virtual monopoly in the Atlantic region. Gone is the lively competition that we had in the airline industry. Up went the prices, down went the frequency of service and down went service, period.

A few years ago the Liberal government was faced with a tremendous upheaval in the airline industry. The nation's second largest airline, Canadian Airlines International, was in a great deal of trouble and the questions were these. Should Canadian be allowed to go bankrupt with the hope that someone would pick up the pieces? Can we find someone or some company that would build another national airline to operate in competition with Air Canada?

In the end, of course, the powers that be decided that Air Canada would be allowed to absorb Canadian, with the attendant pain in terms of job losses and service reduction. Canada now has one national airline. Yes, WestJet may still be alive, but the other newcomers have been chased off the block.

We need at least two national airlines in order to have a real airline industry. Instead, we are served, and I have to use that term served quite loosely, by a monopoly. Herein lies a role for the Government of Canada. It has to develop economic and transportation policies that are in the public interest, policies that encourage entrepreneurship in the airline industry. It has to develop competition laws that actually foster competition in the marketplace and discourage the formation of monopolies.

Bill C-248 helps in that it turns thumbs down on the creation of a monopoly that does not pass on its efficiencies to the customer. Bill C-248 should have been in force when Air Canada was trying to take over Canadian Airlines. It might have prevented the takeover altogether. The evidence so far certainly shows that air travellers have not received better service or lower fares as a result of any efficiencies arising from the merger of these two airlines.

I support the free enterprise system. I support a competitive marketplace. I support the thrust of the hon. member's bill. I request that it be forwarded to the appropriate standing committee for study and action.

[National Remembrance Day, February 20th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the member for introducing Motion No. 298 to make November 11 a national holiday.

Coming from Newfoundland I really am surprised that November 11 is not a national holiday. In my home province all the shops, stores and government offices are closed on November 11, as if it were Christmas Day or Canada Day. It is a very important day to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador because at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, World War I ended and brought to a close one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of what was then the dominion of Newfoundland, not the province of Newfoundland.

We had a very special place in the first and second world wars. Newfoundland was the first overseas colony of the British empire. When Sir Humphrey Gilbert planted the British flag in St. John's in 1583, St. John's was already a thriving seaport. The island grew as a British colony despite British laws that forbade settlement there at that time. Responsible government was attained by the early 1800s. By the time the 20th century rolled around, Newfoundland was essentially a self-governing dominion within the British empire.

It was not surprising therefore that when war broke out between Britain and Germany in 1914, Newfoundland rushed to the defence of the empire. It outfitted an infantry regiment, for heaven's sake, at its own cost and sent it overseas to serve with the British forces.

November 11 is very important to us. It is very important to Canada and it should be an official national holiday in this country of ours.

On July 1, 1916 the Newfoundland regiment was all but wiped out at Beaumont Hamel on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Losing the regiment meant that the flower of a generation of Newfoundlanders was lost to the young dominion on that one fateful day.

November 11 a national holiday? By all means let us make it a national holiday.

World War I had a very profound effect on Newfoundland. It cost us a generation of young men, many of them leaders. Our financial support for the war effort drained the treasury and helped lead to the bankruptcy of the dominion of Newfoundland after the war. We were then ruled by a British appointed commission until a national referendum decided that Newfoundland would become a province in Canada in 1949.

Because of the loss of our infantry regiment in the first world war, the British refused us infantry service in World War II. During that war we provided manpower for two British artillery regiments instead. These days we again have an infantry regiment, this time a reserve regiment in the Canadian armed forces. We can never forget the great contribution the land forces made and the great contribution made by the merchant marines, the navy and the air force as well.

That regiment, which we even have today, carries the title “royal” because of its service in the first world war. It is called the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. That is why July 1 is a day of mixed sentiments for Newfoundlanders. It is the birthday of our nation Canada, which we joined in 1949 and it is also our memorial day in honour of the regiment which we lost on that one day.

World War I was a coming of age for Canada. On Vimy Ridge Canadian troops established themselves as a force to be reckoned with among the various Dominion forces fighting for king and country. November 11 commemorates the ending of the war that had a profound affect on the future of British North America. Therefore as a Canadian, and as a Newfoundlander, I have no hesitation in supporting a motion to make November 11 a national holiday.

We would do well to remember our wars and the young men and women who paid the ultimate price for the freedom that we hold dear today. These days our young men and women are serving in the Balkans and strife torn Afghanistan. It is only fitting that the nation set aside a national holiday to commemorate its war dead as a mark of respect for their continued efforts and in remembrance of their forebears who paid the supreme sacrifice.

November 11 is already widely celebrated across the country. It should be elevated to the appropriate status by the House of Commons. Accordingly, I am pleased and proud to support the motion.

[Petitions, February 19th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from over 300 people in St. John's and the Conception Bay areas who are requesting the Parliament of Canada to ban human embryo research and direct the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to support and fund only promising ethical research that does not involve destruction of human life.

I support the petition because the petitioners make the point that it is--

[Equilization Formula, February 5th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, during the last federal election the equalization formula was a major political issue in Atlantic Canada. The clawback allows the federal government to cream off 80% of all provincial revenues that we get from new resource development.

For too long Atlantic Canadians have been hewers of wood and drawers of water in our own nation, in exchange for the half a loaf that we call equalization. In Newfoundland and Labrador today the Hibernia and Terra Nova oilfields are up and running and the White Rose oil development will be our next project.

These days Atlantic Canadians may be pumping oil but as long as the lion's share of the financial benefits ends up in Ottawa we are no better off than we were before we started these projects. It is time the Liberals stopped talking about the equalization clawback and actually did something about it.

[Human Rights, February 1st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to draw to the attention of the House the plight of a pregnant Nigerian mother of five children, Safiya Husseini, who has been condemned to death by stoning for having committed adultery. The man responsible for the pregnancy has been released without penalty because under Islamic shariah law practised in parts of Nigeria there must be four eyewitnesses to the act before he can be convicted of either adultery or rape.

Nigeria is a signatory to the UN convention against cruel or inhumane punishment. Surely being stoned to death for adultery is cruel and inhumane in the extreme.

I call upon the Government of Canada to intervene in the matter and make it clear to the government of Nigeria that such barbarity will not be condoned by the civilized world.