Harold Albrecht

[Petitions, February 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition to ensure that Canadians have a fair electoral system. This petition is signed by roughly 160 people from Kitchener-Waterloo and southwestern Ontario.

They are calling on the House of Commons to immediately undertake public consultations across Canada to amend the Canada Elections Act to ensure that voters can cast an equal and effective vote, to be represented fairly in Parliament regardless of political belief or place of residence, are governed by a fairly elected Parliament with a share of seats held by each political party that closely reflects the popular vote, and live under legitimate laws approved by a majority of elected parliamentarians representing the majority of voters.

[Committees of the House, February 25th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, entitled “Management of Municipal Solid Waste and Industrial Materials”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109 the committee requests the government to table a comprehensive response to this report.

[Rise in anti-Semitism, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, this is a very sobering discussion we are having tonight and I am glad it is not a debate. I want to thank my colleague for his incredible leadership on the human rights file generally, but specifically on this issue of anti-Semitism.

I want to assure my colleague that even though I am a follower of Jesus Christ and he was using his terms about Jesus, the churches that we are part of in this party certainly see the Jewish faith as the foundation for our faith and we value the Jewish people. I know he knows that already, but I wanted to comment about that publicly and thank him for his good work.

I was appalled today to see some of the things that happened in Montreal. I wonder if my colleague who is from that area would care to comment about that. I want him and all our Jewish friends to know that we stand with them in solidarity.

[Stratford Festival, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and neighbour for this great initiative to recognize Stratford. I have seen many plays there, going way back to my high school days. We can certainly agree that the cultural and economic impact of Stratford is a great one.

My colleague mentioned something about a village in Suchitoto, El Salvador, that the Stratford Festival is partnering with. I would love to hear a little more about that initiative. I have some very good friends from El Salvador and I have a heart for El Salvador. I would like my colleague to expand a bit on that issue that he mentioned in this context.

[Business of Supply, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his work on bringing the issue of palliative care in front of Parliament.

I had the privilege of being part of an all-party committee that discussed and studied palliative care for many months. We wrote a report called “Not to be Forgotten: Care of Vulnerable Canadians”. We toured a number of facilities in Canada and saw the great work that many of these heroes who worked in palliative care did. I want to commend them for that great work.

One of the aspects that I think is missing in the subject matter today is this five-month period of up to the end of July to come up with some credible solutions. My feeling is that we need more time to do that kind of work. Maybe we could have done it sooner. We could all take the blame for that.

However, we are here now. My colleague used the phrase many times during his speech “we have an opportunity now”. I could not agree more, but to take advantage of that opportunity, I feel we need more than five months to do that. Would my colleague agree that it would be better for us to take more time, study it more deeply, come up with some possible solutions, even to the palliative care patchwork that currently exists in Canada?

[Business of Supply, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more that we need a better palliative care system in this country. We have worked across party lines to discuss some of those things, and my colleagues on the other side have made some recommendations in that regard.

I have two questions. First, why would we rush to have a committee present its findings by the end of July, when we could take the time in an election year to study it more fully with a bit of an extension or to at least use the full 12 months the Supreme Court has granted?

I am getting a fair bit of communication from my constituents, and just this morning, I received a letter from a doctor in my riding who asked that as we consider this issue:

...we establish policies that allow physicians to opt out of participation in activities and procedures that go against their conscience, especially when it concerns acts that would result in ending a person's life. Physicians should not be required to refer for or participate in such acts.

I am wondering if my colleague would agree that this would be a good thing to try to work into any proposed legislation Parliament comes up with.

[Business of Supply, February 24th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear through the discussion this morning and I am sure to all members of Parliament, judging by the volume of information we are getting from our constituents, that this is a very crucial and a very sensitive issue for Canadians to deal with. It is my hope that we will take adequate time to study it and to hear from a broad spectrum of Canadians.

The concern I have with my colleague's comments, both in her speech now and in her earlier question to my colleague the parliamentary secretary, was her implication that somehow this party or this government has already made a decision, or will make a decision, irrespective of Parliament.

I need to remind her and all Canadians that all parties have dealt with this issue in Parliament. Nine different private members' bills introduced from 1991 to 2012 have dealt with this exact issue. Six of those bills failed to pass.

It is not this government that is making the decision. It is not this party. Parliament has spoken to this issue, and it is clear to me that if we are to deal with this issue now, we need adequate time to consult.

My question to the member is this: why, in an election year when we have many weeks out of the parliamentary calendar to study this issue adequately, would she oppose the idea of having a full 12 months of parliamentary time to study this very crucial issue?

[Petitions, February 23rd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a number of petitions signed by Canadian citizens.

The petitioners would like to see tougher laws and the implementation of new mandatory minimum sentencing for those persons convicted of impaired driving causing death. They also would like to see the Criminal Code of Canada changed to redefine the offence of impaired driving causing death as vehicular manslaughter.

[Privilege, February 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I do not want to take an inordinate amount of time, but I am very disappointed that we are having this dialogue in the House of Commons today, after October 22, when we saw what happened.

We do have to take responsibility for our identification. When I go through airport security, sure it is a bit of nuisance to take of my belt, my shoes, or my jacket, but these are things that protect us. Our job in this Parliament is not only to protect ourselves but to protect those who are in these buildings.

I think it is important that our RCMP officers and our security personnel on the Hill take their jobs seriously. To assume that they will recognize every one of us, regardless of how long we have been here, I think is too much to expect.

I urge all members to have ID or some way of identifying themselves before they try to enter these buildings.

[Petitions, February 4th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present two petitions signed by a number of citizens of Canada. They want to see tougher laws in the implementation of new mandatory minimum sentencing for those persons convicted of impaired driving causing death. They also want the Criminal Code of Canada to be changed to redefine the offence of impaired driving causing death as vehicular manslaughter.