Lois Brown

[World AIDS Day, December 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, today is World AIDS Day, a time to remember those who live with and are affected by HIV and AIDS and to reflect upon those who have lost their lives to this devastating disease.

Our government has committed to a comprehensive long-term approach to HIV and AIDS in Canada and around the world. This year alone, we are investing over $72 million domestically in HIV and AIDS. As well, our government has provided more than $640 million over the past four years to help prevent the spread of the virus and provide support to those living with HIV-AIDS in developing countries.

In addition, the Canadian HIV vaccine initiative, led by our government along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlights Canada's world-class HIV and vaccine research expertise.

I ask that members join me today in wearing a red ribbon to raise awareness and to show our support for those affected by HIV and AIDS.

[Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act, November 30th, 2010]

Madam Speaker, I am always amazed when I hear members from the other side who have been in government for some time, who seem to have failed memory. Either that or it is very selective memory because I can remember in Ontario the cuts to health care, the cuts to education and the cuts to social services.

I also spent some time with members of the Canadian Navy this past summer and they talked about the significant cuts to the military and how they are only now under this government starting to see the ability to reinvest in their ships. What we saw when our soldiers were sent into Afghanistan by the former administration is they were sent in with uniforms to prepare them for jungle warfare, not for desert warfare. So what they literally did was make our military walking targets.

How does the member propose to pay for all of the promises that they keep making from the other side of the House? From our side of the House we know that if we take a look at the public accounts we will see in the pie charts that 47% of the revenue to government comes in through personal income tax and 13% comes in from corporations. So for a very incremental adjustment in lowering corporate taxes we are going to increase the number of people who are working who are paying personal income tax. That is going to be a benefit to our economy.

My question for the member is when are the Liberals going to come clean and tell us what taxes are they proposing to raise?

[Foreign Affairs, November 23rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are horrified to hear of the case of Ms. Ashtiani, an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death by stoning without a fair trial. Canadians were also shocked to learn of Iran's candidacy for the executive board of new UN women, a body meant to promote the advancement of women's rights worldwide.

Could the Minister of Foreign Affairs please tell the House what Canada is doing to address women's rights in Iran?

[Foreign Affairs, November 2nd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are outraged by Iran's treatment of Sakineh Ashtiani, an Iranian woman who faces execution following a process that was completely at odds with international standards and the rule of law. She has been the victim of harassment by judicial authorities, denied due process, and false or coerced confessions have been used against her. Today there are reports that she could be executed as early as Wednesday.

Could the minister elaborate on these troubling reports?

[Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act, November 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I sometimes think the members across the way have selective memories. They talk about re-announcements. I remember in 1993 when the Liberal government promised in the election campaign to get rid of the GST and we were still waiting in 2005. They promised a national day care program, which never came to fruition. They cut $25 billion to the provinces in health and social transfers, and they were responsible for the sponsorship scandal and Canadians are still waiting to get their money back.

I have been privileged to make many announcements on behalf of our government in Toronto ridings for infrastructure programs. None of them are yet Conservative-held ridings.

I would also like to refer back to the public accounts books, which talk about major transfers to other levels of government increasing by $10.5 billion over the previous year. That is money going into the provinces for health care, education and social programs.

My question to the hon. member is this. When her party was in government, why did it not get these things done?

[Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act, November 1st, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the hon. member that perhaps he might like to take a look at the Public Accounts of Canada 2010, volume 1, where earlier his colleague talked about the debt that Canada has taken on, and I would like to read this into the record. It says:

With reductions in the stock of interest-bearing debt and a decline in interest rates over the 1997-1998 to 2007-2008 period, the share of public debt charges in total expenses fell over 15 percentage points from a high of nearly 30% of total expenses in 1996-1997.

The hon. member said that people were concerned about their jobs and I sincerely agree. We have been through a global downturn in the economy and many of our businesses have struggled to keep up. Since businesses and corporations are the only entities in our economy that create real jobs, how does the member suggest that they do this if they are continually taxed by government? We want to reduce those corporate taxes because we know that corporations and businesses are going to create real, well-paying jobs in our economy and that is what we want to see.

[The Economy, October 29th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians appreciate that the economic action plan is helping protect our economy and making it the strongest in the G7. They also know that the last thing Canada's economy can afford is a Liberal-led coalition's high tax policies on job creators.

Only yesterday the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, representing 192,000 businesses employing millions of Canadians, said that the Liberal plan was, “Very damaging...it threatens the investment needed to carry an economic recovery”.

Could the parliamentary secretary please explain how our government is keeping Canada's economy on track?

[Canadian Forces College, October 19th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, since 1943, Canadian officers have furthered their leadership skills through professional training at the Canadian Forces College. The college is known as the leading educational institution in defence and security education. Most of Canada's senior military leaders are graduates of the Canadian Forces College, which is affectionately known in the military as “General College”.

For over 60 years, the college has helped to sustain the effectiveness of the Canadian Forces and defence and security organizations within Canada and its alliances.

Courses now include a national security program, which prepares participants to deal effectively with national security issues, policy and strategy.

Today, we have staff and students from the national security program joining us on the Hill. All participants are Canadian Forces colonels, senior Canadian public servants, and senior officers from allied nations.

I know all members will join me in welcoming the Canadian Forces College.

[Ending Early Release for Criminals and Increasing Offender Accountability Act, October 18th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I recommend the hon. member go back and take a look at budgets that this government has introduced over the last four years. In my recollection it is this government that has increased the budgets for front-line police assistance. We have put prevention in as part of that budget.

I am a regular volunteer with the York Regional Police in York region. Our chief of police is very thankful for the budget allocations that this government has made. We also have five former police officers on this side of the House. It is important to recognize that they bring with them great expertise.

I do agree with the hon. member that having a rehabilitation program in place is the most important. Before I was elected to the House, I worked in disability management. We regularly had to put rehabilitation programs in place for injured workers. Building a rehabilitation plan for an injured employee is the most cost effective course of action for both the injured employee and for the employer.

When we are looking at these resources and how we use them, building a rehabilitation plan that takes place when an offender has the opportunity to build real skill and go out into the employment places afterwards is going to really help him or her.

Would the hon. member not agree that by providing an offender with real opportunities to gain real job skills that will be usable in the workplace is the best plan of action?

[Criminal Code, October 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak in support of Bill S-215 and I am very pleased to hear that the hon. member from the NDP will support it as well.

The bill proposes to specifically include suicide bombing in the definition of terrorist activity in the Criminal Code. The bill would add a “for greater certainty” clause after subsection 83.01(1.1) of the Criminal Code, which would specify that suicide bombing would come within paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition of terrorist activity when committed in the context of a terrorist activity.

The bill has a lengthy history. It was originally introduced as Bill S-43 on September 28, 2005, reintroduced as Bill S-206 on April 5, 2006, reintroduced yet again as Bill S-210 on October 17, 2007, and reintroduced a fourth time as Bill S-205 on November 20, 2008.

Previous versions of the bill all died on the order paper. The present version was introduced on March 24. It was reviewed by the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, reported without amendment and passed without amendment.

I recognize that the current definition of terrorist activity contained in the Criminal Code already implicitly encompasses suicide bombing when committed in the context of terrorism. If we look at the definition of terrorist activity in section 83.01(1) of the code, we see that it incorporates criminal conduct as envisaged by the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, one of the United Nations' counterterrorism conventions, while the second part of the definition includes terrorist activity, which intentionally causes death or serious bodily harm or endangers a person's life.

It is also true, however, that the words suicide bombing are not expressly mentioned in the present definition of terrorist activity, and there is considerable support for the specific criminalization of suicide bombing as part of the terrorist activity definition in the code.

Canadians Against Suicide Bombing, a Toronto-based group led by a former judge, has been particularly supportive of the objectives behind Bill S-215 and it established an online petition in support of the bill. Many prominent Canadians from all walks of life have also signed an open letter of support.

In my view, this bill merits support. The bill would come into force on the day to be fixed by order of the Governor-in-Council, thereby providing an opportunity for any needed preparation time to facilitate its implementation.

No other country is known to refer specifically to suicide bombing in its definition of terrorism and terrorist activity. Therefore, Canada would be the first to signal its abhorrence of these cowardly acts by adopting such a reference in its legislative definition of terrorist activity. Suicide attacks are intended to kill and maim innocent people and inflict extensive property damage. As the hon. member who spoke just before me said, it is the innocent people for whom we are most concerned, the innocent lives of men, women and particularly children who are affected.

Attackers are often prepared to die in the process. We all know about the attacks of September 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people in the World Trade Center in New York City. We also remember the July 7, 2007 London bombings and the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India. Anyone who reads a newspaper, listens to the radio or watches television knows that suicide bombings occur on an alarmingly regular basis.

Bill S-215 gives Canada the opportunity to show international leadership by specifically denouncing suicide bombing and expressly prescribing suicide bombing as a type of criminal activity.

I invite all members in the House to support this bill.