Christian Ouellet

[Petitions, November 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a petition today. I would like to thank the member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, who gave me this petition from the Chicoutimi homeless shelter. The petition includes 428 signatures.

In this petition, the Chicoutimi homeless shelter is asking the government to renew the national homelessness initiative immediately—including the SCIPI and the RHF—and to make it permanent and increase its funding. The petitioners say that these programs help underprivileged people and respond to real needs. They help many people in various organizations and create a number of jobs in the community. The petitioners say that the programs have created 25 jobs. The money really helps the homeless and I am pleased to table this 428 signature petition.

[Criminal Code, October 31st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my colleague from Hochelaga for his clear and enthusiastic presentation.

The current government seems unwilling to correct deficiencies in the Criminal Code. Rather, it is trying to determine exactly what all judges should do and how everything should be organized so that no person who commits a major offence will ever be allowed out of prison.

My question for my colleague is this: Does he think that, in a case like this one, the government—the legislative branch—should replace the judicial branch? It wants to replace judges. It wants to codify everything and render judges obsolete.

If this is so, I would like my hon. colleague to explain whether this is because this government does not trust judges it did not appoint.

[Criminal Code, October 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague from Joliette for his excellent presentation. I just want to ask him how, in committee, he intends to defend cases that will come up that I consider to be marginal?

As hon. members know, there was a case in England where a father sued a 19 year old woman for having sexual relations with his 13 and a half year old daughter. The age difference is five and a half years, not five years. However, this was not highly dangerous to society and the two girls were consenting. Unfortunately, the 19 year old was given a two year prison sentence.

Will the bill allow for such results, that are so difficult to understand and to accept in a society that does not necessarily provide enough prevention and education? I would like my colleague to tell us how, in committee, we will avoid such mistakes, because in my opinion this is a mistake. Will young people have to go around with their ID card in their pocket or their age on their forehead to show how old they are?

[Petitions, October 30th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am tabling three petitions calling for the National Homelessness Initiative, including the SCPI and the RHF, to be reinstated immediately, permanently, and with increased funding.

I have a petition with 341 names, for which I must thank my colleague from Drummond, from three different agencies: the Groupe de la Tablée populaire, the Carrefour d'Entraide Drummond and Ensoleilvent de Drummondville. These agencies all help homeless people by offering them community support locally. They are saying:

We are losing the services of two intervenors who provide service to more than 100 socially marginalized people daily; we cannot cover this financially.

They cannot carry on if the SCPI is not reinstated.

The second petition I am tabling is from the hon. member for Québec. The 102 signatures on this petition come from Évasion Saint-Pie X in Charlesbourg and the Comité logement d'aide aux locataires, two agencies that help homeless people by offering intervention in the field and by supporting the necessary prevention.

The third and final petition I am tabling—and I want to thank my colleague from Sherbrooke for it—has 57 signatures on it and comes from Accueil Poirier and the Grande Table in Sherbrooke. These agencies help homeless people by offering lodging services and soup kitchens.

[Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, October 26th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, last week, I met with groups that help the homeless in Magog, in my riding. They all agree that the plight of the homeless is worsening, not only in major centres, but in smaller cities as well.

The SCPI, which provides assistance for the homeless, will end on March 31, 2007, in 156 days. The minister in charge of this program has been in office for nine months now, and she still has not confirmed whether the program will be renewed. She remains deaf to the cries of the neediest members of our society.

How can the minister ask organizations that are helping thousands of people in need to plan all their services in less than five months? After nine months, she herself still cannot confirm whether the program will be renewed. She should enhance the SCPI and make it permanent, something the Bloc Québécois has long been calling for.

[Petitions, October 25th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present several petitions, including one that was given to me by the hon. member for Drummond. That petition, which was signed by 349 people, calls for the immediate renewal of the national homelessness initiative and the SCPI and RHF programs, and asks that they be made permanent and their funding increased.

These services provide post-shelter community support to young people, namely a stay in one of their inns. These rehabilitation and experimentation activities must absolutely continue.

I thank the hon. member for Gatineau, because the second petition comes from the organization Adojeune, in his riding. Adojeune is asking for the same thing, namely that the SCPI program be continued, otherwise it will be forced to stop providing urgent shelter to young people aged 14 to 17. This could create a huge hole in the services for teenagers who are homeless and at risk in that region.

Finally, I have petitions from Montreal. I thank the hon. members for Papineau, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, La Pointe-de-l'Île, Ahuntsic and Hochelaga. These petitions are also asking that the SCPI program be continued.

One of these petitions includes a very important message. It says that homelessness is a cause of death among our youth and that we cannot afford to lose even one young person. This is very important, considering that another petition tells us that the number of homeless people without a roof over their heads and without human dignity is increasing drastically.

The organizations that help the homeless must do with precarious budgets, while continuous action and recurring budgets are needed to effectively meet supportive care and rehabilitation needs for these people.

[Petitions, October 23rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Sherbrooke for the two petitions I am about to table. They urge the government to renew the national homelessness initiative, the SCPI and the RHF immediately, to make them permanent and to increase their funding.

The Chaudronnée's meal services and other support activities are essential and improve quality of life for the underprivileged. The first petition is from Chaudronnée de l'Estrie, which is a soup kitchen. One hundred and twenty-five people signed the petition.

The second petition, also from Sherbrooke, was signed by 200 people. It is from Accueil Poirier, a shelter for homeless men and women, and it says that the program is absolutely critical. It is their only source of funding to fight homelessness. Over a 30-month period, they sheltered 1684 people for a total of 8909 nights. They feel that this program should be renewed immediately.

[Committees of the House, October 23rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my hon. colleague if he has done the math to figure out how much the $4.6 million cut amounts to per year per taxpayer. It amounts to precisely 35¢ on the income tax account. That is right, 35¢ per year per taxpayer. That is not per day or per week, but per year. This goes to show how ridiculous it is to claim to be making cuts on behalf of the taxpayers.

Does my hon. colleague not think that this is just a beginning, that similar cuts will be made to the CBC, movies, everything cultural, that this is just the tip of the iceberg, a trial balloon? I would like him to comment on that.

[Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, October 23rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from York West for her excellent presentation.

I would like to ask her the following question. Given that, under this law, officials will be able to disclose information to other authorities, does the member not see that there should be a committee of judges or another type of filter so that information that could possibly ruin an individual's life is not disclosed to persons who do not necessarily understand their responsibilities or to certain people who could use the information to undermine another group?

It is possible to imagine that such practices could be used in the Canada of the future. According to the member, what type of filter would suffice in this case?

[Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, October 23rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I find the point of view of my colleague from Burlington to be very interesting. I have a question for him. I gather he thinks that information sharing is the best way to track terrorists' money. He was talking mostly about money laundering.

I would like him to explain how he plans to stop money from going through the tax haven? We can talk about a single tax haven since the former government kept one. How is he really going to eliminate this money that comes from tax havens or the tax haven? How will this legislation stop the money that passes through in containers?