Chris Charlton

[Manufacturing Industry, May 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, in less than 15 minutes American owned Hamilton Specialty Bar will be closing its doors for the final time. At the same time, the Hamilton port will receive and unload imported steel instead of Canadian steel being ready for export.

Liberal and Conservative governments have done nothing to save the over 11,000 manufacturing jobs lost in Hamilton or the over 250,000 jobs lost nationwide.

When will the government recognize that the crisis in the manufacturing sector is real and work with labour and business to develop a meaningful industrial strategy, protect jobs during foreign takeovers and create fair trade?

[Petitions, May 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition today with over 2,000 signatures primarily in support of making necessary changes to the Old Age Security Act.

Presently the Old Age Security Act requires a person to reside in Canada for 10 years before she or he is entitled to receive a monthly pension. Although the OAS program is intended to be universal and to act as the cornerstone of Canada's retirement income system, this residency requirement effectively excludes many seniors from its benefits, especially new Canadians.

Therefore, the petitioners ask that the 10 year residency requirement be eliminated and that other programs to assist seniors receive more appropriate government funding.

I am pleased to table this petition on their behalf.

[Oil and Gas Ombudsman Act, May 15th, 2007]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-442, An Act to establish the Office of the Oil and Gas Ombudsman to investigate complaints relating to the business practices of suppliers of oil or gas.

Mr. Speaker, it is my great privilege today to introduce this bill on behalf of irate consumers who are tired of getting hosed at the pumps.

My bill creates an office of the oil and gas ombudsman that would be charged with providing strong and effective consumer protection to make sure that no big business could swindle, cheat or rip off hard-working Canadians. I am pleased to report that the bill has been endorsed by the Consumers' Association of Canada.

We all learned last week that gas companies have been overcharging consumers between 15¢ and 27¢ per litre. It is not fair and it is not right. It just does not pass the nod test that on long weekends prices go through the roof, or that companies' prices climb in the same direction at the same speed on the same day.

Currently, people can only complain to each other about being gouged at the pumps. My bill creates a meaningful vehicle for having those complaints taken seriously with mechanisms for investigation and remediation to help consumers fight the squeeze.

Since this is not just an issue in my riding of Hamilton Mountain, I am pleased to have my bill seconded by the member for Windsor West. I am hopeful that members from all regions of this country and indeed from all political parties will endorse my efforts to put an end to highway robbery.

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

[Petitions, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table another petition today that arises out of my national campaign to fight for fairness for ordinary Canadians, and in particular, for seniors who were short-changed by their government as a result of an error in calculating the rate of inflation. The government has acknowledged the mistake made by Statistics Canada, but is refusing to take any remedial action.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to take full responsibility for this error, which negatively impacted their incomes from 2001 until 2006, and take the required steps to repay every Canadian who has been short-changed by a government program because of the miscalculation of the CPI.

The petitions are signed by hundreds of people from Nova Scotia and Ontario, including an overwhelming number of seniors at Saint Elizabeth Village in my riding of Hamilton Mountain. The petitioners are people who have worked hard all their lives, who have played by the rules, and now are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. All that the petitioners are asking for is a little bit of fairness from their government. It is my great privilege to table this petition on their behalf.

[Petitions, May 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present two more petitions, both of which were circulated by members and supporters of the building trades. The petitioners are from Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

Building trades across the country have lobbied successive governments for over 30 years to achieve some basic fairness for their members. They want tradespersons and indentured apprentices to be able to deduct travel and accommodation expenses from their taxable incomes so that they can secure and maintain employment at construction sites that are more than 80 kilometres from their homes. It makes no sense for tradespersons to be out of work in one area of the country while another region suffers from temporary skilled trade shortages simply because the cost of travelling is too high. To that end, they have gathered hundreds of signatures in support of my bill, Bill C-390, which would allow for precisely the kind of deductions that their members have been asking for.

I am pleased to table these petitions on their behalf and share their disappointment that this item was not addressed in the government's budget in March.

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard from a lot of people in my community of Hamilton Mountain about this bill and many share the government's desire to raise the age of consent. I am pleased to put those views on the record here. They, of course, are motivated by a desire to keep their children safe, particularly from exploitative relationships.

However, given that motivation, they are also really concerned because obviously they understand that no matter what we do in this chamber some kids will be having sexual relationships with people more than five years older than them, which at times will put them at risk, particularly with respect to their sexual health.

I wonder if the government has given any thought at all to amending the Evidence Act so that when those teens seek medical attention for sexual health issues, they will be able to seek that without fear of putting their partners in jeopardy, which might be something that would actually prevent them from seeking the medical attention they may desperately need.

[Petitions, May 3rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions today, both of which call on this House to adopt the NDP's Bill C-394, the once in a lifetime bill.

These petitions were circulated in Hamilton and Brantford, although the vast majority of the petitioners live in my riding of Hamilton Mountain.

All the petitioners agree that family reunification must be a key component of a fair immigration policy. The current family class rules, as we all know, are too restrictive and mean that too many close relatives cannot become eligible to come to Canada.

The petitioners are asking Parliament to pass Bill C-394 so Canadian citizens and landed immigrants are given the once in a lifetime opportunity to sponsor a family member from outside the current family class as it is currently defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act so they may be reunited with loved ones from around the world.

It has been my privilege to work closely with the diverse communities of Hamilton to bring this petition forward on their behalf today.

[Petitions, May 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with another bill that I had the privilege of seconding last year, Bill C-275. The petitioners share my belief that taxes on feminine hygiene products are discriminatory. Charging GST on feminine hygiene products clearly affects women only. It unfairly disadvantages women financially solely because of our reproductive role.

The petitioners know that this would benefit all Canadian women at some point in their lives and would be of particular value to women with lower incomes. If a proper, gender-based analysis had been done when the GST was introduced, this discriminatory aspect of the tax would never have been implemented. The petitioners urge Parliament to remove the tampon tax by giving speedy passage to Bill C-275.

[Petitions, May 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions today on behalf of my constituents of Hamilton Mountain. The first petition is especially timely, as I had the opportunity on Saturday to participate in the regional spelling bee organized by the Afro-Canadian Caribbean Association in my hometown of Hamilton.

The petitioners are in support of a bill I had the privilege of seconding last year, Bill C-276, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (literacy materials), which was brought forward by my good friend the NDP finance critic and member for Winnipeg North. The petitioners share our belief that literacy is a necessity and therefore must not be subject to taxes.

In our knowledge-based economy, the bar is constantly being raised higher on the basis of skills needed to access decent jobs, to function in daily tasks, and to participate in social and political life. Despite our technical sophistication, nearly 50% of Canadians still have difficulty working with words and numbers. It is in everyone's interest to raise Canadian literacy rates. For many Canadians, the added cost of the GST can be a real impediment. There are far too many barriers to literacy already.

The petitioners point out that removing the GST on books and audiovisual materials for literacy training in fact complements existing tax relief given to organizations that conduct literacy work. They call on Parliament to immediately pass Bill C-276.

[Petitions, April 25th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table three petitions today that arise out of my national campaign to fight for fairness for ordinary Canadians, in particular for seniors who were shortchanged by their government as a result of an error in calculating the rate of inflation.

The government has acknowledged the mistake made by Statistics Canada, but is refusing to take any remedial action.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to take full responsibility for this error, which negatively impacted their incomes from 2001 to 2006, and take the required steps to repay every Canadian who has been shortchanged by a government program because of the miscalculation of the CPI.

The petitions are signed by hundreds of people in Nova Scotia and Quebec. The petitioners are people who have worked hard all their lives, played by the rules and now find it harder and harder to make ends meet. All the petitioners are asking for is a little fairness.

It is a privilege to table this petition on their behalf.