John Solomon

[Petitions, October 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from constituents and other Canadians who are unhappy with the Liberal feel good legislation that has done nothing to protect our communities from criminals.

The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to prevent persons convicted of serious crimes from being released from custody pending the hearing of their appeal except in exceptional circumstances.

They are also calling upon the government to spend a bit more money on securing our communities by sinking more cash into both the RCMP and local police forces.

[Petitions, October 18th, 2000]

Pursuant to Standing Order 36, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition from many Canadians.

These people are very unhappy with the Liberal cuts to health care. They are unhappy with the $30 billion we have lost in health care funding from the federal government. They are especially unhappy with the $700 million in lost revenue at the federal level in Saskatchewan. They are opposed to the Liberals and the Alliance driving our health care system toward the American style privatized system.

The petitioners are asking parliament to stop for profit hospitals and restore federal funding of health care, to increase the federal government's share of health care funding to 25% immediately, and to implement national prescription drug and home care programs.

[Petitions, October 16th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, my second and final petition is related to crime.

The criminal code has not been amended by the Liberal government to defend our defenceless citizens from crime. They are asking the House of Commons to amend the criminal code to prevent persons convicted of serious crimes from being released from custody pending the hearing of their appeal, except in exceptional circumstances. This is in response to the fact that they believe it is too easy for convicted people to get out of their five year sentences and so on.

[Petitions, October 16th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of many Canadians who are very concerned about the broken Liberal promises. The Liberals in the last couple of elections promised national programs for home care and prescription drugs. They promised to adequately fund health care.

The petitioners are very unhappy with the Liberals for having choked health care to the point where they are asking parliament to stop now the fourth plank of the Liberal platform to privatize hospitals and to set up a two tier health care system.

They are asking for a restoration of federal funding. They are asking the federal government to immediately implement a national home care program and a national program for prescription drugs.

[Petitions, October 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition to present from Canadians in British Columbia and other parts of the country. They are very concerned about the lack of an action plan by the federal government with respect to an energy defence system.

We need an energy action plan to defend our economy. The Americans have one, and the Canadian government has refused to defend consumers, farmers and small businesses from the price gouging of the vertically integrated oil companies.

They are asking parliament to establish an energy price commission which will hold the oil companies accountable for their price increases.

[Petitions, October 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of many Canadians who are very concerned about the Liberal cutbacks to health care of $30 billion over the past six years.

They are also unhappy with the fact that the current Liberal budget only gives two cents to health care for every $1 in tax cuts. Health care is in a shambles in the country, thanks to the Liberals who are urged on by the Canadian Alliance.

The petitioners are asking the Government of Canada to restore health care funding immediately, not five years from now. They are also asking to stop the for profit hospitals.

[Saskatchewan, October 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard this song before. In 1982 Saskatchewan voters elected a youthful, athletic sloganeer named Grant Devine on promises from his right wing political alliance to cut taxes for the rich and still somehow improve services like health care and education.

What was the result? Nine years later our taxes have doubled and our services have been gutted. The free dental plan for children and the prescription drug plan that covered every resident of the province have been wiped out. Medicare is in shambles. The alliance also left the people of Saskatchewan carrying a debt of $15,000 for every man, woman and child.

Those conservative alliance people in Saskatchewan left a 60 year mortgage for working people and farmers. They milked them dry to pay for a one time tax party for the rich. Those same people in Saskatchewan are now part of the Canadian conservative reform alliance. Their policies nearly ruined Saskatchewan. Canadians should not be tricked into believing they will work for Canada. We should remember the lessons of history so we do not get fooled again.

[Canada Health Care, Early Childhood Development And Other Social Services Funding Act, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate the leader of the Conservative Party on his election.

I also make reference to the fact that the member for Kings—Hants talked about the Liberal legacy. I would like to ask a question of the leader of the Conservative Party about the Conservative legacy. In particular, under the Conservative government Bill C-91 was passed, the drug patent legislation, which provided 20 year monopoly pricing authority for pharmaceuticals with regard to prescription drugs.

The Liberals promised to repeal that if they got elected in 1993. In fact they did not repeal it. They enhanced it and we have therefore seen the cost of health care increase substantially due to the fact that prescription drugs costs have increased substantially.

Will the leader of the Conservative Party now stand in the House and refute the legacy of the Conservative government when it passed Bill C-91 and support the repealing of Bill C-91?

[Petitions, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present pursuant to Standing Order 36 a petition signed by Canadian citizens from Edmonton, Leduc, Stony Plain, Fredericton, New Brunswick, from my constituency of Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre and from other parts of the country.

This petition is being presented today in light of the fact that the CBC has been gutted by the Liberal government. It has taken over $400 million per year from the CBC and actually is helping to destroy the national fabric of our country. The petitioners ask parliament and the Liberal government to reconsider this shortsightedness and to restore adequate funding to the CBC to allow the maintenance and improvement of current local television news while improving the network for all Canadians.

[Petitions, October 4th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, my second petition, which I am introducing in the House of Commons on behalf of many petitioners across Canada, is in light of the fact that there have been cuts of $400 million to the CBC, which has caused thousands of layoffs. It amounts to one of the largest cuts made by the Liberal government to any agency while it has been in power since 1993.

They are asking the House of Commons and parliament to take measures to restore adequate funding to the CBC to allow maintenance of and improvements to current local television news while improving the network for all Canadians.