Lois Brown

[Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we do not live in a perfect world. We have a responsibility, as the Canadian Parliament, to take a step forward to ensure that we do what we can in Canada to make sure the world is rid of this terrible ordnance. Therefore, we are taking a leadership role. We will continue to urge other parties to be signatories to this convention as we show leadership in our own House.

[Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, in a perfect world I suppose that is what we would all want, but we have to live in reality, and the reality is that the United States is our closest ally. We work very closely with the Americans in many military operations, and we do not want to see our Canadian Armed Forces charged with a criminal offence because they are working with our partners and doing what we have asked them to do.

We have said very clearly that Canadian Armed Forces would not be commanding the use of cluster munitions. We have been very strict with that, but we also have to live in reality.

Is this a perfect world? Absolutely not, but this is a starting point. It is perhaps not perfect, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. As we have said throughout this, we will continue to urge other parties around the globe to participate in this convention and to rid the world of these terrible munitions.

[Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our allies are working in concert with us, because they too, the United Kingdom and Australia, have done the same. These are the allies we work with in many situations with our military, and they are on side with us. They want to see cluster munitions eradicated from the world.

I would like to read from the very beginning of what this convention says. It is what Canada is signing on to. It says we are:

...deeply concerned that civilian populations and individual civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflict

and that we are

...determined to put an end for all time to the suffering and casualties caused by cluster munitions...concerned that cluster munition remnants kill or maim civilians...deeply concerned also at the dangers presented by the large national stockpiles...believing it necessary to contribute effectively to an efficient, coordinated manner to resolving the challenge....

These are the kinds of things that we and our allies are signing on to. We want to see these cluster munition stockpiles disposed of. We want to be a leader, and Canada is doing that through this legislation.

[Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would say to my colleague that Canada has been a leader in getting this convention in place. We were one of the first ones to sign on to it.

The things she has said are absolutely horrific. We agree. That is the very reason we want to get this convention signed. That is the very reason why we want to get this piece of legislation through, because Canada wants to ratify this convention.

We want to be the strong leaders in the globe and to say that the world needs to be rid of these kinds of munitions. They need to be eradicated. Canada is a strong leader. We will continue with that leadership.

[Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise the member that our party has been a strong leader on this file. We have taken the steps to put in place the ratification of this convention. Canada was one of the first countries to sign on.

I would like to read exactly what it says in the framework for the member. It says it will establish

...a framework for co-operation and assistance to ensure adequate care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk reduction education and destruction of stockpiles.

It also requires countries that are States Parties to this convention to establish a way forward for victim assistance. Article 5 talks specifically about the countries establishing a budget and developing a plan for assisting these very victims who have been harmed.

We want to see these cluster munitions eradicated. We want them disposed of. We want to see them destroyed. We want to take a very active hold on this file and get this done.

[Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, when one talks about ideology, I just heard the longest 15-minute rant on ideology that we have heard in the House tonight. The member does not understand that word. She needs to go and look it up.

It is my pleasure to rise this evening to speak to the prohibiting cluster munitions act, which fully implements Canada's legislative commitments under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Bill S-10, which was adopted by the other place on December 4, 2012, moves us closer to becoming a state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Our ratification of this important humanitarian treaty will be a strong signal of Canada's unwavering commitment to reducing the impact of armed conflict on innocent civilians.

As others have rightly pointed out, cluster munitions are a grave humanitarian concern to the entire international community. Cluster munitions are a form of airdropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that can hold and release or eject dozens, or even hundreds, of smaller submunitions, or bomblets, to quickly cover a large target area.

Cluster munitions can pose threats to civilians not only during attacks but afterwards, particularly when they fail to detonate as intended. Unexploded bomblets can kill and maim civilians decades after conflicts have ended, and tragically, many cluster munition casualties around the world are children, who can mistake certain types of brightly coloured bomblets as toys. Access to land and essential infrastructure contaminated by unexploded bomblets is blocked to important uses, such as growing crops, raising cattle and fetching water. This stalls the development potential of whole communities trying to rebuild their lives after conflict.

Canada's commitment to the protection of civilians against the indiscriminate effects of explosive remnants of war, including those caused by cluster munitions, is well known and well established. We are proud to be part of the international effort to rid the world of cluster munitions, a weapon that Canada has never produced or used in its military operations.

Motivated by the harm caused to civilians by cluster munitions, the international community launched an initiative in February 2007, known as the Oslo process, to negotiate a treaty that would ban cluster munitions. Negotiations took place over several meetings throughout 2007 and 2008 and concluded with the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008 and its opening for signatures in December of 2008.

Canada participated actively throughout the negotiations and we were among the first countries to sign on. Today, there are 83 states parties to the convention.

It is important to provide some context on how negotiations unfolded. Despite what the opposition would try to have us believe, it was recognized early during the Oslo process that not all states would be in a position to immediately sign on and join the convention. Early on, it was recognized that multilateral military operations, which are crucial to international security, required co-operation between states, including co-operation between states party to a possible convention and states that were not. This was not just Canada's position, but that of many of our allies. We had a clear mandate in negotiations. We have always been open and transparent in exactly what we want to accomplish.

From the beginning of the Oslo process, countries, including Canada, began to speak about military interoperability and the need to ensure that states parties could continue to collaborate militarily with states not party to the treaty. Canada, and the other states, made strong statements to that effect as early as at the Vienna conference in December 2007, as well as at the Wellington conference in February 2008 and during the Dublin conference in May 2008.

It is our view, and the view of many other states that had concerns with regard to interoperability, that article 21 of the convention meets the requirements in this regard. For Canada, authorizing our military personnel to carry out operations with the armed forces of a state not party to the convention allows us, among other things, to maintain our unique, co-operative relationship with the United States, which offers unparalleled benefits in terms of security, defence and industry. Article 21 allows Canada to comply with legitimate security requirements, while actively supporting the convention, fulfilling its legal obligations and working toward the universalization of the convention. This universalization goal is one to which Canada remains firmly committed.

In essence, the Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention and transfer of cluster munitions. It also prohibits assistance and encouragement of anyone to commit a prohibited act.

Bill S-10 would prohibit the use, development, making, acquisition, possession, foreign movement and import and export of cluster munitions. In addition, stockpiling of cluster munitions on Canadian soil would not be allowed by this bill, as it would prohibit all forms of possession. Bill S-10 would also prohibit any person from aiding and abetting anyone in the commission of a prohibited activity, which would include direct and intentional investment in the production of cluster munitions.

Needless to say, Canada is fully meeting its obligations both in letter and in spirit.

It is important to note that Bill S-10 would implement the parts of the convention which actually require legislation in Canada. The convention itself applies a number of obligations to Canada as a state party. One of these requires each state party to impose on persons within its jurisdiction the same prohibitions which apply to the states parties themselves.

To do this, the proposed act sets out a series of prohibitions and offences, as well as the technical definitions needed to support their investigation and prosecutions. The act also sets out exceptions which reflect the convention's partial exclusions from some of its prohibitions for legitimate and permitted purposes, such as military co-operation between states parties and states that are not party, defensive research and training and transfers for the purpose of the destruction of stockpiles.

As I have already mentioned, clause 11 outlines the exceptions that provide our military personnel with the necessary legal protection to operate with the armed forces of states that are not party to the convention. These exceptions are crucial to allowing Canada to continue to participate in military co-operation and multinational operations with states that are not party to the convention and to keep pulling our weight internationally.

Our government will not apologize for protecting our men and women in uniform and ensuring that they do not face criminal repercussions for doing what we ask of them on a daily basis.

Despite this, it is important to emphasize that Canadian Armed Forces members remain prohibited from using cluster munitions in Canadian Armed Forces operations and from expressly requesting their use when the choice of munitions to be used is under their exclusive control.

In addition, the Canadian Armed Forces, as a matter of policy, will prohibit their members from using cluster munitions and from training and instructing in the use of cluster munitions when on exchange with another state's armed forces. The transportation of cluster munitions aboard carriers belonging to or under the control of the Canadian Armed Forces will also not be permitted by policy.

In response to some questions raised by the other place, I would now like to briefly explain why some of the specific terms in Bill S-10 may differ from the convention. This is simply the result of a required translation of multilateral treaty language into Canada legal terminology. This is necessary in order to meet domestic charter and other legislative standards for clarity and certainty in the eyes of the Canadian courts. For this reason, it was inadvisable to adopt a number of the amendments proposed by senators during deliberations on Bill S-10.

First, a certain number of those proposed amendments would have added the word “transfer” to the definition and prohibition provisions. The meaning of “transfer” as it is used in the convention requires prohibiting the physical movement of cluster munitions from one state to another when it also involves a change of ownership and control.

Using such a definition raised some domestic interpretive concerns, because the word “transfer” already occurs in many Canadian statutes with a different meaning.

The word “move” is therefore used instead. Moving prohibited cluster munitions from one foreign state to another is an offence if the intention is to change ownership and control, which is consistent with criminal law and easier to prosecute. Movement in and out of Canada itself is covered by the related offences of importing and exporting.

Another proposed amendment called for making it an offence for a person to knowingly invest in a company that produced cluster munitions. This is already covered by the bill, since direct and intentional investment in a commercial organization that produces cluster munitions is addressed by its prohibition on aiding and abetting. Those terms are clear in Canadian criminal law, and they cover all forms of investment that entail a sufficient proximity to the actual making of the munitions and the necessary criminal intent. Under the current wording in the bill, aiding and abetting or counselling from Canada will be a criminal offence, even if the activity aided or abetted takes place in a country where it is legal.

Similarly, the bill already deals thoroughly with stockpiling of cluster munitions, and therefore the proposed amendments regarding stockpiling are not necessary. Bill S-10 does not refer to “stockpiling” as such, because it is not a term used in Canadian criminal law. That notion is instead included in the bill under the term “possession”. Cluster munitions may pass through Canada within the scope of military co-operation, but they cannot be stored here except for permitted reasons, such as their destruction.

As for the amendment proposal that would require Canada to inform the government of a non-state party with which Canada is engaged in military co-operation regarding its obligations under the convention, it is important to remember that the current form of the bill is one of criminal law. It would not be advisable to create non-criminal obligations in this kind of text.

The obligation to notify non-party states of Canada's convention obligations and to discourage their use of cluster munitions applies to the Government of Canada when initiating military co-operation and operations with these states. It does not create any ongoing obligations for individual military personnel. The Government of Canada is expected to carry out its positive obligations as a result of the treaty itself, and it intends to fully do so.

Regarding the proposed amendment that would create reporting requirements, the convention itself already requires annual reporting by States Parties. In fact, even though Canada is not yet a state party, I am pleased to tell members that we have already begun carrying out this task voluntarily. To date, we have submitted two article 7 transparency reports to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which are publicly available. Additional reporting to Parliament could hamper our diplomatic efforts to promote universalization around the world. In this instance, it would not be prudent to encourage countries to follow our lead and then shame them in our own Parliament.

Since much of the debate on Bill S-10 has been centred on the interoperability exemptions provided for in clause 11, it is important that I speak about this specific issue.

As already explained, the convention itself calls for the use of criminal law. As such, it is necessary to create exceptions to the prohibitions established in this legislation in order to ensure that members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the associated civilians who participate in military co-operation and operations permitted by the convention are not held criminally responsible for those acts when they are serving Canada.

The exceptions in clause 11 of the bill do not permit or authorize any specific activity; they simply exclude these activities from the new criminal offences created by the law. If these exemptions are not included in the act, it could lead to criminal liability for a wide range of frequent military co-operation activities with our closest allies that are not party to the convention and that do not plan on ratifying it in the near future.

It is important to point out that these exceptions are permitted by the convention itself and apply only to the specific prohibitions created in the proposed act. They do not detract in any way from other applicable legal obligations of members of the Canadian Armed Forces, including those established by existing international humanitarian law.

Even before the introduction of this bill, our government has taken concrete steps to fulfill its commitments under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Canada has never produced or used cluster munitions in its operations. The Canadian Armed Forces have initiated the process of destroying all of their cluster munitions, and their last remaining inventory of cluster munitions has been removed from operational stocks and marked for destruction.

Canada is already active in promoting the universalization and implementation of the convention with international partners, and will continue doing so. Also, Canada has already been voluntarily submitting its annual transparency reports. All of these activities are being implemented outside of Bill S-10 and before Canada's ratification of the convention.

Canada is committed to the eradication of cluster munitions, and our government is proud to have tabled this legislation to enable us to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions. We are particularly proud of Canada's important role in striking the convention's essential balance between humanitarian and legitimate security concerns and in ultimately paving the way for ratification of the convention by a larger number of states than would have been the case otherwise.

I urge all parties to support this bill so that we can move it forward as expeditiously as possible.

[Interparliamentary Delegations, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34.1, I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian parliamentary delegation of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association respecting its participation at the association's 39th annual meeting held in Bordeaux and Paris from April 7 to 11, 2013.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today on behalf of the wonderful residents of Newmarket—Aurora to speak on economic action plan 2013.

This is an excellent plan that supports my constituents by its focus on the issues that are important to them.

Each spring, I have an MP booth at three very popular community events in my riding: the Newmarket Home Show and the Aurora Home Show, which take place in April, and the Aurora street festival, which is held the first weekend in June. These events combined attract over 30,000 people, so I have the opportunity to speak with an incredible number of residents and businesses from all walks of life on the issues of the day.

I can report to the House today that from the thousands of discussions, the most top-of-mind issues for my constituents are jobs, the economy and taxes. These are exactly the issues that economic action plan 2013 addresses. People in my riding cannot wait for the measures it contains to be passed and worked through the system so that they can start to benefit.

Let me mention just a few of these initiatives. One would extend for two years the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for new investments in machinery and equipment by Canadian manufacturers. I am very pleased to see this initiative continue for Newmarket and Aurora businesses to help them grow and create jobs.

Another is indexing gas tax fund payments to better support job-creating infrastructure in municipalities across Canada, which builds on our government's previous work to assist municipalities with their infrastructure requirements. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, we doubled this fund and made it permanent. The municipalities of Newmarket and Aurora rely heavily on this stable, predictable source of funding to help ease the burden imposed by municipal infrastructure renewal on local taxpayers.

Another initiative is the reform of the temporary working program to ensure that Canadians are given the first crack at available jobs. Economic action plan 2013 announced the need for remedial action in this program and would put steps in place to crack down on the abuses of this program.

As another example, our government is proposing to extend for one year the mineral exploration tax credit for flow-through share investors. Another example is promoting adoption by enhancing the adoption expense tax credit to better recognize the cost of adopting a child. Adoption is a time-consuming and often costly process, and this new measure will be very meaningful to Canadian families who opt to take this path.

We also want to introduce a new temporary first-time donor super credit for first-time claimants of the charitable donations tax credit. As well, we propose to extend tax relief for home care services to better meet the health care needs of Canadians and to remove tariffs on imports of baby clothing and certain sports and athletic equipment.

Residents in Newmarket and Aurora have confidence that our government is on the right track for them. Why? It is because we have delivered on our promises for the past seven years. We have created jobs and grown the economy. Employment in York region grew by 2.3% in 2012 from the year before. Aurora alone grew by 8.7%. I am particularly pleased to see Aurora's manufacturing and construction sector rebound with a 4% expansion last year alone.

Statistics Canada recently released its latest economic update. The Canadian economy grew an outstanding 2.5% in the first quarter of 2013. This is the strongest quarterly growth Canada has seen in nearly two years.

Today we learned that 95,500 net new jobs were created in May, the overwhelming majority of them full time and private sector employment. We also learned that youth employment increased by 54,400 jobs, the biggest monthly job gain for young Canadians in nearly three decades.

In addition to the timely and targeted measures we have enacted and will enact, we are on track to balance the budget. We are increasing federal transfer support to record highs and keeping federal taxes at their lowest level in 50 years.

I would like to elaborate on our support for municipalities. Many community leaders and organizations in Newmarket—Aurora have been calling on the upper levels of government to provide predictable funding for infrastructure. The Newmarket Chamber of Commerce, the Aurora Chamber of Commerce and town councils for Newmarket and Aurora are among them.

I am very pleased to tell them that our government has listened and acted. Economic action plan 2013 includes the highest infrastructure commitment in the history of Canada through the historic building Canada plan, worth an enormous $70 billion in federal dollars for Canadian infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I know that you have given me the sign that my time if almost up and I have much more that I would love to tell the good people in Newmarket—Aurora from this chamber. What I can tell them is our government is focused on creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for people across the country. We have reduced taxes over 150 times since we took government. That has put more than $3,000 extra in the pockets of families in our communities. They are the ones out there working every day, trying to put food on the table for their kids and give them opportunities. We want to continue that, to ensure that Canadians from coast to coast to coast have the opportunity to succeed.

[Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 1, June 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is always interesting to look at history when we are looking at it in hindsight from the perspective of that member.

The employees do not say thank you to the previous Liberal government because that government stole $52 billion out of the EI fund to pay down the debt. It took $25 billion in transfer payments in health care and education from the provinces to pay down that debt, so it put it on the backs of the provinces.

However, the employees of today are saying thank you to our government, for jobs, for growth, for long-term prosperity. Today we heard that a net million new jobs have been created in this country since the worst of the downturn.

I wonder if that member would like to speak to how that has been generated in these last few years under this government.

[Points of Order, June 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, during question period, I was asked a question about the global fund and I responded about the contributions that Canada has made.

Erroneously, I made the statement that the Minister of International Cooperation had given an extra $20 million just last week. Indeed, the money was contributed, but it was May 13 when it was contributed.

We have been sitting for so many hours that it felt like last week.