Lynne Yelich

[Ken Marland, November 18th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I am proud to recognize today the achievement of Mr. Ken Marland, a teacher at Buena Vista Elementary School in my riding of Blackstrap.

Two days ago Mr. Marland received the Governor General's Award of Excellence in teaching Canadian history. He and five other recipients were selected from a field of more than 150 candidates from across Canada. Mr. Marland's innovative approach to helping children learn goes far beyond traditional classroom routines.

Rather than dictate lessons directly from a textbook Mr. Marland utilizes hands-on learning and real life examples to motivate his young students to learn about Canada's rich history. By fostering an enthusiastic love of learning Mr. Marland is giving his students a chance to grow and develop throughout their lives. What a wonderful gift.

I invite all members to join me in paying tribute to one of Canada's premier teachers, Mr. Ken Marland.

[Public Safety Act, 2002, November 5th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member as he talked about a democratic deficit. Besides the regulations and implementing changes to the Aeronautics Act, I was wondering if there are any other places where he has noticed a democratic deficit.

[Prairie Farmers, October 31st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day today for western farmers.

In Lethbridge 14 farmers are going to jail rather than paying fines for transporting grain across the American border in 1996. These farmers sold their own grain. Some of them simply gave it away. For this they are going to jail.

Sadly the issue is one of unfairness. Eastern farmers may choose whether to sell their products independently or go to a marketing board. Western farmers are not allowed to market their own products. They must go to the Canadian Wheat Board.

Jim Chatenay, one of the 10 elected wheat board directors said, “It is an unbelievable outrage. The Canadian Wheat Board Act applies equally to all provinces in the dominion, yet we are applying the rules to farmers in only one part of the country”.

Western farmers are being treated differently from their counterparts in Quebec and Ontario. As a westerner and a farmer, I object to this obvious discrimination. I ask that the government apply the same rules to all parts of our country.

[Petitions, October 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today on behalf of my own parish, St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, to present a petition calling upon Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research to find the cures and therapies necessary to treat the illness and disease of suffering Canadians.

[Petitions, October 24th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a petition that calls upon Parliament to focus its legislative support on adult stem cell research to find the cures and therapies necessary to treat the illnesses and diseases of suffering Canadians.

[Grain Transportation, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is not working. The grain and oilseed sector of the farm economy has been decimated. Grain shipments have been halted. Canadian producers cannot withstand the loss of confidence in some of their major international buyers when the supply of grain is interrupted.

Why is the government willing to risk losing our valuable international customers?

[Grain Transportation, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, grain handlers have been locked out of the port of Vancouver since August. In addition to the drought, farmers are taking another hit as they are caught in between a labour-management dispute and face added costs due to late contract penalties. The Canadian Alliance has repeatedly called for final offer arbitration as a means of resolving these types of disputes. The drought was a natural disaster, but the lockout at Vancouver is completely preventable.

Why will the government not implement final offer selection arbitration?

[Petitions, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of residents of my riding from Strongfield, Loreburn, Elbow, Hawarden, Outlook, Glenside and Saskatoon.

The petitioners call upon the House to protect our children by taking all necessary steps to ensure that all materials which promote or glorify pedophilia or sado-masochistic activities involving children are outlawed. The petitioners draw attention to the House that among other matters, the courts have not applied the current child pornography law in a way which makes it clear that such exploitation of children will always be met with swift punishment.

I fully support this petition.

[Grain Transportation, October 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, grain terminal workers at the Port of Vancouver have been locked out for eight weeks. The situation is becoming desperate for the transportation of this year's crop, which already has been doomed by summer drought.

Agreeing that the grain handling system is inefficient, many farmers feel the situation could be improved if transportation of grain becomes the responsibility of the buyer. This would remove some of the risk farmers face when moving their product by channels plagued by problems such as the grain workers lockout in Vancouver.

There are no winners and a lot of potential losers in this current dispute. Grain handlers were locked out on August 25. The government has done nothing to solve this two year dispute. No one benefits from strikes and lockouts when final offer selection arbitration is an option. I urge the government to intervene in this grain handlers dispute by compelling the parties to seek immediate third party arbitration.

[Agriculture, October 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, climatologists have confirmed that warmer weather associated with El Nino is now under way and that Canada should begin to experience its influence by December. This will lead to a milder winter and possibly drier conditions in the prairie region next summer.

Drier conditions on the Prairies would mean a third year of drought. The government's response to this past summer's drought was slow and insensitive.

A third year of drought will have a devastating effect on farmers who have now seen their operations eroded over the past two years. Prairie farmers cannot withstand another year of off-grade grain samples, grasshoppers, low commodity prices, bankruptcies, farm foreclosures, herd dispersals and a dwindling water supply.

I urge the government to develop contingency plans to deal with the potential disaster of a third year of drought. Farmers should not be forgotten again.