Derek Lee

[Committees Of The House, October 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the first report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the membership and associate membership of the Standing Committee on Transport.

There is a procedural motion contained within the report to enable that committee to begin business immediately, and I should like to move concurrence in the first report.

(Motion agreed to)

[Points Of Order, October 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I think you would find unanimous consent to withdraw any existing motions for emergency debates on the fishery issue and to adopt the following:

That on October 13, 1999 the House shall continue to sit after 6.30 p.m. and, commencing at 6.30 p.m. or when the House leader of the Progressive Conservative Party completes his remarks in the debate on the proposed Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, whichever is later, the House shall consider a motion “That this House take note of the difficulties in Canadian fisheries, especially as complicated by the Queen and Marshall case and its implications for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples and for the future management of natural resources”; provided

That during the said debate: (1) no member shall speak for more than 20 minutes, with a 10 minute question and comment period being permitted, and provided that time may be divided pursuant to Standing Order 43(2); and (2) the Chair shall not receive any quorum calls, dilatory motions or requests for unanimous consent to propose any motion; and

That, when no member rises to speak or at 12:00 a.m., whichever is earlier, the motion shall be deemed to have been withdrawn and the House shall adjourn to the next sitting day.

[Petitions, May 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition with over 1,000 signatories. They call upon parliament to ask the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to review the existing income requirements for sponsored immigration applications. They also request that more than one person be allowed to sponsor the same individual and share the responsibility of financial support for that immigrant.

[Missing Children, May 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, today is National Missing Children's Day, a special day designed to raise awareness about the reality that children go missing in Canada every day. Fortunately most are recovered and this is due to the dedicated work of law enforcement agencies and their partners. I applaud their hard work and successes in recovering missing children each year.

The federal missing children's program is a collaborative effort of the RCMP's missing children's registry, Revenue Canada's international project return, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

The annual report of the RCMP's missing children's registry shows that runaways account for 80% of all reported cases of missing children. Since the creation of the missing children's program in 1986, a total of 815 children have been recovered at ports of entry across Canada.

A key element of this government's public safety mandate is to keep our streets and homes safe for our children. Our goals will only be achieved through strong partnerships and ongoing commitments to—

[National Police Week, May 10th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, May 9 to 15 is National Police Week in Canada. It provides Canadians with an opportunity to show their appreciation for the remarkable job being done by police across Canada. These men and women have chosen to dedicate their professional lives to serving and protecting our communities often at risk to their own safety. We applaud their commitment.

Police week provides police with an opportunity to forge stronger ties with those they serve. Police men and women in Canada help to maintain a consistently high level of safety in our communities. The fact that Canada is considered the safest country in the world in which to live is no coincidence.

I know that I have the support of the House when I say that Canadians value their police forces across the country. Strong police community relations are vital to the preservation of our safe streets and homes.

It is a privilege to recognize National Police Week. I invite all Canadians to join me in saluting those men and women who have chosen to dedicate their lives to the protection of our homes and communities.

[Royal Canadian Mounted Police, April 23rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to draw to the attention of the House and Canadians the announcement today by the solicitor general, and my support for his decision to reinvest $115 million in upgrading and modernizing the RCMP's CPIC computer system.

The Canadian Police Information Centre was created following federal-provincial meetings in 1966 to increase information sharing in the fight against organized crime. I am proud to say that my father played a prominent role in those meetings some 33 years ago.

Today CPIC is operated by the RCMP on behalf of all Canadian law enforcement. It contains millions of records on criminals, missing persons, vehicles, stolen property, registered firearms and crime scene information. It is the primary tool used to identify suspects, to access outstanding warrants and restraining orders, to screen out sex offenders from jobs involving contact with children and to flag files of dangerous offenders. It annually handles over 100 million enquiries from 15,000 points of access.

This investment will enhance speed of access, data bases, allow transmission of digital photographs and fingerprints. This means better crime prevention—

[The Late Frank McGee, April 22nd, 1999]

Madam Speaker, today I pay tribute to a late colleague, the Hon. Frank McGee. Through his distinguished career in public life Frank McGee helped guide Canada through the political and intellectual challenges of the late 1950s and 1960s.

Frank became involved in federal politics in 1957 when he was elected as the Conservative member of parliament for the riding of York—Scarborough. At that time the riding was predominantly rural and was the third most populous riding in the country.

Frank served as a member under the leadership of John Diefenbaker for seven years, being re-elected in 1958 and 1962. In 1963 he was made a minister without portfolio.

During his political career Frank advocated reforms in a number of legislative areas, including those affecting the role of women in Canadian society and divorce law. He was also an activist in the reform of our death penalty laws.

Frank McGee was a man whose abilities allowed him to serve in capacities going beyond those of a member of parliament. Frank easily assumed roles of leadership in his local community, nationally, and in the media. Although he would not be a member of parliament after 1963, Frank's ability to provide leadership on public interest issues continued to place him in public life.

After electoral defeat in 1963 Frank worked as a political reporter for the Toronto Star . Although he no longer sat in the House, Frank was broadcast into Canadian living rooms as the host of the CBC television program The Sixties .

Unable to stay away from politics for long, Mr. McGee ran again for his party in the general election of 1965. One of Frank's very valuable contributions to public life came in 1984 when he was appointed to the newly created Security Intelligence Review Committee which reviews the work of CSIS. Through his five years as a member of this committee Frank was one of the initiators of guidelines and procedures put in place to monitor the sometimes delicate work of our domestic security agency at the end of the cold war era.

After his term on SIRC, Frank continued to work in public life as a citizenship judge after being appointed in 1990. It was during this period that Frank and I shared views on the evolving fields of national security and the citizenship portfolio. I would also say that Frank looked pretty good in those citizenship judge robes.

I pay tribute to this exceptional figure in Canadian political and public life. As the member of parliament for the riding of York—Scarborough, Frank McGee had a grasp of the evolving Canadian urban landscape that enabled him to play a leadership role in the demographic development of the Toronto suburbs of that time.

To his family and friends, my Liberal party colleagues and I extend our condolences in this loss. In keeping with his contribution here, we thank Frank and them for what he brought to Canadians through his service to the House and beyond.

[Division No. 358, March 23rd, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, if I understand the allegation of the opposition, it is that somehow a member of the government sitting on this side of the House failed to disclose something during the debate that preceded our vote at about 11 o'clock. I hope it has not escaped the notice of members opposite that, by my recollection, no member of the government front benches was speaking at that time. I think I recall opposition members speaking at that time.

Secondly, just prior to 11 o'clock, as one government backbencher, I did make an attempt to ascertain the status of a number of things. In reply to my questions I was told that I would have to wait for the hon. treasury board president's speech to the House.

I think the opposition members are whistling here at 12.40 in the morning.

[Supply, March 16th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am not dealing with relevance. I just want to bring to the attention of the House that this House has for many years followed closely the provisions of what we call the sub judice rule. The matter that the hon. member is discussing now is a matter involving the criminal law, an individual who has been charged and the matter is still at process.

I urge upon the House to have regard for the provisions of the sub judice convention so that the ability of the courts to deal with this matter fairly and properly and the rights of the individual involved before the courts are not prejudiced by the public debate here.

I ask our Chair to direct his attention to that.

[Foreign Publishers Advertising Services Act, March 12th, 1999]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The matter of relevance has been raised once already. I am listening to a volley of separatist mythical propaganda as opposed to items relevant to the debate.