Claude Gravelle

[Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act, January 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, several years ago, a private company that I used to work for allowed certain employees to withdraw their pension funds and invest them into the stock market or wherever they wanted to. That was a lot like what the Conservative government wants to do today with this PRPP, invest money in the stock market. It was a substantial amount, several hundred thousands of dollars.

The stock market goes up and down and in the employee's case the stock market went down and he lost all of his investment. Today, at the age of 63 or 64, this former employee with a big pension is now working, not because he wants to but because he has to.

My question is for the member for Prince Albert. Why do the Conservatives-Reformists enjoy watching seniors live in poverty?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2012]

With regard to health effects of Northern Alberta oil sands: (a) what are the cancer rates for citizens living in communities that are in close proximity to the Northern Alberta oil sands and its tailings ponds; (b) what impact does living in close proximity to the Northern Alberta oil sands and its tailings ponds have on the health of those Canadians; (c) what are the cancer rates for citizens working in the Northern Alberta oil sands; (d) what impact does working in the Northern Alberta oil sands have on the health of those citizens; (e) what are the titles of the studies or reports done by or on behalf of the government on the subject of the health effects of living in close proximity to the Northern Alberta oil sands and its tailings ponds; (f) what are the titles of the studies or reports done by or on behalf of the government that cover, in whole or in part, the subject of the effects of oil sands extraction and tailings ponds on wildlife in close proximity to the Northern Alberta oil sands and its tailings ponds; (g) what information does the government have about the risk or incidences of tailing ponds leakage into the Athabasca river; (h) how much tailing ponds leakage into the Athabasca river has been reported to the government, recorded by year; (i) what are the effects of tailing ponds leakage into the Athabasca river on communities downstream; (j) what are the effects of tailing ponds leakage into the Athabasca river on fish in the river and surrounding wildlife; (k) what steps has the government taken to ensure tailing ponds leakage into the Athabasca river has been mitigated; (l) for those living in close proximity of the Northern Alberta oil sands, what is the anticipated impact of future developments on (i) health, (ii) economic development, (iii) environment, (iv) water supplies, (v) the Athabasca River, (vi) infrastructure; and (m) what are the titles of the studies or reports done by or on behalf of the government that cover, in whole or in part, the subject of anticipated impact of future developments of the Northern Alberta oil sands?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2012]

With regard to abandoned oil wells: (a) what is the government's position on the reclamation of abandoned oil wells in Canada; (b) how many abandoned oil wells exist in Canada and where are they located; (c) how many abandoned oil wells have been reclaimed since 2000 by year, broken down by location, date of reclamation and cost of reclamation per well; (d) what is the estimated cost to secure and reclaim all outstanding abandoned oil wells; (e) what oversights are in place to ensure Canadians are not negatively impacted by these abandoned oil wells; (f) what are the titles of the studies or reports done by or on behalf of the government that cover, in whole or in part, the subject of abandoned oil wells in Canada; and (g) which federal or provincial agencies are responsible for covering the costs of well reclamation?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2012]

With regard to Canadian mining companies: (a) what is the government's position on the use of leach mining in Canada and internationally; (b) have the impacts of leach mining on adjacent communities been studied and, if so, what are the titles of the documents of these studies; (c) what is the government's position on the use of private security firms by Canadian mining companies internationally; (d) what countries has the government, directly or through foreign representation, been actively lobbying or encouraging to lower royalties and taxes on foreign mining companies; (e) has the government been tracking what companies have outstanding taxes or debts owed to foreign countries and, if so, how much do these companies owe foreign countries by company, country, type of debt, amount of debt; (f) what is the government's position on conflicts between Canadian mining companies and indigenous peoples in Canada and internationally; (g) what is the government's position on the displacement of indigenous peoples and Canadian mining companies internationally; (h) what is the government's position on the contamination of water supplies by Canadian mining companies internationally; and (i) what is the government's position on making the corporate social responsibility framework for mining companies mandatory instead of voluntary?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, January 30th, 2012]

With regard to asbestos removal in federally-owned buildings: (a) what is the total amount spent on removal by (i) year, (ii) department or agency, (iii) building or site, (iv) province; (b) what is the total amount of asbestos removed by (i) year, (ii) department or agency, (iii) building or site, (iv) province; (c) what current asbestos removal projects are underway; (d) what are the expected removals for the next ten years by (i) year, (ii) department or agency, (iii) building or site, (iv) province; (e) which department is the lead for asbestos projects; and (f) what are the remaining federal buildings with asbestos by (i) building or site, (ii) province?

[Sudbury Steelworkers Hall, January 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, four years after a tragic fire destroyed a vital part of Sudbury's history, a new Sudbury Steelworkers Hall has risen from the ashes.

Last week, I joined community and labour leaders for the grand opening of the state of the art Sudbury Steelworkers Hall. Its two halls, three classrooms and offices are now home to Local 6500. What we did at 92 Frood Road will continue at 66 Brady Street: labour schools, nomination meetings, weddings, community celebrations and charity work.

Present Thursday was Sudbury native Leo Gerard, now international president for the Steelworkers. Leo stood in the new hall, named after him, to remind us of our history. He said one of the things that always made him love his union was that it never saw itself as just a collective bargaining tool. Leo said, “We saw ourselves as an instrument of social and economic justice for our members and for our community. And we fought for the things that mattered for working people”.

Congratulations go out to Leo, president Rick Bertrand and executive members of Local 6500. Good job.

[Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act, December 15th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to make one thing very clear: I am not a lawyer and I am not going to pretend that I am a lawyer. We have enough members in here already who are pretending to be lawyers.

As to the threat of violence, I would feel threatened if a much bigger person came along and threatened me. That is normal. However, I think we should leave that to the experts. That is why I said in my speech that we would consult with the experts. We should consult with lawyers and also with victims.

[Citizen's Arrest and Self-defence Act, December 15th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, as this is the last occasion I am going to have to speak in the House before the break, I would like to wish you, the pages, my colleagues at both ends of the House and on the other side of the House a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

I would like to wish the people of Nickel Belt a very merry Christmas and happy new year.

I would like to summarize Bill C-26. Bill C-26 amends subsection 494(2) of the Criminal Code dealing with citizen's arrest to provide greater flexibility. The changes would permit citizen's arrest without a warrant within a reasonable period. The key words are “reasonable period”. Currently subsection 494(2) requires a citizen's arrest to occur while the offence is being committed. Sometimes that is impossible.

Bill C-26 also includes changes to the sections of the Criminal Code related to self-defence and defence of property. According to the government, these changes would bring much needed reforms to simplify the complex Criminal Code provisions on self-defence and defence of property. They would also clarify where reasonable use of force is permitted.

Since half of the bill proposes measures that the NDP member for Trinity—Spadina had previously called for, it follows that we would support this bill at least at second reading. This part of the bill amends subsection 494(2) of the Criminal Code dealing with citizen's arrest to permit arrest without warrants within a reasonable period. Again there is that term “a reasonable period”.

The other half of the bill seeks to clarify sections of the Criminal Code pertaining to self-defence and defence of property. We support in principle improving language in legislation for the purpose of clarity, especially since the courts have indicated a problem with the lack of clarity. Further study will be needed to see if the bill does in fact clarify these sections, and the consequences of the clarifications are acceptable to us. This is the type of work we can do at committee stage.

Also, we would not be supportive of anything that would encourage vigilante justice or that would encourage people to put their own personal safety at risk. While that does not appear to be the purpose of this bill, we understand there are concerns about these matters in relation to citizen's arrest, self-defence and defence of property. Again, this is why we need to carefully study this bill at the committee stage.

I will provide some background on this bill. On May 23, 2009, David Chen, owner of the Lucky Moose Food Mart in Toronto, apprehended a man, Anthony Bennett, who had stolen from his store. Bennett was initially caught on security footage stealing from the store, and he returned an hour later. At that time, Chen, who was 36, and two employees tied up the man and locked him in the back of a delivery van.

When the police arrived, they charged Chen with kidnapping. It is hard to believe, but that is what they did. He was charged with kidnapping, carrying a dangerous weapon, a box cutter which most grocery store workers would normally have on their person, assault and forcible confinement.

Most of the members who have spoken today have talked about an event that has happened to them personally. I would like to relate one of my own experiences. Someone stole two items from my shed. One of those items was my toolbox. I am not Tim the tool man by any stretch of the imagination, but I like to put up things in my house and to do some work. One of the jobs that I hate the most, and I do not know why I hate it, is putting up curtains.

When I went to my shed to get my power tools to put up curtains for my wife, my drill was gone. That could be good and that could be bad. It could be devastating because I had lost my power tool, but it could also be good because I hate putting up curtains. There is give and take. In this case I was kind of relieved, because I really do not like putting up curtains.

The other thing that was stolen was my golf bag. That can be devastating. I do not get the chance to golf very much any more, but I am sure everyone can imagine how I felt when I noticed that my golf bag was gone. That can hurt, especially when the golf clubs are in the bag. That is really bad, especially when it is 75° on a Saturday morning and my chums are going golfing and my golf bag and clubs are gone. That can be really painful, more painful than losing the power tools, although golf clubs are a tool also, a tool for enjoyment.

Returning to the case of Mr. Chen, the crown prosecutors dropped the kidnapping and weapons charges but proceeded with the charges of forceable confinement and assault.

According to the Criminal Code as it is currently written, a property owner can only make a citizen's arrest when the alleged wrongdoer is caught in the act.

In some cases that is okay, if it is a Walmart store, where there are security guards who can arrest people. However, the owners of corner stores cannot afford security guards. If they see somebody stealing their property, they have to take action.

On October 29, 2010, Mr. Chen and his two co-accused were found not guiltily of the charges of forceable confinement and assault. Anthony Bennett pleaded guilty in August 2009 to stealing from the store and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, and rightfully so.

That case caused a lot of controversy. Some of it had to do with whether there was sufficient policing in the area.

My riding of Nickel Belt is huge. To go from Foleyet which is in the west to Garden Village which is in the east could take seven hours, and to go from Killarney in the south to Capreol in the north could take another four or five hours. We do not have policemen readily available 24/7, although we do have a fine police station and police officers. Because the territory is so big, it is difficult for a police officer to be at the scene of a crime within a few minutes. We have to take that into consideration.

I have only one minute left, so I will conclude by saying that we will support the bill at second reading. We want it to have careful consideration, which is code for not rushing it through. We want to hear from people who have practised criminal law. We want to hear from experts from the Department of Justice, the Canadian Bar Association and others. We need to examine the bill very carefully. Also, we should rely not just on ourselves but on the expertise of people who have analyzed these provisions, studied all the cases, and who can help us ensure that we are doing the right thing.

Having said that, we will support the bill at second reading, but we want it to be given extremely careful consideration at committee.

[Fair Representation Act, December 13th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the minister made reference to “fair for all Canadians” several times during his speech. Given the fact that northern Ontario is bigger than most Canadian provinces, and that most ridings are bigger than most European countries, will the minister commit here today to not removing a seat from northern Ontario to give its people, as the minister said, fair representation for all Canadians?

[Petitions, December 13th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present this petition today from dozens of people in places like St. Charles, Chandler, Sturgeon Falls and West Arm and a lot of senior citizens in my community who live in rural areas. The petitioners are seniors and property owners of mobile homes.

It is public policy for the Government of Canada to assure that all Canadians have access to modern communications technology. The petitioners call upon the House of Commons and Parliament to petition Bell Canada to bring telephone services to their community and to petition the CRTC to use its good offices to apprise Bell Canada of its obligations to Canadians and, specifically, to Canadians who live in rural areas.