John Solomon

[Public Service Staff Relations Act, June 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, New Democrats present this evening will be voting no on this matter.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

(Motion agreed to.)

[Public Service Staff Relations Act, June 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, members of the NDP on this motion vote no.

[Public Service Staff Relations Act, June 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, New Democrats present this evening will be voting yes on both motions.

(The House divided on Motion No. 1, which was negatived on the following division:)

[Criminal Code, June 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the New Democrats present this evening will vote yes on this matter.

[New Democratic Party, June 18th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the love affair between the media, the Liberals and big business continues. What Canadians want and need is not getting reported fairly by the media or acted on by the Liberals. Canadians need jobs, fair taxes and sensible social programs. The only party in Canada that fights for what Canadians need is the NDP.

Fortunately, ordinary Canadians are ignoring the big business message of the media and the Liberals, and even though the Liberals deny New Democrats full access to Parliament, more and more Canadians are listening to our message.

How do we know this? In Saskatchewan the NDP government was re-elected. In Manitoba the NDP leads the polls. In the recent Halifax byelection the NDP got 65 per cent of the vote. In B.C. the NDP government was re-elected. Last night in the Hamilton byelection the NDP finished a strong second with 26 per cent of the vote.

While the media prop up the Liberals who betray Canadians, more and more Canadians are ignoring both and voting for the party that is on their side, the NDP.

[Parliament Of Canada Act, June 13th, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-313, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (other pension income).

Mr. Speaker, my fourth and final bill this morning is an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (other pension income).

The purpose of this bill is to require all pension or retiring allowance payments received by a member of Parliament that are paid from public funds to be deducted from the member's sessional allowance. What this does is it eliminates the real double dipping.

Many members of Parliament receive pension funds from municipal, provincial or federal governments, boards, agencies, commissions, teachers' pensions and so on. They come to this House and talk about the salaries being too high. This will save the taxpayers a number of dollars because a number of members receive both public pension income and an MP's pension both of which are paid by the same taxpayer. My view is that this bill should be adopted to eliminate that as much as possible.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, June 13th, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-312, an act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act (money purchase pension).

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to once again introduce an act to amend the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, money purchase pension.

This bill addresses many concerns in Canada about the cost of members of Parliament pensions. It follows up on Saskatchewan's lead in 1979 when the Saskatchewan legislature pension plan was changed from a defined benefit to a defined contribution or money purchase. It will save Canadians about $7 million or $8 million a year. It will also provide a fair pension system for members of Parliament.

This sort of plan has been endorsed by the National Assistance Coalition and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. It will take effect as soon as the bill is passed.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Patent Act, June 13th, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-311, an act to amend to amend the Patent Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a bill entitled an act to amend the Patent Act. The bill will limit the life of patents for medicines to 17 years and allow for compulsory licences to be granted for the manufacture and sale of medicines after the original patentee has had the medicine approved for marketing for four years.

It also takes into account that the royalty rate is to take into account the amount of medical research carried out in Canada by the applicant and the patentee. There is a provision for refusal or deferral of licence if a patentee has been unusually delayed in commercializing a medicine.

In essence the bill addresses Bill C-91, which has caused prescription drugs to skyrocket in costs. It has affected our medical care system by driving up costs of hospital prescription drugs and

other drugs as well as to individual users. This will allow fairer competition with respect to prescription drugs in the marketplace.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Parliament Of Canada Act, June 13th, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-310, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (meetings of the Board of Internal Economy).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce an act to amend the Canada of Parliament Act, meetings of the Board of Internal Economy. As parliamentarians know, the Board of Internal Economy is a very secretive operation. The public is not allowed to attend meetings. These are very important meetings because decisions are taken by the board which cost taxpayers a lot of money and there is no transparency or accountability with respect to its decisions.

The purpose of the bill is to allow members with a particular interest to attend and take part in meetings of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons. The bill makes board meetings public with the exception of those devoted to certain specific topics. This follows up on many other jurisdictions in Canada which have made their boards of internal economy meetings public.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Food And Drugs Act, June 13th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. I have four private member's bills to introduce today. I was obviously not recognized. Could we revert to that before petitions?