John Cummins

[Petitions, September 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the last petition deals with the current federal criminal law, whereby an unborn child is not respected when it is a victim of violence. The petitioners suggest that the vast majority of the public supports laws to protect unborn children from acts of violence against their mothers that also injure or kill the child in the womb. They ask Parliament to recognize this fact and to enact a law that would allow for two charges to be laid against the offender rather than just one.

[Petitions, September 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition has to do with the expansion of Deltaport. The petitioners are concerned about noise, the effect that the expansion will have on the community, and the fact that substantive measures have not been taken to mitigate the impact of that expansion.

[Petitions, September 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition concerns Falun Gong and the petitioners' concern about the harvesting of organs from unwilling donors, which is one way of putting it. The petitioners urge the House to pass a motion that the House condemn the Communist government in China for committing these crimes against humanity and discourage Canadians from travelling to China for organ transplants.

[Petitions, September 27th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have four petitions to present to the House today.

The first petition concerns the protection of children from sexual predators. The petitioners suggest that this must be a top priority of the government. The petitioners note that studies show that 14 year olds and 15 year olds are most vulnerable to sexual exploitation and pray that the House would raise the age of consent from 14 years to 16 years of age.

[Petitions, June 12th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from residents of Delta concerned about the expansion of Deltaport. They are concerned that air quality in the neighbourhood would suffer if the port were to expand and they are concerned about the noise and glare from the port, the loss of wildlife habitat and the impact of the increased transportation in the community.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition I have is again from citizens of the community of Delta. The petitioners are concerned that in current federal law an unborn child is not recognized as a victim with respect to violent crimes. The petitioners call on Parliament to enact legislation which would recognize unborn children as separate victims when they are injured or killed during the commission of an offence against their mothers, therefore allowing two charges to be laid against the offender instead of only one.

[Petitions, June 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions today. One of the petitions is in three parts. The first petition has to do with citizens of Delta and British Columbia who are calling upon Parliament to stop the expansion of the Deltaport. The petitioners are very concerned about the impact of traffic on the community as well as the significant loss of habitat in the Strait of Georgia.

[Arden Leung, May 16th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a respected resident of Ladner, British Columbia, and a former page of this place, Arden Leung, who passed away on March 13.

Arden was born in Hong Kong in 1963 and moved to British Columbia with his parents in 1973. Arden had fond memories of his time as a House of Commons page, meeting Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney and former Speaker Sauvé. He was present during the great debates on the Constitution.

A graduate of Carleton University, he studied law at Windsor, where he met his wife Kimberley. They became engaged six days after their first date, married in 1989 and practised law together. Always believing that it was important to give more to one's community than to take, Arden was actively involved as a community leader.

Arden's proudest accomplishment and greatest passion was his family. He is survived by his wife Kimberley and daughters Kelsey and Morgan.

I ask all members of the House to join me in honouring Arden Leung, a young man who began his adult life here as a House of Commons page.

[Chinese Canadians, November 28th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, for years the Conservative Party has been working for a just redress of the injustice done to Chinese Canadians by the infamous head tax.

Last week, as part of its flurry of bogus pre-election promises, the government announced a $2.5 million payment to one group, angering many others who felt excluded, including the coalition of head tax payers, and leaving out surviving head tax payers themselves.

Why did the government rush this announcement that has ended up causing divisions in the Chinese community rather than working to create a consensus?

[Government Response to Petitions, November 23rd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The government has been trying to peddle Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert at a fire sale price for some time. I would like to point out that as yet the government has failed to table the 2004 annual report. I wonder if the minister responsible would give us some idea when that document would be tabled.

I have another point I would like to raise. The Ridley Terminals corporate plan summary for 2005 has not yet been tabled and the year is almost over. These documents should have been tabled some time ago. I wonder when we could expect them given the pending fire sale prices of the Ridley Terminals.