David Sweet

[Petitions, September 26th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have one petition from citizens who are calling upon the Government of Canada to issue an invitation for all states to gather in Canada to begin discussions needed for a global legal ban on nuclear weapons.

[Petitions, September 26th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions from citizens who have serious concerns about the 400-year-old definition of when life begins and they ask the Parliament of Canada to take action to protect all human beings.

[Scleroderma Awareness Month, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the month of June holds a special place in my heart as it does for many Canadians, because it is Scleroderma Awareness Month. My mother suffered from scleroderma and eventually passed away from complications of this painful disease.

Scleroderma is a chronic, often progressive autoimmune disease, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis, in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. Unfortunately, scleroderma afflicts women three times more often than men.

I am proud that the government has invested almost $1.5 million through a CIHR grant for the Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network and in doing so has recognized the ground-breaking work of this team.

It was with great emotion and fond memories of my mother that I joined hundreds of walkers a couple of Saturdays ago in Hamilton, Ontario, for the 12th annual walk in the park for scleroderma.

Funds raised support the search for a cure, a day that cannot come too soon.

[Foreign Affairs, June 13th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canada strongly condemns the attacks Sunday on churches in Plateau and Borno states, Nigeria, where at least six people were killed and many more were injured. The terrorist group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for both attacks. We are deeply saddened to see that Nigerians gathering to practise their faith have again become the target of terrorist acts.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs recently met with his Nigerian counterpart to reaffirm that Canada stands in solidarity with the government and people of Nigeria in their fight against terrorism. Canada urges all people in Nigeria to work with the Nigerian government to counter extremism and terrorism, and bring to justice those responsible for these reprehensible crimes.

Last, we pray for the safety of all innocent Nigerian women, men and children. God bless Nigeria and God bless Canada.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 12th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, on that same point, around old age security, it is a good news story. People are living longer. That is good news. People are enjoying life more. With our good quality health care, they are able to enjoy being fit and with vigour.

I want to ask my colleague a question regarding some of the other initiatives we have taken that he did not get a chance to mention because his time was limited. We have raised the personal exemption several times, so seniors benefit from that. We have raised the age exemption several times, so seniors benefit from that. We have introduced pension splitting for seniors, so they benefit from that. We have enriched the GIS, so seniors benefit from that.

Does he feel, in balance with the OAS initiatives that we are taking, that seniors are better off now after six years of Conservative government?

[Justice, June 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, human trafficking is a despicable crime that preys on the most vulnerable members of our society. Experts estimate that up to 15,000 men, women and children in Canada are victims of human trafficking and such victimization has happened in the very riding I represent.

It is our Conservative government, led by the member for Kildonan—St. Paul, who took action to ensure that those who engage in this sort of criminal activity face serious jail time. However, there is much more work that needs to be done.

Could the Minister of Public Safety please comment on what our government is doing to combat human trafficking?

[Situation in Syria, June 5th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, if my hon. colleague thinks that if Rights & Democracy had been around it would have prevented this from happening, she has another thing coming. If my hon. colleague thinks that Rights & Democracy ever had a mandate to intervene in a catastrophic situation, she has another thing coming. This whole notion that Rights & Democracy plays into this situation at all is absurd.

We are debating a very serious situation, a catastrophic event that continues to unfold and is victimizing the Syrian people. Bringing a partisan argument into this is more than foolish. It would be better left unsaid.

[Situation in Syria, June 5th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, my colleague was so eloquent, I do not know if I could add anything that would actually increase the eloquence or veracity of his statement.

If I look at the six points—to commit to work with the envoy, to commit to stop fighting and achieve urgently an effective United Nations supervised cessation, ensure the timely provision of humanitarian assistance, intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons, ensure freedom of movement, and respect freedom of association—he is absolutely correct that none of these have been complied with in any way, shape or form.

As for his comment regarding Russia wanting to be on the right side of history, I would hope that every nation would want to be on the right side of history in this regard and would do everything possible. As my hon. colleague said, the one plan we have, the one road map, the one thing we can all agree on, that if we follow this plan we will end up with a cessation of violence and a path forward to a democratic nation, is the Annan plan, the six-point plan. This is certainly where Canada and all of its partners want to try to influence the Assad regime to end up at and I hope that would be the case with Russia as well in the near future.

[Situation in Syria, June 5th, 2012]

Mr. Chair, there are three countries that have serious influence in Damascus. One was mentioned earlier and that was Iran. It would be hopeless to think that Iran would do anything positive in this regard.

There is one motivation for Russia to act appropriately in this case. If it wants to establish itself as a real world leader, as a legitimate superpower, then it has to act accordingly. It needs to demonstrate that it can do this on an occasion like this where there is serious bloodshed. As I mentioned in my speech, unfortunately the next stage looks like it could be complete anarchy and civil war. Russia needs to step up to the plate and really assert all of the influence that it has to have Assad step aside.

As far as the responsibility to protect is concerned, whether it is the Arab League or any other nation, I like everybody else hope that there can be a diplomatic solution to this. In these cases we hate to think about the other options. However, if the killing continues, I am certain many people will be trying to think of other options of intervention to make sure that the killing stops.

[Situation in Syria, June 5th, 2012]

Madam Chair, what would be optimistic is if Russia and China would join the rest of the UN Security Council and would not only condemn the actions of the Assad regime but would also, as I mentioned in my speech, take action to ensure that binding sanctions are placed upon him and also, rather than make a public statement, exert their influence upon that regime so al-Assad would step aside.

That is really going to be what encourages people, to show that there is some sincere effort being made to end this crisis. The Syrian people need it to happen today. There has been enough death and violence, as I mentioned, not only to the general population but to children as well. It boggles my mind that a regime would not only kill children but would actually arrest them and continue to torture them while this conflict continues.