House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 51% of the vote.
Petitions November 27th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from hundreds of folks from Simcoe, London, Port Dover, Cayuga, Delhi, Hamilton, and other communities in Ontario. It deals with animal cruelty legislation. They say Canadians are tired of hearing about animals being abused while their abusers walk free. They see a link between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans. They call upon the government to ensure the federal—
Petitions November 27th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I have two sets of petitions with hundreds of names from Hamilton and Brampton, Ontario, and Courtney and Comox, British Columbia. The petitioners are in support of my bill, Bill C-322, saying that horses are commonly administered drugs that are strictly prohibited from being used at any time in all other food processing animals destined for the human food supply and that they are being sold for human consumption in domestic and international markets.
They call on Parliament to adopt legislation based on Bill C-322 to amend the Health of Animals Act and the Meat Inspection Act, thus prohibiting the importation or exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption, as well as horse meat products for human consumption.
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns November 26th, 2013
With regard to the horse slaughter industry in Canada: (a) what was the reason for the temporary halt, initiated by European Union (EU) officials, to horse meat imports from Canada on October 12, 2012; (b) has Canada participated in talks with EU officials regarding the safety of horse meat from Canada since that time, (i) if so, what topics were discussed, (ii) what conclusions were reached; (c) what restrictions effective in 2013 will be imposed upon the Canadian horse meat industry by the EU, (i) what is the anticipated impact of these restrictions on the frequency and type of drug residue testing on horse meat in Canada as well as on the data required on Equine Information Documents (EIDs), (ii) will the restrictions on prohibited/non-permitted drugs be further tightened; (d) is there any oversight by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on transport drivers and horse meat dealers listed on EIDs as current owners to check for a history of violations of the United States Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Transport, or CFIA transport regulations, (i) does the CFIA enhance its scrutiny of such violators or conduct follow-up investigations on those who have been flagged for violations, (ii) is this information shared with any other inter-connected government agency either in Canada or in the United States; (e) how often do CFIA inspectors do a visual inspection of the transports that arrive at the slaughter plants to ensure that the horses have been transported safely; (f) how many transport violations concerning horse slaughter transportation have been issued to transport drivers within the last five years, (i) how many warnings of violations have been issued, (ii) if the warnings have been ignored, how does the CFIA restrict or prohibit those transport drivers from conducting business in Canada; (g) how often does the CFIA conduct inspections of feedlots and how many warnings or violations were imposed in the last five years because of these inspections; (h) in the last five years, how many times has the CFIA conducted audits of processes and procedures regarding the export shipments of live horses to foreign countries, (i) how many audit reports were prepared, (ii) how many warnings were issued to shippers; (i) how does the CFIA ensure that e-coli or the potential for e-coli is properly erased from horses and horse meat during and after the slaughter process; (j) how often are in-house video cameras scrutinized in plants and does the CFIA keep these videos to scrutinize at a later date, and how does the CFIA address inappropriate behaviour by slaughter plant personnel that may be uncovered in video recordings; (k) after conditions at Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation were revealed in 2011, were structural changes instituted at that slaughter facility and, if so, which ones, and were changes concerning the safe use of a rifle rather than captive bolt gun instituted and, if so, did the CFIA see a reduction in the number of horses regaining consciousness after switching from captive bolt gun to rifle; (l) what accountability measures are taken towards recorded owners of horses whose carcasses were condemned for reasons of disease, malnourishment or other abuse; (m) are the carcasses of horses that test positive for prohibited drugs used for rendering, and if not, how does the CFIA oversee the safe disposal of contaminated carcasses and ensure that condemned carcasses are not combined in any way with normal rendering; (n) how often does the CFIA inspect slaughter house feedlots and out buildings for dead or downer horses, (i) are there any reports kept by plant personnel regarding dead or downer horses, (ii) if so, does the CFIA inspect these reports at any time, (iii) how many dead or downer horses have been involved since January 1, 2010, and what were the circumstances surrounding these cases; (o) what protocols are in place to ensure that equine blood and other body fluids are being properly diverted from municipal town water systems; (p) does the CFIA conduct audits or oversee EIDs when obvious erroneous information is listed by the recorded owner and is the slaughter plant required to flag these EIDs for scrutiny by the CFIA when there are obvious or deliberate errors or omissions; (q) what do slaughterhouses do with registration papers that may accompany thoroughbreds, standardbreds, quarter horses or other breeds to slaughter facilities; (r) does the CFIA compile statistics on breeds that are most likely to have been administered prohibited drugs; (s) what are the “animal well-being program” and “program to monitor animal slaughter” mentioned in the response to written question Q-714 on September 17, 2012, and what results have been seen from the use of these programs; (t) are horse slaughter facilities checking with ID scanners for microchips, (i) if not, does the CFIA plan to implement a microchip ID program and if so, when is the deadline for its implementation; (u) has a database been developed for Equine Information Documents and who is responsible for oversight and maintenance of the database; and (v) how many horse fatalities and serious injuries have occurred during loading or air transport of slaughter horses to Japan and any other countries, between January 1, 2008, and April 1, 2013, (i) what reasons were recorded for the fatalities or injuries, (ii) how was each case resolved?
Petitions October 31st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, my second petition is a set of hundreds of petitions that add to the thousands already in support of my Bill C-322 and the fact that horses are ordinarily kept and treated as sport and companion animals, are not raised as food-processing animals, and are given strictly prohibited drugs throughout the course of their lifetimes.
The petitioners are calling upon Parliament to amend the Health of Animals Act and Meat Inspection Act and to prohibit the importation or exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption as well as horsemeat products for human consumption.
Petitions October 31st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition on genetically modified alfalfa from residents of Castlegar, Argenta, Grand Forks, Kaslo, Nelson, and the Slocan Valley. The petitioners are concerned about the fact that this has been approved for release in Canada. If genetically modified alfalfa is released, it will be a devastating hit to organic and conventional farmers because of cross-pollution. Therefore, they call upon the government to institute a moratorium on the release of genetically modified alfalfa.
Petitions October 30th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the second series of petitions deals with my Bill C-322. Folks are saying that because horses are commonly administered drugs that are strictly prohibited from being used, at any time, in all other food processing of animals destined for human supply, and because horsemeat products generally being sold for human consumption in domestic and international markets are likely to contain these prohibited substances, they call upon the government to enact Bill C-322, which would prohibit the importation or exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption as well as of horsemeat products for human consumption.
Petitions October 30th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions. The first deals with my Bill C-257, on mandatory labelling for genetically modified foods. The petitioners are saying that genetically engineered food labelling is already compulsory in many countries and is known to be both practical and useful. They call upon Parliament to enact Bill C-257 to require mandatory labelling of all food in which the presence of genetically modified ingredients can be detected.
Petitions October 21st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I have a second petition that contains hundreds of signatures from people in Victoria and Greater Vancouver, B.C., as well as parts of Ontario.
People are getting tired of hearing about animals being abused while their abusers walk free. The link between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans has long been documented. Better protection of animals would also serve to protect humans in the long run.
The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to work with the provinces to ensure that federal and provincial laws are constructed and enforced and will ensure that those responsible for abusing, neglecting, torturing or otherwise harming animals are held appropriately accountable.
Petitions October 21st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I have well over 1,000 names of petitioners from the Slocan Valley, Grand Forks and Nelson in my riding as well as other parts of B.C., Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and Alberta, who are concerned about what they call aerial spraying or chemtrails. They say that aerial spraying is being carried out by aerial entities at high altitudes that create long-lasting plumes. They do not act as traditional aircraft condensation trails. This is being carried out without the knowledge of the people of Canada.
The petitioners call upon the government to fully inform the people of Canada about this aerial activity occurring at high skies and to explain why it is taking place and also to cease this activity forthwith.
Genetically Modified Alfalfa October 21st, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Union of B.C. Municipalities for passing a motion to make B.C. a GE-free area with respect to all plants and animals. This is a very important statement, especially when it concerns the potential release into the environment of GE alfalfa or GE Arctic Apple.
The so-called “coexistence plan” for alfalfa is currently being developed to pave the way for Forage Genetics International to sell genetically modified alfalfa in Canada. Coexistence does not work and GE alfalfa will contaminate other crops. A farmer's export alfalfa shipment in Washington state was rejected for this reason. Alfalfa is used as a pasture and hay for animal feed as well as for nitrogen fixation in the soil. It is also manufactured into pellets for export.
The livelihood of both organic and conventional farmers is under threat. I urge the federal government to respect the wishes of B.C. municipalities and farmers across Canada and prohibit the release of GE alfalfa in our country.