Garry Breitkreuz

[Committees of the House, April 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I will be presenting two reports. First, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. In accordance with its order of reference of Wednesday, November 22, 2006, the committee has considered Bill C-279, An Act to amend the DNA Identification Act (establishment of indexes), and agreed on Tuesday, April 24, 2007, to report it with amendments.

Second, I also have the honour to present the committee's ninth report, concerning the subject matter of Bill C-279. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

I would like to read for members two brief excerpts from the ninth report. The first states:

The Committee in principle fully supports the intention underlying Bill C-279, An Act to amend the DNA Identification Act (establishment of indexes), and believes that the necessary steps must be taken, either by amending the DNA Identification Act or by providing for the establishment of a DNA human remains index and a DNA missing persons index, to help law enforcement agencies to search for and identify persons reported missing.

Although we have deleted the clauses in the bill, we fully support the bill.

We conclude by recommending:

--that the Government consider the advisability of bringing in the legislation necessary to establish missing persons indexes after the completion of federal-provincial-territorial discussions on its implementation.

[Petitions, April 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present a petition today from constituents in my area, mainly in the Churchbridge and Langenburg area. The petitioners would like to draw the attention of the House of Commons to the fact that Industry Canada has provided funding for the production of a booklet called “The Little Black Book” that contains pornographically explicit material and that this booklet indoctrinates and solicits children to same sex relationships and may contain incomplete and inaccurate information. The booklet is being used in a provincial education system as a handout to students.

The petitioners therefore call on Parliament to rescind all funding to this project and such related or similar projects and remove all reference to endorsement of such materials by Industry Canada or other departments, review the impact of the Bill C-38 marriage law and its complicit tie to such promotion of same sex material, and take all necessary steps to ensure accountability of tax dollar expenditures on this project in every department.

[Yorkton Agriculture Forum, March 29th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, March 23, I held my annual agriculture forum in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.

I want to thank all the speakers who made the day such a huge success. They provided valuable information to the 300 participants about biofuels, alternative land use, own use imports, environmental farm plans and the Canadian Wheat Board.

I especially want to thank the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food for once again taking the time out of his busy schedule to explain our new government's funding, services, programs and future plans.

I also want to thank the hon. member for Malpeque, Prince Edward Island, the agriculture critic for the official opposition, for coming to the forum. His attendance showed that support for our Canadian farmers transcends partisan politics.

The day's proceedings will be broadcast on CPAC, providing an opportunity for all Canadians, urban and rural, to understand the challenges faced by today's farmers and the need to support our agriculture industry.

I encourage all members, both rural and urban, to ask their constituents to tune in to the CPAC broadcast to learn more about the importance of agriculture to all Canadians.

[Petitions, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table a petition signed by hundreds of constituents in my riding and throughout Saskatchewan.

The petitioners state that they support the traditional definition of marriage, the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. They state that healthy societies are built on the foundation of healthy marriages and families, relationships which cannot be replaced by legally recognized gay unions. They ask for the traditional definition of marriage to be reinstated under law in Canada.

[Committees of the House, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

In accordance with the order of reference of Friday, October 20, 2006, the committee has considered Bill C-286, An Act to amend the Witness Protection Program Act (protection of spouses whose life is in danger) and to make a consequential amendment to another Act, and has agreed to report it with amendments.

[Agriculture, March 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, our farmers have been facing increasing pressures from rising input costs. This has really put a lot of people in a cost price squeeze. It is a major concern for them and their families.

During the last election we campaigned on a commitment to address cost of production issues, in addition to replacing CAIS, with programming that actually works for farmers.

Can the Minister of Agriculture update this House with what the government is doing to help farmers who are facing increasing production costs and what the government is doing to make farm income support programming better for them?

[Justice, February 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, a tragic case played out in a Yorkton courtroom last month.

On March 17, 2003, Kim Walker, fearing for the life of his morphine-addicted 16-year-old daughter, Jadah, confronted her 24-year-old drug-dealing boyfriend, James Hayward.

The confrontation, more than two years in the making, spun out of control, the father shot and killed the drug dealer and, on January 19, 2007, he was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Jadah Walker was just 13 when she was lured into the world of drugs. She says that she would have been dead in just a few more weeks had she kept living with her boyfriend, her pusher.

However, Jadah also feels the deadly confrontation could have been avoided. She said that the system failed her parents; that if the police had arrested Hayward earlier or had responded better to the concerns they raised, her dad would not be behind bars today.

There are many lessons to be learned from the Jadah and Kim Walker case by the members of this House who make the laws, the provinces that administer them and the police who enforce them.

[Anti-terrorism Act, February 12th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting to listen to the debate. I remind those who are watching via television that it was the Liberals that put this into place and guaranteed that the rights would not be violated and so far they have not been.

However, I see a flip-flop on the other side now which concerns me. They have argued that because it has not been used, let us scrap it. At the same time it has not been abused either. I think that is something that we have to keep in mind, that our law enforcement officials are not going out there and misusing the provisions of this act.

I also hear the Maher Arar situation being dragged in here. Perhaps my hon. colleague could comment on this. I do not see the Maher Arar situation being the result of anything that was abused in this bill and maybe he can clarify that.

I think that we should have a concern about becoming too comfortable because there has not been a problem in the last five years. This legislation is there in case we really need it. Perhaps my hon. colleague could comment on those points.

[Senate Tenure Legislation, February 6th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, when I was elected in 1993, my constituents told me that they wanted an elected, effective and equal Senate. It is 13 years later and we are still waiting for Senate reform to start.

Concerned Canadians can blame the Liberals for failing to act during the 12 years they were in power and they can continue to blame the Liberals for failing to act even though they were voted out of power one year ago.

It has now been 262 days since Bill S-4 has been in the Senate. The unelected, unaccountable Liberal senators are filibustering and preventing this important bill from advancing.

Canadians have told us they want term limits for senators. The Liberal leader has publicly said that he supports term limits for senators and yet this message seems to be lost on Liberal members in the other place. Is it that they just do not get it or is it that the Liberal leader simply cannot lead his own caucus?

When will the Liberal leader stop these obstructionist tactics and allow us to debate this very important bill in the House of Commons?

[Davison School, December 11th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, each Christmas Eve, the children of Holten, a community in the Netherlands, place candles on the graves of Canadian soldiers who died in that country. After hearing of the Dutch children's display of kindness toward Canada, Mr. Randy Albers, a teacher at Davison School in Melville, Saskatchewan, coordinated a project to say “thank you” to the children of Holland.

Following much planning and fundraising, the Davison School students have created medallions made of specially minted 2005 nickels commemorating the victory of 1945 and the liberation of Europe. Through our Canadian foreign affairs department, I ensured that the necklaces would be in the hands of the Canadian embassy in the Hague in time to be presented to the children of Holten before this year's Christmas Eve ceremony.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to commend and congratulate Randy Albers, the Davison School students, staff and volunteers for reaching across borders and oceans to say “thank you”.